Hector Campbell Neighborhood Association

Below you will find a short document prepared by Police Chief Bob Jordan. It
describes how the photo radar van's operation has reduced traffic accidents,
deaths and property damage since its inception. The contract for operation of
the van is due to end in January 2011. The Chief has asked the Public Safety
Advisory committee (PSAC) to obtain public comment and provide input to him as
to whether or not to continue with this program. Mary Weaver, our NDA Chair
and PSAC representative, would like to hear comments from neighbors no later
than January 24th. Please email her at [email protected].

Photo Radar Program Audit

Introduction

The City of Milwaukie has been authorized to utilize photo radar by the Oregon State Legislature for speed enforcement since March 2008. The main purpose of photo radar has been to enhance traffic safety through the reduction of motor vehicle accidents in the City of Milwaukie. We are uniquely situated for the successful deployment of this technique because of the presence of two major highways, Route 224 and McLoughlin Boulevard, which bisect the city and are adjacent to residential neighborhoods.

The photo radar program is operated by the Milwaukie Police Department (MPD. The MPD has contracted with a vendor named ACS, to facilitate the program. Essentially, the photo radar program consists of an officer assigned to a marked police van. The van is equipped with state-of-art radar and photographic equipment. When deployed on the highway, this equipment will measure the speed of traffic, and take simultaneous photographs of the driver and the license plate of the speeding vehicle. Those photographs are used to identify the registered owner of the vehicle. The driver’s license photograph of the owner is then compared with the actual photograph taken on the highway. If there is a sufficient match of the two photographs, a citation is issued.

The enabling statute requires that the van be occupied by a police officer and that the measured speed be ten miles or more over the posted speed limit. ACS, our vendor assists in the processing of the data. That contract is set to expire in January, 2011.

The City’s operation of the program has been the occasional subject of regional media focus since the program’s inception. Most of the coverage has been balanced; some coverage, especially in the electronic media, has been critical.

The purpose of this audit is to use the occasion of the opportunity to renew the vendor contract, or not, to examine the overall benefit of the program; its track record in reducing motor vehicle accidents, its costs, its ability to offset the costs through revenue generation and its acceptance among our residents.

The plan is to put this factual information in the audit and ask MPD’s Public Safety Advisory Committee to share this information with their respective neighborhoods and provide feedback. This feedback will ultimately be provided to the City Council for their interest in continuing with the photo radar program.

Motor Vehicle Accident Prevention

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review

The only way to accurately measure the reduction of motor vehicle accidents is through the use of statistics. Although there is some truth to Mark Twain’s quote above, statistics can be helpful in understanding the impact of photo radar on the prevention of accidents.

The raw figures are set forth below:

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 (To June 1)
Total Crashes 172 165 168 137 63
Fatalities 0 1 1 1 0
Injuries 42 41 32 28 17
Property Dam. 130 123 134 108 46

McLoughlin 37 25 31 28 14
Hwy 224 18 6 10 18 6


One extrapolation from these statistics is that traffic crashes were down almost 20% in 2009 from 2008. Another extrapolation is that not only did we have fewer traffic accidents, but they were less serious as made evident by the reduced number of personal injury accidents. I will leave other more detailed extrapolations to other analyses, but I believe these figures show significant but varying rates of crash reductions since the start of the photo radar program in Milwaukie.

COSTS OF PHOTO RADAR

Fiscal Year 2009 Fiscal Year 2010 Fiscal Year 2011
Revenue Amount % of Revenue Amount % of Revenue Amount % of Revenue
Photo Radar Citations $474,000 87.6 693,000 90.5 693,000 90.5
Training Fee - Photo Radar 67,000 12.4 73,000 9.5 73,000 9.5
Total Revenue 541,000 100 766,000 100 766,000 100

