On Tuesday the Lafayette City Parish Council will hear a presentation in opposition to electronic traffic enforcement from the program director of the Transportation Research Institute Inc. Bill Triay of Metairie, along with Kenner resident Richard Brown — the pair’s names often pop up together in Times-Picayune coverage of Jefferson Parish’s red-light camera program — will address the council at the behest of Councilman William Theriot, one of three council members who have been angling to let Lafayette Consolidated Government’s contract with Redflex expire this summer, which would kill the red-light camera program.
According to the organization’s 2009 IRS Form 990 — a financial disclosure by nonprofits required by the feds — the august-sounding Transportation Research Institute Inc., based in New Orleans, has no revenue or expenses and appears to comprise three people including Triay. A 27-page document produced by Triay’s group and provided to The Ind by a local Redflex opponent makes an astonishing claim: “Our streets are now more dangerous. Supporters of Red Light Cameras all say it’s about safety and not money, but in other cities where the cameras have been installed for a longer time, the people have caught on, and 11 states have banned them because they bring little safety and actually increase total accidents and injuries.”
The claim is in stark opposition to data provided by supporters of the cameras, notably Traffic Director Tony Tramel, suggesting that the cameras help change driver behavior and lead to a dramatic reduction in collisions.
On Tuesday of this week the council approved a resolution giving City-Parish President Joey Durel a green light to begin negotiating LCG’s contract renewal with Redflex, but the council will still vote in May on the proposed ordinance allowing the current contract to expire, and council members who oppose the red-light cameras didn’t tip their hand in approving the resolution: The vote in favor was unanimous, although it appears a lock that at least Theriot, Jared Bellard and Andy Naquin will vote to end the program.
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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