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Palmdale First!
Friday, April 06 2007 - 02:01 PM
Palmdale's 94-PRIDE Hotline Expands!
The Palmdale Pride Hotline, 94-PRIDE, has been enhanced to handle a broader cross section of “Quality of Life” complaints and more efficiently direct CITY residents’ after hours calls for assistance.
This now includes Graffiti, Hate Crime, Crime Tips, Stray Shopping Carts, and Public Works related problems.
Although many of us know and use the 94-PRIDE number to report graffiti, how many residents know the toll free number to report stray shopping carts? Did you know that the Public Works Department has an answering service to take after hours calls for street light, signal and drainage and road repair problems? Probably not. Probably because nobody knows the direct number to Public Works! How about the new and improved crime tip hot line.
They ring about as much as the Maytag repairman’s phone. Nobody knows the numbers!
This has annoyed me for years, and I couldn’t seem to get any resolution to it. I couldn’t remember the numbers without my little crib sheet with all the various numbers on it. And I know it just isn’t me…
I brought this up again to our new city manager. Williams got on it, and within 2 weeks our communications folks set up the menus to allow this easily remembered number to direct resident’s calls, on or off hours, to the appropriate hotline. Strong work!
I have also suggested that the 94-PRIDE number be strategicly displayed on city banners at key intersections, where motorists will see them.
Steve
www.stevehofbauer.com
mattkeltner says...
I have two suggestions:
1.) Establish a wall for the taggers to paint on and express themselves, thereby eliminating the need to “tag” walls around the city, or…
2.) Plant some type of sturdy vines – like honeysuckle, jasmine or some other low-water variety – in order to beautify the wall using something natural (the plant) and that will prevent them from writing on it as well.
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KGWOLFE007 says...
Matt you are a total retard, how about telling them its against the law. And then give them a paint brush and canvas and express themselves without distructive behavior.
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KGWOLFE007 says...
The little jerks sprayed my motorhome and you want to reward criminal behavior.
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Steve Hofbauer says...
Oh, we catch plenty of them. But unfortunately, the courts don’t recognize the scourge these little creeps have become. For example, our esteemed Judge Ogner (remember the name at election time) lets off a vandal that caused over $50,000 worth of damage with a misdemeanor!
There is legislation pending to clarify for the courts that this does, in fact, raise to the level of a felony, and allows aggregation of multiple acts in a year for purposes of prosecution. It’s a “wobbler” so it gives the DA the option of filing as a felony.
Even with the optional wobbler language, the liberal legislature’s public safety committe may kill it anyway, so it is included in a comprehensive gang package that may be brought forward as an initiative in the near future.
Cities still go after the miscreants and their parents for restitution, in civil lawsuits. and sometimes we even collect!
Palmdale just enacted stiff civil fines for graffiti and other quality of life offenses, but they aren’t retroactive.
Steve
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mattkeltner says...
Who is sponsoring the state legislation to raise it to felony-level ?
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Steve Hofbauer says...
138, they average 24 hours to clean it up. Weekends get a little rough. If it doesn’t disappear, call me, and I’ll see to it.
Steve
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mattkeltner says...
So, in other words, they’ll have a fresh canvas in 24 hours or so.
Why not plant drought-resistant vines as other cities have done?
This may be expensive in the short-term scheme of things, but it will pay off in the long run.
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Steve Hofbauer says...
The graffiti bill, AB 1628, was introduced by Sharon Runner. I think she has some co-authors or sponsors by now. You can read the text at:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_1601-1650/ab_1628_bill_20070223_introduced.html
Steve
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mattkeltner says...
Thanks Steve! There was a similar, stricter bill proposed in the Nevada Assembly by Assemblyman Joe Oceguara (D-Las Vegas) that would have made grafitti-damage in excess of $5000 a felony. Was wondering if they used this piece of legislation as an example for its California counterpart?
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Steve Hofbauer says...
