EVERETT – At a meeting Monday night on how to deal with looming library budget cuts, south Everett residents warned of “disaster” for their community if the city closes the Evergreen branch library.
Library director Mark Nesse said that, if the tax-cutting Initiative 864 were to get on the November ballot and pass, he might have to propose shuttering the south Everett branch. Nearly 40 percent of the library system’s materials are checked out from the city’s only branch library.
“It’s just mind-boggling to me that the city would even think about closing this library even for a day,” said Jamie Dahlgren, a para-educator at nearby Challenger Elementary School.
She said closure of the library would mean many neighborhood children would have nowhere to go for summer activities. Many parents in south Everett are low-income, she said, and they depend on the library for things they cannot afford to pay for.
“They use this library for their videos, for their books, for everything,” she said. Many do not have cars and would not take the long bus ride to the main library downtown, Dahlgren said.
Pat Cudinski, 57, said library services are especially needed during the type of economic downturn the city is now going through.
“Now is when people can’t afford to buy books,” she said. “Now is when there’s a need for job resources.”
Peggy Claflin, 65, said closing the library would make it more difficult for the city to attract new residents. South Everett is the city’s fastest growing area.
“The library is the backbone of the community,” she said. “I’m sure there are other things that can be cut and done away with.”
But far more than library services would have to be cut if the initiative proposed by Mukilteo’s Tim Eyman passes, Mayor Ray Stephanson has said. The city would have to slash up to $8 million from its budget, he said. Nesse said that could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in library cuts. Initiative 864 would cut property taxes by 25 percent.
Even if Initiative 864 doesn’t pass, the library probably would have to bear some of the projected $3.7 million in separate cuts that Stephanson is proposing to balance the 2005 city budget. In March, Stephanson cut $200,000 from the library’s $4.2 million budget.
John Williams, chairman of the Cascade View Neighborhood Association, said south Everett residents already feel disconnected from the rest of the city.
“Certainly by closing this library, we’d be telling residents here that we’re not a part of the city,” he said.
The Evergreen branch, which opened in 1989 at 9512 Evergreen Way, is about five miles south of the main library.
Ed Vaughn, 60, said that’s a long way for south Everett residents to go.
“I won’t go to the downtown branch if you close this branch,” he said. “It’s just too far.”
Monday’s meeting was the last of three public input sessions that a library committee held this month to develop a strategic plan for 2005-09. The committee will make its recommendations to the library board in August.
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.
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