2012 Annual Book Giveaway!

The World's greatest book giveaway (that I know of) is coming again this August 16th through August 31st from 9am-5pm! Located in the loaded docks of the Pleasant Hill Library, there will be thousands of free books to pick-up!

In years past I have left with literally HUNDREDS of books! I assume the best pickings are early, but I usually go toward the end and still find great picks. If you are also a teacher, this is a great way to built a solid classroom library.

Details:
75 Santa Barbara Road
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

Books will be sorted into the following sections:
Children’s Fiction
Children's Non-fiction
Adult Fiction
Adult Non-Fiction
Paperbacks
Hardcover books in all subjects

Please bring your own boxes or bags

May 5 Book Haul

First stop, Pleasant Hill Library Book Sale. Showed restraint, left with three books. Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick, Master Mind of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and a cool old reference book on the Age of Enlightenment. Total cost: $2.

Stop 2, Flying Colors Comics (FCC) for Free Comic Book Day. Line was about 80 yards long. I love comics, and I love free stuff even more, but I wasn't about to wait an hour to get some. Fortunately there was a FCC staff member handing some out to those in line. So I left with a copy of a DC The New 52 and went home.

Good day.

Pleasant Hill Library Book Sale!

On Saturday May 5th from 10am to 3:30pm the Pleasant Hill Library will be holding a huge book sale.

Paperbacks are $.50, hardbacks are $1, and children's books are $.25. They also have what they are calling "Better Books" marked at varying rates above $1.

If you have never been been to one of these I can not recommend it enough for you to go. Every time I have gone I have found great books for myself and my kids for super cheap! Its also a great way to support your local library!

The book sale is put on by the Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library (FPHL) and will be located at 75 Santa Barbara Rd which is in the parking/loading area directly behind the library.

If you are a member of the FPHL, you can get in a half hour early and get first crack at the top books. If you are not a member, you can still get in early for $2.

To become a member of the FPHL visit: http://ccclib.org/friends/phl.html

If you want to help even more, their is an "urgent [need]" to help set up (7:30 am) and tear down (3:25 pm).

See you there!

Pleasant Hill Library Parking Lot

I'm pretty sure the county and city are doing as much as they can to passively get people to stop going to the library. Their parking lot is a minefield of gigantic potholes. So much so that I need an army engineer to make my way out of their parking lot with out my car snapping in half. In the past six years or so I have yet to see one of these holes be fixed. Eventually, I think the P.Hill library will eventually become the world's only library that you need to zip-line into.

Shock and Awe!

It's the day after Thanksgiving and the library is...OPEN!! I know, I know...take a deep breath. Even though they were closed Wednesday, and one would assume it would just take the rest of the week off and open again on Tuesday, they have actually done the right thing and re-opened today. Thanksgiving indeed!

Election Update

Here is the video from the City Council Candidates forum.

http://pleasanthill.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=527

Around the end of minute 44 they begin to answer questions regarding the Pleasant Hill Library.

You can judge for yourself, but none of the candidates stand out as all that great.

It seems that candidates focus too much on a new building and not enough on the extension of hours and adding new staff. While a new building would be nice and pretty, I think the access to the library and having enough staff to accommodate its traffic is what really matters.

Here is my personal breakdown of each candidates responce:

Terry Williamson: Old excuse, old excuse, old excuse, and I don't know how to make air quotes

Suzanne Angeli: While initially sounds really bad, she actually does say, "I will always support funds to support this library."

Michael Flake: Library is not a priority AT ALL. Not in the least.

Michael Harris: Old excuses, begins with some promising statements, and then basically holds the Library hostage by saying if we don't vote for measure T we may lose the library altogether. Nothing like good old extortion to get some votes.

Jack Weir: Sounds a little crazy by telling Sacramento to essentially "go to hell." With that said, this is the only candidate to not only give support to the library but also give new ideas as to how to raise funds for it.

This isn't resounding endorsement, but I recommend Angeli and Weir for City Council based on these responses.

Auchtung!

Why is the Pleasant Hill Library closed today!?! Budget cuts! Now I have to wait another four days to pick up the books I have on hold since Tuesday is the only day they are open late enough during the week for me, and I'm sure many others who have jobs, to go. I am so sick of our garbage city council. This has to be the biggest collection of do-nothings ever assembled. This library 'budget issue' has been going on for close to 3 years and all they have ever given us is excuse after excuse and NEVER any recommendations or ideas as to how to over come them. I cannot stand these lazy, misguided, inept philistines. That's right, I just dropped the philistine label (and no philistine is not capitalized). They bend over backward for our parks and roads but do nothing for our city's education. No attempt at a balance, no sharing of funds, NOTHING!

These nature loving romantics need to wake up and realize the long term consequences of what they are doing. Our optometrist councilman Michael Harris should correct is lack of foresight and think of some solutions. Through their inaction they are limiting the availability to and access of knowledge to the citizens of this city. You know who else liked to limit access to reading material? I'll give you a hint; it rhymes with Bitler. Or Talin. Or Dussolini.

PLEASE! If you are a resident of Pleasant Hill, register to vote if you are not already, and VOTE AGAINST MICHAEL HARRIS and TERRI WILLIAMSON! I don't know if their replacements will be any better but it will at least send a message that we are serious about our library and the education of our city.

VOTE!

Pleasant Hill Outlook

This bi-monthly issue of Pleasant Hill Outlook has two very important articles/notices in it.

The first is the joining of the Pleasant Hill Library Fund with the Pleasant Hill Community Foundation. Their mission is to support the Pleasant Hill Library through fund raising, advocacy, and increased community awareness of the educational and cultural resources of the library.

For more information contact Katherine Bracken at 925-876-9713 or info@PHCommunityFoundation.org

The second is the City Council Candidates Forum on September 22nd at 7pm in the Council Chambers at 100 Gregory Lane. Contra Costa Times political editor Lisa Vorderbrueggen will be the debate moderator.

For more info contact the chamber at 925-687-0700


To download the current issue of Pleasant Hill Outlook go to this address:

http://www.ci.pleasant-hill.ca.us/Archive.aspx?ADID=708