Memorandum DATE TO SUBJECT CITY OF DALLAS June 9, 2020 T.C. Broadnax, City Manager Reimagining Public Safety & Aligning Our Budget Priorities In your June 4th memo regarding One Dallas: R.E.A.L. Change (Restore Trust and Build Relationships in Policing), you stated that you are, “committed to proactively addressing historical and present-day challenges which manifest in community distrust, anger, and grief. To do this, it is imperative that we work together, aligning our intentions and resources to build a foundation of trust between historically marginalized communities and law enforcement.” We applaud this initiative as a good starting point. We hear many of our constituents’ calls to “defund” the Dallas Police Department. We understand that this call is a demand to address the deep root of our nation’s unjust practices and institutions and the need for us, as a city, to repair the harm of structural oppression. It is time to reimagine public safety. With this memo, we respectfully request you facilitate the alignment of our intentions with resources. We ask you to present options that reallocate public safety funding to equitable community funding for Council discussion during the already-scheduled June 17th Budget Workshop. We have increasingly asked our law enforcement officers to perform duties beyond the scope of their role as police. Some of these duties are societal problems that are not best solved with policing but rather with meaningful and equitable community investment. We look to use this process to restore trust between communities and City of Dallas policy priorities. Priorities like remedying the discriminatory policies that reinforced segregation and inequality; infrastructure investment to connect neighborhoods with safe, walkable streets and sidewalks; recreational spaces, community centers, libraries, trails, and parks; job training programs and workforce readiness centers; bridging the digital divide; home improvement and neighborhood revitalization programs; remediating environmental dangers; citywide access to affordable housing; and funding to support those experiencing and transitioning from homelessness. We must create a baseline where ALL Dallas residents are able to learn, recreate, work, and safely thrive in our neighborhoods. It is time to adjust our budget priorities and do what is best for the safety of both our communities and our officers. Adam Bazaldua Councilmember District 7 c: Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Chief of Staff to the City Manager Jon Fortune, Assistant City Manager M. Elizabeth Reich, Chief Financial Officer “Our Product is Service” Empathy Ethics Excellence Equity DATE SUBJECT June 9, 2020 Reimagining Public Safety & Aligning Our Budget Priorities “Our Product is Service” Empathy Ethics Excellence Equity