HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE - 29BMitre - Ramirez, Norma
From: Huizar, Maria
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 10:32 AM
To: Cavazos, David; Carvalho, Sonia R.; Rojas, Carlos
Cc: Mitre - Ramirez, Norma; Orozco, Norma; Trujillo, Rose Ann; Amezcua, Angelica;
Benavides, David; Sarmiento, Vince; Tinajero, Sal; Martinez, Michele; Pulido, Miguel,
Reyna, Roman
Subject: FW: Santa Ana council meeting Mar 18 - item 29b - red light camera program to end?
Correspondence received on Relight Camera item.
From: Magallon, Becky
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 10:08 AM
To: Huizar, Maria
Subject: FW: Santa Ana council meeting Mar 18 - item 29b - red light camera program to end?
For an item on tonight's agenda.
From: Jim [mailto:iim(Wvahermosa.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 9:45 AM
To: Council
Subject: Santa Ana council meeting Mar 18 - item 29b - red light camera program to end?
For City staff: Please distribute this email to all councilmembers, and make it available to the public.
3 -18 -14
Venue: Red light camera item, Consent Calendar 29b, council meeting of Mar. 18
Honorable Councilmembers -
Yesterday at about noon the Voice of OC revealed that today you will consider a staff recommendation to
end the City's red light camera program.
I've now read through the staff report, and wish to offer some more things to consider.
You probably know about the $2 million bribery in Chicago — that's been public knowledge for more than
a year — but there is a relatively new allegation, by former Redflex Executive VP Aaron Rosenberg, that
bribery occurred in at least thirteen other states, including California. (He hasn't yet named the cities
involved.) (From Rosenberg Answer and Counterclaim filed 10/11/13, in Redflex v. Rosenberg, at page
9. Document available online at www.highwa roy bbery [dot] net.)
As part of its attempt to rebuild after the bribery scandal, Redflex sent its customers an apology letter
stating, "... Redflex has anew executive team." But it should be noted that the signatory to that letter,
current Redflex President James Saunders, is the person about whom former EVP Rosenberg wrote:
"However, in July 2013, the Board of Directors and CEO of Redflex Holdings promoted the
company's existing Vice President of Account Management to the position of CEO. The
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Board and CEO did this with full knowledge that over the years this individual actively
participated in and incurred lavish entertainment expenses with elected officials, consultants
and city officials in his efforts to secure new contracts and maintain company
revenue." (Rosenberg Answer and Counterclaim, at page 2.
Next is the question of the payment of Prevailing Wages. The State Department of Industrial Relations has
ruled that the installation work done by camera companies and their subcontractors is a Public Work, thus
must be paid at Prevailing Wage rates. The Department's website contains records of a Prevailing Wage
action involving Redflex in the City of Hayward, which closed its camera program in 2013, and the
highwayrobbery website contains records of another action involving Redflex, in the City of San Rafael -
which just ended its camera program, on March 3. Employees of the City of Oakland have confirmed the
existence of a current Prevailing Wage action in that City — again involving Redflex - but as of yet no
documents have become available to the public.
There are some recent program closures you may not have heard about — because they weren't reported in
the major media. Inglewood, which closed last month, is an example of that. So is South Gate, which
closed in September. (Both were Redflex customers.) Other 2013 closures in Southern California were El
Cajon, Escondido, Poway, Murrieta, and the City of San Diego. (The first three were Redflex customers.)
If your action today is to ask staff to bring back more information at a later meeting, I respectfully request
that you ask them to have the accident statistics re -run by independent personnel having professional
credentials in statistics.
If your vote tonight is to accept the present staff recommendation to let the contract expire without renewal,
and then sometime between now and June 2015 you decide to revisit that decision, I would appreciate it if
you would make a special effort to let the public know — well in advance - that the matter is coming back to
the council.
Regards,
Jim Lisner
I Viva Hermosa !
