EscInd: Weekly Action Plan for May 17, 2021
Welcome to Escondido Indivisible’s weekly action plan for May 17, 202! 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, May 18, 2021, 9:00 AM: San Diego County Board of Supervisors Regular Meeting via teleconference. Agenda includes Item #5 on COVID-19 response update and Item #19 on replacing old equipment in Escondido public parks. 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.
- Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 9:00 AM: San Diego County Board of Supervisors Regular Meeting via teleconference. Agenda includes Item #2 on establishing an Office Of Environmental And Climate Justice. 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.
- Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 5:00 PM: Escondido City Council Meeting at City Hall Council Chambers, 201 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025. ***Note: this meeting will be in-person (and no masking requirement) though public comment can still be made online.*** Agenda includes Item #5 on an update regarding the redistricting process in Escondido. Live broadcast of the meeting will be at escondido.org here. Public comments may be made via Public Comment Form.
Local Community & Climate Action
- Comment on Item #19 to support replacing old equipment in Escondido public parks: “Play Structure and Ballfield Equipment Replacement at Multiple Park Locations in Escondido: replacement of permanent play equipment that has exceeded its life span and is beyond the product life of replacement parts, including swings, slides, shade equipment, ballfield fence replacement, as well as smart irrigation controller replacements”.
- Comment on Item #2 to support the establishment of an Office Of Environmental And Climate Justice in San Diego County.
Escondido Public Library
- Read-up on Escondido library's shelves, once brimming with titles, now lie bare and Escondido library board to review weeding policy to address patron concerns.
- Contact the Library Board of Trustees and support a more nuanced approach to weeding print/physical books instead of weeding out books not checked out for three years. Not sufficiently funding or maintaining print collections contributes to decreasing public library uses, and not everyone has the same access to digital collections.
- In related-news: read-up on Book lovers excited to head back to the library stacks as pandemic eases and Libraries Are Dealing With New Demand For Books And Services During The Pandemic.
Escondido City Budget
- Watch replay of the Escondido City Council Public Hearing on plans for 2021/2022 City Budget under Item #15-B. Of note, the city is proposing to reinstate “one Public Safety Dispatcher position, two Traffic Police Officers [for DUI checkpoints] and three COPPS Police Officers to help address homelessness response” (pg. 12 of Agenda Item #15-B). We’ve previously highlighted (1) how the city and police department have not provided any accounting to the community on the effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints in Escondido or that these sobriety checkpoints do not still disproportionately target communities of color, and (2) how important it is for our city to fund non-law enforcement programs for homelessness outreach (rather than fund more homelessness enforcement). The final adoption of the 2021/2022 budget will be June 9.
- Contact the Escondido City Council and call for a budget that invests more than 15% in our communities and for more funding in community-based programs and services. Invest more in non-law enforcement programs for homelessness outreach and streets/traffic safety infrastructure (rather than fund more homelessness & traffic enforcement which disproportionately target communities of color). 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 Why do police edit body cam footage?, Witness video shows San Diego police officers tackle, punch homeless man in La Jolla, Activists call on city to release body-cam footage of man tackled, punched by San Diego police officers and North County Report: Oceanside Sidesteps the Real Homelessness Issue.
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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