Latest news with #StreetsDepartment
CBS News
6 days ago
- CBS News
Lawsuit filed over Philadelphia's plan to expand bike lane infrastructure on Pine and Spruce streets
A legal battle is unfolding in Center City as residents of Pine and Spruce streets push back against the city's latest efforts to bolster bike lane safety. A newly filed lawsuit seeks to block the Philadelphia Streets Department from installing neighborhood loading zones and future concrete barriers adjacent to protected bike lanes. The complaint, submitted Monday by attorney George Bochetto on behalf of the advocacy group Friends of Pine and Spruce, argues that the city overstepped its authority. "The administration by regulation is now trying to overrule City Council and completely reconfigure what happens on those two streets," said Bochetto. "And it's gonna create a disaster." "It's going to create congestion, there are gonna be emergency vehicles that are not going to be able to get through," Bochetto continued. The lawsuit claims the Streets Department acted beyond the scope of existing ordinances by implementing new loading zones through regulation, without formal changes to city law. The defendants named in the suit include the Philadelphia Streets Department and the city's Office of Infrastructure and Transportation Systems. City officials said the loading zones are essential to support a recently enacted law banning vehicles from stopping in bike lanes, a move driven by safety concerns. Advocates argue that the new zones are a common-sense solution to reduce conflicts between parked vehicles and cyclists, especially on high-traffic corridors like Pine and Spruce streets. Tensions around the bike lanes are not new. The roots of the conflict date back to 2009, when protected lanes were first introduced. An agreement under then-Mayor Michael Nutter allowed residents to stop briefly in the bike lanes for loading and unloading. Enforcement has been an issue and has left cyclists vulnerable, as cars routinely block the lanes. Currently, the bike lanes are protected only by flexible plastic posts. In July 2024, an alleged drunk driver swerved into the Spruce Street bike lane and killed a pediatric oncologist. The accident galvanized support for stronger bike lane protections and led to the city's no-stopping law. Still, not all residents are on board. Some said the planned barriers and reconfiguration of the streets could worsen congestion and impede emergency vehicles. Longtime Spruce Street resident Ollie Chernihivski expressed concern over reduced lane access for deliveries and services. "There's a problem, there's only two lanes here," said Chernihivski. "If we lose one lane, any delivery or anything that happens on the street becomes impossible." On the other side, advocates like Jacob Russell with Philly Bike Action said the city is simply giving cyclists the same safety infrastructure already afforded to pedestrians. "We already protect people who walk with concrete curbs. Bicycles should get the same level of protection," Russell said. The city tells CBS Philadelphia that the lawsuit is currently under review. The Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems announced that the city and the Philadelphia Parking Authority will start the first phase of the Spruce and Pine Bike Lane safety Upgrades project Thursday, and that stage will last at least two weeks.
Business Journals
25-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
$80K went missing from St. Louis' tow lot, audit says
By submitting your information you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and User Agreement . Some $80,000 in cash went missing from St. Louis' tow lot last year, an audit says, highlighting more problems in the city's Streets Department under its previous mayor. Story Highlights $80,000 in cash went missing from St. Louis' tow lot, an audit says. Audit reveals "material weaknesses" in towing operations under Streets Department. Tow tickets and vehicle inventory records are alleged to have been poorly maintained. Some $80,000 in cash went missing from St. Louis' tow lot last year, an audit says, highlighting more problems in the city's Streets Department under its previous mayor. The review, from then-Comptroller Darlene Green's office, was quietly released March 26, before the April 8 election that saw her and Mayor Tishaura Jones lose their re-election bids. The review was for the period July 2022 through Sept. 30, 2024. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Green didn't immediately respond to questions, nor did Jones' chief of staff, Jared Boyd. The new mayor, Cara Spencer, who took office April 15, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did the new comptroller, Donna Baringer. Spencer has said she'll look to replace the Streets Department chief, Betherny Williams, who's still in her post and faced scrutiny amid a poor response from the government to winter storms in January. The audit said there are "material weaknesses" in towing's operations, under the Streets Department, and that its financial reports therefore "lack integrity." "Management has had the opportunity to improve the situation but has not acted on it," the audit said in a conclusion. "Failure to implement positive change places the City of St. Louis at great risk of economic loss." The audit recommended that no cash transactions be processed at the tow lot, 7410 Hall St., in the North Riverfront neighborhood. The city takes towed vehicles there, and collects money from tow fees and auction proceeds, estimated at $1.8 million and $2.2 million, respectively, in fiscal 2023. The audit said that during a visit to the lot from an auditor in September 2023, a large amount of cash was sitting on top of an open safe in the office. The cash was in a clear, unmarked plastic bag, it said. Other small stacks of cash were in the other office unmarked. The cash totaled $80,000. The auditor told a towing supervisor that daily deposits of cash must take place on the same day the cash is received, per the city's charter. "There was no explanation of why a deposit had not already been made," the audit said. "There was no documentation indicating where the cash originated either." When the auditor