Hard to overstate how screwed up neighboring Maywood is. The recession has been brutal to an already fragile housing market leaving vast numbers of foreclosures and sharp declines in property taxes. But, that is too simple an explanation for this village’s many woes. Ineffectual village government and perpetual turnover of village managers have created instability and anguish.
Now this town is, remarkably and horrifyingly, without a public library. The Maywood Public Library has run out of money, run out of credit, and a week ago Saturday closed its doors. The director says the library should reopen by March when the next batch of property tax receipts arrives from the county. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, our hats are off to the leadership of the Forest Park Public Library which quickly made clear that its doors are open to Maywoodians. “We always welcome our neighbors,” said Rodger Brayden, Forest Park’s library director. The impulse to say that a public library’s doors are wide open is the right and generous one.
