MEALS ON WHEELS, 1C
Food truck events heading to cities around Gwinnett
BIG GET With Conn to Clemson, Grayson lands Herron • Sports, 1B
Gwinnett Daily Post FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
75 cents ©2016 SCNI
SCHOOL BUS SAFETY
As stop-arm citations reach $4.7M, questions remain about allocation
Vol. 46, No. 115
Officials say tourism has $1.2B effect on Gwinnett By Curt Yeomans curt.yeomans@gwinnettdailypost.com
Gwinnett County tourism officials are celebrating the big impact the industry is having on the county’s economy — an impact they say gave households hundreds of dollars in tax relief. Explore Gwinnett announced on Thursday that new figures from the U.S. Travel Association show visitors spent $1.2 billion in the county in 2014, which was a 9.4 percent increase from the previous year. Although tourism officials do not expect to receive any 2015 tourism data for Gwinnett until at least later this year, they announced the county saw a record-high hotel year-end occupancy of 72.3 percent last year. “2015 was an exciting year for the hospitality community in Gwinnett, and
See TOURISM, Page 7A
Myriad events lined up ahead of golf tourney By Keith Farner
By Keith Farner
keith.farner @gwinnettdailypost.com
As expected, the bus stop arm safety program in Gwinnett has generated more than $4.7 million in fines. But what’s largely still unknown more than a year later is where much of that money will be used, specifically by the three organizations that will split the revenue. The program began in January 2015, and through January of this year, Redflex, the Arizona-based company that installs and monitors the cameras, has received $2,372,987.46. Redflex is responsible for replacement and repairs of the equipment. Gwinnett County Public Schools, which district leaders have said would use the money for school resource officer salaries and transportation projects, has collected $1,187,846.25. Gwinnett County has received $1,190.296.25, and spokesman Joe Sorenson said the money will go toward the support of the Clerk of Recorders Court, Recorders Court and the Solicitor. “I expect plans for the future use of the funds to come into focus as the departments develop their 2017 budget
keith.farner@gwinnettdailypost.com
Two cameras sit in a weatherproof capsule installed on the side of a bus during a demonstration by Gwinnett County Public Schools officials. In July 2013, Gwinnett County Public Schools partnered with RedFlex, a company that developed the cameras that are activated by the swinging stop signs on school buses to catch drivers who pass illegally. (File Photo)
“
First, we need to understand we didn’t get into this for the revenue. It will be put aside basically like we do for locker fees, to maintain lockers.” — J. Alvin Wilbanks, GCPS CEO/Superintendent
recommendations later this year,” he said. The money comes from cameras mounted on the
driver’s side of 300 buses out of about 1,800 in the GCPS fleet. In May, a resident asked Gwinnett County Public Schools CEO/Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks how the money would be allocated in the budget. “First, we need to understand we didn’t get into this for revenue,” Wilbanks said. “It will be put aside basically like we do locker fees, to maintain lockers. The fines will be put into a budget line
See CITATIONS, Page 7A
See EXECUTIVES, Page 3A
In this 2015 file photo, professional golfer Willie Wood gives advice to a group of women on how to putt a ball while on a tour during the Greater Gwinnett Championship at TPC Sugarloaf.
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for the maintenance of that program. … We don’t really know what this will provide us until the end of this budget year.” The school district has spent $48,700.94 on salaries for SROs to review the video footage of motorists illegally passing stopped school buses. The rest of that money — $1,139,145.31 — will go toward yet-to-be-determined transportation and safety
The lineup is out for an Executive Women’s Day event to start the week of the Mitsubishi Electric IF YOU GO Classic in • When: April 11-17 Duluth. • Where: TPC SugarSports loaf, 2595 Sugarloaf agent Molly Club Dr., Duluth Fletcher, • What: 54-hole stroke dubbed play golf tournament with more than 80 “the female Champions Tour golfers Jerry • More info: MitMaguire,” subishiElectricClassic. will give com the keynote speech on April 11 following a panel discussion with Carrie Kurlander, vice president of public relations for Chick-fil-A, Melissa McGhie Proctor, chief marketing officer for the
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