Iowa City Press-Citizen from Iowa City, Iowa • Page A7

Page7A Iowa City Press-Citizen Opinion Editorial Board: Tricia Brown, news director Dale Larson, general manager Emily content editor ommunity members: David Bright, Shams Ghoneim, Bob Goodfellow Emily Nelson, community content editor Phone: 319-887-5408 Email: Safety must trump revenue Automated traffic-enforcement cameras have proved to be an effective tool for improving public afety. Of course, they have also proved to be a very effective tool for raising revenue. And that, in a nutshell, is why they remain so controversial. One study after another has shown that stoplight and speeding cameras do more than spit out citations. They also change behavior.

For the ost part, their mere presence encourages people to follow the law, which makes the roads safer for everyone. But not always the case. In some ins tances, a traffic camera can be placed so that it maximizes revenue for the ticketing agency, while oing nothing at all to improve safety. In those instances, the traffic cameras are nothing more than abudgetary tool, the modern-day equivalent of the otorcycle cop working a speed trap to help pay is own salary. ortunately, some checks and balances are in lace to guard against abuse.

The Iowa Depart- ent of Transportation requires cities to justify the use of any cameras located on or near state ighways and interstates, and two weeks ago the OT reported its findings on the use of traffic came ras in six Iowa cities. The DOT determined that 10 of the 34 cameras it reviewed need to be shut down. I Cedar Rapids, two speed-enforcement cameras on Interstate 380 must be moved because they are ithin 1,000 feet of the point where the speed limit rops, which means drivers have little opportunity safely slow down without being ticketed. Some of the cities, which benefit from the reve- ue generated by the tickets, entirely pleased. The speed cameras on eastbound I-235 in es Moines produced 43,000 citations last year an average of 117 tickets per day and gene rated about $1.2 million for the city.

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie points out that hose tickets were issued for people driving at least 11miles an hour over the speed limit. amazing me that the DOT think that that is a safety he said. ell, yes, the number of speeders is definitely a safety issue. But the own numbers demons trate that the cameras effective in reducing speeds. In 2012, 36,202 citations were issued on astbound I-235, which is about 15 percent fewer citations than the number issued last year.

At that ocation, the cameras are effective in raising inc reasing amounts of revenue, but not in making the interstate safer, which is the alleged goal. I one important respect, understandable hat city officials are irked with the DOT telling them how to handle traffic enforcement. The reg- lations the DOT is applying to these cameras are a dministrative rules devised by the department itself. They are not state laws approved by the Iowa egislature. one reason the DOT rules a pply to traffic-enforcement cameras on city or county roads.

At those locations, independent over- ight of the cameras and their use is virtually none xistent, which means that in Iowa today no onsistency at all in how these cameras are used. hat alone is reason for state lawmakers, and not ust the DOT, to work on a set of common-sense, niform standards. I owans have a right to expect that all law en- orcement resources automated or otherwise a re being deployed to enhance public safety and ot simply to generate revenue. The Des Moines Register, March 29 Branstad should close sledding loophole We encourage Gov. Terry Branstad to sign a bill assed by the Legislature that would protect Iowa ities from liability when injuries are sustained uring including sledding, on city property.

tate law affords protection for cities against lawsuits for injuries on public property related to a variety of specific and inherently dangerous activities, including skateboarding, in-line skating, bicycling, unicycling, riding scooters, river rafting, anoeing and kayaking, but not sledding. Adding sledding by changing the wording of state law to include all akes sense. As with the aforementioned activities, taking part in sledding involves the assumption of personal risk for which cities and, by xtension, taxpayers be held liable. Local leaders have lobbied for the addition of sledding to state law as a result of a lawsuit filed a gainst the city of Sioux City by a man who was injured while sleddingon Jan. 11, 2008.

In 2012, the city approved a $2.75 million settlement of the suit. The bill passed this year by the Legislature set new precedent. It simply broadens existing protection against lawsuits for cities in common-sense fashion. Branstad should make it law. Sioux City Journal, March 27 Editorials from ther newspapers across Iowa freedom will not win hungry How will freedom help us win hearts for Christ? elp us feed the hung ry? Help us better def ine who is the Display love for our enemies? Help us to remember John 12:47, I have ot come to judge the orld, but to save the It seems to me a heartbreaking misstep to identify ourselves as by with hom we refuse to do usiness.

Asking for legal permission to limit business association with those who are not religiously acceptable to us does nothing to help us build our personal relationships with Christ. A ll of words and examples call for inc lusion, not exclusion. ow do religious freedom laws fit in with the ords of Matthew 6:1, of practicing your piety before others, to be seen by them, or then you have no reward from your father in seless, un-Christ- like, and mean-spirited. Laura Twing Tipton NCAA Swimming deserved attention Most people in Iowa ity were unaware that the NCAA Swimming championships were held last week at our wonderful new facil- i ty. Everyone who was there spoke very highly of the way the meet was un, and the hospitality of Iowa City.

Unfortunately, nei- her paper in this area id much to cover the event. Had it been a basketball game, or wrest ling meet, there would have been wall-to-wall coverage. The awards were presented by several notable persons from the university. Abs ent from that group were the president and the athletics director. They must have been busy elsewhere.

