Showing posts with label Noah Pransky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noah Pransky. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

#RedLightCameras - Looks like City of Hollywood and Comm. Dick Blattner are going to go down swinging when it comes to their policies re red-light cameras, despite lack of evidence RLCs are making community any safer. Surprise! Just more of what we have come to expect from Comm. Blattner over the past few years, where he's been the voice of Conventional Wisdom, preserving the status quo, and constantly supporting the largest role possible for local government

#RedLightCameras - Looks like City of Hollywood and Comm. Dick Blattner are going to go down swinging when it comes to keeping their self-serving policies re their money-making red-light cameras, despite lack of evidence they are making it any safer. Surprise!
More of what we have come to expect from Comm. Blattner over the past few years, where he's been the voice of Conventional Wisdom and preserving the status quo, and constantly supporting the largest role possible for local government

My comments below on the subject of red-light cameras in South Florida are largely similar to an email I circulated last week to about 125 concerned people from South Florida up to Tallahassee and points in-between.
The article and column below are but the latest news regarding a contentious subject that I've been quite fair in reporting and blogging about over the past eight years, despite how grossly unfair RLC supporters in government have been with South Florida communities, including keeping police info about location and frequency of traffic accidents out of the hands of citizens who directly challenge their contention that it's been a "SAFETY" measure, not a money-making one.
Well, we've all seen for ourselves over the years how untrue that was when push comes to shove.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hollywood keeping red-light cameras until court orders them removed
By Susannah Bryan Sun Sentinel
February 12, 2015 2:02 PM

Officials here might have to pull the plug on their red-light camera program as soon as next week.
But not if City Hall gets its way. 

Less than two weeks ago, the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach declined to rehear an October ruling that found Hollywood could not delegate ticket-writing duties to third-party vendor American Traffic Solutions. 
The ruling applies not only to Hollywood, but statewide

Read the rest of the article at:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Michael Mayo, Columnist: Red-light cameras could prove costly for cities
February 15, 2015

The epitaph of red-light cameras might read: Enforced the law by breaking the law.

At least that's how the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach sees the controversial program, ruling that some South Florida cities have illegally delegated their police authority to a private vendor in Arizona.

Hollywood was the first to get rapped on the knuckles last fall. Earlier this month, it was Davie's turn. The 4th DCA also rejected Hollywood's bid to have a rehearing.

As a result, all cities with red-light camera programs now find themselves on shaky legal and financial ground. 









Above is yet the latest instance where when push comes to shove, Hollywood Comm. Richard "Dick" Blattner shows that his primary concern continues NOT to be for Hollywood residents and Small Business owners, but the $$$ that red-light cameras generate.
This, even though we all know there are many places in Hollywood where accidents happen with some regularity where red-light cameras have never been located.

Why?
Because they want VOLUME. 

Just like the case in Hallandale Beach I have been describing here on the blog for so many years, wherein Mayor Joy Cooper and a succession of City Managers and commissioners wanted in Hallandale Beach, even when experienced consultants reporters showed they were not helping safety in HB.

If you never saw them the first time -before they were erased from the Channel 10 website- I can tell you that there were some very interesting and telling comments on Bob Norman's 2012 blog re red-light cameras worth checking-out, including some by my friends and fellow civic activists Csaba "Chuck" Kulin and Charlotte Greenbarg, as well as Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo re Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's credibility.
Or, rather the lack of her credibility.

Studies: Red light cameras causing more accidents

(Why has HBPD employed speed traps near Bluesten Park for years on a road with little traffic, while ignoring north-bound speeders on US-1, esp. after they get the green light at the southern entrance/exit at Gulfstream Park, near the Aventura cityline? 
Why is the reality in our city that it's Aventura cops who are more likely be seen issuing speeding tickets in HB on US-1 in HB than HB's own cops? 
Even in front of the HB Police Dept. HQ on US-1!
Sad but true!)

For many years, like many of you, I gave Comm. Blattner the benefit of the doubt on issues, but in retrospect, when you actually look at what has taken place since he came back to City Hall and the Commission a second time, he has never really shown the sort of leadership on issues that his experience would lead you to expect, even if you disagree with him.

He is always the voice of Conventional Wisdom and preserving the status quo, constantly supporting the biggest role possible for local government, where Broward's cities routinely take advantage of its residents and their wallets with preciosu little outcry from local TV stations and news papers unless the info is spoon-fed to them.
But Blattner can STILL never admit when he's wrong on the facts or admit that he's underperformed in some capacity.

