League City Camera Scam!
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League City violates your rights and compromises your safety in return for millions of dollars in revenue! Read about the cover up, increasing accidents, how League City worked with the camera vendor to try to steal November's election and how the city breaks the law!
Texas Campaign For Liberty starts statewide petition.
This petition will be used to pressure the state legislature for a state wide camera ban. Sign the petition HERE
REDFLEX ADMITS TO BRIBING CITY OFFICIALS!
"The arrangement among the city official, the consultant and Redflex — first disclosed by a company whistle-blower — will likely be considered bribery by law enforcement authorities, Hoffman found.
Without subpoena power, it was not possible to check personal financial records of the city official or the consultant, who refused to cooperate, according to the sources familiar with Hoffman's findings. But Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor, said that under applicable law, authorities could consider the arrangement to be bribery even if the payments were not made, the sources said.
The bulk of the consultant's fees — $1.57 million — were paid during a four-year period"
Read Full article from the Tribune HERE
Why do League City officials work so hard to keep the money rolling in for a company that admits to bribing City officials? Especially when they know 77% of the public is against the cameras? Wouldn't most politicians want to distance themselves from a confessed bribery scandal? Why has the Sales manager for Redflex who is a League City resident been in hiding since the election? He and his lawyers appeared before council several times to push for the Redflex contract and to argue against the November election.
Ask the city for yourself!
Mike Loftin
City Manager
281.554.1365
mike.loftin@leaguecity.com
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ONE DOWN SEVEN TO GO!
The first, and worst of the cameras are down. We promised this day would come but there is still work to do. The city believes by taking down the worst offending camera that the public will go along with allowing the rest of the cameras to stay until next year. DON'T LET THEM FOOL YOU! If they could they would keep the money rolling in as long as possible. It is only through pressure from YOU the voters and drivers in League City that the rest of the cameras will come down soon. The city is telling people they are working on a plan to bring them down soon, let's hope they aren't lying again. Don't forget this was the same city that told us the residents loved the cameras, that accidents were going down and that it had nothing to do with the money all while they were illegally spending camera funds on pet projects! Contact your council member the mayor and the city manager to ask how long you will have to wait to be camera free! Each day the cameras remain is another day for more potential accidents and is another day your rights are being violated!
LEAGUE CITY BECOMES 5th TEXAS TOWN TO REJECT PHOTO ENFORCEMENT! 77% SAY "NO!" TO REDFLEX!
November 6 voters in League City put a stop to the dangerous and unconstitutional red light cameras by the largest margin in any camera election. Outspoken camera supporter councilman Mick Phalen was defeated as was Phyllis Sanborn, the last remaining council member that voted to bring the cameras in. Anti camera candidate Todd Kinsey won the vacant seat in a three way race. While the only vote the people were allowed was to allow the contract to expire at the end of the term there is no doubt this was a mandate to remove the cameras. The citizens do not want to endure the insult of seeing the cameras every day after they said no until 2014. We need your support to pressure League City and the new council members to find a way to remove the cameras before then. The longer the cameras are active the better chance that injury accidents will increase. The voters have spoken, please contact the entire city council and tell them to kick the Australian camera company out of League City NOW! We also encourage citizens to practice peaceful civil disobedience and refuse to put any more money into the camera program. The faster the public starves the cameras out the faster they will go away. Keep in mind refusal to pay a League City camera ticket cannot result in an arrest or points on your license or insurance, cannot be reported to your credit and you can still renew your registration if you follow the directions at www.trashyourticket.com.
League City continues to misrepresent data in latest camera report.
The Galveston Daily News (which has editorialized for the cameras in the past) prints a summary of crash data provided by League City in an attempt to convince voters the cameras are making intersections safer. The summary conveniently does leaves out data on the specific kinds of accidents camera vendors claim the cameras reduce, right angle and injury accidents. When data for the first year of the cameras showed a spike in total accidents League City PD was quick to indicate that total accidents didn't matter, they said;
"The League City Police Department's proposed use of the red light camera enforcement system did not focus solely on reduction of overall accidents, but was rather broad in scale. The camera enforcement system utilized in conjunction with other traffic safety solutions focuses on the reduction of property damage and vehicular crashes leading to increased personal injury. Traffic safety data from all three locations suggest that the camera enforcement system is contributing to the reduction of injury and right angled accidents."
