Things continue to be very busy on City Council. We are in the COVID-19 recovery phase, making sure residents and businesses can safely return to normal. In addition, council continues to be very busy with the regular business of the city. A few things to highlight:
1. This week, I was joined by Councilmember Allison Hiltz and Councilmember Angela Lawson in calling for an independent investigation into the death of Elijah McClain. We put out this request to the City Manager as the members of the City Council's Public Safety policy committee, chaired by Councilmember Hiltz. In order to restore trust in the community, it was important to us for an independent, neutral 3rd party to conduct an investigation. The City Manager indicated he had made a hire but we did not consider that individual to be neutral - it wasn't a criticism of their professional experience or of law enforcement but rather an acknowledgement that his review wouldn't bring about trust in the community.
You can read our first letter here and our follow up letter here. I am glad the City Manager agreed to terminate the contract with the individual he had selected and agreed to an open process with City Council. Thank for your hard work & diligence on this issue, CM Hiltz and CM Lawson.
2. The City of Aurora is launching another Aurora Economic Recovery grant program for small and mid-size businesses in the city. The application period opens this Monday, June 15 and will close June 22. City Council has agreed to fund this program with $6 million, with grants up to $15,000 available. To learn more about this program, please visit www.auroragov.org/AER.
3. I brought forward a resolution authorizing the City Manager to negotiate hazard pay for police officers and fire fighters in Aurora using federal CARES Act money. The resolution passed Council 9-1. I am thrilled we will be able to get more money in the hands of our front line first responders during COVID-19. You can read more about it here.
Here are a few items of note from our last few meetings:
May 18, 2020 Council Meeting & Study Session
1. At this meeting, I brought forward a hazard pay resolution for first responders in Aurora (see above) and it passed 9-1.
2. The vote on a special marijuana sales tax increase only received 5 votes at the prior meeting. Due to council rules, it came back at this meeting and passed 6-4. Here were my thoughts on this measure in the last newsletter:
The intent of this tax increase is to replace funds lost with the elimination of the photo red light program. Various programs were funded using those dollars, including our teen & wellness courts, some anti-gang initiatives and several agencies doing good work in our community with a nexus to law enforcement. I struggled with this ordinance because I do think these are worthwhile programs that need to be funded and I appreciate the sponsor trying to find a way to do that. Ultimately, I voted against the proposal. Bottom line, it's a tax increase on a group of residents (consumers of recreational marijuana) that is politically acceptable to some. Recreational marijuana is a legal business & product - I don't think users of recreational marijuana should have to pay more for a legal product because a prior Council didn't fund an alternate funding source for these worthwhile programs with the elimination of photo red light.
June 1, 2020 Council Meeting & Study Session
1. The City Manager presented his case for ending the COVID-19 related disaster declaration in Aurora. Council voted 10-0 to end the declaration.
2. In response to the murder of George Floyd, I issued the following statement at the conclusion of the meeting:
We obviously saw some very ugly scenes over the last several days – but I want to be clear when I say the murder of George Floyd should be what causes us outrage and prompts action.
I have tremendous respect for the men & women in law enforcement in Aurora and across the country – but if any want to continue the status quo, it’s up to all of us to call that out.
It’s past time to discuss reforms to our criminal justice system to make sure we protect constitutional rights, maintain the rule of law and value human life. Some of these needed reforms include ending qualified immunity, increasing the use of rehabilitation programs & alternatives to incarceration in our prison system, moving away from mandatory minimum prison sentences and more. Changes like these will improve outcomes, save lives and make the job of law enforcement easier.
I am fully aware that much of this action will need to take place on the federal level. I am happy that this past Sunday, Michigan congressman Justin Amash rolled out the Ending Qualified Immunity Act. My hope is that this potential legislation, which will have bi-partisan support, will pass – I’m certainly supportive of its passage and will be forwarding the bill text when available to ask our Federal, State, & Intergovernmental Relations policy committee to add to our federal legislative priorities list.
Over the course of our nation’s history, protests have been an effective tool for liberty and justice – including protests over women’s suffrage, the civil rights protests of the 1960s and more. And protesting is important to solving the problems that allowed the death of George Floyd.
I am disappointed that the actions of a small number of violent people, intent on looting & causing damage and not doing so in the name of justice, have attempted to shift the debate away from the murder of George Floyd and the needed reforms in our system. Just as the officer that murdered George Floyd does not represent all police officers, a few looters destroying cities for their own gain do not represent all protestors seeking justice.
However, attacking the rioters instead of the root problem causing the riots is wrong.
Making this about right vs left when the problems in our system go back decades is wrong.
Making this about protestors and not murder is wrong.
We need to stop blaming others. We need to stop saying “what about this.”
I try to be a constant advocate for liberty and life, and, regardless of skin color, we can’t say all lives matter if we value some lives less than others. We should be less concerned with how others vote and more concerned with how we treat people that vote different than we do. We all need to act like lives depend on us speaking up.
This Monday, June 15, we will hold a Special Meeting of the City Council to make appointments to the Community/Police Task Force, an important first step in restoring trust with our community. Our next Study Session and Council Meeting is scheduled for June 22. We are still in a virtual format for council meetings so please tune in at www.auroratv.org to watch.
