We Create Our Future Together
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Click logos below to listen to our candid conversation.
On Monday, a few of us gathered on a beautiful spring afternoon to talk openly about our hopes for El Cerrito’s library, our community, and the future we want to build together. In a time when so much conversation happens through mailers, social media, and online debates, this discussion was a reminder that thoughtful, respectful dialogue — even across disagreements about Measure C — can bring neighbors closer and strengthen our shared civic life. We recorded it — give it a listen and share it with a neighbor, whether they're a yes, a no, or still making up their mind. (YouTube | Spotify) |
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El Cerritans Voting Yes on C 👍
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| Read about why Elizabeth is voting Yes on C. | Read about why Rebecca is voting Yes on C. |
Libraries are mission-critical |
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Elizabeth Bell and family |
Rebecca Benassini El Cerrito Resident since 2004 |
Rahul Iyer El Cerrito Resident since 2015 |
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Read about why Laura is voting Yes on C. |
Read about why Rochelle is voting Yes on C. | Read about why Steve is voting Yes on C. |
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Laura Lent |
Rochelle Pardue-Okimoto El Cerrito Resident since 2008 |
Steve Price El Cerrito Resident since .... |
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Read about why Daniel is voting Yes on C. |
Read about why Michael is voting Yes on C. | |
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Daniel Hamilton |
Michael Fischer El Cerrito Resident since 1998 |
Yes on C Endorsements ✅ See which neighbors and community leaders have endorsed -- click here.
Media Coverage & Neighbor Advocacy📣
🏡 We don't Debate the Library Tax (by Megan Steffen)
🏡 How Much Is the Library Worth? Hint: Much More than the Tax! (by Michael Fischer)
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The Great Library Debate. What are people saying on each side of Measure C? (Chelsi Sparti, Yes on C plus opponent perspective.)
📰 A new library could transform this Bay Area downtown. Residents are fiercely divided. (SF Chronicle)
📰 Letter to the East Bay Times Editor (Elizabeth Bell)
📰 Letter to the East Bay Times Editor (Michelle Fadelli)
📰 Letters to the East Bay Times Editor (Carolyn Said, Irene Kiebert)
📰 Letter to the East Bay Times Editor (Suzanne Balmaceda)
📰 El Cerrito measure seeks to turn another chapter with new library, Christopher Laursen-Bailey, Contra Costa Youth Journalism
📰 El Cerrito needs a new library. Measure C can put it in motion (OPINION by Paul Fadelli)
📰 Let’s Move Forward (OPINION by Lisa Motoyama)
📰 El Cerrito Bets on Car-Free Living (Juan Pablo Pérez-Burgos | KneeDeep Times)
Yes on C Kitchen Cabinet (Core Committee)📋
We're El Cerrito neighbors (some retired, some working full time) united around this practical path forward for our local library.
Some of our cabinet members share why they're volunteering towards bringing a new library to life.
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| Libraries are vital in nurturing children’s early curiosity and love of reading. | Our new library will be enjoyed by generations, just as we have. | Libraries strengthen communities by providing access to knowledge, connection, and opportunity for all. |
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Carolyn Said El Cerritan since 2011 |
Charles Taylor El Cerritan since 1984 |
Clare Sheridan El Cerritan since 2003 |
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| Our next generation library will be a hub for discovery & connection. | Read about why Greg is voting Yes on C. | Spend an hour at a great library and you’ll better understand your neighbors. |
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Georgina Edwards El Cerritan since 2005 |
Greg Lyman El Cerritan since 1989 |
Mark Friedman El Cerritan since 1989 |
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We deserve to have a safe and appropriate |
A library investment is a community investment. | Read about why Suzanne is voting Yes on C. |
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Michael Fischer El Cerritan since 1998 |
Michelle Fadelli El Cerritan since 1993 |
Suzanne Balmaceda El Cerritan since 2003 |
Neighbors across El Cerrito came together—sharing time, skills, and grassroots support—to launch a citizens-led effort to build or renovate our library. In summer and fall 2025, volunteers connected with over 10,000 neighbors and gathered 2,400+ signatures to put the measure on the ballot.
My Yes on C WHY ❤️
Libraries are mission-critical infrastructure for literacy and learning. El Cerrito can and should take local leadership with Measure C, particularly in the face of a federal government that is actively abandoning generations of learners. -- Rahul Iyer (El Cerritan since 2015)
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Our community needs a new library because the current facility is unsafe and too small for our growing population. A new library is a vital investment in our future. Well-informed citizens are crucial to a healthy democracy. Making information accessible to children at an early age provides an excellent foundation. Although we do not have children of our own, we support this project for the common good.
Since Proposition 13 passed in 1978 and removed most of the state's library funding, local libraries have adapted by relying on private fundraising, city and county support, and specific ballot measures. In El Cerrito, our library is currently funded through three main channels: private donations through the Friends of El Cerrito Library and El Cerrito Library Foundation; a permanent tax on property owners that supports our county library system and city’s general fund; and the proposed Measure C. Voting "Yes on C" supports an additional, temporary library tax specifically dedicated to building a new facility.
We are voting "Yes on C" because it is the most straightforward and affordable way to ensure our library continues to serve our community. It is one of the best investments we all can make for today and our future. -- Amy & Thomas Rogers (El Cerritans since 2000)
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Here are my reasons for Yes on C. We need a new library--the purposes and uses of libraries have dramatically changed over the decades. It will be used for meetings, lectures, book discussions, and gathering places for students and people of every demographic. Second, in this way we serve the ENTIRE community, by providing a place to read, charge cell phones, use computers, and ask questions. Finally, El Cerrito has great people--as shown by a willingness to create a better library for our City's future. -- Tom Cain (El Cerritan since 1952)
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El Cerrito residents - please consider voting for Measure C to provide a new modern library for our wonderful city. Our family has lived here since 1983 and we are so fond of the location, the parks, the lack of parking meters! new housing developments along the San Pablo corridor, 2 Bart Stations, a fabulous recycling center, delightful neighbors and a very competent city government. It saddens us to see the negative reactions to upgrading our aging library.
As a long-term library user, I support this effort by citizens and the city government to support funding a new place. Our grandchildren are library users. Children DESERVE a pleasant, spacious, ADA compliant, earthquake protected building. Let's find a way to work together to make this happen for them. --Kathryn Maack (El Cerritan since 1983)
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Our library was built after a vote of El Cerritans in 1947 and completed in 1949, the year I was born. It was the right thing for us to do then, and I and my family have used and loved the library during the four decades we have lived in El Cerrito. But our needs and those of the city have significantly changed during the last seven decades. It is time for El Cerritans to pay forward the gift we were given, and do so with love for the past and love for the future generations that will love the new facility. -- Charles Taylor (El Cerritan since 1984)
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