Salinas to close the John Steinbeck Library

I just read in CBC Arts News that Salinas, California is closing The John Steinbeck Library and the two others which make up a system currently used by approximately 2,000 people each day:

The cash-strapped hometown of author John Steinbeck
will close down its library system, including a branch
named after the Nobel Prize-winning author of The
Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, starting in early
2005.

The article goes on to say the closings will make Salinas the most populous U.S. city without a library.

"The reality is that we live in a blue-collar community
where people are struggling, and they're afraid of new
taxes," Salinas Mayor Anna Caballero told the
Associated Press. "I don't think they realized the
enormity of what we were facing."

Sounds like they didn't. Let's hope the citizens of Salinas don't decide their public schools are expendable, too.