Mayor says thanks during tough time
Mayor says thanks during tough time
Dear Editor,
As I sit here still trying to come to grips with the tragedy of last Sunday night, I have many more questions than answers. The reality that there might never be answers only heightens the frustration and roller coaster of emotions that I have experienced. I’m sure many of you are experiencing the same thing.
Without hesitation or passing judgement, our community stepped up with support that was quite overwhelming but not surprising. There are so many people and businesses to thank, a list far too long for this article, but I would like to highlight just a few. As the tragedy was unfolding, officers on scene quickly removed our Los Al officers who were dispatched as part of the SWAT team knowing that seeing the final scene involving one of their colleagues would be too much for any person to handle. Cypress PD and Seal Beach PD quickly filled in the gap with replacement officers. The city of Seal Beach rolled out a team of grief counselors to our city hall to allow staff and officers to start talking to professionals about their overwhelming emotions. Local restaurants brought in food to ensure that our staff had one less thing to think about. Hundreds of emails, texts and phone calls offering words of encouragement, support and help if needed.
This horrible event shook us to our core and the healing process will be long and difficult for many of us. But, thankfully, as we have seen in the past, in the face of tragedy, our communities unite to protect and support each other in the simplest form of unconditional love, which is why we are blessed to call this wonderful community our home.
Shelley Hasselbrink
Mayor of Los Alamitos
Los Alamitos Police Department in ‘shock’ over double slayings
Editor’s note: The following is an official statement released last week by the Los Al Police Department.
Los Alamitos Police Department grieves in shock and disbelief over the tragic events that lead to the deaths of Captain Rick Moore and city of Westminster City Clerk Amanda Jensen.
The city of Los Alamitos City Council and staff are grief stricken and in shock about the events that occurred on July 16, 2017 in Seal Beach at the 100 block of 7th Street. Up until that fateful moment, Rick Allen Moore was an employee of the city of Los Alamitos and held the rank of Captain at the Police Department. Capt. Moore was hired by Los Alamitos on Jan. 17, 2000. He had held various assignments and rank before being promoted to Captain in August of 2015.
None of what occurred in Seal Beach that day makes any sense to city employees or the community at large who have worked alongside of Capt. Moore. This is a tragedy on so many levels involving so many people who cared for both Amanda Jensen and Rick Moore. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Jensen and Moore families, as we await the conclusion of the investigation to help bring closure to this horrible nightmare. We also extend our deepest condolences to the city of Westminster, the council, their staff and the community who worked with Ms. Jensen in her capacity as city clerk.
Los Alamitos Mayor Shelley Hasselbrink and the other members of the city council postponed the July 17 council meeting due to this tragic loss wanting to give staff and the employees time for peer support counseling and for the organization to take time to reflect and commiserate with one another. The Los Alamitos Police Department has been overwhelmed by the amount of public support, prayers, sympathy, understanding and they are grateful for this outpouring of community spirit. “There is no understanding or rational explanation of the events that occurred that fateful day. There are only those who are left to struggle emotionally and spiritually as they learn to live with this tragedy from this day forward. We keep all of those who have suffered from this tragic loss in our thoughts and prayers,” Chief Eric R. Nuñez
Contact Information
Chief Eric R. Nuñez
City of Los Alamitos
3201 Katella Avenue
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
Tel: (562) 431-2255 ext. 400
Fax: (562) 431-6499
Email: enunez@cityoflosalamitos.org
Contact Information
Captain Sean Connolly
Public Information Officer
3201 Katella Avenue
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
Tel: (562) 431-2255 ext. 420
Fax: (562) 431-6499
Email: sconnolly@cityoflosalamitos.org
Resident isn’t convinced that red light cameras are effective
Editor’s note: The following is a letter sent to the Los Alamitos City Council concerning the red light camera issue. Due to the size of the letter, the following is the first of two parts.
Honorable Mayor and Councilmembers:
A. Safety is paramount – the only honest reason to operate red light cameras – and the objective measure of safety is a tabulation of the number of injury accidents over the years, yet the closest the staff report comes to any numbers is the statement, “…the City has not experienced an increase in rear-end collisions.” No numbers at all, and no discussion whatsoever – even without numbers – of injury accidents! The staff report’s lack of any accident stats is similar to another Los Alamitos report; beginning with 2013, California cities having red light cameras have been required to file an annual report (copies attached) detailing, among other things, the number of accidents before the program began, compared to the current year. In its 2014 report Los Alamitos reported that it had no “before” accident data, and in its 2015 report there was no accident data at all.
If the City wishes to prepare useful accident statistics, it could use San Francisco’s annual report as an example.
In 2015 Redflex reported to you that 76% of Los Alamitos’ tickets were going to visitors. Ticketing has doubled since 2011, suggesting that the City’s visitors will never have their driving behavior improved by cameras they don’t know are there. In a May 2016 letter to me, San Francisco’s Chief Traffic Engineer Ricardo Olea said:
“You are correct that engineering changes are the most effective way to reduce red light running crashes. We’ve had a long-standing record of improving intersection safety through signal upgrade improvements and signal timing changes. We are in the process of starting a new Red Light Camera contract which will reduce the total number of approaches being enforced in San Francisco, keeping some locations we believe are still needed based on crash and citation history.”
Later in 2016 San Francisco reduced ticketing by 76%; during the five-month period September 2016 thru January 2017 they issued just 1273 tickets compared to the average 5310 tickets they issued in the same five-month periods a year and two years before. (Los Alamitos issued 2777 tickets in February thru June 2016.)
How did San Francisco arrive at their decision to downsize? Their annual report, mentioned above, found that the installation of a red light camera seldom was followed by a drop in accidents. Instead, the drops occurred after engineering improvements like making the yellows longer, adding an all-red interval (both of which are cheap to do), or a general upgrade to the signal. (In one instance, staff conceded what one of the graphs shows, that the camera may have had no effect whatsoever.)
If a city genuinely wants to minimize running, and accidents, it should also do the following things to make the problematic intersections stand out, look more important.
a. Put up more visible signal lights (larger diameter, with bigger backboards, with more of them placed on the “near” side of the wider intersections).
b. Paint “signal ahead” on the pavement.
c. Install lighted overhead street signs for the cross street (also placed on the “near” side), and larger bulbs in the streetlights at the intersection.
Then there is the issue of rolling right turns. Lengthening the yellow won’t reduce the number of rolling right turn violations, so I suggest that the council ask staff to identify the specific intersections where the danger from rolling right turns remains high and consider installing “blank out” signs programmed to light up and prohibit all right turns during the riskiest portions of the signal cycle. If pedestrians or bicyclists are getting hit, the City should not stand by and allow rolling right turns to continue unimpeded.
Now – before a new four-year contract is signed – the council should be provided with a report about whether the cameras actually improve safety. That report should also include details of any engineering changes staff may have made to improve safety.
The last time the contract was up for renewal was on August 24, 2015, and Redflex submitted accident statistics that morning. If accident statistics are provided for the first time just before this coming Monday’s meeting, I would have two objections:
1. The last minute presentation of said statistics would deny the public a suitable opportunity to review their veracity.
2. With all due respect to City and police staff, any statistical analysis should be done by a professional with credentials in the field of statistics, and who is free of other ties or contracts with the City.
Jim Lissner
Los Alamitos
