Libraries don’t deserve funding cuts

Agree with you on the importance of libraries Trish. Big supporter. The reason this picture doesn't make sense to you is that the increase in revenues and the strong local economy should provide the ability to spend more, certainly not make cuts. However, as budgets are saddled with a higher and higher amounts needed to fund previous obligations such as pensions and healthcare for retirees. It is crowding out things that the community desires including libraries. To make the story even worse, this is happening when revenues are strong and the economy is pumping. What happens when the economy slows and revenues drop? the obligations to public employees will only be going up and up, making money for other budgetary items shrink or get the axe altogether. Local, state and federal government budgets are going to be eaten up by public employees who have retired and leaving less money for everything else. You are not alone in RWC, it is happening everywhere and unfortunately, this dynamic has only just begun, it is only going to get much worse.

I find these proposed services cuts extremely distressing!
For the last 10 years I have watched the city landscape be transformed by the use of eminent domain to add tens of thousands of housing units. The population of Redwood City has been on a steady increase. With the increase in population, we long-term residents have seen the increase in traffic congestion, limited parking and cutbacks in water availability, in a general decline in quality of life.
What we have not seen use any new land resources being created for Parks and Recreation (not counting the noisiest dog park in the world). As the city leaders continue to make available every foot of available land in the city limits to developers, one would think that this would lead to a better community for us. Yet here we are looking at cutbacks in our basic services! I believe it is time to challenge city leadership on their development centric approach to changing the landscape of Redwood City.