#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:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hollywood/fl-hollywood-red-light-cameras-20150212-story.html

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. 

Read the rest of the column at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-red-light-cameras-mayocol-b021515-20150213-column.html

Editorial from @theledger echoes our finding: any #RedLightCamera benefits undermined by cities not complying w/law: http://t.co/KL7CCtgH5N
— Noah Pransky - WTSP (@noahpransky) February 18, 2015

UPDATED - TIMELINE - 2yrs worth of #WTSP #RedLightCamera coverage: http://t.co/ct74d2sofV!
— Noah Pransky - WTSP (@noahpransky) February 3, 2015

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

http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bobnorman/Studies-Red-light-cameras-causing-more-accidents/-/3223354/16278442/-/3sgf1jz/-/index.html

(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.

Csaba Kulin and I re the Long Trail of Broken Promises, Alibis & Excuses from City of Hallandale Beach's elected officials, City Manager Miller and Police Chief Flournoy re self-evident safety problems for residents/visitors along NE 14th Avenue; photos

Looking south on NE 14th Avenue from Atlantic Shores Blvd., Hallandale Beach, FL. March 31, 2014 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Below is an email that was sent this afternoon by my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach & Broward County civic activist Csaba Kulin to Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper and the following: Hallandale Beach Commissioners Anthony A. Sanders, Alexander Lewy and Bill Julian, City Manager Renee Miller, Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy, Assistant City Manager and CRA Director Daniel Rosemond, City Attorney V. Lynn Whitfield, along with dozens of other HB residents, both those living on or near the heavily-traveled NE 14th Avenue corridor who have been under assault since that road first began construction in February of 2013, as well as those who live elsewhere but commiserate because it's a perfect example of finger-pointing in this city by both elected and appointed officials at Hb City Hall.

The construction revolves around some desperately-needed storm water pipes, after the city has has had years and years of flooding, especially in Northeast Hallandale Beach.

Keep in mind as you read this that this small city that's only 4.2 square miles to begin with, has some tangible geographical constraints that make getting around difficult even in the best of times, and especially during the tourist season, which makes the mess that's been taking place along NE 14th Avenue especially problematic: we have both the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway on the city's east side, with 1-95 to the west, plus numerous impassable canals.
This, in a city with ONLY ONE east-west street that runs throughout it -Hallandale Beach Blvd., where traffic goes to die in SE Broward and become part of gridlock history.

This is made worse by the fact that we have less than a handful of two-way north-south streets east of usually gridlocked U.S.-1/Federal Highway, the road that serves as the very spine of the city, interconnecting it to the City of Aventura and Miami-Dade County to the south and the City of Hollywood to the north. 
U.S-1 is one of just two two-way north-south streets that span the length of the city, the other one being State Road A1A/Ocean Drive over on the beach, which again has Hollywood to the north at its intersection with HBB, and the Village of Golden Beach and Miami-Dade County to the south.

-----

April 9, 2014

Mayor Joy Cooper,

I am sorry you had to experience the indignities of obscene language and gestures the same way as the law abiding residents of N.E. 14^th Avenue had been subjected to for well over a year.

I asked the City Commission a number of times for help. Mayor, you tried to pacify me with promises, City Manager Miller did the same and Police Chief Flournoy said that as “manpower” allows he will enforce the One Way Street violators.

During the March 17, 2014 City Commission Meeting  I stated that we only saw one time a police officer handing out traffic tickets. You did NOT believe me.
I have proof from our police department that only two tickets were issued during the past four months, both on November 30, 2013.

When I met with Police Chief Flournoy on April 2, 2014 he said that “even those two citations should NOT have been issued”.
Chief Flournoy told me that ’signage and markings on N.E. 14^th Avenue are NOT sufficient and the citations would not stand up court’. The Chief said that ‘it is the city’s responsibility to properly mark the street and install proper signage’.

In my opinion it is inexcusable that our city is unable to mark and install signage to make a One Way Street legal. The City placed our residents in danger and created a risk of liability for the City in case of an accident.

Mayor, we like you to tell us when will the City install legal marking and signs so the police can start to enforce the law immediately?

Please do NOT tell us that we have already suffered over a year and we are used to the danger so a few more months do NOT matter.

The residents of 14^th Avenue hope to see the legal markings and signage by the April 22, 2014 community meeting to be sponsored by the City. 

The City Commission has two main functions, making policy and oversight of the operation of the City. We hope that in your oversight capacity you investigate who knew what and when in this unfortunate misunderstanding and share it with the residents.

I attached a couple of pictures to illustrate the current situation on NE 14^th Avenue.

Sincerely

Csaba Kulin
President, Fairways North, Inc. 

Looking south from 600 NE 14th Avenue.

