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Tempting Corruption? No not in Arizona :)

by vcheng on Tue Mar 10 05:52:14 PDT 2009

So may be THIS is why the Arizona politician's love photo radar. Now I do not care too much about what other may think in this forum, but this has to raise concerns of tempting corruption in at least my mind. http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/27/2712.asp Photo Tickets Pad Campaign Coffers of Arizona Politicians Arizona politicians have collected $36,265,795 in campaign cash from a tax on speeding tickets since 1999. A tax levied on speeding tickets funds the re-election efforts of two-thirds of Arizona's politicians and provides lawmakers with a personal financial incentive to protect controversial photo enforcement programs. In 1999, a ten percent surcharge was imposed on all traffic tickets to create the "Citizens Clean Election Fund." The fund allows politicians to avoid tedious fundraising efforts. After raising just $5 each from 220 people in a district, candidates for public office qualify for public financing money to match private expenditures. In effect, these lawmakers collect $16.50 for their campaigns each time a photo radar ticket is issued on an Arizona freeway. This adds up to big money. In 2008, traffic tickets generated $10,095,771 in revenue for the clean elections fund. Out of this amount, $7,710,739 million was disbursed to lawmakers and candidates during the primary and general elections -- an average of $72,063 each. In just the past four months, the new freeway speed camera program has already added another $3.3 million to the total amount collected for lawmakers. Over the past four election cycles, Arizona politicians collected a total of $36,265,795 in campaign cash from the tax on speeding tickets. Opponents of the state photo ticketing program are crying foul. "Photo radar pays for politicians to get elected," Shawn Dow, a volunteer for the activist group CameraFraud.com, told TheNewspaper. "Voters want the cameras gone but the politicians want them to stay since it pays for their election. This is the reason that the people believe our government is corrupt." Dow raised the election funding issue before the state House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last Thursday while testifying against House Bill 2170. This legislation is portrayed as a repeal of former Governor Janet Napolitano's freeway photo program, but the text of the proposal actually allows freeway photo ticketing to continue against truckers and other holders of commercial vehicle licenses. Some of the biggest supporters of photo radar are recipients of significant ticket funding. "Photo-radar tickets aren't issued," state Senator Rebecca Rios (D-Apache Junction) told the Arizona Republic in February 2008. "They're earned." Rios herself earned $35,634 in campaign funds from speeding tickets last year. Other legislators appear less supportive of photo radar by introducing legislation that make minor modifications to the way programs are run. State Representative John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), for example, introduced House Bill 2722 last year which would have mandated that the profits from any local jurisdiction's use of a speed camera on a state highway be directed into the Arizona Highway Patrol Fund so that it could be used to fund additional traffic ticketing details. Kavanagh has taken $156,654 in campaign funding from speeding tickets. The clean elections fund does have other sources of revenue besides traffic tickets. A $5 check-off on income tax forms generated about $6 million which was spent on "voter education" efforts directed by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Money left over in the fund from the off-years without elections goes into the general fund.

OH Gosh !!!

by larsb on Thu Jan 22 06:31:22 PST 2009

Here is a story all you Photo Radar Haters are just gonna LOVE !!!! motor-vehicle accidents increased by 16 percent in the same time period, and fatal collisions in the Queen Creek area doubled from three to six. inal County supervisors Wednesday bid goodbye to photo enforcement. Their vote to terminate their contract with Redflex, the company that operates the cameras, came at the recommendation of the county's top law-enforcement official, new Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. "I'm against photo speed enforcement completely," Babeu said, walking the three-member panel through a detailed PowerPoint presentation. "Here in Pinal, it's failed miserably." Babeu said speed cameras created dangerous road conditions and offered little financial benefit for the county. He plans to boost traffic enforcement through additional manpower. Although Pinal County's contract with Redflex wasn't set to expire until Feb. 20, two mobile speed cameras have not been in operation on Pinal roads since Babeu took office Jan. 1. The speed vans had been roadside in some of Pinal's most populous areas, including Apache Junction, Gold Canyon and unincorporated areas near Queen Creek, since mid-2007. The county's program is separate from the one operated by the Arizona Department of Public Safety on freeways statewide. The supervisors two weeks ago had tabled a vote on the Redflex contract because they wanted Babeu to prepare a report on camera enforcement in Pinal, including the financial impact on the county. He reported Wednesday that the two cameras were activated 11,416 times from September 2007 through last month. Of those activations, 7,290 resulted in citations, but only 3,711 were paid. Babeu said most of the total $134,199.43 in fines and fees from the paid citations covered administrative and operational costs, leaving the county with a net profit of $12,391.58 that Babeu dismissed as paltry.

