Direct library funds to foster care children

“We’re from the government, and we’re here to help.”

Those words from Ronald Reagan come to mind when reading the full-page Observer article on the new Sarasota County Library that Longboat Key is being “given” by the county.  

While this project is filled with good intentions, common sense still begs the question: “Why?”

We all have fond memories of gathering at our high school, college or small town libraries. Just the words “town library” spark the nostalgia of motherhood and apple pie. However, this isn’t the ’50s, ’60s or ’70s. Nor is Longboat Key in 2024 like the small towns of yesteryear, in particular demographically.

Modern libraries are morphing to provide county services other than just book borrowing to stay relevant in this era of unlimited resources provided by the high technology held in our hands or available in every home on Longboat.

Fast fiber-optic internet and cellular service is being enjoyed in every home on Longboat, providing every book ever written, complete encyclopedic resources, current and historic world events, sports, satellite weather, entertainment etc., at the speed of light.

Excellent, important and popular adult continuing education for our Longboat population is readily available at our Education Center and The Paradise Center near Town Hall.

In short, Longboat does not need a library as do other areas of Sarasota County in need of these services.

The $11.1 million in county tax dollars for this facility, as well as the additional $3.5 million being sourced by private money and $1 million in annual library operating costs would add so much more value to such programs as the Guardian Ad Litem Foundation, which provides tutoring to area foster care kids. This would give them a critical hand up educationally. Other programs that help our area kids in need would provide so much more ongoing value, aided by these multimillion-dollars of redirected county tax money, rather than for a library for affluent Longboat Key.

The strategy of redirecting this tax funding to help kids in real need instead of a library also would allow us to keep the Town Green green and open for community entertainment and events — as prioritized by a vast majority of Longboat citizens in the annual town survey.

Our town commissioners in the past wisely sequestered this four acres for town gatherings for which our citizens have asked.  

Let’s use it for the highest and best use — community event and entertainment gatherings.

Let’s listen to our neighbors regarding their priorities for our community Town Green events and more important, redirect our county tax money to our foster care kids in real need and focus on other county children in need.

Let’s all send an email to our Longboat Key Town Commission members to that end.

–Bob Gault, Longboat Key