Dump Red Light Cameras?

 


By Neil Rubenstein

Observer Columnist

Let me be the first to tell everyone, “My eyes don’t lie.” The old sergeant doesn’t have macular degeneration or cataracts or glaucoma.

Recently I saw our City Manager, Mr. John Nachbar, a person whom we all respect and admire, and told him of one department’s lack of compliance with Government Code 6250-6276.48, the Public Records Act – especially 6253(c). There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that when soft-spoken Mr. Nachbar whispers, his voice carries throughout that three-story building.

Will anybody here please put my financial advisor, “E. F. Huttonstein,” on the speaker phone? “E. F.,” do you agree the Culver City red light bandits caught 20,706 victims in 2013? Although I wasn’t informed how many tickets were righteous, nor how much was collected by the court, I think approximately $1.5 million would be a reasonable guess, do you agree?

Wilshire and Whittier, just this one intersection in Beverly Hills, nets $116,482 to that city. Lastly, why do you believe the Culver City Council will keep the cameras? “Because the fines are mainly given to out-of-towners since residents know the locations.”

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 will be 50 years old on July 2. If you want to read a great essay on what it took for LBJ to get Congress to pass this legislation, you can borrow my copy of the April 2014 issue of “Atlantic Monthly.” President Lyndon Johnson will surely go down as a great leader.

Do you realize one in 200 Americans is behind bars? It’s the highest incarceration rate in the world.

Free screenings of films and documentaries are held at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of every month in Santa Monica, 3301 Pico Blvd., (310) 315-0056.

The United Methodist Church of Santa Monica has free recitals every second Wednesday through May 14. Concerts start 12:10 p.m., 1008 11th St., (310) 393-8258.

Free 30-minute tours of the Marion Davies Guest House are held weekly on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 415 Pacific Coast Highway, (310) 458-4904.

From Wilshire to Santa Monica Blvd. on Rodeo Drive, it will be jumping on April 27, the last Sunday in April, when Martha Reeves will headline the Centennial Block Party, singing “Dancing in the Street.” The free party will run from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. The centerpiece will be a cake 10 feet high, 15 feet wide and 20 feet long, weighing 4,000 pounds and sufficient to feed 15,000 people.

Need a place that’s free and close by to take your teenager? Why not the Skateboarding Museum? See 3,000 vintage skateboards and the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and other memorabilia at 4226 Valley Fair St., Simi Valley, (805) 578-0040.

If you had any doubts about the importance of our national parks on the economy, a recent report showed California lost over $20 million during last October’s 16-day government shutdown.

I bet you all were just jumpin’ for joy when you read they were going to cut the gasoline tax by 3 ½ cents per gallon. Now, I didn’t go to Culver High, so let’s do the math together. If Neil, on average, uses 10 gallons a week, how much does he save in a year? $18.20 doesn’t seem much to be excited about.

Now get ready to put the paramedics on speed dial because Sacramento, next year, will immediately raise gas by at least 12 cents a gallon and that could spike as high as 40 cents per gallon. The price of food and everything else will also go through the roof. It’s the “carbon tax” and the money collected might be used to fund tax breaks for low and middle income families. Life is going to be so hard that the shoplifters will form carpools to get to the grocery store.

For those who missed an article, all my commentaries can be found at http://www.CulverCityObserver.com by placing Rubenstein in that website’s search box.

 

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