Close the public libraries in John Steinbeck’s home town? They
couldn’t do that? “They” not only could; they almost did.
Had it happened on July 1 this year, Salinas, California, would
have been the largest city in the nation without a public library.
Monterey County’s seat, the city has three libraries, the main one
having been named after the famous writer who set several of his
novels in the fertile Salinas Valley.
The near-closing was not a scare tactic. It was the city
council’s response to a genuine financial crisis. Having engaged in
cutting, squeezing, and trimming its budgets (to borrow an early
Reagan phrase) for some time, the council last December came to the
moment when the cupboard was bare. It had already spent the city’s
$9 million reserve. There were several reasons for the dire
situation: rising pension and health insurance costs, declining
sales tax revenue, and the habit of the state government to dip
into funds bound for the cities in order to balance its own
budget.
When the city council faced its moment of truth, it took the
only option available other than municipal bankruptcy: sharp cuts
in services. The choices were stunning in their breadth: July 1,
2005, the beginning of a new fiscal year, close all three public
libraries (the main library is where the boy Steinbeck spent time
studying); close five recreation centers; cut all but emergency
street repairs; eliminate street tree maintenance; lop off several
new police and fire department hires; cut out school crossing
guards. All of these hit Salinas hard, but it was the closing of
the libraries that brought national headlines.
That these draconian measures will be reversed is testimony to a
leader and large numbers of Salinas’s 150,000 citizens who made a
genuine grassroots campaign work. Shortly after the beginning of
the year, Mayor Anna Caballero met with representatives of several
civic and neighborhood groups with a plan. Phase One would be a
grassroots drive to raise enough money to keep all three libraries
open, at least part-time, after July 1. They called it Rally
Salinas! Mayor Caballero kicked it off on February 2 with a news
conference at the National Steinbeck Center, a conference and
museum facility. The goal, she said, was to raise $500,000 by late
June.
She formed what came to be known as the Blue Ribbon Committee.
It was a cross-section of the city, with representatives of the
chamber of commerce, agricultural growers and shippers association,
Latino business leaders, neighborhood groups, parents, Friends of
the Salinas Public Libraries, and others.
The Committee asked for volunteers, and hundreds stepped forward
to make telephone calls, go door to door, assemble mailing lists,
and buttonhole potential individual supporters. A tax-exempt
countywide foundation agreed to be the receiver and administrate
donations. Rally Salinas! went over the top, with more than
$760,000 collected. The libraries were saved — at least until
January 1, 2006.
There needed to be a Phase Two, and the Rally Salinas! campaign
gave the committee time to plan for it. After much discussion and
some polling, they decided that a ballot issue calling for a
one-half cent increase in the city sales tax would provide the
funds to reverse the deep cuts. There was some risk in putting it
on the special election ballot in November. Governor Schwarzenegger
had called the election to put three of his favorite reforms to the
voters, but at a cost of approximately $50 million. The opposition
was well organized and well funded. If Salinas voted “no” on the
Schwarzenegger measures, would voters add another “no” to Measure
V, the local sales tax measure?
Mayor Caballero and what was now a campaign committee planned
carefully. From their polling they concluded that the citizens
understood that this small increase in the sales tax (which would
sunset in 10 years) was the best way to solve the local problems.
More than 200 volunteers contacted some 30,000 likely voters before
election day.
On election day, while all of the Schwarzenegger measures went
down to defeat, Salinas voted by 62 percent for Measure V, the
sales tax. It is axiomatic that most conservatives never met a tax
they liked; however, it would be hard not to admire the
determination, elbow grease, and shoe leather expended by this
grassroots citizen group. If a strong majority believes that a
local tax increase is the best way to solve local problems, who is
to say nay? Far better that local voters control their destinies
than that it be done by politicians in the state capitol, often
beholden to special interests. Besides, John Steinbeck can now rest
in peace.
