By Jon Arenberg Sherrill Kushner, Esq.
Santa Monica voters have received a political mailer opposing Measure JJ (the living wage ordinance) that is untrue and deceptive. While it is not our place to announce where any of us personally stand on this issue, we want to correct the misinformation so that residents can decide how to vote based on the truth.
The mailer pictured the Montana Avenue Branch Library, surrounded by wire fencing, with the headline, “Our libraries are already in trouble. Measure JJ would only hurt them more.” The photograph is misleading because it implies that the library is in disrepair, closed, and therefore “in trouble.” The Main Library and the three branches are not “already in trouble.” On the contrary, a bond for $25 million passed in 1998 by more than 80 percent of our voters, and is providing the funds to renovate the branch libraries and construct the expanded Main Library.
Both Montana and Fairview Branches are now closed for the already funded renovations and will open in December — new and improved for all patrons to enjoy. The Main Library expansion is on target and will be demolished in the next few months to be replaced by a state-of-the-art facility, paid for by the bond and funds provided by the City of Santa Monica.
The mailer claims that if Measure JJ passes, the libraries will be hurt more. This is not true. The bond funds are secure and the city’s commitment to the library is unwavering. The opponents of JJ are trying to tie their cause to the library as a scare tactic.
H. Richard Horst and Ida Trives, former chairs of the Library Board who served in the 1980s and ’90s, signed the mailer. It is unfortunate that they and Santa Monicans Fighting Against Irresponsible Regulation are misinformed. They do not seem to be aware of the current status of the libraries’ construction. If they were, they would know that THE LIBRARIES ARE WELL FUNDED and will continue to be into the future. There is no danger of them being closed or not maintained properly.
We take offense when our libraries are misrepresented for political purposes.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 30, 2002. Read the original PDF.