Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Car vs. Car
An SDPD van nabbed a silver Mercedes on May 13 at the corner of Kline and Eads streets in La Jolla. My request for information resulted in one of the parking enforcement officers walking proudly toward a white SDPD minivan.
“Did you see our van?” he said, pointing to the dual infrared cameras mounted on its roof. “The cameras are connected with a database. We can determine those with outstanding parking citations. It uses character-recognition software…it reads license plates. If there are five or more citations, with the last one being unpaid for 30 or more days, the vehicle gets towed,” he said as we all watched the vehicle being hooked up to a Star Towing truck.
The initial pilot program utilizing this technology (called “Auto Vu”) began in August 2008 and continued through the end of October 2008. The program was initially used in high-car-volume areas, such as parking lots and along city streets. Its original intent was to hunt down stolen vehicles. Today, in addition to determining whether or not a car is stolen and the number of outstanding parking citations, the technology allows parking-enforcement officers to determine whether or not cars have exceeded their one- or two-hour time limit, rendering tire-chalking obsolete.
When asked to provide some interesting statistics about the success of this technology, a representative of the SDPD Media Relations department said, “I thought they were using the van to run plates for stolen vehicles. The van isn’t used for parking enforcement.” Upon learning of the La Jolla towing due to parking citations, the representative added, “I’m not trying to be evasive here…I’m sure it’s a multi-task vehicle.”
To see the van and photos of the towing click here.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Car vs. Car
Car vs. Car
An SDPD van nabbed a silver Mercedes on May 13 at the corner of Kline and Eads streets in La Jolla. My request for information resulted in one of the parking enforcement officers walking proudly toward a white SDPD minivan.
“Did you see our van?” he said, pointing to the dual infrared cameras mounted on its roof. “The cameras are connected with a database. We can determine those with outstanding parking citations. It uses character-recognition software…it reads license plates. If there are five or more citations, with the last one being unpaid for 30 or more days, the vehicle gets towed,” he said as we all watched the vehicle being hooked up to a Star Towing truck.
The initial pilot program utilizing this technology (called “Auto Vu”) began in August 2008 and continued through the end of October 2008. The program was initially used in high-car-volume areas, such as parking lots and along city streets. Its original intent was to hunt down stolen vehicles. Today, in addition to determining whether or not a car is stolen and the number of outstanding parking citations, the technology allows parking-enforcement officers to determine whether or not cars have exceeded their one- or two-hour time limit, rendering tire-chalking obsolete.
When asked to provide some interesting statistics about the success of this technology, a representative of the SDPD Media Relations department said, “I thought they were using the van to run plates for stolen vehicles. The van isn’t used for parking enforcement.” Upon learning of the La Jolla towing due to parking citations, the representative added, “I’m not trying to be evasive here…I’m sure it’s a multi-task vehicle.”
To see the van and photos of the towing click here.
Comments