And later;
"Another measure of success is the number of citations issued from the red light camera violations."
"The reduction from October, 2009 to October, 2010 follows a steady declining trend in issued citations, which clearly demonstrates public awareness and more importantly public safety."
So why doesn't the city and the camera supporting Galveston Daily News mention what has happened with violations, right angle accidents and injury accidents as their own statements said were the true measures of the program's success? Could it be that right angle accidents went up 400% the next year and stayed at that level for 2011-2012? Could it be that LCPD reported that two thirds of the intersections had more red light runners than the year before? Could it be that total right angle injury accidents were up 200% this past year? Or could it be that two out of the three years with the cameras saw more total injuries than the last year before the cameras? By the city's own statement wouldn't increasing violations and injuries indicate a lack of public awareness and safety? This manipulation of data and shifting goal posts for the measures of success offer more proof that the city will say and do anything to try to convince you that the cameras are working!
CHICAGO - Redflex is barred from bidding on future contracts for speed cameras with the city due to ethics violations http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/39/3926.asp
LAKE JACKSON — Citing declining effectiveness and a lack of public support, City Council members voted in favor of putting a stop to red light cameras, ending the five-year program. John Turner with Redflex Traffic Systems tried Tuesday to convince council to renew or extend his company’s contract, which began in 2007 and expires at the end of this month. But after his half-hour presentation, Council-man Scott Schwertner moved to allow the contract to expire and his motion passed, 5-1.
How long until League City follows Lake Jackson's lead?
Redflex, the camera vendor sues to stop the election!
http://galvestondailynews.com/story/343130
Despite assurances that they would not sue to stop the red light camera election in November, Redflex has filed suit to ask a judge to deny the citizens of League City the right to vote. Redflex believes the public has no right to vote to remove their money making red light cameras. Instead of voting to end the contract immediately and fight Redflex in court the City council offered up a weak camera vote in November to appease Redflex. Councilmember Phyllis Sanborn said she wasn't for spending taxpayer money on a lawsuit. Despite warnings to the council from red light camera activist Byron Schirmbeck earlier this year that Redflex would sue them any way councilmembers Sanborn and Phalen responded with their objections to someone from Baytown telling League City what to do. There has been no public comment from either councilmember on how they feel about a foreign corporation that has a contract with the city telling the city what to do through a lawsuit. Defending this lawsuit will cost the taxpayers of League City thousands to defend against this suit and even if successful the citizens will still be forced to endure the cameras for at least the next two years unless the council takes immediate action to end the contract with Redflex. Citizens who don't want a city contractor to deny their vote should contact their councilmember and the mayor to tell them to fire Redflex now!
Redflex has hired the League City lawfirm Collins O'Neal & Swofford to sue the city over the election. According to his profile on their law firm's website the lead lawyer, Wayne Collins, has no experience with election law. Redflex has used an Austin based lawfirm with experience in election law to sue to stop petitions against their cameras in Port Lavaca, and their attorney from that law firm has appeared before League City council to represent Redflex's interests. So why wouldn't Redflex continue to use the lawfirm they already have on payroll? A closer look at the court filings give us a possible answer. In order to have standing to sue to stop a city election Redflex has to get a registered voter in the city to join them in the lawsuit. The lawsuit plaintiffs are listed as; Redflex Traffic Systems Inc and Joseph C Wheeler. Mr Wheeler is a League City resident that resides at 5114 Sandy Meadow Lane. Mr Robert Swofford, partner in the lawfirm representing Mr Wheeler and Redflex lives at 5101 Sandy Meadow Lane. It is highly unlikely that it is a coincidence that the person joining Redflex in the lawsuit lives a few doors down from a partner in the law firm. Are these the tacticts the citizens of League City want from a contractor? How long will League City Council members and the mayor stand by and allow this violation of the citizen's rights and safety?
