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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
By Alberto Gilman
The Somerville Finance Committee meeting hosted a virtual public hearing to discuss the proposed budget for the 2021 fiscal year on Wednesday, June 24.
In the previous week, Mayor Curtatone delivered to the City Council the proposed budget for consideration. This budget would go into effect for the next twelve months if approved by the end of June. If there is no approval, an appropriation would be put into effect.
The purpose of this public hearing was to hear the many concerns residents have in reaction to the budget.
Nearly 400 residents were virtually in attendance. In order to keep the hearing moving along, each speaker would be designed two minutes each to offer their testimony.
For over five hours, Somerville City Council heard hundreds of testimonies given by the many residents of Somerville.
The first testimony of the night was given by resident Willy Burnley Jr. “I am a black resident of Somerville and I want people to know it’s not easy being black here,” Burnley Jr. said in the meeting. “The police have never made me feel safe here.”
Those who are black or people of color stressed the importance of defunding along with their own personal reactions to policing.
Resident Michael Leonard spoke about his feelings towards the police. “As a black person living in this city, I do not feel safe with the police around,” Leonard said. “I do my best to avoid police whenever possible.”
Teachers, mental health workers, activists, program directors, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, friends, longtime residents, new homeowners or renters in Somerville, people of color and black people all brought their concerns to the city council.
Even now with the many protests still taking place across the country, the use of military-style weaponry and other tools to disperse crowds raise major concerns and should be defunded, according to resident David Cruz.
“If the City of Somerville and Somerville Police Department are serious about attempts to adopt de-escalation and to reduce incidences of police brutality, I would ask for this line specifically to be defunded,” Cruz said in the meeting.
Some personal anecdotes given included arrests, beatings, neglect by the police for the homeless or mentally ill, use of foul language, and the idea of systemic racism.
Kimberly Warsett shared her personal anecdote with her encounter with police when responding to a call. “They refused to investigate a crime that occurred in my home, asking only do you have a mental illness and disregarding me from there,” Warsett said. “One out of four people with a mental health diagnosis are arrested by police, with people who are black and have a diagnosis having an increased rate of being arrested. A low socio-economic status is also associated with arrest.”
All of the testimonies delivered by residents were in favor of defunding the Somerville Police Department. The reduction being called for a decrease to the police budget by 60 percent. Residents also urged councilors to reject any budget that doesn’t include a reduction of at least 10 percent by the City of Somerville. This was further echoed by a petition with a claimed 4,000 plus signatures of residents to defund the police.
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i know one place we don’t need police, construction sites… there are approximately 202,394,875,398 such sites in Somerville, why don’t we pay crossing guards??? they haven’t had much work since schools closed..
Most states use flag people. In Mass we don’t as having a trained professional on the site in case of a problem with the law we would have this trained person there on case of an emergency. Pretty much the way I understand it. But all the states with a flag person are not having a problem. I think it is more of the police union keep the money flowing. If anything we need to increase the budget so they have the best equipment and more officers on duty in these trying times. I have had personal experience with the police on social issues and I can say they have been good. Calls for help for suicides they were right there. Family deaths, health emergencies. And I can say regardless of race they treated everyone properly. Leave the police to do their job and let them decide or say what is needed. The force in Somerville has been one of the best in the country. Go after the other cities who do not have a good force like we do, Most police are good people doing their job. What is needed is a way to weed out the bad ones where they exist. I do not want to lose the good ones here and be replaced with a lesser person. Let’s stand behind them.
I would certainly hope the city has the fortitude to see whether and to what extent the police budget could actually be cut without affecting our safety, rather than just blindly going along the whims of the dial-a-lynch mob crowd.
The article states that hundreds of testimonies were given, and all of them were in the nature of complaints. Repeat, all of them. There certainly appears to be something that needs to be addressed here. Just saying.
The City Council made essentially the same size cut as the mayor. So this was all for show. I wish it was about a deeper look into how we operate police departments, but that got derailed by people picking numbers out of the air.
So follow the rule of the mob, and do whatever they say needs doing. Very proactive I think. How about cutting some of the real fat from the city budget? All of the new positions created at City Hall, all of the perks given to the Aldermen, etc. etc. Does it require a mob to demand it in order for anyone to see all of the fat????
Uh…yea. What you call “rule of the mob” is what normal people call democracy, majority rule, etc. It’s what elected officials are appointed to do, fulfill the will of the people. And no, this issue in general is not about trimming fat, it’s about responsible regulation of law enforcement, something else that functioning democracies do. Not that you’re expected to understand or agree with it.
Go back to sleep.