Oak Park Library

I attended the opening of the new Robbie Waters Pocket Area Library on August 28th, 2010. It was a great event and the library is an amazing resource for our City. Sadly, it also pointed out to me a great disparity in our communities.

The City of Sacramento opened three libraries in the past year. That is a great accomplishment, but it contrasts with the closing of the Oak Park library over twenty years ago.

Schools in Oak Park claim some of the lowest reading scores in the City. We have to do better. If we are going to open our children’s minds to reading in this often neglected community, we have to open the doors to a new library. Even in these difficult economic times, we have to continue to dream bigger for our struggling neighborhoods.

Mike Lambert of the Oak Park Foundation, an organization dedicated to serving the youth of Oak Park was right when he said, “the City should never have closed our library. Our kids deserve better.” I welcome Mike and others joining me in this important effort.

We can do this even in difficult times. We don’t have to wait for funding of lavish buildings like those that have recently opened. I am committed to opening a temporary Oak Park library branch near that neighborhood’s struggling schools as soon as possible. Then I will continue to work with the community, forming Friends of Oak Park Library, for a permanent branch worthy of a great neighborhood and a great City.

Groucho Marx said, “I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book.” We owe the families and children of Oak Park this opportunity.