Ray Bradbury writes in the Press-Telegram:

A few weeks ago I was in your city to mourn the pending forced closure of Acres of Books. Since 1934 this unique cultural heritage landmark bookstore has been a destination for book lovers from around the world with its inventory of over 1 million books. The current city leadership has forced its closure and will bulldoze the site to develop a strip mall and parking lot, an action they call progress.

I recently learned of the pending forced closure of the Long Beach Main Library from public access to balance the city budget. This is heartbreak and an outrage. Libraries are also an essential core public service. How can a major city not provide public access to a civic center library?

City Hall decisions will remove access to over 1.5 million books from one square mile of the city! Is Long Beach at war with the printed word and books?

Read more at the P-T.

Update from the District Weekly: In Budget talks, City Delays Main Library Closure. Related: savelbp.