(TEXAS) The fight over traffic cameras in one Texas city has both sides seeing red – and hired protesters making $18 an hour.
Voters in Arlington, Texas, will head to the polls Saturday to decide
whether red light cameras should stay or go, after a charter amendment
was placed on the ballot that, if passed, would ban them. Tea Party
leader Kelly Canon and another woman, Faith Bussey, spearheaded a
petition drive last year to eliminate the cameras, claiming they are
money-making machines that do little to deter drivers from running red
lights.
Meanwhile, city officials, police officers and the camera company,
American Traffic Solutions (ATS), argue the cameras are essential
live-saving tools required at traffic spots.While the debate over red
light cameras is an old one that spans several states, the situation in
Arlington has taken a unusual twist.
A political action committee called, “Save Lives, Save the Cameras,”
hired a Cleveland, Ohio-based marketing firm to pay people $18 an hour
to act as protesters against the amendment, according to Canon and
others, including Arlington City Councilman Robert Rivera.
While the firm, Extreme Marketing and Promotions, declined to comment
on their involvement, FoxNews.com obtained emails and archived Facebook
posts from a firm employee, recruiting “sign holders” and “brand
ambassadors” to get “a certain message across with holding signs, during
the voting process.”
The advertisement calls for candidates who are “outgoing and have
high energy” and requires they wear khakis and a “solid nice white top.”
“The marketing firm is trying to create an illusion of local support
for the cameras,” said Canon, who is vice president of the Arlington Tea
Party. “You basically have a camera company trying to save their
monetary hide. They are creating fake groups that they hide behind.”
“This is a corporate money making enterprise trying to influence a
campaign,” added Rivera, who said he advocates more effective ways to
ensure safety at intersections.
Canon, who said she received her first citation in January 2014 after
making a right turn on red, claims the fines from the cameras do
nothing to stop people from running red lights.
“We don’t see it as a safety measure,” said Canon. “The cameras can’t
prove who is driving and the cameras can’t stop an accident from
happening.”
During the midterm elections last year, Canon and Bussey set up their
petition drive outside voting precincts and collected 11,405 signatures
— well over the 9,300 needed to get their charter amendment on the
ballot.Canon said her initiative was given momentum by activists
successful in banning the red light cameras in other Texas cities, like
Conroe, Dayton, Houston, Baytown, League City and College Station. She
and Bussey are now part of a PAC, “Citizens For a Better Arlington,”
that formed late last year.
Under the traffic camera system in Texas, drivers who run a red light
are fined $75 for the initial infraction and then a $25 late fee if the
money is not paid within 30 days.
“On the copy of the late notice it says, ‘If you don’t pay it, we
will turn it over to a collection agency,'” claimed Canon. “But we came
to find out — by looking at state law — that a credit agency cannot
touch your credit report for the failure of your payment for a civil
penalty.”
The address for the “Save Lives, Same the Cameras” PAC is a UPS
storefront in north Arlington. Canon and others said the PAC missed the
deadline to report its finances, making it difficult to confirm who is
funding it.
ATS spokesman Charles Territo said in an e-mail the company supports
the efforts of “Save Lives, Save the Cameras,” but directed questions
about the campaign and its activities to the PAC itself.
Jody Weiderman, spokesman for Save Lives, Save the Cameras, told
FoxNews.com, “All too often in these debates those who get tickets for
red-light running act like they are the victims. The real victims of
red-light running are the families and loved ones of those injured or
killed in red-light running related collisions.
“The fact of the matter is that there have been zero fatalities at
any of the intersections with cameras in Arlington since red-light
safety cameras have been deployed.”
Police officers in Arlington say they are opposed to the removal of the red light cameras.
The cameras have reduced accidents up to 75 percent at some
intersections and revenue from the cameras heavily funds the city’s DWI
unit, according to ABC affiliate WFAA.
If the cameras were removed, “It would be a huge impact on the
Arlington police department,” Arlington Police Sgt. Becki Brandenburg
told the station. “We would no longer have a DWI unit.”
“I think we’ll have an increase in DWI’s, DWI accidents, and DWI
fatalities,” said Brandenburg, who is president of the Arlington Police
Association.
ATS states on its website that, “A crash caused by a driver who runs a
red light is more likely to result in serious injury or death.”
The site also posts testimonials from law enforcement officials
around the country touting the effectiveness of red light cameras.
“When asked if we still need this program, the majority of people still said yes.
And I notice when I am on the road that, even at the intersections
where there are no cameras, more people are approaching those
intersections more cautiously,” the site quotes a Florida sheriff as
saying.
Still, Canon claims the system is flawed and designed to rake in as much revenue as possible.
“I’m very confident this amendment is going to pass,” she said.
Saturday, May 9, 2015
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