D.C. lawmakers are heaping new bills onto an already deep pile of campaign-finance reforms on the agenda at city hall, creating what amounts to a smorgasbord of solutions aimed at restoring confidence in their scandal-tinged body.
Members of a D.C. Council task force on traffic fines agreed on Tuesday that speed limits and red-light cameras improve safety, but city officials need to show "a rational nexus" between hefty fines that can reach $150 and drivers' willingness to change their behavior.
A new D.C. Council task force will evaluate hefty fines levied on motorists caught by speed cameras and other forms of automated traffic enforcement, a controversial and expanding system that has some wondering if city leaders care more about revenue than public safety.
It took God six days to create the earth, but it took only one vote for the District to charge you for using it. Mayor Vincent C. Gray proposed taxing people who use public parks for things like popular boot camps, tennis lessons or baseball camp.
The District of Columbia's speed-camera revenue-raising grows more brazen by the day. Last week, officials announced a dozen new speed-trap locations, while the for-profit Arizona-based vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) has been busy installing permanent speed cameras at well-concealed freeway locations on Interstate 295 and Interstate 395.
A volunteer effort to ban direct corporate contributions to D.C. political campaigns failed to gather enough valid signatures to put the issue before city voters on Nov. 6, officials said Wednesday.
D.C. Council member Tommy Wells is forming a task force to study changes in automated traffic enforcement that could lead to lower fines, his office announced in a press release today.
If you believe in free speech as it relates to campaign funding and have any measure of a stake in what happens in the nation's capital, Monday is the day to speak now or risk having your mouth duct-taped.
