Good afternoon, councilmembers. My name is Branden Sigua, and I am a senior policy advocate for the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties.
How we choose to invest our money dictates the future of our city. Our budget should tell the story of hope over fear.
Fear is funding the surveillance of our community members while reducing the services that keep them safe and supported. Fear is bankrolling automated license plate readers (ALPR), an already dangerous technology, under a hostile administration, in anticipation of crimes that have not yet occurred and may never occur. Fear is the planned overinvestment in law enforcement, all while recklessly accepting San Diego Police Department’s skyrocketing overtime and civil lawsuit settlement costs as the price of supposed safety.
We need to change this story.
Hope is investing in a future where all San Diegans can thrive. It means funding proven solutions to the problems that we are facing right now. Hope means supporting our youth through community-centered services and programs like parks and rec, libraries, the Office of Child and Youth Success and the arts. Hope means funding crucial infrastructure.
Serving the constituents of this city means investing in our future and not our oppression. Fund the services San Diegans desperately need. Let San Diego’s budget tell a story of hope.
Thank you.