Activists Monica Cannon Grant (2nd from left) leads a protest march on the Statehouse. Cannon Grant supports defunding the Boston Police department.

Activists seek changes before budget vote

While youth activists and city councilors are calling for reallocating 10% from the Boston Police Department budget to social services, Mayor Martin Walsh last Friday said he will make no further cuts to law enforcement.

In an interview with WGBH host Jim Braude, Walsh dug his heels in against activists demands for a $40 million cut.

“Not out of the police budget,” he said on WGBH News’ “Greater Boston” Wednesday. “It’s not just about taking money from one pot to another pot.”

Walsh’s remarks came after youth activists picketed his home earlier that morning and draped signs on City Hall calling for defunding the police department.

The youth-led group, For the People Boston (FTP) have made the following demands: Cut 10% of the Boston Police Department’s overall budget, remove police from Boston’s public schools and put a cap on overtime accrual and overtime pay for military exercises.

The activists held a town hall meeting Friday during which Boston city councilors stated their position on the demands. Walsh was invited, but he sent Chief of Economic Development Chief John Barros in his stead. Eight out of 13 councilors attended and answered “yes” or “no” to FTP’s demands.

Councilor Michael Flaherty was the only councilor to answer “no” to all three demands.

“I’m loath to make a commitment on a percentage or dollar amounts,” Flaherty said, and repeated throughout the call that these issues have more nuance and deserve more than a simple yes or no. “As we talk about reimagining public safety, it can’t just be defunding for the sake of defunding.”

The organizers took his neutrality as a no.

“We are asking for the money to be put back into public health to be put back into education to be put back into housing. That's what we are asking for. And I'm sorry if I did not make that clear,” one of the organizers said.

The date of the town hall was strategic. The Council was expected to vote on the budget June 24, putting pressure on councilors just before the decision. Though Councilor Kenzie Bok agrees that these budget appropriations could and should be done, she said she doubts that it will happen for the FY21 budget.

On Monday, councilors went over the latest version of the FY21 budget, which includes the mayor’s commitment to divest $12 million from the $60 million BPD overtime budget — a move that would cut about 2.4% of the proposed $414 million police budget.

If the councilors do not approve the budget, it will automatically revert to the original version, with the full $60 million overtime budget intact.

During last week’s hearing, Councilor Ricardo Arroyo noted the BPD’s overtime budget is still larger than other city departments centered on employment, the environment, public health, housing and more.

“What aspects of accountability have we put in place to ensure that that $12 million cut is actually real?” he questioned.

Councilors Lydia Edwards, Julia Mejia and Andrea Campbell confirmed last week at the town hall that they were not consulted before the Mayor’s announcement of the 12 percent cut. Mejia said, “We’re an afterthought in that situation.”