homosexuals and State sponsored religious preference for public benefit corporations (Nassau OTB) and Nassau County sucks money from taxpayers like blood flows from the bodies of ebola victims. Joy to the world but you cannot bet at Nassau OTB, a public benefit corporation, while Andrew Cuomo, exercises his right to go to church and denies Nassau County Bettors and OTB workers the right to do as they please free from Andrew Cuomo's religious preference (see eg NY Const Art 1, Sec. 3). Who needs to work when the County has speed cameras to make money and make a mockery of common sense. Thou shalt drive reasonably. Have you ever traveled on the Southern State Parkway?
Going public with speed-zone camera details not so easy
A speed limit sign is seen along Stewart Avenue in Bethpage on Friday, Aug. 22, 2014. (Credit: Jeremy Bales)
School-zone speed cameras
Speed cameras in school zones in Nassau County
Back to school zone speed cameras
Mangano dismisses $2.4 million in speed camera tickets
Nassau lawmakers OK request for speed cameras
Location of camerasAccording to the county, the information -- on how many tickets had been issued, etc. -- was not public information because the county's Traffic and Parking Violations Agency was part of the state's district court system.
And Nassau is not alone. A Suffolk spokesman, in responding to a request by Judy Cartwright, Newsday's Community Watchdog columnist, said the county wouldn't confirm dismissal of a specific ticket because it was part of "court" documents.
FIND: Speed cams near schools in Nassau
CARTOON: Just slow down
Both counties are wrong.
David Bookstaver, director of communications for the state court system, said, "They are not a part of the court system."
And to make things even clearer, let's go to Robert Freeman, executive director of the Committee on Open Government, the expert on the state's Freedom of Information Law -- which celebrated its 40th anniversary last month.
"These are administrative agencies set up to administer parking programs," he said. "The information is public under FOIL." In fact, Freeman said, even if the counties were correct in recasting agencies as part of a court, information still would be public -- under a different statute.
So, why make a hubbub about releasing public information?
Carole Wilkinson of Bellmore, who's lived in Nassau for 64 years, got a school ticket on Sept. 18 for speeding on South Oyster Bay Road near a private school. After she received the citation in the mail on Tuesday, the recently retired executive assistant for a New York City CEO climbed back into her car to see what she had missed.
The only thing she said she saw was a sign that said school zone, although there is a sign noting school hours along the roadway. And then she called County Executive Edward Mangano's office, where, she said, referring to her notes, that a constituent affairs worker told her the following: That school zone signs have been in school zones for years, and that speed-zone cameras operated all day.
"She told me to go to court, and I said I'm not going because I am going to lose," Wilkinson said Wednesday.
Wilkinson isn't the only Long Island resident confused or angry about cameras. In Nassau, residents have been hammering elected officials with questions about it. Wilkinson said she wanted to know how many tickets were issued, and where. She said she wanted to know how much money the tickets brought in.
That -- all of it -- is supposed to be public information under FOIL.
With the rollout of the school-zone speed camera operation in Nassau, and proposed extension of the red light camera program in Suffolk, it's information essential for Newsday -- or any other interested party -- to determine how well, and how fairly, cameras are working.
Of course, municipalities can use FOIL to slow the release of information. A spokesman for Mangano said Tuesday that Nassau would release information on school zone cameras at the end of the year, after it was reviewed by county officials. That release also likely would be timed after elections -- a political advantage with so many residents so angry, so close to Election Day.
There's a petition making the rounds asking Nassau to suspend the program. It came with an email seeking advice on where the request should go. To court? To the county? The answer: Any Nassau and state official, Republican or Democrat, who voted for the programs.
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Confidential > Stop
scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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