Written by A concern from a Renton high Student about the photo-enforcement system next to the school….
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From: Council@ci.renton.wa.us [mailto:Council@ci.renton.wa.us]
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 10:33 AM
To: ‘J_________
Cc: Kent Curry
Subject: Re: Council minutes – A concern from renton high school & its students
Dear J_________,
On behalf of the Renton City Council, I would like to thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with Council and to assure you that your comments have been forwarded to each councilmember. I have spoken with Kent Curry in the Police Department. Commander Curry oversees our photo enforcement program. He informs me that your concerns have already been forwarded to him from Mayor Law. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Julia Medzegian
City Council Liaison
jmedzegian@ci.renton.wa.us
City of Renton
1055 S. Grady Way
Renton, WA 98057
425.430.6501
From J____________
I’m emailing with great concern and confusion about the new photo enforced lights in front of Renton High School on South 2nd Street.
I am a newly graduate of RHS, and for the years of my life attending the school i have NEVER accounted an issue on my driving. Every time i pull out of the student parking lot, yes i accelerate from the RHS student parking lot, going across 3-4 lanes to the left side of S. 2nd street. For the past couple of times, the photo enforced lights has accounted me as offending it.
The photo enforced posting states:
Speed limit = 20mph IF:
1. the flashing lights
2. When children is present.
Neither of the conditions exist. In fact I went back to double check- children are not present, and the light is not flashing.
My ticket times are around 1-1:30pm. I’ve received two thus far, back to back, with sheer ignorance that this was such a violation. I’ve never accounted this for the past 4 years. In addition, it takes 2 weeks for me to get notified? I pass the school two times a day, 5 days a week.
Now I’m not only speaking for the concerns on myself, but on the behalf of all other RHS students who have encountered this issue.
Instead of assisting RHS students, it has became a speed trap which has affected all student drivers, which is highly stressful, and unreasonable. A 124$ ticket repeatedly is something not manageable. Students such as I always pass this area to go for lunch, and leaving school.
I am interested in raising this issue up in a council meeting, because this affects the community greatly.
I’m asking a revision and some attention to this area. I understand that this is a newly setup system, but this is having an adverse effect on both RHS and the local community.
Thank you,
J__________
The original complaint is neither well-written nor of the quality I’d expect to see from someone granted a diploma in Washington, or even Renton, for that matter.
It is as if I want to waste my time writing anything formal.
My message was merely an address of concern about the issue that i wrote quickly, only takes a split second to type something like that.
If you want to be smart, its not as if being a Renton High graduate is anything to be proud of. Take a look at the WASL scores and overall students in the school, all near bottom.
IF you think my quick typing was poor, then you’ll be even more amazed by the quality of seniors still coming out of RHS.
Updates on my part.. I guess I had to to my own little annoying investigation on this. I actually had to catch the department of transportation workers actually going up to the flashing lights and reactiviting them, days after my mentioning about the errors.
I love how it was covered up, unintentionally or not. I also love the how broken up everything is. The police department manages the photo enforcement however has no absolute clue about the mechanisms, how its connected. The department of transportation knew all about the issue, and the police department and judging seems to be unknown to this fact.
I had to call up the head of the department of transportation to void out the information that I got for police, whom told me that I clearly violated the law blindly. I pass by the school about 20 times in the spand of two weeks, and to say that I clearly cannot see a flashing light is an insult.
That was when I saw a van parked in front of RHS and workers fixing the timing mechanisms on the flashing light indicators. So i simply took pictures of that and also asked them.
I also like how I’m not the only individual who has faced this issue (based on previous blog comments on previous blog entries – and yet it goes unheard of).
But thanks for your guy’s jokes, have fun making jokes on the internet.
First anonymous: does what you said matter in the slightest about the subject at hand?
This wasn’t Renton, but…. I got hit for +200 in a double curved area of Seattle at 1:38 PM, a vehicle changing direction nearby had distracted me from noting the flashing light, but I had already scanned around and there were absolutely no school children present.