General (05)
Susana Barrios
From:Michael Lopez <michaellopez71@gmail.com>
Sent:Friday, September
To:Public Comment
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] Public Comment
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Hello,
I want to address the recent increase in policing and surveillance throughout our public parks. It is
alarming to me that the city and police department feel that transforming our communities into a police-
surveillance state is an adequate response to support our unhoused neighbors, and particularly those
experiencing addiction. While I am aware that many community members are concerned with safety,
over-policing is not a characteristic of the safest communities, nor do police solve homelessness or
addiction. In fact, communities that have been systemically barred access to the resources need to
meet their basic needs experience the highest rates of crime, and in turn increased police presence.
Rather than spending tax payer dollars on camera systems, or say a fleet of Teslas, we should be
investing in solutions to support our unhoused neighbors and ultimately make the community safer for
everyone. I'm aware that the city has programs to address homelessness and addiction, but in my
opinion we do far too little to provide upstream interventions that would prevent either issue from
occurring. The fact that our city is barely figuring out that you need to directly invest in affordable housing
(via the housing trust that was recently voted on) is clear evidence of that fact. In short, stop wasting our
money on bandaids that don't actually address the issues we are faced with.
Sincerely,
A Deeply Concerned Resident of District 3
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