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3/18/2014 1:26 PM
1:26 PM
Mitre - Ramirez, Norma
From: Huizar, Maria
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 10:36 AM
To: Mitre - Ramirez, Norma
Cc: Orozco, Norma; Trujillo, Rose Ann; Rojas, Carlos
Subject: FW: Red Light Cameras in Santa Ana
Correspondence for the record on Red Light Cameras.
From: jcwconsult @aol.com [
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 2:34 PM
To: Lawrence, Mark
Cc: Cavazos, David; Sonia.Carvalho @bbklaw.com; Huizar, Maria; Flores, Alma; Garcia, Jorge (CMO); Macedonio,
Margarita; Huizar, Ana; Christensen, Angi; Magallon, Becky; Woods, Gail; Ousley, Mardy
Subject: Re: Red Light Cameras in Santa Ana
You are most welcome, Mr. Lawrence
Red light cameras are on the way out in many areas. Florida, South Dakota, Missouri, Ohio, and Iowa all
have bills to ban ticket cameras (with varying prospects of final passage).
I testified for the National Motorists Association (NMA) in Michigan last year in opposition to bills that
could have brought the cameras to Michigan for the first time. We were joined in that opposition by the
Police Officers Association of Michigan, the ACLU, the Campaign for Liberty, the Mackinac Center, a
representative of the judges and editorials in both major Detroit newspapers. The combined opposition
caused the bills to cease being considered, so red light cameras remain illegal to use in Michigan - as they
should be in every state.
Sincerely,
James C. Walker
- - - -- Original Message---- -
From: Lawrence, Mark <MLawrence @santa - ana.org>
To:'jcwconsult @aol.com' <jcwconsult @aol.com>
Cc: Cavazos, David <DCavazos @santa- ana.org >; Sonia Carvalho (Sonia.Carvalho @bbklaw.com)
<Sonia.Carvalho @bbklaw.com >; Huizar, Maria <MHuizar @santa- ana.org >; Flores, Alma
<AFlores @sama- ana.org >; Garcia, Jorge (CMO) (CMO) <jgarcial0 @santa- ana.org >; Macedonio,
Margarita <MMacedonio @sama- ana.org >; Huizar, Ana <ahuizar @santa- ana.org >; Christensen, Angi
<AChristensen @santa- ana.org >; Magallon, Becky <BMagallon @santa- ana.org >; Woods, Gail
<GWoods5 @sama- ana.org >; Ousley, Mardy <MOusley @santa - ana.org>
Sent: Mon, Mar 17, 2014 5:10 pm
Subject: Red Light Cameras in Santa Ana
Dear Mr. Walker —
On behalf of the City of Santa Ana Mayor and City Council, thank you for your letter regarding Red Light cameras
in our community. Your letter will be forwarded to each Councilmember for their consideration.
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Mark Lawrence
Assistant to the City Manager
City of Santa Ana
From: icwconsult@aol.com [mailto:icwconsult@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 2:03 PM
To: Council
Subject: (No subject)
Dear Santa Ana Officials,
We would ask that the Santa Ana City Council confirm the Staff Report to not renew its contract with Redflex for several
reasons.
1) Red light cameras do serious economic damage to any community that uses them. Per the Federal Reserve, the "velocity of
money" is currently about 6.5 which means $1 spent in a community tends to circulate about 6.5 times in a year to create about
$6.50 in total turnover. Each $1 sent to the state, county or Redflex will therefore damage your community by reducing the
economic turnover in your community by about $6.50 and transferring it to increase the economic health and turnover of the
state, the county, and Redflex in Arizona and Australia.
Each ticket sends $234.60 to the state and $101.69 to the county for a loss of $336.29 x 6.5 = over $2,000 of lower economic
turnover in your community for each ticket, to benefit the state and county budgets.
The current fees for Redflex, data communications and legal expenses total over $87,000 per month x 6.5 = over $500,000 in lost
economic turnover in your area every month, to benefit the economic health of Arizona and Australia and the technical fee areas.