returned the next day, the review said that the cash was gone, staff said it had been deposited, but there was no evidence that it had been deposited with the city treasurer's office. Auditors also tested cash handling by comparing the cash received from towing by the city's accounting system, versus daily reports of redemptions kept by towing staff. The towing staff reports from July 2023 through December 2023, showed $86,000 more taken in than what the city ended up receiving, according to the audit. Williams the Streets Department director, in a response dated March 10, wrote that auditors also should have considered another report, called vehicle collections, to "obtain a more accurate number." The audit also alleged that "a substantial portion of the revenue generated from the auto auctions could not be verified." Sale logs, buyer information and payment receipts "were either incomplete or missing, and could not be reconciled to" an auctioneer's log, it said. It alleged that there's a $295,900 discrepancy in auction fees from July 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023. In other words, the city recorded receiving $295,900 less from auctions than was recorded in tow lot records. Auditors also projected an additional loss of $347,355 for the remaining 27 auctions held in 2023, the audit said. Williams wrote that auditors also should have considered a vehicles collection report, but auditors countered that they requested a copy of procedures for auctions, including criteria for auctioning a vehicle, but received none. Tow tickets missing The report said that auditors sought tow tickets, which are created when a vehicle comes to the lot and include the make/model/year, the type, the reason for the tow and notations describing the vehicle's condition. Auditors randomly selected 221 tow tickets in a tow lot records system, and found that 72 of the tickets were either missing, incomplete or had the incorrect amount listed. "Much of the operations within the office involves paper – especially paper tow tickets," the review said. "Since there is no good order to the filing of tow tickets it takes longer to search for them and the ticket may never be located." Missing tickets could mean lost revenue and unaccounted cash, the audit said, plus the possibility of fraud. It recommended preparing procedures for an office filing system and assigning record-keeping to one employee. Williams, Streets Department leader, responded to the audit saying that changes have been implemented since the audit, with filing cabinets added and staff designated to perform filing. The audit also said that vehicle inventory records are not being maintained, and Williams conceded that "this is an issue, and steps are being taken to obtain software to improve." She added that inventory checks are done twice a quarter. Past controversy at tow lot The daughter of a past St. Louis police chief, Joseph Mokwa, used vehicles previously impounded at the tow lot from St. Louis Metropolitan Towing, which had a towing contract with the police department. Mokwa denied wrongdoing, but retired in 2008. Federal prosecutors charged others but not him. KSDK in recent years has reported on consumers' complaints involving the lot, including allegations that the lot was skimming money off the proceeds of vehicle sales. A 2022 Missouri audit, under then-Auditor Nicole Galloway, found the Streets Department's operations "fair," but said that the towing division's "accounting controls and procedures for recording and reconciling payments collected were poor."
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Sinkhole causes route to shift at Go! St. Louis Marathon this weekend
ST. LOUIS — Over the weekend, three separate sinkholes emerged through the City of St. Louis, damaging homes, swallowing streets, and even causing a bump, or rather a hole, in the road for the Go! St. Louis Marathon this weekend. The most recent sinkhole, located at Park Avenue and 14th Street, swallowed part of the intersection's median and turning lane. Go! St. Louis told FOX 2 the sinkhole has caused a one-block shift in the route to avoid the new sinkhole. 'It is a small change that will have minimal impact on our runners or the community,' said Mona Vespa, president of Go! St. Louis, in a statement to FOX 2. 'We're thankful to the Streets Department for their quick collaboration to help us make this update and look forward to a great weekend of celebrating our city with 20,000 of our closest friends.' Police respond to South County Mall after man displays gun The marathon is set to take place on Saturday, April 26, and will close various streets throughout St. Louis from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. The sinkhole located at Park Avenue and 14th Street was just one of three that occurred over the weekend. Another one was at Cass Avenue and 18th Street, which is 20 feet deep and was reportedly caused by a broken sewer pipe. Both sinkholes have been linked to sewer-related issues, and the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is responsible for addressing and resolving them. Repairs on the Cass Avenue sinkhole were scheduled to begin on Monday. Note: Video above is from April 19 Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
She survived hit-and-run, then battled St. Louis tow lot
