Information taken and edited from the People's Budget Website. Please visit their site for graphics and additional information. The complete toolkit is located here, but I've included updated drafts of emails to send to Budget and Finance Committee Chair Paul Krekorian, City Council President Nury Martinez and your own councilperson. Tell them you want them to adpot a #PeoplesBudgetLA. Remind them they represent you. Phone numbers listed below.
councilmember.Krekorian@lacity.org
PAUL KREKORIAN EMAIL SCRIPT:
SUBJECT: Adopt a People’s Budget
Dear Paul Krekorian,
You need to adopt a People’s Budget and defund the police. Please amend the mayor's budget, especially taking into account the events of this past weekend.
We are in the midst of a health pandemic with severe economic consequences. Over 50% of Angelenos are unemployed — and we can expect 42% lasting unemployment. Over 50% of this city is renters — and if folx are unemployed, they cannot pay rent. Prior to the pandemic, there were around 60k unhoused folx; after evictions and economic insecurity due to COVID-19 and its fall out, we can expect thousands more. In this context, the Mayor is proposing an increase to LAPD, despite the fact that crime has fallen considerably during the past few months. LAPD has seen a rise in overtime which, more often than not, is paid out to officers harassing unhoused folx, and Black, Indigenous, people of color.
After declining to vote on this draconian proposal last week, City Council referred it back to the Budget and Finance Committee. Now, the Committee has decided not to meet, thereby shirking its duty and upholding the racist and white-supremacist structures that underlie both the proposal and City Council as a governing body.
I am calling on you, Paul Krekorian, to vote to an amendment by the June 1st deadline, especially taken into account the events of this weekend. You need to Adopt a People’s Budget which defunds the police. Public opinion is with me (see attached graphs).
Thank you for your time,
(YOUR NAME)
Councilmember.martinez@lacity.org
NURY MARTINEZ EMAIL SCRIPT:
SUBJECT: Adopt a People’s Budget
Dear Nury Martinez,
You need to adopt a People’s Budget and defund the police.
We are in the midst of a health pandemic with severe economic consequences. Over 50% of Angelenos are unemployed — and we can expect 42% lasting unemployment. Over 50% of this city is renters — and if folx are unemployed, they cannot pay rent. Prior to the pandemic, there were around 60k unhoused folx; after evictions and economic insecurity due to COVID-19 and its fall out, we can expect thousands more. In this context, the Mayor is proposing an increase to LAPD, despite the fact that crime has fallen considerably during the past few months. LAPD has seen a rise in overtime which, more often than not, is paid out to officers harassing unhoused folx, and Black, Indigenous, people of color.
After declining to vote on this draconian proposal the other week, City Council referred it back to the Budget and Finance Committee. Now, the Committee has decided not to meet, thereby shirking its duty and upholding the racist and white-supremacist structures that underlie both the proposal and City Council as a governing body.
As the President of City Council, I am urging you to call a special Council Meeting to bring the People’s Budget up for a vote. The Mayor’s disastrous proposal MUST be updated with the priorities of Angelenos. You need to adopt a People’s Budget which defunds the police. We need disinvestment from the police, and investment in community- and health-centered services. Public opinion is with me (see attached graphs).
Thank you for your time,
(YOUR NAME).
How to find out who your CD rep is in case you don’t know: https://neighborhoodinfo.lacity.org/
EMAIL SCRIPT FOR OTHER COUNCILMEMBERS:
SUBJECT: Adopt a People’s Budget
Dear (COUNCILMEMBER NAME HERE),
You need to adopt a People’s Budget and defund the police.
We are in the midst of a health pandemic with severe economic consequences. Over 50% of Angelenos are unemployed — and we can expect 42% lasting unemployment. Over 50% of this city is renters — and if folx are unemployed, they cannot pay rent. Prior to the pandemic, there were around 60k unhoused folx; after evictions and economic insecurity due to COVID-19 and its fall out, we can expect thousands more. In this context, the Mayor is proposing an increase to LAPD, despite the fact that crime has fallen considerably during the past few months. LAPD has seen a rise in overtime which, more often than not, is paid out to officers harassing unhoused folx, and Black, Indigenous, people of color.
After declining to vote on this draconian proposal last week, City Council referred it back to the Budget and Finance Committee. Now, the Committee has decided not to meet, thereby shirking its duty and upholding the racist and white-supremacist structures that underlie both the proposal and City Council as a governing body.
I am urging you to publicly support the People’s Budget. The Mayor’s disastrous proposal MUST be updated with the priorities of Angelenos. You need to Adopt a People’s Budget which defunds the police. We need disinvestment from the police, and investment in community- and health-centered services. Public opinion is with me (see attached graphs).
