Is anyone else bothered that they paid 190 million for a database and interface to it?
Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
61–70 of 248 posts
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#62$190 million?! What does the architecture consist of? A database, some forms and some integrations/api? I'm 90% sure they could have done that with free software and a good support contract with a UNIX provider for far less :/
This is a very common reaction that shows a lack of experience in dealing with scale IT systems. You're correct that a simple DB with some forms would be cheap. But integration tends to be crazy expense. For this sort of system, other things that also need to be covered: 1. Billing integration. Including changes to billing codes, bill (fine) printing, testing. 2. Audit integration. Because whenever money is handled,…
Oops. Understood. It's just I've seen other countries with similar projects do a lot better with less, but I guess everything is custom for a particular situation.
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the US there is an entire industry that scans license plates on public streets and sells the data. Basically no privacy in public. (random example: https://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2015/01/private_comp... )
I forgot about this, but at the same time that doesn't imply it's legal for a government agency to just give it away. There are obviously industries that gather up all your personal information from address and DoB to SSN but that doesn't mean a government agency can just give it out to a random nobody.
The difference in rational is pretty simple:
A plate identifies a vehicle. A vehicle is not a person. Govt can't give out personally identifiable information.
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#64He cost the city $60k in revenue by asking them to clear up confusing signage.
That's some small-government activism I can get behind!
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#65Would be nice to use the same skills to help reduce cars illegally parked in the bike lane. Identify areas which cyclists commonly complain about that (e.g., to the city) and encourage them to put up better signs?
Bike Lane Uprising maintains data on this. Maybe it would be interesting to contact them for the dataset.
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#66Matt/bpchaps, have you shared the results with the aldermen? I'd love to hear about their reactions.
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#67Would be nice to use the same skills to help reduce cars illegally parked in the bike lane. Identify areas which cyclists commonly complain about that (e.g., to the city) and encourage them to put up better signs?
When people routinely park in bike lanes, the problem is usually cultural, i.e. people know they're not supposed to do it, but they decide to do it anyway.
Near where I work in Bellevue WA, they recently restriped the road to have a brightly painted bike lane, with double-white lines to make it abundantly clear that you were not supposed to drive in it. Bright red "no stopping" signs were placed on the curb. People still parked right in the bike lane.
It wasn't until they added a concrete barrier that the lane cleared up enough that bikes could use it. And of course, right where the barrier ends, people start parking there instead. The West side seems to have less difficulty understanding this.
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#68This is awesome. Question though: how is producing license plate data like this not a disallowed privacy invasion? It seems like you could totally track who's parking where and potentially do nasty stuff, if you know (say) someone well-off whom you don't like and who doesn't seem to mind getting tickets on a regular basis.
Criminal proceedings are usually public in most countries. Where do parking tickets fall? Even if not technically criminal, some might, for the same underlying reasons, consider it acceptable for "someone well-off whom you don't like and who doesn't seem to mind getting tickets on a regular basis" to have this illegal behavior on the public record. "Don't want your name tarnished? Don't park illegally." [Edit: on the…
Parking tickets aren't criminal offenses.
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#69Would be nice to use the same skills to help reduce cars illegally parked in the bike lane. Identify areas which cyclists commonly complain about that (e.g., to the city) and encourage them to put up better signs?
This problem would solve itself if vandalism laws were changed slightly.
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Criminal proceedings are usually public in most countries. Where do parking tickets fall? Even if not technically criminal, some might, for the same underlying reasons, consider it acceptable for "someone well-off whom you don't like and who doesn't seem to mind getting tickets on a regular basis" to have this illegal behavior on the public record. "Don't want your name tarnished? Don't park illegally." [Edit: on the…
I was asking about the legality, not the morality. If it's not technically criminal then that's all that matters. Also, this is completely missing the point here: > Don't want your name tarnished? Don't park illegally. It's not about reputation, it's about privacy -- and safety.
Don't know about where you are, but in Ontario Canada (the only place I've gotten in enough trouble to care about the difference ;-) ), there is a criminal code and the highway traffic act. There are illegal things that you can do in your car that may be in either or both areas.
"Criminal" means in the criminal code, but both are illegal. I think that you don't have a right to privacy for either because it obfuscates the application of the law. Indeed, the Japanese government can query the Ontario government to get a list of transgressions that you had while driving a car in Ontario (I know this because they did so when I converted my driver's license to a Japanese one -- and they didn't need my consent).
I think OP's use of the term "criminal" is a bit loose, but I would be surprised if you have any right to privacy for a a fine levied due to a legal infraction. Whether or not you should have a right to privacy is a completely different conversation...
Aside: It was important to me because many years ago I inadvertently drove while suspended. I had an unpaid ticket that I had forgotten about and my license was suspended. The suspension got lost in the mail (first a postal strike and then the delivery person put my mail in the wrong "super box" -- I eventually got it months later). When I was first getting my visa for Japan, I needed to find out if this was a criminal offence or a highway traffic act offence.