As I’ve been talking with voters around the City, I hear again and again that people want a police force that is adequately staffed but also responsive, trustworthy, and accountable to the communities it serves.

It was jarring to read this story about Denny Blaine just after a grocery worker told me about nearly being stabbed on the job and then waiting a very, very long time for police to arrive. What are our priorities? Why are we sending police to harass harmless people hanging out at a queer nude beach?

Of course, we know why. Because wealthy neighbors don’t want those people there. Just like they wanted the City to build a playground at Denny Blaine to drive them out. And Mayor Harrell’s administration was all set to oblige— until the community organized & pushed back.

It’s hard to avoid the suspicion that this police prodding is Plan B. And it certainly sounds like this strategy is coming from the top. It is mind-boggling that with the multiple major challenges and crises our city is facing, this is what we’re doing.

We live in a time when trust in government is very, very low. I’m not even talking about Trump, who’s as much a symptom as a cause — the capture of our democracy by wealthy interests goes back decades.

How can people have faith in an apparatus they see doing favors for the wealthy and well-connected — a millionaire campaign donor who texts back and forth with the mayor — while the rest of us are an afterthought?