In 1999, Keller voters soundly rejected a proposed $10 million, 52,000 square-foot library in Town Center.  The vote was 62% to 38%--nearly a 2-to-1 margin.  In early 2005, dozens of Town Center library supporters pleaded with the City Council to build a scaled-down version, and they explicitly asked that you not be allowed to vote on it. 

The Star-Telegram said "They absolutely have to be kidding" and surmised that the Council was just being polite by hearing their request.  Well apparently the Council wasn't just being polite, as an innocuous little item on the November 15th Council agenda made clear.  The mayor was asking the council, not you, to vote on the library.

With the exception of Mitch Holmes, the Council was perfectly willing to disenfranchise you by ignoring the results of the 1999 election and just doing as they please.  The Star-Telegram weighed in with another editorial, ridiculing our city as being governed by "small-town power politics at its ugliest." 

The city council was stopped cold by an initiative petition that prevented the city from building or remodeling any library without first having a vote of the people.  That vote will be held May 13th, 2006.  Like last time, the library proposal is wrong for Keller. 

We said no and we meant no.

  1. The people of Keller already owe $72 million, including the Town Center TIF debt. That works out to $2,200 per person.

  2. Town Center desperately needs tax-producing enterprises. The proposed library is a tax-consuming enterprise.

  3. The city's bond information mailer says that borrowing $7.6 million and paying an additional $350,000 in operating costs will not cause a tax rate increase. That's true, if one is willing to assume that Town Center's anemic tax base growth will be able to meet its rapidly increasing debt repayments. Maybe if we close our eyes and wish really, really hard...

  4. The city's 'no tax rate increase required' statement is based on just the first four years of a twenty-year repayment plan. The city doesn't plan to begin paying off the debt until the fourth year, and you, dear taxpayer, will pay an additional $1,071,600 in interest for this delay. Isn't it ironic that we'll have to pay an extra million dollars just so the city can legally tell us that no tax rate increase will be required?

  5. Tax rates, shmax mates. When we spend millions of dollars, we're going to pay for it, one way or another. Most likely we'll pay for it in streets that continue to crumble and further postponement of our new fire stations.

  6. We here at No Meant NO! strongly encourage you to visit the website of the Vote YES Committee, so that you may become as informed as possible. However, the Vote YES site does not provide a link to any opposing view. Whom do you trust to give you the full story?

  7. The city claims that over 800 people per day use the library. This is based on an electric eye that counts the number of times someone passes through the inner doors of the library. The problem is the electric eye counts every trip to the bathroom, outside to use the cellphone or smoke, etc. as another visit. And if you swing your arms a little as you pass through the doors, you can count as another half a visit. The library visits are significantly overstated, and we have proof.

  8. None of the less expensive alternatives to a Town Center library were given serious consideration. One alternative is to reconsider adding on to the existing library. If we develop a serious plan and put it out to bid, we may find that it won't cost the preposterous $7 million that the city claims it would cost. Another is leasing the space once held by Winn-Dixie. An intriguing idea from Richard Cook is to reclaim some of the vast wasted space at Town Hall. How much would it cost to reconfigure the entire west wing of Town Hall as library space, and move city employees to the existing library? It's at least worth finding out.

  9. It has been suggested by some, ahem, that the library is being managed not to stimulate thinking and learning and the joy thereof, but rather for the purpose of stimulating demand for a new library. Read More

  10. As soon as we defeat this unreasonable library proposal, we can begin discussions the next day for a reasonable approach to library services. If we approve this proposal, we're stuck with it.

  • Start a conversation with your friends and neighbors. Say, "have you heard about the Keller election? ... about the library?" Make it sound important, because it is.

  • Get a yard sign. You can find them at 1) Keller Beverage Company--about 1/4 mile North of Home Depot on 377; 2) Old Town Quilts at 140 Olive in Old Town; 3) Signs in a Flash--corner of Keller Parkway and Pearson. We're hoping for a $5 donation to defray some of the cost of signs.

  • Sound off in the public forums at www.kellercitylimits.com.

All of this site's content and any of its errors are brought to you by Jim Carson, candidate for Keller City Council, Place 4. This political advertisement paid for by Jim Carson 817.874.7755

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