On the evening of November 29th, I and a number of Burien residents watched as the King County Library Board voted to push off voting to close the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries for the second time this year.

It was very clear to me and everyone I talked to that the KCLB members had already made up their minds to close and consolidate the two libraries.

The Nov. 29th vote was only one out of respect to the elected officials that came to the meeting, the attending representative to the County Executive, and probably to avoid any further confrontation from the already agitated group of taxpayers at the meeting.

The KCLB believes that the consolidated library would provide for the community adequately and so there is no dilemma in their minds. We need to focus on how the current library locations are already ideally placed and how the new location is illogical for our community.

If we really want these libraries to stay in our community, the Burien City Council will need to take action in saving them.

The KCLB needs to understand that those libraries are in Burien and they will always be in Burien! Seattle isn’t going to provide new libraries if they annex the uncorroborated areas!

The KCLB needs to understand that Burien isn’t Seattle and we don’t want to deprive any area of our community. I am confident that Burien citizens as well as the awesome citizens of unincorporated areas will not take this lying down. If the KCLB really wanted to know what was going on down here, they would hold a meeting where the people who will suffer because they don’t have cars nor the time to take an hour plus bus ride to the new library location could attend the meeting and not at 5 p.m. in Issaquah.

In this last election I voted for Lucy Krakowiak because I thought she was needed to make sure there was balance in the Burien City Council. After seeing her represent, or rather not represent, the voters of Burien last night, I am ashamed that I voted for Krakowiak.

She clearly does not understand the position that she holds in both the City Council and the KCLB. Thinking back to the debates, I clearly remember that Lucy denied ever doing the exact thing she did last night when she was called out by Greg Duff. Now I see that when the pressure is on, Lucy doesn’t bring balance, she provides a worthless vote.

As a community, we need to start planning ways to push back in ways other than begging on the KCLB. Mark my words; it will only be a few months until the KCLB tries to pull another fast one on us.

Mike McCumber
Burien