EscInd: Weekly Action Plan for June 7, 2021
Welcome to Escondido Indivisible’s weekly action plan for June 7, 2021! 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
- Tuesday, June 8, 2021, 9:00 AM: San Diego County Board of Supervisors Regular Meeting vat Board Of Supervisors North Chamber Room 310, 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 402, San Diego, CA 92101. Agenda includes Item #2 on COVID-19 Response Update, Item #3 on American Rescue Plan Act Funding Allocation, and Item #10 on the Office of Immigrants and Refugee Affairs. Live broadcast of the meeting will be at sandiegocounty.gov here. Public comments may be made via eComment service or via email to publiccomment@sdcounty.ca.gov. See Voice Your Opinion.
- Tuesday, June 8, 2021, 5:30 PM: San Diego County Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board Meeting via remote teleconference at BlueJean Platform. See Meeting Agenda. Public comments can be made at Register Comments or Request to Speak.
- Wednesday, June 9, 2021, 5:00 PM: Escondido City Council Meeting at City Hall Council Chambers, 201 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025. Agenda includes Item #5 on budget for 2021/22. See the proposed Fiscal Year 2021/22 budget. Live broadcast of the meeting will be at escondido.org here. Public comments may be made via Public Comment Form.
- Thursday, June 10, 2:00 PM: Escondido Library Board of Trustees Meeting at City Hall Council Chambers, 201 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025. Agenda includes Item #5 on on Weeding Discussion/Collection Development Policy and Plan Review. Live broadcast of the meeting will be at escondido.org here. Public comments may be made via Public Comment Form. Audio recordings of previous LBoT meetings are available at escondido.org here.
- Sunday, June 13, 2021, 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM: CA 50 Coalition Voter Registration Phone Bank.
Escondido City Budget
- Read-up on Escondido City’s Proposed Annual Operating Budget Fiscal Year 2021/22. Of note, the city is proposing a budget of $117 millions: 9.2M is allocated to Community Services, 6.2M to General Govt. Support Services, and 2.4M to Community Relations & the California Center for the Arts. This combined to 17.8M which is a 5% increase and 15% of the budget. By comparison, 49M is allocated to the Police, a 6% increase and 42% of the budget. Most of the 6% increase is going toward the reinstatements of two Traffic Police Officers [for DUI checkpoints] and three COPPS Police Officers to “help address homelessness response” (pg. 17 under Police). We’ve previously highlighted (1) how these sobriety checkpoints disproportionately targeted communities of color in Escondido and (2) how important it is for our city to fund non-enforcement programs for homelessness outreach (rather than fund more homelessness enforcement).
- Contact the Escondido City Council and call for a budget that invests more than 15% in our communities and that does not increase funding in programs that disproportionately target communities of color and the unhoused. See Re-imagining Public Safety and Actions to Hold the Police Accountable (PDF version), Daunte Wright and the police’s grim financial incentive behind traffic stops and Police Hold 'Extraordinary' Power In Traffic Stops, Law Professor Says.
- In Related News: read-up on Escondido council to allow both online and in-person public comments.
Police Accountability
- Read-up on Families Of Californians Killed By Police Push Bill To Strip Badges From Bad Officers and No future agenda item planned for Escondido police oversight.
- Contact Assemblymember Waldron and ask her to support SB-2 to create a decertification process for peace officers. SB-2 passed the Senate 26-9. Senator Jones voted no to holding police accountable for misconduct or criminal conviction four times during the three hearings and on the Senate floor. See #TeamJustice Supports SB2 (with an email template for Senator Jones), SB-2 Fact Sheet and Police Decertification Bill Moves Forward (scroll down).
Voting Rights
- Read-up on How Arizona's Ballot Audit Is A Disinformation Exercise and Keeping Up Election Lie, Trump Returns To Political Arena.
- Contact Senator Feinstein and Senator Padilla and express support for H.R.1/S.1 to strengthen our democracy. Thank them for being cosponsors of S.1. Note that Representative Issa voted no on H.R.1, but the House passed the bill with a 220-210 vote. See Indivisible Democracy Guide, Indivisible Guide on H.R. 1: Strengthening Our Democracy and Support Democracy Reform with H.R. 1/S. 1.
- Contact Assemblymember Waldron and State Senator Jones and ask them to support AB-37 to extend vote by mail to all elections in California.
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.
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to Escondido Indivisible: