Medina, Wash., now records all vehicles entering and leaving the city

[Newsjock]

Source: Seattle Times

... In Medina, a new sign bears this warning: "You Are Entering a 24 Hour Video Surveillance Area."

Cameras have recently been installed at intersections to monitor every vehicle coming into the city.

Under the "automatic license plate recognition" project, once a car enters Medina, a camera captures its license-plate number. Within seconds, the number is run through a database.

If a hit comes up for a felony — say, the vehicle was reported stolen or is being driven by a homicide suspect — the information is transmitted instantaneously to police, who can "leap into action," said Police Chief Jeffrey Chen.

... Medina — a city of 3,100 with an average household income of $222,000 — had discussed the idea for years as a way to discourage crime, city officials said.

... "We're not elitist at all," Councilmember Robert Rudolph said. "There is a mix of people in Medina of all economic strata. What we're doing here is protecting our citizenry."

Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009873854_medina16m.html

[musette_sf]

1. oh my

that IS a Funky Cold Medina, isn't it?

brrrrrrr

[Hannah Bell]

2. the same neighborhood.

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. That would be the hometown of a certain Mr. Gates

If one can humbly call THIS a "home".....

[Confusious]

13. Estates of gates

[imdjh]

17. I just don't get that at all.

I realize that I am a bit provincial. I long ago realized that there are two kinds of people: beach people and mountain people. Most of your West Coasters are actually mountain people. I have never understood people who spend their vacation in the mountains. I can appreciate the beauty as I drive through, but to spend precious vacation time there? Nope. To live there? Don't get it.

I also realize that Gates can go anywhere he wants any time he wants. But I see the dock on his property and I can't imagine why someone who enjoys boating doesn't live in Florida, where falling in the water isn't a death sentence.

[Sebastian Doyle]

20. I don't know what Bill & Melinda do on their vacations

....but Medina ain't up in the mountains. It's just west of Bellevue and right over the bridge from Seattle.

[MattBaggins]

21. Which is exactly the reason why we like it

You can have your wall to wall beach front bungalows, miles of sand covered with sweaty fat human carcasses, and tripping over the endless waves of people at the boardwalks. You can keep your cheesy carnival atmosphere.

Give me a cabin up out in the deep Yukon territory with a nice lake nestled between some mountains. If I could get up in the morning and walk out my door and return at night having never had to look at the face of another moron of the so called human race; I would be convinced I had found heaven.

[imdjh]

22. I think you have us confused with Wildwood NJ.

[Lagomorph]

4. "We're not elitist at all"

This from a city that fired a cop for pulling Bill Gates over.

[imdjh]

18. Was Gates actually driving? Or being driven?

[lordsummerisle]

5. I guess that's cheaper than

manned checkpoints...

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. At least people can drive into the place

There are giant-sized gated private towns such as Coto De Caza in Orange County, California that have over 15,000 residents and almost 5,000 homes where you can't even enter if you don't have a sticker or prior authorization. I once tried to drive through it to look at a piece of raw land on the other side. The guards at the gate wouldn't let me drive through and I had to take the long way around.

[Bonobo]

7. The whole country should do the same thing!

Ooops, they already do. It's called the US Passport Agency. But its people, not hunks of metal.

[Lagomorph]

8. "There is a mix of people in Medina of all economic strata....

...What we're doing here is protecting our citizenry."

Sure, poor whites, middle class whites, rich whites, a couple black families and the Mexican landscapers.

[w4rma]

9. I doubt there are more than a very few poor whites there. (nt)

[Lagomorph]

11. With average household income of $222,000...

I'm talking about those poor saps trying to eek out at living at $175,000.

[Confusious]

14. I think Bill Gates makes enough in a year

To make everyone else poor white, black, red, yellow.

[JBoy]

10. Sounds like a good place to dump old shitty cars.

Drive your old clunker into the city, take off the plates, and walk out.

[Missy Vixen]

12. Oh, really, Councilman Rudolph?

>"We're not elitist at all," Councilmember Robert Rudolph said. "There is a mix of people in Medina of all economic strata. What we're doing here is protecting our citizenry."<

"All economic strata"? Bullshit. I'd like to see the good Councilmember produce anyone that lives in the city limits of Medina (and does not work for someone who owns a home there,) that makes less than $100,000 a year. Actually, I should up that figure to a quarter of a million dollars a year.

I'd also like to mention that one of my girlfriends lives in Yarrow Point. It's not far from Medina. I drive a beat-up fifteen year old car. It seems to me it's only a matter of time till I get pulled over for daring to drive through the area...

:eyes:

[imdjh]

19. The cheapest house on realtor dot com for medina is 838K

[FarCenter]

15. With digital technology cost decreases, this will soon be economic to do everywhere

Every town and every apartment building and condo will eventually have digital video surveillance with automated image analysis to read things like license numbers and identify faces.

[Echo In Light]

16. Baby steps: start small and work your way up