Politico Magazine Article

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/what-works-albuquerque-homeless-solution-housing-policy-214527

I was delighted to have made a small contribution to this very lengthy and well written article in Politico Magazine.

My comments relate to APD’s dealings with the mentally ill and how the killings of police officers Michael King and Richard Smith affected APD.

Darren White is not specifically named as Berry’s Chief Public Safety Officer in the article who said it was time to “take the gloves off” when he ordered the removal of the homeless from downtown.

Darren White’s orders and attitude about the homeless cost the City $98,000 to settle a lawsuit.

Mayor Berry has never said publicly if he knew or approved White’s directives and declined to comment.

When I was Chief Public Safety Officer and Head of the Safe City Strike force, I recall vividly being able to work out the differences the City had with the good Samaritans who were feeding the homeless on a Sunday in a park so they could continue to feed the homeless.

My belief is that a greatness of a city is reflected in how it treats its poor, its homeless, and senior citizens.

I want to thank Dr. Jeremy Reynolds the founder and director of Joy Junction for inviting me to speak with the reporter.

Please see my November 21, 2016 blog article “It’s Time to Cleanout APD’s and City Hall’s Sewer Line’s” on blog PeteDineli.com on what I feel needs to be done to reform APD and address our rising crime rates.

ART Bus Raid on Bio Park Tax Funds A Real Threat

The Bio Park, with its zoo, aquarium and botanical gardens, is the number one tourist attraction in the State of New Mexico.

During the 2015 municipal election, Albuquerque voters wisely approved with an overwhelming majority the voter petition drive initiative to increase the gross receipts tax that will raise $255 million dollars over 15 years for the Bio Park.

Voters decided to invest in their community and themselves.

The gross receipts tax initiative was needed because some $20 million dollars plus in repairs and maintenance to the facilities were ignored by the Berry Administration for 6 years.

There are $40 million dollars in upgrades and exhibits needed to the Bio Park facilities.

There have been a few reports on what is happening to the Bio Park gross receipts tax funding such as the new penguin attraction.

“I am quite excited to have a person of his caliber join our team and help guide the future of the Bio Park”, said Mayor Berry in appointing a new ABQ Bio Park Director hired to implement the new ABQ Bio Park master plan and guide capital improvements worth more than a quarter of a billion dollars over 15 years.

Berry took credit for something he did not advocate for, he did not like nor did support nor vote for, and something that was needed for the Bio Park because of the Berry administration serious neglect of one of Albuquerque’s crown jewels.

ART BUS PROJECT DIVERSION

Congress’ decision to not consider outgoing President Obama’s budget jeopardizes the bulk of the ART Bus Projects funding and places the entire ART Bus project funding at serious risk.

It has also been reported that congressional interim committees have recommended steep cuts in FTA grants for projects such as ART.

In 2017, the City of Albuquerque will not be getting a penny from the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA), even though construction of the ART bus project is scheduled to be completed by September, 2017.

After the ART bus project is completed, there is no doubt the contractor will be demanding payment in full of $120 million.

Mayor Berry and the City Council have gambled with taxpayer’s money on getting a $69 million dollar FTA federal grant that may never come.

The Mayor and City Council were repeatedly warned but no they wanted to cram the project down taxpayer’s throats without a public vote.

After construction of the ART Bus project is completed where in the general fund will the money come from if the federal grant money is not there?

One of my big fears is that Mayor Berry and the City Council will divert money from the already existing Bio Park budget to make up for any shortfall in the $120 million ART bus project when the Feds do not approve the grant.

The City Council and the Berry Administration could reduce the existing Bio Park budget and divert that money to the ART Bus Project saying the new Bio Park gross receipts tax is available.

The Berry administration could easily go back and redesign the ART bus routes on Central and build bus stops at the BIO Park attractions so they can justify diverting money from the Bio Park funds to fund the ART bus project.

VIGILANCE NEEDED

Albuquerque voters and the Bio Park Society need to be vigilant and make sure that all the millions that are slated for the Bio Park generated by the gross receipts tax actually go to the Bio Park.

Voters should not allow the City Council to reduce existing funding of the Bio Park in the general fund.

Just as important, voters need to hold accountable all the City Councilors, like Diane Gibson running for reelection and candidates for Mayor, like Ken Sanchez, as well as City Councilors Pat Davis, Isaac Benton, Don Harris, Trudy Jones, Brad Winters, who all supported the disaster known as ART and refused to put it on the ballot for voter approval.

