O’Scanlon and Ducey Celebrate “Good Riddance” To Red Light Ripoffs

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Brick Mayor John Ducey celebrated the end of the Township’s red light camera program  yesterday by posing for one last image for American Traffic Solutions’ computers in Arizona to process.

Fulfilling a campaign promise made during his race for mayor last fall, on February 6 Ducey announced the results of his study of Brick’s RLC results showing that the cameras actually increased traffic accidents over the three year program and refused to renew the contract of ATS, the Arizona company that administered the program and kept roughly half of the fine monies collected.  The contract expired at midnight today.

O’Scanlon, New Jersey’s leading critic of the RLC program praised Ducey for protecting Brick’s motorists from the dangerous rippoffs and called on the leaders of the twenty-four New Jersey municipalities that still have the cameras to do the same thing: “One down, 24 to go!” O’Scanlon declared.

“This is a historic day on a number of fronts.  Most obvious is the end of the program” said O’Scanlon.  ”But perhaps more importantly we should today celebrate an elected official – Mayor John Ducey – who chose to simply do the right thing – rather than come up with any excuse to continue to steal from his constituents.  I invite the other 24 mayors of towns in this program to follow Mayor Ducey’s lead.”

“Red light cameras do not reduce accidents of ANY KIND – the myth they reduce some types of accidents while increasing others is just that.  Brick is a perfect example.  Two out of three intersections saw dramatic increases in accidents – right angle crashes as well as rear-end accidents.  The third intersection saw no change in right angle crashes and an increase in rear end crashes.  Accident costs overall went up. All this while millions of dollars of fees went to the camera companies – most charged to people making right turns on red or for split second technical violations.  The program was – I am happy to be able to use the past tense – a dismal failure.”

“When I was running for Mayor, one of the most frequent sources of frustrations of the people I spoke to was the red light cameras.  I promised to review our red light camera program and remove them if that review didn’t convince me that they were making our roads safer,” said Mayor Ducey.  “I have kept that promise.  After conducting that review, I am not convinced that the benefit is safety and not revenue.”

The result of Ducey’s investigation into the Brick RLC program tell the story:

At all three Brick intersections with Red Light Camera systems in place, statistics compiled from Brick’s own police department show there has been no decrease in right angle accidents – the very accidents red light companies claim to prevent.

-         Two of the Brick intersections, Rt 70/Chambersbridge Road and Brick Blvd/Chambersbridge Road, have been in operation for 3 and 4 years, respectively. Brick Blvd/Rt 70 has been in operation one full year.

-         Rt. 70/Chambersbridge Road, after three years has seen increases in rear end accidents and a 400% increase in the more dangerous right angle accidents. (1 right angle crash pre-camera and 5 in the last full year).

-         Rear end accidents at Route 70 and Chambersbridge Road also increased marginally after three full years of camera operation.

-         Brick Blvd/Chambersbridge Road, after four years has seen rear end accidents at the intersection more than double, along with a 60% increase in the more serious right angle accidents. (7 rear-ends and 5 right angles pre-camera, 15 rear ends and 8 right angles in the last full year)

-         The increased cost due to accidents, using the Department of Transportation’s own cost-benefit analysis metrics for red light camera intersections has been $86,400 due to increased accidents and severity for right angle crashes at Rt. 70/Chambersbridge Road. ($7,400 pre-camera to $93,800 in the current year)

-         The increased costs due to accidents, using the Department of Transportation’s own cost-benefit analysis metrics for red light camera intersections has been $166,000 due to increased accidents and severity for all accidents at BrickBlvd/Chambersbridge Road. ($166k in the pre-camera year to $329k in the last full year of data)

-         Increased citations do not equal an increase in safety at the intersection. While Rt. 70/Chambersbridge Road’s citation rate has decreased by about a third per month since the beginning of the program, there has been an increase in accidents over that period. (~750 citations per month during the first year to ~500 citations per month currently)

-         Brick Blvd/Chambersbridge Road’s accidents have more than doubled, yet citations are decreasing. This is more than likely from people avoiding the intersection entirely, or not turning right on red – not because the intersection is any safer.

O’Scanlon said that Brick’s experience with RLCs  proves that not only are the cameras a revenue generating safety hazard, but that the companies selling the program to unwitting or greedy municipal officials routinely mislead those officials and the citizens they were elected to serve.

“The Brick experience also showed us direct evidence of the camera companies’ fraudulent practices.  They actually tried to tell the Mayor the program was a success. They produced a report that purposefully, shamelessly, outrageously excluded data from two out of the three intersections in the program.  They also tried to sell the Mayor on the value of the program based on the fact that it was stealing most of the revenue generated from folks outside of Brick.  Lastly they again tried to redefine success of the program in terms of the number of violations written – rather than in reductions in accidents.  Why?  Because you can easily have reductions in citations and an INCREASE in accidents.  Accident rates are the only metric that counts!”

“These cameras have a history of increasing accidents – certainly not decreasing them – and the camera companies have a history of lying about those facts.  Municipal officials have a history of choosing to passively fall prey to the camera companies’ misinformation campaigns so the officials can feel better about stealing from their constituents.  Today we can say – in one municipality at least – not anymore.”

New Jersey’s RLC program is set to expire at the end of this year, unless reauthorized by the legislation.

