HOUSTON REVOLTS

American Traffic Solutions or Above The Statutes, Inc?

A scheme backed by American Traffic Solutions to conspire with City of Houston politicians in overturning a public election banning automated ticketing machines is backfiring as constituents express outrage as the program expands:

Amazingly, lost in the chaos surrounding the city’s insulting plan to expand the cameras are the much more significant questions surrounding American Traffic Solutions lobbyist and general scumbag counsel George Hittner, who did the dirty work constructing a phony lawsuit involving the city with the intent to punt the case to the same federal court where Hittner’s father happens to serve..

“Criminal Justice System” indeed.

Councilwoman Jolanda Jones may be the most honest politician in Texas since the ATS meltdown. Her proclamation is correct that since the cameras came in without a public vote, they can leave without a public vote.

“We can put it on city council next week. And we can vote for it [the ban].”

Who’s Jim Tuton and the American Traffic Solutions Sue Crew going to sue when the council cans the scam?

NEW: visit the CameraFRAUD 2012: Texas Forum beta

How It Works: Red Light Cameras

The Weekly Standard has published a great guide to the complicated and technical process red light cameras use to extract money straight out of your wallet as you drive through a monitored intersection.

Most of you aren’t intelligent enough to understand all the elements because you’re not politicians or camera company executives, but go ahead and read it anyway.

Trust us, we know what's best for you. ~Lobbyists, Politicians, Camera Crooks

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Too hot for American Traffic Solutions in Arizona? Are they planning to move their headquarters from Scottsdale?

Could ATS be a-movin?

While the mercury in Phoenix is hitting upwards of 110 degrees in Phoenix, did CEO Jim Tuton finally decide it’s getting too hot in AZ for his taste?

Or is American Traffic Solutions so desperate to save their $80 Million scamera system in Los Angeles that they’re willing to relocate from Scottsdale to avoid the SB 1070 related boycott costing them a contract renewal?

You may remember the pesky little boycotts threatened by cities across California. Could they be rearing their ugly heads again, but this time in a positive manner for AZ?

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American Traffic Solutions Exec Suspended

HeraldNet.com out of Seattle suburb Everett, Washington busted an ATS VP for being what is now referred to as a “sockpuppet.” In an equally hilarious development, CEO Jim Tuton has suspended him!

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American Traffic Solutions “Tells the city of Scottsdale what to do and they do it!”

Neville Cramer, a retired federal agent with 30 years of experience in law enforcement is telling his story to the public after being convicted of a crime he did not commit, as shown in court records and recordings.

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Baytown Red Light Cameras Flashing

Baytown, TX became one of the latest cities to ban red light cameras with a citizens vote. Strangely enough, ATS doesn’t seem to get the hint. Reports out of the Houston suburb have confirmed that the cameras are still on and flashing, but no tickets are being issued. When reached for comment, Baytown officials will only say, “the ordinance is being observed.”

What’s going on in Texas is eerily similar to what Redflex was trying to pull when their contract with Arizona DPS was terminated. You may remember that they were attempting to record speeds for data they could later manipulate.

It’s hard to say exactly when ATS plans on shipping their scamera equipment out of Baytown, but the voters who cast them out are becoming increasingly impatient.

ATS to borrow from Goldman Sachs, buy Redflex

ATS is looking to purchase the only company that’s had a worse 2010 in the industry of scam ticketing, Redflex. With the speculated per share price of near $3.00, it’s clear that ATS brass is almost as delusional as their team of sue-happy lawyers.

Both companies have been losing money in massive amounts because of lost contracts, millions of unpaid tickets and perpetual lawsuits. The only way ATS could afford to purchase a majority stake in Redflex would be with another cash infusion from America’s public enemy #1: Goldman Sachs. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone proclaims that Goldman is “the great Vampire Squid, wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”

How appropriate that they would soon own Redflex Traffic Systems.

Ironically, Redflex actually bought ATS, run by the Tutons back in 1995. They then waited two years, formed their company again and have been operating under the same name ever since. Now the roles are reversed.

What’s very different this time around is that the political climate has become very toxic and revenues are plunging for the camera scam. Redflex’s profits alone have dropped 92.6% in the last year. In the last few years, photo ticketing programs have been routed at the ballot box, losing all 15 public votes.

