Last week San Diego Fourth District City Council member Monica Montgomery cast a vote that stands out as wrong to both her District and the moral attitude of this nation.
She voted in support of the City Council, giving $27 million of CARES funds to the San Diego Police Department Budget.
Do we need the number of Assistant Chiefs that now occupy the 7th Floor of the San Diego Police Department?
In the midst of a budget crisis, did the City look at a zero-based budget approach to reviewing the police department as opposed to being concerned about meeting the demands of the Police Union?
Instead of proposing a Department of Race and Equity and accepting a $3 million dollar token from the Mayor, the council member should have pushed for some of that $27 or $20 million dollars going to the police to be redirected to some of the summer jobs for our unemployed youth within existing departments and agencies of the city government; more dollars to Parks and Recreation for the difficult summer ahead and real dollars for small minority businesses (Black businesses in particular) to reopen.