Here’s how Brooklyn’s City Council
members voted on the city budget
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
During an hours-long virtual meeting
Tuesday night, the City Council
voted in favor of this year’s city budget,
approving an almost $1 billion
reduction in money allocated for the
New York Police Department — a complex
and controversial move that drew
ire from both supporters of police and
anti-law enforcement groups.
“Now for some, it wasn’t enough, for
some they wanted to push further, and
we’re going to continue to work to get
there,” said Crown Heights Councilwoman
Laurie Cumbo. “But Speaker
Corey Johnson, as you see, had a tremendous
task of hearing and listening
to the diversity of opinions of all the
Council Members.”
Minutes before midnight on June
30, nine of Brooklyn’s city legislators
voted to pass the budget, and six cast
a vote against it — compared to a citywide
vote tally of 32 in favor and 17 opposed.
While Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed
that the budget met protesters’ demands
to reduce the police department’s
budget by $1 billion, detractors
were quick to argue that cuts only
amounted to $430 million — while
10 COURIER LIFE, JULY 3-9, 2020
another $537 million was directed to
other agencies to perform the same
duties previously assigned the the
NYPD, such as money for the Department
of Education to pay school safety
offi cers.
“A cop whose salary is paid by the
DOE is still a cop policing young people
in our schools,” said Bushwick
state Sen. Julia Salazar on Twitter on
June 29. “These cost shifts do not address
New Yorkers’ demands to make
meaningful cuts of at least $1 Billion
from the NYPD’s operating budget.”
The budget does, however, temporarily
lower the NYPD headcount by
1,163 offi cers by canceling two out of
four cadet classes this year. Currently,
there are about 36,000 uniformed offi -
cers in the Department.
The budget does include funds that
will go to bringing back initiatives
which Mayor Bill de Blasio had threatened
to slash entirely, like the Summer
Youth Employment Program, which
will now get $115 million.
Some legislators, like Brownsville’s
Alicka Ampry-Samuel said that she
voted in favor of the proposed budget
to save some of these programs, which
are essential to her constituents that
have been ravaged by the coronavirus
outbreak.
Several Brooklyn legislators
voted against the budget after echoing
concerns that the proposed cuts
to law enforcement did not go far
enough — including Inez Barron of
East New York, who said that meaningful
change will come only from
larger cuts to the NYPD’s headcount.
“We need a reduction in the ranks
of those who are killing Black and
brown people,” Barron said. “We
need a hiring freeze, no new academy
classes, and a reduction in uniformed
offi cers headcount.”
Some opposition also came from
conservative lawmakers, such as
Sheepshead Bay Councilman Chaim
Deutsch, who said he could not vote
for any cuts to police budgets at all.
“I cannot support a budget that includes
defunding the NYPD by $1 billion.
It is neither productive for the
safety of New Yorkers, nor a true reform
that benefi ts the minority communities,”
said Deutsch.
Brooklynites in parts of Bushwick,
Cypress Hills, Brownsville,
Ocean Hill, and East New York did
not have any representation over the
proposal, as the Council’s District 37
will remain empty until early next
year because former Councilman Rafael
Espinal abruptly left offi ce last
January to take up an executive position
at the non-profi t Freelancers
Union.
The budget takes effect on Wednesday,
July 1, the start of the city’s new
fi scal year.
Here’s a full list of votes by Brooklyn
Council members:
Yes
•Alicka Ampry-Samuel(Brownsville)
•Justin Brannan (Bay Ridge)
•Robert Cornegy (Bed-Stuy)
•Mathieu Eugene (Flatbush)
•Stephen Levin (Brooklyn Heights)
•Farah Louis (Flatbush)
•Alan Maisel (Marine Park)
•Mark Treyger (Coney Island)
•Laurie Cumbo (Clinton Hill)
No
•Inez Barron (East New York)
•Chaim Deutsch (Sheepshead Bay)
•Brad Lander (Park Slope)
•Carlos Menchaca (Sunset Park)
•Antonio Reynoso (Bushwick)
•Kalman Yeger (Borough Park)
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