Christina Tobin, TUA’s Vice President, was featured in a story from ABC 7 Chicago for her testimony against Chicago’s speed-camera ordinance. To see the video, click on the image below.
April 11, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — Hours before a city council committee was expected to vote on Rahm Emanuel’s controversial plan for speed cameras Wednesday, the mayor made some tweaks to his proposal.
Mayor Emanuel wants to install speed cameras around schools and parks.
After listening to the complaints of some aldermen, the mayor offered some revisions Wednesday.
Initially under the plan, speeders caught driving between six and 10 miles per hour over the limit were set to get slapped with a $50 ticket, but Emanuel changed the plan Wednesday to drop the fine to $35. Drivers who exceed the limit by 11 miles per hour might still get fined $100.
Another changes would be that first time offenders will receive a warning.
The City Council’s committee on pedestrian and traffic safety held hearings on the speed camera plan Wednesday afternoon.
“A pedestrian hit by a car at 20 miles per hour, the speed in the school zone, has a 95 percent chance of living,” Klein told the City Council. “That same person hit by a car traveling over 40 miles per hour has an 80 percent chance of dying.”
Emanuel says the camera plan is a matter of safety, but critics aren’t buying the data.
Christina Robin of Taxpayers United of America says the speed cameras are all about making money.
“These are all lies,” Robin told ABC7. “There is no facts or basis that the cameras help the children or help safety. That’s a downright lie. It is like arguing that the earth is flat. It is not.”
If the cameras will bring in revenue, some aldermen are concerned about how the money will be spent. Commissioner Klein admits that has not been worked out.
“We have no revenue projections and if there is revenue, the mayor has been clear that it will be spent on public safety initiatives to ensure safety passages around schools, to provide police protection and surveillance around schools and parks,” said Klein.
Ald. Scott Waguespack, who represents the 32nd Ward, has gathered his own research about the speed cameras and the mayor’s plan to cover the city with 360 of them.
“There are constituents who call and say, ‘I want speed cameras around the schools. There are some, but 9 out of 10 have said, ‘No,'” said Waguespack.
According to Waguespack, the thousands of speed bumps already in place around schools are doing a good job of calming traffic.
According to a <a href=”http://www.suntimes.com/” target=”_blank”>Chicago Sun-Times</a> report, the City of Chicago has installed 10,000 speed bumps on city streets and alleys since 2005. Many of them are located near schools and parks, making it difficult for drivers to break the speed limit in the spots where the mayor wants to use the cameras.
The mayor’s office insists the speed cameras will help keep children safer, stressing the plan is not a ploy to bring in revenue to the cash-strapped city. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has already given the green light to plan.
Waguespack says he is not sold.
“A lot of people across the city are saying slow this thing down. We don’t need to blanket the entire city. We can pick the places where people are speeding,” he said.
The streets around Disney II Magnet School on Chicago’s Northwest Side are covered with speed bumps. Some parents say they are enough. Others like Renee Linnemeyer say people ignore them. She does not think the cameras would be an excessive addition.
“Speeding is against the law. So, if that’s the way they’re going to catch people doing it and make money for the city –the city needs money,” Linnemeyer said.
After the committee votes on the proposal, the recommendation will be considered by the full City Council. The aldermen have to sign off off on the plan before it can go into effect.
Christina Tobin, TUA’s Vice President, was featured in a story from Telemundo Chicago for her testimony against Chicago’s speed-camera ordinance. To see the video, click on the image below.
Una propuesta para instalar 300 camaras destinadas a medir la velocidad cerca de escuelas y parques alrededor de la ciudad, cobro fuerza hoy en el comite para la seguridad vehicular y de peatones en Chicago.
Los conductores que sean captados por estas cámaras excediendo el límite de velocidad entre seis y 10 millas por hora serán multados $35 dólares. Si se pasan de las 11 millas podrían pagar hasta $100.
La idea parece buena, pero no todos están de acuerdo. De hecho el alcalde Rahm Emmanuel tuvo que reducir el monto que originalmente se había propuesto para las multas y el horario en que funcionarán las cámaras para calmar los ánimos.
Por ejemplo Christina Tobin, vice presidenta de la Organización de Contribuyentes Unidos de América, dice que la ordenanza tiene como objetivo recaudar dinero para financiar un convaleciente programa de pensiones.
Los propulsores de la ley argumentan que otras ciudades en el país han reducido en un 70 por ciento las muertes a causa de conductores irresponsables por medio del uso de cámaras.