Political Attack Ads Work, People Believe the Lies

It was reported that New Mexico political candidates and committees have filed final spending reports for the 2016 general election with the New Mexico Secretary of State. (See “PACs spent big in final election days”, “Negative ads abounded as campaigns came to close on election day”, December 13, 2016 Albuquerque Journal, Metro & New Mexico section, page C-1).

Voters say they hate negative political advertising, but negative attack ads do work and all too often voters believe the lies, especially when a candidate who the negative ads are about has no money to refute the lies.

The Republican pac Advance New Mexico run by Republican political operative and the Governor’s political consultant Jay McCleskey spent more than $2 million since January 2016 of this year and $281,000 after November for the November general election.

Advance New Mexico targeted Democratic Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez of Belen, a strong opponent of Governor Martinez.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Sanchez lost his reelection bid.

Advance New Mexico sponsored negative ads with highly disputed claims that Senator Sanchez was insensitive with his treatment of crime victims and claimed without proof that Sanchez traveled to Hawaii at taxpayers’ expense.

Senator Sanchez insisted that he has never even been to Hawaii.

Three years ago, I was on the receiving end of similar negative campaign ads and the Governor’s political machine.

Two lies about me were that I stayed in a “castle” in Canada 20 years ago on a county sponsored trip and that I was responsible for police misconduct.

Jay McCleskey was Mayor Berry’s campaign manager or political consultant for both Berry’s elections for Mayor.

Review of the City Clerk’s campaign finance reports from 3 years ago on the City web site shows Berry raised $904,623 in private donations and paid McCleskey Strategies over $590,000 and another $40,000 to Public Opinion Strategies, a McCleskey company.

With over $900,000 to spend, Berry was able to run negative TV commercials, negative radio ads and negative campaign mailers for six weeks against me.

I was given $340,000 in public finance for my campaign and did not have enough money to refute any of Berry’s negative ads.

Only 19% of eligible voters voted in the lowest voter turnout election since 1977 and Berry’s margin of victory was proportionate to what we both each spent.

I will not be surprised if Republican Dan Lewis and Republican Wayne Johnson ask for assistance from Jay McCleskey to help them run for Mayor of Albuquerque.

The influence of money in our municipal elections allowed by the US Supreme Court decision Citizens United is destroying our democracy.

Political campaign fundraising and big money influence are warping our election process.

Money spent becomes equated with the final vote.

Money drives the message, affects voter turnout and ultimately the final outcome.

Albuquerque needs campaign finance reform.

My December 13, 2017 blog article “2017 Mayor’s Race Needs Public Finance Reform” on PeteDinelli.com makes recommendations on what I feel needs to be done.

Strike Force Cleaned Up Central and Made City Safe

In 2002, I was appointed a Deputy City Attorney and tasked with organizing the Safe City Strike Force and was the Strike Force Director until November, 2009.

The Safe City Strike Force was formed to combat blighted commercial and residential properties.

Thirty (30) to forty-five (40) representatives from the Albuquerque Police Department, the Albuquerque Fire Department, the Fire Marshal’s Office, the Planning Department Code residential and commercial code inspectors, Family Community Services and the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office participated comprised the strike force.

Seventy (70) to one hundred fifty (150) properties a week, both residential and commercial properties would be reviewed by the Strike Force.

The Safe City Strike Force would handle referrals from the general public, neighborhood associations, the Mayor and the Albuquerque City Council.

The Albuquerque City Council would be given weekly updates on the progress made in their districts on the nuisance properties found.

The Safe City Strike Force routinely prepared condemnation resolutions for enactment by the Albuquerque City Council to tear down substandard buildings.

I estimate in the 8 years I was Director of the Strike Force we took civil enforcement action against some 6,500 properties, both commercial and residential.

COSTS TO COMBAT MAGNETS FOR CRIME

Crime rates can be brought down with civil nuisance abatement actions.

The Safe City Strike Force took civil action against substandard properties that had become magnets for crime.

A magnet for crime property is one that has an extensive history of calls for service to the Albuquerque Police Department and where crime occurs.

Residential and commercial properties used for prostitution and drug activity such as meth labs and crack houses are examples of magnets for crime.

A review of the total number of calls for service a year is what is used in part to determine if a property is a public nuisance or a nuisance under city ordinances.

