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If you haven't already done so, please read the Hawthorne section on the Camera Towns page

City of Hawthorne Documents
(and Information)

Hawthorne, pop. 80,000, is just southeast of LAX.

Some of Hawthorne's tickets can be ignored.  If your "ticket" does not have the Superior Court's name and address on it, it is what I call a "Fake Ticket."  For more details, see the Fake Ticket section on the Your Ticket page, and Set # 4, below.

Details of recent trials and arraignments of Hawthorne tickets are at:  Hawthorne Chronology.

Hawthorne Contacts
City Hall, 4455 W. 126th St., Hawthorne, CA 90250
(1 block west of Hawthorne Blvd.)
Councilmembers' email addresses are:
Mayor Larry Guidi - larryguidi@earthlink.net
Pablo Catano - pablo.catano@sen.ca.gov
Gary Parsons - gary@garyparsons.org
Ginny Lambert - via council secretary  at citymgrEXEC@earthlink.net
Louis Velez - louvel1@yahoo.com
Council meetings:  Second and fourth Tuesdays at 6 p.m.  Opportunity for public to speak:  After ceremonial items at beginning of council meeting.  Call (310) 970-7900 to confirm council meeting date or to leave a message for the mayor or councilmembers.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 1

Signal Timing

Updated 12-11-04

At the Aug. 24, 2004 court trials, Officer Mark Escalante noted that the city had filed, with the court, a survey of the timing of the lights.  This is that survey, obtained through a public records request made to the City.

It is clear to me that were Hawthorne to raise their left-yellows to 4.0 seconds, there would be a huge decrease in red light running, as there was in Mesa, Arizona.   In September 2004 I lobbied Mr. Smith, his boss Interim Director of Public Works Stanley E. Scholl, City Manager Richard Prentice, Sgt. Keith Kauffman who runs the camera program, as well as the entire city council, to make that change.  I showed them the Mesa figures.  But, as Mr. Prentice said, "We're not gonna change it."

A Change Occurs, Anyway

On Oct. 14, 2004 I made a Public Records Act request for the signal timing charts for Hawthorne's four camera-monitored intersections.  (Signal timing charts show the length of the yellow, as programmed into the signal controller.)  I asked for "...the present signal timing settings.  Also any previous versions... (with) settings in use Jan. 1, 2003 or thereafter."  The request was sent to the County Department of Public Works, which maintains and programs Hawthorne's signals.  On Nov. 10 I received the charts.  The sole Hawthorne / El Segundo chart, dated 1998, showed the same settings indicated in Mr. Smith's letter, above.  But there were two different charts for Rosecrans / Hindry.  The newest one, dated 9-29-04, showed a 4.0-second yellow for northbound Hindry - different from Mr. Smith's letter.
(In these charts, northbound Hindry is phase 4.)

          
Click here to see the complete 9-29-04 chart.

The other chart, below, was completed in 2001, and showed the 3.0-second yellow mentioned in Mr. Smith's letter.

Since drivers in the northbound left-turn lane have the option of going straight across (into the shopping center), I believe that the yellow was lengthened because 3.0 seconds would be too short for that straight-through movement.

         
Click here to see the complete 9-19-01 chart.

The new Rosecrans / Hindry chart did not include a lengthening of the yellow for the westbound left turn ("WBL"), Phase 5.  It remains at 3.0 seconds.  However, some of the supplemental pages (the charts are actually 17 pages long, each) included some changes to the lengths of the green lights at various times of day.  Those changes are presented in the table below.

Table made by highwayrobbery.net
WBL = Westbound Left
NB = Northbound Straight and Turns

Why the Yellow Time was Changed

On Nov. 23 I made a Public Records Act request (to County Public Works Dept.) for "the radar speed checks and any other measurements of traffic conditions, speed or volume, that were ordered, or considered, as part of the Department's Sept. 2004 examination of the timing of the signals at Rosecrans/Hindry and Hawthorne/El Segundo, in the City of Hawthorne."   On Dec. 10 I received the following June 14, 2004 chart, showing a 34 mph 85th Percentile speed on Hindry.   There are no speed limit signs posted on Hindry.

Each "x" represents one car in the speed sampling of 100 cars.

