Residents tell council to rethink parking contract, casino pursuit and license-plate cameras

At the Jan. 5 Roanoke City Council meeting two speakers used the public-comment period to press the council on community services and technology choices.

Erica Ortiz described declining services in her neighborhood and asked for better civil-rights outreach and more senior resources. "We are increasing our rate of people that is homeless," Ortiz said, urging more innovation rather than repeating longstanding approaches.

Later, Jeremy Thomas, who said he has been a Roanoke resident for five years, criticized the city's parking contract with an out-of-state technology firm and raised privacy and equity concerns about license-plate tracking. "You have outsourced a city monopoly on parking to a tech company based out of Santa Monica, California," Thomas said. He added that Flock camera systems "track license plate numbers and individuals to create a digital breadcrumb trail" and predicted the technology will disproportionately harm minorities, women and vulnerable people; he also called it "a blatant Fourth Amendment violation." Thomas urged council to reconsider pursuing a casino and questioned whether the city should be paying lobbying firms to promote it.

Council thanked both speakers and noted their concerns will be referred to the city manager for response or follow-up as appropriate.