Expenditures
Municipal Court - Allocation 209,000 38.6 275,000 35.9 275,000 35.9
Police - Direct Personnel Costs 106,000 19.6 111,000 15.3 117,000 15.3
Contractual Services 106,000 19.6 155,000 20.2 155,000 20.2
Equipment Lease 30,000 5.5 30,000 3.9 30,000 3.9
Vehicle Costs 12,000 2.2 12,000 1.6 12,000 1.6
Police - Indirect Costs 38,000 7 46,000 6 47,000 6.1
Total Estimated Program Expenditures 501,000 92.6 629,000 82.9 636,000 83

Net Surplus/(deficiency) program 40,000 7.4 137,000 17.9 130,000 17

A brief look at these figures indicates that the photo radar program has netted the City of Milwaukie approximately $135,000.00 annually after its costs are deducted from revenue. Although these are not exact figures (our primary photo radar officer has other collateral duties in the Department) the two full years of operation do depict a revenue stream to the City of about $135,000.00 a year. Although not a princely sum, when put with the reduction of traffic accidents, described above, it makes a modest case to continue the program.

I am hopeful that our PSAC will discuss the above with their neighbors and provide feedback, based on some factual information.

NEIGHBORHOOD SURVEY If you havn't done so, please take it now; we will be closing the survey in just a few days! Your NDA Leadership Team is seeking your concerns about vehicle and pedestrian safety, and your ideas about neighborhood improvement. Think along the lines of paths for pedestrians, traffic circles or islands that slow traffic, signage, or benches in places where it would be nice to stop and enjoy a quiet spot as you walk to the store.The results of the survey will inform the NDA Leadership in deciding what projects we can propose to be funded this coming year. Please take the brief survey and help us decide how to improve our neighborhood!Link to Survey Page: NEIGHBORHOOD SURVEY

Greetings Hector Campbell Neighborhood Association,
You are invited to attend our Relay For Life of Milwaukie KICK-OFF EVENT, January 22, 2011 at the Clackamas Park Friends Church 8120 SE Thiessen Rd. at 6:pm.

Relay For Life is the signature fundraising event for the American Cancer Society. As you know, cancer affects friends and family of all ages. Relay for Life is an opportunity for neighborhoods to come together, as a community in the fight against cancer.

The Relay For Life Of Milwaukie will be held again this year at Milwaukie High School, July 9th and 10th. The Relay goes for 24 hours, to represent that cancer never sleeps. The Relay is a celebration of our fundraising efforts and a celebration of those who have won the battle from cancer with the recognition of survivors. It’s also a remembrance of those who have lost the battle of cancer, through the Luminaria Ceremony.

So please attend our Relay For Life Kick –Off Event to learn more about our Relay and register your team. This is a great time to have a friendly competition between neighborhoods, to see who can raise the most money and have the most fun!

For more information, please contact:
Whitney Welches, Event Chair
[email protected]
503-939-9720

Introductions and Welcome: Mary Weaver, Chairman; in attendance were Milwaukie Police Chief Bob Jordan, and 13 neighbors. City liaison Pat DuVal was unable to attend.

Police Report: Chief Jordan reported that the city has had an increase in domestic violence incidents but in general our neighborhood is very quiet and has a very low crime rate. He reported that the Bank Robbery Task Force has arrested the suspect and two others from the Bank of the West robbery. A client of the halfway house at 50th and King Road has gone missing. He is 6’6 and 250 pounds and has an affinity for creeks, rivers and lakes. If seen call 911. The Chief reported that a resident of the Johnson Creek Secure Treatment Facility has been reported for inappropriate behavior toward a female police officer. This behavior has also been reported to the Psychiatric Review Board. All residents who go out are accompanied by a staff member. The Chief and other citizens attend monthly dinners at the facility. There have been very few instances of problems at this or other secure treatment facilities and our police department closely monitors it and the residents. The Chief advised that he is considering purchasing a couple speed display signs that are pole-mounted and can be placed around the city by Public Works staff at the direction of the NDAs. This equipment captures data that can be downloaded for analysis.

Minutes: The minutes from the previous meeting were approved by consensus.