Matt, actually we do plant vines. All new development is required to, along with deterrent ground cover. Pyrocanthis is my personal favorite. The 1 1/2 inch needles on those babies sure discourage the creeps from a second pass through the planter!
Public works identifies graffiti prone walls, and will try to plant vines there, too, especially around the tracts that belong to a landscape maintenance district. Otherwise it is minimal for thoe that don’t opt in. Look around, you can tell which ones those are!
Steve
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Steve Hofbauer says...
Possibly. I am on the League of Cities Public Safeety Committee, and was just appointed cahir of the gang and graffiti subcommittee for the California League, There’s a lot of activity around the nation on these issues, and we try to model language for intriduction by legislators that has already stood the test of the courts and the ACLU, instead of reinventing the wheel.
Steve
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KGWOLFE007 says...
Plant poison ivy also. Anything to discourage the little creeps.
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mattkeltner says...
That wouldn’t be logical. We don’t want somebody’s dog to get hurt if it stopped to lift it’s leg. We also wouldn’t want an innocent kid to lose his or her ball or toy in the ivy and not know it was poisonous. That would be liabelous for the city. I think Pirocanthys is good enough…
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Steve Hofbauer says...
The problem with poison ivy is secondary contamination and allergic reactions. I actually looked into it. Seems it doesn’t bother you dog or cat ro romp thru it, but their coats get covered with it, and bring it home to momma and the kiddies, who break out and can’t figure why.
Pyrocanthis doesn’t seem to bother many dogs with thick coats. Others just avoid it.
Seems they’re smarter than most dumb ass taggers.
Steve
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Steve Hofbauer says...
Check the new line out after monday, and let me know if it works for you, or needs to be tweaked.
Steve
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KGWOLFE007 says...
Plant both and post signs, if a child is alone cite parent for child endangerment.
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138hwy says...
I believe that tagging should be considered along with car-jacking, attempted murder, ect. as far as crime is concerned and the penalty should be the same. I am serious here. Politicians should stop this crime. Steve, thanks always for your work on this scourge.
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Palmdale_Steve says...
Steve
You mean Judge Steven D. Ogden?
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Palmdale_Steve says...
Nobody ran against him last time, 2004.
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Steve Hofbauer says...
Yes, my error. Ogden. Nice little editorial in the AV Press today on that.
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Steve Hofbauer says...
See my blog on Gangs and Graffiti
http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Steve%20Hofbauer/2007/03/28/gang-legislation-moves-forward
for more details on the legislative war on gangs and graffiti.
Steve
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annette tappa says...
Do you have the number for runaway shopping carts? I get them all the time on my street.
Also Steve, maybe around election time you could make a post here on the ones who shouldn’t be re-elected. We need to get the “Ogden” types out of their seats.
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Steve Hofbauer says...
The direct number for cart pickup is 800/252-4613. As of monday, the 94-PRIDE phone menu will direct your call.
There is a web report at:
http://www.cityofpalmdale.org/departments/publicworks/shopping_cart.html
Trouble is few people see the bumper stickers on teh city vehicles, and I had to do a google search to find the web form.
The new all inclusive nuisance number will help.
Steve
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Steve Hofbauer says...
Ogden may be an otherwise great judge. But we need to question these absurdly weak sentences, and educate ourselves on these guys overall history.
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138hwy says...
Steve.
I called Palmdale Sheriff today about the good job that I think that the police are doing concerning gang violence. The watch commander said that the “plan” is increase the time for violent offenders and not really “hassel” the punks from Los Angeles due to a number of complaints about the sweeps. I have absolutely no complaints about these sweeps.
Is this guys comments true? If so, can you something about this thinking?
How much clout do you have with Laso?
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fincenMIB says...
Steve Hofbauer
I’d like to talk in person with you! I am on the board of directors to nograf at www.nograffiti.com I am also the founder of the National Graffiti Information Network, which merged with nograf in 1998, but I too live in Lancaster, CA. I’d love to talk to someone serious about gangs and graffiti.
Jay Beswick
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fincenMIB says...
