Oak Ridge’s traffic camera program hasn’t started yet, but it’s never too soon to be forewarned about things that can go wrong with camera-based traffic enforcement. It seems (based on this article) that teenagers in Montgomery County, Maryland, are playing some elaborate pranks with speed-enforcement cameras. First they use a computer and printer to create a fake license plate bearing their chosen victim’s license tag number, then they attach the fake plate to their own car and drive at high speed past the speed-enforcement camera. A few days later, the hapless victim gets a ticket in the mail, and has the challenge of proving that the speeding vehicle wasn’t their car.
I figure that this one can’t go on for very long before the pranksters get caught — “the jig is up” as soon as one of the victims recognizes the vehicle photographed with their tag number. But forewarned is forearmed.
The City’s plans for a comprehensive “visioning” process got shelved, but thanks to the Environmental Quality Advisory Board “greening the city” effort, the community is soon getting a chance to engage in the kind of discussion that I was hoping that the visioning process would provide — and at next to no cost to the public treasury. On Saturday, January 17, 2009, EQAB is conducting “Greening Oak Ridge: A Community Forum for Shaping a Green Future” at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. The forum is intended to be an opportunity for Oak Ridge citizens to come together and express their ideas for creating an economically viable green future for Oak Ridge. An announcement that is being circulated to community organizations says: “This public workshop is a critical component of EQAB’s efforts to present recommendations to City Council on how to make Oak Ridge a sustainable community – a community that addresses current needs without threatening the ability of future residents, businesses, or organizations to meet their own. The thoughts and suggestions of Oak Ridge citizens will help define EQAB’s proposal of ways to reduce energy use and costs, improve air quality, protect the natural environment, maintain a vibrant economy, and enrich the quality of life.”
Discussion at Greening Oak Ridge will be framed by the following topics:
* The Built Environment (e.g. land use, smart growth, zoning, building codes, urban forest)
* Air Quality and Transportation
* Water Quality and Quantity
* Business Opportunities (e.g. potential roles or responsibilities for businesses, green jobs, impact of other ideas on business)
* The Green Environment (e.g. open space, brownfields, biodiversity)
* Governmental Policies
Each forum participant will have the opportunity to speak on each of these topics, and facilitators will ensure that conversations are balanced and ideas are recorded. After the forum, EQAB members will issue a formal report on the views expressed during the workshop. EQAB used the Chattanooga Green Interim Climate Action Plan as a model for discussion issues.
More information about the forum is on the city website. EQAB and city staff are trying to estimate quantities of refreshments, so please RSVP to Ms. Athanasia Senecal (865-425-3574 or asenecal@cortn.org) by January 10, if possible.
In case of bad weather, there’s a snow date for the forum: January 31, 2009, from 9:00a.m.-1:00 p.m.
