NYC Budget Justice

For immediate release: June 18, 2020

NY Actors & Activists Release Video Call on Mayor de Blasio and City Council to Cut At Least $1B from NYPD Budget & Redirect Funds to Black, Latinx & other Communities of Color

New video features Billy Porter, Mark Ruffalo, John Leguizamo, Tituss Burgess, Claude Copeland, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kathy Najimy, Fisher Stevens, and frontline activists

Hollywood and Broadway actors from New York teamed up with activists in a new video calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council to defund the NYPD’s FY21 expense budget by at least $1B and redirect those monies to crucial services, programs and infrastructure in Black, Latinx and other communities of color. In the video, they call on Mayor de Blasio and the City Council to take at least $1 billion out of the NYPD’s bloated almost $6 billion expense budget and invest it instead in the city’s youth and communities of color – to reduce police violence and help ensure an equitable recover from COVID-19 for NYC’s Black, Latinx and other communities of color. The video was created in partnership with Communities United for Police Reform (CPR), Working Families Party, About Face and We Stand United.

Battered de Blasio finding friends after ‘#DefundNYPD’ splits progressives

New York mayor had faced a left-flank insurrection over his response to Black Lives Matter protests.
06/10/2020
Politico

NEW YORK — For the past few weeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio has struggled to communicate his alliance with New Yorkers troubled by police misconduct — marooning himself on a lonely island between the NYPD he oversees and a growing movement demanding it be reformed.

Now he appears to be finding some footing.

What $1 Billion of the NYPD’s Budget Could Do for Housing

Investing in NYCHA and permanent affordable housing for low-income New Yorkers are just some of the suggestions.
06/12/2020
Curbed

As New Yorkers protested against racism and police brutality over the past few weeks, the NYPD was caught on video clashing with demonstrators several times: shoving a 20-year-old woman against the pavement, hitting individuals with batons, and driving into a crowd with an SUV.

How the U.S. could reform police in response to protests against brutality and racism

06/11/2020
CNBC

Repeated police killings of black Americans have sparked the widest push for law enforcement reform in years. 

The nationwide movement fueled by George Floyd’s death last month has already kick-started change in cities and states. The coming months will help to determine just how far officials go in reshaping departments — and whether Congress will join state and local lawmakers in taking steps to overhaul policing. 

Policymakers across the country have targeted several major areas in their reform discussions, including:

NYPD Eliminated Their Plainclothes Officer Unit — But This Disguises A Larger Problem

06/16/2020
Refinery 29

Following weeks of protests around the country, and non-stop protests in all boroughs of New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday that the New York Police Department (NYPD) will be disbanding its anti-crime unit of plainclothes officers. Going forward, according to the announcement, officers will not be on active duty wearing civilian clothing and instead will be in uniform.

For immediate release: June 16, 2020

The Path Forward: How to Defund the NYPD by at least $1 Billion, Invest in Communities & Make NYC Safer

New York, NY (June 16, 2020) – Today, Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) released a new policy report on #NYCBudgetJustice which illustrates specific steps the New York City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio must make to cut at least $1 billion from NYPD’s FY21 expense budget to ensure that monies can be redirected to protect and strengthen essential services, programs and infrastructure that address key needs of Black, Latinx and other NYC communities of color for an equitable transition in the COVID-19 period. You can read the report here.
For immediate release: June 12, 2020

Communities United for Police Reform: City Council Pledge to Cut $1B from NYPD a Good Start

New York City Council leaders issued a statement late Friday responding to Communities United for Police Reform’s demand for $1 billion in cuts to the NYPD’s budget. In response to that pledge, CPR issued the following statement, attributable to CPR spokesperson Anthonine Pierre.

What George Floyd Protestors Around the Country Want in Order to End Demonstrations

06/04/2020
Newsweek

Crowds took to the streets nearly a week ago in a rage after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, but as the protests move into their next phase, the question of what it will it take to quell them—what exactly that would look like—is gaining new urgency.

The answer is both simple and complicated. Above all, the protesters say they are looking for justice. But what justice looks like varies by city, by incident, and according to the community's history with police.

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