If Ogden is the subject, a decade or so back we sent letters to all the judges, but in those days the letter was signed by all the Dept. Heads.
Jerry Baxter for Cal Trans
Ira Reiner the DA Then!
Sherman Block the Sheriff then
Willie Williams, former LAPD Chief
James Hahm, when he was City Attorney
Barry Nidorf LA County Probation then
William Anton former Superintendent of LAUSD
Edward Gomez Chief Southern CHP
Alan Pegg then Director of the SCRTD, now LA MTA
T.A. Tidemanson LA County Dir. Public Works
Felicia Marcus Pres. L.A. DPW
Michael Rogers Angeles Natl Forest
Jay Beswick (me) NGIN
To send a message to judges you need clout! If that doesn’t work, if they are elected, then a recall petition. You make examples of those that don’t cooperate. Lessons from Community Organizing with U.N.O. and IAF (Industrial Area Foundation) the masters of union type organizing of a constituentcy.
Its time to take AV back or leave?
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fincenMIB says...
Runaway Shopping Carts?
1-800-252-4613 Its easy if you carry a cell phone to call these in.
MIB
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fincenMIB says...
Graffiti! Over 15 Billion a year to remove and replace damaged components. I worked as a consultant to the University of Dayton Study, funded by the US Transportation Research Board, called; “Enhancement of Vehicle Window Glazing for Vandal Resistance and Durability”. You can get more info on this at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_rrd_09.pdf
This was to change the construction design of transit vehicles recognizing that vandals would create a need to change out or replace glass transit windows more easily. The study included transit agencies in Europe and as far away as Moscow. These children are costing taxpayers billions, but few keep track, but I DO! I am currently a consultant for VANDAL SHIELD a mylar system for protecting glass from etching or being carved. There is also a process for remediation of acid etching glass. In 1993 the former name of the LA MTA spent 13 million dollars on graffiti control and back then 85% of this was do to glass etching or carving. The SCRTD also had this problem on the plastic windows that were either LEXANE or LUCITE. MTA spends more than 22 million a year now. San Francisco, more than 22 million in 2006. A little city like Pomona nearly 2 million, with 3 million in accumulated glass etching of all varieties.
If someone is working on legislation we need to talk!!!
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138hwy says...
MIB..I am not. But is a major concern with me. I’m just a citizen who knows what taggers can do to destroy a place.
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fincenMIB says...
After reading that article with disgust, my question since these guys were 18 or over, what is their address? If they are hard core, they will be tagging again in less than a week! When CHAKA was charged in the early 1990’s it was LA City attorney Peter Shutan who prosecuted Danny Ramos, a once famous tagger. I was called in to be a witness in court about matching signatures with tags. Before I could come to court, Ramos tagged the court elevator after his hearing. He was a predictable moron who had tagged over 10,000 locations across California. Judge Ogden if I read it right said unsupervised probation? That tells me the judge is an idiot! Taggers tag 24/7 it is what makes them get up in the morning or afternoon! The great graffiti judges of LA were Jack Gold in Sylmar & Kenneth Chotner out of the Van Nuys Court House. We prefered informed judges in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. If the judge doesn’t get it, let him pay the $50,000. price tage or start a petition to recall him. Unless of course we want to see 2,000 taggers one day in the Antelope Valley.
As people were sleeping here last night agencies were writing nasty letters to ebay, enough that ebay shut down an auction for 16 ounces of acid etch that was being marketed to destroy storefront glass. 16 ounces can do $50,000 in damage and of just a $10. sale, ebays cut $1.00 The source a clever kid in Hollywood CA marketing or exporting a huge price tag. If you want to impact the problem, you need to go way deeper than simply depending on a city crew to clean up the streets. San Francisco once had a small budget for graffiti removal, it didn’t go to 22 million dollars over night!
Jay
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bboomer1948 says...
94-Pride will work… I call, or even email the City of Palmdale concerning grafitti, and the city jumps on it withen a day or two.
One of the big reasons for a jump in grafitti and crime? The lack of a military draft….