ST. LOUIS – It began when a St. Louis woman was t-boned in the Ford Edge she'd recently purchased. 'No! I can't believe this is happening!' Vivica Foxwell said about a scenario that became worse. She said her Ford was towed to the City Tow Division's lot, where she felt like it was held hostage. 'Ever since then, I've been trying to get it released,' she said. Foxwell said a representative at the tow lot said they can't release it to her until she has permanent plates, even though her temp tag is still good through the end of the month. 'There's no violations or anything on the vehicle. It's insured, of course,' Foxwell said. She even showed us her paperwork. Her tag is still good until April 30. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Streets Department Director Betherny Williams said it didn't make sense to her either. 'I would say if these things are current, then we should issue that vehicle back,' she said. Williams came down to the tow lot personally to investigate. 'At no given time do we want to keep vehicles here,' she said. 'And it's always our goal at city tow and the police department to give people their vehicles back.' Williams learned Foxwell was wrongly denied her vehicle because the tow lot's computer system did not recognize her valid, 90-day temp tag and mistook it for an expired, 30-day tag. 'Her tamp tag was current,' Williams said. Foxwell and FOX 2 both found out her problem was solved with a phone call from city hall. That call came right after our interview. 'You're good to go over there. She's got a note into the lot saying you're good to pick up your car,' a city spokesperson said. Foxwell was elated. 'Thank you, that is awesome! That is awesome!' she said. FOX 2 wants to hear from you if you've had an issue with the St. Louis tow lot. . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Technical.ly
02-04-2025
- General
- Technical.ly
Philly's new Vision Zero dashboard shows where and how crashes happen
This article is a part of Every Voice, Every Vote, a collaborative project managed by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism with lead support from the William Penn Foundation, and additional funding from Lenfest, Comcast NBC Universal, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, Judy and Peter Leone, Arctos Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, 25th Century Foundation, Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation and Philadelphia Health Partnership. This article was created independently of the project's donors. A comprehensive new dashboard means it's now easier to track progress (or lack thereof) in Philadelphia's Vision Zero program, the citywide road safety initiative. The launch is part of Mayor Cherelle Parker's effort to modernize how the city presents data to residents, a project known as Philly Stat 360. Across all city agencies and departments, the first quarter of this year brought 12 new datasets and two updates, covering things like free meal sites, infrastructure projects and how police patrol the city. The Vision Zero microsite is by far the biggest open data update. In addition to general info on the safety initiative, it offers interactive maps showing where the city installed traffic calming measures like neighborhood speed cushions (the new, squared-off road bumps), locations of serious or fatal crashes over the course of a year and projects underway across the city's 'high injury network,' aka the 12% of Philly streets that see 80% of crashes. 'The Vision Zero dashboard shows how the Parker Administration is committed to using data to drive change,' said Kristin Bray, director of Philly Stat 360, 'holding ourselves accountable to reduce traffic deaths and injuries in Philadelphia.' The data reveals a very slight upward trend in pedestrian crashes, which plummeted during pandemic shutdowns — but 2023's count was still about 31% lower than 2019. Cyclist crashes, meanwhile, are hovering at 40% lower than prepandemic. Overall, the number of pedestrians or cyclists involved in crashes decreased by nearly a third, from 1,929 in 2019 to 1,309 in 2023. And there's been a 71% increase in average daily bike trips since 2019, according to the Vision Zero site. On streets with traditionally high injury rates, the dashboard shows progress from implementing new infrastructure. For example, since the city installed speed cameras on Roosevelt Boulevard in 2020, fatal and serious crashes have decreased by 21%, according to the data. Streets Department and PPD release the most datasets Of the 14 dataset updates, only one was automated and two received accompanying visualizations as the city sets out to update its process to be more seamless with more nonmanual systems and more dashboards to display information. The Streets Department and the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) released the most new datasets, at three each. Streets updated its tracking of street poles, street nodes and traffic calming devices. PPD's new releases include its citywide boundaries of districts, service areas and divisions. Here are all the other data releases and refreshes so far this year: More new data than last year, but far from the peak Philadelphia increased its total updates by 75% in Q1 2025 compared to the same time last year. While 2024 saw a notable dip from 2023 — 95 updates in 2023 versus 68 in 2024 — this quarter-over-quarter uptick could be a positive sign for the project's future. Despite the city's slowing enthusiasm for its open data project since its origin more than a decade ago, other stakeholders in the region are still pushing ahead. Volunteers at OpenDataPhilly have stepped up to collect the releases in one place to make them easier to sift through. Plus, in 2024, the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia received a $75,000 grant from Every Voice, Every Vote for its own data project using the City of Philadelphia's releases. The effort brings together public data, community-collected datasets and academic research all in one place to foster more collaborative visualizations and insights. The city established its open data program in 2012 after Mayor Michael Nutter issued an executive order. The initial goal was to publish city datasets in an open data portal, hire a chief data officer, establish an open data working group and appoint a data governance advisory board. The executive order also called for an open government plan. Within a year, the city achieved six out of 10 of its original goals. Automating its data system has been a recent priority for the city as it moves the information to a central warehouse to update it at a faster pace. Then, employees will be freed up to work on projects that present data in a useful way, Kistine Carolan, senior program manager with the Philadelphia Office of Innovation and Technology, previously told 'Creating an interactive dashboard where people can explore the data, particularly if there's spatial information related to where they live or where they're working,' Carolan said, 'really allows a broader audience to engage with this data and use it in meaningful ways.'
