EscInd: Weekly Action Plan for June 19, 2023

Welcome to Escondido Indivisible’s weekly action plan for June 19, 2023! Happy Juneteenth! Pick an action or two and commit yourself to doing them. As President Obama said in his farewell speech: Believe in your ability to bring change. Show up, dive in, stay at it.

Events

• Wednesday, June 21, 2023, 5:00 PM: Escondido City Council Meeting at City Hall Council Chambers, 201 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025. Agenda will include Item #6 and #7 Adoption of Operating & Capital Budget and Item #9 on Public Comment Process. Live broadcast of the meeting will be at escondido.org here. Public comments may be made via Public Comment Form.

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Escondido Budget

• Read-up on City council shown grim budget options and Meeting Agenda Item #6 and #7 Adoption of Operating & Capital Budget. Quote: “In order to continue to provide core City services including Public Safety, Public Works, Community Services, and Development Services, staff made recommendations to close the deficit that include a combination of using reserve balances as well as deferring major purchases to future years.” No cuts are expected this year.
• Watch the 2nd Operating Budget Workshop and ICYMI the 1st Operating Budget Workshop. Per SDUT: “Sales tax revenue is expected to drop by 3 percent, and a budget deficit of $11 million is projected”. “Three budget scenarios were reviewed: proportional across-the-board budget cuts, across-the-board cuts except for public safety departments, and a targeted business model approach, meaning that outside companies could run city programs and facilities, or that such programs would close.”

Homelessness

• Read-up on North County Report: Escondido Has Third-Highest Unsheltered Homeless Population, Homeless Deaths Are Rising at a Much Greater Rate Than Homelessness and Unhoused students are sometimes forgotten in the homeless crisis.
• Contact the Escondido City Council and call for more funding to address homelessness and immediate needs of our community. For example, creating a Safe Parking Program similar to Encinitas and Vista and a Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement similar to La Mesa. See Homelessness in San Diego County rose 22 percent last year. More of them are women, seniors and veterans, Homelessness in San Diego County increased by at least 14%, annual count finds, Regional Census Tracks Unprecedented Spike in Homelessness and Proposed [San Diego City] Camping Ban Must Wrestle with Homeless Shelter Shortage.
• In-Related News: read-up on Homeless Residents on Camping Ban: ‘A Lot of Us Aren't Sure What We're Going to Do’.

LGBTQ+ Rights

• Read-up on ‘Everybody assumes that it’s like the rest of California and it’s not’: Rural LGBTQ students and administrators describe campus strife..
• Contact Assemblymember Waldron and State Senator Jones and ask them to support ACA-5 to “rescind Proposition 8” and “enshrine marriage equality in the state constitution” through a ballot measure.
• Contact  Representative Issa, Representative Peters, Senator Feinstein and Senator Padilla and ask them to pass the Equality Act to “amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity”. The bill passed the House in 2019 and 2021 but the Senate failed to act on both times. See What Is The Equality Act? Anti-Discrimination Law Explained.

Voting Rights

• Read-up on Voting Rights Act: What's next after Supreme Court's Alabama ruling.
• Contact Assemblymember Maienschein and State Senator Jones and ask them to support ACA-4 to “reinstate voting rights to people in prison on felony convictions”.
• Contact Representative Issa, Representative Peters, Senator Feinstein and Senator Padilla and urge them to pass legislation to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
• In-Related News: read-up on How policing took Sundays at the beach from Black San Diegans.

Escondido Indivisible is a grassroots group dedicated to affecting changes in our local community. Our website is at EscondidoIndivisible.com. Send us links and comments at EscondidoIndivisible50@gmail.com. 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.