At six months into Kwame Brown’s inaugural term as city council chairman, he’s faced with the first true test of his leadership skills and his political courage. Forget about Brown’s weakness for “fully loaded” Lincoln Navigators at the public’s expense. It’s not about the cars; it’s about the cops.
Will the chairman have the mettle and muscle to stand firm on his two budget priorities, funding programs to house the homeless and hiring more cops? Brown has promised to find funds for both. Can he? Will he?
On Monday Brown presided over a fractious, public hearing on the 2012 budget. His 12 colleagues bounced around and butted heads. Robert’s Rules took the day off, and Brown was forced to plead for calm. On Tuesday, behind closed doors, the council will have to come to terms and balance the budget.
The council’s contentiousness is understandable. The nation’s capital has typically had plenty of spending cash. Tax revenues, especially from commercial real estate, have financed free spending. Even in the current recession, we are still doing relatively well. New York might have to cut thousands of teachers, Newark has had to reduce cops, San Francisco cut human services a year ago. D.C. has grown its budget and government.
Now the mayor and council have to balance the 2012 budget by closing a $322 million shortfall. The 13 council members have to learn a new response to constituents and activists: No.
And so it comes down to that old debate: Guns or butter?
Chairman Brown wants some of both.
He has wisely drawn the line on housing our homeless families. Mayor Gray wanted to save money by closing homeless shelters for all during the temperate months. Brown has promised to find the money to keep homeless families sheltered year round. In these times, that’s both compassionate and necessary.
The “guns” side is more contentious and costly.
No one knows how many sworn officers the city needs to keep the peace. We once had 5,200. Jack Evans, who represents Georgetown, downtown and parts of Shaw, wants to mandate 4,000 by law. There seems to be general agreement that fewer than 3,800 cops could tip the balance toward the criminals. We are losing about 20 cops a month in attrition and retirement, and Chief Cathy Lanier quit hiring for lack of funds. Now there are about 3,850 cops, and we are headed down to 3,600.
Judiciary Chairman Phil Mendelson knew the arithmetic spelled fewer street cops, yet he chose neither to inform his colleagues nor sound a warning.
Now the city faces a law enforcement funding emergency. The only way to keep the number of cops at the 3,800-level is to start hiring immediately, as in June. It takes about a year to hire, train and break in rookie cops. The council has to come up with $700,000 to jump start hiring immediately and $7 million to keep the force at 3,900 in 2012.
Mendelson has failed to lead on this basic public safety issue. The city needs Chairman Kwame Brown to step in and keep the streets safe.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
