EscInd: Weekly Action Plan for Arpil 18, 2022
Welcome to Escondido Indivisible’s weekly action plan for April 18, 2022! California Primary Election will be on June 7, 2022. Check your registration status and updated district information, and register to vote if you’re eligible and not registered.
Events
Events
- Tuesday, April 19, 2022, 6:00 PM: The Escondido Discussion (on the City Budget and Service Priority) at City Hall Mitchell Room, 201 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025.
- Wednesday, April 20, 2022, 5:00 PM: Escondido City Council Meeting at City Hall Council Chambers, 201 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025. Agenda Item includes a Presentation on the Escondido Discussion, Item #8 on Escondido Police Department Military Use Equipment Policy and Item #9 on Revenue Measure Subcommittee Update. Live broadcast of the meeting will be at escondido.org here. Public comments may be made via Public Comment Form.
COVID-19 Response & Recovery
- Read-up on The Grief of 1 Million COVID Deaths Is Not Going Away.
- Contact Senator Feinstein and Senator Padilla and ask them to support S.3726 which funds research on long COVID-19. Ask for more funding to provide free testing, vaccination and treatment for COVID-19 and aid for the global pandemic response. See Va. Sen. Tim Kaine still has long covid symptoms, introduces bill to research the phenomenon.
- In-Related News: read-up on America’s Highest Earners And Their Taxes Revealed.
Escondido Budget
- Comment on Escondido City Council Meeting Agenda Item #9 on Revenue Measure Subcommittee Update. Note under “Potential Scenario: No New Revenue”, the following possible cuts are listed: “Library: Negotiate current management contract with LS&S for reduced hours and/or closure” and “Laying off 9 firefighters and closure of one fire station”. While the potential revenue measure scenarios focus heavily on increasing police forces by hiring ~10-30 police officers instead of more funding to infrastructure improvements or community service expansion. (#TBT: See Escondido’s city-federal effort to oust [undocumented] immigrants draws praise, criticism from 2011, Escondido Police Under Fire from 2012 and Escondido continues DUI checkpoints despite past controversy from 2020.)
- Complete Escondido City’s survey on “local community priorities and City service needs” for the budget as the city is facing “an $8 million budget gap” and call for more funding to community-based programs and services.
- In-Related News: read-up on Escondido Councilmember Says More Climate Action Is Not a Priority and Opinion: Do Not Outsource [Fullerton] Library Services.
Escondido Police Militarization
- Comment on Escondido City Council Meeting Agenda Item #8 on Escondido Police Department Military Use Equipment Policy. The policy allows for the following military weapons to be used for “riot/crowd control and civil unrest incidents”: chemical agent and smoke canisters; 40mm projectile launchers, “bean bag,” rubber bullet, and specialty impact munition; Taser Shockwave, microwave weapons, water cannons, and the Long Range Acoustic Device; 40mm projectile launchers, “bean bag,” rubber bullet, and specialty impact munition (SIM) weapons. Note that such military weapons have been used wrongly in recent peaceful protests nationally and globally, escalating tensions, severely injuring peaceful protestors, and, in many cases, silencing protests against civil liberty infringements: 'It’s Never Stopped': Racial Injustice Ignites Protests Across San Diego, Police In Bangkok Use Water Cannon To Break Up Anti-Government Protests and Hong Kong police fire tear gas, water cannon at protesters. The policy also allows for drones to be used in any approved missions.
- In-Related News: read-up on San Diego [City] police propose regulations to govern use of military equipment, San Diego City Council OKs Police Department's continued use of military equipment and County OKs Sheriff's Department continued use of military equipment.
Escondido Indivisible is a grassroots group dedicated to affecting changes in our local community. Our website is at EscondidoIndivisible.com, and our sister group is at Escondido Indivisible on Facebook. Send us links and comments at EscondidoIndivisible50@gmail.com and @EscInd50 on Twitter. And feel free to forward our newsletter to interested parties! If you were forwarded this letter, you can subscribe here, and check the archive here.
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