Showing posts with label ATS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ATS. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Bob Norman's blog post re red-light cameras in Hallandale Beach has drawn some very interesting comments worth checking-out by Csaba Kulin, Michael Mayo and Charlotte Greenbarg re Hallandale Beach Mayor Cooper's credibility. Or, rather the lack of her credibility.

Above, Hallandale Beach City Hall Municipal Complex, where the city's own records show a track record of Mayor Joy Cooper and the City Commission compromising public safety for increased revenue for them to spend. So where's Police Chief Dwayne Fluornoy in all of this? Missing-in-action! Thanks for nothing, Chief! August 5, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.   © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Bob Norman's blog post re red-light cameras in Hallandale Beach has drawn some very interesting comments worth checking-out by Csaba Kulin, Michael Mayo and Charlotte Greenbarg re Hallandale Beach Mayor Cooper's credibility. Or, rather the lack of her credibility.


Bob Norman's Blog
Studies: Red light cameras causing more accidents
Published On: Aug 27 2012 10:43:57 AM EDT  
Updated On: Aug 27 2012 11:53:07 AM EDT
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bobnorman/Studies-Red-light-cameras-causing-more-accidents/-/3223354/16278442/-/3sgf1jz/-/index.html

My friend and fellow Hallandale Beach/Broward civic activist -and HB City Comm. candidate- Csbaba Kulin first told me about Mayor Joy Cooper's clear-cut lies to the Broward County Commission within minutes of her stating them at the time, since he knew -as we all do- that the Broward County Commission sitting in that room was obviously in no position to know whether or not HB actually had those countdown clocks at all or some HB intersections where a red-light camera existed at the time.
They took Mayor Cooper at her word.
Big mistake!!!

Csaba also had spoken with me and written me -and many of you reading this- about the idea of Broward County Traffic & Engineering slightly lengthening the time for the yellow light to allow drivers to completely get out of the those intersection before Comm. John Rodstrom first mentioned it last year at one of the Commission meetings, which, if I'm not mistaken(?), was one of the ones where American Traffic Solutions was trying to get the County to allow them to tap into the County's system, and the Comm.'s response to cities supporting ATS in this effort was, essentially, so what about our cut of the money for the access?
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/09/browards_rodstrom_ready_to_gra.html
Adding an additional second to the ITE minimum yellow yielded 53% reduction in violations, producing the greatest benefit of all the factors studied
         -Texas Transportation Institute 
         http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/02/243.asp

Isn't greater safety what we all want?

Yes, you'd think so, but unfortunately, the record-to-date shows that this has NOT been Mayor Cooper's priority, given her consistent three-year pattern of patronizing lies, mis-truths, innuendo and fallacious reasoning on this subject.
More revenue for the city has always been the carrot for her, and she didn't care what she had to say or do to get it.

And now, given the analytical report on HB red-light cameras that was issued last that I cited on my blog on Saturday, City of Hallandale Beach prints analysis that refutes Mayor Joy Cooper's mendacious efforts on red-light cameras - "In summary, there is no safety benefit to the citizens, and there is no financial benefit to the taxpayer due to automated for-profit law"
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/city-of-hallandale-beach-prints.html
which Bob Norman linked to, we see the logical results of Mayor Cooper's efforts in Hallandale Beach -less safety, more revenue.

We all know that she wants to expand their use if re-elected in November, regardless of what the results to-date have been.

That's not my idea of public safety, and yet another reason why she needs to be defeated 70 days from today.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

City of Hallandale Beach prints analysis that refutes Mayor Joy Cooper's mendacious efforts on red-light cameras - "In summary, there is no safety benefit to the citizens, and there is no financial benefit to the taxpayer due to automated for-profit law"; @MayorCooper,


IhosvaniRodriguez video: Red light camera in Hallandale Beach has some seeing red.
This is the video accompanying South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporter Ihosvani Rodriguez's story of more than two years ago. Uploaded July 8, 2010. http://youtu.be/0wl8xGKzfTU

I was first informed of the existence of this very-thorough report on Friday evening by Hallandale Beach civic activist Etty Sims, whose common sense, hard work and dedication to this community continues to manifest itself in all sorts of tangible ways that improve the quality of life in this city.
I guess I don't have to tell you that I read it with very mixed emotions.

