It would be fair to say that El Mundo Boston readers and followers want to live safely in their homes and neighborhoods, free from the fear of enemies foreign and domestic.
And, like any good resident, they get the fact that protection from such threats, especially at a time of rising conflict around the globe from unfriendly state and non-state actors, requires resources.
When it comes to funding for police and law-enforcement, our community has, time and time again, expressed its desire to see more money and resources going towards responsible policing sensitive to community needs.
Reflexive opposition to funds for law enforcement coming from a distant ideology, far removed from the concerns of real families facing real fears, has never been helpful.
So it was with some concern that El Mundo observed a group of six Boston City Councilors last year vote against a $13.3 million federal counter-terrorism grant meant to bolster efforts by Boston and nine surrounding communities to keep them safer.
The inability to pass the grant (it fell short by one vote) also affected Latinos who live in Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Quincy, Revere, Somerville and Winthrop, as Boston acts as the fiduciary and is responsible for accepting the $13.3 million on behalf of these other cities.
At the time, the vote raised alarms among community groups and Latino firefighters and police officers who expressed their concerns to us on more than one occasion.
The 911 attack, launched in part from Boston in 2001, the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and heightened threats in the wake of conflicts in the Middle East should serve as vivid reminders to our esteemed city leaders of what’s at stake.
Now, the City Council gets another opportunity as Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has re-filed the grant ahead of next week’s City Council meeting, giving the body another chance at doing the right thing and passing the much-needed federal funding that will, undoubtedly, help the fight to make our communities safer.
El Mundo Boston would like to also remind the newly elected Boston City Councilor members that public safety is at the top of our community’s priority – a fact we are sure they heard on the campaign trail last fall.
The 6-6 December vote in the council (one councilor was absent) included nays from two councilors who have since left the body (Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara) and Julia Mejia, who we are hopeful has now had enough time to ponder on this issue and to now act on behalf of what her constituents are asking for.
The same goes for new City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, who voted against it and councilor Tania Anderson, who was absent at the original voting.
There are two new Latinos who have joined the council – Henry Santana, who serves as one of four at-large members, and Enrique Pepen, who represents District 5 and its sizable Latino population.
We are looking to them to also do the right thing and pass this grant, as the money is genuinely needed to counter terrorist activity in cities and regions at high risk.
Among other uses, the grant allows local municipal, state and federal agencies to better coordinate responses to threats and is used to train personnel, upgrade technology, purchase equipment like vehicles and prepare community action plans.
Councilors like Brian Worrell and Liz Breadon who voted to reject the grant last month expressed concerns over the grant supporting the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, which has been criticized for wrongly adding innocent teenagers to data banks of violent gang members.
While that is a legitimate concern, it makes no sense to entirely reject the grant. The solution is to fine-tune BRIC operations to ensure it protects public safety without unduly jeopardizing the lives and careers of young people.
We applaud current council members Gabriela Coletta, Ed Flynn, Sharon Durkan and Erin Murphy, who supported accepting the grant last time and look forward to them doing so again.
El Mundo will be watching the upcoming vote closely. We invite councilors to share their views with us, whether in the pages of our newspaper or on La Hora del Café, our daily live-streaming morning show.
Accountability is a key element of democracy and we, as a community, must continue to use our First Amendment rights to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions on our behalf. We will continue to do our part and provide that platform for our community.
