Public safety doesn’t just mean cops and firefighters.
That was the message of several city councilmembers to Mayor Todd Gloria during last week’s budget hearings.
In his recent budget plan, Gloria proposed increasing the Police Department’s budget by $15 million and the fire department’s budget by $18.9 million. At the same time, he proposed cutting the budgets for libraries and recreation centers. Some councilmembers say it’s the wrong approach to public safety.
“We are heavy enforcement. I think we’ve all said the general fund is majority public safety. But these facilities, these amenities play a very, very important role into overall public safety,” said Councilmember Henry Foster. “And at some point we need to make sure we are really acknowledging that.”
Councilmembers Marni von Wilpert and Sean Elo-Rivera agreed that keeping libraries and recreation centers open is essential to keeping a city safe.
“Our gang unit responds incredibly well when they need to, but it’d be great to have a park and rec department that provides basketball, so students don’t have to be involved in gangs,” von Wilpert said.
Elo-Rivera gave specific examples of how the police budget might be rolled back to find more money for libraries and recreation centers.
He pointed to money the city spends to pay for police at Padres games. And he also suggested the city rethink $2 million per year it spends on Flock surveillance technology. Flock makes cameras that read license plates.
Police say the license plate readers help them solve crimes, but opponents say they create a surveillance dragnet that violates residents’ right to privacy.
“The budget is all about choices. The budget as proposed – choosing to surveil people instead of giving them a safe place to read,” isn’t right, Elo-Rivera said.
Not all Councilmembers agreed. Councilmember Raul Campillo said he did not support axing the contract with Flock.
“I’m not gonna frame this as we should save $2 million on that program to open up other libraries. There’s a better way and that is a false binary of its own,” said Campillo.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Gloria plans to cut more than $3 million from the city’s library system and more than $5 million in recreation center funding across the city.
The mayor gave councilmembers three options for cutting services at libraries – and asked them to choose which they preferred.
“ This administration has presented what the public has now called a ‘Hunger Games’ scenario, giving us the impression that the cut is already predetermined,” said Councilmember Kent Lee. “All we’re doing is picking between the options of how it’s implemented. This Council is being asked to debate with each other which community should lose access to their libraries or parks first. I’m just gonna say that I refuse to play this game.”
It’s unclear exactly how or if the councilmembers’ comments will affect Gloria’s budget proposal. He will present a revision to his budget on Wednesday, but the mayor has so far remained unwilling to consider cuts to traditional public safety.