In empowered communities people have control over the decisions that shape their lives. Empowerment is at the heart of all forms of real justice.
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By focusing on practical solutions we will advance the work of empowerment and justice with results. We do this by listening and learning from residents, businesses, and community organizations who are the most impacted and who have the expertise and experience that counts. It also takes a willingness to listen and collaborate across differences, and the ability to work with a wide variety of labor, city, county, state, tribal, and federal partners.
Restorative Justice
There are 2 truths: we need police and we need to transform our policing systems.
Economic Justice
Let's rebuild with a focus on equity: we have an opportunity to undo harm and build back better.
Environmental Justice
Amendment Questions
Question 1: Executive Mayor - Legislative Council
Alicia votes YES
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The amendment will minimize confusion. Our city department heads describe a situation in which there is confusion and a chaotic working environment as they receive often contradictory directives from multiple elected officials.
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This will bring clarity to the role of City Council members as representatives of the people creating policy and providing oversight in line with how the other parts of our democracy work at the state and federal levels.
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The amendment will increase accountability, making it easier to hold city electeds and officials more accountable by removing layers of management bureaucracy.
ADDITIONALLY...
Best practices in organizational management caution against large, complex systems managed without a clear hierarchy of authority.
The recent report issued after anonymous interviewing of our department heads verifies these pitfalls with multiple conflicting directives coming at city employees who are also threatened with retaliation for not complying.
Question 2: Department of Public Safety
Alicia votes NO
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The amendment has no plan, despite needing to be implemented 30 days after the election. No timeline for implementation is proposed. When it comes to public safety, a “trust me” and “wait and see” attitude is a set-up for the kind of instability that sets cities back for decades.
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As written, the amendment lacks clarity. The purpose is unclear, leading to some believing it will abolish the police, some thinking it will enable the defunding of the police, others seeing it as an opportunity for reorganization, while others have no idea what is being proposed or why it is needed.
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There has been no citywide conversation involved in its development. We must have a consensus-building effort to include all our diverse communities in a way that empowers and unifies rather than divides.
INSTEAD, Alicia will...
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Call for smarter policing by using large-scale data systems that quickly flag problematic trends, and partner with boots-on-the-ground community organizations who are already doing the work of violence prevention and grow partnerships with new groups.
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Strengthen police accountability: if the union continues to refuse community policing and accountability reform, we must sue them and have a court force them into a new contract that includes the community’s reform demands.
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Fund neighborhood restorative justice centers to develop alternative pathways for resolving conflict when harm occurs based on well-established programs and voluntary participation, while also actively training neighbors in new ways of being in community with one another.
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Hold precinct-by-precinct Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) to build consensus on what public safety means across all our diverse communities, create community-driven initiatives, and begin racial reconciliation by allowing our diverse communities to testify about their lived and generational traumas.
Question 3: Authorizing City Council to Enact Rent Control Ordinance
Alicia votes NO
This amendment is not lawful. State law is clear: city councils cannot pass rent control. However, this amendment includes that option as one of its operative clauses. Alicia would rather spend millions on affordable housing instead of defending bad law.
INSTEAD, Alicia will...
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Order a rent stabilization study to align city planning goals. As of yet, there is no city that has achieved rent stabilization without negatively impacting affordability so we want to proceed cautiously and in partnership with our affordable housing developers, as well as our regions' housing partners.
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Publicly fund affordable and low-income housing initiatives: prioritize consistent & sustainable state bonding in legislative agendas; explore the release of more city bonds and steadying the level of available bonds; legalize Single Room Occupancy (SRO) and boarding rooms to create pathways out of homelessness and buffers to keep people off the streets entirely; and create a Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to better coordinate and collaborate with public & private partners.
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Launch a Universal Basic Income pilot study to serve as an incubator for economic development using federal, private, and public grants with a focus on long term investment and growth.