Cherrydale Branch Library

Serving North Arlington since 1922

County Board Candidates Discuss Cherrydale Library

On August 3, 2004, the Citizens for Cherrydale Library (CCL), a neighborhood volunteer group, asked the candidates for County Board--Barbara Favola and Landey Patton--our traditional three questions regarding the future of Cherrydale Library. The CCL asked for the candidates' responses by August 21. Mr. Patton reported that he did not receive our questions until our follow-up communication on August 19. He expressed his wish to respond with a letter that he asked be printed in full, which appears below.

The CCL promised to post each candidate's answers on the Cherrydale Library web site and on the Cherrydale Neighborhood and Maywood Neighborhood list serves. We also promised to offer their answers to the Cherrydale Sweet & Sour News and the Arlington Sun-Gazette. The responses of each candidate, in alphabetical order by their surnames, appear below.

To view candidates' responses before previous elections, click on History, then scroll down to the bottom of that page.

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Mrs. Favola's Responses:

1. Do you support maintaining the current funding level of the Arlington County Department of Libraries?

At a minimum, I support maintaining the current level of funding for the Arlington County Department of Libraries. It is critical in this “technology age” to support a library system that serves constituents in a state-of-the art fashion. If additional County resources are needed to meet this goal, I am committed to appropriating the necessary dollars. I am a strong supporter of the cyber-link centers and computer training programs at our public libraries. In the budget adopted on April 24, 2004, I voted for an increase in Library funding, above the current services budget, to purchase library materials ($35,673) and to cover additional rental costs for the temporary Shirlington Library ($23,039).

2. What are your views on concentrating the County’s library system in a smaller number of locations as opposed to maintaining the network of neighborhood libraries?

My view on this question has not changed since I responded to it in 2000. I enjoy and appreciate the County’s neighborhood libraries. These libraries serve as gathering places for neighbors. They are safe and manageable places for young children to use. As a parent and former user of the Cherrydale Library, I completely understand why people are passionate about keeping this service in their neighborhood. When my family lived near the Cherrydale Library, my son and I used to walk to the library to participate in the Children’s Reading Program, much to my delight. The Cherrydale Library is truly a jewel and I am committed to keeping it open.

3. As a member of the County Board will you seek to close the Cherrydale Library?

I will not support closing the Cherrydale Library. When the County Board was presented with the option of closing the Library in 1998, I rejected the option and strongly advocated to keep it open. I would not hesitate to advocate for the retention of the Cherrydale Library again.

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Mr. Patton's Response:

1. Do you support maintaining the current funding level of the Arlington County Department of Libraries?

2. What are your views on concentrating the County’s library system in a smaller number of locations as opposed to maintaining the network of neighborhood libraries?

3. As a member of the County Board will you seek to close the Cherrydale Library?

Dear Greg and Suzanne,

Thank you for your persistence in following up your earlier requests for my views regarding the library system of Arlington County and the Cherrydale Library in particular. You were correct in your assessment that I may not have received your earlier requests, for reasons that are unknown to me at this time. In reviewing the information that you included in your request, it is quite apparent that you have invested considerable time and energy for a long period of time on this matter and are truly attempting to serve the community in which you live regarding library issues. As you might suspect I am reluctant to provide quick, superficial, and perhaps politically expedient answers to the questions posed by your request without sufficient time to become more adequately informed on the subject. In this regard I'm clearly suffering from one of the great disadvantages of being a challenger to an incumbent whose familiarity with the issue would logically enable her to provide you with a rather well informed perspective on fairly short notice.

Having stated above what may already be quite obvious, I believe I can legitimately declare my overall position regarding libraries is one of support for them. An informed well educated populace is highly desirable in any society and libraries play a very significant role in achieving this objective. One of the disturbing trends in our society on a national level has been the decline these past several decades in the amount of time our young people spend reading versus watching television.

Should I be elected to the County Board, I can assure you that at I would certainly not be going into office with a prime objective of closing the Cherrydale Library unless there was a compelling reason to do so that I am currently unaware of at this time.

Hopefully this response will be adequate for your needs. Should you elect to publish portions of it I would request that you publish it in its entirety so that it could be understood by the reader in its context. Please feel free to call if you have any additional questions. I will be at the Arlington County Fair most of the rest of today and tomorrow but you can leave a message at our campaign office and I will return it as soon as possible. Thanks again for your consideration.

Respectfully yours,

Landey Patton

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This site is maintained by Citizens for Cherrydale Library, a group of citizen volunteers seeking since 1998 to promote and preserve our most important neighborhood institution. Contact us at suza1@comcast.net with any questions or comments.