I realize that sports do not get the coverage that the big hree get. Yet, it seems when an event of this magnitude comes to Iowa City, there should be some space devoted it in the paper. Both basketball teams lost, and football start- d. Jeff Knox Iowa City Letters Your View Letters should be no longer than 250 words. Letters must include a daytime phone number and an address.

The editor reserves the right to edit all letters for length, style and content. Send email to opi- Last October, I wrote a guest opinion function? Lead with vision, I argued that the Iowa City Community School Board had not articulated the vision and values for our school district. It has far too often presented a laundry list of goals ithout regard to the relative importance of each goal. When these goals come into conflict, each decision appears as a bow to public pressure rather than a principled tand based on our values and commitments. On March 24, the School Board confronted just such a conflict of values in its decision to keep discretionary busing intact while developing objective safety criteria (possibly including sidewalk availability, traffic volume and railroad crossings) to gauge the relative safety of routes.

Some of these conflicting values include: (1) (safety) addressing safety risks that our students face, (2) educational funding) reducing udget cuts that may affect educa- ional funding for programming, lass-sizes, extracurricular activities, and (3) (educational justice) keeping our policies from adding disproportionate burdens our most vulnerable students. These values are all important, ut we have to make practical choices when they come into conflict. The initial proposal to cut all discretionary using implicitly suggested that, in this case, the value of educational funding is more important than safety and educational justice. Board President Chris ounter-proposal to cut some discretionary busing but to retain bus routes that serve low-income populations implied that educational justice takes precedence over, at least, educational funding and arguably safety. The ultimate decision to develop objective safety criteria was intended to effectively balance the values of safety and educational funding.

Ithink the board is wise to seek objective safety criteria so that they can make a principled deci- ion on these matters. Still, I fear hat the criteria will be applied ithout regard for the dispropor- ionate burdens it adds to our most vulnerable students. Our board has a tendency of adopting policies that seem neutral on face but esult in great harm to our most vulnerable students. For example, i ts aspirational class size policy appears neutral. It applies the same standard to each school regardless of demographics.

Hav- i ng lower class sizes is valuable for all students, but it is much more important for classrooms with a greater proportion of our most vulnerable students. Ifear that the adopting a uniform safety standard to evaluate bus routes will merely seem neu- ral while harming our most vulnerable students. Two routes with the same permissible safety rating may each have drastically different outcomes. ur most vulnerable students will be harmed much more by losing discretionary busing than our other students. There is no way to be neutral here.

Applying a purportedly neutral standard will inadvertently stack the deck against our most vulnerable students. The board was wise to commend the use of objective safety standards, but it must be applied in a just and principled manner that seeks the welfare of our most vulnerable stud ents. One way that the board and a dministration can take this into a ccount is to apply an appropriate ultiplier to the (still-to-come) objective safety criteria in order to give additional consideration to routes that serve our most vulner- a ble students. Michael Tilley is a parent of four current and uture Iowa City Community School District tudents, and he discusses issues related to the ICCSD at www.facebook.com/tilleyedtopics. Michael Tilley Guest Opinion Consider educational justice in busing decisions As the namesake and grandson of the late conservationist Sylvan Runkel, a man who invested his life promoting, implementing and educating others in taking care of our natural resources, I feel a special obligation to the future of lands and waters.

Since starting my own family, this sense as been heightened, but never so much as during a 2014 vacation. A ccustomed to traveling out of tate for summer vacations, my ife and I made a conscious choice stay in Iowa for a weekend and pend our dollars locally. We reserved a lakeside cabin, spending ore than $400 just for the reservation. Just two days before the start of our reservation, the top tory on the local news highlighted ow uninhabitable the lake was a nd recreational use was not adv ised. With more than 50 percent waterways impaired, I uess it have been a surprise that our family vacation was uined by water-quality issues.

I nstead of swimming with our ids, we spent our entire weekend trying to keep them out of the wa- er. Instead of canoeing, we pre- ended to canoe in the grass. Ins tead of providing a memorable amily vacation for our kids, we pent our time trying to divert their attention from the water, the ater that ironically attracted us to choose this location. Surrounding states such as innesota and Missouri have imp lemented trust funds for conser- ation, and it shows. My family have to check water-qual- i ty indexes before we travel there, a nd that affects our choice of where to go.

Iowa is not only losing ourism dollars, but also falling further behind as we fail to provide consistent reliable funding or conservation. Aruined family vacation is not what compels me to write today; the Iowa we are leaving for future generations. As Moss Cass said: have not inherited this Earth from our parents to do with i what we will. We have borrowed it from our children, and we must careful to use it in their inter- sts as well as our ortunately, there is an oppor- unity before us to make the hange we desperately need and provide our children and grand- hildren with a legacy we can be proud of. Just like my Grandpa Sy did for all of us.

This is the year to und the Iowa Outdoor and Recre- a tional Trust Fund. Sylan T. Runkel III of Ankeny is a volunteer with The Nature Conservancy in Iowa, hich is an executive member of the Iowa Land and Water Legacy Coalition. Contact: ww.nature.org Ruined vacation illustrates need for outdoor, recreational trust fund Sylvan T. Runkel III Guest opinion.