Stevenson, Garrett
Subject:FW: 5-18-22 Public Safety Committee Comment re Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department and Public Health Department Budget-Agenda Items 1A, 1C, 1E
BUDGETS
From:Allison Henry < >
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2022 3:53 PM
To: Stevenson, Garrett <[email protected]>
Cc: Gordo, Victor <[email protected]>; Hampton, Tyron <[email protected]>; Madison, Steve <[email protected]>; Kennedy, John J. <[email protected]>; Kurtz, Cynthia <[email protected]>
Subject: 5-18-22 Public Safety Committee Comment re Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department and Public Health Department Budget-Agenda Items 1A, 1C, IE BUDGETS CAUTION: This email was delivered from the Internet. Do not click links or open attachments unless you frnowthe content is safe. Report phish using the Phish Alert Button. Learn more....
May 18,2022
Comments re Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department and Public Health Department Budget Dear Public Safety Committee,
Thank you to staff and the Committee for your work on this budget and workshop. Fiscal Year 2023's Recommended Operating Budget again appropriates zero General Fund Dollars to our Public Health Department. This is unacceptable, and we are fortunate enough to have our own city health department, so we need to fund it! Grants are not a sustainable way of funding what should be considered precious—Public Health. We see the same reliance on grants for the Housing Department
Here are my additional comments and thoughts for the budgets presented:
Parks, Recreation, and Community Services:
From the 2021 Parks, Rec, and Community Services budget that 27,000 food-insecure Pasadena residents received food assistance. Food insecurity also belies the need for more rental assistance, and overall affordable housing. Reflecting on what we see in Parks, Recreation, and Community Services and the Housing Department, we know there is greater need for rental assistance.
The City must enforce all tenant protections and provide a specialized position to do so, like the Minimum Wage Enforcement Officer, who is based out of the City Manager's Office. Community Services has direct contact with tenants and also helps them prepare paperwork for court, and file complaints with code enforcement. Currently, code enforcement is reactive and not strict enough with cases Community Services handles. Currently, there are 16 Community Services Outreach and Staff. The City should hire two more staff members in order to provide residential and tenant protections code enforcement. Pasadena's Tenant Protection Ordinance protects tenants by providing that a landlord will pay relocation and assistance funds in the event of a renovation. 1 Housing Rights and Code Compliance Officers—a position like the minimum-wage enforcement, but for the housing rights and code compliance that are law in Pasadena. Per the 2021 Parks, Rec, and Community Services Budget notes, over 4000 residents were assisted by Community Services representatives for things including harassment, violation of Pasadena Tenant Protection Ordinance, and repeated code violations. The number in the 2022 Budget states 3,449 but I do note that housing advocacy is not included in the list. But I know that Community Services reps are helping tenants with issues. What is the number related to tenants assisted for 20227
Create a revenue-generating Rental Registry to allow the tracking of code violations, illegal notices, rent increases and evictions, and to ensure that the inspections required every four years are performed. Pasadena does not have a full record of, nor does it track the rental residential properties in the city. The Community Services Division works with tenants whose landlords are not compliant, and in some cases uncooperative, with health, safety, and building codes. The city lacks a key tool that can provide data and clarity around the exact number, condition, and cost of rental residences. The rental registry would generate revenue by charging landlords a fee for each unit rented. The city could prohibit the pass-through of those costs to tenants, and use the funds for additional housing support and homeless prevention like legal counsel to tenants facing eviction and a rental assistance fund. The registry can also track bad actors and assist in levying fines to landlords in violation of local and state laws around rent increases; reasons for eviction; and code violations that negatively impact safe and healthy housing. Currently, there is no way of tracking the rental housing stock in Pasadena, it's costs and conditions over time, and ways to ensure that residents are in healthy living conditions. Community Services spends a lot of time helping tenants with these very issues.