-----

The self-evident lack of concern the City of Hallandale Beach and the contractor involved in this project have shown for the safety and health for the residents in that area, who've been treated like prisoners in their own neighborhood, is nothing short of shocking, even by this city's infamous low standards.

Over the past year, from my visits to Csaba and Susan's home, I've taken LOTS of photos illustrating the points that he makes so well above, and have accompanied him when, together, we've measured the distance across Atlantic Shores Blvd. and compared it to the much-shorter distance on NE 14th Avenue, since for reasons that defy logic and common sense, Comm. Alexander Lewy is strangely insisting on changing the parking equation on NE 14th Avenue -once the construction is finished- to angled parking, just like on Atlantic Shores Blvd..

This, despite the fact that it was already changed from angled to its heretofore parallel parking-to-the-curb status a number of years ago so that additional numbers of parking spaces could be created for residents and visitors.

Why would Lewy and the city intentionally want to go backwards in time and create more problems?

It's a reasonable question to ask: Why would a HB City Commissioner who is required to resign his post in August (in order to run for the FL House 100 primary) suddenly wants to micromanage parking in this area full of angry residents when he was completely unconcerned 

with the negative effects of this botched construction project, to say nothing of the very self-evident safety points that Csaba has repeatedly made? 

It's very, very curious.

In any case, angled parking on only the east side of 14th Street is FAR TOO SHORT an area to safely maneuver, since the lack of space necessary to properly back-up without being IN the road, allows no margin for error for drivers and those already on the road.

It's obvious the first time you see it -and yet...

I've taken tons of photos of Atlantic Shores Blvd. and NE 14th Avenue proving these points, so...

Looking south on NE 14th Avenue from Atlantic Shores Blvd., Hallandale Beach, FL. March 31, 2014 photos by South Beach Hoosier.

Even today, after over a year of haphazard construction and coating the area and the inside of residents apts. & condos/cars with dirt, and after I myself have nearly been hit about three separate times by cars driving on the sidewalk or driving the wrong way, the City of Hallandale Beach can't explain why there never was a mobile watering system in place that would keep the massive amounts of dust down to a minimum, as is typical of projects this large that involve moving and shifting tons of buried dirt, road and asphalt.

When you add the large number of residents living in the area just feet away, many who suffer from existing health problems, it really makes you wonder why so little intelligent thought was 

given to this project's cumulative effect on them in the first place, and how little attention to detail there is in general at HB City Hall under the current crew, since they had plenty of time to put remedial actions in place.

But they didn't.

As for the HB Police Chief, you can see for yourself by the recitation that Csaba makes above, despite knowing what he did, when he did, and despite the persistent and legitimate public complaints from Csaba on behalf of his own tenants and neighbors along the street apprising him of the problems, along with the pleas of others, Chief Flournoy has yet again failed to act and respond in a satisfactory manner for HB residents, and once again failed to give the public the sort of serious response they were entitled to.

Instead, for all practical purposes, Police Chief Flournoy just shrugged his shoulders.

Just more of the same sort of unsatisfactory attitude and results from him we've come to expect over the past few years.

Surprise!

More Flooding & Operation Sandbag in Hallandale Beach: HB gets drenched-to-the-bone with 8 inches of rain by powerful trailing storms of T.S. Andrea, but the city and Mayor Joy Cooper still act like ostriches when it comes to simple tasks that would serve the largest number of residents in the most-efficient manner possible when they need help. Why? Because that's the way things get done here with her as mayor; Flood relief project is 2 years late; #Hallandale, #andrea, #susierusso, @FanSusieQ

Local10 News, Miami, WPLG-TV

Floodwaters strand drivers in South Florida

Floodwaters left by Tropical Storm Andrea turn roads into rivers

Local10 reporter Baron James is on the ground and in the water as northeast Hallandale Beach is yet again the scene of standing floodwater after the remnants of Tropical Storm Andrea pass thru northeast Miami-Dade County and southeast Broward County on Friday afternoon and evening, after many days of rain and with the ground already saturated. 

Published On: June 7, 2013 11:06:31 PM EDT, Updated On: June 8 2013 12:11:20 AM EDT

http://www.local10.com/weather/andreas-floodwaters-strand-drivers-in-so-fla/-/1717142/20479428/-/geqkcx/-/index.html

High-tech in Hallandale Beach, 2013 -Orange safety cones! May 12, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier. (c) 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

More Flooding & Operation Sandbag in Hallandale Beach: HB gets drenched-to-the-bone with 8 inches of rain by powerful trailing storms of T.S. Andrea, but the city and Mayor Joy Cooper still act like ostriches when it comes to simple tasks that would serve the largest number of residents in the most-efficient manner possible when they need help. Why? Because that's the way things get done here with her as mayor; Flood relief project is 2 years late; #Hallandale, #andrea, #susierusso, @FanSusieQ

pushing cars out of the water #mercedes #flooded #hallandale #getatruck #tropicalstorm #andrea instagram.com/p/aSGTI9kFE_/
— Zoard Janko (@ZoardJanko) June 8, 2013

