Indianapolis Takes Six Sigma to its Illogical Conclusion
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 12/13/09 @ 11:31 pm - Filed Under State Politics
I’ve been an ardent opponent of Six Sigma and the alleged “savings” it has generated for Fort Wayne. Having said that, the bozos down in Indy have taken it to a whole new level:
Motorists who receive minor parking or traffic tickets in Indianapolis, Indiana are being threatened with fines of up to $2500 if they attempt to take the ticket to court.
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The city made explicit the threat of additional fines for challenging parking tickets in a November 30 press release announcing a deal between Indianapolis and a private firm, T2 Systems, to hand over operations of a parking ticket court to increase municipal income.“Using Six Sigma process improvement strategies, it is estimated that under this program the city may collect an additional $352,000 to $520,000 in parking citation revenue over the next 12 months,” the city press release stated.
Bilk your citizens for every dime they have by issuing outrageous fines that don’t even remotely serve the public good. Brilliant! Indianapolis is a borderline failed city and is becoming more of a laughingstock by the day.
And just in case you think the outrageous fines are only going to the worst offenders:
Toshinao Ishii received a ticket for driving 63 MPH in a 55 zone in February. Had he paid the ticket without challenge, the fine would have been $150. After Judge Young sided with the police officer in court, Ishii was fined $550. Motorist Matthew Stone was told by his doctors not to wear a seatbelt over his chest as it could damage his cardiac pacemaker. He received a $25 ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. After court officials threatened Stone with a $500 fine, he gave up his intention of challenging the citation. Adam Lenkowsky, who did not receive a ticket, attempted to attend a traffic court proceeding on September 23, 2009. He was barred from the court, despite the state constitutional requirement that court proceedings be open.
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6 Responses to “Indianapolis Takes Six Sigma to its Illogical Conclusion”
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I wonder if this is worse than the idea of taxing citizens who choose not to enroll in health insurance programs?
Paying court costs in traffic cases is not an unusual happening … and these ‘costs’ are in the mind of the judge, subject to limitations under the law.
“Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.” Oscar Wilde
Jacking up fines ONLY for those that contest them is a tax increase pure and simple. And to do it under the guise of Six Sigma is quite silly.
Why not just put together a Six Sigma project to try and extract as much money as you possibly can from every citizen and publicize it in a press release?
I wonder if your half-hearted defense is because it came from a Republican administration? Is it tiring carrying all that water?
Six-Sigma, just in time, KANBAN and many more things have been around for a very long time. Each has been renamed and repackaged over the decades.
Six-Sigma is doing it right the first time. It is not difficult, yet they charge up to $10,000 to train one person and certify them as a Six-Sigma Black Belt. Long before Six-Sigma engineers designed and performed problem solving tasks. Any good engineering school teaches three simple things.
Define the Problem
Identify the knowns
Identify the unknowns
Based on this three step operation, you have the basics of six-sigma. The key is setup and defining.
You are 100% correct Jeff.
Jeff,
I wasn’t defending anyone, since I was unaware of the political bent in Indianapolis/Marion County. My understanding is that Mayors and County Administrators do not run courts.
I ran up against Six Sigma many times in may career as a manufacturing accountant and I agree that the concept is a waste of time and money.
However, as is customary in all good lede sentences, I was trying to gently sway you in my first response that we have much larger problems in this country than a few idiots protesting traffic tickets. I will reiterate that justice is expensive and someone has to pay.
I see from your latest post that you perhaps agree that the Democrat’s attempted usurping of one-sixth of the US economy in its so-called “health insurance reform” has gone over the edge.
Gadfly,
I guess I just see this as a symptom of the larger problem. Namely that government is continuously carving out more and more for themselves by sucking the average taxpayer dry…
It is more important to understand the “psychology” than just the tools…Six sigma has been proven to set companies apart from each other with its effectiveness. It is practiced in almost every major corporation and almost always results in a better, leaner, and more proficient company.