Sweeney: RCAs “put poor white folk and poor black folk out of town”

Hornik: “No one in Trenton can honestly say that COAH is working”

Senate President Sweeney rejected out of hand an idea brought forth by Marlboro Mayor Jonathon Hornik this week that could potentially release $184 million in dormant funds for the benefit of Superstrom Sandy victims.

Hornik called for the reinstatement of Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA), in order to unlock $184 million in COAH funds to help residents impacted by Superstorm Sandy rebuild their homes in an OpEd piece published on MMM and PolitickerNJ.

RCAs were a practice that was in place to build affordable housing in New Jersey from 1985 through 2008 under the Fair Housing Act, whereby communities that had raised affordable housing funds through development could transfer those funds, and their obligation to build affordable housing within their own community, to other communities with an immediate need.  The legislature and Governor Corzine outlawed RCAs in 2008.

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon issued a statement commending Hornik  and said,”When the Democrat leadership in Trenton killed the RCA program it was bad, short sighted policy that many of us knew would come back to bite us. Its flaws are now magnified by the plight of Sandy victims as many towns struggle with the economic burdening of rebuilding.”

MMM raised the issue publicly with Sweeney at his Town Hall Meeting in Keansburg on Thursday, as a bi-partisan idea that would enable state to help Sandy victims and help them from “being RREMed by HUD.”  The Senate President rejected the idea out of hand, saying that RCAs didn’t work, that they created poverty in communities, create failure and were designed to “put poor white folk and poor black folk out of town.”

Privately, Sweeney said that Hornik was pushing the RCA idea because Marlboro is facing a COAH related law-suit.

“The Senate President is misinformed,” Hornik said when told of Sweeney’s remark, “Marlboro is not defending any COAH trust fund related lawsuits. This is about helping people get back into their homes. Nothing else.  No one in Trenton can honestly say that COAH is working.”

O’Scanlon scoffed at Sweeney’s remarks.  ”The Democrats don’t want affordable housing, they want equality in housing,” O’Scanlon said. “I want a mansion on the Navesink, but I can’t afford one. Should the government force a developer to build one for me?”  The idea of a central planning utopia where every block has a home for every demographic is unrealistic and will never happen.”

“The elimination of RCAs has been a boom for fully built out towns like my home of Little Silver,” O’Scanlon said, “You can’t force a built out town to develop. If there are no developments, there is no COAH obligation, without RCAs.  If we presume that forcing suburban communities contribute to the development of affordable housing is the right thing to do, and I’m not saying that I support that idea, RCAs are the only way to do it.”

“COAH policy is a great overreach by the Courts, and has been a disaster in its practical implementation.  Now that we have almost $200 million in COAH funds sitting on the sidelines, dormant, we should put them to good use via RCAs to help people in need after Sandy.”

UPDATE, March 24.

Hornik called and clarified his comment regarding Marlboro defending COAH related lawsuits.  He said in his original quote that he thought we were discussing a COAH trust fund suit that was recently dismissed.  Hornik said that the Township is defending builders’ remedy suits that pre-date his administration.  His stand on re-instituting RCAs for the purpose of helping Sandy victims get back into their homes, has nothing to do with those suits.

New Jersey property taxes will likely resume the double digit annual growth that occurred under the McGreevey, Codey and Corzine Administrations if Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto’s version of the of the Interest Arbitration extension becomes law.  Either that, or municipal governments as we know them will cease to exist, succumbing to a long and painful death of higher crime and reduced services and capital improvements.

A 2% cap on interest arbitration awards in labor disputes was a key component of the 2% property tax cap negotiated between Governor Chris Christie, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Prieto’s predecessor, Sheila Oliver in 2010.   It worked.  Arbitrators made awards of less that 2% to police and fire fighters unions and property taxes rose less than 2% per year over the last four years.

The problem is Oliver insisted that the arbitration cap expire on April 1, 2014.  Now, we’re a week before the arbitration cap expires and Prietro is gutting the cap by passing an extension of the law that exempts contracts that were awarded less than 2% during the last three years from any future caps and raises the cap to 3% on contracts that have not been negotiated since 2010.

The math will never work.  If property taxes stay capped at 2% but the primary cost of property taxes, salaries, are not capped or are capped at 3%, municipal services will disappear. Police will be laid off, with the junior, lower paid officers being let go first, leaving the older and more highly paid officers to run drown the inevitable increase in crime.  Towns will go bust.  The state will take over municipal governments and force consolidations.

“This bill is a cap-killing bill masquerading as a cap extension,” said Assembly Republican Budget Officer Declan  O’Scanlon.  “In fact, over 80 percent of the contracts going forward will not be subject to the cap.  Those few that would be subject to any type of cap would increase salaries at a rate 50 percent faster than the revenues supporting the expenses.

“Since we have negotiated for three years under the 2 percent cap, and most contracts are for three or four years, there will be very few contracts that haven’t already been subject to the previous cap,” continued O’Scanlon. “You cannot have a cap on the rate that municipal officials can raise revenue while at the same time dictating to them that their largest budget line item can increase at a rate faster than their ability to raise revenue.”

“If your mortgage is allowed to increase 8 percent every year, but you only receive a 2 percent annual raise, it doesn’t take rocket science to realize you’ll soon mail your mortgage company everything you earn,” commented O’Scanlon.

