Слава Денверу! Denver looking out for us children: making sure to keep gas stations in their place, watching our cars, keeping us free from sugary sodas.
Nothing quite like the freedom of a market economy, eh Kashmann?
One where the aggregate choices of consumers and businesses are the decision engine for how finite (often scarce) resources are allocated.
Not in Denver, though. At least not if Councilman Kashmann has his way (per the Sun article below).
With typical Progressive hubris, he wants to use the sweeping hand of government to step in and dictate the spacing between gas stations and where they can be built.
Such social engineering having the immediate and absolutely consequent effect of increasing housing and stopping food deserts.
Such efforts, of course, not at all trying to make it harder to get gas in our cars, mind you, not at all.
Ah, Denver, always showing such paternalistic care for your citizens (see the following post for another example).
Bless you.
https://coloradosun.com/2024/09/12/denver-gas-station-limits-affordable-housing/
DPD has got their eye on you.
While Denver City Councilman Kashmann is watching out for you by telling gas stations where they can go (see the previous post), the Denver Police Department is watching out for you by literally watching you.
According to the 9News article linked first below, Denver Police Department, in partnership with a company called Flock (see my earlier post on them linked second below for context), has taken images of about 2 million plates this last August.
In my check on DPD's "transparency portal" (link in the 9News article), as of October 8th, their images were still at about 2 million for the last 30 days, and the image database was searched 1248 times in that same period.
The list of organizations that have the ability to access Denver's database of plates is shown in screenshot 1.
Last on this list is the comments by the ACLU from the 9News article, a long enough bit of text that I put it in its own screenshot. See screenshot 2 attached.
I join the ACLU here in their opposition.
My experience with Flock has been that they are anything but transparent: they have refused to give me a list of places in Colorado that use their cameras and/or services.
I do not see how you can still say that we live in a free society when our government is surveilling us without our consent, and without having any reasonable basis to assume we've done wrong to justify it.
I have absolutely positively NO control of any of my data with regard to DPD and/or Flock. I cannot call up the department or Flock to "opt out" of their services.
Despite a tremendous amount of power allotted to both, I have no control over the policies of Flock and I have only limited control over the policies of DPD.
One last statistic by way of good news here. According to the video inset in the 9News article (but missing from the text), apparently Mayor Johnston's budget nearly doubles this year's investment in cameras for next year.
I don't know about you, but it gives me a comfy feeling knowing that the folks running things in Denver think so much of my welfare that they want to control so many things in my life, and watch me so closely.
Denver really does know best...
Couldn't help but give you a few more examples of how Denver's government is looking out for you.
Check out Denver's Energy and Green Codes in the first link.
Check out how they've banned sodas from kids menus in the second link.
As I say above, we should all be grateful that the folks at City Council are looking out for us and making sure we do what's best for ourselves.
https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Climate-Action-Sustainability-and-Resiliency/Cutting-Denvers-Carbon-Pollution/High-Performance-Buildings-and-Homes/Zero-Emissions-Hub-Codes-and-Resources/Single-Family-Duplex-Townhomes/SFDT-Overview-of-Codes-Regulations-Plans#:~:text=(show%20below)-,2022%20Denver%20Green%20Code,multifamily%20projects%20and%20major%20renovations.
https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/local-politics/denver-city-council-bans-sugary-drinks-restaurant-childrens-menus/73-7fa8b33a-6145-4f6d-9a05-1758976b3c7c