In Ford Heights, a suburb where nearly 40% of the population struggles below the $25,000 annual income threshold, a concerning paradox surrounds the local Public Library District. Despite a tax levy that collects thousands from residents, no public library has operated in the town for the past three decades, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times. The library's absence places residents in a bind; without a library district, they are barred from obtaining full-access cards at neighboring libraries.
Even as elections loom with candidates for a library board that presides over no actual library, the district has garnered over $100,000 in taxpayer money since 2011, raising questions as to where these funds have disappeared. In a temporary space, locals like Ladell Jones, president of the volunteer Ford Heights Library Board, put together the semblance of a library housing a meager collection of donated books and a few computers. “This is all we have right now in the community. Nothing else,” Jones emphasized in a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune obtained statements from Darron Gray, president of the Ford Heights Library board, who acknowledged the funding inadequacy: "That's not even enough to pay a librarian full-time." With the area in dire need of such civic resources, efforts to dissolve the Ford Heights Library District have stagnated in the absence of trustee support.
Amid the taxation without literary representation, the neighboring Glenwood-Lynwood Public Library director, Brian Vagt, reminisced about a bookmobile donation to Ford Heights that remained unused on Route 30 for years. "Sad when you drive by and you’re like… so much it could have been," Vagt lamented in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. Efforts by the Glenwood-Lynwood Library to integrate Ford Heights residents have been hampered by past financial debts and logistical challenges, though digital library cards have been offered as a temporary solution.
As for the upcoming elections, Anne Coulter stands as the sole candidate for the trustee slot amidst a backdrop where the library board faces three other vacancies. Coulter, a former board president reportedly disillusioned with the lack of financial transparency, has been unreachable for comment. An inquiry made by the Chicago Tribune found that even the contact number provided by the county clerk for the election had been disconnected, deepening the mystery surrounding the district’s operations.