“Democrats on the committee, who are trying to suggest that the arbitration award cap isn’t essential, simply don’t understand the process,” stated O’Scanlon.  “The cap didn’t only affect arbitrated contracts – it affected all contracts, negotiated or not.  To suggest otherwise is completely disingenuous.”

“To be clear – one cannot have a tax cap work without an identical arbitration award cap,” explained O’Scanlon.  “A vote for this bill is a vote for higher property taxes or municipalities eventually going bankrupt.  Chose your poison, but it can only be one or the other unless legislators have acquired the power to alter the laws of mathematics.  All my math teachers taught me that wasn’t possible.”

The legislature doesn’t have the text of the cap extension bill, A3067 in the Assembly and S1869 in the Senate posted on their website. I’m relying on information reported in The Star Ledger and conversations with Senate President Steve Sweeney and O’Scanlon for this post.

The legislature’s website says that identical bills were cleared through committee  on Monday.  I find that hard to believe, given what Sweeney said his desire for the cap was last week at his town hall meeting.  The fact that Senator Mike Doherty, perhaps the most conservative member of the Republican Caucus in the Senate, is listed as a Primary Sponsor with Sweeney of the Senate bill, gives me hope that they are not identical bills.

Sweeney told me last week that he wants to extend the arbitration cap and that he wants to make it permanent.   Pietro’s bill, as reported by The Star Ledger, makes the cap useless. As O’Scanlon said that roughly 80% of the union contracts have been negotiated/arbitrated since the cap went into place in 2010. Prieto’s bill would the vast majority of those contracts from ever being subject to the cap again.    The other 20% of the contracts have a new cap of 3%.  This can’t work.

If the bills are identical, i.e., Sweeney is on the same page as Prieto and really wants to gut the cap, New Jersey’s middle class is screwed. Property taxes will skyrocket again and/or municipal services, including and especially police, will be cut. We’ll be left with older, richer cops.  Just like Newark.

Governor Christie’s historic reforms will not be a legacy, just temporary measures.

If this is the bill the Democratic legislature sends to Christie, what does he do?   If he vetoes the bill, the cap expires next week.   If he signs it, he puts the inevitable off for a couple of years.  Either way, Christie, and New Jersey property tax payers, are at the whims of the Democratic legislature.

This makes one wish that Christie fought harder to win seats in the legislature last fall.

The ball is in the Assembly’s court

Both the State Senate and General Assembly passed the bill that would blow a hole in municipal budgets for the next four years, the “extension” of the 2% Interest Arbitration Cap for police and firefighters base salaries that did not really cap those salaries.  Had the bill become law, there would have been a massive cut in municipal services throughout New Jersey or property taxes would have started rising again at levels we experienced during the Corzine/Codey/McGreevey administrations.

But Governor Chris Christie conditionally vetoed the bill and the Senate quickly concurred with the changes he made to the bill which kept the cap intact through December 2017 by a vote of 33-1.   Christie’s office announced the conditional veto and the Senate’s concurrence in the same press release.

One has to wonder why the Senate went through the exercise of passing the “bad bill” in the first place, by a vote of 28-7, only to abandon the changes it made to the existing Interest Arbitration Cap and, for the most part, extend the existing law for another four years, so quickly.   Without the Senate’s concurrence to Christie’s conditional veto, the cap on arbitration awards would expire on April 1st.  Either the “bad bill” or the expiration of the cap would have been a victory for the Trenton Democrats benefactors in the police and firefighters unions.

The unions may still have their victory.  Before the Assembly could take a vote on concurring with Christie’s conditional veto, Speaker Vincent Prieto abruptly adjourned the session.   No Assembly session has been scheduled, yet, to take up the concurrence prior to April 1.

Below is a video of Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon’s floor speak before the chamber voted on the “bad bill.”   As usual, O’Scanlon makes is case and fights for New Jersey taxpayers very well.

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Citing the shortage of federal and state funds available to assist Superstorm Sandy impacted homeowners in rebuilding their homes, the Middletown Township Committtee this week joined Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon in calling on the state legislature and Governor Chris Christie to put the more than $100 million in Affordable Housing Funds that are sitting dormant to work.

With a unanimous 5-0 vote, the committee passed a resolution on Monday, April 21, calling for legislation that would reinstate Regional Contribution Agreements (RCAs) “for the limited purpose of getting victims of Superstorm Sandy back in their homes during this time of need.”

RCAs were created in the original 1985 Fair Housing Act whereby towns with funds raised from developer fees or through bonding could transfer up to half of those funds to another community for the purpose of building affordable housing as required by the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Mt. Laurel decision.

In 2008, Governor Jon Corzine signed legislation that prohibited the use of RCAs for financing the development of affordable housing units.  Critics of the RCA program contend that allowing “rich towns” to transfer their affordable housing obligation to “poor towns” is effectively “redlining,” i.e., keeping the poor, often minorities, out of the wealthier towns.  Last month, Senate President Steve Sweeney said RCAs  “put poor white folk and poor black folk out of town.”

Middletown Committeeman Tony Fiore said the resolution offers a common sense solution to address an immediate desperate need.

