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Red Light Cameras Taken Down
The out going mayor sent an email during his last day stating the cameras were monitoring the traffic after the cameras were shut off and speed violations were up 200% and red light violations were up 500% !!! The only thing turned off was the taking of photos. We CANNOT believe these numbers due to the fact of not knowing the true offenses. Was the speed threshold changed down to 35 to get that number of violations for everyone over 35mph (which was previously 45mph) and was the right turn on red true violations? What about a funeral procession? Say 30 cars continue through red light at 3 camera locations would be 90 violations! What about Police and Fire runs? All violations would be counted until reviewed by an officer to be true violations. We don't know the true facts of these numbers and probably never will. Understand, these numbers are going to be used in other cities to sell the program to city officials.
Our city seems to back to some normalcy with traffic and customers. We (the businesses) need traffic, we need customers to come to our stores. We had less accidents in November that any of the 4 months the cameras operated. During heavy traffic times you usually can't get to 35mph. Having Police presence will help with safety.
Our group has been contacted by other cities to help them rid their city of the red light cameras. It just got axed in Mansfield, Ohio at the city council meeting on Jan. 19th. They voted not to contract with the camera company. Click to read the article in the Mansfield Paper.
We should work together and get the State to ban them.
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Photo Enforcement Defeated at the Ballot Box in Texas & Ohio
Voters in College Station, Texas as well as Chillicothe and Heath, Ohio vote to ban automated ticketing machines.
TheNewspaper.com
Posted: 04 Nov 2009 12:01 AM PST
Voters in three cities sent a clear message to local lawmakers yesterday by adopting charter amendments that ban photo enforcement. In addition to kicking two camera supporters from the city council, 72 percent of those voting in Chillicothe, Ohio approved a total prohibition on the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. In College Station, Texas the vote was much closer, but at the end of the night 52 percent wanted the red light cameras to come down. In Heath, Ohio 51 percent voted against the cameras. A total of nine cities nationwide have used the initiative process to ban camera enforcement since 1991, with camera proponents never having won a public vote.
The triple defeat for the photo enforcement industry came despite a well-funded public relations effort in each of the cities. In Chillicothe, Redflex Traffic Systems sent a glossy mailer to every voter while the mayor demanded that the Ohio Supreme Court ban the public from even voting on the issue -- a move high court justices swiftly rejected. Citizens Against Photo Enforcement (CAPE), the group responsible for the ballot measure, claimed an additional victory as voters elected camera opponent Bruce Arnold, who won the seat of council president, Jeremy Siberell, who won the fifth ward and Dustin Proehl, the only incumbent to have voted against cameras. CAPE leader Rebecca Valentich told TheNewspaper that she was thrilled with the outcome.
"We came together as individuals, and we united as a community," Valentich said. "The people have spoken, and very clearly. Our voices have been heard and thanks to the people and their strong voices, the cameras will be coming down. It is a huge victory, and one that we can all be proud of. And although our mayor has gone on record saying that he will fight the will of the people, his fight against the rights of the people will only bring a stronger united front from the community."
In College Station, Texas the city's automated ticketing vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) bankrolled a front group to conduct mass mailings and push polling in an effort to save the program that would have earned the company more than $11 million over the life of the contract. The ATS-funded group reported raising $71,240 in contributions, but not one dollar came from anyone living in the local community. To supplement the vendor's effort, the city allocated taxpayer money to send red light camera promotional material to every voter. College Station activist Jim Ash, who led the fight to put the issue on the ballot, watched the results with a large group of supporters.
"It has been nothing but celebration here," Ash told TheNewspaper minutes after the results became final.
In Heath, voters were bombarded with the same advertisements from Redflex, but they failed to persuade a majority. Voters also defeated Mayor Richard Waugh who had introduced photo enforcement as the signature issue of his administration.
"You can fight city hall and win, when you have a passion for what you believe in," We Demand a Vote spokesman Lori Lyons said in a statement.
