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Sign a Redistricting Petition at the Library on Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Why You Should Vote On Tuesday

Every Vote CountsYou may be tempted to skip the election this Tuesday. It might be rainy or cold, and, well, we don’t have a horse in this presidential race so why bother to show up? Actually we have a lot of good reasons to go to the polls on Tuesday. Let us count the top five most important reasons.

Mike Schadek to Hold Community Meeting on March 1st

Coffee & Conversation - Library Levy and Mike Schadek

Coffee and Conversation logoCoffee and Conversation

Saturday, February 4, 2012, 10 am

UA Public Library Meeting Room A

Kathy Panning introduced the Library Levy Presentation: Ann Moore, Amy Sharpe, Ruth McNeil, Bill Shkurti, Kate Porter, board members and officials of the library.

Learn About the UA LIbrary Levy

Vote for the Library buttonThe Library Levy will be on the ballot on March 6, 2012.  The most important thing to know about the proposed levy is that it's not a tax increase. Homeowners will continue to pay the same tax rate for the library levy as they currently do.

Ciotola packs Library Board with his own recruits

New mayor starts term with closed-door decision

"...nearly all of the residents who were interested submitted their [Library Board of Trustees] applications by the deadline published by the city -- except for the three who were actually appointed, all of whom prepared their applications nearly two months late and within a few days of each other." Click on the newspaper image to see the full story with the chart.

During his effort to censor gay periodicals in the Upper Arlington Public Library in 2005, then UA Council member Tim Rankin said,

"If we have to put people on this [Library] board who reflect the values of the community, we'll do that."

According to a story in the February 4th, 2010 edition of ThisWeek [PDF] [JPG], it would seem that UA's new mayor, Frank Ciotola, has made good on Rankin's threat.

Within a few days of being elected Council President, Ciotola made it one of his first acts to appoint three hand-picked recruits to the Library Board. All 3 appointees:

  • delivered their applications directly to the current Council President, Frank Ciotola, not to the City Clerks Office (source: UA Clerk's Office)
  • submitted applications a month and a half after the posted November 16, 2009 deadline
  • completed their applications within 4 days of each other on Jan 6, 8 and 9th, 2010

Ciotola's appointees to the Library Board of Trustees had a fast track outside the normal process, which typically includes a review of applicants with other Council members.

Ciotola: "I wish the deadline had not been published"

And now Ciotola wants to remove what little transparency remains in the current Library Board appointment process. In the ThisWeek story, Ciotola said he wishes the Library Board application deadline had not been published at all!

Ciotola packs Library Board with Conservatives

During his effort to censor gay periodicals in the Upper Arlington Public Library in 2005, then UA Council member Tim Rankin said,

"If we have to put people on this [Library] board who reflect the values of the community, we'll do that."

City Council Series: Leslie Heath in Support of Library Censorship?

Issue Background

UAPA agrees with the UA Public Library’s philosophy that “…everyone matters and is respected.“ And we support its goal, which is “…to have an unbiased collection representing many points of view…”

However, in Upper Arlington, there is a growing intolerance of others’ views by a small, vocal minority influenced by outgoing Council member Tim Rankin. One of the most egregious examples is the 2005 dispute about the distribution of gay publications at the Upper Arlington Public Library. A group of conservatives tried to sway the Library Board with the claim they were protecting children.

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