The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle

Sorry about the silence for a few days. I went out of town to visit friends out in the country. More about that later. I got back late last night and found an email from Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi following up my post last week about the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authorityhttp://ron_larson.blogspot.com/2006/03/san-gabriel-valley-transit-authority_27.html

The SGVTA Contraversy

This is one part of a series of posts about The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

• Truth is stranger than fiction (03-Mar)
• More on the $1M Ferrari wreck in Malbu (18-Mar)
• The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Anti_Terrorism Unit (24-Mar)
• The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle (27-Mar)
• San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers (29-Mar)

Yo's Side Of The Story
First, the email from Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi. He is the man behind SGVTA, and he seems to feel that he is the one paying the price for Stefan Eriksson's actions after crashing a million dollar Ferrari in Malibu. It is quite long. I'll comment on the email later in the post.

The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority ("SGVTA") first held discussions with Stefan Eriksson in December of 2005. Mr. Eriksson offered to donate time and equipment to develop a real-time camera monitoring system utilizing CDMA technology designed specifically for SGVTA's fleet. Mr. Eriksson proposed using SGVTA buses to test what could have revolutionized transit security on SGVTA's relatively small transit system. SGVTA submitted a fingerprint background check for Mr. Eriksson through the State of California which disclosed no prior record. Mr. Eriksson ultimately was appointed as a civilian volunteer Deputy Commissioner for a specific task - that of developing the proposed monitoring system.

Transit carriers are required by law to perform certain regulatory enforcement functions, including personnel background investigations, medical examinations, random drug and alcohol testing, daily driver health fitness evaluations, administering field breathalyzer examinations (when appropriate), substance abuse recognition, monitoring driving records for drivers, traffic accident investigations, passenger and vehicle safety inspections and constant supervisory oversight. Local law enforcement cannot be expected to perform regulatory enforcement duties on behalf of transit carriers. Accordingly, California law grants transit carriers the right to maintain public safety and/or police units in order to ensure compliance with all public safety regulations. SGVTA lawfully formed a public safety department that has been properly recognized by all law enforcement credentialing agencies, although not yet certified by California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training ("P.O.S.T.") in which participation is strictly voluntary. [1]

While SGVTA's small transit system has never been specifically targeted for any threat of terrorism, SGVTA believes that all transit carriers should fully embrace the terrorism preparedness recommendations set forth by the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security. SGVTA's fleet is perfectly situated to facilitate discrete research and development of a camera system such as the one Mr. Eriksson proposed. Counter-terrorism experts have predicted that - as was the case in London, England -- our country's small communities, and their regional transit systems, may well be the next target of those who would do us harm. SGVTA is taking all steps within its means to ensure that its passengers and property remain safe and that SGVTA stands properly prepared for any and all disasters.

The subsequent crash of Mr. Eriksson's Ferrari, while unfortunate, was wholly unrelated to SGVTA, other than Mr. Eriksson's volunteer status at the time. SGVTA has investigated the publicized claim that unknown individuals displaying some sort of badge appeared at the crash scene purporting to be officials of "Homeland Security." SGVTA can account for all of its personnel at the time of the incident, is confident that no one, other than Mr. Eriksson was present from SGVTA, and is certain that no SGVTA badges were involved.

SGVTA has been in communication with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Department of Homeland Security, and will continue to cooperate fully in any investigation.

Notwithstanding reports to the contrary, SGVTA is and has been headquartered at 4115 East Live Oak Avenue in Arcadia since the end of last year. Homer's Automotive in Monrovia donates personnel, vehicle parts, service and labor, and terminal space to assist SGVTA to meet its mission. Assertions that SGVTA or its public safety department are run out of Homer's Automotive are incorrect.

About SGVTA
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority is an independent transit agency created to permit near seamless paratransit service throughout the many small cities that make up the San Gabriel Valley.

SGVTA's responsibilities include operating, maintaining and improving paratransit services. SGVTA also works in conjunction with transit operators in other cities and counties to provide intercity and inter-county paratransit service to major medical facilities in southern California, as well as exploring the potential for expanded service.

