HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/1/2021 Item 6a, Harlow
Delgado, Adriana
From:Elle Harlow <elleharlow17@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, June
To:E-mail Council Website; Harmon, Heidi; Stewart, Erica A; Marx, Jan; Christianson,
Carlyn; Pease, Andy
Subject:Tonight's City Council Meeting (6/1)
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Hello City Council Members and Mayor Harmon,
I hope this email finds you all well. My name is Elle Harlow, I have been a resident of San Luis Obispo for the past four
years, and I am a member of Abolitionist Action Central Coast SLO. I am contacting you today to voice my concern that
the current proposed budget plan is not a budget designed to serve the people of San Luis Obispo. As has been
discussed before, the police do not serve to keep the majority of our community safe. The police serve to harass and
arrest houseless folks and put BIPOC and non-neurotypical community members at risk and make them feel
uncomfortable. I want to specifically address the loss of two lives that occurred recently in San Luis Obispo. The loss of
Officer Benedetti and Eddie Giron is heartbreaking and my heart goes out to those who knew them personally, but this
loss was preventable. We know from Eddies' mother that repeated efforts were made to seek help for Eddie, and as a
community we failed him. The way this incident has been turned into a cry of "blue lives matter" is disheartening. Eddie
was not an evil person, but just an overlooked person who needed help. This tragic incident is just one example of why
we need to divest from the police and invest in community services. The current budget plan is to increase police
funding to be about 25% of the city's entire operating costs. This is the opposite of what thousands of community
members demanded while protesting with the Black Lives Matter last summer. I demand that we do not pass the budget
as it is, that SLOPD be defunded by at least five million dollars, and that money be reinvested into rent and other forms
of relief for the bottom 10% income residents in SLO city.
I greatly appreciate your time and consideration.
Thank you,
Elle Harlow
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