Email Address
Site Index

If you haven't already done so, please read the Hawthorne section on the Camera Towns page

City of Hawthorne Documents
(and Information)

Hawthorne, pop. 80,000, is just southeast of LAX.

It may be possible to completely ignore a Hawthorne ticket.
1.  If your "ticket" does not have the Superior Court's name and address on it, it is a fake ticket, which I call a "Snitch Ticket."  For more details about Snitch Tickets, see the Snitch Ticket section at the top of the Your Ticket page.
2.  The LA County Superior Court does not report ignored red light camera tickets to the DMV.  More info is in "Countywide Information," which is Docs Set # 2 on the LA County Documents page.

Details of some 2004 - 2006 trials and arraignments of Hawthorne tickets are at:  Hawthorne Chronology.

Hawthorne Contacts
City Hall, 4455 W. 126th St., Hawthorne, CA 90250
(310) 349-2900
(1 block west of Hawthorne Blvd.)
Councilmembers' email addresses and/or phone numbers are at:

Council Contact Info

Council meetings:  Second and fourth Tuesdays at 6 p.m.  Opportunity for public to speak:  After ceremonial items at beginning of council meeting.  Call (310) 970-7900 to confirm council meeting date or to leave a message for the mayor or councilmembers.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 1

Signal Timing

Updated 12-11-04

At the Aug. 24, 2004 court trials, Officer Mark Escalante noted that the city had filed, with the court, a survey of the timing of the lights.  This is that survey, obtained through a public records request made to the City.

It is clear to me that were Hawthorne to raise their left-yellows to 4.0 seconds, there would be a huge decrease in red light running, as there was in Mesa, Arizona.   In September 2004 I lobbied Mr. Smith, his boss Interim Director of Public Works Stanley E. Scholl, City Manager Richard Prentice, Sgt. Keith Kauffman who runs the camera program, as well as the entire city council, to make that change.  I showed them the Mesa figures.  But, as Mr. Prentice said, "We're not gonna change it."

A Change Occurs, Anyway

On Oct. 14, 2004 I made a Public Records Act request for the signal timing charts for Hawthorne's four camera-monitored intersections.  (Signal timing charts show the length of the yellow, as programmed into the signal controller.)  I asked for "...the present signal timing settings.  Also any previous versions... (with) settings in use Jan. 1, 2003 or thereafter."  The request was sent to the County Department of Public Works, which maintains and programs Hawthorne's signals.  On Nov. 10 I received the charts.  The sole Hawthorne / El Segundo chart, dated 1998, showed the same settings indicated in Mr. Smith's letter, above.  But there were two different charts for Rosecrans / Hindry.  The newest one, dated 9-29-04, showed a 4.0-second yellow for northbound Hindry - different from Mr. Smith's letter.
(In these charts, northbound Hindry is phase 4.)

          
Click here to see the complete 9-29-04 chart.

The other chart, below, was completed in 2001, and showed the 3.0-second yellow mentioned in Mr. Smith's letter.

Since drivers in the northbound left-turn lane have the option of going straight across (into the shopping center), I believe that the yellow was lengthened because 3.0 seconds would be too short for that straight-through movement.

         
Click here to see the complete 9-19-01 chart.

The new Rosecrans / Hindry chart did not include a lengthening of the yellow for the westbound left turn ("WBL"), Phase 5.  It remains at 3.0 seconds.  However, some of the supplemental pages (the charts are actually 17 pages long, each) included some changes to the lengths of the green lights at various times of day.  Those changes are presented in the table below.

Table made by highwayrobbery.net
WBL = Westbound Left
NB = Northbound Straight and Turns

Why the Yellow Time was Changed

On Nov. 23 I made a Public Records Act request (to County Public Works Dept.) for "the radar speed checks and any other measurements of traffic conditions, speed or volume, that were ordered, or considered, as part of the Department's Sept. 2004 examination of the timing of the signals at Rosecrans/Hindry and Hawthorne/El Segundo, in the City of Hawthorne."   On Dec. 10 I received the following June 14, 2004 chart, showing a 34 mph 85th Percentile speed on Hindry.   There are no speed limit signs posted on Hindry.