His time as head of the Broward MPO, to say nothing of the FLL airport exit ramp controversy that has so angered so many people in the area -which he STILL can't explain with a straight face -has been a giant wasted opportunity for south Broward residents and businesses.
But he thinks he's doing great.

I'll soon be reminding him on the blog how far off the mark he's been, and doing so with telling photographs that tell the lamentable tale.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

South Florida Sun-Sentinel's incomplete stories re red-light cameras finally getting the boot in Hallandale Beach, and the city's longstanding problems with signage, is just another example of their shallow reporting that consistently misses-the-mark when residents want genuine depth and context

Would've been nice if the Sun-Sentinel, for a change -FOR ONCE- actually focused on the myriad reasons why HB citizens have been calling for RLC to go for years, including an honest accounting of the the history of Mayor Cooper, City Hall and HBPD consciously deciding NOT to share public info on traffic accidents so that citizens could actually see where largest number of accidents occurred.

Or why they are supposed to indulging mayor Cooper's edifice complex to the tune of just under $400k.
But once again, when presented with stories on a silver platter about dysfunctional Hallandale beach government and public policy, stories that cried out for some genuine depth in it, the Sun-Sentinel went for the bury-'em-with-quotes approach with the RLC story that left HB's unique circumstances and perspective completely unexplored, and has instead left objective observers just as confused as to why this happened here instead of happening in another city.

And how can they bring the word trend into the story as a hook without ever explaining how it all happened? It's dumbfounding.
What are those elements here that could be found in other cities be that could make it happen elsewhere?
They don't say.
Until that paper is sold and new management, better editors and better and more-enereprising reporters are there, that paper is an afterthought when it comes to local news and political coverage.

No mention at all of the city starting a RLC program before the state authorized one, and with so little attention to detail by the City, HBPD or then-City Attorney David Jove that required warning signs were actually obscured from the public driving by, as I noted at the time with photos connecting-the-dots.
All these years later, there's still ZERO warning signs on either east-bound or west-bound Hallandale Beach Blvd. approaching U.S.-1

Those required warning signs on the median near NW 10th Terrace were NOT there when the city started their program or when the state did but much later.
I know because I have the photos that show that lack of attention to detail at the time, and most of you have already seen them.

They didn't want to do that because they knew that if the facts came out, they'd be hard-pressed to explain why they were so insistent on placing cameras in places that'd clearly generate less REVENUE, including the illegal right-hand turn money they were getting hand-over-fist at the beginning that got the city so much negative media coverage across the state.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale to dump red-light cameras


South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale hesitates on $300,000 marquis welcome sign
Commission wants to know what rest of signs throughout city will cost
By Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel
11:19 a.m. EST, January 23, 2014

Yes, I know that marquee in the way it's used here is not spelled marquis, but that's the Sun-Sentinel in a nut-shell!

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Red-light cameras kicked to curb - Hallandale yanks them, but will others follow?
By Susannah Bryan and Ariel Barkhurst, Staff writers 
January 24, 2014

As of January 16th, the whole topic of "short yellow" within the context of traffic lights, has never once appeared in the Miami Herald or the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Really.

I was going to mention this salient fact a few months ago in a blog post after some outstanding reporting by WTSP-TV'Noah Pransky on the subject which showed how common the problem was, but held off on doing so.


Just checked the Herald and Sun-Sentinel's archives.
Still the case.
Just saying...

-----
SaintPetersblog
Short yellow signal problems reveal deeper issues in St. Petersburg’s Traffic and Parking Dep’t
by Peter Schorsch

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Without a Shadow of a Doubt (or a Shadow of a Stadium) in MLB, it's Location, Location, Location and that's bad news for Tampa Rays. In my opinion, no stadium location in that area will ever suffice because the fundamental problem is there simply aren't ENOUGH middle-class baseball fans there to make it worthwhile. That area will always be the dog-chasing-its-tail when it comes to a new baseball stadium; @StadiumShadow, @fieldofschemes, @darrenrovell














Predicate reading for this subject is Noah Pransky's Shadow of the Stadium blog
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/ and Neil de Mause's Field of Schemes blog: http://www.fieldofschemes.com/





Much as I try to follow the Tampa Rays new stadium and attendance saga, in the end, it usually makes me think of the dog-chasing-its-tail, and the dog thinking that its making progress when actually it's doing nothing of the sort.

