Posted on 06/22/2005 11:18:22 PM PDT by noiseman
June 21, 2005
The Hon. John Hickenlooper
Mayor of Denver
1347 Bannock Street, Suite 350
Denver, CO 80204-2718
Dear Mayor Hickenlooper:
Several Denver residents who are affiliated with the Denver Public Library have come to me with concerns about changes underway in the Library. I hope their concerns are misplaced, and I hope you can show me they are misplaced.
I will put these concerns in the form of several questions. Each question is based on information from employees and patrons of the library. Unfortunately, these Denver citizens choose to remain anonymous because they fear for their jobs.
My questions are:
1. Is the Denver Public Library implementing a plan to convert very large sections of several branch libraries – ranging from 10% to 62% of book and periodical holdings -- to Spanish language holdings?
2. Has the Denver City Council ever debated and approved a plan to convert one or more existing library branches to “Language and Learning Centers” with predominantly Spanish language books, magazines and materials?
3. Does the proposed new mill levy for a new library district include funds for a new branch library that will be designated a “Language and Learning Center” with Spanish language materials only?
4. Has the Spanish-language-only concept for branch libraries ever been discussed or evaluated by the Library Commission or the City Council as a factor promoting social fragmentation, cultural balkanization, and ethnic separatism?
5. What is the basis for believing that current bilingual Latino patrons prefer that current English language materials be converted to Spanish-only holdings?
6. Since the proposed new library district is coterminous with the City of Denver, what purpose can be served besides a disguised tax increase and diminished accountability to the Mayor and the City Council?
7. Will the results of the public opinion polls conducted on these issues with public monies by Ciruli Associates be made public?
8. Have the Focus Groups run by Corona Research been designed and conducted to obtain results that support the conversion plan? Have the unvarnished results of the Focus Groups (not sanitized summaries) ever been shared with the Library Commission and the public?
9. Has the library’s management announced that only library employees bilingual in Spanish – not Vietnamese, German, Korean or other languages ¾ will be eligible for raises? If so, is this not contrary to civil service rules and blatantly discriminatory on its face?
10. Is a Mexican Driver’s License now accepted in city libraries as valid ID for use of library facilities and services? Are driver’s licenses from other nations also accepted?
11. Are English language books being thrown out in the trash to make room for Spanish language materials? Why are books being thrown into the trash instead of being given to schools, non-profit organizations, or saved for the book sales? Has the Library Commission approved this practice?
12. Is DPL assisting “undocumented” (illegal) aliens in purchasing homes through sponsorship of workshops for undocumented aliens in cooperation with the Colorado Housing Assistance Corporation? Does DPL make any distinction between legal and illegal residents in providing its taxpayer-funded services?
Mr. Mayor, I sincerely hope that you can provide answers to these questions that will lay these concerns to rest.
Thank you for your attention to these questions.
Sincerely,
Tom Tancredo Member of Congress
cc: Members of the Denver Library Commission
City Librarian Rick Ashton
Denver City Council
Denver Public Library Friends Foundation
Peter Boyles discussed this matter this morning with Congressman Tancredo, who related the fact that he had been receiving numerous tips regarding the items discussed in the letter. The Congressman also stated that he had received a reply from Mayor Hickenlooper's office, which was terse (my characterization) and basically just said that the City of Denver and the Denver Public Library are committed to serving all of Denver's residents (carefully avoided the term "citizen", which excludes illegals), regardless of the language they speak. This is not a direct quote, but is a very close paraphrase, based upon my recollection.
BTW, sorry about the slight formatting issues in reproducing the letter. I'm still getting used to HTML code.
The more I read about this mayor, the less I like him. I didn't vote for him, BTW.
The name, Hickenlooper, should have been a red flag to voters. :^}
On a personal level, he actually seems like a very likeable guy, but his policies are very muddle-headed and ill-conceived. I originally thought he would be a breath of fresh air compared to Wellington Webb (as did most other Denverites, I believe), but he is quickly turning into an unmitigated disaster.
Many here in Denver seem to be surprised and mystified by his behavior, but I saw a lot of this coming due to his previous philanthropic efforts. Take a look at the web site for the Chinook Fund (which he co-founded) sometime, and I think you will see a striking similarity between the causes which they fund, and his current liberal crusades.
The Chinook Fund address is: www.chinookfund.org
Ahh, thanks for the Rocky Mountain News reference. I didn't know that they had covered the story today as well. Looks like the response I cited was preliminary (though still silly). Appears we will have to wait for the actual full response from the Mayor. (And if past experience is any indicator, we will wait...and wait...and wait...while they check their political wind direction indicator to determine the "proper" response.)
Ehhh, I did it the easy way. I called his office and asked, "What's Mr Hickenlooper's position on guns?"
If I'd said, "What's his position of the second amendment?" they'd have known how to answer.
So what was their reply?
WTF is the deal with librarians, anyways? Between this, and all that wailing about the Patriot Act, it appears we have uncovered another secret haven for leftist moonbats.
Librarians are the quite strain of Communists, sneaky ba$tard$ they are.
I think many of them have the same liberal elitist mentality of being the guardians of "freedom" and "truth" (as radically redefined by them). Meanwhile, these "guardians" were apparently caught redhanded by reporters for Westword, an "alternative" newspaper here, shoveling English-language texts out the back door and into the trash. Tancredo said that his sources inside the library system have said that since they were discovered, they have simply resorted to packing these books in boxes and trucking them away, to avoid detection. Utterly incredible.
But obviously the Library policies DON'T IRK the Rocky Mountain News.
Why didn't the newspaper, use a headline something like
Mayor, Library Officials Dumping English Books, for Spanish.
Well, they liked the "License" idea.
One less vote for Hickenlooper.
I forget the name of the fella who gave me the correct answer. He had a long name as well, but it eludes me.
The last thing I need to hear about is some illegal invader-coddling traitors in horn-rimmed glasses throwing out English language books and replacing them with books scrawled in the foul tongue of the alien criminals.
Is it time to start starting up the posses yet?
Is this the same guy who stopped the Christmas parade?
Yep, although he didn't stop the Christmas parade. What he did last Christmas was to order (until stopped by public pressure) that the "Merry Christmas" lighted sign on top of the City and County building be replaced with a "Happy Holidays" sign. This was part of a display which has been in place for decades, yet he suddenly decides that Merry Christmas might be "offensive." Note - How come the rest of us (all of those not on the lunatic fringe) never seem to enjoy the same right to be "offended"?
The Christmas parade issue occurred at virtually the same time, but involved a Denver business promotion group, the Downtown Denver Partnership, which sponsors the parade, deciding that no "religious" floats would be allowed. However, a gay-Indian spiritual group was allowed (who incidentally, receive grant money from a foundation co-founded by our illustrious mayor). Whew! One can barely keep up with the tangled web of lunacy.
Wow, I wasn't aware of the Chinook fund and the mayor's connections to it. It looks like a fund for unemployable CU-Boulder student activists. I tend to think of Denver dems as being a little different than Boulder dems, because I know lots of older Denver dems who despise the Boulderite ethos, but I guess it's wishful thinking to think those prominent in the Dem party can distance themselves from the detrius of the Left.
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