Mayor's Office of Technology

Mayor's Office of Technology
Originally uploaded by Noladishu

Getting confused about the whole crime camera shenanigans? Need a diagram to keep things straight?

I'm working on it. Here's a sample of what I've got started. If anyone is curious for more, let me know.

Crime Cameras and City Council Emails - EVEN MORE UPERDATED

The Office of the Inspector General released it's much anticipated crime camera report. First off, all of Ashe Dambala's reportings on Verascent, Imagine, Greg Meffert, and company are totally vindicated. The report exhaustively laid out what got us expensive, broken, useless crime cameras. Also, Jim Letten is directly CC'd on the report with a letter suggesting serious violation of federal law are present in the contracting and accounting irregularities of the Mayor's Office of Technology (MOT).

Now, I think the report was exhaustive enough to rise above any criticisms or racially inflammatory reactions.

... and then this came out. Tracie Washington requested the emails of the council's four white members plus one other city official, also white, on Dec. 3, 2008. And this activist got (tens of?) thousands of emails of all the white city council members on a CD in record time. Meanwhile, WWL can't get squat from Nagin because of "executive privilege" (Nagin copying Bush yet again).

With Veronica White and an activist on a fishing expedition against certain council members thrown into the mix, expect fireworks. Oyster recommends a hazmat suit and a silkwood scrub (whatever the later is?). This could end up like one of those late 90's/early 2000's Orleans Parish Public School meetings.

UPDATE- Talk about synchronicity:



The crime cameras at the end of the block are working! It has missed 3 shootings while being inoperative. Now they're back up and aimed at exactly where the shootings were.

UPDATE 2- One thing I found interesting in the OIG report was the installation and wiring standards. Look at the photos at the bottom of the OIG report. Shoddy workmanship. I'll keep an eye out for specific examples in the future.

UPDATE 3- WWL TV led off their news reports with the Veronica White story, not the OIG report. I know WWL is involved in the emails thing, with their lawsuit and all, but I'm disappointed at the choice of lead story.

UPDATE 4- Now the camera is pointed directly at the telephone pole it's mounted on. FAIL!

UPDATE 5- Now all the Council's emails have been compromised...

UPDATE 6- Dambala's take

Red Light Camera, Meet Red Light Camera

Red Light Camera, Meet Red Light Camera
Originally uploaded by Noladishu

Seen at Muses last night...

Muses ran a float pillorying the Red Light Cameras (and Nagin's monkey business with the crime cameras).

Here's the float passing a real red light camera. Wonder if they got a ticket for running a red light?

Shooting Outside, 3rd Right Beneath Crime Camera

Glass broken by buckshot

I've blogged about crime problems at Washington and Constance before.

Last night, there was another shooting. I twittered what I saw initially.

Here's the Times-Picayune report.

I've been talking to the neighbors (all of whom either heard or saw something). The victim, however, seems to be leaving out key details of the shooting to the police, especially the number of shooters. While there was only one shotgun blast, there were others in the company of the shooter. I personally observed (although probably not enough to get a clean ID) two suspects fleeing the scene seconds after the shot (a shotgun blast is loud!).


I'm Sorry Dave, I Can't Help You. I'm Dead.

All of these shootings happened under an inoperable/useless crime camera. Someone used to come by to try to fix it, but nobody has even bothered in months.

I will give it up to NOPD: they responded in under 5 minutes. When one of the shooter's compatriots returned to the scene of the crime, an officer gave chase. Not sure whether or not he was caught.

I'll close with one last thing: there were MANY people out and about on the block at that time (hence LOTS of witnesses). It wasn't even 10:30 PM. It also meant there were a lot of people around to catch a golden BB...

New Speed Cameras

Be warned. 1 mph over can get you a $75 ticket.

St. Charles Avenue & Washington
St. Charles Avenue & MLK
St. Charles Avenue & Louisiana
Poydras & St. Charles
Poydras & Magazine
Poydras & Carondelet

Just remember, that crime cameras are ineffective, traffic cameras increase accident rates, and many cities have been caught shortening lights to increase revenue.