Each "x" represents one car in the speed sampling of 100 cars.

City Wants to Change It Back to the Way It Was

At the trials of Jan. 11, 2005, Officer Mullen testified that the City was asking the county (which maintains and sets the signal) to change the northbound Hindry yellow back to 3.0.
If you would like to let the county know your opinion about the change the City is requesting, contact the office of the County Supervisor for the district in which you reside.  Their phone numbers are:
 
Don Knabe (310) 322-1222 or (213) 974-4444
  Mark Ridley-Thomas (213) 974-2222
Zev Yaroslavsky (213) 974-3333 or (818) 901-3831
Michael Antonovich (213) 974-5555
Gloria Molina (213) 974-4111

Hawthorne Docs Set # 2
Ticket Counts

Violations Recorded, Notices Printed, and Citations Issued (4)

Updated 1-30-13

On Oct. 6, 2004 the City Clerk's office supplied copies of RedFlex invoices containing monthly totals of Cites Issued (and filed with the court).  Those totals were entered into the table, below, as "Totals Cites Issued per Invoices."  RedFlex invoiced the City $89 for each cite issued (and filed).  The invoices did not provide a camera-by-camera breakdown of cites issued.

On Nov. 10, 2004 the City provided a RedFlex "Customer Violations Report" having camera-by-camera data.  While the Report did not include a month-by-month breakdown, it was possible to see that the Rosecrans / Hindry cameras (which started on April 19) had been averaging about 1000 notices per month.   That was the most I had seen up to that time at any intersection in California.  That count equaled the 1999 - 2000 results from San Diego's infamous Harbor / Grape left-turn camera. 

On Jan. 4, 2005 the City provided, for the first time, month-by-month data for each camera.  Additional month-by-month data was received on June 3. 
In Oct. 2010 I received data covering 2005 to 2010, at six-month intervals.
In Dec. 2011 I received data covering late 2010 to 2011.
In Nov. 2012 I received data for Dec. 2011 to Nov. 2012.
In Jan. 2013 I received data for Apr. 2010 to Dec. 2012.

Snitch Tickets

The City's use of Nominations (a.k.a. Snitch Tickets) probably explains,
(A)  the discrepancy between the figures for Notices Printed and Total Cites Issued (filed with the court), and
(B)  the month-to-month overlap in the serial numbers.
  

See the table's footnotes for further details.

This table made by highwayrobbery.net, using official city documents obtained under the California Public Records Act.

(  ) indicates a footnote.
(1)  Totals as provided by the City.
(2)  Totals by highwayrobbery.net
(3)  Un-used columns are to allow for later expansion of City's system.
(4)  Figures in red type (or, if you are looking at this table in black and white, the upper figure when there are two or more figures in a cell) are what RedFlex calls Total Violations, or all incidents recorded by the cameras, and due to time limitations may have been posted only for selected months or locations.  If there is sufficient public interest, the remaining months will be posted.  The figures in black type are what RedFlex calls Notices Printed, and represent the sum of genuine citations issued (those filed with the court) plus Nominations mailed (not filed with the court, a.k.a. Snitch Tickets).   Figures in blue type (or, if you are looking at this table in black and white, in italic type) are total Cites Issued (filed with the court), per RedFlex's monthly invoices to the City.
(5)  On Sept. 29, 2004 the yellow for northbound Hindry was increased, from 3.0 up to 4.0 seconds, and adjustments were made to the length of the green lights.  See Set # 1, above, for more details.
(6)  The only invoices (of Cites Issued) received covered Apr. to Aug. 2004.  The invoices did not contain a camera-by-camera breakdown of Cites Issued.
(7)  Partial month.  The report for this month was generated a few days before the end of the month, so the number of tickets eventually issued may be 20% to 40% higher than shown in this report.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 3
"Late Time" Graphs

The City has provided bar graphs of Late Times, etcetera, for all of its cameras.
These graphs track violations recorded, not tickets issued.
Where there is a large number of long Late Time violations in a curb lane, it is believed to indicate heavy ticketing on right turns.
(The curb lane will be the lane with the highest lane number.)


The picture above is an example from another city.

2006 Bar Graphs
2010 Bar Graphs
2011 Bar Graphs
2102 Bar Graphs

Bar graphs are available for more than fifty other cities - see the list in the expanded version of Defect # 9.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 4
Info on HPD Site?

I have not been able to find a red light camera program info page on either the City's or the police department's website.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 5
Rosecrans / Hindry Cameras Not Justified

New 11-14-04

Hawthorne's Rosecrans / Hindry intersection with its camera enforcement on left and right turns, is an excellent example of an intersection where there is scant safety justification for the use of the cameras.  Here you can look at the official 10-year accident history for the intersection, and decide for yourself.  (Big file! 400 kb)
See also Defect # 9 on the Home page, and FAQ # 27.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 6
Snitch Ticket

Here's an example of a Hawthorne Snitch Ticket, a.k.a. "Nomination"

Hawthorne Docs Set # 7
Read about the Indicted Current Mayor, the Crooked Former Mayor, and the Crooked Former Councilmember

In Oct. 18, 2012 the Grand Jury indicted current Hawthorne Mayor Daniel Juarez on two felony counts of perjury, related to his acceptance of a $2000 cash "campaign donation" from a local firm which the City lent $2.5 million.

Before Juarez, the longtime Mayor of Hawthorne was Larry Guidi.  GuidiWatch.com discusses the 2010 charging of Guidi for grand theft of a commercial dough mixer from his (now former) employer, the local school district.  Guidi chose to not run for re-election in Nov. 2011.  He pled guilty in Feb. 2012.

Before Guidi ran into trouble, his friend and fellow councilmember Louis Velez was indicted for felony conflict of interest in July 2007 and pled guilty in Feb. 2008.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 8
Trial Transcript

This Hindry-Rosecrans right-turn trial transcript shows how close a judge can come to convicting you - when it may not have been you - and also is an example of what may be improper arm-twisting by a judge.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 9
The Contract, Etc.

2003 Contract
2009 Contract
2012 Extension
2012 Extension, signed

The 2009 contract included, in its Exhibit D, an illegal "cost neutrality" clause.  (See Defect # 10 - B.)

The contract possibly provides a monetary sanction against the city if city traffic engineers lengthen the yellows.  The contract reads:
"Cost neutrality is guaranteed except as follows:  If the signal amber timings at the photo enforced intersections are not set to the minimum requirements of Caltrans in California." (Exhibit D of Contract.)
The passage is open to two conflicting interpretations.
1.  The City is required to maintain yellows that are at least as long as the minimum specified by the CalTrans - but they can be longer.
2.  The City may not set yellows that are longer than the minimum.
 
The contract also says:  "Definitions.  'Warning Period' means a period after the Installation Date of the first intersection approach..."  (Emphasis added.)  See Defect # 6.

The 2009 contract will expire in 2014, although the contract provides for two one-year extensions, at the City's option.

On Mar. 13, 2012 the council voted to make the following amendments to the contract.

Section 6.2 allows the City to cancel the program at any time, on 30 days notice.

Cost neutrality was replaced with an annual evaluation of the "financial feasibility" of the program.

The vote was 3 - 0, with English, Michelin and Juarez voting yes and Vargas and Valentine abstaining (the minutes do not explain why they abstained).

This list of contracts and amendments may not be up-to-date - there could be a contract or amendment later than the ones listed above.

Hawthorne Docs Set # 10
More Coming

There may be some more Hawthorne information posted in the next few weeks.  Mark your calendar to remind you to come back here and look!

Details of some 2004 - 2006 trials of Hawthorne tickets are at:  Hawthorne Chronology.

---------------------------------
RED LIGHT CAMERAS
www.highwayrobbery.net
www.highwayrobbery.net