Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the People’s Budget Coalition on the People’s Budget Proposal FY 2021.
Item 14 is communication from Councilmember Pierce. Councilwoman Zendaya's recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the People's Budget Coalition on the proposed budget proposal, FY 2021. You're right. Thank you. I'll turn it over to Councilmember Pearce. Thank you so much. I know that we've never done a presentation like this before in council. I think the budget has been organizing with different nonprofits and organizations for several years. I think officially presenting a people's budget for the last five years. I could be wrong there, but we thought it was important just to hear a presentation. I know they've made lots of requests. I recognize that this budget year is a extremely tight budget year. But we thought since they've done so much work around this, given the historical context, that we give some space for them to present today . So I have not had a chance to see the presentation yet, so I look forward to seeing this today and hearing from my council colleagues. So thank you. For. Having me. We have them on the line. That's a question for the court. Councilmember, what was your question? I believe the clerk has them lined up to speak, got for the presentation. So I was just putting her. Ailsa Chang, are you on the line? Yeah, we're here. And this time. My. Kids like Elsa and Dawn. I believe you guys have 10 minutes, so if you'd like to go ahead and get started. Great. Thank you. So good evening. I'm John McCain's District two residence in long beach and the People Coalition. Co-Presenters are Gaby. Hernandez, the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition. Troy Peters with Invest in Youth Campaign and Maniac Bay, BLM and. HUD Council. Thank you, Councilwoman Mary Finn Anthony Pearce for incentivizing our presentation tonight. Next slide, please. Mayor Garcia, you recently posted on social media your support for. BLM and racial justice, as have other council members. And some of you have said absolutely nothing and your silence speaks. Volumes to the actions that you take today are far more significant than your platitudes on social media. You got to make the tough decisions tonight to ensure our whole city's values are actually reflected in this budget. Next slide, please. We are. Also here tonight because of police violence. Corruption and your negligence as mayor and council members. We are not here because. We condemn what happened in Minneapolis or in Kansas City. But what is happening right here in Long Beach. Because you, mayor, city council and city manager, past and present, have enabled this violent police department. You support corruption without BP and their police officers association allowing you to operate with impunity and zero accountability. Over five years, the Post spent more than $860,000 on the mission of benefiting our BPD. And so purchasing you and other political candidates like Sandy Allen in exchange for you to protect their killer cops and to buy your silence. And then the way you are, like the way when they snuck in Article. Nine of their email you. September 17th last year. To hide their vinyl record. Next slide, please. We are here not just because of your connection with. The place, but the department's own. Corruption. Killer cops using tiger techs. To delete. Records. Destroying hard records. And aiming guns at innocent protesters like Dante Parks. The loner threatened to have his. Toddler taken away plotting to murder activists like Sun King smiling Talons coins praising their violence. Mangold neglects to address the white supremacist vigilante murder. Of Frederick Path. And you all historically allowed seed money to. Run the seed and retaliate against Tomas Gonzalez after he thought your health costing taxpayers another 700,000 plus dollars. This is why you have to defund the Arab, please. We are also here because of this department's murder. With impunity. You turned a blind eye to Don Tasered and sat on his back three times, mistaking cell phone. For a gun. Officer Hernandez murdered for Murad when he needed care which firemen were providing. Six officers murdered Lionel. Hampton after a passer by claimed his airsoft rifle. With a real gun. Expired. I'm including. The murder of beloved think. Wine cream salting and the largest jury verdict for cop killing in Long Beach hit $39.8 million. Next slide, please. This and more is a reflection of your collective magnanimity. You have enabled. And supported these murders of our sons, our daughters, our brothers, sisters, neighbors and friends. Who will be next? Next slide, please, Gabby. We all know that repeal consumes 44% of our general fund and 240 million taxpayer dollars, most of which goes to pay the salaries, benefits and overtime of more than 850 cops. But what is the true cause of racist, violent policing? Next slide. Since 2014, the city has spent more than 31 million to settle 61 excessive force in wrongful death lawsuit against LPD. That's more than Baltimore, Minneapolis, Denver and Oakland have paid for police lawsuits. This law shows only the top four highest payouts, but this settlements are just the tip of the iceberg. Next slide. They'll be PD almost never fires or disciplines, officers involved in killings or injuring people. Legal records