Calls for service to the Albuquerque Police Department to deal with properties that have become “magnets for crime” result in a drain on police resources and costs millions of dollars a year in taxpayer funds.

The average cost of a call for service to dispatch police officers to handle such minor calls as suspicious persons, loitering, loud parties and loud music cost taxpayers between $75 to $150 per call depending on the time spent on the call by police officers dispatched.

The Albuquerque Police Department handles anywhere from 600,000 to 750,000 calls for service per year consisting of priority 1, 2 and 3 calls made to the 911 emergency operations center.

BLIGHTED PROPERTIES

The most effective approach to address blighted properties is to initiate civil complaints and secure temporary restraining orders, preliminary and permanent injunctions.

As a Deputy City Attorney, I sought court orders to compel property owners to bring their properties into compliance with city ordinances, codes and state laws.

I routinely filed District Court civil complaints for injunctive relief or negotiated stipulated settlement agreements to abate nuisance properties.

Frequently, we would do interventions and met with property owners to negotiate stipulated settlements.

The Safe City Strike Force required slum lords to make repairs to their properties so that the properties could be occupied safely without exposure or threat of injury.

During my eight (8) years as Director of the Safe City Strike Force, I saw way too many slum lords charging top dollar to rent their properties to some of our poorest citizens with the landlords refusing to make repairs when needed, even when health and safety was an issue for the tenants.

Some of the more egregious instances where property owners refused to make costly repairs and where health and safety involved heating and air condition systems that broke down during peak usage times by the tenants.

The goal was always to try to work with the property owners and negotiates stipulated settlement agreements with them, either for repairs or voluntary tear downs.

TEARDOWNS AND BOARD UPS

The Safe City Strike Force was responsible for the tear down of an entire residential block of homes located at 5th Street and Summer in the Wells Park neighborhood area located north of downtown Albuquerque.

There were a total of 21 abandoned and vacant, boarded up properties that could not be repaired, owned by one elderly woman who agreed allowed a tear down of the structures by the City.

As Director of the Safe City Strike Force, I negotiated a voluntary tear down of an entire strip mall that had been boarded up for years, beyond repair, located near the former Octopus Car Wash on Menaul Street and Eubank.

The strip mall was constantly being broken into, with fires being set by the homeless, and at one time a dead body was found at the location.

Two long vacant and vandalized restaurants, the Purple Plum and a Furr’s cafeteria, both on far North-East heights Montgomery, were torn down by the Safe City Strike Force.

One year, Albuquerque experienced a huge spike in meth labs where almost 90 meth labs were found and identified and where the Safe City Strike Force was asked for assistance with contamination clean up.

CENTRAL MOTELS

The Safe City Strike Force required commercial property and motel owners to make repairs and they were required to reduce calls for service and address security on their properties.

The Safe City Strike Force took code enforcement action against 48 of the 150 motels along central and forced compliance with building codes and mandated repairs to the properties.

The Central motels that were demolished were not designated historical and were beyond repair as a result of years of neglect and failure to maintain and make improvements.

Central motels that had historical significance to Route 66 were purchased by the City for renovation and redevelopment.

The Central motels that the Safe City Strike Force took action against include the Gaslight (demolished), The Zia Motel (demolished), The Royal Inn (demolished), Route 66 (demolished), the Aztec Motel (demolished), the Hacienda, Cibola Court, Super-8 (renovated by owner), the Travel Inn (renovated by owner), Nob Hill Motel (renovated by owner), the Premier Motel (renovated by owner) the De Anza (purchased by City for historical significance), the No Name, the Canyon Road (demolished), Hill Top Lodge, American Inn (demolished), the El Vado (purchased by City for historical significance), the Interstate Inn (demolished).

The Safe City Strike Force was responsible for the demolition of at least seven (7) blighted motels that were beyond repair.

When people were displaced by enforcement actions taken by the Safe City Strike Force, the City’s Family and Community Services Department would provide vouchers to the displaced and assist in locating temporary housing for them.

VIOLENT BARS

The Safe City Strike Force took action against violent bars on Central that were magnets for crime.

Many Central bars have hundreds of calls for service a year placing a drain on law enforcement resources.

A few of the bars located on or near Central that were closed or torn down by the Safe City Strike Force include the Blue Spruce Bar, Rusty’s Cork and Bottle, the Last Chance Bar and Grill and Club 7.