Yesterday's results are consistent with previous public votes on the topic. In April, eighty-six percent of the votes in Sulphur, Louisiana rejected speed cameras. In 2008, residents in Cincinnati, Ohio rejected red light cameras. Seventy-six percent of Steubenville, Ohio voters rejected photo radar in 2006. In the mid-1990s, speed cameras lost by a two-to-one margin in Peoria, Arizona and Batavia, Illinois. In 1997, voters in Anchorage, Alaska banned cameras even after the local authorities had removed them. In 2003, 64 percent of voters in Arlington, Texas voted down "traffic management cameras" that opponents at the time said could be converted into ticketing cameras.
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Vote YES on Issue 5!!
Our message is in lights on St. Rt. 79! Heath Voters~ Now is your chance to let the city officials know what you think! Please go vote! YES to Ban the Cameras!
Voter Registration Drive
Thursday Oct. 1 - Sunday Oct. 4
We are having a voter registration drive this week. We will be visible on 79, Thursday thru Sunday to give Heath voters a "last chance" to register for the up coming election. The deadline is October 5th. We have the voter registration cards and will hand deliver them to the Board of Elections on Monday, Oct. 5th. Please take the time to exercise your right and vote! We need you!
September 16, 2009 Update
News from Heath!
We got our Issue Number! Vote Yes on Issue 5 to ban cameras in Heath. We will be kicking off our "Issue 5 Campaign" this weekend to Inform the Voters and get our message out that there are many different reasons to stand against photo enforcement.
We will also be launching a "Voter Registration Campaign". As we collected names on our petition, we also registered new voters. Our goal is to register many more Heath Residents to go vote this November 3rd. We need YOU!
YOU will SEE US out and about with information about the cameras and how to vote the cameras out! We do attract attention with the message on our SHIRTS and VEHICLES. Look us up!
4 from our group attended the annual Sweet Corn Festival and found many folks asking us to keep up the good work and thanked us for getting it on the ballot. That my friends is the best pat on the back would could ask for. We talked and shared thoughts with many folks who are against the cameras. Many also told us again, they will not be coming to Heath until the cameras are down. The only way a non-resident person can vote is where they spend their dollars. We can only Hope they come back as it will be hard to get some of them to return.
The pro-camera folks need to look at the big picture and realize the revenue that will be lost by the lack of customer spending in Heath. Our small town is a thriving business area, with a long history of friendly business entrepreneurs. Many non-residents work at those businesses and see the down side of the cameras, as their job could be on the line due to lack of customers. Residents of Heath (We the People) need to show our friends and inspire those who work here and visit here (For the People) by getting to the polls and vote the cameras out (By the People).
August 17, 2009 Update from
the Goodwins...
Since our last sign waving on July 25th, we have had many more
meetings and interviews. We have been interviewed by WHIZ,
NBC4i, 10TV, WSYX, WOSU Radio, Blog Talk Radio, The Advocate,
The Columbus Dispatch and more. We have been to committee
meetings held every Monday at 5:30 and Council Meetings on 1st &
3rd Mondays at 7:30. We have made our presence known. We also
did a sign waving at the Mopar event on Saturday in Heath. We
also did a sign waving before the last council meeting. We did
get our "Issue" on the ballot. 333 of the 410 signatures were
approved by Board Of Elections on Wednesday August 5th. We are
awaiting our Number for the Issue. As time goes by, many
articles have been in our local paper concerning the issue
allowing folks to voice their opinions, and many do not
understand the real facts of this camera concern that our mayor
and council brought to town under our noses. The contract was
signed in Dec. 2008. So the first year will be up WHEN WE VOTE
THEM DOWN THIS NOVEMBER 3RD! Heath registered voters need to go
vote this November on this issue and vote on the your
mayor choice and 3 council seats up for election. It is time to
stand up and make a difference.