“Affordable housing has always been a part of Monmouth County’s bayshore.  We have a desperate need now,” Fiore said. “It’s been been 18 months since Sandy devastating our communities.  Many people have been short changed on insurance policies they paid for faithfully for decades.  They can’t afford to rebuild what they had and Governor Christie said that the federal monies to help people will be tens of billions of dollars less than needed. There is between $100 million and $200 million in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.  It makes economic sense to use that money to get people in need back into their homes now. There is no need to build mega new construction under COAH in Monmouth and Ocean counties.”

Last month O’Scanlon, in response to Hornik’s call for the reinstatement of RCAs, said he would propose legislation that would accomplish that goal.  The Assembly has not been in session since Speaker Vincent Prieto abruptly adjourned the chamber on March 31, rather than allow a vote on Christie’s version of the of the Interest Arbitration Cap that has held the growth of property taxes to less than 2% over the last four years. O’Scanlon told MMM that the legislation is ready to go as soon as the Assembly has a quorum call.

In his OpEd last month calling for the reinstatement of RCAs to assist Sandy victims, Hornik said there is at least $180 million in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund that could be used to assist homeowners in Monmouth, Ocean and Atlantic county towns rebuild.

Yet to this day the planners in Trenton wrangle over rules to determine how towns must address their affordable housing, going on 15 years now, when it should be painfully obvious that the need for our community (and our region) is staring us in the face. Current state laws prohibit Marlboro from helping those communities who are in desperate need for housing assistance after Sandy.  There is no mechanism for Marlboro to spend its trust funds for the benefit of, for example, Union Beach or the Highlands, because there are no rules that allow us to do so. We can’t fulfill a fundamental tenet of Mt. Laurel, and help our neighbors because the authority to do so isn’t there.  And why not?

Hornik said in a phone interview, “No one in Trenton can honestly say that COAH is working.  We have an immediate and compelling need. Let’s address it.”

By Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

When Gov. Christie came to office in 2010, he took action to address the biggest problem New Jerseyans have faced for decades – property taxes. Working with the Legislature, historic tax reforms were signed into law. These included a two percent limit on property tax levies, increased health and pension contributions by public employees and a two percent cap on awards arbitrators can grant when towns and their unions can’t agree on a contract.

These cost control tools are working. Recent property tax data shows the average property tax bill grew by 1.7 percent in 2013 and by the lowest consistent rate in decades since the reforms were passed. While our ultimate goal is to actually cut property taxes, slowing their growth is an essential first step.

The clock is now counting down to the destruction of the delicate framework that has successfully controlled our property taxes.  An essential component of that framework – the arbitration award cap which enables local officials to control their largest costs – expired on April 1 of this year.  The first contracts exempt from the cap will expire in June. That will be a disaster for property taxpayers throughout New Jersey. Without an honest and effective arbitration award cap, the property tax cap will fail.

The state’s interest arbitration cap law is one of the primary reasons we have turned the tide on the escalation of property taxes. According to the Public Employment Relations Commission, from January 2011 (when the arbitration law took effect) to September 2013, average raises in local contracts, whether through arbitration or negotiations, were 1.86 percent — the lowest in at least 20 years.

The day before the cap was to sunset, a bill conditionally vetoed by the Governor to extend it passed almost unanimously through the Senate.  The Speaker of the Assembly felt it needed more work.  I accept that good faith challenge and continue to work hard to meet it.  In fact it is one we must meet – and the end product must be one that abides by the unalterable laws of mathematics, and doesn’t blow apart the property tax cap. Without these limits, arbitrators will be able to impose awards similar to those they regularly made prior to this law- frequently increasing labor costs at rates 50% to 200% higher than revenues could increase.

If the two percent property tax cap is left in place (an absolute certainty) without a commensurate cap on labor costs, there will be chaos in local government. Property taxes will rise, services will be slashed and layoffs will be inevitable.  The very people police and fire union officials claim to care about – their own members – will be laid off due to the inevitable slashing of forces resulting from the fatally conflicting policies.  Public safety can’t help but be affected, which means it is quite possible people will die while trained and willing young police and firemen are on unemployment lines.

Some union leaders are shamelessly playing on peoples’ emotions suggesting that this debate is about respect for cops and firefighters.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  This debate is simply about the math.  We all respect the services our police and firefighters provide, but increasing their salaries- which to be fair are ready the highest in the nation – at a rate faster than the 2% property tax cap is simply  untenable.

I have been fighting for and working on these policies for 20 years. Gov. Christie was the first executive leader, in conjunction with the Legislature, to sincerely deal with these issues.  That was four years ago in an amazingly productive moment in New Jersey when we led the country in passing bold and innovative reforms.

For a moment, as we came together to pass those pioneering reforms, the people of New Jersey could be proud of their elected officials.  The renewal of the arbitration award cap, in a form that doesn’t eviscerate the laws of  mathematics, is an opportunity for the Legislature to validate the credibility it earned four years ago – or not.  There is no middle ground.

I have faith that our present leadership will step up and make the tough decisions. The future fiscal solvency of local governments – and the taxpayers who foot the bills – is on the line.

Assemblyman O’Scanlon represents the 13th Legislative District and is the Assembly Republican Budget Officer.

