Tracy Ward of the Liberty Restoration Project, an anti-Big-Brother organization best known for protesting the city's red-light cameras, has been trying to schedule a meeting with Councilwoman Cathy Jolly since April 14. Ward and the LRP oppose the red-light cameras as well as the proposed use of Shotspotter technology, in which microphones are placed in high-crime locations to trace the sound of a gunshot to its origin.
But after three months of requests, Ward has yet to see the councilwoman face-to-face.
As chairwoman of the Public
Safety and Neighborhoods Committee, Jolly has repeatedly voiced her
support for the cameras and the Shotspotter. Additionally, Ward lives
in Jolly's district. It's only natural for Ward to request a meeting
with Jolly to try to sway her to the LRP's point of view.
On April 14, Ward e-mailed Jolly's chief staff assistant, Lisa Sturgeon:
Hello Lisa, I met with you today aboutAfter receiving no response, she tried again on April 20:visiting with Cathy Jolly sometime next week. Could you possibly give me a few
available times and we can hopefully work something out? Thanks so much for your
time. In Liberty, Tracy Ward.
Hello Lisa, I spoke with you last week and also emailed you regarding setting up a meeting with Cathy Jolly. Is it possible to meet her this week on Thursday or Friday? I know you stated Monday through Thursday worked best, but I'm free on Friday as well. Gabe Grider will also be attending the meeting with me. Please let me know if that will work. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Tracy Ward.
You mentioned that you wanted to discuss Shotspotter with Councilwoman Jolly. She informed me that there is a federal grant that is being applied for through the Green Impact Zone through Congressman Cleaver's office and that his office would actually be the point of contact for that project.On April 21, Ward wrote,
Thank you for getting back to me, Lisa. However, I would still like to set up a time to visit with Mrs. Jolly. I am one of her constituents and I do reside in her district. Please let me know if Friday or sometime next week would work. Thank you so very much for your time.Sturgeon wrote back April 23 to tell Ward that the councilwoman had an opening the morning of Wednesday, May 28. Ward agreed to the date and time and planned on meeting Jolly, but Sturgeon canceled the meeting via e-mail on May 14.
Sincerely, Tracy Ward
Sorry Tracy. That time is no longer open due to the homeless task force that has been scheduled that day. What about Wed. the 19th at 1:00 p.m.?Ward agreed to the new time, but on May 18, Sturgeon asked to change it up again, this time to 11 a.m. the same day. The new time didn't work for Ward, who asked for Jolly's next availability. After some back-and-forth, Sturgeon wrote, "Tracy we are trying to squeeze this in this week, but I can look at other dates next week. Can you tell me what it is in regard to, so I'll know how much time to schedule?"
Tracy, Please let me know what the topic of discussion for the meeting [is] and who will be attending.Ward explained in an e-mail that she wanted to talk about alternative means for public safety other than surveillance, and that the time of the meeting would determine who else from the LRP would attend. Sturgeon sent back two more suggested meeting times, and Ward chose the option of Thursday, July 22, listing two other LRP members who would also be there.
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Is there a performance evaluation out there on the 6th district. I would like to see cash inflows, and where money was spent.
This is about federal money, which Jolly wants to spend, spend, spend. She does not care anything about what her constituents want. As long as she has federal money to distribute and spend on her favourite city contractors, she could care less if you live or die. Cathy Jolly is a skanky whore for federal money, all about the bling.
$20 million ($20,000,000) for microphones?
How many LEO's could that same $20Mill pay for?
Holy crap KC must have a huge surplus of funds to spend $20 million on a bunch of microphones.
Wouldn't a specialized task force of officers who were:
1) Walking a beat
2) Riding bicycles
3) And in patrol cars
Be more effective at building a relationship with what I assume is a troubled portion of town. By getting the public to work with the Cops it makes a longer impact on the area then a bunch of microphones.
Do these microphones also have camera's and guided tranq darts so that when they locate a shooter they take a picture of them and then knock them out so the cops can then pick them up and charge them?
And btw AZ is paying a boat load of cash to some Australian firm for its Red Light Camera set up and folks have taken to waring masks that conceal the entire head and face when they drive to beat the ticket and fine.
"This "group" is supportive of people running red lights" Unfortunately Tony your show your ignorance of both Missouri state law and how these systems and companies operate. In testimony back in March in front of a MO Senate committee, a police officer admitted that these each camera costs more than hiring a police officer and a lobbyist on behalf of Columbia Missouri admitted that a statewide ban would "cost cities a lot of money." $4500 per month per camera x 29 in KC = a lot of money leaving our state to Arizona. Didn't the KC City Council pass a resolution condemning Arizona? Funny but what is not funny is fire hydrants that don't work all over the city, sewer rates rising 35% a year for 10+ years, $10 to $15 million per year to cover Power & Light shortfalls and now they want to get into the hotel business.
