Thread by @bradlander

I committed to vote no on the City's FY21 budget if it did not cut at least $1B from the NYPD. Not moving budget lines around. But real, meaningful cuts.

The budget being voted on tonight does NOT cut $1B from the NYPD.

So I will be voting NO.

THREAD

I approached this year’s budget with these principles in mind:

🔹Divest from policing to preserve the social safety net.
🔹Prioritize public health.
🔹Invest in a just recovery.
🔹Take a smart, long-term approach to our city’s economic health.

Reducing NYPD spending is BOTH:

🔹a necessary first step toward transforming our approach to public safety (so we stop using policing to confront every problem from homelessness to mental health to DV to school safety)

AND:

🔹a fiscal necessity this year given the pandemic.

According to new data from the @verainstitute, NYC spends far more per capita on policing than other American cities.

We have 1 NYPD officer for every 162 people. Los Angeles only has 1 officer for every 308, Houston every 360, and Phoenix every 380.

vera.org/publications/w…

This budget imposes a hiring freeze on teachers, counselors, parks workers, nearly every agency.

But it does not impose a hiring freeze on cops.

More here on why the NYPD cuts are not real:

gothamist.com/news/de-blasio…

To be clear: I appreciate the work that @CoreyinNYC @Dromm25 & the @NYCCouncil Budget Negotiating Team did fighting for cuts to the NYPD and especially winning restoration of unconscionable cuts by the mayor to Fair Student Funding, SYEP, @cunyasap and other critical programs.

But hiring 1100 new cops (1 for every 2 who leave) and failing to be bolder in cutting the NYPD means hundreds of millions that we can’t spend on public schools, affordable housing, public health & other critical supports needed to get us through the trauma of this pandemic.

I also believe the mayor is failing in this budget to surge our public health capacity, failing to create a Public Health Corps to support social distancing, and failing to do all we can to prepare to re-open our schools safely & successfully this fall.

And by needlessly cutting the capital budget $2.3B for affordable housing, job creation & infrastructure (contrary to what Keynesian economics teaches us to do during a fiscal crisis) this budget does not invest smartly in our city’s economic recovery.

on.nyc.gov/2YHqWdx

We aren’t going to transform our approach to public safety overnight. But let’s follow the Minneapolis City Council who voted to ambitiously replace their police department with a new Department of Community Safety & Violence Prevention. @LocalProgress

startribune.com/minneapolis-co…

I’m deeply disappointed w/this budget, but I’m not despairing. I’m energized by the diverse energy across our city to @changethenypd. Working together in our neighborhoods to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. And marching together in our streets to insist that Black lives matter.

So my vote today is not only a no-vote on the budget.

Inspired by your organizing, it's also a promise:

To fight harder for a real transformation in public safety, to prioritize public health & the social safety net, and to invest in a vibrant, sound & just recovery for NYC.