We are sign waving today August 17th, before our Council Meeting
to make people aware of the meeting and get support from those
who want the cameras down. However, traffic flow is much lighter
on 79 due to the fact many who used 79 now take a different
route to get to or from work. The people who have contacted us,
from local to out of state are upset in many different manners
and tell us why they will not be back to our city. We have heard
some from surrounding areas that avoid going thru Heath just so
they don't have to deal with the cameras. We will do a public
request to see the number of negative calls to the mayor and
city officials.
Check out this radio link with
Duane and councilman Richard Morrow.
http://www.wosu.org/radio/radio-open-line/?archive=1&date=08/10/2009
For those that want to believe their city is safer, it
is not. Now our police department is spread even
thinner. 2 officers now reviewing video, more over time
costs, less presence on the our roads, more traffic on
our side streets and more upset people coming to the
department with complaints. We do "NOT" want people to
boycott, we want them to come here, that is why we got
in this fight, to show our customers that we want their
business. Why would a business want less people to come
by their stores? Why would businesses want complaints
from their customers about getting tickets from their
towns' speed cameras? Why would businesses work so hard
to keep people coming back? Many are upset with the new
big brother cameras in our town as they either have a
business here or need to travel thru here for business.
The fact that a business has to watch who drives what
vehicle to know who might get a ticket driving a company
vehicle down Rt. 79. Some have forbidden their employees
to drive on Rt. 79 to keep from getting tickets from a
machine that we don't know whether it is calibrated
right or not, who is to know since NO ONE from our city
can touch the cameras, only Redflex employees. Has
anyone seen a Redflex employee? How often do they need
to check the cameras? Do they calibrate these cameras
from their home office in Arizona? They have high speed
internet service to the cameras. Who approves the
calibration? Ask any Police officer or State Highway
officer how often he calibrates his radar gun? And why?
Ask more than one. Call any Police department and ask.
If motorcycles are triggering the cameras going 30, how
can a Smart Car or a Hummer not cause problems of
triggers too? What about 18 wheelers? It is a "time over
distance" for the camera to trigger. How does that apply
to red light triggers? How can these be accurate? If you
look at the video for your ticket, you will see vehicles
coming from the other way in your video, this should
open your eyes that video is being captured 24/7. Why do
periodic flashes happen to synchronize the cameras? Some
have realized that the other vehicles they were
traveling with are not in the picture with their
vehicle, why is that an important question? Do any of
these questions make legitimate common sense to you?
July 21, 2009 Update
At Heath City council meeting on July 20th, we turned in 410
signatures on our petition. However we only needed 193. We started
this just 2 short weeks ago. Tickets are expected to start going out
today after a delay for the appeals process that was not in place.
We feel there will be more people coming forward when they receive a
ticket. It has not only slowed traffic down (where the cameras are),
there is LESS traffic due to those avoiding the shopping district
and those who find the side streets to get thru town to also avoid
the cameras, especially the people that work in Heath.
Hopefully our City Officials will see the impact on tax revenue, let
alone the lack of business coming to town. Sure some of us cannot
avoid traveling in Heath, but those that don't work here are
planning to avoid coming to shop and dine. There is a yearly event
coming to town called "Mopar" in August on the 7th, 8th, & 9th. It
has been known for its night of thrill and excitement for not only
Heath residents but surrounding area residents. We have already
heard of many that they are cautious about whether they even want to
stay in our town. It has been one of the best summer weekends for
restaurants and shopping.
We will be doing a sign waving on 79 this Saturday (July 25th).
Anyone who wants to help please let us know.
About Heath, Ohio
Heath is a small town of 8600 people located just north of
Interstate 70 in Licking County Ohio. The daytime
population of Heath is over 45,000 with many businesses along St. Rt.
79. In 2005, they finished widening the last 4 mile
stretch through Heath from 2 lanes to 5 improving the travel in and
out of the city. Heath is just over half an hour
east of Columbus. Our main street through town is Rt 79 (Hebron
Road). It is 2 lanes each direction with a center turn lane. A
median is planned for the future which will eliminate left turns
whether going North or South on Hebron Rd. Heath is
connected to Newark, a city of about 50,000.