New bill reauthorizes regional contribution agreements for Sandy affected counties

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon will introduce new legislation tomorrow that reauthorizes regional contribution agreements (RCAs) between towns in the nine most Superstorm Sandy-impacted counties. These agreements will permit the transfer of housing units to count towards a recipient municipality’s fair share obligation. These types of agreements were originally permitted under the Coalition On Affordable Housing where one town could transfer a portion of its affordable housing obligation to another. RCAs were banned in 2008.

“I’ve always said that the law banning RCAs was shortsighted,” explained O’Scanlon.  “I want to go on record saying I disagree with this far reaching court-mandated housing scheme.  But if we have to have it, there should be a mix of options for municipalities to deal with it.  “Mayor John Hornik of Marlboro recently revived the discussion of RCAs in relation to those areas affected by Sandy. We have seized on that common ground and developed legislation reauthorizing RCAs to help facilitate the construction, reconstruction or rehabilitation of housing in areas hardest hit by Sandy.  We can finally put these funds to work creating affordable housing and helping towns recover from the storm at the same time.  I look forward to working with Mayor Hornik on this as we work to persuade the legislative leadership to join the effort.”

“Thousands of households throughout New Jersey remain displaced and federal resources alone will be inadequate to meet the need for repaired or new housing,” stated Marlboro Mayor John Hornik. “The impact has been particularly hard-felt by low and moderate income households. Shortly after Sandy, I proposed that emergency legislation be enacted to allow municipalities to assist their sister communities in meeting this pressing housing need by allowing the use of affordable housing trust funds. Assemblyman O’Scanlon has now proposed legislation to allow towns to use trust funds to aid Sandy affected municipalities within their housing region to repair or create low and moderate income housing. Marlboro applauds the efforts of our lawmakers and urges the full Legislature to promptly act upon this measure. “

This bill provides that a municipality seeking to send units does not need to enter into an RCA with another receiving municipality within the same housing region prior to seeking a recipient through the Council on Affordable Housing. Additionally, the bill provides that a receiving municipality shall be permitted to count units accepted as part of an RCA toward its fair share housing obligation.

“Many of us felt that the termination of the RCA program was il-advised,” O’Scanlon said.  “The flawed rationale behind the elimination of the RCA program is now highlighted by the plight of Sandy victims as many towns struggle with the economic burden of rebuilding. It is my hope that this bill, when signed into law, can ease the burden of those still wrestling with the devastating effects of Sandy.”

The Middletown Township Committee voted unanimously on April 23rd on a resolution offered by Committeeman Tony Fiore urging the legislature to pass such legislation.

Beck: “Hubris and Ego have no place in this recovery process. We have all made some mistakes. Now we need to fix them.”

Thomas P. Largey, 82, and Senate President Steve Sweeney talk in Largey’s gutted Sea Bright home prior to Sweeney’s press conference. May 30, 2014. Photo by Art Gallagher

Senate President Steve Sweeney held a politically charged press conference in a partially gutted Sea Bright home this morning, ostensibly to create political pressure on Republicans in the State Legislature to join Democrats in overriding Governor Chris Christie’s conditional veto of the Sandy Bill of Rights.

Sweeney’s comments sounded like a campaign rally against Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, Senator Jennifer Beck and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, JR.

The “Sandy Bill of Rights” passed both houses of the State Legislature unanimously in March.  Christie conditionally vetoed the bill earlier this month, making over 150 changes to it.  Some of the changes were to bring the law into compliance with federal Housing and Urban Development regulations, others removed what Christie called “partisan language.”  One of Christie changes removed the requirement on the State that applicants for RREM grants be able to access the status of their applications online.

Sweeney penned an OpEd published in The Asbury Park Press last week wherein he appealed to Republican legislators who had unanimously voted for his bill “to do something they have yet to do under this (Christie) administration, and that’s to put aside their partisanship and override the governor’s veto.”

O’Scanlon responded with an OpEd of his own, wherein he said, “after further analysis we found a number of critical flaws that the Governor wisely and reasonably addresses in his conditional veto.”

Specifically, O’Scanlon wrote that the provision in Sweeney’s bill that required applications not responded to by the State within 50 days be automatically approved would prompt HUD to rescind funds and cause applications to be denied in defense of the 50 day time clock rather than being evaluated on their merits. Additionally, O’Scanlon wrote that Sweeney’s provision that Spanish speaking residents who did not understand the RREM program because translators were not available be given priority in the second round of RREM funded violated HUD’s policy that grants be based solely on need, not race.

Also, O’Scanlon wrote that the Sandy Bill of Rights requires that 60% of the Resettlement grants go to low and moderate income housing (LMI). “Every eligible LMI resident has already received a Resettlement grant and that does not add up to 60% of the 18,000 that applied.  The Sandy Bill is asking us to do the impossible. We cannot create LMI folks or mandate something that does not exist.

Sweeney angrily rejected O’Scanlon’s OpEd as “a load of crap.”

The Senate President chided O’Scanlon for not showing up at the press conference in his distirct,  “I want to debate O’Scanlon on this in public, in front of cameras.” Informed by MMM that O’Scanlon said he had not been invited to the press conference, Sweeney said, “that’s not true.”   “Hold him there, I’ll be over in 10 minutes,” O’Scanlon said when informed of Sweeney’s remarks by MMM.   Sweeney and the NJTV and News12 cameras had already left.