The Safe City Strike Force closed Club 7 and the owner was convicted of commercial code violations.

As a Deputy City Attorney, I was co counsel with the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office and brought charges against and convicted the Club 7 downtown Central Avenue bar owner that hosted a “rave” that allowed under age participants to mingle with adults and where a young girl was killed.

CONVENIENCE STORES

The Safe City Strike Force took enforcement action against a number of convenience stores on Central that had substantial calls for service to APD.
In 2005, The Safe City Strike Force identified convenience stores that had an unacceptable number of “calls for service” which resulted in the convenience stores being considered a public nuisance by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD).

Outdoor phones at the convenience stores used for illicit drug transactions were identified.

APD felt the convenience stores were relying upon APD to provide security at taxpayer’s expense rather than hiring their own private security company.

In 2005, as Director of the Safe City Strike Force, I was able to negotiate a stipulated settlement agreement with three major convenience store corporate owners of seventeen (17) convenience stores throughout Albuquerque and they agreed to pay for private security patrols.

FLEA MARKETS

The Safe City Strike Force was responsible for the closure of Louie’s Flea Market and the Star Flea Market, two Westside flea markets both on Old Coors Road South of Central.

Area residents felt the flea markets brought down property values.

Both flea markets had been around for decades and caused extreme traffic congestion on weekends they operated causing problems for the established or developing residential areas.

Both flea markets were found by the Albuquerque Police Department to be locations where stolen property was being sold and both had an excessive number of calls for service.

HOARDERS

Some of the most tragic and heart breaking cases that the Safe City Strike Force dealt with involved “hoarders”.

Hoarding is a pattern of behavior that is characterized by excessive acquisition and an inability or unwillingness to discard large quantities of objects or animals that cover the entire living areas or exterior of a home or property.

The Strike Force dealt with approximately 10 cases of hoarders.

One hoarder case I vividly recall involved an elderly woman who was housing over 60 cats in her 1,200 square foot, three bedrooms home. The home was not fit to be lived in as a result of contamination by the animals. Dead cats were found in her freezer.

The City removed the cats, cleaned up the property and placed a $40,000 lien on the home for the cleanup of the contamination.

Another hoarder had accumulated an extensive amount of items in his front and backyards to the extent that the area had become rat infested and the City forced a cleanup of the area.

IT TAKES COMMITMENT

For the last seven years, little or next to nothing has been done by the City of Albuquerque to address blighted and substandard commercial and residential properties.

There is a lack of commitment by city hall to properly fund a program that was recognized as a best practice by municipalities throughout the country.

The City of Albuquerque was safer and cleaner because of the work of the Safe City Strike Force.

Today, the Safe City Strike Force has one employee, its director, and the Safe City Strike Force exists in name only.

It has pained me to realize that eight years of success by the Safe City Strike Force is now totally wiped out and gone.

It pains me to know that all the accomplishments progress and the work to clean up Central and the City of Albuquerque and its neighborhoods has vanished.

Increase in Graffiti is a Damn Shame and Preventable

http://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/city-albuquerque-spends-more-than-one-million-dollars-a-year-in-graffiti-cleanup-vandalism/4342860/?cat=500

The increase in graffiti vandalism across the City of Albuquerque is a damn shame and preventable.

Over eight years ago, we had a handle on it and reduced it significantly when I was a
Deputy City Attorney and as Director of the Safe City Strike Force.

Back then, the City was spending $500,000 a year with 4 cleanup crews to clean up the vandalism.

Today, the City is spending $1.1 million a year to clean up graffiti vandalism.

What is so upsetting is that there are so many other much better uses the $1.3 million spent on graffiti
vandalism cleanup could be used for such as libraries, services for the homeless, senior citizen services
and perhaps child care services.

The answer to combating graffiti vandalism is to find the little vandals and sue them and their parents.

You would be surprised how quickly the graffiti will stop.

NATURE OF GRAFFITI VANDALISM

The term “tagger” is used by law enforcement to describe anyone who engages in graffiti vandalism.

Graffiti is defined under city ordinance simply as “unauthorized painting, writing or inscription” on property.

The act of graffiti is a misdemeanor by itself, but the resulting property damage is actionable, civilly for cleanup costs and criminally as criminal damage to property.

Depending on the total amount of damage, criminal damage to property can be a felony.

