Libraries will close without funding

I just don't get it - perhaps incredulous is a more accurate description. Last summer, our community mobilized forces and joined together to prevent our library from closing permanently. This involved thousands of people signing petitions, writing letters, and a crowd of more than 200 people overflowing Town Hall at the "Save Our Williamsville Library" meeting in the height of vacation season.

The community, inclusive of residents, government officials and business people advocated passionately for our library to remain open, as it is an integral component of the community. We all agreed that having a library in the heart of the village is crucial in maintaining the "walkable village," where residents can walk from the library to businesses, government offices, restaurants, shops and parks. We fought hard for it to remain open, and, thankfully, the Town Board approved $100,000 for the library to remain open, and Verizon donated $13,000 for children's programming.

Everyone knows that closing our library is a hot-button issue, and this community will do whatever it needs to in order to make it exquisitely clear to the town supervisor and board the value we have for it. Yet, not one penny was allocated for the library in the supervisor's 2007 budget, despite a decrease in the amount of funding requested by Mary Bobinski, director of the Amherst Libraries, as she was able to secure funding from other sources.

Our library will close if funding is not allocated in the town's 2007 budget. We cannot be complacent about this - write letters, e-mails, and make phone calls to (Supervisor Satish) Mohan and the Town Board members. Demonstrate your support for keeping our library open by attending the public hearing at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16 in Town Hall. Jean Stadelman, chairman of Save Our Williamsville

Library Williamsville