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given the city's decreasing crime rate? Why are additional police vacancies slated to be filled, while other city staff and programs are being cut? Community Policing: We want to see a reorientation of Police Department activities toward community- oriented policing. o First, the Police Department's PAAL Program's coordinator should not be funded through Community Development Block Grant funds. CDBG money should be used for other needs that the community has raised. Second, the Police Department should develop a community-oriented policing program that involves walking street officers, community meetings, and more youth outreach programs. Public safety is a community concern - it is also something in which community must be involved. - Funding of the Santa Ana Jail: The proposed budget provides for increased spending on jail operations over the next two years, continuing a pattern of spending increases. We have been told that the city is still analyzing the Jail to determine how much of Santa Ana's money is lost through the subsidization of a jail used for federal - not local - activities. o Until the analysis is complete, expenditures on jail operations should NOT increase. o After the analysis is complete, ANY Santa Ana funding that directly or indirectly supports the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement must be redirected away from public safety and towards programs that support strong and vibrant communities. o The excess money that has been spent on the Jail - both the projected increase and any future redirection of funds, should go toward the Community Resources and Development priorities outlined in the following section of this letter. - Community Resources, Development Priorities, and a Strategic Plan for Our City: Santa Ana desperately needs to have equitable distribution of funds, particularly for neighborhoods where a high quality of life is hardest to achieve. o In the cities budget presentation on May 28th, one of the largest "additional funding priorities" for the Public Works Department was over $250,000 in funds directed to the Floral Park Historic Street Light Retrofit. Floral Park is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city. Rather than invest in retrofitting historic lighting, we believe that investment should be made in long neglected neighborhoods where needs are most acute. Investment should take particular consideration neighborhoods where high percentages of families live below the poverty line, there is high crime rates and violence, high density of population and renters, and areas with deteriorating infrastructure. If we invest first in the communities with the greatest needs, we believe it will have the greatest in improving quality of life for all in Santa Ana. o Example of neighborhoods that meet this criteria include Lacy, Chestnut, gpCR@~ Jackson, Minnie-Standard-McFadden, Harbor & 5th, W Myrtle St., Townsend, Cedar/Evergreen and Durant & 17th o A robust and thoughtful strategic plan will help tie together the many needs of the diverse population of Santa Ana. In the current budget, y: SAN'T'A ANA COLLABORATINTE FOR RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT Colaborati~~o do Simla Ana piu-a cl Des u-i-olio ResponSahic