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Dallas proposes closing Skillman library branch
Closing the library would save the city $485,000 a year. The proposed $30,000 raise for Dallas City Council members and the mayor would equal $450,000 a year.
DALLAS - Residents who live near the Skillman Southwestern Branch library in northeast Dallas are upset about a recent proposal to shut it down.
The city's new budget calls for closing the library to comply with a request for the city to cut six percent from its budget.
Closing the library would save the city $485,000 a year. The proposed $30,000 raise for Dallas City Council members and the mayor would equal $450,000 a year.
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"If they can't find a way to make this budget work without closing this library, why are we giving them a raise?" said resident Maggie Watson.
Watson started a petition in hopes of saving the library.
Watson says the bus stop next to the branch makes it far more convenient for her to get to than the nearby Vickery Meadow Branch.
"I would have to take at least 2 buses, or bus to train to bus, and still have a walk," said Watson. "Walking in 100-degree heat with a bag of books is not something I will do."
During the first budget briefing before the Dallas City Council Tuesday, councilman Paul Ridley asked about a high-tech alternative the city is considering piloting.
The city is looking into adding a library vending machine.
"If you picture a Coca-Cola machine, you put your library card in, open the door, as soon as you remove something, it pins to your library card, like a minibar at a hotel," explained Jo Giudice, the Director of the Dallas Public Library.
The Skillman library branch also serves as a polling place. The city will have to find a substitute for that and a partner for where a library vending machine could be located.
Giudice tells FOX 4 in a statement that they don't want to close a library, but this location makes the most sense.
She says it is within 3.5 miles of three other library locations and is primarily used by people who request books online.
If the library closure goes through, the city plans to sell the property.