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http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/roselle/jerrymoore/x599438462/Some-towns-finally-seeing-the-light-on-traffic-cameras

Some towns finally seeing the light on traffic cameras 
 
By Anonymous
Downers Grove Reporter
Posted Jul 28, 2010 @ 11:01 AM
Downers Grove, IL — The engine powering the idea that red-light cameras are the next public-safety innovation appears to be running out of gas.

More than a year ago, officials in Lombard decided to have red-light cameras placed at the intersections of North Avenue and Route 53 as well as Finley and Roosevelt roads. The village contracted with RedSpeed Illinois, an international firm with its U.S. headquarters in Lombard, to install and service the cameras. RedSpeed Illinois has similar contracts with several municipalities in the western suburbs.

But this spring, Lombard officials opted to remove a set of red-light cameras at Finley and Roosevelt roads. The public-safety benefits have not materialized, with accidents increasing at that intersection by 5 percent during the past year.

Meanwhile, officials in Naperville haven’t decided to remove any red-light cameras just yet, but they voted this month to cease issuing tickets for right-hand turns on red lights at intersections where such turns are not prohibited. Officials in favor of removing right-on-red as a camera violation said they don’t see any evidence that these purported infractions increase roadway hazards.

Naperville has three cameras: Route 59 at North Aurora Road, Route 59 at Diehl Road and Ogden Avenue at Aurora Avenue. The cameras will continue enforcing no right-hand turns for eastbound traffic at Route 59 and North Aurora Road because all turns on red are banned.

Lombard officials said accidents decreased by 31 percent at Route 53 and North Avenue in the past year. It’s possible that the cameras contributed positively to this statistic, but that’s not demonstrated at many other places where cameras are used.

A growing body of research nationwide shows red-light cameras do not improve traffic safety. Public officials have ignored this evidence to chase the revenue these devices bring. The recent decisions in Lombard and Naperville hint at this trend reversing.

Copyright 2010 Roselle Press. Some rights reserved
 

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http://www.10tv.com/live/content/teninvestigates/stories/2010/07/27/story-columbus-red-light-cameras-legality.html?sid=102

Watchdog: Red Light Camera Law 'Fundamentally Flawed'
Tuesday,  July 27, 2010 6:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday,  July 27, 2010 7:37 PM
 
Print StoryE-mail StoryCOLUMBUS, Ohio — Some critics on Tuesday said that the city's controversial red light camera program is fundamentally flawed and could be challenged in court.
The city said that the red light camera program is about safety, but 10 Investigates has discovered the camera system that helps spot red light violators may be based on a shaky law.

The cameras catch drivers breaking the law by running red lights. They also catch those who turn on red without stopping. The city's system is also snaring some innocent drivers, 10 Investigates' Paul Aker reported.

SLIDESHOW: Images From Report | WEB EXTRAS: Columbus Red Light Camera Locations | Red Light Revenue Report (PDF)| SPECIAL SECTION:  10 Investigates

The city sent Lance Smith a $95 ticket for turning right on a red light. The city's documents showed Columbus sent more than 15,000 similar tickets between January and April.

Smith said he was not guilty because he stopped.

"I was very upset, I couldn't believe it," Smith said.

After reviewing the camera's tape, a hearing officer agreed and said Smith did not break the law.

According to the law the city enacted to start its red light camera program, it is illegal to move past the stop bar whenever there is a steady red light.

The law does not make exceptions for right-hand turns, Aker reported.

"I think it's faulty, that system is faulty," Smith said.

Critics of the law agreed.

Ohio law states it is OK to turn right on red, unless signs are posted that prohibit right turns.

There are no such signs at intersections with the red light cameras, Aker reported.

Columbus' 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, a Libertarian-oriented constitutional watchdog, said the law is unconstitutional and is prepared to fight it in court.

"There is a viable challenge," said the center's spokesman, Maurice Thompson. "We'll support that attorney with legal research and legal briefing and make sure that the people of Ohio are ultimately able to limit their government and to keep a little bit of their own money in their pocket."

Public safety officials said the red light cameras are legal, but agreed that the laws surrounding them need some work.

Watch 10TV News HD and refresh 10TV.com for continuing coverage.

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http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/64181

The National Motorist Association had a link on this to show the slippery slope of the police state for money.  If you think the worse the SCAMERA Companies can do is Traffic Cameras, THINK AGAIN!  How about citing your for some "violation" just walking around, or as the former mayor of London proposed, riding your bike:  http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/12/1259.asp  or Skiers:  http://www.anorak.co.uk/179045/boradsheets.html  The excuse is always safety.  The reality for anyone who has followed the RLC debacle is they claim it is about stopping the dangerous RLR (who is plus 5 into red), yet most of what they cite are techinical fouls like non dangerous right turns on red!

Quote: 

When it comes to using RFID to track humans and our whereabouts, that's when my hackles get raised. Not that this is new either. In 2007, after newspapers reported on a controversial program designed to compile massive dossiers of data on most every American, the website for Total Information Awareness was taken down. People naturally freaked out at the privacy invasion.

