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In addition to a U.S. senator and a congressman, voters in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, will decide who will serve as the city’s next mayor, select who will sit on City Council and whether or not to keep the city-funded Free Public Library open.
The ordinance putting the question on Tuesday’s ballot was introduced in June to the surprise of Alan Maier, a library trustee and treasurer for the Friends of the Bridgeton Public Library, who was at that City Council meeting on a different matter.
“I was there to make a presentation to ask the city for help in finishing the job that [Center for Historic American Building Arts] had started on restoring a building,” he said. “The next thing I know, I’m wrapped up in the library situation, surprised.”
Despite several residents speaking in favor of the city’s library, the council unanimously placed the question of whether to keep the library open to city voters.
Question 3 on the ballot asks “Shall the free public library … in the City of Bridgeton be dissolved, effective January 1, 2027?”
Sally Durham, a member of the library friend’s group and a longtime resident of Bridgeton, is concerned that because of the wording of the question could confuse people.
“If people don’t read it, they’ll just say, ‘Okay, I’m going to keep it open. Yes.’ Instead of seeing that actually [if] you want to keep it open, you have to vote ‘no,’” she said. “I think that’s one thing we need to alert people is to read it carefully,”
Since the referendum was approved by City Council, library supporters are doing everything to tell people to vote “no” on the referendum, from targeted direct mail postcards to billboards, signs and door hangers, to talking to people directly.
“I’m the biggest advocate of a one-to-one,” Maier said. “If you want to talk to people about what’s going on politically, bring it up at the Thanksgiving table.”
The library, which is located in the heart of the city, has a “Save the library!” banner over the entrance, and a lawn sign to the side written in English and Spanish that asks people to vote “no” on the referendum.
Council President Edward Bethea defended the referendum in a statement to WHYY News, stating that residents should have a direct voice “in a decision of this significance.” He added his support for the ballot question grew out of concerns about the city’s financial challenges.
“I recognize the educational, informational and community value that libraries provide,” Bethea said. “My primary concern is the cumulative burden on Bridgeton taxpayers. We must maintain police and fire protection, sanitation, roads, infrastructure, and other essential services while remaining mindful of residents’ ability to pay.”
