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Commenters urge Denver to cut facial-recognition contract and reconsider large spending priorities
Summary
Public commenters criticized a contract with a facial-recognition vendor (referred to in the comment as 'Accent') and urged divestment from surveillance technology, and another commenter criticized large proposed spending including an $800,000,000 equestrian center.
Several speakers used public comment to challenge the city’s surveillance contracts and broader spending priorities.
Laura Gonzales (announced by the dais) criticized the city’s decision to continue a contract she described as providing facial recognition and tied the issue to civil-rights concerns. “You signed a contract with Accent to continue doing facial recognition, a company that makes pacers that show black and brown people at higher rates than anyone else,” she said, and urged the council to cut the contract and to divest from technologies she said amplify surveillance and inequity.
Gonzales also connected the surveillance discussion to international concerns, saying the city’s investments are complicit with what she described as violence abroad and urging council members to prioritize support for immigrant residents and mutual-aid organizations.
Another commenter criticized growth-focused policymaking and questioned whether the council’s approval of an $800,000,000 spending package for an equestrian center — including interest payments described in the comment — was appropriate. The commenter framed data centers, surveillance expansion and certain large capital projects as part of an economic model the speaker said produces harm.
No council votes or staff responses occurred during the public-comment period; speakers asked the council to divest and to engage with constituents on these issues.
