BIG WIN for LIBRARIES Supes Just Voted 5-0 for Revenue Measure to Restore Hours

I just returned from the Sonoma County Supervisors meeting: this afternoon, they voted 5 to 0 to put a 1/8 of 1% sales tax for libraries on the November ballot :thumbsup:

This is a major grassroots victory for Responsive Government.:heart: Thanks :heart: in large part to the thousands of Sonoma County citizens who signed my two Restore Library Hours petitions during the past 16 months, and the many signers who also wrote emails, called, and spoke with our Supervisors, the biggest step to resolving the library’s unprecedented 25% cutback in hours was taken today.

After voicing initial resistance, our Supervisors heard the voices of We, the People, who support our libraries, and are not willing to see Monday and evening closings become the "new normal."

The measure will raise nearly $10 million annually for all the County libraries during the next ten years (that's $100 million :thumbsup:), enough to restore all the hours cut, add evenings, restore and expand children, teen, and multilingual adult programs. It will even provide seed funding for a new library to serve as a community hub in the under-served Roseland community. It will raise per capital funding from $33 to $52--a level similar to Napa County's, and about half the funding per capita that Marin and San Francisco Counties provide.

It will take A LOT of work and more grassroots organizing to get the 66.7% of all County voters we need to pass the library measure this November. But now is the time to savor this MAJOR VICTORY for the public interest.

And to thank Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors, Mike McGuire, Susan Gorin, Shirlee Zane, Efren Carrillo, and David Rabbitt for practicing Responsive Government, and voting to help save Sonoma County’s beloved library system.

Please click here if you'd like to join me in sending them each a BIG

THANK YOU!
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