Sweeney said he invited O’Scanlon as well as Senator Joe Kryillos and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin to the press conference.  Handlin said she had not been invited. Kryillos said that not only was he not invited, he was unaware of the press conference until MMM mentioned it to him.

Sea Bright Mayor Dina Long said that she had not been invited to the event either, but read that it was happening in The Asbury Park Press. (The APP did not have a reporter covering the event).  “Anytime a member of the legislature comes to Sea Bright, it is a good thing,” Long said in a phone interview, “it shows that they care and keeps them aware of our ongoing recovery.”

Long said the Largey residence where Sweeney held the press conference is not the elderly couple’s permanent residence.

Thomas J. Largey, 57, the son of Thomas P. Largey and Joan Largey, 82 and 81, spoke out vehemently against Long and Republican office holders in Sea Bright, the 13th district and Monmouth County during his remarks. The younger Largey has been at outspoken critic of the Christie Administration’s Sandy Recovery efforts at Christie’s Town Hall Meetings and other appearances by the governor at the shore. An attorney, the younger Largey said he was a left leaning Democrat and is considering running for local office in Sea Bright.

UPDATE: The younger Tom Largey called to say the the home is indeed his and his parents primary residence.

Thomas J Largey of Sea Bright questions Governor Christie at Middletown Town Hall Meeting on Feb 20. Asbury Park Press Editor Randy Bergmann in background.

Sweeney said that O’Scanlon put his name to the OpEd for Senator Jennifer Beck, who wouldn’t publish it under her own name because she helped write the bill in caucus, and stood on the Senate floor and thanked Sweeney for pushing the bill.

Beck said that O’Scanlon wrote the OpEd, though they had both discussed the four critical flaws of the bill that the OpEd addresses. Beck noted that she abstained from the bill in committee and voted for it after working with Sweeney’s staffer Kevin Drennan to correct flaws in the bill that had passes committee.  “I thought be fixed all the flaws,” Beck said explaining her vote for the bill, “we made mistakes.  This is not that big a deal.  We should correct the flaws and pass a new bill.”

Beck said she was surprised and taken aback by Sweeney’s attack. “We’ve always worked well together,” Beck said of her relationship with Sweeney, “he knows I am an honest broker.”

Beck said the four critical flaws in the bill are 1) the requirement that applications that are not answered in 50 days be automatically approved, 2) the requirement that Spanish speaking residents be given preferential treatment, 3) the requirement that 60% of Resettlement grants go to LMI residents and 4) the provision that this bill apply to all future natural disasters.

Kean JR wrote to Sweeney yesterday to inform him that the Senate Republicans would not be voting to override Christie’s veto of the bill.

“While we support much of the concept behind Senate bill 1306, we do not believe it will achieve these worthy goals if enacted in its current form,” Kean wrote. “As stated in the Governor’s conditional veto, provisions of S-1306 are in direct conflict with numerous federal laws and regulations and the original version could harm the very people it intends to help.”

Sweeney said that Kean was tough enough to stand up to Christie when his own job as Minority Leader was on the line, a reference to Christie trying to have Kean replaced as Minority Leader by Senator Kevin O’Toole the day after election day last November.   “He’s tough enough to fight for his own job,” Sweeney said of the former governor’s son, “but not for the people impacted by Sandy who need the help this bill provides.”

Sweeney said he is not interested in working with O’Scanlon or Beck in fixing the flaws in the bill, even should his attempt to have Christie’s veto overridden fail. “There are no flaws in the bill, or they wouldn’t have voted for it in the first place.  If we give him (Christie) a new bill, he will veto that and the Republicans will find another reason not to override.”

Beck said that Sweeney doesn’t have his facts straight or understand all the HUD requirements. “He’s trying to swoop in here and make a splash, but we’re working day in and day out trying to help people through this arduous process,” Beck said, “ego and hubris have no place in this recovery process. We made some mistakes, we’re all human. Now we need to fix them.”

Legislation will prohibit NJ drivers’ information from being shared with private companies for purposes of speed or red-light camera enforcement

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Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon announced today that he has filed legislation that will not allow New Jersey drivers to be preyed upon by red-light or speed-camera manufacturers that operate in other States. This legislation was modeled after a South Dakota statute that passed both houses and was signed into law by South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard this year.

“New Jersey’s red light camera program, mercifully, appears to be headed towards certain death this December – and we already wisely ban speed camera enforcement – but these systems continue to operate in neighboring states where our drivers often commute,” O’Scanlon explained. “These systems have proven to be error-ridden and non-effective so we shouldn’t allow our motorists to be preyed upon when they are outside of our borders.  By continuing to share this information – now that the evidence is clear that these systems don’t improve safety – New Jersey would essentially become complicit in the scam.  And that’s exactly what these systems are – government sanctioned theft.  If you set yellow light times and speed limits based on sound engineering criteria you end up with the safest roadways.  You also eliminate the profits in these systems.”

The bill will prohibit the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission from sharing residents’ license plate information with the private companies operating these systems for the purposes of speed-camera and red-light camera citations.

Automated enforcement cameras penalize the owner of the vehicle, not the driver, making it harder for the accused to defend themselves in court. This is especially true in out-of-state jurisdictions. Police in NJ and all other jurisdictions will still be able to use the database for traffic violations – with the exception of speed and red light automated enforcement violations.

