Free Denton

Other cities are getting wise to this and several county tax assessors REFUSE to enforce these unconstitutional “shake downs” by municipalities and local law enforcement. When will Denton wise up?

First off, I want to apologize for getting so far behind on this fight. Partly, I was waiting to see the results of FrackFree Denton and whether our city council was at all interested in voting in the interest of citizen-led initiatives. Secondly, I’ve been swamped with my own business projects and unable to give enough time to this project.

On the good news, former Redflex Officials, including Karen Finley (another individual who worked with City of Denton officials) have been found guilty of bribery charges in the Chicago case. So while the wheels of justice grind slowly, they are effective and may just find their way to Texas.

These are the people your elected officials chose to do business with. Does anyone still believe everything was clean here in Texas?

A couple months back, Denton did finally comply with my Open Government request, providing thousands of emails and communications with city employees and officials. I have had time to perform a cursory review, but have not delved too deeply.

Despite the fact our city has kept the public largely uninformed about this multi-million dollar scam, there has been a tremendous amount of back and forth with the company. One interesting e-mail suggests that even more lies are going around.

In a July 2009 interview with the Denton Record Chronicle, Scott Fletcher of Denton PD spoke about a drop in the number of violations which had put the program into the red.

Fletcher said the cameras were never about making money. “We always intended from the beginning that if the system is working, the violations should go down” along with revenue, he said. “I didn’t think we’d drop off to that extent, but to me it’s an indication that the system is working.”

However, in an email exchange in February of 2009 with John Turner of Redflex, they were trouble shooting as to why the violations had dropped. Fletcher had this to say:

The first drop in violations was the yellow interval issue. We increased the yellow interval at three of the four intersections (5 of 6 approaches) due to a prior miscalculation of the interval time by our city engineer. The second drop in violations (October ’07) came as the result of the Texas Legislative action to essentially “formalize” RLC programs. Under the new State requirements, which went in to effect September 1 ’07, we moved the violation line back from the extension of the curb line to the marked stop bar. This change had a dramatic effect on our violation numbers.

Once again, we witness city officials lying to the public or public commissions to hide details about this money-grabbing scheme. Why would Redflex be “concerned” about a drop in violations if the POINT of this program was reducing violations and public safety? Why wouldn’t Mr. Fletcher tell the Denton Record Chronicle the TRUTH?

So far, as I’ve detailed in previous articles, every public engagement on this program has been to spread mis-information designed to prop this for-profit law enforcement scandal up. When will the city own up to this?

The answer is most likely “never”. Even if we were to approach the city with a signed petition showing our concerns, money and corruption would kick the can down the road. The city council has shown they are unwilling to engage myself and other citizens on this topic, even the local paper seems not to care that they have been used to print lies supporting this scandalous program.

I’m doing my best to keep an eye on things and if anyone would like to assist, I will continue to post all of the information I receive. Until then, do your best to fight this and make it known to your elected officials and city employees that we are on to their game.

Email Entitled: RE_ Contract Renewal Proposal

While I continue to demand accountability from our local representatives, here are steps you can take now to fight red light camera fraud:

Sign the statewide petition: http://www.campaignforliberty.org/petitions/ban-the-red-light-cameras-in-texas/

Let your state legislator know that you support HB3304 to make it illegal for counties to refuse to register vehicles based on these tickets. Find out who to contact here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx

Let your voice be heard!

Yes, I’m still plugging away trying to get to the bottom of this colossal fraud perpetrated not only on the citizens of Denton but across the United States. Redflex continues to make news across the country where a New Jersey class action suit saw them settling on millions of dollars of fines which were pulled in through shortened yellow lights.

In California, officials have wised up and across that state, they have cut cameras from over a hundred municipalities operating these scams to now just 43. Most recently, the City Manager of Laguna Woods, one of the latest to dump the program, found that the cameras had no significant effect on collisions.

So, when will we wise up?

For the community to get wise requires transmission of truthful information. What the city has done is keep everyone as much in the dark as possible while spreading misinformation to support their money making scheme.

I have requested hundreds of documents through the Texas Open Government Act from the City of Denton. The entire history of the red light enforcement program is one of closed door and “special” meetings. Ordinances to be voted on are then buried in a sea of “business as usual” considerations on the public meeting floor before being given unanimous approval.

The closest thing Denton has had to public oversight of this program can be found in the Traffic Safety Commission, which has had a checkered history at best.

In August 2007, in response to state legislation, the city placed the Traffic Safety Commission in charge of advising the city on the installation and operation of the Red Light Camera program.

As previously documented and reported, this body was then completely stripped down and reformed a year prior to the first expansion of the red light program since the ’07 state law. Several members have resigned or repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of the commission which, at this point, serves simply as a rubber stamp for city policy.

However, the blame can’t be laid entirely at their feet. In the ten years the Red Light program has been operating, I have only found two recorded instances of the Commission being involved in the decision making process between 2004 to 2013.

