HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/2/2021 Item 3a, Uchiyama
From:Luka Uchiyama <uchiyama@calpoly.edu>
Sent:Wednesday,
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:A Comment on New Proposals Covered in Tuesday Meeting
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Dear SLO City Council Members,
My name is Luka Uchiyama, and I am a seasoned resident and cal poly student here in the city of San Luis
Obispo. As an individual heavily involved in the communities I am situated in, especially our Cal Poly campus
community through various clubs and organizations, the new proposals the city of SLO are making for
increased policing and police force resources — i.e. continued investment in the carceral state in our local
community — has been alarming and has instilled renewed fear and frustration in my and my peers,
colleagues, and friends. We are aware that many city leaders and officials, including the mayor, have made
verbal promises to radically change the way safety, security, and housing are provided to SLO community
members, specifically through prioritizing the requests and safety of unhoused folks, Black, Indigenous, and
other people of color, and other minoritized and/or underrepresented groups. In regard to the latest proposal
and city council meeting, I, along with others, urge you and other SLO leaders to prioritize our demands
including:
NO NEW POLICE STATION!!!!
AMEND the annual budget. Do not move forward with it as it was passed in June! DON’T increase the
SLO-PD budget for the next two years!
Reduce force size & shift enough to Defund SLO-PD by at least $5 Million!
Invest in 100% no-income & very-low-income housing developments instead!
We are aware that the city council heard that over 25 different groups of people that serve marginalized
students & community members agree that the budget should not pass as-is, and that SLO city needs to divest
from policing / invest in expense relief and 100% very-low-income housing, but the council voted to approve
the budget nevertheless. Not only that, but City Staff is proposing a new police station too! This is not
LISTENING to their constituents! How do they justify continuing to ignore people when we say we need to take
steps to transition AWAY from policing?
The current policing structure and system does not keep people safe, as their main goals historically and
empirically have been about containment and control. This will only become more & more important as the
years go on, as it becomes more & more clear that policing should be left in the past. By REFUSING to take
meaningful steps to divest from policing on the budget THIS YEAR, and by building them a shiny new police
station, the city of SLO is aligning itself with the continuation of the slave patrols that policing comes from, and
putting itself in the wrong side of history. We need the council to have Courage! We know this issue is a
politically hot-button one, and there’s no will on the council to take on the issue of policing right now. But we
need better than that!
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Furthermore, we need INVESTMENT in rent relief, affordable housing, healthcare, mental health resources,
equitable schooling, accessible transportation, worker protections, and a diversity of culturally sensitive
community care NOT a new police station!
Thank you,
Luka Uchiyama (she/they)
Engineers Without Borders Cal Poly | Vice President 2021-2022
Cal Poly Zero Waste Ambassadors | Team Manager 2021-2022
B.S. in Electrical Engineering
Minor in Gender, Race, Culture, Science & Technology
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
uchiyama@calpoly.edu | uchiyamaluka@gmail.com | LinkedIn
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