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If
you haven't already done so, please read the
Lynwood section on the Camera Towns page City of Lynwood Documents - Closed
Sept. 2017
It may be possible to completely ignore a Lynwood
ticket.
2015
- 2017: Is a Refund Needed? See Set # 5,
below. Aug.
15, 2017: Program Ended - see Set # 4, below. Vote No on Sheila Kuehl Do you live in LA County? Was
Zev Yaroslavsky your County Supervisor? (Until
Nov. 2014, he represented the Third District, which
includes the central and western San Fernando Valley,
Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice, Beverly Hills, the City
of West Hollywood, and part of Hollywood.)
Sheila "Kuehl Cams" Kuehl, in 2007 During her career in the California
Legislature, Kuehl made three attempts to pass bills to
allow the use of automated speed enforcement (photo
radar) in California. In 2016 she voted to put an additional LA County-wide sales tax, to go to Metro, on the Nov. 2016 ballot - and it passed. (See Measure M on the Action/Legis page, for more about that tax.) Kuehl will be up for re-election in
Nov. 2022.
Lynwood Docs Set # 1
In April
2009 the City sent me some tables showing
the money it received from the court, and
the disposition of the tickets. Total
Violations Recorded, Notices Printed, Citations
Issued [4] New
11-30-05, updated 9-25-18
This table made by highwayrobbery.net, using official
documents obtained under the California Public Records
Act.
[8] The City
receives approx. $150 of the (approx.) $500 fine - if it is
paid in full. For source of fine revenue figures, see
Set # 6, below.2010 - 2012 official documents (to Feb. 2012) 2009 - 2012 official documents (to Mar. 2012) 2010 - 2012 official documents (to Aug. 2012) 2004 - 2013 official documents (to Feb. 2013) 2006 - 2012 official documents (to Sep. 2012) 2006 - 2013 official documents (to May 2013) 2013 - 2014 official documents (to Mar. 2014) 2006 - 2014 official documents (to Aug. 2014) 2007 - 2015 official documents (to Apr. 2015) 2015 - 2016 official documents (to Sep. 2016) 2015 - 2016 official documents (to Oct. 2016) 2016 official documents (12 months) [10] [ ] indicates a footnote. [1] Totals are as provided by the City. [2] These annual totals, or annual projections, are by highwayrobbery.net. The 2017 citations total was estimated based upon the Jan. - Aug. fine revenue. [3] Un-used columns are to allow for later expansion of City's system. [4] Any 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 any 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] Data was received on 9-7-12. Intersection-by-intersection data will be posted to this table as time permits. The official documents are available at the link above. [6] The camera enforcement is believed to be on traffic on the first-named street, but the direction of enforcement (north, south, east, west, thru, left, right) is not yet available. [7] Data for these months was requested on 2-28-17. As of 8-11-17 there has been no response. [9] In the report for this month, there was a quantity of incidents noted as "in progress," so the eventual total Notices Printed will be higher than the figure entered in the table above. [10] The 2016 annual totals were found in the staff report for the 8-15-17 city council meeting, available at link in Set # 4, below. [11] Data for these months was requested on on 7-6-17. As of 8-11-17 there has been no response. Lynwood Docs Set # 2
Mickey Mouse Tickets - Mostly Right
Turns
An official report showed that in 2014, 83% of the City's tickets were for turns, mostly right turns. Lynwood Docs Set # 3 Lynwood
Bar
Graphs, Imperial/Long Beach Bl. 2008 - 2009 Lynwood Docs Set # 4 The Contract - Paying Too Much, So Issue More Tickets! Lynwood held the
required public hearing on Dec. 16, 2003, considered a staff
report, and on Dec. 18 (two weeks before the
effective date of CVC 21455.5(g)), signed a
pay-per-ticket contract
with RedFlex. That contract also said: "Definitions. 'Warning Period' means a period after the Installation Date of the first intersection approach..." (Emphasis added.) See Defect # 6. The 2008 contract
set the monthly fee per existing camera at $5000. Had 2014: New
Contract On the council
agenda for Oct. 1, 2013 there was a staff request for
the council to "provide direction" about the possible
extension of the contract. On the council
agenda for Mar. 18, 2014 there was a staff
report recommending a five-year extension of the
camera program. During the meeting, the sheriff
told the council that 77% of all tickets have been going
to visitors - and a councilmember proposed that the fine
be reduced for City residents. The council voted
to "table" the matter. Minutes The staff report
also revealed that after some negotiation, RedFlex had
provided the City a "Cost Neutrality Clause Repayment"
of $28,242. The staff
report prepared for the June 17, 2014 meeting
recommended a five year extension and the continuation
of Cost Neutrality. The city council voted 3 - 2
(Ayes: Castro, Santillan-Beas and Hernandez) to
extend the contract, but for only three years (ending
June 30, 2017), at a new rent of $3400 per camera per
month. Minutes In March 2014 the
City of Elk Grove, California approved a new contract
which specified the following rents for their five
RedFlex cameras.
