CITIES

MAYOR DALEY WANTS AN UBER-ORWELLIAN CHICAGO

FRAN SPIELMAN, CHICAGO SUN TIMES - Security and terrorism won't be an
issue if Chicago wins the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games
because, by that time, there'll be a surveillance camera on every
corner, Mayor Daley said. "By the time 2016 [rolls around], we'll have
more cameras than Washington, D.C. . . Our technology is more advanced
than any other city in the world -- even compared to London -- dealing
with our cameras and the sophistication of cameras and retro-fitting all
the cameras downtown in new buildings, doing the CTA cameras," Daley
said. "By 2016, I'll make you a bet. We'll have [cameras on] almost
every block."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/92811,CST-NWS-bside12.article

ORWELLIAN CITIES OF AMERICA

Chicago
Boston
New York
Washington
East Orange NJ

DETAILS
http://prorev.com/watchlist.htm

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STUDY: TOWNS USE PARKING TICKETS FOR REVENUE

THE NEWSPAPER - A Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis working paper
concludes that municipalities use traffic tickets as a means of
supplanting falling local revenue. Economist Thomas A. Garrett and
University of Arkansas at Little Rock Professor Gary A. Wagner explain
that although there is ample anecdotal evidence to show that this is the
case, no empirical studies have ever examined the question in detail.

Using county-level data from North Carolina between 1989 and 2003, the
working paper analysis takes into account demographic factors such as
population and traffic growth that could influence the number of tickets
written for offenses such as speeding, failure to yield and following
too closely. Some counties issued as many as one ticket for every
resident, while the average was closer to one ticket for every ten
residents.

Garrett and Wagner found that for each one-percent drop in local
government revenue there followed a .38 percent increase in the number
of tickets written, each worth between $5 and $250. When local revenue
increased, however, there was no corresponding decrease in the number of
citations issued.

"The fact that local governments increase traffic tickets during periods
of revenue decreases but do not decrease traffic tickets in response to
revenue increases reveals some degree of revenue maximization on the
part of local governments," the authors concluded.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/13/1388.asp

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DEALING WITH URBAN PROBLEM PROPERTIES

GOVERNING - When Wilmington, Delaware, Mayor James M. Baker took office
in 2001, more than 1,500 abandoned and vacant properties peppered the
city, bringing crime, contributing eyesores to community landscapes and
lowering property values. To encourage owners to rehabilitate or sell
the properties, Baker persuaded the city council to enact the Vacant
Property Registration Fee Program in 2003 - an ordinance that bases a
sliding annual registration fee on the total number of years a property
is vacant. The fee starts at $500 for a building that has been vacant
for more than one year and goes up to a maximum of $5,000 for 10 years.

Before a bill is sent out, the city sends a notice informing the owner
of the years of vacancy and the size of the fee. The program also allows
fee waivers, which give property owners one year to rehabilitate, sell
or demolish their properties. Since the program's creation, the number
of vacant homes in the city has declined by 22 percent, from 1,455 to
1,135, and has brought in nearly $1 million in fees to the city and
spurred over $15 million in new development.

www.ci.wilmington.de.us/vacantproperties.htm

http://governing.com

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