Laserfiche WebLink
5 <br />while allowing the entire city to complain about it when they do so? Why have city council and the mayor not <br />been more assertive all of these times the city has been within inches of creating humane and well designed <br />shelters and housing strategies only to let a handful of residents shoot those projects down over personal <br />prejudices? Why did we allow a handful of business owners determine it was more important to drive shelter <br />users away from the gospel mission and into the downtown business district and neighborhoods rather than <br />working with the mission to expand their facilities? It seems like working to create a day center to meet the <br />needs of those individuals where they were at would have made more sense. And why did we approve a plan <br />that would close our only in-patient mental health facility for years for reconstruction without a clear backup <br />facility, forcing countless extremely unhealthy people onto the streets of Snohomish county unsupported? We <br />are suffering through a crisis very much of our own making. We cannot just use wishful thinking and have <br />human beings disappear because we find them inconvenient, or uncomfortable to acknowledge.   <br />  <br />And this brings me to the real purpose of this long letter, the library and threatened annexation. I hope you've <br />stuck with me this far - I really appreciate you for doing so! I will start by saying that there is nothing inherently <br />wrong with the Sno-Isle system. My issue with this plan has to do with the lack of honesty in how it is being <br />sold to our residents and council. Giving the mayor the benefit of the doubt, perhaps this is because she <br />personally has been the first to admit that she is not a library user, so she does not know how the two <br />systems are very different in nature. I watched the first city council meeting where this plan was discretely <br />nestled under an agenda item that didn’t mention the library or Fire Department by name. The community <br />would be easily excused for missing that this conversation was taking place as little notice was given. In the <br />opening remarks two very false statements were made: that the library was rapidly growing, and that the <br />move to sno-isle would be about an increase in services. I don’t think there was ill intent here, but if this can <br />be called anything it would be spin.   <br />  <br />The first claim, growth, may look accurate on paper if one doesn’t zoom the chart back past 2020. The truth is <br />that the library was absolutely decimated at the start of the pandemic. Almost all of its long-term employees <br />were strongly encouraged to take early retirement buyouts or face certain layoffs in the months to come. After <br />that came the furloughs and layoffs. What was left was a skeleton crew, I think we went from 30 to 8, who <br />kept creating virtual programming going, sometimes even providing programming for other departments. It <br />was a collaborative time in the city because we felt we were all in it together. Or at least we thought so. <br />Library administration pushed hard at every turning point to lead the state, and often the country, in bringing <br />services back online. The skeleton crew brought in new technologies to deliver programs live, answer calls, <br />and even get back into the buildings to start doing curbside. Despite very real fears the EPL became the first <br />library in the state and one of the first in the country to reopen its doors to the public, long before the vaccines <br />were deemed worthy of its workers because they were not considered essential. Some workers went and <br />volunteered at mass vaccination sites so that they could take care of themselves and their families and return <br />to serve their community. In all the emails the city sent out in gratitude to the different city departments I never <br />saw any of this highlighted or appreciated.   <br />  <br />My time at the library, under more than one library and mayoral administration, has been marked by neglect <br />and disinvestment. Despite it all, I am constantly surrounded by colleagues who amaze me, and members of <br />the community who inspire me. Because of the type of system we work in, we are allowed to meet all of <br />our challenges nimbly and creatively. If you want to talk about responsible and frugal government spending <br />you will never need to look any further than a small city-funded library system. Universally we are given <br />scraps and told to make magic. So to overcome these challenges we have woven ourselves into the fabric of <br />Everett and Snohomish county. We have formed partnerships with city departments, schools, nonprofits, <br />Tribes, businesses, local artists, heritage groups, and so much more. Countless people work with us for free <br />because they believe in what we do, but we always strive to pay our presenters what they are worth because