Denver’s Democratic Convention Shopping List Tops $10M

    City officials in the Mile High City have already approved nearly $10 million in specific security purchases for the Democratic National Convention in August.

    The merchandise wish list can be found below the fold.The Denver City Council has approved $5 million for the following items:

    Heavy rescue vehicle

    Hazardous materials response vehicle

    Urban search and rescue unit

    Unified incident command post

    This week the City Council’s safety committee also authorized $3.4 million for the following items:

    Worker’s compensation and insurance for law enforcement — $1.9 Million

    1 SWAT vehicle — $200,000

    Communication equipment — estimated $300,000

    Interagency communication system — $650,000

    Amplification system — estimated $385,000

    Congress has appropriated a total of $50 million in federal funds to pay for security at the convention, set for Aug. 25-28.

    Specific expenditures for equipment over $50,000 and contracts over $500,000 must be approved by the City Council as a whole, while purchases under those amounts can be designated by the committee and law enforcement officials through the city’s regular procurement process.

    Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.

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