San Jose State Talk

For me the library grabbed me when I was about 11. I was always kind of bookish but did love basketball and baseball. And I remember summers filled with endless sandlot baseball, little league games and riding my bike to the library and I always checked out 6-7 books and started them all at once. And then…. the magic of books took over and one would just grab me and I would read it non-stop. And those books just took me all over the world, through history, into the White House (or so it seemed), into Tolkien’s Middle Earth and on and on.

One of my favorite passages in literature is from the book The Brothers Karamozov. At the end of the book Aloysha says….”You must know that is nothing, higher, or stronger, or more useful afterwards in life than some good memory”…. One of my favorite memories is this: on November 8, 2005 Salinas voters passed Measure V, which essentially saved the Salinas Public Libraries.

Working with an energized community remains one of the highlights of my civic and personal life and still inspires my thoughts and actions, today as Mayor of Salinas…. And indeed, it probably led to my election. And at the time a 10-year sunset clause seemed far off in the future and no one could envision the economic challenges that lay ahead for the private and public sector, which ultimately would impact all Americans and the globe.

Before the passage of Measure V the Salinas library situation attracted worldwide attention. The irony that the hometown of one of 6 North American Nobel Laureates would lose their libraries was lost on few outside observers. It seemed as if Salinas was going to be held single-handedly responsible for the decline and fall of Western Civilization.

The passage of Measure V appeared to change that. Full funding was restored and expanded. We were fortunate to hire past American Library Association Executive Director Elizabeth Martinez who has led the rebuilding of the Salinas library system. Expansion plans have been made for the Caesar Chavez Library, our El Gabilan branch was refurbished, the main Steinbeck Branch introduced a Digital Laboratory and a Teen Lounge. There has even been talk of a fourth branch in the city’s Future Growth area.

I was particularly pleased that the Library became part of the Salinas strategy to combat gang violence. The Council voted to exceed pre-Measure V funding levels for the libraries by several hundred thousand dollars. The goal was to help establish a citywide culture of literacy designed to directly confront the fact that almost 70% of prison inmates reportedly cannot read.

People often ask me what prevention strategies work with respect to gang violence.
I some times cause eyes to glaze over when I talk about the need for clear strategies with sufficient resources to provide scale and capacity over the course of time to break the cycle. People immediately get it when I say the more young fathers I see taking their 4 year olds to the library for children’s reading program the safer we’ll be and most certainly the less likely that child will choose to be involved in gangs. Few question that connection.

I am equally confident that when I see 80 teenagers doing a Poetry Slam at the Caesar Chavez branch on a Friday night that those students will not likely be leaving the library and getting ready to “put in work” for a gang.

Like most California cities, Salinas has seen a sharp decline in both its sales and property tax base along with the continuing saga of State takeaways. But the libraries essentially remained immune because Measure V represented a defined $.05 component of sales tax revenues that was treated within but somewhat independent of the General Fund.

This past September the Library celebrated its 100th anniversary with over 15,000 residents going through the three libraries turnstiles on just one Sunday. A time capsule was sealed to be opened 100 years from now. It was a wonderful testimony that suggested that on the surface the Phoenix had risen from the ashes with the ultimate symbol of that being the decision to provide 7 day a week service.

But mounting concerns over library funding continued to rise as revenue shortfalls continue to force a re-examination of the general fund budget and Measure V dollars. In many respects the challenges of Salinas as a City mirror those in San Jose. Salinas like all cities is now faced with the question of how it continues it to provide city services in the midst of a changing revenue paradigm.

The easy thing to do right now would be to force the library to take its share of the cuts and move on until better days. I will not politicize this speech other than to say I will not support that in large part in honor of those residents…. that community…. which banded together to make their case to the community that libraries are important. I believe Salinas has a clear “social contract” it must honor. That was the promise of Measure V. But I also recognize that libraries are once again in the crosshairs as Salinas like most cities must prepare in earnest, simply do more with less.

I am convinced that within that challenge lies a great opportunity for Salinas and its library system. Salinas needs to focus on three primary goals right now…. attracting investment into our community, becoming a safer City and re-designing the organization and its effectiveness. I believe an effective Mayor must think and act mindful of the arc of time. Economic transformation must lie at the heart of changing a City. That city must be safer, and city government must prove it can add value to the life of its residents and the region.