But the idea is far from dead. How about if governments started using RFID to issue automated ticket violations? As part of a project called ASSET-Road, VTT Technical Research Center in Finland, has developed RFID license plate tracking. The project began in 2008 and will wrap in June, 2011. VTT attempts to detect traffic congestion but it also achieved the goal of “traffic violations detected in a flash.” And then Arizona-based camera vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) expanded upon that RFID technology by developing automated tailgating tickets as a feature that can soon be added to existing speed camera programs. Now add in this bit of info: There are also drivers licenses that "come equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags that can be read right through a wallet, pocket or purse from as far away as 30 feet."

The Next Big Privacy Concern: RFID “Spychips”
RFID, we are closer to cradle-to-grave surveillance than most people realize.
By Ms. Smith on Tue, 07/27/10 - 9:11am.
 
 
MIXX del.icio.us Newsvine Technorati Facebook

Radio-frequency I.D. (RFID) tags are a convenient way to track items and cut costs for companies. But this technology is increasingly being used to track other things, like security badges — or even people — giving it the potential to cause a horrific erosion of privacy. Tracking people with smart tags, their shopping preferences, their activities, and their personal belongings sounds like something from a sci-fi thriller. But If you got your panties in a twist over Walmart's decision to track your undies via RFID smart tags, then you'll be doublely concerned at how close we are to cradle-to-grave surveillance.

Read more: The Next Big Privacy Concern: RFID “Spychips”

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Ban the Cams note:  The Mark Wandall SCAMERA ACT supposedly PROHIBITS the citing of right turns on red if done in a "cautious and prudent" manner.  http://www.banthecams.org/20100527230/NO-MORE-RIGHT-TURN-ON-RED-LOOT-for-PBI-75-Drop-in-RLC-tickets-due-to-loss-of-right-turn-SCAM.html

IT LOOKS LIKE TWO MORE CITIES HAVE NO INTENTION OF OBEYING THE NEW LAW 

TALLAHASSEE PASSED TO ALLOW THE SCAMERAS IN THE FIRST PLACE!

(Collier County is being PAID a flat fee by ATS so ATS CAN ISSUE AS MANY TICKETS AS IT CAN.  OR IN OTHER WORDS, they ARE BEING PAID A PER TICKET FEE, WHICH IS PROHIBITIED BY THE NEW LAW SUPPOSEDLY.  http://www.banthecams.org/20100624279/ATS-and-Collier-County-Doing-END-RUN-AROUND-LAW-PROHIBITING-PER-TICKET-FEES.html )

(of interest is all three towns are services by ATS, a company using a FRONT GROUP IN MUKILTEO to DENY THE VOTERS A SAY!  http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/32/3209.asp.  Maybe that is why some refer to ATS as:   ABOVE THE STATUTES!  http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/ats-to-wa-voters-go-to-hell/

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/hillsborough/red-light-cameras-rake-in-the-cash-07262010

QUOTE:    One thing that did not change with the new law is right on red. The new law says you can do it on red if you are cautious and prudent, but it really depends on what county you're driving in.
A word to the wise: Hillsborough won't ticket right turns on red if you are driving under 15 miles per hour, but Lakeland and Tempe Terrace demand a full stop.

Read more: CH 13 Report: TEMPLE TERRACE and LAKELAND, FL STILL CITING FOR NON Dangerous RTR in VIOLATION OF LAW

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Ban the Cams note:  PLEASE DON'T do this, you can and will end up in jail if the police catch you.  This is just posted for amusement.

Ban the Cams is committed to the Democratic process of removing Photo Enforcement.

The newspaper.com has a extensive section on Camera Destruction worldwide:  http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/related.asp?S=6

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http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/32/3213.asp

Tuesday, July 27, 2010
California Court of Appeal Publishes Red Light Camera Hearsay Decision
California's second highest court on Wednesday upheld the publication status of a key decision that called into question the legitimacy of red light camera evidence. The state Court of Appeal rejected the request of the cities of Santa Ana and Menlo Park to depublish a May appellate ruling of the Orange County Superior Court (view the California v. Khaled decision http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/31/3164.asp ) that found the red light camera photographs presented as evidence in court were inadmissible hearsay. 
   Attorney R. Allen Baylis http://www.99nofine.com/ objected to the admission of the photos because the city had failed to lay a proper evidentiary foundation. The police officer who presented the information in court did nothing more than read from a sheet of paper handed to him by the Australian firm Redflex which contracts with Santa Ana and several other cities. The officer had no independent knowledge either of the incident in question nor did he have direct knowledge of whether the camera had been functioning properly.
   Although a number of California courts have struck down red light camera citations on various legal grounds, none of them has been published (see the cases of Franco http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/26/2624.asp, Murray http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/28/2865.asp, Graham http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/27/2715.asp, Williams http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/26/2663.asp and Bohl http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/04/431.asp). Publication affords a decision the ability to stand within a county as precedent. In court filings, the League of California Cities suggested that allowing such rulings to stand with precedential value would force them to issue refunds or cancel their programs outright, costing millions.
   Attorney Frank Iwama, a former deputy attorney general for the state, has beaten nineteen of the $494 tickets for his clients in San Mateo county. He successfully argues that cities in San Mateo are operating under illegal contingent-fee contracts with the private firms American Traffic Solutions and Redflex.
   "I believe the Orange County Superior Court Appellate Division's decision in People v. Khaled, certified for publication, is a wake up call for photo enforcement companies and local cities in California to seriously address evidentiary and constitutional issues with regard to the use of photo/videotape evidence in red light camera cases," Iwama told TheNewspaper. "Together with the 'cost neutrality' contract defense, the Khaled decision presents serious challenges to the use of red light cameras in California."
   The state supreme court is now poised to issue a ruling on the legality of contingent-fee red light camera contracts after issuing a decision yesterday in a related contingent-fee case. 
 

