Detroiters Protest Outside Closed Library
DETROIT (WWJ) - A community activist group marched in front of the shuttered Detroit Public Library Lincoln Branch Tuesday morning.
BAMN member Monica Smith says the group hopes to encourage residents of the East Side neighbor near Seven Mile Road to demand that the Library Commission reopen the Lincoln Branch and the three other branches that were closed in late December.
"We need more libraries, not less," Smith told WWJ Newsradio 950's Florence Walton. "For the bankers and billionaires, they always seem to find money when they need it. And the money is there, we just have to fight for it."
Protesters are vowing to stop the scheduled move out of books, computers and other equipment.
Smith called on all residents on Detroit's east side to join the protest.
"We're working to get more and more people out here. We're trying to surround the building and really insprire these movers to move on and not touch this library," she said.
The Commission blames the closures on declining revenue, while critics accuse the Commission of mismanaging money.
A ibrary spokesman said that, as of Tuesday, no moving vans had been scheduled by the Detroit Public Library for any of the closed branches.
