An e-mail sent to Councilmember Sandy Brown will likely result in no action at City Council. More seriously, the Council, which has ultimately control of the police through the City Manager, needs to be forced to confront long-standing SCPD issues that are of a piece with demands on departments across the nation.   Sections of it are reprinted here. 

TODAY’S COUNCIL MEETING WITH NOTHING ON THE AGENDA REGARDING POLICE MISCONDUCT

The regular Council meeting begins at 2 PM and takes place in ghostly fashion by Zoom with no real meaningful public participation (though this is usually the case during their in-person appearances as well). Oral Communications is at 6 PM.   To call in for the crumbs of 2 minutes speaking time at Oral Communication, check out the phone numbers (and the agenda) at https://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=1365&doctype=AGENDA for the phone numbers.

The on-line agenda has nothing which responds to the protests that have rocked the City in the last two weeks.

 I sent it around 8 am. I’ve received no response.

Brown has the option to raise any issue as an emergency matter (though it requires additional votes and an emergency finding).

She and other Councilmembers need to be confronted where they work and where they live to demand they take action. Massed people power finally provides the voice that deaf politicians have to hear whether they want to or not these days.


MAYOR CUMMINGS SETS THE AGENDA, CAN CALL MEETINGS

Cummings elected with Progressive student and tenant votes betrayed his constituency. Witness his long silence on the Glover and Krohn recalls, his refusal to press for just eviction protections or even landlord data, the sell-out of the homeless repeatedly, and his refusal to hold police accountable for fences, sweeps, and a roster of abuses (See “Rein in the SCPD with Real Community Controls” at https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2020/06/04/scan_20200604.pdf.

His recent postures to “cool protester anger at the police station and “bending a knee” with Chief Mills are more acts of betrayal attempting to co-opt a vital movement.

Of course, the real power in the city is City Manager Martin Bernal, who will never be held accountable until the community votes with its feet and voices to do so.


FOR THE TEXT OF THE E-MAIL GO TO:  https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/06/09/18834065.php