“I have no problem with police using the databases for legitimate purposes to ensure our highways are safe nationwide. Automated enforcement has been proven not to be a legitimate tool to improve safety, and I won’t let other states pickpocket our residents.” O’Scanlon said. “I have heard and read about the nightmares of the systems in neighboring states like New York, Pennsylvania and the Baltimore-Washington DC corridor.”

Recent reports have shown that with speed and red-light cameras in neighboring states, some systems had error rates of almost 60%, prompting the City of Baltimore to return $2.8 million in wrongly issued citations[1], and neighboring cities have seen accidents actually increase when red light camera systems were enabled[2]. Around the country, the tide is turning against these systems – a 6% drop has been recorded in the number of systems operating nationwide just in the last year and a half. [3] Additionally, last month the US House of Representatives voted to ban federal funding for automated enforcement cameras[4].

[1] http://rt.com/usa/baltimore-return-millions-speed-cameras-104/

[2] http://thenewspaper.com/news/40/4034.asp

[3] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/27/more-cities-putting-brakes-on-red-light-speeding-traffic-cameras/

[4] http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/06/house-votes-to-ban-purchase-of-licenseplate-cameras-190127.html

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon said he supports the Borough of Oceanport’s efforts to prevent a crematorium from being built in a residential neighborhood.

“I am concerned with the process and the minimal amount of communication,” said O’Scanlon.  “The fact that the only public notification of this pending permit was published in the Home News Tribune, which is not even distributed in the Borough, is hardly adequate notice.”

“I have seconded the municipal request for a public hearing so that all the facets of this permit request can be discussed and the residents have an opportunity to voice their concerns,” O’Scanlon explained. “Projects such as this should never be implemented behind closed doors. I plan on remaining involved in this issue to see that all concerns are addressed.”

Oceanport Borough Administrator John Bennett was surprised last week when he was informed by the Department of Environmental Protection that Woodbine Cemetery had applied for an Air Pollution Control permit.  As Acting Governor in 2002, Bennett signed legislation that required crematoriums be approved by the governing bodies of the municipalities where they were proposed.  That legislation was repealed in 2011. The current law gives the New Jersey Cemetery Board the authority to approve crematorium construction permits. The majority of the Cemetery Board is comprised of owners or managers of cemeteries.

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Karen Finley, former CEO of Redflex Traffic Systems Inc, one of two Red Light Camera companies operating in New Jersey, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago last week on bribery charges.

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, New Jersey’s fiercest opponent of Red Light Cameras, says that is not a surprise:
“Well this is a shocking turn of events, said no one! If cameras actually increased safety no one would have to bribe anyone for business – we’d all be lining up!  How any public entity can continue to do business with Redflex in particular, but really any of these companies pitching these ineffective, thieving cameras is beyond me.  Is the lure of fast cash so strong we have decided that morality doesn’t matter?  We now have multiple pieces of evidence of corruption reaching the highest levels of one of the two companies operating these cameras in New Jersey.  Both companies are guilty of blatantly lying about their products and misrepresenting data.”

In the winter a former top salesman for Redflex admitted to bestowing gifts and bribes on …officials in dozens of municipalities within, but not limited to the following states: California, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia. He said Redflex bribed local officials with meals, golf outings and tickets to professional football and baseball games. The expenses were listed as categories such as “entertainment” and “celebratory tokens, according to a law suit filed in Arizona this February.

“This type of practice is apparently standard operating procedure for these guys.  The fact that the indicted executive said he had first hand knowledge of bribes and/or gifts given to local officials in New Jersey municipalities can’t help but destroy the credibility of any local official trying to make the case that the program is effective.

“The entire, tortured supposition of the red-light camera programs is that the cameras increase safety, we know that’s not true, so outright corruption isn’t that much of a stretch. This is exactly why we need to protect New Jersey drivers from these government-sponsored-scams in other jurisdictions! The cameras in New Jersey are bad, the cameras in Chicago are bad, they’re all bad, and there is no exception to that rule. December 16^th - the day the camera program in New Jersey will come to a merciful end – can’t come soon enough.”

Governor Chris Christie said that he his inclined to not renew New Jersey’s Red Light Camera program when the five year experiment expires in December.

Speaking at a press conference in Sea Bright yesterday afternoon, the governor feigned surprise that Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon is opposed to the RLC program.  O’Scanlon has waged a ferocious multi-year campaign against the cameras, producing independent data showing that the cameras increase accidents at intersections where they are installed, that they are often timed to entrap drivers and alleging that they are nothing more than a money grab on the part of the companies that operate them and the municipalities that deploy them.

Christie said he has not studied the issue to the extent that O’Scanlon has, “but I will, ” he said,  “I have some concerns.  At this point I am not inclined to allow them to continue, but I haven’t made a final decision yet.”

New Jersey’s State Government and 23 of its municipal governments will recover a morsel of integrity at midnight tonight when state sanctioned theft in the form of red light cameras cease to operate at 73 intersections.  New Jersey’s Red Light Camera Program, authorized as a five year pilot during the lame duck session of the 2006-2008 legislature and signed into law by Governor Jon Corzine, expires tonight.

The fact that the Red Light Camera Program has not been renewed is due in large measure to the efforts of Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and his staff.  Their efforts have been heroic.