"This "group" is supportive of people running red lights" Unfortunately Tony your show your ignorance of both Missouri state law and how these systems and companies operate. In testimony back in March in front of a MO Senate committee, a police officer admitted that these each camera costs more than hiring a police officer and a lobbyist on behalf of Columbia Missouri admitted that a statewide ban would "cost cities a lot of money." $4500 per month per camera x 29 in KC = a lot of money leaving our state to Arizona. Didn't the KC City Council pass a resolution condemning Arizona? Funny but what is not funny is fire hydrants that don't work all over the city, sewer rates rising 35% a year for 10+ years, $10 to $15 million per year to cover Power & Light shortfalls and now they want to get into the hotel business.
ShotSpotter is an example of a product designed for the military industrial complex and for use in war zones like the Green Zone in Iraq. To the companies credit, they have figured out how to make there technology more profitable by pitching it to municipalities as a law enforcement tool. Unfortunately the monetary and human resources it takes to run the system are outrageous, especially for the benefit it provides. ShotSpotter is a reactionary system that does not prevent crime or solve it. Kansas City is looking at a price tag of $20 million to install and maintain the system for a 12 square block area known as the Green Impact Zone (quite ironic), an area that in 3 years had 911 reports of just over 400 shots fired. Of course there is no way to know that they were actually gunshots or that they weren't multiple calls for the same incident. For $20 million KC could put officers on the street walking the beat or riding bikes in neighborhoods with firearm problems building a relationships with the public and a trust that would lead to more cooperation by the public with the police. Instead certain members of KC area leadership would rather surveil this neighborhood and come in with armored vehicles and riot gear breaking down doors to solve crimes. ShotSpotter is nothing but a waste of money, hardly more effective than 911 and will do nothing but escalate the tensions between the public and government. $20 million would go along way to solve problems. For example two years of subsidizing Power & Light.
- A person looking at a photo or video isn't the same as the person BEING THERE
- So, you can dispute any wrongful ticket, or arrest, which are happening more and more, why do I need the hassle and headache of disputing it?
- No, it does not.
- Sometimes, you DON'T run the light, you're making a left or a right turn and the light turns yellow, or the yellow light is extremely short. NO ONE RUNS A RED LIGHT ON PURPOSE UNLESS THEY HAVE CHECKED THE INTERSECTION FOR SAFETY. Isn't safety what this is all about? OH and how often I loan my car out is NOT your business, NOR the state's.
You might want to do a bit more in-depth research on red-light cameras.
-The tickets are not automatic. A person specializing in RLC's reviews each ticket (at least around here) so there is an objective view, and a human element involved.
-You can dispute any ticket.
-The camera also takes a picture of the driver, and if it's obviously not you, the ticket can be dropped.
-If you don't run the light, you don't get a damn ticket. How often do you loan your car out?
Really Tony? I'm pretty sure our issue with Red Light Cameras is that they DON'T make intersection safer, but they DO ticket people unfairly. Let me list a few problems.
1. No equal justice under the law - if an officer tickets you for running a red light you lose points on your license, if an automated camera tickets you, you just get a fee.
2. They ticket the owner of the car and not the driver of the car.
3. Often people are forced to choose between received safe driving and not getting a ticket (ie: slamming on brakes or speeding up to avoid a ticket, and thus potentially causing accidents)
That's just the beginning.
With regards to spot shotter - we don't want microphones on our streets AND we don't want violence on our streets - we can have both - surveillance has NEVER proven to make a society safer.
Take a look at what Tracy is doing in her neighborhood to deal with the shootings and violence (that yes, her family has been directly impacted by on a daily basis for some time now) - she's organizing neighborhood meetings, going door to door, bringing the community together and I can already tell you the atmosphere in this neighborhood has improved, and its NOT because of Cathy Jolly's tyranny OR because of the slow police response times, its because Tracy and her neighbors or taking their streets back.
Please don't make statements about who we are or what we stand for without doing your research. We actually care about the people of this community as we were all born and raised her. We want the state to stop sucking money from us and abusing us and we'd like for the community to start stepping up and taking ownership of our own streets.
We are not for violence of anytime, including car accidents.
Great, with all the important things Council people have to deal with, I am sure this one of them.
This "group" is supportive of people running red lights and killing innocent citizens and against a technology that helps police immediately locate a gun shot (greatly improving the chance of arresting the shooter) that might be killing our citizens.
I would rather see Cathy Jolly going to a homeless task force meeting. Is that too Big Brother for these Ron Paul groupies?
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