I am a fan of good Mayors. San Jose has had its share. You have a terrific one now and I have always been grateful for former Mayor Tom McEnery’s interest in Salinas. He and I have often referred to another literary figure Dean Swift who spoke in Gulliver’s Travels of the “vision through the fog”. I do see a clearing of the fog for Salinas, a City that will become crown jewel of the Central Coast and builds its future on a resounding yes to institutions that support the Public Good

I would further make the case that at this seminal moment in time when all things around the written word are changing the hometown of John Steinbeck is a logical “center of gravity” for leading the way. Given that backdrop the Library essentially becomes the critical institution in these changing and civically challenging times.

That thought is the basis for the City of Letters initiative and dialogue that is currently underway in Salinas thanks to the leadership of Library Director Elizabeth Martinez.

For the sake of this talk I will stay focused on the three Salinas priorities previously mentioned…. investment, public safety and re-designing local government.

Let’s start with investment and the need for all cities to expand their revenue base. Part of Salinas structural deficit problem is due to an over reliance on a sales tax rate that is simply too low. That’s not a popular view these days but as Casey Stengle once said…”you could look it up”! Cities have a pretty clear mandate from voters these days…put everything on the table, live within your means like we have to and if we are still short for desired city services…. we’ll talk…but not before then!

I am equally clear that part of the new reality of tomorrow’s local government revenue pictures requires an increasing emphasis on economic development, job creation and maximizing current revenue streams. In Salinas’ case we need more people coming to our city center to visit, shop and ultimately staying there to do business.

Other cities can certainly lay claim to great literary tradition, as can Salinas. But only Salinas can legitimately claim to being the 21st century’s Fresh Frontier and the gateway to a Sea to Soil strategy that makes us the clear favorite to be the business leaders in food safety, trace ability, Homeland Security efforts around agro-terrorism, packaging, post-harvest technologies and research…the list goes on. In short you can only leverage strengths you actually have.

It is not a stretch to say that our ultimate destiny as a community is to become the southern economic element of the Silicon Valley. Salinas will need a downtown and quality of life that prepares to seize that same moment of opportunity San Jose did in the 1980’s to become the Capitol of the Silicon Valley.

Some Mayors want downtown ballparks. And if San Jose get’s the A’s on behalf of Salinas I want the San Jose Giants when they move…you can’t have them both! But I actually want something else to anchor a downtown that needs to be revitalized for the 21st century. Sydney has an Opera House it is known for worldwide. New York has the Empire State Building, Monterey has an Aquarium

I want a Library that Salinas is know for worldwide to anchor and build our reputation as a City of Letters. Elizabeth and I often go back and forth with a shared desire to build that library. We’re never quite sure if we want the Louvre of the Libraries or one like Alexandria, Egypt…. but we are clear we want a world class facility.

Imagine what an economic driver a world class library would be to stimulate museum activity, specialty retail, a literary district with literary bed and breakfasts, and salons with authors in residence. Think how that library could work hand in hand with the National Steinbeck Center that already attracts visitors from the entire world.

As a practical matter the economic value generated from a strong literary scene would brings people downtown, help reverses decades of retail leakage to other local communities and prepares Salinas to connect with Cal Train in 2012 (knock on wood) is pretty obvious. And in a changing private sector imagine the value of an institution that draws 1600 visits a day being connected to a new library model that might contain cafes and a bookstore. It could be the west coast version of New York’s Library Hotel with a multi-story building that houses the library on one or two floors and a hotel on the top floors.

Or my personal favorite concept…. Since I can’t get a Nordstrom’s…I want the Japanese flag department store flag Takishamaya to look at a library on the bottom floors, with department store floors in the middle and restaurants on the top floor. In short the ultimate public private partnership…. because let’s face it both the retail and public sector are changing. I assume nobody in the Silicon Valley would say we’ve never done this before so we can’t do it now. If everybody wants government to be more like business then let’s support it when it actually may want to act business-like.

To attract major new investment we need to do as we have always done in both our Valleys…take an idea or a crop, plant or develop it, bring it to maturity and see what the market will bear. There is no scenario that I know of that argues it was logical to build an Opera House in Sydney, the Empire State building during the Great Depression, or the Eiffel Tower, …but having built them it now seems quite logical to have done so.

Major investment will most likely follow major strengths and inherent competitive advantages. Apple has introduced the Ipad, Amazon its Kindle, Barnes and Noble their e-reader and Google wants to digitize the world’s books. Today a world-class library speaks to world-class economic opportunities.

