09.30.2008 2:02 pm
Watch: Bosley on red-light cameras
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Seeking more information, the Board of Aldermen’s Ways and Means Committee delayed judgment on legislation that would put some of the revenue from red-light camera citations back into the wards where the infraction took place.
Watch Aldermam Freeman Bosley Sr. talk about his bill.
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jjk: Wow you need some schoolin’.
1) Yes, StL County has only seven council members. Too bad each municipality also has aldermen/women, councilmen/women, or trustees. The West County cities, not even including villages(which would make the numbers even more skewed), have 102 aldermen/councilmen representing 218,000 citizens. Hmmmm…that’s about one per 2,100 citizens. St. Louis City has 28 representing 350,000+. That’s about one per 12,500. By the way, you can add about fifteen mayors too.
2) The ward allocation program you know so much about only allocates around $250,000 to each ward for capital improvements, annually. That represents about….7/10ths of One Percent of the $961,000,000 budget. Little to no other spending is based on ward.
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Dear Ed Martin and Jesse Irwin:
Sorry, I disagree. Having been the victim of blown red light accidents in ‘05 and ‘06 totalling both cars and a broken leg from the latter, I’ve seen where people slow down near my house at 270/Olive where the cams have been up for a year.
You guys need to quit becing policy wonks and look at things with common sens as the priority. The US Constitution is not going to fail and be rewritten because of red light cameras.
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Fellow Citizens:
These red light cameras are an insidious violation of our civil liberties – and all to take money from citizens and give it to the Aldermen and to a private company in Arizona. That’s right, an Arizona company makes $31 off every ticket. Terrible public policy.
Join the fight to rid our city of redlightcameras at http://www.RedLightCameraBan.com
Ed Martin
Jesser Irwin
Founders, http://www.RedLightCameraBan.com
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I love Freeman. He is unique and a local treasure. I think he’s the only Democrat I’ve given money to in recent years. I don’t blame him for trying to get money for his ward. He understands his job is to deliver and he is good at it. However, I think this Ward allocation program the city uses is a big reason it is always broke. Sure there are always things that need fixing in every ward, however if the money was pooled it could do more impactful things for the whole city. The idea of moving to a smaller number of Wards like the County makes a lot of sense. You could sill make allocations, but they would encompass larger areas. If the City went to seven wards, I’d bet Freeman would be one of the seven survivors.
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Oh boy. CHARTER REFORM! WHY DO WE HAVE 28 WARDS?! THESE GUYS ARE DANGEROUS AND THEY MAKE THE LAW!!! Abolish the Board of Aldermorons and replace with a 7 person City Council. Simple solution to a complicated problem.
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