Graffiti vandals in general fall into two types:

1. Gang members or gang member “wannabees” who want to mark their territory and who are competing with rival gangs.

2. Individuals who consider themselves “artists” and who want to express themselves.

The profile of a tagger, with few exceptions, is a young boy between the ages of 12 and 17 with a single mom trying to raise them or an adult between 18 to 21 years old.

The overwhelming majority of taggers are male teenagers between 12 and 15 years old.

To a tagger, the most important thing is “getting it up” or “putting it up” their tag on as many surfaces as possible to be seen by the public.

Individual tags are also referred to as “throw ups”.

“Bombing” is when a tagger which is saturates an area with a tag name or symbol using spray paint or markers.
The style or signature that a tagger uses is what is important to a tagger.

Taggers take great pride in their vandalism and often maintain portfolios taking photographs of their tags, putting the photos in binders, which are called “piece books”.

The piece books contain tag names or “pieces” which are names or designs they tag.

Colored pudgy balloon like letters are a favorite design of many younger taggers because of the ease and quickness to tag and being able to quickly escape from an area tagged.

Another popular tag design is the spidery street scrawl letter design.

It is common for a tagger to render their design to paper before actually doing the design on a much larger surface or wall.

Arroyos, concrete diversion channels dumpsters are popular tagging targets as are fences, walls and sides walls in alleys and store fronts.

Some individuals who tag their name using markers and spray paint also deface windows using etching tools such as glass cutters or etching acid.

Taggers have an assortment of tips or nozzles which they switch out on their spay cans of paint, which allows the individual to control the stream of paint in an array of thickness for when they are bombing or tagging.

A tagger often carries aerosol cans, markers, and an assortment of tips and cameras to take photos of their tags in backpacks.

FINANCIAL COSTS OF GRAFFITI VANDALISM, EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM AND LAWSUITS FILED

Graffiti done with etching acid can be very costly.

I had 30 to 40 business store fronts hit at one time and the cost of replacing the glass was about $35,000.

Graffiti done with paint can also be very costly. I had a prominent business on San Mateo spending thousands to repaint outside walls.

The City of Albuquerque spends approximately $1.5 million dollars a year for graffiti removal or for cleanup costs.

The graffiti hot line and 311 call center receives processes thousands of calls a year.

The money spent by the City to clean up graffiti vandalism could go to much better uses like helping the homeless or operating our libraries and senior citizens centers, if we could only put a stop to it.

NEW MEXICO LAW AND CITY ORDINANCES

Graffiti vandalism is both criminal act and can result in a civil cause of action for property damage.

Under New Mexico law, unauthorized graffiti “consists of intentionally and maliciously defacing any real or personal property of another with graffiti … with ink, paint, spray paint, crayon, or charcoal [or acid] without consent” of the property owner. ( See 30-15-1.1, NMSA)

Unauthorized graffiti damage of less than $1,000 is a petty misdemeanor and graffiti damage in excess of $1,000 is a felony. (See 30-15-1, B and C)

Under New Mexico law, “criminal damage to property consists of intentionally damaging any real or personal property of another without consent of the owner of the property”. (See 30-15-1, NMSA)

Under New Mexico law, any parent, guardian or custodian having custody and control over a child who has maliciously or willfully injured a person or who damaged, destroyed or deprived use of property of another may be sued for up to $4,000 in the damages caused by the child. (32A-2-27, NMSA)

In 2004, the City of Albuquerque enacted an ordinance that prohibits anyone who owns, manages or operates a place of business from the sale of spray paint to any person under the age of 18. (12-4-15 City of Albuquerque Ordinances)

LAWSUITS WERE EFFECTIVE WITH PROVEN RESULTS

As a Deputy City Attorney, I filed 121 civil lawsuits against well over 3391 taggers and their parents to collect damages to City property and for the graffiti cleanup costs and restitution.

It is my understanding the City stopped the lawsuits when I left in 2009, but the City is still spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for graffiti cleanup.

This is the way the vandalism lawsuits worked: I relied on the APD Gang Unit to identify the taggers, catalog their tags by taking pictures of the tags and have City Waste Management clean up the graffiti. An invoice for the cleanup costs would be generated. The photos and invoices were then attached as exhibits to the civil lawsuits for property damage and graffiti vandalism.

Under New Mexico statutory law, a parent can be held personally responsible and liable for up to $4,000 damages done by their child.