I would be remiss if I don’t publicly acknowledge Google for the marvelous sense of humor they displayed on April Fools by changing their companies name to Topeka this past week. But once you get past the “all kidding aside” phase and you really want to reinvent the future Salinas is the best rural/urban laboratory in the United States. And if you are remotely interested in libraries and re-inventing public institutions that have core competencies such as record-keeping and data collection…you catch my drift! And Google’s Cyber Librarians just might view the unique relationship Salinas is attempting to build with Monterey’s Naval Postgraduate school around analytical capabilities as a unique crime-fighting tool all over the country.

And did I happen to mention that Salinas is the County Seat of Monterey County and that we need to update our civic infrastructure. Imagine a library that spread throughout downtown like Oxford University does in Oxford, England and provides recreation, retail, lounges and customized library services such as a law library for both the public and private sector and supported the District Attorney, City Attorney and State Courts. What if the library contained gardens, greenhouses, etc. for fresh learning centers in the urban heart of the world’s largest garden…the Salinas Valley. Not only can we do lettuce, broccoli, strawberries and my personal favorite radicchio pretty well…we also do orchids pretty well.

And oh by the way the average age of Salineans is 26. We are a young City …we got the Baby’s R’ Us franchise for a reason!

So the possibilities are endless for economic development. New York has Broadway, Austin has a music district…. Salinas can have a literary district anchored by the National Steinbeck Center and a world-class library that educates, unites the community and creates real value economic value. It’s a risk to be that focused. But in this day and age the greater risk is to not try and ignore your fundamental economic competitive advantages.

But we have also had our share of challenges. We must beat back the scourge of gang violence. In order to do that we must modernize and expand our police department. But prevention and intervention must go hand in hand with enforcement. Positive alternatives for teens such as digital arts laboratories, literary recreational outlets such as poetry slams, and recording studios.

I am a proponent of a new neighborhood-policing model that goes beyond traditional community policing. Think of PAL program that includes a library without walls or a pocket libraries where you least expect them. These can go hand-in-hand with new neighborhood strategies to build community and connect city governments with their residents. A police officer that mentors, plays basketball or reads a book becomes someone the community trusts.

The police business is tough, serious work particularly in a City such as Salinas. But the reality is that “soft power” is critical to becoming a peaceful City. If cities must live within their means then new strategies to keep a community safe must be seriously and rigorously examined. People like and trust libraries. They can become a meeting place for citizens and police.

Finally, I want to talk about re-designing local government. Like most Mayors I have mentally wrestled with budget challenges, cuts, etc. And I have come to realize that the fundamental questions is not if there will be budget cuts…there have been and there will be more. Not if there will be layoffs…there have been and there will be more. The real questions are these: How are we going to live within our means as a municipal corporation, what are our priorities and how do we add value to the lives of our residents. Failure to adequately address those questions will lead to a continuing downward spiral of a civic Groundhog Day scenario where we cities endlessly cut, plead lack of finances, provide really good reasons why we can’t meet the public expectations…. and ultimately fail to solve the problem.

Or we can choose another path. And on that path, I think we may find that some key institutions such as libraries can help provide value by connecting the city with its residents.

Today City Hall is only open 4 days a week. That is not how residents of a city live and function…particularly in a hard working class agricultural community. Libraries are open 7 days a week. If Grocery Stores can have banks and banks can have ATM’s…why can’t libraries have permit centers, sell dog licenses, etc. After all, libraries core competencies include customer service, managing information, record keeping and helping people. Why can’t our Digital Arts lab oversee the City Website, extend the City Clerk’s reach throughout the City and make sure public documents are posted and available at all three library branches.

These are not easy times. While I was preparing for this talk, I was exchanging e-mails with our librarian, Elizabeth Martinez whom I mentioned earlier. She made the observation throughout history every conqueror destroys books and records, knowledge temples and libraries. She noted that city halls don’t get that type of attention! She said it points to the power of words and voices and how libraries preserved them. Sadly I thought to myself we don’t destroy things now…we just stop financing them.

Five years ago Salinas saved its libraries with the passage of Message V. Today at the heart of the City of Letters dialogue should be a new consideration…. can libraries save Salinas? I think they can. I think libraries can be the catalyst to our becoming the great City I believe we are destined to be.