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# Letter: James Zeruk Jr. criticizes new Main Library chairs, restrooms and author lineup
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/major-gripes-editor/
- Published: 2008-09-17T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T21:02:38.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By James Zeruk, Jr. Santa Monica*

When our new, multi-million dollar Main Library finally opened, I thought we were in for a pleasant experience. Let’s take stock of a few things, shall we?

Within weeks of the grand re-opening staff was replacing many of the new wooden chairs with new wooden chairs. It seems the original chairs were defective and flimsy (my dismay was met by a rude comment from a staff member).

Naturally, as Santa Monica considers itself a progressive green city, we must have a green library. Let me define green library: Warm water from drinking fountains, large puddles of urine constantly collecting on the floors of the men’s restrooms due to the flush-less urinals (staff cleans the restrooms many times a day, so they are certainly not the problem — third-world mentality wrapped in Al Gore theology is).

I’ve yet to see a single conservative guest author come to the library for lectures and book signings. Yet, we have had dozens of left-wing, Bush-hating authors hold court, some twice. Even those freaky, weird UFO-worshiping Raelians get to come and pitch their snake oil, but God forbid if a Republican author should be asked to discuss his or her book and common sense.

The wireless is awful, actually, it’s worse than awful. I have a new laptop with all the latest bells and whistles. It works absolutely perfect at any other library or city wi-fi. Only at the Main Library can a fellow hit “SEND” and lose his e-mails to another dimension (maybe the Raelians got them on the mother ship).

Only at our new, state-of-the-art library can it take as much as 10 minutes to connect to the city agreement page. Only here occurs the never-ending battle to figure out why the hell the connection drops and Google keeps muscling in when I hit “SEARCH” from my Yahoo. Only here does the city and library wi-fI drop out completely and without warning, only to be replaced by some bizarre-looking city employee password-protected page, thus shutting off public access until the next day.

Don’t even get me started on those new microfilm machines, which a NASA scientist can’t figure out. The old machines are great! Easy and quick, archaic, and yet many times more reliable than the new ones. Less is more, people.

Well, I could add more gripes, but I must get this letter to the Pony Express rider, much more faster and efficient than … well, you know.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 17, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091708.pdf?ref=smdp.com)