TUSTIN : ‘Blue Light’ Flyers Jam City Hall Lines

Tustin City Hall was flooded with calls this week after someone began papering parts of the city with a flyer falsely claiming that residents will have to pay $250 for the right to pass through local intersections.

The flyers began appearing Tuesday and were posted on cars, storefronts and next to automatic teller machines, primarily in the area around Irvine Boulevard and Newport Avenue.

They say that the City Council decided in closed session to install blue traffic lights that will act as red lights unless residents buy a special $250 pass. The pass is supposedly free to city employees and allows drivers to pass through the three-minute blue light, the flyer claims.

The flyers go on to say that accidents tripled in Tempe, Ariz., after that city took the same action several years ago. The flyers list the Tustin City Hall telephone number and urge readers to call their local council members in protest.

“This is preposterous,” said Tustin City Manager William A. Huston. “We haven’t got the faintest idea who’s doing it or why. I don’t know if somebody’s mad at the city or what. I don’t think any rational, reasonable person would do something like that.”

Tustin Police Sgt. Christine George said that although the information on the flyers is erroneous, posting them is not illegal. Nevertheless, police are searching for the responsible party to find out why the flyers were put out.

“This is the type of situation where if someone is in need of attention or has an ax to grind, it would be nice to find what we’re dealing with,” George said. Police have no leads yet.

Huston said if there had just been a few flyers and a few calls, city officials could have laughed it off as a joke. But with more than 100 calls, phone lines were tied up and city employees had to put aside other duties.

“This is really wasting time, and it’s malicious,” Huston said.