Saratoga News

Simitian's office puts rumor of library dispensers to rest

By Sarah Lombardo

It is unlikely that the Saratoga Community Library will be where the rubber meets the reader, despite what some residents may have heard about the possibility of condom dispensers being installed in county libraries.

Saratoga Mayor Don Wolfe said that since April he has received a number of calls from Saratoga residents worried about the prospect of condom machines being in the Saratoga Library. Many, he said, cited an article published in a local daily newspaper as the cause of their concern.

The article indicated that a group called Project Match, which is associated with a nonprofit education program based in Washington, D.C., planned to sponsor a plan to install about 100 condom dispensers in locations throughout the area, including teen centers, record stores and libraries. Under the plan, dispensers would be placed in the establishments' restrooms, and condoms would cost 25 cents each. The project is designed to prevent teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

The project won the approval of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and the city of San Jose, along with local agencies such as Planned Parenthood and the Santa Clara County Council of Churches.

Wolfe and other residents wondered if that meant they would soon see such a dispenser in the community library, which is a county library located within a city-owned building. And it was a possibility Wolfe said he found unacceptable.

"It's uncalled for, I feel," he said. "It leaves a bad message with kids."

Wolfe also said he was concerned that taxpayer dollars might be spent on such a program without the input of Saratoga residents.

But county officials have put the rubber rumors to rest.

Amy Carta, an aide to Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, confirmed that county money will not be spent on the dispenser program and that the Saratoga Library is not slated to receive a dispenser.

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