En Chicago un 40 por ciento de los accidentes con peatones son personas que huyen de la escena de un accidente. Esta cifra es el doble del promedio nacional.
Para la iniciativa este es solo el primer paso. Ahora pasará al Pleno del Concejo, pero allí, también se espera que sea aprobada.
La idea parece buena, pero no todos están de acuerdo. De hecho el alcalde Rahm Emmanuel tuvo que reducir el monto que originalmente se había propuesto para las multas y el horario en que funcionarán las cámaras para calmar los ánimos.
Por ejemplo Christina Tobin, vice presidenta de la Organización de Contribuyentes Unidos de América, dice que la ordenanza tiene como objetivo recaudar dinero para financiar un convaleciente programa de pensiones.
Los propulsores de la ley argumentan que otras ciudades en el país han reducido en un 70 por ciento las muertes a causa de conductores irresponsables por medio del uso de cámaras.
En Chicago un 40 por ciento de los accidentes con peatones son personas que huyen de la escena de un accidente. Esta cifra es el doble del promedio nacional.
Para la iniciativa este es solo el primer paso. Ahora pasará al Pleno del Concejo, pero allí, también se espera que sea aprobada.
TUA’s defeat of 7 tax-increasing referenda was mentioned at the end of the following article by the Daily Herald.
Despite a tender economy, a healthy majority of voters in Libertyville and Kildeer felt paying more out of pocket would be worth the investment in terms of better roads.
And though nearly an even split, voters in Fox Lake Elementary District 114 decided to forego an action that would have saved them $166 in property taxes.
Those involved with all three questions on Tuesday’s ballot say the approvals showed more voters than not thought they were getting their money’s worth.
Drivers in Libertyville and Kildeer will see the most tangible results, as proceeds from property tax and sales tax hikes, respectively, will be used for road repairs and improvements beginning with the 2013 construction season.
“I’d like to think we did a good job of educating the public about what was needed and what would be done. People understand,” Libertyville Mayor Terry Weppler said.
Sixty percent of voters approved a property tax increase of about $34 a year for four years to a total of $136 per year thereafter. The proceeds will allow the village to borrow $20 million to repair 30 miles — about a third of its streets — in the next several years.
Information provided to residents ahead of the vote showed Libertyville with among the lowest village tax rates in the area and outlined other steps that had been taken to curb costs.
“We showed residents we were responsible with the property tax dollars,” Weppler said. “That helped.”
The village immediately will begin refining the repair list. Water and sewer work associated with the road repairs will cost another $7 million to $8 million. Whether that will be funded through a separate bond issue or an increase in rates is to be determined.
In Kildeer, 57 percent of voters agreed to allow the village to raise its portion of the sales tax to 1.5 percent from 1 percent to generate an estimated $500,000 a year in extra revenue for roads and associated work, such as right of way maintenance.
Village Administrator Michael Talbett said the amount spent on road repairs each year has dropped from $700,000 to $150,000.
The village met with homeowner associations and provided information to all residents regarding plans for the funds.
“That seemed to be favorably received and explained to people what was going on,” he said.
Because there would be a tangible result that out-of-towners who shop in Kildeer also will be paying helped sell the question, he added.
“Maintaining your roads is important to the overall perception of the community,” and that translates to home values, Talbett said.
The support was much closer in District 114, where the vote was 611 to 608 to extend a previously approved tax to allow class sizes and programs to continue operating normally. A “no” vote would have resulted in a $166 annual savings for the owner of a $200,000 home.
“We are very aware of the economic conditions that exist in the world and that people are having a tough time,” said Superintendent John Donnellan. “So their support on this referendum shows us that we are heading in the right direction and being as fiscally conservative as we can.”
He added District 114 ranks as the 25th lowest elementary school tax rate in Lake County, yet its test scores are above average.
Did the three approvals buck a trend?
The Taxpayer’s Federation of Illinois deals with tax policy and does not get into individual referendum questions. But legislative director Scott Selinger said, in general, continued economic uncertainty and voter displeasure with government spending policies make such questions a tough sell.
“You better have a good sales pitch,” he said.
Chicago-based Taxpayers United of America on Wednesday said the organized opposition of members and supporters helped defeat home rule questions in six suburbs and a school district property tax increase request.
“No one called us to ask for help,” the group’s president, Jim Tobin, said of the Libertyville or Kildeer ballot questions.
