Rally Salinas!
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The Rally Salinas! campaign was a successful grass-roots campaign to raise funds to prevent the libraries in the town of Salinas in California from closure. Salinas is famous as the home of the American author, John Steinbeck. The Rally Salinas! was an initiative of Mayor Anna Caballero.
“We are here at this location to launch an effort to save our city, to save our libraries, and to save our pride,” she announced from the steps of the National Steinbeck Center.
That pride has been thrashed, as the national press and the American Library Association have severely criticized the city's library closure plan.
Mayor Caballero asked residents to donate whatever they can to a bank account set up at the Community Foundation for Monterey County. The funds were to be turned over to the city to keep the three library branches open at least one day a week from July to December. “The only purpose for which this money is being raised is to keep the libraries open,” Caballero emphasized.
More than a year after the Salinas, California, city council voted to close the city’s three libraries because of a massive budget deficit, voters resoundingly passed a referendum November 8 to restore funding to keep them open full-time. Measure V, a half-cent sales-tax increase that will raise an estimated $11 million annually for city services, received 61% of the vote, according to the November 9 Salinas Californian.
“Be proud of the fact that we have saved our libraries, which we know are the cornerstones of our democracy,” said Mayor Anna Caballero.
In April 2006, the committee recommended dedicating 70% of revenues to restoring library and police services.
In 2006, the city's financial situation was considerably improved, as Salinas officials announced a budget surplus.
