Those red light cameras are still planned for 250/20 and Rio/29, slated for installation in August. #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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Yippee! A couple of days ago, I saw four cars go through the red light at Rdige and W. Main.
Boo. The gov’t should not hand law enforcement over to private companies. I assume that is what is happening with this so-called “lease”. From the article:
“We can have the equipment” presumably means the county is paying nothing up front. The company gets a cut of every ticket and send the county the balance. That is normally how these deals have worked.
I hate red light runners, but the county should be doing this job itself, with or without cameras. Democracy. I think tax farming went out in the 17th century.
” The gov’t should not hand law enforcement over to private companies.” Why not, we have private trash haulers. It’s the courts that will be enforcing the law, right?
Is it handing law enforcement over to a private company to lease specialized equipment that is used during law enforcement? If (and I know we don’t do this, but if) we leased certain police cruisers or some kind of super-specialized vehicle to use as part of some new law enforcement initiative, would that mean we were handing over law enforcement to Ford or Toyota or whoever we leased the vehicle from?
I’m not sure how the county is not doing this job themselves just because they’re not purchasing the equipment outright — they’re leasing it. It seems like leasing it makes sense if they’re not sure they’ll keep the program forever. Wouldn’t they get crucified if they spent the money on buying the equipment?
I’m all for red-light cameras, by the way. And also for traffic roundabouts, with which I’ve fallen in love.
When we lease police cruisers, do we give a cut of every ticket to Ford? Because that’s typically how these red light camera deals work. They are bad news, and there are tons of reports of the operators subtly manipulating things to ensure lots of tickets (primarily by shortening the length of the yellow light).
Yes, each month we pay the lease. Besides, lights at intersections can be videoed and timed.
Sad but the companies that sell the red light camera’s shorten the yellow so the county can make more money. This has been proven. Just see how short the yellow will become and good luck in court trying to fight it. Albemarle County has become this money grubbing machine. They think they will make tons of money charging for ambulance service (it will be years before they see a dime in profit.) Shame on the supervisors for their fiscal irresponsibility.
@Who Knew:
“This has been proven.”
Sounds interesting. Can you provide links to substantiate this?
http://blog.motorists.org/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/
More to come.
It’s my understanding that the lights along 29N are controlled by a very expensive computer programs the city and county use to keep the lights in sync. I find it hard to believe that control of that program will be turned over to a camera company that will override the years of experimentation and the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on employees just to hear the same complaints that they started with.
C’ville Eye, when has hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on studies guaranteed that a decent solution has been arrived at, particularly locally?
have
This is a good one: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/arizona-group-forces-city-to-refund-tickets-over-short-yellow/
@the boss of me, I didn’t mean to imply what you said. I meant that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in employee salaries and equipment. I don’t know if there has been a suitable solution implemented. But it seems they keep working at it. Thanks for a dreary day chuckle.
I find it hard to imagine that the yellow light at the intersection of 29N and Rio could be shortened any shorter than it already is.
Here’s what red-light cameras can lead to:
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/01/red_light_cameras_under_attack.html
You see, giving companies law enforcement powers leads to massive corruption. That should be obvious, but somehow “leased police cars” are relevant? Here are some juicy quotes from the New Orleans Times-Picayune article on how it works…
The payments were to lobby a politically-connected player so another company would not get the contract.
So are cop badges awarded to the lowest bidder? Or to the most corrupt company? That is where this kind of irresponsible outsourcing leads.
Corruption in New Orleans is a way of life.
The company was from Arizona.