To the editor:

So let me see if I understand. In the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, we are being asked to vote on an $18 million tax increase for the proposed library expansion. At a time when home foreclosures are at an all-time high, we are being asked to vote for an increase in property taxes on the elderly, working poor, jobless and those on fixed incomes.

Unlike one of my favorite projects, while I was dodging sinkholes on city streets, the $860,000 “shovel ready” Clinton Parkway sidewalk replacement, the library’s shovel was apparently still in the shed and therefore did not qualify for some of that “free” government money.

I wonder if any of those who are displaying the vote “yes” on the library.org signs have noticed that brick-and-mortar video and bookstores are dropping like flies in today’s Internet download-whatever-you-want age. Ten years from now, libraries as we know them today will not exist.

As one of those fortunate enough not to be included in the above-mentioned list of victims of today’s economic downturn, I will not vote to impose additional hardships on my fellow citizens who find themselves in less fortunate circumstances, and will vote “no” on the proposed $18 million library expansion.

Gary Hamon,

Lawrence