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Reimagine the Budget

The City of Pasadena is about to decide the budget for the next fiscal year and I’d like to say that, as an educated, voting, tax paying, white-identifying-as-human, woman, I think defunding the police is a good idea. The police department gets more money than the departments of public health, human services, and housing – combined. The City of Pasadena shouldn’t spend more money policing than it does improving the overall quality of life of its citizens. Defund the police and fund community health. Pasadena should consider implementing something like the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, OR (whitebirdclinic.org for information) which provides mobile crisis intervention 24/7 with services like crisis counseling, suicide prevention, conflict resolution, substance abuse and housing crisis support, among others. #DefundPolice sounds scary, but it’s a matter of reallocating money to departments that are focused on crisis prevention rather than the criminalization of poverty.

In Solidarity,

Kaci B.

Got something to say, email Managing Editor André Coleman, at andrec@pasadenanowmagazine.com