Over a two-year period, I filed in State District Court civil lawsuits for graffiti vandalism and property damage against “taggers” and their parents.

A total of 272 taggers along with 139 of their parents were sued for a total of 391 individuals.

$92,358.41 in restitution from the taggers was collected along with an additional $63,000 in judgments secured, with the taggers put on a monthly payment plans.

1,340 hours of community service was performed by the taggers.

Part of the settlement agreements would include meeting with the tagger monthly and requiring the kid to stay in school and maintain a “C“ average.

I settled virtually all the lawsuits with the taggers and their parents after meeting together with them in private.

I saw too many young single moms trying to make a living and deal with out of control kids.

I would ask the parent for one hour with them and their kid, and if I could give a wakeup call to the kid, the parents usually appreciated it.

Raising two sons gave me a lot of experience talking to stubborn teenage boys. There were a lot of tears to say the least.

All too often, I felt more like a social worker and not an attorney, but it was very rewarding because I felt I was having an effect on young people lives and they stopped the graffiti.

The most graffiti damages I ever sued for was $200,000 in damages and it was an Albuquerque Journal front page story. His tag was “dome”, he was about 17 when we first met, unemployed and he admitted to me he had substance abuse problem. I recall settling the lawsuit with him for about $15,000, put him on monthly payments plan, helped him find a job, and required him to go to CNM. He turned his life around, got clean, stopped the tagging and paid off the settlement over three years.

I remember another tagger and taking his car, it was a Junker and worth about $500, as restitution and he stopped his tagging.

The settlements were never about collecting the money. Most if not all of the taggers and their parents were judgment proof who had no assets. It was all about stopping the vandalism.

There is a big difference between punishment and requiring restitution for intentional vandalism. I did not feel I was punishing these kids, but making them take responsibility for their actions and holding them accountable and responsible for their conduct.

The taggers were made to pay for the damages themselves and they did so when they realized mom or dad would have to pay for their vandalism if they did not.

Many kids had to get part-time jobs; some even sold their “game boys” to raise money.

If I had wanted to punish them, I would have filed criminal charges for vandalism and sought time in the juvenile detention, but I never did like that option.

CONCLUSION

The City Attorney’s Office needs to start filing lawsuits for graffiti vandalism again.
.
It is not the most glamorous type of practice of law, but it is damn well the most rewarding work one can have as an attorney if you can have an effect on one Kids life and maybe help a struggling parent.

Stupid is as stupid does

To quote Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does” and it applies to the ART bus project.

The City says the ART bus project will not reduce parking spots on Central, even though the design plans and construction show it absolutely will along the areas where businesses that rely on off street parking are located. (December 12, 2016 Albuquerque Journal article “ART projects impact on parking still hotly debated, A-1).

The rational the City uses to say that parking along Central Ave will be increased is that the city is factoring in the addition of a 99 parking lot at the end of the ART construction corridor, near the Downs racetrack and casino, five miles away from downtown.

Retired UNM Civil Engineering Professor Gregory Rowangould’s did an extensive independent review of the ART bus project’s impact on parking all along Central.

Professor’s Rowangoud’s parking study was relied upon by the “Make Art Smart “ group of Plaintiff business owners that filed a Federal lawsuit in to stop ART.

I listened to Professor Rowangould presentation twice regarding his study and findings on the ART bus project.

Professor Rowangould reviewed and relied on the very traffic studies the city used in its application for the Federal Transportation Administration $69 million grant.

Dr. Rowangould’s study found that at best, the ART bus project will only match the “on time” performance of the already existing “Rapid Ride” system.

In the historic “Nob Hill” area, there will be only one lane each way for regular traffic, not the existing two lanes each way, a 50% reduction in traffic capacity.

It was found that ART will eliminate 165 parking street spaces, 10 additional traffic signals will be added with very few areas where sidewalks will be widened to make it walk able.

The City has also said the dedicated bus lane will have to be returned to general use after 19 years to accommodate increase traffic flows along Central.

ART will eliminate existing lanes, and it will degrade the traffic flow performance of Central contributing to major traffic congestion
Professor Rowangould actually met with Berry Administration representatives well over year ago before any public hearings and tried to warn them of the design defects and problems with ART.

The City officials, rather than listening, dismissed Professor Rowangould as someone who did not know what he was talking about.
Frankly, Professor Rowangould has forgotten more than the city experts will ever hope to know.