dating back to 2007 showed that in 65, LPD officers have been involved in committing violence against community members, including 28 officers involved in killing people. And this is just the small subset of violent officers with official legal complaints against them. Most of these violent officers and killer cops were still on the city's payroll as of last year. Not only are these battling cops still out here policing the community, they're actually rewarded. OLB PD has promoted at least 12 of the Bailin cops to ranks of Sergeant and lieutenant, including the cops involved in the killings of Lynette Gibson, John, the real Mike Gordon, Jenny and Jason consistently. The city has paid this 65 billion and killer cops more than 52 million in salaries and benefits in the years following their violent offenses. 52 million doesn't even include the cost of access, insurance and city attorneys who defend violent cops. Next slide. All of these numbers and all of this cause points to a toxic culture and system of white supremacy that you all bought to protect and expand every time you throw more money at police and less and less money as systems of care. LAPD is not just a few bad apples, but a whole rotten orchard, one that protects and rewards repeat offenders like officers Salvadore Latorre and Jason Kirk, both of whom have killed multiple people and caused the city millions of dollars in payouts and salaries. And because of this negligence of successive mayors, councils and city matters, Long Beach taxpayers continue to foot the bill for violent and killer cops year after year, while police continue to terrorize black communities in communities of color. Next, life choice. All of this is why we're calling on you to defund OPD and reimagine community safety. Our communities need care, not cops. We're calling on you to divest from LAPD by at least 20%. That's $50 million for the budget shortfall and then reinvest the remaining 20 million into the people's budget. Any other essential services like community health, libraries and parks. Next slide, please. When we divest from BP, we must reinvest in black lives and communities of color. One We must reimagine community safety without police terror grounded in restorative justice and black empowerment. Two We must establish dedicated funding to build affordable and supportive housing. Three, We must invest 4.4 million to provide a right to counsel for all renters to reduce evictions and prevent homelessness. Or we must invest 700,000 to establish a rental housing division to communicate with both tenants and landlords and enforce tenant protections. Next slide, please. We must create Community Health Councils for community led crisis response or mental health and safety. Six We must provide free job training for black residents and revise the city's project labor agreement so that black contractors and workers benefit from union jobs. Seven We must invest 2.3 million fully funded language access and finally create a culture of language justice by moving service in-house. Eight We must boost senior and youth development programing and supportive services. And nine finally, we must invest 400,000 to renew and expand the Long Beach Justice Fund to provide free, universal legal representation to our immigrant neighbors facing deportation. Next slide, please, for Maniac. Unlike the city, unlike the city of Long Beach, true reconciliation, as applied by the people of Australia, Canada and South Africa is based on a few key principles. Led by the victims, those who were harmed, and to the perpetrators of the harm. The city of Long Beach and the Elbe PD. They must be truthful in their testimony and conciliatory in their tone. This is key because Chief Luna, LAPD and the PSA have not been apologetic nor conciliatory, even after the facts of historical racism and discrimination have been proven and exposed. Instead, we see political assassination plots, social media posts filled with lies and scare tactics and outright bragging of their violent history with their backs in boots challenge coins. When it comes to equity, black citizens in Long Beach have been at the top of all the negative statistics and at the bottom of all the positive ones. These facts are why the city itself declared racism a public health crisis. This is why EUR 1.5 million for racial reconciliation is simply a joke. Defunding the racist police by 5% is not enough to address the true needs of the community. We are calling for a true victim led process where at least 20% of the LAPD budget is divested and reinvested in the people's budget. And those who have been harmed the most, the black community. You were elected by the people to represent the people, not the police department. You have the power to begin to overturn the culture of systematic racism and white supremacy in City Hall and the Elbe PD. Do not wait for another viral video or another multimillion dollar payout. Do not wait for another innocent life to be taken. Be bold and be brave and be a visionary. Leaders of the people that we elected you to be. History can be on your side if you make the right decision. Thank you. We're happy to ask questions. Councilmember first. Thank you, Mayor. Well, that was a unique presentation for the council. I think that you guys spoke from your heart and your experience, and I appreciate the moment. I know that this is probably not a comfortable presentation. It wasn't 100%, I think, what people were expecting. But I want us to focus on the fact that what the message here is that you guys have a platform of things that you've asked for. And whenever people ask, where does the money come from? You're looking at those departments in the city where you feel like. That should come from. And I know that there will probably be maybe some discussion on this item or maybe on the budget item. But I really wanted to focus on the requests that were made around the housing work, the language access work, and that that was the purpose of this presentation. So I appreciate your guys time. I'm not sure if there's any other council comments, but that's those are my comments. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. I don't I don't see any. I'm will go to the comment on the item. Our first speaker is Daniel Arturo. Hi. I'm calling in support of the adoption of the People's Budget in support. Of. Everything that was just presented. I strongly do not believe the police make communities safer. My name is Daniela Carroll. By the way, I don't know if I said that and. I think that even. With the proposed budget. Cutting, the small amount. That's being cut from the police budget, they're still going to be better staffed than most of our other departments in our library or health or parks and economic development departments. And I don't find that acceptable. I believe that providing legal defense and rental assistance for Long Beach residents needs to be a priority, along with language access, of course. And I think we need to re-imagine a long beach in which we are hiring social workers and librarians and afterschool tutors and people who could make the city more equitable. And I just want to end in saying. And advocating for adopting the people's budget. And reallocating funds and additional resources on an ongoing basis to community led priorities that create health, opportunity, community and justice. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is John Miller. Hello? Yes, we can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi. My name is Jemima and I am a community organizer with the Long Beach Immigrants Rights Coalition. I am here today because, again, I am disappointed by how little our voice matters to the city council mayor. Every time I leave the city council meeting, I think to myself, what could we have done better to be heard by city council? What can we do to make them realize that they are witnesses of literal murder task by police? They honor and accept money from grandmothers. Mother's daughters are here. Tell you what, they need to keep their community safe. As you ignore them, the children are listening. I will say this again, and the generations after me will continue to say this. The police are murdering black and brown communities, and you're allowing this to happen by giving them the resources to do it. Taking a stand is defunding the police by 20%, not taking pictures and with protesters with fists in the air while continuing to get police funding. 40% of the city's general fund police violence has to stop. And you are now in a position of power to make that happen. Tonight, you had the choice to make the right decision to be brave and listen to the very people you swore to represent. Defund the police and fund programs that will give renters the opportunity for legal representation. Yes, this will prevent homelessness. Renew the justice fund. You'll be able to unite immigrant families and keep them safe from deadly conditions in detention centers. Renew it by 400,000 with 50,000 to go to lba. Thank you. Our next speaker. Is melissa garlick. Hi there. Thank you, mayor and council members. My name is Melissa GARLICK. I'm testifying on behalf of the Vera Institute of Justice, specifically to investment in the Long Beach Justice Fund. We've been proud to partner with the City of Long Beach as part of our safe network, as a leader in creating a legal defense fund that advances universal representation for Long Beach residents facing detention and deportation. And as part of the People's Budget proposal, we urge you to support $400,000 for the Long Beach Justice Fund for FY 21 and as part of a permanent component of Long Beach City Council. As the devastating impacts of a public health crisis meet the harms inflicted by systemic racism, the accumulation of injustices facing immigrant communities, communities of color, black immigrants has reached a tipping point, and its consequences will continue unless communities take action. Now is the time to examine the city's police budget, reimagine public safety and invest in communities. The stakes are high. Immigrants of color who are racially profiled and criminalized are funneled into the detention and deportation machinery. Communities need local investment and programs that protect communities of color and immigrant communities and language justice. Science is an investment in keeping together families and communities who are criminalized and targeted by overpolicing and increased immigration enforcement. It's a widely supported program that ensures lawyers on the front lines fighting every day for the health, freedom and due process of immigrants in detention. Support for this program is needed now more than ever. Thank you. Our next speaker