Only a money monster like Goldman Sachs could absorb this mess and not flinch. Of course their investment will not pay off as the cameras continue to come down across the country, but that’s never stopped the Vampire Squid before.

13 Days Later, Houston Shuts Off ATS Red Light Cameras

The will of the people was delayed, but it looks like Houston is finally doing the right thing and shutting off its red light cameras.

(Un)American Traffic Solutions has shifted their business model to dishing out lawsuits, so the city of Houston is understandably nervous. The city has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against the scamera vendor to beat them to the punch.

Results Are In: Every Camera Ban Initiative Wins

Never before have citizens groups across the country with no funding been able to slay the corporate funded, highly paid lobbyist-driven dragons. American Traffic Solutions(ATS) of Scottsdale, AZ headed by Jim Tuton spent more than $1.5 Million to try every trick in the book in the 5 cities that were voting on bans of his automated ticketing machines. He paid lawyers, lobbyists, front groups and shelled out big money to run ads in major news publications. The result? Jim and ATS lost in every city.

All 5 of the citizens groups, located in California, Washington, Ohio and Texas spent a total of $2,000 funding their grass roots efforts. What an amazing accomplishment this is for concerned citizens who registered free websites, wrote articles, utilized social media, studied data, scored media attention, gathered the necessary signatures and finally, stood at the polls all day on Tuesday earning votes.

These types of victories are unheard of and should be recognized as proof positive that citizens groups with virtually no money can actually prevail with hard work, and of course, being on the right side of a hot button issue.

Here is a list of the cities who will no longer suffer the constant surveillance and money drain of automated ticketing machines.

1. Houston, TX

2. Baytown, TX

3. Mukilteo, WA (Seattle)

4. Garfield Heights, OH (Cleveland)

5. Anaheim, CA (Orange County)

Notably, in Mukilteo and Anaheim, the citizens initiatives are winning by more than 70-30 ratios. Congrats goes out to all, but especially those two groups for their resounding victories.

Despite the widespread use of ATS cameras, Tuton and his team of lawyers and lobbyists do not have an unending supply of money. How many more of these defeats will they be able to endure? It must be mentioned that photo ticketing has never survived a public vote and Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 was no different. It was definitely one for the record books and scored 5 victories out of 5 for the good guys.

Houston Added to List of Cities Voting on Scameras

The 4th largest city in the country is going to vote on a photo ticketing ban. This can’t sit well with scam vendors Redflex and ATS. That list of cities is growing rapidly, but Houston, TX sticks out because it would be a dagger to the heart of the aforementioned fraud peddlers.

TheNewspaper.com covers the saga in at length in their latest article:

“The effort was able to take advantage of a high rate of voter interest and anger at the city’s red light program,” initiative campaign manager Philip Owens told TheNewspaper. “In some neighborhoods where we gathered signatures going door to door. We had a success rate of 90 percent — meaning nine out of every ten contacts signed the petition. That’s a staggering rate and shows this is a people-driven campaign.” The group now will focus its efforts on driving voter turnout in November and refuting the claims made by the paid spokesmen for ATS regarding the effect cameras have had on collision rates (view independent studies).

Also in the Lone Star State, Baytown and Port Lavaca are ready to vote on scameras. Stop Baytown Red Light Cameras turned in the needed signatures to compensate for some that were invalidated by the city. Quoted from their website,

“The Arizona camera company(ATS) gets paid a bounty of 55% of each ticket collected in return for installing the cameras for free. source; Baytown Sun 3-27-10″

If it “isn’t about the money,” ATS sure has a funny way of showing it based on that last stat.

Outside of Texas, Mukilteo, Washington has won their court battle with a front group funded by scamera companies and that Seattle suburb will be voting on a photo ticketing ban.

The great state of Ohio is next on the radar screen with the cities of Garfield Heights and South Euclid, OH having their signature count validated recently. Both city councils are going to review them.

The Cleveland Camera Removal Team is still working on their petition. They are shooting for a special election in February 2011.

CameraFRAUD volunteers will be taking on Paradise Valley, where the scam started almost 25 years ago. Watching these other cities jump on the scamera-ban bandwagon should be plenty of motivation to up our own efforts.

Tonight’s Mission: Paradise Regained.