Treasurer’s Report: the bank account is in good shape. No large grants or charges are outstanding.

Light Rail monthly meetings - not held in December.

Projects Update: no projects are currently pending

Parks Report: Sarah Smith said there was nothing to report.

Grant Requests: Mrs. Gentile and Mrs. Criss reported that $205.08 was spent on purchasing new underwear for children at the Wichita Family Center. Linda Hedges reported that the 10 Neighborhood Meeting signs had been received and were placed around the neighborhood on the Saturday prior to the meeting. All in attendance had observed the signs. Linda Hedges moved and Darlene Albertson seconded a request to approve an additional expenditure of $5.08 for the clothing purchase for the Wichita Family Center and $20 for the shipping for the signs. Motion was approved unanimously.

Mary Weaver asked for a grant of $250 to be provided to the Police Officer of the Year Award dinner. Darlene Albertson made a motion and Linda Hedges seconded. The motion was approved unanimously. The dinner will be held in March 2011 and honors the police officer, reserve officer and cadet officer chosen by their peers each year as being the most outstanding officer.

Linda Hedges asked if there was an interest in adopting a needy family from Campbell School to provide food and clothing during the holiday. There was some discussion, and it was decided that since the School District has a wonderful resource in the Wichita Family Center, which does provide clothing and has a food pantry, that these families should be referred to the Center.

Public Safety Advisory Committee Report:
Walk Safely Milwaukie Program A workshop will be held on Thursday December 16th to provide training to NDAs who are gathering information and writing reports in preparation for project identification.

Neighborhood Survey Sarah Smith reported that 47 online surveys had been attempted and 42 completed. A few paper copies are waiting to be added. Over half of responders had not been to an NDA meeting before or not in a long time. Mary Weaver asked neighbors to start thinking of a vision they have for our neighborhood, how we want it to grow and what will help make it more livable.

Hector Campbell Neighborhood Association: Neighborhood Survey has a brief survey we are asking all neighbors in our neighborhood boundaries to take to gather information and opinion about the livability of the neighborhood, what issues people have, and what traffic issues exist. The results of the survey will provide some of the data the NDA Leadership will use to write the Walk Safely Milwaukie Program report and to select projects to propose for funding. These projects will be brought to the regular meetings for a vote prior to the proposal bids being submitted.

There was discussion over the NDA boundaries and whether or not to pursue changing it to coincide with the school district’s boundaries. It is very unlikely the city would do this since the SD changes boundaries often and the city uses the NDA boundaries in a variety of ways. Change would be very costly.

Information:

a) NDA Leadership Team Changes: NDA officers have begun to meet monthly rather than bi-monthly, and probably will meet quarterly with Council at work sessions to increase the dialogue between the NDAs and Council and to assure better communication so that neighborhood issues are brought directly to the Council members.

b) Clackamas County FD #1 Their latest newsletter is available on: http://www.clackamasfire.com/documents/communitynewsletters/ and monthly in the NDA’s email at [email protected].


Next Meeting will be 7pm on January 10th, 2010 at the Public Safety Building.
(no – the Ducks game will not be televised!)

Prepared by: Linda M Hedges December 15, 2010 Approved: Mary Weaver

• Sandbag Safety Tips
  Use proper lifting techniques to avoid injury and fatigue. Lift with your legs and bend at the knees to save your back.
  
• Sandbags are treated to prevent deterioration when stored. Use work gloves and avoid contact with your eyes or mouth.
  
• Stay in eye contact with heavy equipment operators and keep alert for truck backup alarms.
  
• Floodwaters can be polluted. Use rubber gloves and appropriate clothing if contact with water is unavoidable.


• Wear adequate clothing in layers and watertight boots. Reflective material on outer clothing is essential for night work.

For more information on locations of sand and sandbags please click HERE. During localized flooding events, contact the specific jurisdiction to ensure availability. Sand bags are for residential use only. All sites are self-service… Bring your shovel!