WATCH: How Citizen Power Saved a Library

There's so much going wrong in America, we in journalism sometimes miss what's going right. Here's one example -- a story from Troy, Michigan that in its own way answers the question many of you ask of me: 'What can we do? How do we turn things around?"

Seems the city of Troy was facing a budget shortfall, and was considering closing the Troy Public Library for lack of funds. It would only take a miniscule tax increase to save the library, but anti-tax groups organized against it. Then, the community -- with help from the Leo Burnett ad agency -- went to work.

Here's why libraries mean so much to me, and what occurred in Troy -- a reminder of what can happen when we act together.

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Comments

[Roy Patten]

08:53 PM on 06/29/2012

The day libraries die is the day we as a nation have failed ourselves in such an epic manor, that it would make Ray Bradbury cry, reading is a staple of the human condition we could no more do without books than we could do without air. If libraries fall than so will we, it's a disgrace that people won't do more to save these pillars of american society.

[LoneTree]

05:39 PM on 06/27/2012

"A vote against the library is like a vote to burn books?"

False and misleading advertising to counter false and misleading advertising?

Here's a group that just rolled up their sleeves, pounded the pavement, got people to sign up, and raised the monetary contributions and volunteer hours to keep Hendy Woods State Park open: http://web.me.com/site100/Hendywoods.org/Keep_Hendy_Woods_Open!.html

In contrast to gaming the system. But I'm coming to realize that (plug your ears, I'm about to do some name-calling here) Progressives don't like volunteers, and scorn non-governmental solutions. Too bad, I volunteer and I contribute and I intend to continue to do both.

[Christopher Parker III]

02:48 PM on 06/26/2012

I agree that funding libraries is a valuable endeavor. It's just irresponsible to give in when politicians extort tax increases to cover their dishonesty.

[Christopher Parker III]

02:42 PM on 06/26/2012

Let me see if I understand this. The politicians waste our tax dollars on inane projects, hack jobs, and inflated union wages, and other forms of wasteful spending. As a result, there's no money for teachers, art, and libraries. Instead of attacking such waste, fraud and abuse, we expect the taxpayer to pony up more money because the politicians insist on cutting good things rather than the waste.

To me, this is nothing to celebrate.

[vividrick]

02:15 PM on 06/26/2012

Libraries are not just libraries. They can be community halls, meeting places, art galleries, cafe's, stages, learning centres, education facilities....they're a vital part of our comunities, save them!

[LoneTree]

05:49 PM on 06/27/2012

I volunteered at the main branch of our city library, but I quit doing that. Things at public libraries have changed drastically, toward the unkempt, disruptive, and sprawling end of the spectrum, since I was a kid. They may be all those things you mention, but they are no longer places of studious reading and research, no longer the calm and deliberative oasis provided for the undisturbed absorption of the written word. I spent my volunteer hours straightening up the pigsty created by my fellow citizens, and finally I was just done with that.

My other volunteer jobs are much more rewarding.

[vividrick]

11:39 PM on 06/27/2012

...sorry to hear that of your local branch, but they're still worth saving. No doubt the computer age has changed them, but that's why we need to make them purposeful like the examples mentioned above.

[libforsanity]

01:26 PM on 06/26/2012

Support Your Public Library(ies)!! Please!!