Zurya Anjum, Sartell
People of Sartell, I am writing to you on behalf of Sartell friends of the library and more than 500 Sartell residents who signed their names on a petition for a Sartell branch of the Great River Regional Library system.
The Sartell City Council has allocated $13.5 million for the community center and other “projects” that do not include a GRRL branch. That, despite repeated requests by residents through the ballot and surveys that [said] they want a GRRL in Sartell. Shame on our council members. They all talked about a library when they were running for office but now the mayor says she did not mean it to be a full GRRL branch but just a kids’ library space. The other members also say they support the library but to date have not allocated a single dime to it.
The proof is in the pudding. We have been betrayed by our council and especially by our mayor. It’s time to speak up now, otherwise Sartell will never get a GRRL branch. Libraries are a must for any community that values knowledge and wants to provide a place for everyone to come to a free public facility for media, books and programming. Are we to believe local library opponents and council members [believe] every Sartell resident has an E-reader with unlimited internet access and so a library is not needed? The GRRL states digital books are only 5 percent of the total checkouts at their many libraries.
If you voted for the half-cents sales tax twice believing it would be spent on amenities that include a GRRL in Sartell, please come to the 6 p.m. March 14 city-council meeting to show we will not stand for this betrayal. We have made our wishes known for the past 15 years and will do so again March 14 to show we are a community that will not allow our chosen members to ignore our wishes for a long-awaited promise they are breaking.
Let’s show our solidarity. Let our voices be heard.