This is a massive amount of economic damage to the Santa Ana area that can be prevented by not renewing the contract with any
vendor.
2) Simply adding 0.5 to 1.0 seconds to the yellow intervals on the lights will almost certainly reduce the straight through
violation rates at your camera intersections by more than the cameras have achieved. This no -cost adjustment of the timers will
improve both safety and the economic health of Santa Ana. See our website for many examples of how this has worked in other
California communities.
3) Be aware that ticketing slow rolling right on red turns or stopping just over a line tickets almost exclusively safe drivers that
presented no crash risks to anyone. Federal research by NHTSA shows that only 0.4% of crashes at signalized intersections and
only 0.06% of all crashes with an injury or fatality involve a right on red turn. Almost all right on red cameras tickets are about
money, not safety.
http: //w nhtsa aov/ About +NHTSA /traffic +Techs /c=enV'Me +Safety+ Impact +of +Right +Turn +on +Red• +Report+to+Conuess
4) At least 61 California communities have ended red light camera programs or banned them before any could operate.
Anaheim, Bell Gardens, Belmont, Berkeley, Burlingame, City of Orange, Compton, Corona, Costa Mesa, Cupertino, East LA, El
Cajon, El Monte, Emeryville, Escondido, Fairfield, Fresno, Fullerton, Gardena, Glendale, Grand Terrace, Hayward, Indian
Wells, Inglewood, Irvine, LA County, Laguna Niguel, Lancaster, Loma Linda, Long Beach, City of Los Angeles, Maywood,
Montclair, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Newport Beach, Paramount, Pasadena, Poway, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Redwood
City, Rocklin, Roseville, Rowland Heights, San Bernardino, San Carlos, San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, San Rafael, Santa Fe
Springs, Santa Maria, Santa Rosa, South Gate, South Whittier, Union City, Upland, Westminster, Whittier, Yuba City, Yucaipa.
Due to growing public opposition, data in many communities showing no safety benefits or higher crash rates at camera
intersections, and the realization of the economic damage cameras do, only 49 California communities still use cameras. Santa
Ana should shift to the group that has ended the cameras to benefit your citizens, visitors, and your community's economy.
5) Similarly, about 500 communities nationwide now have red light contracts, down from about 700. Please join the reducing
group.
6) There have been enough scandals with Redflex to indicate that no honorable US community should deal with them for
anything.
bgp : / /articles.chicapotribune.com /2013- 04 -I1/ news /ct- met - redflex- scandal - fallout- 20130412 I corruution- scandal - redflex-
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offic ials- red -li ght- camera - contract
httD:// www.nola.com/Dolitics /index.ssf /2013 /03 /iefferson garish stopli&t fin.html
hUD:Ha 13fox.com/2014 /01/27 /report- red - light- camera - operator- bribed - officials -in- multiple- states / #axzz2wF694c2
7) Please note that almost all pro - camera reports and research tends to come from groups that are in the revenue stream from the
cameras, including the IIHS whose member insurance companies make money from surcharges to policyholders that get camera
tickets in some states. Research from unbiased academic and investigative reporter sources tend to show little or no benefits for
the cameras, and sometimes show higher crash rates. Red light cameras are primarily financial devices, not safety devices.
8) Lastly, some camera companies like to say that a high proportion of ticket recipients never get a second ticket and this shows
the cameras change behavior. What proportion of that changed behavior is due to people who say "1 am never going back to that
(expletive deleted) city; 1 will spend my shopping and entertainment dollars in places that are not trying to clip me for almost
$500 at their intersections. "
Santa Ana would do its residents, visitors and your economy a great service by permanently ending red light camera use.
Respectfully submitted,
James C. Walker
Life Member, National Motorists Association
www.motorists.org
2050 Camelot Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734- 668 -7842
jcwconsultgaol.com
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