Carrie Andrews. FILE PHOTO
By a vote of 9-2, a county committee has shot down an intermunicipal agreement requested by the city for its pending red-light camera program. Two Democrats joined with seven Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee to reject the proposal.
"We are a bit mystified by the vote," says Gary Walker, a spokesman for Mayor Bob Duffy. "We had a negotiated deal with the county administration to put this program in effect. The county administration understood this was about public safety; apparently the Legislature did not."
To be clear, the full Legislature did not reject the referral. It was voted down by the 11-member Ways and Means Committee.
Democrat Carrie Andrews said she voted no because of the way the referral was brought to the committee, and because of mixed evidence about the effectiveness of the cameras themselves.
Walker refutes that. Red-light cameras save lives, he says.
"If the actions of the Legislature committee does (sic) delay or actually block the installations of the devices, it would seem to me to be very difficult to justify the severe injury and loss of life that will occur from these high-risk intersections in the future," Walker says.
The county owns and operates traffic signal hardware in the city, and the city needs access to implement the red-light program.
"We will continue the program at intersections where we do not need county clearance, and we will begin to investigate ways of installing the cameras on other infrastructures at other intersections," Walker says.
Andrews says that committee Democrats did not see the referral until shortly before yesterday's vote, and there was no one from the city on hand to answer questions.
A motion to table the vote failed along party lines.
Comments for "POLITICS: [UPDATED: 4 p.m.] City 'mystified' by county committee's rejection of red-light agreement " (4)
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Art Vandelay said on Jul. 30, 2010 at 10:32am
I would like to take Mr. Walker to task here. Please sir, provide the readers here the evidence to back up your viewpoint. You're a paid City mouthpiece, not a safety expert. I think the readers and citizens need all the information from both sides before anyone can make a proper judgment call on this.
Nice below-the-belt shot on the County Legislature too, Mr. Walker. Quite a classy move, you know, to basically blame them for any loss of life as a result of not making a knee-jerk reaction. I mean, someone needs blood on their hands, don't they?
Tom Janowski said on Jul. 31, 2010 at 8:46am
I am convinced I will one day witness the death of one or more people in an accident at the intersection of Lyell Road and Elmgrove Road. Every morning on my way to work, I see cars speeding through the intersection as the light is yellow and more and more lately, those same cars are passing through the intersection after the light has turned red.
If a traffic light camera tickets just one driver who later decides to be a little more careful, then the effort and cost was well worth it.
hiwayman17 said on Jul. 31, 2010 at 8:50am
It is very apparent through what I see in traffic every day, that Americans are becoming lawless. Changing lanes without turn signals, speeding, never really stopping at stop signs and just a general disregard for just about every other traffic law are the new rules of the road.
It is totally forgotten that a 3000 pound car traveling at just 25 miles per hour is a lethal weapon.
The time will come that things will be so bad, cars will need to be remotely controlled--speed limits especially--simply because people cannot control themselves or do the right thing or simply obey traffic laws.
clint said on Aug. 01, 2010 at 7:04pm
sorry, Gladys Santiago said it all..."we are going to make a lot of money"...there is a wide spread belief that the City will shorten the duration of yellow lights to create revenue. Mr. Walker is well intended, but, at the end of the day, he is only about doing what the future former Mayor says...and this is not about public safety...and neither is the presence of State Police on the inner loop entrances checking registration expirations and inspection stickers!
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