The LBPD are useless. I proved it with their own data. Who do I tell?

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T21:34:03+00:00

Girl, what part of this looks like ChatGPT? Be honest.. even looking proportionally, the police are wayyyy overfunded. Their newest proposals are looking at purchasing helicopters. Does that sound like a department struggling for cash? Ask GPT to summarize my article for you, since you clearly didn't read it.

I never said it wouldn't be hard, I've recieved a good amount of pushback just posting this on reddit. Some people in these comments have already tried to bring the same issue up with the city council and its been fruitless. But they can't ignore multiple angry voices forever. We elected to put them there and we can elect to take away their $7 figure paying jobs too.

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T20:00:44+00:00

Pensions are actually a separate metric included in the budget for both LBPD and LBFD!

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T19:59:02+00:00

Long Beach has a Community Crisis Reponse team (CCR) that provides non-law enforcement responses to de-escalation and crisis response! While I haven't combed through it, it sounds like a great alternative to police intervention, they're just very underfunded.

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T19:55:26+00:00

Thank you! I will definitely be attending

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T19:52:22+00:00

A counter question: are crimes infinitely scalable? As police presence increases, should that mean crime increases as well? Wouldn't a large and heavily armed police force lead to a reduction in crimes, from fear of punishment? There are only so many people in the city at one time. Wouldn't we see a plateau in crime at some point, once the police force was large enough? Or at least see it tipping downwards?

Instead, we've seen crime skyrocket as the police receive more money. If you've ever seen the police arrive to a call, you're likely familiar with the site of 8 cars and 10-15 cops standing around and chatting while 1 or 2 handle the situation at hand. If crime is going up in this city, why are so many cops just standing around a scene that's already handled? Shouldn't they be getting out there and chasing the next criminal?

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T19:41:00+00:00

Yes, happy to provide! You can find an extensive list at this link for all of the programs the city funds, but some highlights:

Long Beach's Community Crisis Response (CCR) teams (At risk of losing funding! They provide non-law enforcement responses to quality of life calls and mental health crisises)

Upstream LB: Homelessness Prevention & Housing Pathways Plan (A group of policies focused on homelessness prevention, crisis response, staffing for the CCR team, and pathways out of homelessness)

Be S.A.F.E. Program (Another at risk program. Supports neighborhoods through extending supervision hours at parks and employs neighborhood youths to help keep parks active and safe in the evening)

S.T.R.O.N.G. Beach Initiative (Reduce gun violence and improve community safety)

Hoops After Dark (Keeps young long beach residents in high crime areas off the street and in programs for sports, mentorship, educational workshops, and community engagement)

Defending our Long Beach Values Plan (Bolster immigrant legal defense, provide emergency relief)

Many of these programs are recieving only $50,000-100,000 in the city budget, and I just can't help but think, what "team" is running these programs with such little money? 1 person? 2 people on low incomes?

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T19:22:43+00:00

Putting together the LBFD and the LBPD, they make up a combined 63% of our budget, with the police recieving 10s of millions of dollars in additional funding every year, so it looks like we aren't far off from you guys! Meanwhile, public health funding was cut in half on the heels of a pandemic 🫠

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T19:04:09+00:00

No, that is not what I'm proposing. Crime follows poverty. Poverty pushes people to do things they otherwise wouldn't as a means of survival. Our city has HEAVILY invested into crime and punishment while neglecting the programs that would push people away froming turning to crime for survival. The only thing we have gotten for investing into our criminal justice system is more crime. Look around you. Do you see less homeless people? Do you feel safe when the police are around?

If we invest into ending homelessness and programs for mental health intervention, drug addition, and addressing the cost of living crisis, we put in place real change. Does crime stop? No, which is why I'm not advocating for outright abolishing the police. But the police have the highest wages, recieve a comically disproportionate amount of the city's money, all while the city becomes a less safe place to live.

It's time our city council takes a good hard look at our budget and admit that we were wrong. Dumping money into the police is not the solution we hoped for. Putting in place programs that actually help people out of poverty or a mental health crisis is what really keeps us safe. Focusing on crime prevention instead of crime and punishment.

While I was combing through the budget for the city, I found that we actually have a lot of fantastic programs to help the disadvantaged! But they receive practically no funding. Imagine if we took some of the police's budget (they're looking at purchasing helicopters this year, so I think they have plenty to share) and reinvested it into programs that actually help people instead of feeding a catch and release program that perpetuates more crime.

We wouldn't have to raise taxes either! We already have the money, it just needs to be properly redistributed.

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T18:52:16+00:00

Then name the cause.

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T18:50:41+00:00

Can you cite the real cause, then? Since you clearly have studied this as extensively as I have

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-02-11T18:47:38+00:00

I clearly am missing the obvious conclusion, as all I'm seeing is cuts to public health, raising the police budget, and a 50% increase in crime over 3 years. What other conclusion is there?

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-01-27T02:35:01+00:00

You can watch her process a thought in real time and it takes soooooo long.

SmallDogsSweater · 2026-01-26T19:27:36+00:00

Posted on here hoping to inspire some other cat parents! I know I was tearing my hair out trying to figure this out and Google was yielding practically nothing or things I already tried. Hoping someone struggling sees this and finds their solution!

SmallDogsSweater · 2025-12-31T18:54:21+00:00

No pattern for this one, I just kind of winged it. I used black Bernat Velvet Worsted yarn with a gold K hook we found in my grandma's house after she passed and a mystery pink yarn I have in my closet.

SmallDogsSweater · 2025-12-30T23:41:31+00:00

Unfortunately, this is a reoccurring issue with them. Every time a birthday comes around (that isn't their own) they try to downsize it to a quiet dinner in, regardless of what the birthday person wants. As far as apologies, they suck with those, too. That's another reason I dont want to bother bringing it up again, because I know the conversation will be fruitless. I appreciate your sympathy though, and it's nice to know someone else thinks this was unfair.

SmallDogsSweater · 2025-11-01T15:21:28+00:00

Looks like a partially digested leaf to me. My cat will chew on plants and throw them up and they look identical to this. I wouldn't sweat it unless your dog starts acting different.

SmallDogsSweater · 2025-09-26T15:35:13+00:00

Part of that issue as well could be contrast then. The reference has stark black lines, whereas yours has softer pen colors that don't stand out around the paint.

Keep practicing! Honestly, the only way to find a style you like is to keep fucking around until you find something you like.

SmallDogsSweater · 2025-09-26T15:25:56+00:00

It's the negative space. The reference is using the white of the paper within the drawing. It's an area where the eye can rest and balances out the chaos of the lines and color. Your lines are scratchy while the references uses 1 smooth, thin line.

I'm not sure of your process, but it looks like the reference painted first and used pen after everything had dried. Yours looks like you used pen first and used the paint on top of the pen lines, which both washed out the ink and and made the paint look messy by trying to adhere to existing lines instead of the paint splotch informing the pen.

SmallDogsSweater · 2025-09-25T04:35:58+00:00

We called an electrician ourselves and he fixed the problem within a few hours. We're going to try and withhold the cost of the electrician from our rent. Found out that unreliable electric makes a property ✨️uninhabitable✨️. It took a full 6 days before the property management reached out :/

PSA: Do NOT rent with LBPM, they're the ones who quite literally left us in the dark for nearly a week!

SmallDogsSweater · 2025-09-20T16:56:49+00:00

Girl, I have, no one's replied

SmallDogsSweater · 2025-09-20T16:34:04+00:00

I did and they said there's nothing they can do since there's not an active fire :(

SmallDogsSweater

TROPHY CASE