HomeMy WebLinkAbout1/12/2021 Item 08, DSA SLO
From:DSA SLO <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:An open letter regarding the city budget
An open letter to Mayor Heidi Harmon, the San Luis Obispo City Council, city
manager Derek Johnson, and the City of San Luis Obispo
We are a group of San Luis Obispo community members and community organizations
concerned about the construction of a new San Luis Obispo Police Department station. The 2019-
2021 financial plan states the following:
“The current Police Department building was assessed as being insufficiently sized to meet
present and future needs of the Department and does not meet current seismic standards. The site
selected for the new facility was the same location as the existing building at 1042 Walnut Street.
This ongoing project will continue the development of the planning package and building renderings
necessary for future architectural design, engineering, and cost estimating elements.”
The current cost estimates include $50,000 already spent, and an additional $465,000 in
2021-22, $41,000,000 in 2022-2023, and $9,000,000 in 2023-2024.
In their upcoming 5 year budget, the city financial plan estimates spending $93,514,546 on
city projects, meaning that the new police station would account for more than all other combined city
development projects. We do not believe spending $50.5 million on a new SLOPD station best
serves our community. These funds would be better spent directly serving the needs of the
community during these unprecedented times.
In a 2019 SLO Tribune article, Chief Cantrell stated,“It’s estimated that the resident population
will grow to over 57,000 people by 2027...To properly support a police force that serves this size
community would require a facility more than three time as large as the current facility.” With a
budget that already takes 27.5% of the city’s general fund, more than any other department, we do
not believe that budget restricts the department’s ability to meet their present and future needs. The
money already allotted to the police budget should be more than enough to take care of the minor
repairs necessary for the police station. We also disagree with the assertion that population growth
would require increasing the current building by more than three times the current facility. There is
not sufficient evidence to claim that population growth in San Luis Obispo would require such an
increase in police power and scope; increasing the economic power of police has been shown to do
more harm than good for many underserved members of the community. Other actions can be taken
to ensure the safety and security of SLO residents without further investment in the police force.
Especially during and in the years following a pandemic, it would be inappropriate to spend
this amount of money on an already overfunded police department. Many of our community
members, especially those who are currently houseless or undocumented are more likely to
become further impoverished and face police violence through the criminalization of poverty. This
money should be redistributed to help our community members recover, both from the pandemic
and systemic underfunding of these risk groups; not put towards a program that continues to harm
those most underserved, particularly Black and Indigenous people.
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We request that the city of San Luis Obispo halt all planning and funds towards a new police
station and pledge to put this money towards other programs that would better serve the
community.
We are asking you to serve your constituents by investing the city’s budget directly into the
community rather than wasting the money on an unnecessary police station. Don’t sit back and
allow this money to go back into a punitive system that perpetuates violence toward our most
vulnerable. We are counting on you to listen to your community and stand up for us. Do not
disappoint us. Halt the funds immediately.
Community of San Luis Obispo, including:
Democratic Socialists of America, SLO
Sunrise SLO
Cal Poly Democrats
Black Lives Matter Community Action (BLMCA)
Code Pink
SLO Food not Bombs
SLO Peace Coalition
Hope’s Village
Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success
The Queer Crowd
R.A.C.E. Matters SLO
Community Roots Project
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