A note from co-leaders of the
group Duane and Becky Goodwin:
We (Duane & Becky Goodwin) got involved after I saw the cameras
being put up and caught a news van in our Police station doing an
interview with our Police Chief. I came home and told my husband to
watch the news on channel 10 and there was the introduction about
the cameras in Heath. We had a 30 day warning period through June.
We now have 2 "speed only" cameras and 8 red-light and speed
cameras. 8 cameras in less than 2 miles. The other 2 are on 30th
Street off of Rt. 79. supposedly we were supposed to know by the
articles that were in the local paper. It seems our contract with
Redflex was signed in December and has surprised many that they did
not get to vote on them. we will get to vote on them this November.
We own and operate a sign business called: DR.
Signs. from our home on St. Rt. 79 in Heath, Ohio. Our customers are
98% other businesses. We help other businesses get the best signage
for their dollars. We knew immediately it would affect all the
businesses in Heath when people started avoiding the cameras and
stopped shopping and dining in our city. More than 200 people who do
not live in Heath have signed a concerned citizens list who do
not like the cameras and some of those are local business and
property owners.
In our searches of this whole camera issue we found out
about COAST and WeDemandaVote.com online and we got started!
Comments from Volunteer
Ronnie Michael
I
got involved when I first saw the cameras mounted on the poles at
the end of May. I have lived next door to a City Council member for
15 years and not once did I hear one word during the months the
Council discussed and planned for the cameras. The first City
Council meeting after the cameras were installed by Redflex was June
15th. I was the lone protester to show up for the meeting. On June
1st or 2nd our Mayor did a long Commentary in the local paper
(Newark Advocate) that said the cameras were 100% for safety and not
some scheme to make money. This commentary should have come before
any ordinance was voted on concerning the cameras.
A week or so after the first Council
meeting I was contacted by Duane and Becky Goodwin and asked how
they could help. Since I was staying busy fighting the
misinformation the pro-camera group was putting out and flooding the
City with FOIA requests, I asked him to get involved in getting a
petition ready to go. Since then we have had several more Citizens
join us. Our numbers are small but our determination will overcome
all odds. We now have a PAC named WE DEMAND A VOTE HEATH OHIO
formed yesterday July 6th. Our treasurer is Dan Young and deputy
treasurer Sam Skaggs.
--Submitted by: Ronnie
Michael, Volunteer
Seven great reasons to oppose
Red light and speeding cameras in Heath, OH
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Red light and speeding
cameras posted throughout the city are further erosions of our
civil liberties as our own government has resorted to 24/7
spying on the citizenry to “catch” every perceived
transgression.
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Red light and
speeding cameras are pure money grabs by rapacious
government officials.
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Even worse, the monies
from the red light and speeding cameras are split on a
“percent of the take” basis with the private camera
operators. In many communities, the contractor gets 25%
of all ticketing revenues.
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This private profit
motivation has resulted in shortening of yellow-light times at
red light camera intersections to entrap unsuspecting
motorists and increase ticket revenues.
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Red light cameras are
not motivated by a desire for increased public safety.
Rather, multiple studies have shown that red light cameras
actually increase the number of accidents, because
motorists suddenly brake when approaching a red light
intersection.
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The party liable for
the ticket is not the claimed offender – the driver – but
rather the owner of the car, even if they can establish
conclusively that they were not driving.
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Most pernicious of all,
in order to develop an efficient enforcement scheme, the City
has abandoned traditional constitutional protections of the
accused. Under their scheme, there is a presumption of guilt
and no right to compel the testimony of witnesses in one’s
defense. Indeed, until recently, trials on claimed violations
were conducted in secret with the public and members of the
media not permitted to attend.
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Red Light Cameras Defeated!
