The Houston Police Union Contract was approved for how much?!

Yesterday, the City Council voted to approve the City of Houston’s budget which included over 832 million dollars for the Houston Police Department’s Union Contract. This will cause such an enormous portion of the city’s budget to go directly towards funding law enforcement and not programs proven to help reduce crime. 
Budget departments, organizations, and concerned community members passionately addressed city council discussing the negative fiscal impacts of cuts to grants, federal funding, and resources by the current federal administration. 
City Departments and agencies will be hit pretty hard, yet cities always find the money to fund law enforcement. Billions are not going towards programs or services effectively proven to reduce crime. This magnitude of funding is not for housing, shelters, poverty prevention programs, substance abuse treatment programs, mental health services outside of the carceral system, summer programs, or proactive programming that keeps all of us safe. We are constantly funding reactive measures which don’t reduce crime and recidivism. 
It seems as if people want to believe the notion that arresting people will cause a reduction in crime. Data shows it doesn’t. 
https://www.vera.org/news/research-shows-that-long-prison-sentences-dont-actually-improve-saf ety#:~:text=A%202021%20meta%2Danalysis%20of,because%20incarceration%20destabilizes% 20people's%20lives. 
What are we going to do when the next disaster hits? We are now in hurricane season. I’m terrified about what will happen in the upcoming months and I am not the only one. We live in a city consistently plagued by disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Houstonians still haven’t fully recovered from disasters as recent as last year. Blue tarps are still visible on residents' homes. Folks whose homes were demolished were rebuilt with constructional flaws. Yet, we find 832 million to give to law enforcement. Make it make sense! Because of the laws passed by our Republican led Texas Legislature we can’t reduce the law enforcement budget without penalties or taking it directly to the voters. If emergency resources are needed right then and there, we are screwed. Will the city increase taxes to help pay for programs and services that actually keep us safe? 
The enthusiasm I saw as the vote was taking place on the police union contract and this budget was very eye-opening! Only three council members voted no on the budget. What about housing, flooding and drainage projects, healthcare, mental health treatments, substance abuse programming, shelters, and after school programs?
Why can’t we proactively fund programs proven to reduce crime instead of being reactive? At the end of the day, you fund what you prioritize and HPD was clearly the big winner. The definition of safety varies by person and neighborhood. In River Oaks, it may be perceived to some that HPD may protect and serve them. In areas such as Northline and Sunnyside police officers are coming to overpolice and arrest people. 
Advocates from Pure Justice, NAC, West Street Recovery, Texas Civil Rights Project, 50 Fathers and others spoke to city council about what is at stake and offered alternatives. If you really want to solve crime, you have to look at why it’s happening in the first place. It takes a deeper dive instead of an expensive band-aid approach. HPD is the biggest contributor to the jail population in Harris County due to the number of their arrests. More police and more arrests will lead to more people getting sent out of the county and state to be incarcerated. That alone is costing us around 50 million dollars a year. Investments in restorative justice practices in a holistic way actually reduces crime and recidivism. Let’s fund those programs instead. 
https://restorativejustice101.com/title-breaking-the-cycle-the-impact-of-restorative-justice-in-reducing-recidivism/