is Norberto Lopez. Gilberto Lopez. Roberto Lopez. Your time starts now. Jordan. Jordan, during your time starts now. Hello, Mayor and City Council. My name is Jordan. The people's budget has been demanding defunding LAPD for years. So the councilmembers who say they don't understand what divestment is or they don't understand any of this, I have to ask, were you not paying attention during those meetings? Because I know recently council members have been leaving during certain parts of meetings, as we saw last week, when certain council members had to be texted and brought back in. So I just wanted to say that it is frankly insulting that the people's budget is getting a presentation after all these years, on the same day that you're passing a budget and you're not making any significant changes to the budget or delaying it or really taking into consideration all. Councilmember Richardson, in a few meetings ago, you specifically asked the city manager about your reconciliation process. He told you that? There would be hearings in October, but it's not relevant to the budget. Blah, blah, blah, that type of thing. So I have to ask, what is the point of your reconciliation process if it has no impact on the budget and the police still get all this money and we can't fund any of the demands of the people's budget or close the. Funding shortfalls this year without cutting essential services. If the reconciliation process happens after the budget passes, if nothing changes at the budget, how will the police have been reconciled? How well anything have changed? Defund the police and take a bold stand against police violence, divest from BPD and then invest differently in our community health and safety. Thank you. Our next speaker is Norberto Lopez. Tony. Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Yes, I'm calling my name as the term project director with Libra, and I'm calling in support of people's budget and hoping that the city council can adopt it. We're calling on the city to really look at the needs of the community and not the needs of the police or the developers. We've been asking for the people's budget for a year. You know, we had a. Presentation today. But it's not enough. What we're asking for is for direct action and for you to actually adopt what we're asking for. We're asking for a housing division. We're asking for more affordable housing. We're also asking that there's a right to council program in the city to help tenants out. We really, really, really need you to defund the police and fund community initiatives that really help out the people that need it the most, not funding people who make twice as much or even three times as much as a community member. So we're really asking you to defund the police and adopt the people's budget. Thank you. Thank you. And now we're going. To move to the Spanish. Interpretation, interpretation. Portion of the public. Comments or give us a moment. And. The first speaker is Elizabeth Gonzalez. Lisa Gonzalez Primero. What, autumn? My question. Here may. Be number 25 as one palace. My name is Thomas. And you put this together. George Wallace may nominate Palin. My name is on, and I'm here. To give. A check. I'm going to tell you that I'm very disappointed in regards to this participation. But he made it. First of all, how about another? I couldn't hear. Noninvolvement in that and interpret that as. Yeah. And I couldn't understand what the interpreter was saying. Norah. I feel that I'm being a general. This is back home in Colorado and there's the process. I want to keep getting. Close to each other. And to really feel that I am being heard. Jennifer, see that one point there? We see open up all there and they're all communication willingly. We need good service so that we are able to have good bilingual communication getting there. They look, they start Orlando. We need to have the actual fluidity of what is actually being seen. As everyday symbols. Para la policia the man has gone and banged the policy into. But I make them say, re-issue the production. I still think that we need to defund the police of at least 20% so that we are able to improve the language. Sundance, L.A.. I see that excuse that a lack of money that. He dissembled for not being supportive. And so I feel that we are up on that clinical development. Sorry. We're having trouble with the translators line. Give us a moment. Okay. They cannot hear me. Okay. Can you hear me now in English? Yes. On muted. Yes, we can hear you now. Okay. Did you hear the whole interpretation of what was said just now or. No? No. You cut off about halfway through the interpretation. Okay. Where? What was the last thing that you heard? Because I have it here in my notes. She requested a 20% reduction in the police budget was her last comment that you translated to us. Okay, so we put a request for 20% budget at 20% defunding of the police from the budget because that would really help the great needs that we have in the community, for example, that would really have the major language needs that we have. Because I do feel that we're not being heard in for example, defund ment with 20% would also help opening our mental health clinics. That is also something that could be done with that. And that was the last thing that she said. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jose CU. When I started in the scooter. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? My scooter when I started. Clean yourself a scooter. My kitchen staff. Feel. Okay. We've periprocedural and dosing your lecture context today. I think young people think that, but that is all about meeting me. Interpret that in a moment. But I saw this thing, you know. When I started mean cassava. He used to assemble not only a of this computer. I said, Do you mean that? Suppose you keep that in the present. Okay. But beneficial. The person that here in this house in Houston meant the eagerness of into policy to kill a policy are also all my loser paracetamol troublesome Mr. Comunidad attempted the galore gay then if he said he I thought to be my on this a local in Cousteau e or looked and took the several examples in the way law recourses into policy. You are a moot de la familia. Get some of this Carlos in me council frequency equals e nor the in all your but your polar. Here is a lunar event that this was of this a local law must put on the possible only familiar. Okay moment it does in your OC. And everybody hear me. Yes, we can hear you. Yes. Good afternoon. First of all, I come here with great humility and with great respect to all of you to really make a call out to you for a 20% a defunding of the police. This really would help the communities that have been unfairly evicted in this case. Not only would that help the communities that have been unfairly evicted, but these funds that have been misused could actually be used not only to have the communities that have been unfairly evicted, but it would really mean great support for communities such as myself that have gone through that situation. I, for example, went through this situation. I was evicted. I'm fairly and justly with five kids, without any assistance whatsoever, without any other way of protecting them, processing it. Get in there. Stop it this long. Get your stupid end or get your crooked appointee up. It was sort of a course of Jeopardy era and said, benefit yourself. But I'm a sort of la comunidad thinking that I. I think that. Title. I think that the police has a lot of resources and that could be very beneficial for everybody in the community in general. Seek out senior. See Novello and specifically the Una comunidad is by now and they get out. They like much of communities others in Long Beach system even though in pursuing this precarious get a fiscal appointee. My loser with the Iran are you are asking my your interview is yours e a look at some parents have all told Abbas. Okay we being I also want to say that you know these funds that the police says in this case misusing that this could also actually be helped to assist the community and in general and I just don't mean specifically just for, you know, the Hispanic community or for the black community, but I mean, for the community in general, there are many people that need support that live in many precarious situations. And I think that these funds could also be used not only for assistance for elderly people or even for special education services for parents. Thank you. Our next speaker is Luis Maria Ortiz. Getting into what I do, what I lose. Maria Ortiz. Cinerama is quicker. Is quicker. Three. Okay. Sing it up with the presenter Joyce Culture. Winner. Seven nominations. My loyalty. The story of what we do is we obtain not only that, but I say to my San Jose, are you there environmental? So I'm all for them. She's a chemical interpreter, saying, My name is Maria Ortiz. And once again, I am asking that you please reinvest these funds back into the community so that we can, for example, be able to invest and open up and centers for mental health assistance. Senora. Are you there live? Who is delivering them records? The orientation that we are able to as well provide resources for the youth where they get services related to guidance and orientation. Seeing us in Europe. Don't they select proposals for you? Yes, I mean. Were there. They were the youth not only got support, but also guidance as well. T. Don't get established on my my. But okay, look, when it's over, it's going to moment those critical. Where they were. We also have prevention programs for the youth where especially in these very tough times seeing us in Europe. Give them space. And they don't think that the ability to intentionally send souls. Where they use, especially in these very tough times where there are so much uncertainty, but the youth does not feel that they are alone. Getting the attempt over that much better holiness in basic details. And that we actually are able to invest more in programs for the youth and not remove these programs instead. Economic development, we will respond accordingly. And to not lose our focus, which should be the youth and how to assist them. Yes. On which. Evidence. And that is all. Thank you so much. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. You start concretely come in through your poorly compressed 30 kilograms? Yes. Oh. Thank you, Mr. Clarke. The second on this motion by counsel was in defiance has been withdrawn. So there is no there was no second on this motion. Is there a second on this motion? Any second on this motion. Okay. So, Mr. City Attorney, I believe since there's no second on Councilman Pierce's motion, the item dies without a vote. Is that correct? That is correct. Okay.