@mayorcooper About 2 yrs ago we were promised immediate relief in the NE Quad...2 yrs laterwe are going thru the same flood incident AGAIN!
— Susie Russo (@FanSusieQ) June 7, 2013

@mayorcooper What are you doing to help us? The NE quadrant is going to be destroyed again!
— Susie Russo (@FanSusieQ) June 7, 2013

@7weather NE 6 St in Hallandale Beach, flood relief we were promised by the City started 2 years later than it was supposed to, now look...
— Susie Russo (@FanSusieQ) June 7, 2013

@keithlondon Mayor Cooper strikes again, flooding destroys NE quad of Hallandale, where is the help?
— Susie Russo (@FanSusieQ) June 7, 2013

@myhallandale NE 6 st completely flooded disaster approaches the house. Mayor Cooper where is your help now? Flood relief project 2 yrs late
— Susie Russo (@FanSusieQ) June 7, 2013

The Dept. of Public Works (DPW) location that the City of Hallandale Beach is telling residents to go to in order to pick up sand bags if they need them due to flooding, 630 N.W. 2nd Street, is adjacent to one of the great exercises in make-work that any South Florida government is currently engaged in, in this case, the so-called Historic School House Restoration that is taking years longer to do than it'd have taken to build from scratch.

Almost everyone who knows me reasonably well knows how much I revere history as well as my longtime concern for historical preservation, a fact buttressed by my stack of ten years worth of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Preservation magazine in banker's boxes in my garage, back when I lived in Arlington County, VA for 15 years, something I've mentioned here previously.
http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/#.UbLhwefVCSo

But as for this particular building, well, it's the proverbial exception to the rule.
It's preposterous on its face and nobody I know here has any idea if there's even an actual meaningful deadline for the rehab of this school, or where it will be located for good when it's finished, to say nothing of who'd actually come visit it, given how the city has treated other publicly-owned properties over the years, to say nothing of the deplorable condition of the beach.
(Like the North Beach Building on State Road A1A that the taxpayers of this city own but are NOT allowed to use unless they pay for it, unlike city employees in the past few years who've used it as the site for holiday parties, though most of you reading this already know all this very well.)

In short, this out-of-the-way, nothing little building that is barely thought about is already a White Elephant before it's even finished.
Lack of attention to detail, lack of accountability, lack of...

May 12, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier. (c) 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

Trust me when I tell you that it looks the same now as it did six months ago and nine months ago, and that I have the photos to prove it.
I also have friends who can confirm this who also share my anger at what this place represents, since it's a place I drive by at least once every ten days to see how much time is going by without anything tangible actually getting done.
Therefore it serves as the perfect example of how things really get done here.
They don't.

That's the mediocre neighborhood where the city's sand bag operation calls home.
That too is an eye-opening experience to behold, and a case study in how simple things have been botched and remain half-assed in Hallandale Beach for so long, that some citizens choose apathy instead of normal civic engagement because it's easier than dealing with the mind-set at City Hall.

It's long been perfectly clear that the sandbag operation is now so unsatisfactory that it no longer meets many residents's basic expectations because it's neither well-organized nor well-managed, and so is actually bypassed by many residents who prefer to buy sand bags at retail shops because it's more predictable and organized.
Yet the city persists in acting like it's actually accomplishing something.

This operation has for years been one of the five most-widely told HB anecdotes by both myself and my friends in explaining to new residents, outsiders and the news media how much this city genuinely seems to be run more for the benefit of the city's employees rather than for the benefit of residents, since nothing else explains the level of absurdity that's apparent to the naked eye.

If you were starting such a program from scratch in your own town, there are any number of things that you would want to ensure were done and in place before a storm in order to satisfy the residents of this city -your customers!
However fascinating and original that list in your head is, though, frankly, it doesn't matter, since those are NOT now the primary considerations of the City of Hallandale Beach, nor have they been in the nine years that I have lived here.

Here in Hallandale Beach, 
a.) The sand is dumped inside a fence and on the side of a two-lane road
b.) Both the immediate area and the sand itself are uncovered, not even by a tarp
c.) The sand is deposited in an unlit area
d.) They use large orange safety cones as funnels.
Really


May 12, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier. (c) 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

May 12, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier. (c) 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

May 12, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier. (c) 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

For many years I've asked a number of common sense questions of the city about how this particular set-up could possibly be anything but a Keystone Kops routine-in-the-rain given all the above parameters.

