On the sustainability of incentives

[huckie]

The problem with basing funding for certain program on incentives or disincentives (as the case may be), is that eventually you become a victim of your own success. In SFGate today, there is an article, Recycling push puts Berkeley's budget in dumps, describing how the success of the city's recycling program caused a $4M budget shortfall. By

Comments

[blueauraboy]

They figured out here that they occasionally need to relocate red light cameras when they become too effective. Once people figure out they're at an intersection they stop running red lights there and the cameras don't make enough money, so the city puts them somewhere else. Of course, the cameras are there for "safety" not raising revenue. And the official explanation is that once an intersection is "safe" they move the cameras to another one.

[huckie]

In CA we are required to post warning signs at red light camera equipped intersections. So what they have done is hidden the equipment in boxes, and then every 6 months or so, they move the equipment from intersection to intersection, so it's sort of random about which intersection is outfitted at the moment.

My bigger issue is that in SF, Muni is actually in charge of the department of traffic and parking enforcement. Muni relies on parking tickets to balance its budget. That would be like my HOA relying on fining people for noise violations in order to pay our heating bill. It makes no sense to me.