Rectangle image of white bookshelf with closely cropped photo or book spines

Our Beloved Libraries

“For anyone making their way through this most amazing journey called life, one must be curious and open to other peoples stories.  Stories connect us and help us find our way or  make our way.

Our most beloved  libraries invite us at anytime of our lives to expand our understanding of ourselves, our place, our community as well as our world.  Our libraries are our safe places to go, to grow, to make sense of our world and to fully realize our authentic self.  Our libraries help us reimagine our collective responsibility to all of our citizens.  It is inclusive. 

When a person or ideology based on discrimination  imposes their judgmental opinions and tries to ban or restrict access to books, it is dangerous and hateful.  What is even more shameful is that those who want to violate our collective constitutional protections are claiming it is for the protection of our children.

I am hopeful that my community will continue to support the current library policies and assume the best of human nature.  And that those able to vote for the recall of Steve Dillard, will do so because of his actions taken to either ban or restrict access to current books our library includes.”

Life’s a trip!  LOVE is the answer.

Live, love, laugh always 

Mary Blake,

40 yr resident of Seaside, Oregon

Retired General Manager of the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District”

 "My family moved to Seaside in 1965.  The Seaside Library was always a part of our family life, going to back to Mrs. Holly and the old Seaside Library.  As a child, my Mother and I went to the library regularly.  I was always given the freedom to read what I wanted.  As an elderly man, my Father's weekly trip to the library was often the highlight of his week. He loved reading Westerns and was grateful for all of the large print books the library has.  When he passed away, our family asked that people make contributions for large print books.  In many ways, our library is the heart of our community."

— Jorjett Strumme

   “Our library is the heart of this community. It provides connection and should be cherished. The freedom to read is a critical component of having a well educated, curious and creative community. Books open doors and minds. If you are going to represent the people of this community, become a bridge not a barrier. ”

— Jessica Greenlee Seaside Resident

     “The seaside library, just like a loved and trusted neighbor is a part of this community. It has never hurt a child. Our library has in fact sheltered, educated, entertained, inspired, and protected our children. The seaside library staff and it’s policies don’t deserve to be targeted by Mr. Dillard with the latest pre-packaged culture war making the rounds on the internet. This recall could have been avoided if this councilor had been willing to actually listen to his constituents in Seaside, and he was given multiple opportunities to do so. This breach of public trust along with Mr. Dillard’s attempts at painting himself as being persecuted while he was instead ignoring this community’s clear wishes shows the community exactly what it can expect from him in the future. Seaside stands firm and rejects Mr. Dillard’s crusade against the library, against books he decides he doesn’t like. Vote YES to recall Mr. Dillard to protect our Library and Seaside’s right to choose for itself what it wants to read.”

Jimmy Griffin - Seaside Resident | Book Reader

“First and foremost, I have lived in Seaside nearly 10 years, and I was a resident of Ward I until last fall. This is an important issue to me because I view public libraries as one of the greatest and most important institutions when it comes to upholding democracy in any type of civilization. They are bastions of knowledge, which we know to be paramount to fostering freedom, understanding, and empathy. Humans are at their best when they can make informed decisions about every aspect of their life and the external forces that impact them, and libraries offer this access to all people, without discrimination. I am concerned about Steve Dillard's continued efforts to undermine, weaken, and delegitimatize our local library, and I encourage my fellow Seaside residents to vote in a way that will not allow that to happen.”

Katherine Lacaze- Seaside Resident

"We have an excellent process in place for selecting books to be placed in the library. The Director of Library Services has a Masters degree in Library Sciences and 25 years of professional experience. Steve Dillard has zero professional library experience. Nothing but his personal agenda. We don't want government officials using their personal agenda to dictate what our children read. We are a strong, loving educated group of parents here in Seaside and we work together with our librarians and the Library Board, to decide what books should be available to our children. If Steve Dillard continues to push his personal agenda on his constituents, then we're voting YES to recall."

Stewart and Jennifer Anderson- Seaside Residents from Ward 1