I've asked why people who live in low-lying areas that are always hit hard -mostly in northeastern HB- are, from what I hear, NOT able to get sandbags in the weeks before hurricane season starts, and even more importantly, why the city adamantly refuses to fix these self-evident problems, or at least relocate the sand prior to approaching storms or once it's clear that clouds bringing downpours are static, like what we had here a week before Christmas in 2009, Dec, 18th and 19th, that left much of NE HB under water.

The city already has the necessary resources it needs to show some common sense and relocate the sand, the bags and the shovels to a better location that is well-lit, has some cover, and that makes it easier to distribute, no matter the weather.
Even a place that can do two of the three tasks is greatly preferable to continuing to have it in a location that has none of them. 

Despite the city patting themselves on the back afterwards, the city was judged by the people I know in that area to have responded very slowly, and actually made things much worse in some cases by needlessly driving their city trucks thru streets like NE 8th and 10th Avenue where the wakes that were created went straight into residents homes.
People were irate!!!

(Because it's HB, once the city finally erected some small warning signs on the north side of Hallandale Beach Blvd., near NE 10th and 12th Avenue, in one case, they actually left some of the signs up for more than four months, which confused drivers, esp. out-of-town visitors coming out of Gulfstream Park's northern entrance at HBB, many of whom go north on NE 10th up to Atlantic Shores Blvd. to avoid the heavy U.S.-1 traffic to the west.)

The whole scene is embarrassing and completely counter-intuitive to helping the largest
number of residents as quickly as possible.
But the city won't budge despite how ridiculous it is and needs a more sane and logical operation.

Just so you know, this is one of the many dozens of problems in the city -and constructive suggestions- I spoke to Assistant HB City Manager Jennifer Frastai about four-and-a-half-years ago that she never followed-up on, and never contacted me about which flowed from our infamous one-hour meeting at City Hall in the City Manager's conference room, mentioned most recently on the blog on April 29th:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/having-long-tradition-of-white-flight.html

If some of this sounds familiar it should, as I previously wrote about this problem on the blog in my post of  August 25, 2012 titled, 
As "Isaac" approaches South Florida, key differences re-emerge between how Hollywood and Hallandale Beach cope: Hollywood Residents, Business Owners Can Fill Their Own Free Sandbags; Hallandale Beach residents can once again get sand-bagged and dumb-founded

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/as-isaac-approaches-south-florida-key.html

*By the way, I noticed Friday night that the street on the west side of HB City Hall that the HB Police Dept. regularly uses was completely impassable, even while U.S.-1 in front of HB City Hall was bumper-to-bumper from HBB south to Ives Dairy Road until about 9:30 p.m., making for a very unsafe scenario for ambulances trying to reach Aventura Hospital on U.S.-1 and N.E. 209th Street.

I know because I live near HB City Hall and ended-up walking along U.S.-1 to the Aventura Target on N.E. 213th Street to get some things because the traffic was so bad.

** Oh, and as usual, as I found out around 8:30 p.m., ALL the street lights on S.E./S.W. 3rd Street near the FEC Railroad tracks were out, AGAIN -and all the ones from Bluesten park north to 3rd Street- meaning during a downpour there, you are literally taking your life into your hands at night!
Even if your car's defrost is on overdrive!

HB comes up at 6:57 in this Channel 7 video:

More flooding in #Hallandale twitter.com/venita_/status… - via @venita_cc: @nwsmiami
— 7Weather (@7Weather) June 7, 2013

Flooding along #Hallandale Beach Blvd and 12 Ave. twitter.com/venita_/status… - via @venita_cc: @nwsmiami
— 7Weather (@7Weather) June 7, 2013

@wsvn Avoid Ocean Drive in Hallandale! instagram.com/p/aRNKOphVdu/
— Meg Lambert-Chesney (@meghanlambert) June 7, 2013

@wplglocal10 Hallandale beach blvd heading east after 8th st is a parking lot traffic is just not moving tow trucks everywhere
— jinnette reyes (@jin589) June 7, 2013

#SOUTHFLORIDA STORMS: viewer pix from above of flooded #HallandaleBeach blvd. twitter.com/dt007/status/3…
— Darcy Tannebaum (@dt007) June 7, 2013

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.

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...

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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:

Hallandale Beach Blog: There's still LOTS of interest in Red-Light ...

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 ...

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Hallandale Beach Blog: What's worse? The galling audacity of the ...

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 ...

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Today's Broward County Comm. action on red-light cameras

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.

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

on the upside-down - Hallandale Beach Blog - Yes

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 ...

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Hallandale Beach Blog: Call For Change: Continuing financial ...

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 ...

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Hallandale Beach Blog: Thoughts on red-light camera laws in ...

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 ...

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/