Because Lynwood
did not negotiate for a similar schedule of rents, the
City will pay 59% too much over the three years,
$100,800 extra based on a target price of $2000.
To cover that extra rent, the City will need to issue an
extra 3054 tickets (in 2014 the City's fine
revenue averaged $33 for each ticket it issued).
At their July 5,
2017 meeting the council reviewed a staff
report recommending a four-year extension of the
program, with no reduction in price, and still no escape
clause. The vote was a 2 - 2 tie (Ayes:
Castro and Santillan-Beas, Nays: Alatorre and
Solache), leaving the item likely to come back at the
next council meeting when Councilmember Hernandez is
to be present. Minutes
Problems with
the proposed new contract: 1. Safety is
the whole reason to operate red light cameras, but there's
no discussion of it in the staff report. Is the 2017
process to be a repeat of what happened in 2013 - 2014,
when the safety presentation was last minute, during the
meeting, with all record of it disappearing
afterward? Now - before a new four-year
contract is signed - the council should be provided with a
report about whether the cameras actually improve
safety. That report should also include details of
the engineering changes staff may have made to improve
safety - for example, has there been a discussion of using
blank out signs to stop the rolling right turns? Aug. 2017: Contract Returns for
a Second Vote The proposed
contract extension was on the agenda for Aug. 15, 2017
and the vote was 3 - 2 to not renew, with Castro
and Santillan-Beas voting for renewal.
Most likely the last day of monitoring will be Aug. 31.
Lynwood Docs Set # 5 Ticket Refund? On June 27, 2017 we wrote to the City: Due to a statewide rule change, beginning Aug. 1, 2015 the yellow lights at red light camera intersections in California must be set according to the 85th Percentile Speed as determined by an Engineering and Traffic Survey of the street (ETS or, colloquially, a radar speed survey) or, if no ETS is available, according to the posted speed limit plus 7 mph. [See Defect # 2, on the Home page.] On July 18, 2016 we sent the City a public records request for "The current radar speed surveys...," and on Feb. 23, 2017 City staff replied, "The City does not possess any... radar speed surveys." Because there is no current ETS, we used Imperial Highway's posted speed of 40 mph to look up the required yellow in the applicable table in the Caltrans Manual (MUTCD), and it requires a minimum yellow of 4.4 seconds. Per a "current" signal timing chart City staff sent to us on Feb. 23, 2017, the yellow for westbound traffic on Imperial at Atlantic Avenue has been set at 4.0 seconds since 2013, and on Feb. 28, 2017 we personally made a video of that signal in operation and confirmed it was set at 4.0 seconds. Please refund the red light camera tickets issued after Aug. 1, 2015 by the Imperial/Atlantic camera.
Lynwood Docs Set # 6 The Revenue The City's monthly ticket revenue from the court is available in the Revenue Spreadsheet on the LA County Docs page.
Lynwood Docs Set # 7
More Coming There may be some more information posted in the next few weeks. Mark your calendar to remind you to come back here and look! ---------------------------------
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