A copy of the lawsuit filing can be seen here http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/08/24/RedLight.pdf
LEARN THE FACTS ABOUT LEAGUE CITY RED LIGHT CAMERAS
FACT; League city has issued over $5 million in red light camera tickets.
FACT; LCPD data shows accidents are UP at two thirds of the camera locations. (2010-2011)
FACT; LCPD data shows the most dangerous "T Bone" accidents are up 400%. (2010-2011)
FACT; Red Light violations are INCREASING not DECREASING. League City claims violations are down without revealing that the real reason for the decrease is that some cameras were disabled for several months due to road construction. All of the intersections with fully operational cameras showed an increase in violations.
FACT; Redflex, League City's camer vendor, has traffic safety equipment called Halo that would anticipate when a vehicle is going to run a red light and hold the red light for opposing traffic to make sure the intersection is clear to prevent accidents. League City has not implemented the Halo program even though this would make real world reductions in accidents. The problem is the system costs money, red light cameras make money.
FACT; League City effectively decriminalized red light running by making most red light running violations a CIVIL offense instead of a CRIMINAL offense. The camera tickets have less force than a parking ticket. Failure to pay a camera ticket cannot lead to arrest, points on your license or insurance or credit report. Some cities have tried to block registrations for vehicles with outstanding camera tickets but this isn't being uniformly enforced. Thousands of drivers are still able to renew their registrations with outstanding camera tickets. You can read more on this at trashyourticket.com
FACT; League City has launched a deceptive pro camera media campaign to save the cameras in November's election. Texas law prohibits using public funds for political advertising. Facing possible criminal prosecution after a Galveston County District Attorney investigation the city changes or pulls much of it's political advertising.
FACT; League City illegally misappropriated hundreds of thousands of red light camera dollars. Galveston County DA Jack Roady is investigating these expenditures. League City, caught red handed, has already agreed to refund $80,000 in illegal expenditures and is asking Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott to review other expenditures.
FACT; League City uses red light camera money to pay for more big brother programs like an observation camera tower and cell phone forensic software that can be used to track everywhere you have been and all of your emails and deleted text messages.
FACT; League City was forced to refund over 1700 illegal camera tickets because of a short yellow light. Short yellow lights mean more tickets and more revenue but less safety.
FACT; Redflex, the foreign camera vendor, has sued towns that have had an election on their cameras but not League City. Why? because pro camera League City officials worked with Redflex to engineer an election that would cut off a citizen's petition effort and guarantee the cameras will be in operation for at least two more years no matter what the results of November's election are!
FACT; Redflex runs a fake traffic safety group called Texas Traffic Safety Coalition which lobbies League City Council in favor of red light cameras without disclosing who they are. This group is run out of a Rahm Emmanuel affiliated PR firm in Chicago and has no board members that actually reside in Texas. This group has also sued to stop petition efforts in Port Lavaca.
FACT; Texas voters have NEVER approved of red light cameras. Cameras have been voted out in College Station, Houston and Baytown. Dayton rejected installing cameras by 70%. 23 other cities around the country have voted against photo enforcement and nearly half of the states ban photo enforcement.
FACT; Every other city that has had a camera election in Texas had a REAL up or down vote on the cameras that would immediately end the camera program after the election. League City Council placed a vote on the ballot that merely decides if the cameras should continue after 2014 or not. There is no true anti-camera vote in November's election. Even if the vote goes against the cameras the city will continue to rake in millions of dollars until 2014.
FACT; Redflex regional sales manager, Lee Buckles, who was instrumental in getting the Redflex contract in League City is a League City resident and has already committed to using his "massive circle of friends" to sway the vote in November. Redflex has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars through fake citizen PAC groups to advertise in favor of red light cameras to voters without disclosing on the advertising that they are actually paid for by the camera vendor Redflex who would lose millions if the cameras get voted out.