City Wants to Change It Back to the Way It Was

At the trials of Jan. 11, 2005, Officer Mullen testified that the City was asking the county (which maintains and sets the signal) to change the northbound Hindry yellow back to 3.0.
If you would like to let the county know your opinion about the change the City is requesting, contact the office of the County Supervisor for the district in which you reside.  Their phone numbers are:
 
Don Knabe (310) 322-1222 or (213) 974-4444
Yvonne Burke (213) 974-2222
Zev Yaroslavsky (213) 974-3333 or (818) 901-3831
Michael Antonovich (213) 974-5555
Gloria Molina (213) 974-4111

Hawthorne Docs Set # 2
Ticket Counts

Violations Recorded, Notices Printed, and Citations Issued (4)

Updated 11-11-05

On Aug. 26, 2004 I faxed the City a request for the counts, as follows.  "A.  For each red light camera installation (a.k.a. "approach") in the city, the monthly (or other periodic) tabulation of violations issued or discarded, from the onset of the program to the present."  On Sept. 23 the City Clerk replied:  "No documents exist which are responsive to Request No. A."
On Oct. 4, I faxed the City a new request, as follows.   "B.  All invoices from RedFlex to the City, or other requests to pay RedFlex, with all attachments or exhibits thereto."   On Oct. 6 the City Clerk's office supplied copies of RedFlex invoices containing monthly totals of Cites Issued (and filed with the court).  Those totals were entered into the table, below, as "Totals Cites Issued per Invoices."  RedFlex invoiced the City $89 for each cite issued (and filed).  There was no camera-by-camera breakdown of cites issued.

On Nov. 10, 2004 the City provided a RedFlex "Customer Violations Report" having camera-by-camera data for the entire period the camera system had been operating.  While the Report did not include a month-by-month breakdown, it was possible to see that the Rosecrans / Hindry cameras (which started on April 19) had been averaging about 1000 notices per month.   That is the most I have seen recently at any intersection in California.  That count equals the 1999 - 2000 results from San Diego's infamous Harbor / Grape left-turn camera.  The current runners-up (as of early 2005) to Rosecrans / Hindry are Harbor / Warner in Santa Ana and Crenshaw / 108th in Inglewood, which recently averaged 744 and 716 tickets per month respectively, Ming / South Real in Bakersfield, which briefly averaged 660 tickets per month, and Firestone / Atlantic in South Gate, which averaged 620 tickets per month during the first half of 2004.  For more info about San Diego, Santa Ana, Inglewood, Bakersfield or South Gate, see the Camera Towns page.

On Jan. 4, 2005 the City provided, for the first time, month-by-month data for each camera, and it has been posted below.  Additional month-by-month data was received on June 3.  Current data was requested on Nov. 7, 2005 and will be posted as soon as it is received.

Snitch Tickets

The City's use of Nominations (a.k.a. Snitch Tickets) probably explains,
(A)  the discrepancy between the figures for Notices Printed and Total Cites Issued (filed with the court), and
(B)  the month-to-month overlap in the serial numbers.
  

See the table's footnotes for further details.

This table made by highwayrobbery.net, using official city documents obtained under the California Public Records Act.
(  ) indicates a footnote.
(1)  Totals as provided by the City.
(2)  Totals by highwayrobbery.net
(3)  Un-used columns are to allow for later expansion of City's system.
(4)  Figures in red type (or, if you are looking at this table in black and white, the upper figure when there are two or more figures in a cell) are what RedFlex calls Total Violations, or all incidents recorded by the cameras, and due to time limitations may have been posted only for selected months or locations.  If there is sufficient public interest, the remaining months will be posted.  The figures in black type are what RedFlex calls Notices Printed, and represent the sum of genuine citations issued (those filed with the court) plus Nominations mailed (not filed with the court, a.k.a. Snitch Tickets).   Figures in blue type (or, if you are looking at this table in black and white, in italic type) are total Cites Issued (filed with the court), per RedFlex's monthly invoices to the City.
(5)  On Sept. 29, 2004 the yellow for northbound Hindry was increased, from 3.0 up to 4.0 seconds, and adjustments were made to the length of the green lights.  See Set # 1, above, for more details.
(6)  The only invoices (of Cites Issued) received, so far, covered Apr. to Aug. 2004.  The invoices do not contain a camera-by-camera breakdown of Cites Issued.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 3
Rosecrans / Hindry Cameras Not Justified

New 11-14-04

Hawthorne's Rosecrans / Hindry intersection with its camera enforcement on left and right turns, is an excellent example of an intersection where there is scant safety justification for the use of the cameras.  Here you can look at the official 10-year accident history for the intersection, and decide for yourself.  (Big file! 400 kb)
See also Defect # 9 on the Home page, and FAQ # 27.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 4
Snitch Ticket

Here's an example of a Hawthorne Snitch Ticket, a.k.a. "Nomination"

Hawthorne Docs Set # 5
Read about the Mayor and Council

Guidiwatch.com is a website about Larry Guidi, the longtime Mayor of Hawthorne.  It also discusses his friend and fellow councilmember Louis "Big Kitty" Velez, who was indicted for conflict of interest on July 25, 2007.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 6
Trial Transcript

This Hindry-Rosecrans right-turn trial transcript shows how close a judge can come to convicting you - when it may not have been you - and also is an example of what may be improper arm-twisting by a judge.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 7
More Coming

There may be some more Hawthorne information posted in the next few weeks.  Mark your calendar to remind you to come back here and look!

Details of recent trials of Hawthorne tickets are at:  Hawthorne Chronology.

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