We Won! 1,819 Yes votes to Ban the Cameras and 1,760 No votes to Keep the Cameras. They were turned off at Midnight Wednesday November 3rd once the votes were tallied to Ban the Cameras. Also winning the fight in 2 other cities, were Chillicothe, Ohio and College Station, Texas where petitions were drawn up to put the issue on the ballot.
Thank you to all who supported our efforts in Heath for banning the cameras! We appreciate all the email contacts we received and well wishes with our campaign. It was a long summer, but worth all the effort. We managed to get 3,579 Heath voters to the polls! That was more than the Presidential election last November. It was certainly a hot issue with the entire county. Had Licking County been able to vote, it would have been a much bigger margin of a win. However, the local businesses are seeing increases daily to their stores and we have heard many comments. Some suggested the we "turned on the flow of traffic" on Wednesday
November 4th. We are back in business and looking forward to seeing our friends, our customers and our neighbors coming thru our city once again. This is the way democracy is supposed to work. Put the issue in front of the people and vote! All we did was get it out to the people for them to see the facts we found and hear our reasons for putting together a petition to get the issue on the ballot. It worked!
Our group was small, but our silent group was much larger and behind us all the way! We were focused on the issue and attended every committee meeting and council meeting that was held. We even attended the appeal hearings held on Wednesday evenings so we could meet the people affected by the cameras. Most of those who appealed didn't even live in Heath.
We need to do some studies of our stretch of State Route 79 to effectively keep travelers save as well as our residents. We would like to see more Police presence in our city and are going to work on that next.
Again, we thank all
who supported Issue 5 for Heath Ohio Charter Amendment which keeps photo enforcement from ever happening again!
Red Light Camera
T-shirts: $20
The Heath Ohio group is trying to raise money for signs and advertising for their fight against Red Light Cameras in Heath. T-Shirts for $20 donation. each with front We Demand a Vote, back with Camera Removal Team logo.
Available in S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X.
Stop by M-F 10-5
Dr. Signs
1611 Hebron Road
Heath, OH 43056
To order a shirt send a check to Becky Goodwin.
email: Becky Goodwin at becthenurse@roadrunner.com
Arizona not monkeying
with masked speeder
State cameras catch lead-footed driver 37 times,
but he refuses to pay fines
PHOENIX - Speed camera photos of the man in the monkey and giraffe masks have generated lots of chuckles. But the cops aren't laughing.
Dave VonTesmar, 47, started getting the $181.50 tickets last year, but it took Arizona state police several months to realize the same driver was repeatedly triggering speed cameras and refusing to pay the fines. By the time they did, more than 50 of the tickets had become invalid because the deadline for prosecution had passed.
VonTesmar, who has now amassed $6,7000 in fines, is fighting each citation by claiming he wasn't behind the wheel.
MSNBC.com
C
A
N Y
O U
B E
L I
E
V
E T
H I
S ?
12,858 Speed and Red
Light tickets issued for July 2009 (12,555 Speed/303
Red Light).
$1,285,800 out of
the local economy for visiting Heath, Ohio!
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Sign waving event in
Heath on July 25, 2009
A Citizen looking for change signs a petition with a Red Light
Camera in the Background.
(Hopefully it won't be there soon!)
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CURRENT SITUATION
July 13, 2009--Over half the signatures
needed to place this issue on the ballot have been collected.
Our goal is 200% of the total needed to get this on the ballot.
The hope is that petitions will be copied then turned in before the next City
Council meeting on July 20, 2009.
Recently, some of the Heath organizing group drove an hour and a
half to Chillicothe to participate in a sign waving in front of a
city council member there who voted for red light cameras.
Several businesses in Heath are owned by council members.
Similar sign wavings are planned there.
Download Heath Petitions Below
You will need Adobe PDF Reader to open Petitions. You can get it free by clicking here.
Click Here
for Petition
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ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE JOINED THIS EFFORT
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