- The primary reason we are voting on this library is simply
the availability of a $1.6 million state grant. We simply
would not be here if that grant was not being offered.
When you raised your children, some of you may have warned
them of the candyman, who would lure them into danger by
offering them candy or money.
Along comes the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and dangles
a $1.6 million piece of candy and most of you are salivating
and some of you are even drooling. You're thinking,
What a wicked bagain!
Ladies and Gentlemen, you are all being lured into danger of
more unnecessary debt ($5 million). Do not spend our
money without a compelling reason
Take the advice you gave your children. Don't take
the bait.
In addition, the bait will be offered again in four years.
As a town, we've been here for 300 years. What's the
bloody hurry?
- According to Antoinette Burrill who has lived in Framingham
all her life, the land for the new library was used as
an ice skating pond when she was a child. Apparently it
was wetlands. Does this mean that contruction costs
include driving piles to reach bedrock or will we have a
floating library? The lot is near a 90 degree turn in
the Sudbury River.
- The town possesses over 205
disposable parcels of real estate
(not to mention 364 others). These disposable pieces
have an assessed value of over $50 million.
Why not sell some of these to buy a library. The sale
generates future tax income.
- Why would any south-side town meeting representative vote
for this north-side library? How does it improve
the lives of their constituency? They have to drive further
and it increases their debt load. What's the upside?
- The purchase of additional land takes that land off the tax
roles. The assessed value of one acre of land is now
over $800,000 according to my latest tax bill
The commercial tax rate is nearly $30 per $1000.
One acre at commercial rates brings in 800 x $30 = $24,000
per year. This value is indexed by 2.5% each year
Over twenty years, we would lose $642,032 to remove one acre
of commercial property.
- The function of a library is to allow residents to borrow
books. In this situation, we are dramatically
expanding the purpose of a library. This is government
metastasing.
It is not the function of a library to provide government
controlled public meeting rooms that may discriminate against
certain groups.
It is not the function of a library to provide childcare
disguised as childrens reading sessions.
- The $5 million the taxpayers will spend will help to create an
operational override situation in the near future by diverting
funds for other more important purposes .
A $5 million loan at 5% interest for 20 years will cost us
a total of $7.9 million. The monthly payment will be
about $33,000 and the annual payment wil be $396,000.
- Why would anyone over 60 want to vote for spending this
money. I suspect that I will be dead before this is
paid for. Let our children decide if they want the
debt. Let's not force it on them.
- The rise of the internet and its primary search engine
Google, allows over half
of the population to do research online which certainly reduces
the demand on all libraries. The internet now has
a public domain encyclopedia
WikiPedia in multiple
languages.
- Around 1999, ahead of the high school debt exclusion override
of 2000, our superintendent of schools, Mark Smith told us
that we would be able to use the HS library as a public
facility between 3 PM and 9 PM. This was stated to
induce us to spend what would become nearly $60 million
on the high school.
The high school is less than a mile from the McAuliffe library
and has plenty of parking.
- The Framingham high school reconstruction had a nine percent
cost overrun factor. No one has discussed cost overruns
on this project. What happens if there are overruns?
- The current McAuliffe library was originally designed for
16,000 books but now contains over 70,000. If the
new library can hold 100,000 books, there is no reason that
Tom Gilchrist can't stuff 400,000 books into it and then
claim that it's too small.
The library is not ADA compliant simply because it has
far more books than it was designed to hold and perhaps the
bathrooms need work..
- Following the 80/20 rule, only 20% of the books in the library
are frequently checked out. Make room by placing the
other 80% in storage for the Minute Man Library use.
- The library is part of the Minuteman library system which
allows a person to find a book amongst 40 other libraries in
the area including the library at Framingham State College.
- The town already spends over 60% of it's resources for
the children thru our school budget. The library
advocates (more like fanatics) are using the children
to push for more waste. If the children want
more resources, they can pay their own taxes thru their
allowances. The childrenconstitute only 13%
of the population. We constitute the other 87%.
Frankly, as an adult who has not yet died, I want resources
as an adult, like better garbage collection, better snow
plowing of sidewalks, etc. Libraries do not rank high
as a necessity.
- I personally took offense at Tom Gilchrist's usage of
public facilities and public monies to promote his little
bureaucratic turf. For example, On Sunday,
January 9th, 2005, he opened the McAuliffe Library so that
he could pitch his proposal to the public. The library
web site
framinghamlibrary.org is paid for with public monies
and has a page asking citizens to push for the new
library. The domain name is owned by Tom Gilchrist.
The library building is publicly owned. The session was
taped using public equipment, and a video presentation was made
using public equipment.
Thus, I can state that Tom Gilchirst is a self-serving,
turf-building, tax wasting bureaucrat.
The Framingham Library newsletter is paid for by the
Friends of the Library and it also pleads with citizens
to influence their town meeting members.
Imagine if you will if every public official was as
self-serving as Tom Gilchrist and how much of
our money would they use to squeeze more of
our tax money from us.
- The argument that an expanded library in the Saxonville
will spur economic development is fundamentally stupid.
Will someone please show me a shred of evidence of this.
- Bookstores are being used for research. Regretably,
they seemingly don't want to put out chairs and tables to
encourage this. I wonder why?
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