Voters Reject Photo Enforcement Cameras Again & Again & Again

Voters in three cities sent a clear message to local lawmakers yesterday by adopting charter amendments that ban photo enforcement. In addition to kicking two camera supporters from the city council, 72 percent of those voting in Chillicothe, Ohio approved a total prohibition on the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. In College Station, Texas the vote was much closer, but at the end of the night 52 percent wanted the red light cameras to come down. In Heath, Ohio 51 percent voted against the cameras. A total of nine cities nationwide have used the initiative process to ban camera enforcement since 1991, with camera proponents never having won a public vote.

The triple defeat for the photo enforcement industry came despite a well-funded public relations effort in each of the cities. In Chillicothe, Redflex Traffic Systems sent a glossy mailer to every voter while the mayor demanded that the Ohio Supreme Court ban the public from even voting on the issue -- a move high court justices swiftly rejected. Citizens Against Photo Enforcement (CAPE), the group responsible for the ballot measure, claimed an additional victory as voters elected camera opponent Bruce Arnold, who won the seat of council president, Jeremy Siberell, who won the fifth ward and Dustin Proehl, the only incumbent to have voted against cameras. CAPE leader Rebecca Valentich told TheNewspaper that she was thrilled with the outcome.

"We came together as individuals, and we united as a community," Valentich said. "The people have spoken, and very clearly. Our voices have been heard and thanks to the people and their strong voices, the cameras will be coming down. It is a huge victory, and one that we can all be proud of. And although our mayor has gone on record saying that he will fight the will of the people, his fight against the rights of the people will only bring a stronger united front from the community."

In College Station, Texas the city's automated ticketing vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) bankrolled a front group to conduct mass mailings and push polling in an effort to save the program that would have earned the company more than $11 million over the life of the contract. The ATS-funded group reported raising $71,240 in contributions, but not one dollar came from anyone living in the local community. To supplement the vendor's effort, the city allocated taxpayer money to send red light camera promotional material to every voter. College Station activist Jim Ash, who led the fight to put the issue on the ballot, watched the results with a large group of supporters.

"It has been nothing but celebration here," Ash told TheNewspaper minutes after the results became final.

In Heath, voters were bombarded with the same advertisements from Redflex, but they failed to persuade a majority. Voters also defeated Mayor Richard Waugh who had introduced photo enforcement as the signature issue of his administration.

"You can fight city hall and win, when you have a passion for what you believe in," We Demand a Vote spokesman Lori Lyons said in a statement.

Yesterday's results are consistent with previous public votes on the topic. In April, eighty-six percent of the votes in Sulphur, Louisiana rejected speed cameras. In 2008, residents in Cincinnati, Ohio rejected red light cameras. Seventy-six percent of Steubenville, Ohio voters rejected photo radar in 2006. In the mid-1990s, speed cameras lost by a two-to-one margin in Peoria, Arizona and Batavia, Illinois. In 1997, voters in Anchorage, Alaska banned cameras even after the local authorities had removed them. In 2003, 64 percent of voters in Arlington, Texas voted down "traffic management cameras" that opponents at the time said could be converted into ticketing cameras.

COAST Helps Cincinnati Dodge 14,865 Bullets

Heath, Ohio suffers full onslaught of government enforcement cyborgs.

Heath is close-knit community of 8,527 people, 3,403 households, and 2,375 families. Its total land area is 10.4 square miles, making it the same size as Bright, Indiana if you include Hidden Valley Lake.

The mayor wanted photo enforcement to reduce accidents. Last July they had 35. This July that dropped to 30. But during that same month, 10 traffic robots monitoring 6 intersections, wrote a whopping 14,865 tickets! That's right folks, more than four tickets per household in the first month of operations. If all those tickets are paid, it will represent 12% of the entire budget for the whole county. Government officials still insist they never dreamed of using them for revenue enhancement. Yeah right.

Outraged residents turned to WeDemandAVote.com and COAST for help. Our General Counsel drafted a charter amendment that bans the use of speed trap spy cams forever. Activists in Heath demanded a vote, and turned in more than twice the required signatures to gain ballot access. This November the citizens of Heath, OH will decide whether to continue living under the omnipotent "protection" of Big Brother.

Recall that last year Cincinnati became the first city in the country to ban red light and speed enforcement cameras after COAST, NAACP and their coalition partners successfully amended our city charter. Just think, those could just as easily have been our traffic tickets. Whew!

2008-08-11 UPDATE: Revised breakdown is 12,555 speed violations, and 303 red light violations, about 8600 of which were issued by two speed-only cameras.

Red Light & Speeding Cameras in Full Retreat Throughout Ohio

COAST, AFP team up to kill bad idea statewide

In 2008, Cincinnati became first major City to ban red light cameras in its Charter.

COAST and Americans for Prosperity’s Ohio Chapter have achieved more progress in their goal to eradicate red light and speeding cameras throughout Ohio.

Here’s a rundown:

• In Toledo, COAST sent local organizer Scott Ross to Toledo to spearhead the conclusion of the petition drive there. The petition drive is more than half way to conclusion and is proceeding well. COASTers Chris Finney, Dan Regenold and Kim Grant took a road trip to Toledo to help boost the effort.
• Governor Strickland’s initiative to place speeding cameras on State highways was stripped from the state budget bill.
• The City of Canton rejected Red Light Cameras in March of this year after opponents exposed the Mayor for accepting contributions from RedFlex, the company that installs and operates the devices.
• With COAST’s help, the close-knit community of Heath Ohio has launched a Charter Amendment to strike down Council’s implementation of a Red Light Camera program there.
• COAST traveled to Pickerington (south of Columbus) earlier this year to fight Red Light Cameras. Under threat of a Charter Amendment petition drive the Council there abandoned plans for Red Light Cameras in that City.
• COAST is working on organizing a 2010 drive in Dayton against Red Light Cameras. Local volunteers are enthusiastic in their support.