I want to praise Councilman Brinker for having the courage to stand up for fiscal responsibility. Why should libraries be immune from financial scrutiny?

Shouldn't the City Council be adopting balanced budgets? And if they do need to cut back, why take away from educational programs, such as libraries,in the GHETTOS? Seems to me that theres more appropriate places to cut back then from the the kids who need it to escape the violent neighborhoods of San Berdo and to be successful.

They should start docking their own pay, or the City Manager's, or something. Obviously those types don't need it as much as these troubled homes in these troubled neighborhoods. This is not fiscal responsibility, it's just plain irresponsibility.

I am a teacher. I believe in the importance of education and being open to learning new things. That is why I support closing our libraries.
As an educated person I looked at our libraries and concluded that they deserving a failing grade. As a city councilman I concluded that we are wasting money.
The future of libraries is not in brick and mortar buildings. Books are great but the internet is a cheaper and more effective delivery system for text. With gas prices approaching $5 a gallon do we really expect and want people to drive miles and miles to check out library books? San Bernardino is a BIG city (over 60 square miles) and we only have four libraries. The libraries I proposed closing are in just two poor parts of town. Unfortunately there are many other poor parts of town that do not have libraries. San Bernardino is a city with too many poor areas. I believe everyone deserve books and that we can develop a plan to get books (text) to them more cheaply.
We already have many community centers through parks and recreation. We should add more computers with internet and small rotating book collections to our community centers. We should partner with businesses to add internet access and small rotating book collections in small kiosk shops around the whole city. This process will take time and money as we shift the way we do business which is why I proposed closing a couple libraries for a year or two.
We should recognize that 2008 is different from 1988 and that today libraries compete with Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and the plain old internet. Today’s readers have different needs and wants. Today’s economy demands different services.
To be an educator and support closing out-dated failing libraries is not ignorant. I understand that if we want a better city we need to recognize our failings and demand better. Sometimes that requires admitting truths and taking unpopular positions. We need the debate. As a policy maker I want to know what the community thinks.
I appreciate the media’s coverage and commentary as a way of facilitating the conversation. Coverage and commentary that I imagine would not have been so forthcoming if I had simply stated that we need better libraries as opposed to calling for the closure of two west-side libraries.

Councilman Brinker:

Thank you for taking the time to make some comments on this story. All of our readers, especially those whom are your constituents, appreciate you doing so!

Thanks again.