Londoners call out 'bat mobile' and other policing costs in final public pitch to change budget

Large crowds of Londoners gathered inside and outside of city hall on Tuesday for the final chance to give their input on what London's budget will look like over the next four years.

Councillors heard from 74 people who filled the public gallery and three overflow rooms, with numerous speakers imploring council to reconsider the police budget that will total $672 million. It includes the hiring of 97 new officers, body-worn cameras and a new light-armoured vehicle. Other sectors, such as the library, the arts and social services will see funding cuts or no increase.

Taxpayers can also anticipate property tax hikes under the current proposal that could amount to 33 per cent by 2027. You can calculate how much your property tax could rise under the current budget proposal using CBC London's calculator located here. 

Retiree Andrea Gillies spoke passionately about the way in which councillors heavily scrutinized the business cases for other services, but seemingly applied little cross examination to the police budget. 

"Council has regrettably, aggressively challenged every other business case, like London Transit or the library. Those asks are to support essential community services that are being denied and facing closure, yet they have to justify the base of their funding requests," Gillies said.

"You can't correct the course of the compass direction you're taking with police as easily as you can with other agencies whose funding is precarious every year."

Peter Watson, who owns a small business in north London, said he is concerned about the increase in crime, including vandalism, disruption and theft. He believes expanding the police foot patrol unit can help the community feel safer, he said. 

"I know people that have had to renew their insurance policies and the policy has gone way up because of vandalism, so there's issues that we really need to be addressing because small businesses are the backbone of our economy," Watson said.

"If we don't have proper policing, then there's going to be more crime. It's already rampant out there, and we must feel safe in our community and attract others to come here or our economy will stall and suffer."

'Young people feel unsupported'

Audrey Rollo, 18, was one of the youngest speakers in the gallery. She and her peers feel that their concerns aren't being heard by their municipal government, she said.

"I have just entered the adult student housing market and having to deal with those stresses firsthand has given me a new invigoration to deal with these problems," she said. "Young people feel utterly and completely unsupported."

Rollo was among the dozens who took part in a protest outside city hall ahead of Tuesday's public participation meeting, to push back on police funding, and instead renewing calls for improving access to social services that can help people find stable housing and employment. 

"If people who are on the streets actually had all the resources they need to feel satisfied in their lives, these people would not be carrying out violent or fraudulent crimes. I think the only way to prevent violence within London is to invest in education, housing, public transit, and mental health," Rollo said. 

We were just gassed that these things are being left out in favour of $492,000 for a bat mobile.- Vincent Lubrano, regarding approval for new police light-armoured vehicle

Although Vincent Lubrano supports the need for hiring more police officers, he believes spending $492,000 for a new light-armoured vehicle is unreasonable, especially at the expense of organizations like libraries or the arts, which give London the vibrancy it needs, he said. 

"The city has grown so much since the last census, so we definitely know we need more officers so the streets appear safe, but we were just gassed that these things are being left out in favour of $492,000 for a bat mobile," he said. 

"There's this cry that the city is unsafe and so they decided to address that by giving the police everything and taking it away from everywhere else."

The public meeting lasted more than six hours. Council will deliberate the budget on Thursday, where Coun. Anna Hopkins is set to put forth a motion that will trim five per cent of the police budget.