I am dead positive that a military draft will get most of the thugs off our streets. Sure, these thugs will be a problem to those who ‘enlist’, but with purpose, they will blend in and become responsible…
A little ‘fear’ of being drafted and sent to a war will make most of Americas thugs think twice before perfoming acts of crime….
It’s been thirty two years since the end of the draft , it’s time to bring it back….Our volunteer military is stretched to it’s limit, and needs new blood .
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Hobalong says...
I totally agree with you on the draft, the national guard was not started to act like the real army. The daft really needs to be reinacted and our military must be kept up to strengh. There can only be peace with strengh, a strong army is a must for the protection of the United States. The National Guard should be used to help on the borders of each state.
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annette tappa says...
Thanks Steve for the number. Also, I have an interesting question about Ave. S. Sometime ago before the Ave S. project was complete, I read in the paper that the traffic lights would work together and stay green from the freeway to 40th st. east to aleave traffic congestion. However, it is just the opposite! When I’m on Ave. S and 25th, every light from there becomes red before I get to it and I have to brake hard to stop, it always seems to change just feet before I get there. I go the speed limit, however I have gone above the speed limit just to avoid that red light (just don’t tell the sheriff’s LOL). It takes me much longer now to get to the freeway.
Steve, give it a try please to see what I’m talking about. Do it around 4pm coming from the Oasis park, better yet, I wonder if Mayor Ledford has experienced it since we live close to each other.
Oh, I also forgot to add that it does the same thing coming from the freeway too (West to East).
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Hobalong says...
If you go just a little faster you can make it through the yellow lights.
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annette tappa says...
Thats what I’m going through. It takes 5 miles over the speed limit to get through on yellow. I DON’T LIKE THAT, TOO DANGEROUS! I want to drive through on green.
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Hobalong says...
yellows are like greens, they let you go but go like hell.
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mvrwc says...
here here on ave S lack of synchronization, or synchronized to hit red.
i’m out and about frequently and have been purposely taking ave S to see for myself after several citizens brought it to my attention.
ave S a nightmare!!!
the only winners are the oil companies as our cars idle at a red light then get horrible fuel economy as we accelerate to get to speed (worse fuel economy) only to stop once again at the next red light.
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Hobalong says...
Now Thomas I know you too can make it through those yellow go lights.
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Palmdale_Steve says...
mvrwc
Well seems like a good article for you to research and publish doesn’t it?
Traffic Light Synchronization in the AV
(Who, what, when and how)
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Palmdale_Steve says...
Thomas,
Consider the article from the political aspects of synchronizing lights on all the roads in the AV. Steve H has posted some comments on the topic before, and I’m sure he and the city engineers for Lancaster and Palmdale could tell you more. I believe the political angle is the overlapping State, County and City nature of many of the roads, but Hoff can tell you more.
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mvrwc says...
having recently purchased a higher end fine automobile, one feature is a readout informing the driver of their current mpg.
what a mistake. it has only made me more frustrated.
accelerating from red lights i get between 6-9mpg depending on incline or downgrade.
once at speed i get between 40-55mpg.
at speed, when the road is a slight downgrade, i coast it and the guage maxes out at 99mpg.
a primary rsponsibility of local government, in my OPINION is a plan to maximize traffic flow.
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Hobalong says...
Thomas, I drive ave S every day and really haven’t paid any attention to the lights. I guess I just take life easy and flow with the lights. They really should be synchronized and keep the traffic moving in a safe manner. Safes time and gasoline, also brakes.
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annette tappa says...
That’s what was supposed to happen, I read it in the paper ages ago. I’m glad I’m not the only one who has noticed, I will probably start taking Ave. R to get to the gymnastics center. I get can’t take the stop and go anymore.
Also, Thomas try this out: go on 30th East and Ave P (turn Left to go West) if you go 55 miles and under the light on 25th East and Ave P will stay green. If you go the speed limit of 60, it will turn red at the last minute before you make it there and you will have to brake hard. I don’t think it is my imagination!