In following this story it's hard not to notice that of all the many criticisms of the Rays attendance problems over the years, many rather predictable, it's hard not to notice that many in the Tampa Bay area media are reluctant to say what I've always thought, perhaps because they really don't want to think about how truly insignificant the Tampa Bay area is in the whole national scheme
of things, baseball or otherwise. 

(And that's in NOT adding southern Orlando or certain Polk County residents to Tampa Bay's overall population to make it seem larger, as I have seen some places, as if to justify the current situation.)

The problem with the Rays isn't with the location of the stadium, it's the location of the team.
(Just like with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.)
I don't think it matters where the Rays stadium is, the team won't draw enough fans regardless of where you place the stadium.

This is completely unlike the situation with the Orioles and their shift from Memorial Stadium to Camden Yards, making it much more attractive and reasonable to Washington area fans to go during the week.

Along with two friends, we controlled four seats for an Oriole 17-game mini-season ticket plan for the first 8-9 years of them playing near the Inner Harbor, and I personally went to 20-25 home games a year (out of 81) despite living in Arlington County, though those long weeknight games and the drive home to Northern Virginia often made me useless at work the next
morning until I'd had enough coffee with hazelnut cream to mellow me out, i.e. around 10:45.

In my opinion, Charlotte, Nashville and San Antonio would all do a better job of consistently drawing baseball fans on a yearly basis simply because there are MORE middle-class income people living within 45 minutes of wherever they put the stadium, because there are more middle- management jobs there to begin with. Period.

Those cities have a more diversified economy than the St.Pete/Tampa area and greatly benefit from that.
Tampa Bay is what it is, but diversified it is not, just like South Florida over-dependence on tourism and real estate.


 @fieldofschemes  https://twitter.com/fieldofschemes  

Friday, May 17, 2013

In Florida, red-light camera supporters at FDOT HQ tinker with yellow-light timing and make FL roads MORE UNSAFE -but more profitable for greedy cities- while in Chicago, the city's Inspector General has blasted the city's red-light ticket program (designed by Redflex) after an audit, saying that Mayor Rahm Emanuel's "City Hall cannot back up claims that its controversial red-light camera program is designed to make intersections safer"; $100 Million in revenue in FL off of red-light cameras!

City Hall cannot back up claims that its controversial red-light camera program is designed to make intersections safer, according to a watchdog's report released Tuesday.

Now THAT'S how you start a news article about a municipal government intentionally engaging
in fraud to keep propping-up a program largely for revenue!
And it isn't even Hallandale Beach, though it would be equally true if an audit was done here.

Chicago Tribune
Inspector general blasts red light ticket program
By Hal Dardick, Clout Street, 
6:42 p.m. CDT, May 14, 2013 
City Hall cannot back up claims that its controversial red-light camera program is designed to make intersections safer, according to a watchdog's report released Tuesday.
Inspector General Joseph Ferguson said the city cannot provide documents to prove that the cameras went up at intersections with the most side-impact crashes. He also questioned why cameras remain at intersections with no recent history of such crashes, which the $100 ticket-issuing "cops-in-a-box" are designed to prevent.

A predicate for understsnding thsi IG report is my previous post of November 24th, 2012 on the shenanigans taking place in Chicago, titled, :
More Red-Light Camera shenanigans: National Journal's Mike Magner has warning for U.S. drivers about unscrupulous cities' amber-colored money trap: Yellow means Green & $$$ - "Dreaded Yellow Light May Be Trap for Traffic Violations" -on purpose. And Rahm Emanuel's Chicago, with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., is the most brazen of all

So when will we see this sort of news headline about Hallandale Beach's red-light camera program that for years has been Exhibit A for South Florida municipal governments greed and willingness to look the other way on public safety, and as was the case here, the Police Dept.s refusal to make records public that would allow citizens to see whether the city was putting them where they'd do the most good or where they'd get the most revenue?

Or a reasonable explanation from FDOT District 4 Secretary James Wolfe about why it took them a year to place a red-light camera warning sign somewhere on west-bound Hallandale Beach Blvd./State Road 858 near NW 9th Terr., that was actually visible to drivers, instead of the one that was hidden between palm trees, as photos I've taken and posted here for years have proven?

Or an explanation from Wolfe about why, YEARS LATER, there are STILL ZERO red-light camera warning signs on HBB/State Road 858 approaching U.S.-1/South Federal Highway in either direction, unlike the approaches to HBB at that same intersection?