In January of ’08 (Possibly February of ’08 – Draft Minutes seem to indicate a different date), the meeting minutes are limited and the addition of three more cameras is discussed. Questions were asked regarding grace periods, revenues and when the new cameras (at University, Carroll, Fort Worth Drive) would be installed. No additional information could be provided regarding this meeting.

The next time this “advisory” committee was consulted on the program was five years later in April of 2013.

I have discussed this meeting at length and even mention it in speech. Further documentation I have gathered shows the extent of the misinformation campaign.

There are no outright lies, but there are constant omissions of truth and fact when any information about the Red Light Camera program is presented to the public. As shown, there was a complete failure to mention the scandal Redflex was embroiled in which has now become the subject of a far-reaching federal probe.

Locally, there has also been a consistent attempt to misrepresent facts of the effectiveness of these cameras. At that April meeting, city staff presented the following information (emphasis added):

As depicted in the chart below, crash data from our two most recent camera system expansion intersections indicates a significant decrease in overall crashes and red-light related crashes, but no increase in rear end red-light related crashes. The chart compares crash information and percentage changes from the pre-activation report for the intersection (Pre) versus crash information from the first full year of camera operation at the intersection (Post).

Note the careful wording: “first full year” when presenting post camera installation data and no mention of the time span represented by the pre installation data.

What they fail to mention to the committee is that they are comparing 18 months of pre-activation data to one year of post-activation. Once you annualize the data, you find the accident trend unconvincing. Annualizing the 18 month data makes the Fort Worth and I35E accident totals for pre and post exactly equal. The 380 and Mayhill data shows a savings of 3 accidents and not a difference of seven as is reported.

Had these trends been properly evaluated, it might have been possible to predicted the complete lack of effect on accidents as has been reported by presumably more astute cities such as the previously mentioned Laguna Woods, California.

Further, we might have been able to remove the cameras and avoid the current disaster at these two intersections which is now this:

11 total accidents at 380 and Mayhill
and 17 total accidents at 377 and southbound I35e

(Information for July 2012 to June 2013 as provided by TXDoT.)

Which, when compared to the annualized 18 month data shows an INCREASE in accidents of over 150% and 200% respectively.

Instead, the city extended the contract and has plans for MORE cameras.

Currently I am involved in a back and forth with the City District Attorney regarding the refusal to respond to another request for public information which I made on May first. So far, they have inflated costs (and doubled them again), missed state law required deadlines for providing this information and, most telling perhaps, completely ignored a request for data involving the business travel of our city staff and elected officials.

When I have that information, you, the citizens of Denton, will be the first to know. Maybe we can wise up a bit and call for change.

Sources:

The following are meetings minutes I requested based on a list of Red Light Camera related meetings provided in other documentation I uncovered:
Red_Light_Related_Council_Meetings_1.pdf
Red_Light_Related_Council_Meetings_2

Traffic Safety Minutes – From 2004 to April 2013 the rest are located here.

LARGE FILE: This one contains all the available “Packets” handed out at the Traffic Safety Commission Meetings since 2004:
Traffic Safety Minutes

The dominos started to tumble in Chicago and Texas was named by the former employee at the center of this maelstrom as a state where these bribes took place. Wonder how long before the Justice Department looks this way?

Retired Chicago official charged with graft over red light cameras.

(Reuters) – A retired Chicago official who once ran the city’s red light camera program was charged with graft on Wednesday on suspicion of taking bribes in return for contracts worth $124 million for cameras used to catch motorists running stop lights.

John Bills, 52, was charged with one count of bribery in U.S. District Court for allegedly steering city contracts for 384 cameras and other services to Redflex Traffic Systems, the U.S. Department of Justice in Chicago said in a statement.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Bills’ attorney, Nishay Sanan, said the veteran former city official was being used as a scapegoat by prosecutors who sought to implicate others in the scheme.

Redflex said it has been cooperating with authorities.

“Last year, we publicly released the findings of our internal investigation into the conduct of several former employees and announced new leadership, new policies and a line between our past and today’s Redflex,” it said in a statement.

Bills managed the red light camera program until he retired in 2011 after working for the city for 32 years, according to prosecutors.

An unnamed individual at Reflex was said to have funneled more than $643,000 in cash to Bills between 2006 and 2011, according to the complaint, which said he spent the money for travel, a luxury car and to pay off loans.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called for an investigation of Redflex in 2012 before the city cut ties with the company, according to the Tribune.

As a follow up to this article, I’d like to add that a whistleblower blew the lid off this thing in 2010 and Redflex had its own internal investigation which, of course, showed no bribery had taken place.  Only after the Chicago Tribune did some digging in 2012 did they finally admit to the scam after a second internal investigation and on the eve of the city being forced to recognize the fraud.

We can win. Information is our ammunition. Our voices are our weapons. I am continuing to request more from our city each day regarding their dealings with this scandalous company. Whether through recognition that these laws are unconstitutional or that the people behind them are money hungry criminals, these cameras will come down.

