For years, Los Angeles city budget hearings have mostly drawn the usual collection of business, labor and nonprofit leader, who weigh in on such issues as sidewalk repairs, new bicycle lanes and the cost of feeding the animals in the city’s zoo.
But in the midst of a nationwide movement to end police brutality, Monday’s budget committee hearing drew an angry chorus of new voices demanding that council members defund the Los Angeles Police Department and invest more money in housing, social workers and jobs programs.
Some callers cast City Council members — many of them veterans of local and state politics — as out of touch with a public pushing for a complete reworking of city spending priorities and an end to police abuse.
“You are the past. Black Lives Matter and their allies are the future. Commit to our demands,” said Kendall Mayhew, a community organizer with Ground Game L.A., which is seeking to cut police spending by 90% and reinvest the funds into mental health counselors, tenant advocates and others assigned to respond to social ills.
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