SGVTA's vision is to provide a transportation system that allows handicapped, disabled, elderly and needy passengers to go anywhere in the region easily and efficiently.

Ron, SGVTA has/had Memorandums of Understanding with two cities, Monrovia and the City of Sierra Madre. Those MOU's only provide for and understanding that SGVTA will provide FREE transportation, mostly intercity, for residents who don't have transportation to medical facilities outside their city of residence. We provide service to the entire San Gabriel Valley, which consists of more than 25 small cities. No MOU calls for any payment from any city, state or federal agency for our services, and we have never received one dime of taxpayer money whatsoever. We provide service to our community at our cost, with NO fee being charged to the passenger. Even our drivers are forbidden from accepting tips.

So far, SGVTA has received donations of cash mostly from myself. We have also received free tires from a local tire store (Monrovia Tire), enough Magellan GPS Navigation devices to equip each of our vans with audible (speech directions) to assist drivers to find locations for our blind passengers who can't give us physical directions, computer reprogramming for our diesel mini buses to make them more fuel efficient (Gale Banks), a free tank of natural gas from the gas company for our natural gas bus, and numerous free repairs to all our vehicles from my shop (Homer's Automotive).

Because of all the negative press, no one wants to be associated with a service that they think is involved with some controversial charity. Therefore, I am selling my own Harley Davidson to raise enough funds to keep our doors open until people start taking us seriously again. We service hundreds of handicapped, elderly, disabled and needy passengers every month, and ironically our passenger load has increased as a result of the negative press, because people who have no means of transportation to and from their doctor's offices don't care about the negative aspect of the articles, and only care about the service we provide. Unfortunately, at a time when we are the most financially challenged, our passenger load continues to rise.

I hope this helps to set the record straight because I am a local mechanic who set out with some friends to do something good for those who needed it the most, and all this negative press over a volunteer's Ferrari has all but ruined a very real service that many people depend on.

Take care,

Yo

What Is Still Missing
Thank you for the email. I can certainly see how you feel that no good deed goes unpunished. It appears to me that you and your agency have been taken advantage of by a world-class con-artist, Stefan Eriksson. Think of this anology. He is a pool hustler and you walked into a pool hall with cash in your pockets bragging about how good you are. He saw a mark and milked it for all that it was worth. Your mistake? It was playing the game in the first place. You were in over your head and didn't know it.

You have explained how Eriksson got involved with the SGVTA, how he slipped past your screening procedures, and what duties he was commissioned with. You also explained why the SGVTA is allowed to have have a law enforcement arm, and the threats that you feel the SGVTA might face. You have explained the services that the SGVTA provides. You have explained how the SGVTA is funded and operates.

You have explained how Eriksson abused the powers he was granted and that the scope of this abuse was limited to only him.

But you have not explained the why the SGVTA made, what is at best egaggerated, or at worst lies, about what the SGVTA is on the website. If your website indicated what you hoped the SGVTA to become, there was nothing that I could see to indicate that. Did you not know about the web site and public image of the SGVTA that was being presented? Did Eriksson do that? Were you not involved in the production and distribution of public information for the agency?

Which came first? Eriksson and his promises? Or the fake public image and emphasis on terrorism?

The Reality Versus The Image
You have to admit, the emphasis in the public statements from your agency gave me and others the impression that the the SGVTA was far more interested in being a state of the art law-enforcement agency than anything else. Why does a small, free bus service for disabled persons need to lie about the size of the police department and the equipment it had? Why does it talk more about its security than the actual services it provides?

I would think that a web site about your agency would emphisis what your email states. It would have publised the fact that it was run on 100% percent donations and accepted no tax money or user fees. You would think that the contributers to the SGVTA would want public recognition of their generosity, such as Monrovia Tire's contribution. You would think that your web site would invite more merchant and private donations to continue to operate. But it didn't. It didn't say anything like that. Instead it talks about the extensive police department and anti-terrorism unit it has.

