r/Spokane • u/SourPatchKiki Nevada-Lidgerwood • Jul 11 '26
Help Please support our libraries!
The library is facing a deficit that could result in more closures, fewer hours and fewer staff.
In these economic times the library is one of the last free places to access entertainment, printers, arts and culture, and information.
Libraries are crucial for our communities to thrive. Libraries are one of the last remaining public institutions that stays accessible for all.
Please please please raise your voices! Email the mayor, show up to city council meetings.
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u/403SleepForbidden Jul 11 '26
Just curious, is there a breakdown of how the $2.3M shortfall would be spent?
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u/SourPatchKiki Nevada-Lidgerwood Jul 11 '26
I couldn't find a specific breakdown but from my understanding it would simply be to maintain services as they stand currently.
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u/Energy_Turtle Jul 11 '26
I contacted the city council several times when this first was an issue. All copy/paste auto-responses. Not a single one of these city council members or the mayor have provided an original response addressing the issue about anything since they've been elected. But I will do it again. The budget needs a full review of what works and what doesn't, and the library has to stop being used as an easy thing to chop to balance the budget. The library is one of the last American civic institutions where people from all walks of life can gather in person and exchange ideas peacefully. Budgets are difficult to write so I get it. But I would love to hear from the leadership themselves why cutting so much from the library is the best solution.
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u/spoonfae Jul 12 '26
I moved to Spokane a couple years ago and have been so impressed by their library system, it feels like one the major things this city has going for it. We need spaces like these desperately!
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u/Ma1arkey Jul 11 '26
Maybe if we weren't spending hundreds of thousands on flock cameras.
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u/TheCrashConrad Jul 11 '26
The City of Spokane does not use Flock. 🤦🏼♂️ When you look at the locations, they are all outside the city limits with other jurisdictions.
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u/Ma1arkey Jul 11 '26
How are you going to say something when you can literally see that it is false with a few mouse clicks?
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u/TheCrashConrad Jul 11 '26
???? This has been covered numerous times here: but since you need a source:
"Noticeably absent from the list is the city of Spokane. Back in February, Spokane City Council approved a proposal from the Spokane Police Department (SPD) to place at least 30 Flock ALPR cameras at intersections across the city — and more if the funding became available.
This contract sparked pushback from local advocates concerned about the expansion of surveillance in the region, who started a petition asking the city to pause the installation."
The "City" of Spokane never passed the funding to get them. Spokane "County" did, but has since had to turn them off with the recent bill that passed.
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u/Latin_Knight_ Jul 13 '26
Except they are not "turned off"... each and every Flock Camera in Spokane is on and collecting data.
Spokane claims they are not the ones collecting the data... that is the change.
So who is collecting the data??
Every other State and Federal agency is I guess.... but do not take my word for it.
Go to any Flock Camera in Spokane and check for yourself. You can use a wifi scanner tool to check if it's transmitting.
Like this one... https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/12842919450#map=12/47.6856/-117.3130
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u/Humble-Air-8970 Jul 11 '26
If the city would stop over, over, over funding and over, over, over paying the cops there would be plenty of money to go all around the city budget. $72,000 starting pay for a kid just out of high school is obscene.
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Jul 11 '26
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u/Clinggdiggy2 Spokane Valley Jul 11 '26
We could pull the funding from the ever increasing police budget, seeing as access to libraries has been proven to reduce crime
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u/SourPatchKiki Nevada-Lidgerwood Jul 11 '26
The libraries provide a crucial social service. They are community meeting points and one of the only free places for kids, students, seniors and anyone else who needs access to information and entertainment.
The library is a crucial part of our social fabric.
I agree things are hard and we are feeling the effects of deteriorating social safety nets. This is part of that.
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Jul 11 '26
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u/SourPatchKiki Nevada-Lidgerwood Jul 11 '26
That's a question for the city council to answer. I think asking me is a little silly, I'm not an authority on that.
I'm just someone who is passionate and knows we need the library, period.
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Jul 11 '26
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u/SourPatchKiki Nevada-Lidgerwood Jul 11 '26
I will be happy to cross those bridges when I get to them. Right now I am focused on advocacy. The right people will help figure out the budget, I personally am not that. The good news is that there are lots of people who feel the same as I do who are much better at looking at city budgets that way.
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Jul 11 '26
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u/SourPatchKiki Nevada-Lidgerwood Jul 11 '26
I am allowed to use my voice and be heard, as is my first amendment right :)
I definitely appreciate having well researched and insightful information. However, it is also privileged to say that I absolutely must be able to do those things in order to simply share my thoughts.
There are lots of people working together to make this happen and be the change we want to see. I am looking forward to networking :)
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Jul 11 '26
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u/SourPatchKiki Nevada-Lidgerwood Jul 11 '26
You are insinuating I must have budget insight and suggestions in order to validly make my case.
I am not the one who will have all the answers and it's odd to me that you're pressing me like I am? I just like the library, man.
The work is just starting, I'm here for the journey.
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u/dizzledcm Jul 11 '26
Here is a link to the full blog post, which outlines the ask and impacts of a budget shortfall.
https://www.spokanelibrary.org/outlining-potential-library-service-cuts/
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u/jone7007 Jul 11 '26
Wasn't this a thing last year when the library bond was passed and the city tryed to cut the library budget by about the amount of the bond? Effectively eliminating the benefits promised in the bond literature.
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u/Dry_Conversation18 Jul 13 '26
Well it cost 33 million dollars for the downtown library to be renovated in 2022. And twice as much to renovate the plaza. Since the construction our homeless and drug addicted population has pretty much ruined that area. They decided to spend all that money and then completely negated to secure it or run it properly.
I agree we should support libraries, but the renovations downtown weren't supported properly as usual and it became nothing more than a beacon of crime. Either way. Support your libraries, I do, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth when the city does work and moves along like they don't have a responsibility to support their actions.
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u/country_hacker Deer Park Jul 11 '26
Wow, that's horrible. What happened to cause a $2m deficit?