INTERIOR of the Huntington Beach Central Library (Flickr).
By Jim Tortolano
Orange County Tribune
Decisions on two of the most politically controversial issues in recent Huntington Beach history will be rendered on Tuesday.
That’ll be the last day the voters can cast their ballots on two voter-initiated measures.
Measure A would eliminate the “community-parent review board” in the city’s library system, while Measure B would specify that management of the system would never be “privatized” without a vote of the public.
Critics of the review board – which have included some newspapers and library officials across Southern California –claim that the board, created by the city council, is censoring the content of the library’s collection by moving some books and materials into “adults only” sections and influencing the books to be chosen for the children’s library.
Supporters of the review board argue that they are seeking to keep children from being exposed to books and images that they believe amount to “pornography.”
A proposal to contract with a private firm – which had connections with a former city councilmember – to take over operation of the library system was met with much public outcry and was finally discarded.
The Orange County Registrar of Voters is conducting the election and the polls will close Tuesday at 8 p.m.