Re: Useless Navigation System [mdchachi]

by gagrice on Mon Dec 17 20:43:29 PST 2007

As you have found yes it did turn out to be Superstition Springs Mall that we wanted. However we only input Superstition. We scrolled through the list looking for any Superstition Mall. It did not come up in the list. Only Superstition Plaza in Apache Junction. The person trying to tell us where he was at is from Greece. So he was feeling lost as well as us. AAA maps are superior to Toyota NAV systems. We also keyed in Dillards and it only came up in one Phoenix location. We have since keyed in many POI names. We get different results each time we key in the names. This is a flaky NAV and we are not the only Toyota owners complaining. It is version 5.01. Maybe yours works great. I am happy for you, not pleased with mine. I will not be happy until I get some satisfaction out of Toyota. PS The directory our friend was standing next to in the Mall said Superstition Mall. He was as frustrated talking to us on the cell phone as we were. Our biggest mistake was thinking these NAV systems were useful in strange locations. I will never again trust it over my AAA maps.

Re: Useless Navigation System [gagrice]

by mdchachi on Mon Dec 17 10:24:44 PST 2007

> The NAV took us about 30 miles out of our way in Phoenix two week ago looking for a particular shopping mall... > Looking for the Superstition Mall. Ended up in Apache Junction at the Superstition Plaza. So, let's get this straight, you're blaming the Nav because you input the wrong POI name?! There is no Superstitition Mall as far as I can tell. There is, however, a Superstitition Springs Center which is where you probably wanted to go.

Re: Useless Navigation System [navguy1]

by gagrice on Fri Dec 14 16:27:34 PST 2007

Second, you specifically mentioned that you knew the route to the mall. Actually we were totally lost in Phoenix. Looking for the Superstition Mall. Ended up in Apache Junction at the Superstition Plaza. Our biggest mistake was not getting a AAA map of Phoenix before we made the trip. I will never trust this NAV again. The POI is of marginal value. As far as poor routing on known routes. That has been here in San Diego County. It does NOT give you the best, fastest or most direct route much of the time. It employs a very crude routing program and leaves many old and well used roads out of the equation. I am not at all satisfied with nor would I recommend buying a Toyota vehicle with the NAV. Get a Pioneer or Garmin portable.

2007 Hyundai Sonata Front Suspension "Thunk"

by dncb on Mon Apr 09 21:22:07 PDT 2007

I've begun this Discussion topic since the thump/clunk issue relating to the Sonata suspension has been largely addressed in these forums as relating only to the rear suspension of 2006 models and a few early 2007s. However, it also seems to be appearing in the front and/or rear suspension of 2007 models - namely in mine. I have a Limited- manufacture date Aug 2006 which has the "thunk" largely in the right front, but exists to a lesser degree at all three other suspension positions. So far, I have examined on my own (since Horne Hyundai in Apache Junction AZ said, "We can't hear anything.") the lower control arm strut bushing (as advised in other posts for clunking Azera's) without seeing any visible space as the writer of that post did in his. Next I plan to retorque the upper strut mounts to factory torque and will report my findings. Since the problem is easily reproducable on certain bumps on which I travel almost daily I plan to ask the dealer mechanic to ride with me while I drive over those areas instead of simply dropping the car off at the dealer as I did last time. In the mean time I'd like to open this up for anyone else who has experienced the "thunk" in front positions (or rear positions if it also occurred in the front and both were fixed, or you have information which might relate to front suspensions) for 2007 models. As others have reported, when we have evidence that this is not an isolated incident then we have a much better chance of getting Hyundai to address it as an issue. Thanks for your input.