How B-PAC is Different
BOOKS - Maintaining a catalog that meets the needs of Morton Grove while expanding e-books and embracing new technology.
PEOPLE – Keeping the Library a comfortable place for everyone to read, learn, research and experience. Keeping an atmosphere of safety for our children and our seniors.
ACCOUNTABILITY – Making the most of the taxes we’ve been entrusted with. Conducting our business in the open, welcoming public participation.
CREDIBILITY – Running the Library with integrity to the community, with straight forward information you can trust.
Where any governmental institution obtains their funding (and when) are not the issues – how they spend it is! The current Library Trustees are trying to divert the public’s attention from this issue by claiming other government bodies have different ways to raise money – but no matter how do, they must live within their budget as we all must.
Just like the laws of economics are a definitive, the laws governing elections must also be followed. Deficiencies in the nominating papers routinely are challenged, and the longest serving current trustee’s was found to be deficient and removed from the ballot. All elected officials, whether new or veteran, must follow the election laws like every driver must follow the rules of the road.
- Initiate a forensic audit of the public funds used by the MGPL from 2005 to 2010
- Initiate the physical changes to the facility to make it fully handicapped accessible
- Move monthly Board meetings to the Baxter Room (the largest meeting room)
- Televise the open portion of the meetings on MGTV
- Allow for public comments at the beginning and the end of the meeting
- Repeal of the Agnes Quinn amendment which restricts freedom of speech
- Amend the ethics clause to agree with American Library Association guidelines
- Put an immediate freeze on the creation of new positions
- Immediately cease spending on consultants devising plans for a new library building
- Table the search for land and halt building plans until a time when the majority of Morton Grove residents are in favor of building a new library through a referendum
- Review the legitimate need to add 5 new employees as put into the 2011 budget
- Meet with other village entities in order to avoid duplication of services
- Maintain successful programs that enhance written and virtual literacy
- Expand computer classes, training of new technologies and e-library technology
- Maintain the excellent library staff that we currently have and support them in their aim to further knowledge acquisition for all of the people of Morton Grove
- Focus on pre-reading children’s programs to foster a life-long love of learning
- Train, encourage, support and utilize the many volunteers who wish to donate their valuable time to further the success of the Morton Grove library
- Decrease the size of the current library newsletter, Books and Beyond, from the current 16 pages and transition to e-delivery for wired residents
- Peg the increase or decrease in the library budget to match or fall below the increase or decrease in the overall village budget
In keeping with the tenants of B-PAC, Books, People, Accountability & Credibility we will institute the following changes if the people of Morton Grove choose to elect us:
The tax levy for the library has been spinning wildly out of control, and it has to stop now. In the past 6 years, the levy has increased from $2 million to more than $3 million per year. That’s a 50% increase at a time when there has been virtually no inflation and a time when the recession has hit every citizen of Morton Grove in the pocket. During that same time, there has been a 40% increase in full time staff for a facility whose size and operating hours has not changed. This year’s budget calls for yet 5 more staff members. Why? Additionally, the board has been spending huge amounts of time and huge amounts of our money trying to build a library that we do not need and can not afford.
Our opponents are unfortunately taking a less-than-professional and sometimes mean-spirited response to questions about their actions and activities. This is not becoming to those who hold or seek public office as your representatives and stewards of public resources. We are troubled by the scare tactics that are being utilized by our opponents to spread misinformation, often presented in an emotional and irrational manner. The citizens of Morton Grove deserve better. The members of B-PAC have always attempted to keep the discussion on point and civil. We hope the members of the current Library Board would have done the same in this election and at their Board Meetings.
One doesn’t have to live in the past to appreciate the values that previous generations of hard-working Morton Grove residents hold dear and fought for. The current members of the Library Board who are seeking the support of the community seem to be mocking “the greatest generation” and all the positive attributes they and their families stand for along with contributions and sacrifices they made to give us the life we enjoy today. It is unfortunate that have done so in their campaign materials. For instance, they use photos and captions of Joe DiMaggio, IKE, Elvis and hard-working families from the 1950’s in a disparaging manner. Even worse, they refer to a B-PAC candidate as “Mrs. Flintstone” and Morton Grove as “Bedrock” along with our beloved home town as being a “shrinking, dying village”. These negative and condescending words are coming from those who are currently running an important public institution. This is an unacceptable example to set for the children of our village, which they so vocally claim to support. It is time to restore a level of community service and respect that is absent from this Library Board, four of which are seeking to be re-elected. It is time to vote for B-PAC!
Our opponents, all current members of the Library Board, have chosen to include the viewpoints of several well-known Chicago politicians (such as Carol Mosley-Braun, Miguel Del Valle) about libraries. The only viewpoint that truly matters are those of the citizens of Morton Grove! We are not Chicago, nor are we Niles, Skokie or Glenview. We have our own unique history and culture which must be preserved, along with the historic building that our community has come to know and love. Like many older structures in town, modern technology can and will be utilized to make the library building viable well into this new century. One only has to look at any historic structure or television program that rehabs older buildings to see how this can be done to meet the diverse needs of ALL our residents.
“For the past several years the board has failed to fully maintain and update our library building, banking on their goal of building a new building instead of maintaining and improving the one we already have. We would make the necessary repairs and institute upgrades to make our current library efficient and comfortable for public and staff alike. Maintaining our historic structure would be more ecologically friendly as we will not be expanding our carbon footprint. We would make the necessary repairs and institute upgrades to make our current library efficient and comfortable for public and staff alike. We would provide full handicap accessibility to the second floor. Instead of an expensive, expansive new building, we are banking that the library of the future will be the physical size of the current Morton Grove Public Library, with library nooks reaching into every home in our community via the internet. This new library will continue to serve the needs of all of our residents, from the younge st pre-reader to the most senior person in our community.”
The current budget is out of line with the rest of the village. We cannot continue to put more and more pressure on the taxpayers of Morton Grove. This current board sets its spending without taking the people or the reality of their lives into consideration. Expanding staff, across the board raises and a 15% raise in the budget between 2010 and 2011 alone, with an increase of almost $1 million over the last seven years proves that they are out of touch with the needs and desires of the people of Morton Grove. Their insistence on building a new library will not only drive us further in debt, but will commit the next generation to inherit that debt, along with a building that will be obsolete before it is finished. We will get spending under control.