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mvrwc says...
i understand hob. there are many important issues. wasn’t trying to put ave S at top. but for a while now if i need to get to the east side of town and ave S got close, i’ve taken it on purpose to see what gives.
ave S is a nightmare. it is an easy fix, at least an easier fix than tackling the landfill.
ave S should be fixed and eliminated as a problem. easy easy. i’m no traffic engineer, but it seems to me if the lights turn red one after the other, they can be made to turn green.
but what the hell do i know?
spamboy aka thomas
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Hobalong says...
Remember Thomas they may be that way for a reason to slow down the traffic and cut down speeding.
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Hobalong says...
I hear they sell something for your car that you can push a button and the lights will change. But of course they are against the law.
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annette tappa says...
Thomas said, “i’m no traffic engineer, but it seems to me if the lights turn red one after the other, they can be made to turn green.”
My thought exactly!
Larry, yes the traffic has slowed down and has cut down speeding, however, try getting stuck during the evenings when everyone is getting off work and the traffic is backed up just like 10th east by the mall. People just want to get home to their families, is that too much to ask from a commuter???
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Steve Hofbauer says...
I have info on traffic on my website. But in summary, traffic lights are not necessarily synchronized; traffic is managed. Its a great buzzword, way overused, and rarely implemented with modern traffic management systems.
If you want, I can arrange a tour of the traffic management center at city hall for you guys.
BTW, a lot of people WANT to cause traffic to stop, to control speeds, etc. The lights are not set up to do that. We don’t set out to control speeds with lights; it is more a consequence of congestion.
The TMS uses those intersection cameras that some tinfoil-hat wearing,conspiracy theorists believe are big-brother spy cameras. They are actually fairly low resolution cameras designed to sense mass; small or non-contrasting vehicles, like a gray motorcycle for example, might not be sensed, as they blend into the background asphalt. The capacitive loops that are used on older systems have that same problem sensing small mass, too.
Parameters can be set to stall the protected left arrow light to allow approaching traffic to make it through an approaching intersection, for example, if they enter the left turn lane during the green phase, up to a maximum time; you can watch it in action at 10th west and P.
The system analyzes traffic VOLUME and dynamically changes timing to allow the most efficient flow, considering what the impact to surrounding intersections would be. i.e. Traffic gets heavy westbound on P – it will try to prolong the light phase, unless north and southbound traffic, or nearby intersections, would be adversely impacted beyond set parameters. If this, than that, and, or, else… classic boolean logic.
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Steve Hofbauer says...
Was there ever any? In response to the repeated posts critical of our graffiti abatement response, I posted, privately and in this blog, my pager, cell phone, e-mail address, and city hall phones for my and the city manager, in order to resolve 138’s graffitti issue in a timely manner and determine where the breakdown, if there ever was one, had occurred.
In response, I received this:
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From: 138hwy
Subject: Re: Graffiti
Never mind, I am done with this issue.
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Makes me wonder……
Steve
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Steve Hofbauer says...
94-PRIDE upgrade is up and running. Graffiti, Hate Crime, Crime Tips, Stray Shopping Carts, and Public Works related problems can be reported through the new phone menu.
I worked it extensively the other day, and found it worked fine if you simply left your message. But if you kept playing with it, a couple of glitches surfaced, after you were properly transferred to the correct line, but it seems the issues were in the programs for the referred number.
So leave your message and I have passed the problems on.
Steve
www.stevehofbauer.com
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annette tappa says...
Steve, I can leave the location of shopping carts through 94-pride now? I don’t need to call the 800 # now?
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Steve Hofbauer says...
Yes! Stray carts are option 4 at the opening menu. It actually transfers the call to the other 800 #, but now you only need to remember one number, and not carry around a phone book!
Steve
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annette tappa says...
Cool! 94-pride has been in my cell phone memory, unfortunely I have to use it often.
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Quester5 says...
Again you cut through the crap and get things moving. The easier the better.
Thank you.
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