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Orozco, Norma From: Maria Ruvalcaba <maria.ru91 @yahoo.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2020 3:17 PM To: eComment Subject: City Budget for the Community Dear Santa Ana Mayor and City Council Members, Currently, 70 cents of every dollar from the City of Santa Ana's General Fund pays for the city's narrowly -defined 'public safety' entities, largely police and fire. We stand with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and with Santa Ana youth, demanding a shift in public spending -- away from law enforcement, towards youth programs, economic opportunities and housing. In short, our vision of thriving neighborhoods is not possible without addressing the choke hold of law enforcement over our public dollars and over our communities' wellbeing. I urge you to listen to the community and support the Santa Ana People's Budget Platform. Value: Invest in Youth: We call for the DEFUNDING OF POLICE, we call on city council to redirect youth suppression spending into healthy youth development services, programs and resources, such as mental health counselors, youth reentry programs, expungement clinics, teen mom programs, jobs, internships, etc. Value: Protect Immigrant Families: To meet the needs of the immigrant community and build off of the city's investment in immigrant communities of over the last three years, the City should expand its investment to $200,000 or more a year for the next 3 years for a more robust Universal Representation program to ensure any Santa Ana resident facing deportation has access to legal representation. Value: Prioritize Workers, Worker Cooperatives and Small Businesses: We call on the City to create a Worker Cooperative Development Fund to support the creation of local businesses owned by their workers through training, technical assistance, incubation, conversion and financing, and to put on the ballot a measure to waive business license fees and permit fees related to the development and improvement of worker cooperatives. Value: Invest in the Santa Ana Public Library; in art, educational, and recreational programs; and in all other City agencies and staff that provide vital services to Santa Ana residents, other than police: We call on the City to increase the budget of the Public Library, for additional materials and staff support, including additional hotspots and computers for community use. Value: Protect Immigrant and Low -Income Renters: We call on the City to create an Eviction Defense Fund and invest 1 million dollars to protect a Tenant's Right to Counsel, especially when 90% of tenants facing eviction do not have legal representation. A City -funded Right to Counsel program would ensure vulnerable tenants have representation in court.