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Six months ago, following massive protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nury Martinez announced a dramatic step at City Hall: She and her colleagues would cut police spending by $150 million.
The plan, Martinez said at the time, would be to reinvest funding for vital services, including those that “uplift disenfranchised communities.”
On Wednesday, the council took its first stab at deciding where a chunk of that money — nearly $88.8 million — should go. So far, council members are looking to put much of the money toward nuts-and-bolts city services: street resurfacing, graffiti removal, alley cleanups and many other core city programs.