It's great that you recognize the need for Park Safety. This year's Recommended budget appropriates $262,000 for the hiring of two-non sworn PPD officers to patrol the parks during the day. Instead of hiring more PPD officers, $262,000 could hire six violence intervention specialists, who are non-police affiliated members of the community, live locally, and could help keep the community safe.
The City needs to prioritize funding more employment programs and summer camps for youth. In Fiscal Year 2022, the ROSE Intern program placed 95 youths last year and it looks like there is more financial support available to families for financial help. This is a positive thing to see because the demand for these programs is great and family budgets are stretched! Summer camps and internships provide local youth with support and guidance that acts as its own violence prevention; and more of these programs create further opportunities for youth to learn and grow outside of the school environment.
Public Health Department:
Work with our unsheltered neighbors should not be done out of the Pasadena Police Department but by the Public Health department. Such work and outreach done by law enforcement does not necessarily align with a care-first approach that recognizes the trauma of people living on the streets. Violence prevention, mental health support,and providing services to the unhoused are all public health issues. The functions and funding of the Neighborhood Action Teams (NATs) and HOPE Teams need to be shifted to the Public Health Department.
Please modify the Recommended Operating Budget to increase General Fund Dollars to cover the cost of Public Health approaches to Violence Prevention and Homelessness.
1) Appropriate General Fund Dollars to Public Health Approaches to Violence Prevention.
Violence is a Public Health Crisis. Despite 85 million General Fund Dollars appropriated to the Pasadena Police Department last year, many Pasadena residents continued to be traumatized by violent crimes. Meanwhile, zero dollars from our General Fund were invested in our Public Health Department, according to the Fiscal Year 2022 Operating Budget, and we had no Public-Health-Model Violence Prevention Program because of an expired grant. Studies show that Public Health models for violence prevention work. They are safe, affordable and effective. They save lives and save cities millions of dollars.
Appropriate General Fund Dollars to our Public Health Department for the creation of a long term, evidence-based, non- police-affiliated Violence Prevention Program that will actually help create the Safer Pasadena that we all desire to see.
Please use American Rescue Plan Act funds to provide monetary support for our non-police-affiliated. Public Health 2 approach to violence prevention. We must have a more sustainable way of funding what should be considered precious—Public Health.
2) Fund Public Health Department Outreach and Facilitation of Support Services for Victims/Witnesses of Public Acts of Violence.
As a City, we must do a better job of supporting those impacted by violence. Please fund improved outreach and facilitation of support services for Pasadenans who have witnessed or experienced public acts of violence. Our community members are hurting. This is especially true of our children who have witnessed shootings and those who have lost loved ones to violence.
A simple phone call or visit from a Public Health Department representative providing information on supportive services available could go a long way toward promoting the healing process, and could help deter some of the chronic physical and mental health conditions associated with violence. 3) Appropriate General Fund Dollars to Public Health Department Programs and Services for Unsheltered Residents.
Fully fund the GEM-Link and TAY-Link programs and increase staffing for these programs and the PORT Program.
Fund more case managers and support staff to enable these programs to provide more effective services and follow-up for our hundreds of unsheltered residents. Currently, GEM and TAY-Link are not even accepting new unsheltered residents due to funding issues.
4) Make Plans to Fund a Non-Police-Affiliated, Mental-Health-Crisis-First-Response Program.
Make plans to fund a non-police-affiliated, Mental-Health-Crisis-First-Response Program through our Public Health Department that includes Mental Health Professionals who are available 24/7 to all age groups. Such a program could have diverted many, if not most, of the 1,994 police department calls for service related to mental health issues in Fiscal Year 2021.
Please agendize this matter immediately, have staff conduct and present research, and seek community input on this highly relevant Public Health matter.
Police Budget:
A 5.6% increase in the Pasadena Police Department budget should be re-evaluated—it seems high and other uses of the general fund should be considered for overall health and vibrancy of our community.
Thank you for considering my comments.
Sincerely,
Allison Henry
D3 resident
Housing Task Force Member
SGV Tenants' Alliance co-Founder
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