Your Vote Can Save Ventura’s Libraries

* As an educator teaching at Ventura College, I can’t stress enough that we need to have every voter support Measure L this November.

I have three young daughters who have library cards and visit Foster Library as often as possible. The hours of operation are marginal at best and it’s real easy to forget those hours, show up and realize it is not open.

I was always told that it is every parent’s dream to make a better life than they had for their children. How regressive our society has become, how self-absorbed we are. We really need to think about our children, our culture and our society.

RICHARD PETERSON

Ventura

* When we look at the role that public libraries have played in our civilization, dating back to 330 BC when the first public library in Greece was established, it’s hard to comprehend why, more than 2,000 years later, we’re struggling to keep them open.

Even 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson, speaking of political freedom, said, “I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves. . . .” How do we enlighten people without libraries?

Let us not repeat the tragic mistake we made in the late 1980s when we saw a university, another instrument of enlightenment, slip through our fingers.

As a property owner in the city of Ventura, I strongly support Measure L--for our libraries, for our people, for our future.

JOYCE KENNEDY

Ventura

* Ventura libraries need a stable source of funding to remain open. Four generations of my family, from myself to my great-grandchildren, have used the Ventura public libraries for 58 years. They have relied on the libraries for various sources of information through school and beyond.

I am a homeowner, retired and on a fixed income, who feels strongly that Measure L should be passed. It is a small price to pay to maintain the quality of life in Ventura.

MARIAN QUIGLEY

Ventura

* With Election Day just around the corner, it’s very disturbing to encounter so much apathy and resistance to Ventura’s Measure L.

When my grandchildren and I are at the library poring over the books, it saddens me to contemplate the doors being closed permanently. Besides the young adults and kids, we seniors also enjoy reading--especially those who don’t get out very much because of health limitations.

C’mon folks--have a heart! It will cost us taxpayers just pennies a day and so many will benefit.

BETTY DAY

Ventura

* Advances in technology are creating a new vision of library service. It is possible to imagine a library where the entire body of recorded human experience is available to every citizen.

This possibility is not remote, but is actually on our doorstep. To have it, however, we must maintain the infrastructure of the library system. All assessments of our future stress the necessity of continuing education.

It would be tragic if we allowed such a tool as the library to slip from our grasp at the very moment when it can be most useful to us.

ARNOLD BLACK

Ventura