The following is an email I sent to TxDOT in response to a letter they sent to me in response to a question I posed to the Governor.

Mr. Cotton,

I recently sent an email to Governor Perry asking him to look into a matter related to red light cameras in my city. He forwarded it to TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz, who asked Deputy Executive Director Steven Simmons to respond to me. Mr. Simmons suggested that I contact you by email if I had any further questions.

In Mr. Simmons' letter dated January 25, 2010, he states “The agreement between our agency and League City includes the installation of cameras at all three approaches to the FM 518 and I-45 intersection to improve traffic safety. The city's traffic engineering study indicates there have been crashes in all directions at this intersection.”

However, in a letter from the Director of Transportation Operations at TxDOT, Stuart C. Corder, to League City's City Engineer, Jack Murphy, dated September 15, 2009, the following intersections and approaches are listed: “We have reviewed the plans and Agreement for the City of League City locations of the photo enforcement cameras and find them acceptable for construction. All work shall follow State standards on installing the proposed photo enforcement equipment for: FM 518 at SH 3 Eastbound and Westbound, IH 45 at FM 518 Eastbound and Westbound, and FM 518 at FM 2094 Southbound and Eastbound.” To see this letter, follow this link: https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6slG3rsxfnoOTI0ZThmYzMtNzExZS00NjM4LTgwNmUtMjI4OGQ0ZmQ4NjQ3&hl=en

It is unclear to me how this letter from Mr. Corder shows that TxDOT approved of photo enforcement equipment installed at the Southbound approach to IH 45 at FM 518.

Please provide a dated and signed copy of the agreement showing approval for photo enforcement of the Southbound approach to IH 45 and FM 518.

Additionally, provide justification for approving the installation of photo enforcement equipment at FM 518 at FM 2094, an intersection that had zero accidents caused by red light running in the past 18 months, as evidenced by the required traffic engineering study. The relevant portions of the traffic engineering study can also found at the link above (pp 4-8, pg 7 in particular).

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your cooperation.

Dustin Gooding

cc:
Steven Simmons, Deputy Executive Director, TxDOT
Toni Randall, Mayor of League City

I'll let you know what I find out. Either way, someone appears to be hiding something. Either the City didn't provide all the information I asked for in a request for public information or TxDOT is lying through their teeth about the approvals they made.

The agenda for the second council meeting in January was recently posted and it outlines some new proposals that council will be voting on. Two of these topics I have sufficient feeling about to justify actually typing something out.

1. New Business - C - Moving the City General Election Date: I think this is a fantastic idea. Greater voter turnout is in the best interest of everyone involved, and “election day” is in November for many people. This will however cause election campaigning for local office to happen at the same time as state and federal campaigning… but I think that's fine.
2. Ordinances - C - Noise: I think this is a dangerous ordinance. What's the definition of “unreasonable”? What is the definition of “unnecessary”? How loud is too loud? Whose subjective opinion will we use as the basis for measuring “disturbing” and “excessive” sound? Will it be the same person for every case? Who gets to choose that person? Effective or not, subjectivity must be used very carefully. I believe that, in this case, an objective measure is so easily achievable that subjectivity is not needed. Measuring loudness is easy with readily available equipment. The current decibel limitation is sufficient, just and equitable.

No official word yet on the latest with the red light cameras. One thing I've been told is that the issue regarding the State-mandated citizen advisory committee (which the city failed to correctly create) will be “fixed”. Another thing I've been told is that there is potential for the number of red light cameras in the city to go *down*, rather than up… and soon.

Update on Agenda Items - The council voted unanimously in favor of amending the noise ordinance. Second public reading will occur on February 23. The council voted 5-2 against amending the city's charter to move election day. The city attorney thinks the charter is worded in such a way to allow November elections without changing the charter.

I'm back.

I tried playing with a new site engine (BoltWire), but I didn't quite like it. It has a lot of promise, but it's just not quite there yet. I'll probably give them another shot later. For now, I'm sticking with DokuWiki.

I've been haggling with the city lately, trying to learn all I can about how and why red light cameras were installed. I'm sure I'll post some information about that very soon. Stay tuned, if you're interested.