As your constituent, I’m writing to urge you to pass a FY25 city budget that will increase real health and safety for all New Yorkers. The Mayor’s proposed financial plan for next year includes significant staffing and budget cuts to programs and services that I rely on and care about like education, housing, health and mental health, and libraries, just to name a few -- meanwhile the city continues to write a blank check to the NYPD.

I am outraged by the NYPD’s brutality against New Yorkers exercising their right to protests and the abusive targeting of street vendors and asylum seekers. The NYPD has engaged in attacks on social media against journalists and Council Members for criticizing the agency’s discriminatory tactics and lack of transparency. It’s appalling and dangerous that NYPD officers are still killing New Yorkers experiencing mental health crisis, like Kawaski Trawick and Win Rozario, with no accountability for their actions.

Despite this, the NYPD continues to receive preferential treatment in the budget. NYPD staffing is untouched, spending on NYPD fringe and pension benefits is increasing, and the mayor is planning a new $225M+ capital project to build a training facility for police and the enforcement arms of 17 other agencies, similar to heavily criticized and dangerous Cop City projects in other cities, like Atlanta, GA.

As a concerned New Yorker, I am urging you to cut the following areas of the NYPD budget to prioritize care for our communities and help ensure everyone have access to the services and support that they need:

- CUT the NYPD’s press budget by at least 50%, including DCPI's 86-person team and other public relations and social media spending.
- REMOVE NYPD from Mental Health Co-Response Teams and invest in non-police crisis response teams.
- FREEZE school police hiring and cut funding for vacancies, including 400 new proposed positions. Reallocate these funds to support restorative justice and mental health support for students.
- DISBAND the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG)
- BLOCK the addition of 1200 new officers and instead invest in real safety infrastructure such as housing, schools, mental health programs, libraries, and non-police community safety solutions.
- STOP the creation of Cop City NYC: Reject Mayor Eric Adams’ $225M+ plan to build a mega-police training facility in Queens.

Despite the Mayor’s attempts, the City Council cannot continue to reward the NYPD with expanded spending and increased funding toward punitive measures that criminalize and harm New Yorkers, while gutting critical programs that create a lasting ecosystem of non-police safety infrastructure that our communities need to thrive in all aspects of our lives.

For these reasons, I am calling on you to take action to meet the above budget demands to decrease spending on the NYPD in FY25 and invest in the programs and services that will keep New Yorkers safe, now and in the future.

Thank you,