O’Scanlon and Co. have been relentless in monitoring the Red Light Camera Program and telling the truth about it. They have hired independent experts to investigate complaints and document fraud within the program.  They have sorted through data that has regularly been obfuscated by the red light camera companies (and bureaucrats friendly to them) to reflect improved safety conditions at RCL intersections where in fact conditions had often worsened.   They have worked hard in getting the word out about the program’s failure and corruption. They have countered expensive advertising campaigns by the red light camera companies and countered expensive lobbyists working the halls of the Statehouse, without the benefit of the profits the red light camera companies stole from the motoring public to fund their efforts.

In thwarting the Red Light Camera Program’s renewal, O’Scanlon has proved himself to be “the real deal”….a leader who fights for the right thing because it is the right thing. He is an example of what a “public servant” should be.

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

Ben Dworkin, the Director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University teaches young people how government and politics works in New Jersey.  Of O’Scanlon’s efforts on red light cameras, Dworkin said, “I think that it is a tribute to Assemblyman O’Scanlon’s doggedness that this policy change has been made.  He certainly tapped into a grass roots concern when he latched onto this issue.  Professors like me want to be able to teach that an individual can make a difference in politics, and when the full story of red light cameras is told, this will probably be a great case study of just that.”

There is little, if any, political upside for O’Scanlon in this fight.  He could have, like Assemblyman John Wisniewski, for instance, accepted thousands in campaign contributions from the red light camera companies and/or their lobbyists.  There are no red light cameras in O’Scanlon’s Monmouth County district.  His 13th district seat is safe.   He did not have to fight this fight. Throughout his effort, he didn’t sacrifice any other legislative responsibilities, which are substantial as the Assembly Republican Budget Officer and a legislator assisting thousands of constituents through the maze of Superstorm Sandy recovery.

President Abraham Lincoln, concluded The Gettysburg Address by honoring those men who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Civil War…”that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The Red Light Camera Program, like a great deal of government in New Jersey, is not “of the people, by the people, for the people.”  Touted by criminals, politicians and criminal enterprises who benefited from it (two of the original sponsors of the legislation authorizing the Red Light Camera Program are now convicted felons and one of the two companies that operates the cameras has been implicated in a bribery scandal), as a safety measure, red light cameras are in reality a money grubbing ripoff rigged to trick motorists into violations.  The statistics show that accidents have not declined and in some cases, accidents, particularly rear end collisions caused by motorists stopping suddenly to avoid being photographed as yellow lights turned too quickly to red, increased.  The red light cameras are money grubbing safety hazards.

Far too much government in New Jersey is not “of the people, by the people, for the people.”  Rather, from public safety, to education, to infrastructure and more, New Jersey’s governments are controlled by people who do business with it and who are employed by it for their benefit to the detriment of “the people”  it ostensibly serves. We see that in our cities where how dollars spent for police officers is determined by union leaders rather than by duly elected officials.  We see it in our education system where failing schools and school systems cannot be reformed due to union contracts. We see it in our infrastructure where the cost to build roads exceeds $2 million per mile.

The corrupt and failed red light camera program does not improve public safety.  It generates revenue for the municipalities, counties and the state and especially for the companies who operate the cameras while making our roads more hazardous.  Often, during the five year program in New Jersey, that revenue was generated through trickery.

That the Red Light Camera Program has not been renewed is a remarkable accomplishment.  It is rare that any government program is done away with, especially one that generates millions in revenue that feeds the beast.

Congratulations and thank you to Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and his team.   The battle is won, but the war continues as already there is legislation being proposed to reinstate the Red Light Camera Program in some form.

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

New Jersey Natural Gas, the utility that provides natural gas to nearly a half million customers in Monmouth and Ocean Counties as well as parts of Burlington, Middlesex and Morris, is delaying many Jersey Shore residents from moving back into their Sandy damaged and reconstructed homes by up to 10 weeks.

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon said that a constituent contacted him with information that the contractor rebuilding her home said that NJNG takes 8 weeks to disconnect service pre-construction and another 8 weeks to reconnect the gas service after construction has been completed.

O’Scanlon reached out to New Jersey Natural Gas representatives who clarified that the average time frame for a disconnect is approximately 4 weeks, and the average time for a reconnect is 4-6 weeks. Disconnections and re-connections of gas lines are more complicated than for power lines, the utility’s representative said, thus leading to longer lead times.  For this reason homeowners and contractors are encouraged to contact New Jersey Natural Gas early in their construction planning phase.

“It seems that there was some initial confusion on the part of contractors and homeowners with how long this process can take and when NJNG should be brought into the process.  As long as NJNG is contacted early in the planning process, there is no reason it should take more than approximately 4 weeks to disconnect, and then another 6 to reconnect gas lines for these homeowners who have been waiting over two years to move back into their homes.  The key here is for homeowners and contractors to be aware of these lead times and to begin to work with NJNG early enough so that they don’t get jammed up when they are ready to begin work or move back into their renovated and elevated homes.” O’Scanlon said.

“To ensure that this information is thoroughly disseminated NJNG has agreed to reach out to contractors and disaster recovery staff.  Homeowners should also be aware – and be sure to remind their contractors so they aren’t held up on either side of their projects.  This is critical. Just like our office working with JCP&L, we remain open to constituents who need help moving through this process with utlities” concluded O’Scanlon.