A few days ago, Amazon sent email with book recommendations, and one actually piqued my interest: Washington by Ron Chernow. Hey, it’s a Pulitzer Prize Winner, and with the nation’s 250th anniversary upcoming it’s a timely biography to read.
Cough, cough. I choked on the price. The Kindle version sells for $16.99, discounted from $24. Seventeen bucks for a DRM-wrapped ebook? Ah, n-o-o-o. Hardcover: $23.76, discounted from the list of $41. Still, I wanted a copy of the bio. I looked at the calendar and remembered the third Saturday of the month was ahead, and that meant book sale weekend at the University Heights branch of San Diego Public Library.
I never expected to find Washington on the sales shelf, but there it was. Price: One dollar, a bill showing the first president’s image. What could be more appropriate than that? Buying Washington with a Washington.
At the checkout, something else about freedom and being free made me wince. The city charges for parking at Balboa Park, and the recent change is hugely unpopular. Organizers are collecting signatures to put a measure on November’s ballot to override the city council and return free parking to the county’s crown-jewel attraction. Eighty thousand signatures are needed, but unless I am mistaken 24,000 will compel the city council to reassess the new ordinance.
How has the mayor’s office responded? With a threat to cut back public services, starting with reducing public library hours. At the checkout were cards bellowing “No Liibrary Cuts!” Patrons were encouraged to fill out name and neighborhood an explain “The library matters to me because…”
San Diego continues to add bike lanes all over the place, and anecdotally from astute observation I can attest that they are not worth their costs to create. The number of four or more-wheel vehicles using the same streets exceeds the bicycles by the thousands of times on any given day. The lanes are way, way underutilized.
Okay, Mr. Mayor, it’s time to adjust the city’s budget plans. Cancel future bike lane projects—traffic circles, as well—and allocate the monies to services people do use—and the public libraries are among them. You might think that with Artificial Intelligence and advanced Internet search algorithms that people don’t go to the libraries. I can’t speak for other communities, but they are busy places in San Diego city.
Circling back, had the book sale room not had Washingron I would have checked out a copy from the public library. You know?
Featured Image vitals: f/1.9, ISO 800, 1/60 sec, 8:12 p.m. PDT, today; Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.