The bottom line is, the public face of the SGVTA didn't match the reality that you present here. So I'm still asking, why is that? Do you blame people for being spooked and not wanting anything to do with this anymore? Eriksson does not appear to be at to blame for those inconsistantcies. He was just the reason they came to the attention of people like me.

A Plea From a Client
I also found a long and heartfelt comment to the same post that I want to highlight. This anonymous poster is upset that my speculation about the reasons behind all of this is going to ruin a good thing.

My Father lives in Monrovia a city they service. They pick him up every week and take him to the doctor for his appointment. The bus driver not only helps him on the bus but walks up to his house to help him to the bus. I offered the bus driver $20.00 as a tip and he said “Sorry I cant accept tips but if you like send it to the SGVTA as a donation”

So I did. I called the city of Monrovia and asked how much they were paying this bus service and they told me not 1 penny they are all volunteers and they work for these old people free of charge I was blown away.

So if they have a police department to keep my father safe who cares. And if they gave that millionaire asshole a badge by mistake so what. They got rid of him when they found out I was told by the city. Police departments catch bad cops all the time so big deal they gave him a badge by mistake.

I found out from the city this guy that owns the body shop has taken the money out of his own business and his own pocket to help these people that our government wont help. Now since this car blowing up and all the negative publicity it has brought, its putting a strain on them and they are thinking about stopping the service. Now what does my dad do when he needs to go to the doctor call a bloger or the press? I don’t think so. I am all for freedom of speech but until you know what your talking about and how it will impact others keep your stupid opinion to yourself.

I like the part of "...and how it will impact others keep your stupid opinion to yourself." Wow. So the ends always justify the means? That is the same excuse the defenders of Mussolini used to excuse his record on running Italy in WWII. "He may have led us into a war, ruined our country, and killed thousands of people. But he got the trains to run on time."

Hey... it is my blog. I will ask all the questions I want. Sorry about your dad. But it doesn't excuse the abuse of power we have seen in this case.

You Can Still Salvage The SGVTA
From my perspective, the only way you can salvage your agency, and in fact make it stronger, is to publicly abandon the agency's police department and instead focus 100% of the agency on what benefits it brings to the citizens of the SGV. Just because you CAN create a police agency doesn't mean you have to. You started a good thing there. Don't blow it by clinging to the police department. That has tainted the rest of the agency and needs to amputated.

So for sake people who have come to rely on the SGVTA, such as the father of the comment poster, please do this. You can still come clean and make this work for you. You can use this to appeal to sponsors. But you have to have a squeeky clean image to do this.

Eriksson's Snake Oil
I want to take a moment to delve into the product that Eriksson was promising the SGVTA. To quote you "Mr. Eriksson offered to donate time and equipment to develop a real-time camera monitoring system utilizing CDMA technology designed specifically for SGVTA's fleet. Mr. Eriksson proposed using SGVTA buses to test what could have revolutionized transit security on SGVTA's relatively small transit system."

I've noticed that he didn't mention more about what Eriksson was promising. I've read in other places where the product was going to be real-time face recognition system, which is much, much more than a glorified video survelence system as indicated here.

The words "real-time camera monitoring system utilizing CDMA technology" is just another way of saying "cell-phone camera". There is nothing revolutionary about that. You can buy this technology at Circut City and Radio Shack now. The cell phone camera takes a picture and sends it to a user, just like any teenager can do.

Cabs already use systems like this. The have a digital video camera that take the photo of passengers. They might even already transmit the image to the dispatcher in case something terrible happens to the driver and cab.

But... face recognition technology. That would be revolutionary. The problem is, the state of the art of face recognition system is a long way from being reliable. And certainly not reliable as a real time application. It is usless to worry about the mobile client parts of such a system if it can't do the job with input given to it from a hard disk. Talk about putting the cart before the horse!

The skills and technology needed to program a video game are vastly different from the skills needed to program a system that can make sense of an image. To do that, you have to interpret an image that you have no control of the input variables. When you program the game, you have control over all variables and what image is presented on the screen. They are different s night and day.

So my question is... Did Eriksson ever demonstrate a working face recognition system that functioned at all, no matter the source of the input image?