Opinion: Tallahassee City Commission Puts Further Strain on Working Class Communities
The City of Tallahassee Commission just passed their budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2034, which increased the Tallahassee Police Department’s budget by $9.5 million. It was passed 3-2, with Mayor John Dailey and Commissioners Curtis Richardson and Dianne Williams-Cox voting in favor and Commissioners Jeremy Matlow and Jack Porter voting in opposition. This increase in budget will come from an increase in property taxes.
This was an infuriating decision all around. For starters, increasing a police force, or increasing their budget for other things, like more weapons or militarization, hasn’t been proven to positively impact crime, including violent crime and homicides. Increasing property taxes just a few months after the State of Florida has made changes that left homeowners with skyrocketing property insurance costs will just make it that much harder for renters. When costs like property taxes and insurance increase, landlords pass down much of that cost to their tenants, and rent is already unaffordable for much of the people in this city. With more strain on families and individuals trying to make ends meet, just trying to survive, will crime really go down? Will having more police officers on the streets make an impact when working class people are struggling even more to to get by?
I think the impact it will have will be devastating, thus leading to further crime. This is an excuse to further militarize our police, continue to increase their budget, and further criminalize poor, LGBTQ+ and black people in Tallahassee. When you watch the countless public governmental meetings in Tallahassee there seems to be one common thread, the voices of the people that continually show up and make their voices heard, their concerns public, and their anger obvious. They do this to no avail, it seems to fall on government officials who, primarily, are purposely choosing to look the other way. The explanations that we get from our elected leaders, who vote against us time and again, are that this is a positive step forward. They even go as far as explaining to us why we just don’t understand this process and that is why we disagree with them. This is disrespectful and demeaning; we truly need leadership who see the community as people they can work side by side with, not leaders who tell us we just aren’t educated or aware enough to understand why things must remain the way they are. In many a meeting I even notice the electeds who tell long drawn out stories that are besides the point. The agenda in front of them is sidestepped for their own feel good stories, and to distract people. I often wonder if this is a guise to simply filibuster the community out of time to engage in the policy making process. After all, many (if not all) of us are working class and we cannot make it to all these meetings without sacrificing something. Our elected officials should embrace the public that want to be involved in this process instead of seeming irritated and like they would rather not have to listen to our stories, opinions, lived experience and expertise.
This decision puts further strain on the people of Tallahassee, period. Much like giving $27 million to FSU for stadium renovations does. Much like refusing to engage with a study on violent crime in Tallahassee, therefore contributing to part of the problem. The Tallahassee City Commission is allowing the Tallahassee Police Department to attack the communities and citizens that they are supposed to work for, as public officials. AND giving them consistent budget increases each year, with no true oversight over their department, no community input to serve as checks and balances on the powers our police have in our streets.
When is enough going to be enough?
You can find archived city commission meetings, notes, and more here: https://go.boarddocs.com/fla/talgov/Board.nsf/Public
The next elections are August and November 2024, Commissioners Curtis Richardson and Jack Porter will be up for re-election.