Pleased that its results and conclusion largely support what I and many other citizens in this community said two years ago -that Mayor Joy Cooper's efforts from the very beginning were contrary to good public policy, given that her real desire all along was increased revenue to the city, NOT increased public safety.

This point was first proven when the city refused to place the first one or the second one or...
at the places in this city where there was consensus that genuine safety problems existed.
Nope, they placed them where they could get the number$ they wanted that would make .
American Traffic Solutions happy.

As I said just a few weeks ago, that's precisely why ATS and its related entities have given the full amount they could to Mayor Cooper's re-election campaign coffers, shortly after she wrote 
this for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-07-22/news/fl-guest-cooper-cameras-mon0723-20120722_1_red-light-cameras-camera-program-red-light-runners
since she's running on November 6th against the one person on the HB City Commission who was honest enough and smart enough to see thru her pretense and artifice and vote NO, Keith London.

But while I was happy to see my points from two years ago correct all over again, I was disappointed that common sense was such a big loser in the first place two years ago, and that so many people in this community were willing to look the other way in order to get into or stay in the good graces of our thin-skinned and voluble mayor.

But here, like in many cities, there are always people want to be the mayor's buddies and apologists, and we certainly have more than our fair share in this city of under 40,000, including some former friends of mine.
Given the mayor's forceful personality but lackluster record, it's hardly surprising that so many of the butt-kissers and apologists for City Hall here are women, too.

As you can see for yourself, when you pop this URL, you will see the official HB graphics on the front page, too!


An Analysis of the City of Hallandale Beach Automated For-Profit Red Light Camera Program 
By Paul Henry 
August 18, 2012 

Despite a reduction in red light running crashes at the one intersection, this analysis has shown that the use of automated for-profit law enforcement devices has not increased the safety for the motoring public in the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida. To the contrary, from a safety perspective, the number of crashes for both intersections where it has been placed in 
use have increased, with significant increases at one intersection. There were no fatal crashes. 
A review of extended data for one intersection showed the same red light running crash 
reduction from 2008-2009 with no device use.

Read the rest of the report at:
http://retiredpublicsafety.com/documents/rlc/analysis/FL/Analysis_HB_RLC.pdf

So, two years later, after all the tires have been kicked and all the real numbers have been put to the test and been checked and double-checked, it seems that all the things that I wrote here on the blog about red-light cameras in Hallandale Beach, and which Hallandale Beach civic activist Csaba Kulin, HB Commissioner Keith London and thousands of other HB citizens made clear thru their overwhelming response to the city's own survey, have been proven 100% correct.

And who, using actual facts, has been proven wrong not only on the facts, but on the policy? 
Mayor Joy Cooper and her past and current Rubber Stamp Crew of Dotty Ross, Bill Julian, Anthony A. Sanders and Alexander Lewy, and Police Chiefs Magill and Fluornoy.
And the Florida League of Cities and American Traffic Solutions...

-----
The most recent posts of mine on the subject of red-light cameras in Hallandale Beach are here for your perusal. But there are earlier ones not listed here, so keep that in mind:

Jul 24, 2012
There's still LOTS of interest in Red-Light Cameras and Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's self-serving behavior: i.e. City of Hallandale Beach's fact-free, heavy-handed imposition of RLCs by Cooper and her Rubber ...

Jul 23, 2012
The galling audacity of the feckless Sun-Sentinel giving free space to thoroughly-mendacious Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper, 16 weeks before the election, or her stridently self-serving lies re Red-Light cameras in ...

Oct 11, 2011
Below are some photos of a self-evident fact that I and many tens of thousands of other Hallandale Beach and Hollywood residents have known about ever since the red-light camera was installed on Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Sep 25, 2011
Commissioner London makes a motion to remove RED LIGHT Traffic Cameras in accordance with the recommendations from the city-wide survey – NO SECOND. · Three Islands Safe Neighborhood District - $357,000 in this ...

Jun 08, 2011
Staffers also said they are getting less than anticipated from the city's red light-camera program, a gambling revenue-sharing compact with the Seminole Tribe, and a number of state funds. Forrester vowed to keep a closer eye ...

Feb 24, 2011
No, as we've all suspected from the get-go, in this particular city, those red-light cameras are where they are because in this city -as opposed to the rationale of other cities that may actually let self-evident facts guide their ...