A few years ago, my daughter and I visited my mother in Bangladesh for six weeks. My child wasn’t excited about being cooped up in Nanu’s modest apartment in the heart of Dhaka, the congested capital city. She didn’t have the luxury of playing in abundant green spaces like she does in Amherst, but there’s something about being back home, embraced by family, that can’t be replicated here.
What really bothered my then-6-year-old was realizing some children live and sleep on the streets, begging, selling flowers or books (or bodies) to make a living and foraging through trash piles for food. The poor of Dhaka (and just so you know, there is a booming wealthy class as well) literally live hand to mouth — no resource is ever wasted.
By contrast, here in Amherst, some folks repeatedly try to throw away state money for schools and libraries. This is a First World privilege at its worst. Who in their right mind refuses government support for essential services?
I’m not sure why I’m shocked by the events following our Town Council vote in favor of the Jones Library project — this is Amherst, where some people seem to equate obstruction with social justice.
Like a large number of people in town, I support accepting state funds to expand and renovate the Jones Library. I do not support an Arizona-style recount of the signatures on the petition to overturn the Town Council’s 10-2 vote in support of the library project. Every minute this nonsense continues, it adds significantly to the cost and timeline of the project, potentially jeopardizing state funding altogether.
The petitioners had none of the checks and verification requirements that occur during an election. To treat a petition signatory as the equivalent of a voter is simply a false comparison. As was clear in this signature drive, the petitioners resorted to lies and half-truths to cajole unwary residents into signing. Many of those petitioned were told anything from “this will take funds away from building new schools” to “this will affect affordable housing in town,” or even “this is a petition in favor of the library project.”
Not to mention the false information about the cost of the project and the ability of the town to use Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners grant monies for other purposes.
Underhanded scare tactics like these serve no purpose but to confuse Amherst residents (particularly newcomers to town), and are similar to those used by the people who sank the school building project at Town Meeting almost five years ago. (Some of those people send their kids to private school.) Amherst will be paying for that disinformation campaign for years when the upcoming school project comes in at millions of dollars more.
Using the same playbook to derail the Jones Library project is unconscionable. The Town Council and Amherst residents have spoken decisively. Petitioners, you did not meet the threshold of signatures to force a re-vote — your clock has run out. Your subsequent actions reek of First World privilege.
The Jones Library project will create a sustainable and resilient building, which meets 21st century expectations of a library’s place in the community. It will be green, ADA-compliant, offer an expanded children’s room and an open-plan teen space, more computers, and larger areas to hold English-language conversation circles for our non–English speaking immigrant residents.
Some of our families don’t have the funds to purchase books for their kids, and many use the computers and other free services our library offers.
It’s hypocritical to speak about equity and social justice in Amherst and then mobilize to deny people access to essential services the updated Jones would provide. Of course taxes are a burden for all of us, but they are the price we pay to live in a prosperous town with good services and stable property values.
Amherst, wake up. There are parents who eke out a living to pay rent and buy food. Their kids want to be downtown after school but they can’t afford $4 bubble teas every afternoon. They deserve a safe, welcoming place to hang out with their friends.
So naysayers: Don’t cite “democracy” as your excuse for denying residents the services a new and improved Jones Library would provide. Don’t wave signs protesting wars, racism and global warming or talk about equity and justice and looking out for the next generation when you’re doing everything in your power to stop the creation of a greener, ADA-compliant library for everyone in our community. Check your privilege!
Farah Ameen is a Bangladeshi-American writer/editor who’s lived in Amherst for over 10 years.