Thank you for your time.
Your constituent,
(YOUR NAME)
Sample phone call Typically, a staff member will ask you for your name and for some address-related piece of information (such as your zip code) to confirm you are an Angeleno. They may ask for your mailing address. You are not obligated to share this if you are not comfortable doing so — tell them you’d prefer just to share your zip-code, or nothing at all.
They will ask what topic you are calling about — in this case, the Mayor’s budget proposal.
City Council Call Script: My name is (YOUR NAME) and I am calling in reference to the Mayor’s budget proposal. Last week, the public overwhelmingly expressed their opposition to this proposed budget, and in particular to it’s over-spending on police. Now, after declining to vote on the proposal, the (BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE/ CITY COUNCIL) is failing its constituents by not (HOLDING MEETING TO CONSIDER/ VOTING ON/ SUPPORTING) a People’s Budget. (PAUL KREKORIAN/ NURY MARTINEZ/ YOUR COUNCIL MEMBER) have an obligation to those they represent to consider an alternative that prioritizes the true needs of Angelenos: Care, not Cops. You need to defund the police. Please tell them that they must (HOLD A BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING/ BRING THE PEOPLE'S BUDGET UP FOR A VOTE/ SUPPORT THE PEOPLE’S BUDGET).
PHONE NUMBERS:
- CD1: Gil Cedillo
City Hall: (213) 473-7001
District Office 1: (323) 550-153
District Office 2: (323) 341-5671 - CD 2: Paul Krekorian
City Hall: (213) 473-7002
District Office: (818) 755-7676 - CD 3: Bob Blumenfield
City Hall: (213) 473-7003
District Office: (818) 774-4330 - CD 4: David Ryu
City Hall: (213) 473-7004
District Office 1: (323) 851-2121
District Office 2: (323) 957-6415
District Office 3: (818) 728-9924 - CD 5: Paul Koretz
City Hall: (213) 473-7005
District Office 1: (323) 866-1828
District Office 2: (818) 971-3088 - CD 6: Nury Martinez
City Hall: (213) 473-7006
District Office 1: (818) 778-4999
District Office 2: (818) 771-0236 - CD 7: Monica Rodriguez
City Hall: (213) 473-7006
District Office 1: (818) 756-8409
District Office 2: (818) 485-0600
District Office 3: (818) 352-3287 - CD 8: Marqueece Harris-Dawson
City Hall: (213) 473-7008
District Office: (213) 485-7616 - CD 9: Curren Price
City Hall: (213) 473-7009
District Office: (323) 846-2651 - CD 10: Herb Wesson
City Hall: (213) 473-7010
District Office: (323) 733-8233 - CD 11: Mike Bonin
City Hall: (213) 473-7011
District Office 1: (310) 575-8461
District Office 2: (310) 568-8772 - CD 12: John Lee
City Hall: (213) 473-7012
District Office: (818) 882-1212 - CD 13: Mitch O’Farrell
City Hall: (213) 473-7013
District Office: (213) 207-3015 - CD 14: Jose Huizar (suspended)
City Hall: (213) 473-7014
District Office 1: (323) 526-9332
District Office 2: (323) 226-1646
District Office 3: (323) 254-5295 - CD 15: Joe Buscaino
City Hall: (213) 473-7014
District Office 1: 310 732-4515
District Office 2: 310 233-7201
District Office 3: 323 568 208
EMAILS:
- CD1: Gil Cedillo
councilmember.cedillo@lacity.org - CD 2: Paul Krekorian
councilmember.Krekorian@lacity.org - CD 3: Bob Blumenfield
councilmember.blumenfield@lacity.org - CD 4: David Ryu
david.ryu@lacity.org - CD 5: Paul Koretz
paul.koretz@lacity.org - CD 6: Nury Martinez
councilmember.martinez@lacity.org - CD 7: Monica Rodriguez
councilmember.rodriguez@lacity.org - CD 8: Marqueece Harris-Dawson
councilmember.harris-dawson@lacity.org - CD 9: Curren Price
councilmember.price@lacity.org - CD 10: Herb Wesson
councilmember.wesson@lacity.org - CD 11: Mike Bonin
councilmember.bonin@lacity.org - CD 12: John Lee
councilmember.Lee@lacity.org - CD 13: Mitch O’Farrell
councilmember.ofarrell@lacity.org - CD 14: Jose Huizar (suspended)
councilmember.huizar@lacity.org - CD 15: Joe Buscaino
councilmember.buscaino@lacity.org