Salinas to Close Its Public Libraries

Good thing SFist gets our books from the SF Public Library, because if we lived in Salinas, we'd be about to be out of luck. The city council of the town best known as the home of author John Steinbeck voted last night to close its three public libraries, citing an $8 million shortfall in the city's $60 million budget. Not that you would expect that much from a town that at one time publicly burned copies of its famous resident's Grapes of Wrath, but apparently once the doors close by July 1, 2005, it will be the biggest town in the country to lack even a single public library. In addition, four recreation centers will be shut down, and slots for ten additional police officers have been eliminated.

The libraries would have been saved had Salinas voters passed a ballot measure in November that would have hiked sales taxes slightly, as Oakland and Modesto voters successfully did in the March 2004 election to save their beleaguered libraries.