Unbeknowst to most of you, some of us have actually been talking seriously about timing certain HB and Hollywood intersections with stop-watches to see if they even meet the federal DOT legal standards.
I'll be filming some of them this weekend if the weather looks okay. 

Why?
Because of what we already know and can see with our own eyes, and great enterprising reporting like this by Noah Pransky of WTSP-TV that proves what we've long thought: $100 Million in revenue in FL off of red-light cameras

Shorter yellow lights criticized as trap for drivers: A subtle, but significant tweak to Florida's rules regarding traffic signals has allowed local cities and counties to shorten yellow light intervals, resulting in millions of dollars in additional red light camera fines. Quoted in story: FL state Senator Jeff Brandes, FL state Rep. Ed Hooper, FL state Rep. Mike Fasano and FL state Senator Jack Latvala.
http://www.floridatoday.com/videonetwork/2384133376001/Shorter-yellow-lights-criticized-as-trap-for-drivers

Florida quietly shortens yellow lights, resulting in more red light camera tickets
Noah Pransky, WTSP-TV, Tampa/St. Petersburg

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Is it government's role to pick winners and losers in the marketplace? Does job creation in Florida depend too much upon corporate welfare and self-dealing? Are Enterprise Florida's attempts to create economic activity and new jobs simply a matter of keeping up with the Joneses, or a foolish waste of tax dollars thrown down a black hole that could have been better spent? WTSP-TV examines what Florida has been doing and why Integrity Florida has been raising red flags about those policies





"I think it's right for the public to ask, 'Is it government's role to pick winners and losers in the marketplace, to give taxpayer money to one company versus its competitors?"-Dan Krassner, Integrity Florida 

Is it government's role to pick winners and losers in the marketplace? Does job creation in Florida depend too much upon corporate welfare and self-dealing? Are Enterprise Florida's attempts to create economic activity and new jobs simply a matter of keeping up with the Joneses, or a foolish waste of tax dollars thrown down a black hole that could have been better spent? WTSP-TV examines what Florida has been doing and why Integrity Florida has been raising red flags about those policies

Fox 13/Tampa video
Job creation or corporate welfare?
Posted: Feb 04, 2013 4:43 PM EST
Updated: Feb 04, 2013 10:20 PM EST
By: Doug Smith, FOX 13
Most of us have heard the old adage, 'It takes money to make money.' In Florida, some leaders in state government also believe it takes money to make jobs.
Governor Rick Scott has made it clear that job creation is a top priority, but are lucrative corporate incentives really necessary or nothing more than corporate welfare?
Read the rest of the related article at: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/20960694/2013/02/04/florida-job-creation-incentives

After reading the article, see this other WTSP-TV video from April of 2011 profiling Mike Fasano when he was still in the Florida Senate, who stated above, "government shouldn't be involved in picking winners and losers."
Exactly!

Perfectly stated common sense that has been desperately needed in Hallandale Beach the past nine years as crony capitalism has flourished with taxpayer and CRA dollars.



Fox 13/Tampa video
Mike Fasano: Florida's renegade Republican
Reporter Noah Pransky profiles the then-FL State senator 
10:53 PM, Apr 25, 2011 
http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/article/188885/8/Mike-Fasano-Floridas-renegade-Republican?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Ct

Meanwhile, feeling the negative effects of being under the gun because his heretofore largely ignored group is getting lots of publicity throughout Florida, most of it negative, Enterprise Florida CEO Gray Swoope feels it necessary to publicly attack Integrity Florida and Dan Krassner and their damning report on Swoope's group, by mentioning that a group opposed to what he calls financial incentives -but which you and I might call corporate welfare- is supportive of Integrity Florida.

Wow, imagine that? 
So how is a group being consistent about their policy negative news?
It really shows how desperate things are getting with the spotlight on him.

Tampa Bay Times
Venture blog
Who is Gray Swoope and how can he reignite Florida's stumbling economy?
Posted by Robert Trigaux at 6:23:41 am on August 08, 2011 
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/venturebiz/content/who-gray-swoope-and-how-can-he-reignite-floridas-stumbling-economy


Orlando Sentinel
Central Florida Political Pulse blog
More on the Enterprise Florida-Integrity Florida cage-match
Posted by Aaron Deslatte on February, 5 2013 4:20 PM


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http://www.integrityfl.org/

http://www.eflorida.com/