11:15 a.m. Tuesday, April 12, in Sacramento
100 travel from Salinas to deliver petitions
to state Capitol urging ‘save our libraries’
in John Steinbeck’s blue-collar home town
One hundred residents from the home town of John Steinbeck—including many farm workers and their children—travel Tuesday morning to the state Capitol to deliver more than 8,500 signatures on petitions calling on lawmakers to prevent closure of the three public libraries in their blue-collar agricultural community.
In an effort to save the Salinas public library system, which is slated to shut down soon because of budget shortfalls, dozens of authors, community activists and supporters organized an emergency 24-hour “read in” outside the Cesar Chavez Public Library in Salinas on April 2 and 3. If the city libraries shut down, Salinas could become the most populous American municipality without a public library.
Names on petitions were collected in Salinas and via an on-line petition organized by the United Farm Workers of America (www.ufw.org/sol.htm). The petition, directed to state elected officials, notes in “Salinas, where many of the children of hardworking immigrants find it difficult to buy books, gain access to computers or find a quiet place to study, the public library is a lifeline to literacy, a vehicle that can transport children from gang-dominated neighborhoods to a place of wonder and exploration.”
And, the petition says, “funding for public libraries should be one of the state’s top priorities” and asks legislators “to take a leadership role in finding a long-term solution for funding of public libraries throughout the state of California.”
Who: One hundred Salinas residents traveling by bus from John Steinbeck’s home town, including many farm workers and their children.
What: Presenting petitions to lawmakers at the state Capitol to “save our libraries.”
When: 11:15 a.m., Tuesday, April 12, 2005.
Where: North step of state Capitol, Sacramento.
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