Service Providers Against Sweeps

https://twitter.com/ericacbarnett/status/1593337817593442304?s=20&t=dwf4EXU3UgX4b2HT4vVBow

Erica C Barnett makes some great points in critiquing the Seattle Times opinion piece, credited to council members Pedersen and Nelson. One of the most important details being that they conflates the general fund with the overall budget, and pointing out that 25% of the $1.6 billion general fund already goes to SPD. It is also worth looking at their reasoning behind supporting the mayor’s budget proposal for SPD; public safety. One of two ways SPD gets funding is by head count. SPD can’t hire for positions they haven’t budgeted. However, they end up overestimating, and not hiring for many of those positions. In 2023, SPD itself estimates that 130 of the positions that would be funding by the mayor’s budget would remain unfilled. Additionally, the way the mayor’s budget is written, the funding increase would not be allocated to the number of officers responding to 911 calls. So Pedersen and Nelson’s argument that we need to increase funding for SPD to address the low response times to 911 calls is invalid here, as the budget they support would not address this. There is also good reason to argue that a larger SPD budget does not equate to public safety. SPD’s budget growth has outpaced Seattle’s population growth since 2014, with the exception of last year, and violent crime still steadily rose during this period. This article tries to say crime worsened in 2020 due to budget cuts, when 2020’s budget was higher that most years in the last 2 decades. It also completely disregards the emotional, psychological, and financial impacts of the pandemic, decreased funding to mental health service, falling access to affordable housing, job loss, and increased sweeps. The demand for more funding for SPD suggested in this article is suspect as well. The stats used come from EMC Research Group, which has ties to city ed Seattle voters to get their numbers. Homelessness is a problem in Seattle, but the people experiencing homelessness are not. They are the victims of the city’s failure to adequately invest in its most vulnerable citizens, instead scapegoating them for its problems. Council Member Morales’s amendment would move funds from SPD to community groups. The Solidarity budget, which demands resources for community based public safety, and a moratorium on sweeps while funding services. You can make your voice heard tomorrow (11/21) at the final public comment opportunity. Call-ins start 7:30am, public comment begins at 9:30am.

Erica C. Barnett on Twitter “Wonder who actually wrote this poorly edited piece ("homelessness encampments"?) in , in which councilmembers Sara Nelson and Alex Pedersen appear to consistently refer to themselves in the third person. https://t.co/pcsp5De5qG”