The post was "Liked" by hundreds and reposted several times. Council president Tom DePietro became part of the conversation, recommending that people attend the Common Council Finance Committee meeting on June 16.
I am writing to demand that all of you meet with the entire city council to completely revise the city's 2020-2021 fiscal year budget in advance of the finance meeting to be held June 16 at 5:30pm via Zoom.
More than $3 million is currently allotted for the police. These funds need to be redistributed to youth programs, parks, and other city programs that benefit antiracist efforts.
We are in the midst of a health pandemic with severe economic consequences. As a result of the economic insecurity due to COVID-19 and its fallout, we can expect thousands more to be applying for unemployment as 2020 closes. Even with this knowledge, a budget is still being proposed to increase the funding of the Hudson Police Department. In fact, in addition to the $3-million-plus for the police budget, the New York State Police Retirement funds total $473,802, while the total proposal for all Parks is just $96,393.
These numbers are grossly neglecting the needs of physical land of the Hudson Valley, a place home to so much natural beauty that it spurred an entire art movement. It is the responsibility of all of you as elected officials to meet this historical social movement with swift grace. Think of it as an opportunity for Hudson to create more beauty in the world.
We will no longer accept empty gestures and suggestions of reform. We need a budget that adequately and effectively meets the needs of the people and the land of the Hudson Valley during this trying and uncertain time; and we need a budget that supports communities and their well-being, not one that empowers the forces that tear them apart.
I am urging you, Mayor Johnson and the entire Hudson City Council, to completely revise the budget for 2020-2021 and fund #CareNotCops. You need to adopt a budget that focuses on helping the people of Hudson in areas like health, education, housing, and resources for small businesses and the arts, especially given the pandemic.Aside from someone from Austin, Texas, demanding that Hudson revise its 2020-2021 budget, what's bizarre about the letter is the assumption that Hudson has a fiscal year that does not correspond to the calendar year and that there is now a proposed budget before the Council (which we know is called the Common Council not the City Council). It's as if the person who drafted the letter somehow conflated the HCSD budget, which currently has the status of being proposed but not adopted, with the City of Hudson budget, which was proposed and adopted at the end of 2019 for the year 2020.
The Finance Committee's Zoom meeting on June 16 may prove to be, in its own way, even more memorable than the Board of Education public hearing on Tuesday that was Zoombombed with swastikas, obscenities, and pornography, or tonight's Tourism Board meeting which was Zoombombed by a fat naked man.
COPYRIGHT 2020 CAROLE OSTERINK
“The original post went beyond Hudson”?!
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry, but that is dangerously naive. The whole thing was a bomb that was planted here.
Calculating that Hudson is sufficiently woke for its purposes, a well-funded and well-organized effort has set its sights upon us with the goal of sewing civil unrest.
The organization’s adolescent slogan should be reversed to read: “To reduce the care of policing and build up community violence.”
I disagree with umheimlich’s comment. First, this isn't a new issue for Hudson. Do you remember the backlash against Hudson's SWAT team a couple of years ago and all the evidence that a militarized police force doesn't make people safer? Second, the person who created this graphic is a member of this community - not an outside agitator in Austin.
ReplyDeleteYes, PLEASE review the police budget. Year after year I’ve called for exactly that, though be prepared to deal with pension obligations and unions and so on.
DeleteBut don’t fool yourself that anyone who wants to trim a bloated budget is motivated by the same ends, or that everyone involved is even local. (Although I did see one local commenter, indubitably a fellow traveler, unfairly painting the HPD with the broad brush of “white supremacy.”)
Yes, I do remember local resistance to the HPD’s joining an area-wide tactical unit. But I also remember seeing a great deal of evidence which contradicts you. It’s beyond question (and common sense) that, when needed, a disciplined tactical team increases public safety and security.
I also remember claims of the supposed “militarization” of the HPD, which you’ve recycled here. Aside from being a nice bit of cant slipped in as a substitute for argumentation, if the least expensive equipment that’s available for the tactical team shows its military origins then the solution is not to get rid of the tactical team.
Are people pretending that there’s no crime in Hudson? Because it really looks like that’s the argument.
(So you don’t think I’m talking about you, remember that not everyone is motivated by the same ends.)
http://www.citypages.com/news/minneapolis-city-council-members-consider-disbanding-the-police/570993291
ReplyDeleteThis is laughable.
ReplyDeleteHudson has one of the most expensive school systems in America with a per student cost of over $29,000.00. Yes 29 k per student
the budget is over $ 50,000,000 dollars. the disadvantaged go to school here. there are 1000 students.
the police budget is 3 million per year, to take care of a population of 6000 people.
the police budget is 6 % of the school budget.
The police are doing are great job and are sensitive to the community. they keep the peace in a town known to have shootings a drug dealing.
If you look at Hudson fairly, it is a town with more balance than most places in America.
Could people please get back to focusing on their own lives and let a peaceful town stay that way ?
Hudson is in the top 5% of New York municipalities when it comes to per capita spending on Police.
ReplyDeleteThese conversations are long overdue.
On the budgetary issue alone, you know I couldn't agree more. This is WAY long overdue.
DeleteJ Kay compares the police and school budget. Ok. But in my view, that comparison only works if the police department is henceforth required to present it's annual budget, including all pension obligations, for a public, ballot box vote. The HDP will it's own, separate budget approved annually by the people, and the city will use the tax dollars it collects for other things.
ReplyDelete