I committed to vote no on the City& #39;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.

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

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔹" title="Kleine blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Kleine blaue Raute">Divest from policing to preserve the social safety net.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔹" title="Kleine blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Kleine blaue Raute">Prioritize public health.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔹" title="Kleine blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Kleine blaue Raute">Invest in a just recovery.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔹" title="Kleine blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Kleine blaue Raute">Take a smart, long-term approach to our city’s economic health.
Reducing NYPD spending is BOTH:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔹" title="Kleine blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Kleine blaue Raute">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:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔹" title="Kleine blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Kleine blaue Raute">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. https://www.vera.org/publications/what-policing-costs-in-americas-biggest-cities">https://www.vera.org/publicati...
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.

https://on.nyc.gov/2YHqWdx ">https://on.nyc.gov/2YHqWdx&q...
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& #39;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.
You can follow @bradlander.
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