Would you support a library bond if you were told the roof might
fall in and kill Gilroy schoolchildren? What kind of tactic is
that?
Gilroy City Council held a three-day summit meeting that resulted in the scheduling of several more meetings. (Your tax dollars at work.) Read all about it in the Jan. 29 edition of the Dispatch, online at www.gilroydispatch.com.
One of these follow-up meetings will discuss the proposed library expansion. The city hired a consultant to find out whether taxpayers will support a $37 million bond to fund library improvements.
The consultant interviewed 400 Gilroy voters earlier this month, in Spanish and English, and found that 64% would support the bond, which is a few points shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass a tax increase. Most said the library is important, but were concerned about increased property taxes and existing city funds: valid concerns when the state is running a $14 billion deficit and the bottom has fallen out of the real estate market.
More data: 66% of those surveyed have been in the library in the past year. Only 47% said the library needs more space, while 79% rated library repairs as more important than sidewalks, streets, or the proposed art center. The roof leaks.
Here is where the story gets interesting: When residents heard that the bond would cost $31 per year per $100,000 of assessed value, support for the bond dropped to 51%, but when they were told that the dilapidated building might crush children in an earthquake, support rose again, though not quite to the necessary two-thirds.
The conclusion of the polling consultant, as voiced by David Metz of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, was “the city should consider a program of public education and outreach before placing a measure before the voters.”
Let me explain something: there are two kinds of polls. A legitimate poll attempts to find out what people think about a certain matter: library expansion, in this case. The second kind is called a push poll.
The term push poll always reminds me of the push-me-pull-you, the two-headed llama in the Dr. Doolittle stories, which is a good metaphor for the state of our disUnion in these latter days. But I digress.
A push poll pretends to be trying to find out what people want. But what it is really doing is trying to get the people to change their minds. If you ever donate to a political cause, you will be bombarded by push poll style surveys, that pretend that they are trying to get your opinion, ask five to 15 inflammatory questions, then ask how much you want to contribute to the cause … $15? $50? $150?
This poll about library expansion sounds like a classic case of push polling.
Pollster: Do you want a bigger, newer, better library?
Voter: Maybe. How much will it cost?
Pollster: Only $31 per $100,000 of your assessed property value per year for 30 years.
Voter: Oh, that’s a lot … I guess not.
Pollster: If you don’t vote for this measure, the library could collapse in an earthquake and crush hundreds of Gilroy’s school children!
Voter: Oh, the poor children! In that case …
I would guess that the intent of this poll was not to persuade those 400 voters to vote for a library expansion tax bond measure, but to find out how to construct the “program of public education and outreach” necessary to get voters to approve such a measure. In short, how to propagandize the electorate. Charming.
What is the purpose of a library? What is the justification of a tax supported library? When public libraries were originally established, the only media that conveyed education and information were books, and books were rare and expensive.
Books are no longer the media most often borrowed from the library – CD’s, DVD’s, and videos are. It is no longer necessary to go to the library for research; the nearest Internet terminal has as much data as the nearest library.
More and more, the library works hard to keep patrons coming in by providing entertainment: the aforementioned CD’s and DVD’s, sock puppets, puzzle days. Is providing entertainment a valid function of government?
And why did they not repair the dang roof 15 years ago? Is letting the library become dilapidated exercising fiscal responsibility? Does the Santa Clara County Library confer a net benefit for the city of Gilroy?