Text of Redflex Internal Investigation

The fight is not over. Free Denton has fallen silent for a few weeks while more information collects and to wait and see the results of our city elections. I would like to thank everyone that  contacted our candidates and let them know your stance on the red light camera scam.

The media thus far, refuses to investigate this story, so we have requested documents through the open government act and will provide you with a detailed history of red light camera abuse – assuming the city doesn’t try to dodge the Texas Open Government act and Freedom of Information Act.

Until then, there is plenty of readily available information to point to the shady nature of this entire red light camera enterprise.

On April 1, 2013, the Denton Traffic Safety Commission held a meeting where member Gilmore Morris asked Captain Scott Fletcher why some communities were removing these red light cameras.

Captain Fletcher’s response danced around the truth. He first deflected by speaking about cities outside of our own state and commented on the collection procedure being a motivating factor for removal. He then mentioned that in Houston, the city had turned them off due to a citizen’s group forcing a vote but the cameras had been turned back on again.

Let me share some truth.

A full year before Morris asked this question, Houston had settled a lawsuit for 12 million dollars and shut the red light cameras down, for good.

A citizen’s group had risen up and forced a vote which the city initially fought but was forced to accept in August of 2011. They then entered into a protracted legal battle with the camera vendor for breach of contract.

Any reason why Captain Fletcher might be reluctant to tell the traffic Safety Commission about this?

By the April 2013 meeting, several Texas cities had voted to ban these Orwellian devices. Houston, Baytown, College Station, League City just to name a few. When will we abandon this sinking ship? After the city has installed dozens more cameras and looted motorists of millions more in their thinly disguised money-making scheme? How many millions will the ensuing lawsuit cost us?

But if Captain Fletcher had spelled out the cost, what could the Traffic Safety Commission have done?

Nothing.

The Commission is a powerless farce meant to give an appearance of oversight to an out of control, corrupt program. In 2009, the city voted to dissolve the Commission which at least one former member, John Crew. believed, at the time was “was a way to silence commission members from bringing up things the city doesn’t want to discuss.”

It was reformed with a directive that it was simply an advisory board and given no power. The following year, the red light camera program was expanded.

Recently, Gilmore Morris, the member who asked the question why communities were banning red light cameras and received the incomplete answer, resigned.

Further, as recently noted on Free Denton, this question was answered without disclosure of a recent scandal involving our own vendor, Redlex. The Chicago bribery scandal had them kicked out of that city by February 2013, two months prior to this meeting in an investigation which had been underway since November 2012.

The media may be reluctant to report on this, but stay tuned to Free Denton for more information about this growing scandal and how you can help make Denton an inviting and safe community again.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8513986

http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20101217-ordinance-ousts-all-on-city-traffic-panel.ece

http://www.cityofdenton.com/Home/ShowDocument?id=10576

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-08/news/ct-met-chicago-red-light-investigation-0208-20130208_1_redflex-holdings-red-light-camera-redflex-contract

http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20101217-ordinance-ousts-all-on-city-traffic-panel.ece

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140507-denton-city-council-bans-texting-while-driving-approves-gas-drilling-moratorium.ece

*Update – received a reply from Jean Schaake. Sounded like a negative view of the cameras but again, no commitment to making changes and a simple acceptance that the contract has already extended. We need someone willing to take action NOW not five years from now.

Information on formal petitions (initiatives and referendums) was finally received and I’m not sure if this will be a route that is open to us. I may work on an informal petition simply to show the city that residents want action.

I’ve attended candidate debates and submitted questions, I’ve had a running dialogue with the Mayor and sent press releases and letters to the editor to our Denton Record Chronicle – all of these avenues have yielded little results and little dialogue. DRC seems intent on only publishing quotes from the city about the program.

Early voting for our municipal elections starts TODAY. Recently I sent questions to each candidate regarding our Red Light Camera fight and I’ve actually gotten some responses.

Of the responses, Glen Farris said he was “wary” of the program and felt relying on citations as a revenue source was problematic. Greg Johnson believed they did in fact improve safety so I provided a bit of education on the matter using our own city’s statistics. I spoke at length on the issue with Chris Watts and he sounded open to the idea of revisiting the camera issue as well and requested more information but didn’t strongly oppose them. I’ll report more responses as I receive them.

What I want YOU to do is ask the same questions of the candidates. Let them know this issue extends beyond one concerned citizen. Let them know you feel the red light camera program has little to do with safety, has proven to increase accidents and is simply a revenue generator for the city and a corrupt foreign corporation.

People have given up. They don’t vote. They let Fox and MSNBC tell them who to vote for and check a color. Be active. Start on the local level and maybe we’ll be able to reclaim our country from the corporate oligarchy that rules it.

District 2
John Ryan
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Glen Farris Squibb
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Place 5
Dalton Gregory
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Hatice I. Salih
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Place 6
M. Brendan Carroll
(Has abandoned his bid)
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Greg Johnson
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Mayor
Donna Woodfork
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Chris Watts
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Jean Schaake
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