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http://www.nocamerashouston.com/ fighting ATS scameras in Houston!

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297432/The-2m-traffic-camera-snared-16-123-drivers-months.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

The £2m traffic camera which has snared 16,123 drivers in three monthsBy Christopher Leake
Last updated at 11:31 AM on 25th July 2010
Comments (71) Add to My Stories Britain's most profitable traffic camera has raked in almost £2 million in just three months after catching out motorists confused by a diversion.

The single camera is earning a staggering £150,000-a-week from unwitting drivers who stray into a street filled with temporary bus and taxi lanes.

The camera earns as much in a week as England and Chelsea football star John Terry – the country’s best-paid footballer – and is driving motorists mad.

If it stays in place for 12 months, the camera – in Victoria, Central London – is on track to issue fines totalling a staggering £8 million.
 Lucrative: How the traffic camera at Victoria earns its £150,000 a week
So far, 16,123 drivers have been hit with fines of £120 each at the diversion near Victoria rail station – one of the capital’s busiest junctions – swelling Transport for London (TfL) coffers by more than £1.9 million.

The junction is used daily by thousands of motorists – many of them strangers to the capital dropping off or collecting people at the rail station and neighbouring Tube station.

Even though large temporary red signs warn drivers of the diversion off busy Vauxhall Bridge Road, motorists still see permanent signposts for Victoria which direct them to make a right turn into what is now a temporary bus lane.

Motoring organisations, which have complained about the camera, say the signs confuse drivers and this results in them straying into the bus lane.

It is then that the nation’s most lucrative traffic camera – attached to a steel pole high above the junction – records the driver’s car and number plate details.

The offence automatically generates a £120 penalty notice, which is reduced to £60 if it is paid within 14 days.
 Lured into the traffic trap: Cars at the junction of Wilton Road and the Vauxhall 'one way' system
Mark Reed, 54, a property manager from London who was caught by the camera, said: ‘I went through this area and turned right. A week later I get a £120 ticket, and I can see from the photo that my car is there.

‘I had no idea I had done anything wrong. The signing is incredibly confusing and there’s probably going to be a lot more people fined.’

Another man, who asked not to be named, told how his wife was caught out: ‘She was very confused by the markings on the road – one of the arrows conflicted with the road signs. I think they’ve made a terrible mess of it.’

The diversion – put in place because of major roadworks in Wilton Road – has been plaguing motorists since the beginning of March and has also disrupted bus services travelling past Victoria station.
Paul Pearson, of campaign group PenaltyChargeNotice.co.uk, said that TfL’s website showed the route past Victoria station as a way of avoiding the Congestion Charge.

‘It’s disgraceful,’ he added. ‘I told TfL two months ago about this. Motorists go on their website and work out the free route and then run the risk of receiving a penalty charge notice for £120 if they’re caught out by the bus lane.

‘Motorists who have received a fine and who followed the map should appeal.

‘TfL is milking confused motorists for every penny.

‘What’s even more staggering is that I’ve seen notices sent out with pictures which don’t show the signs the car is supposed to have disobeyed.

Read more: Intentional Confusing intersection ENTRAPING MOTORISTS FOR HONEST MISTAKES!

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http://www.woio.com/global/story.asp?s=12864145

Light Fight: Clevelanders not stopping until they rid the City of Red Light Cameras
Posted: Jul 24, 2010 1:46 PM EDT
Updated: Jul 25, 2010 9:19 AM EDT 

 
Red Light Camera Fight Heats Up
 
Posted by Web Staff - email | Facebook | Twitter

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - People who live in Cleveland have picked up the fight once again, against red light cameras.

The city's "Camera Removal Team" is currently collecting signatures.

They want the citizens of Cleveland to decide for themselves whether or not they want red light cameras.

The Cleveland Camera Removal Team can be found at the following location on Saturday:

The intersection of Memphis Ave. and Fulton Rd. under the shadow of one of Cleveland's red light cameras.

If you missed Saturday's protest, on Monday you can sign the petition at the Farmers Market in Slavic Village.

The Camera Removal Team was created earlier this year.

Their goal is to educate Cleveland and surrounding suburbs about red light cameras.
 

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2012434624_edit25mukilteo.html

Court should give green light for Mukileo's traffic-camera initiative
The Seattle Times Editorial Board opposes the lawsuit filed in Snohomish County Superior Court to remove Mukilteo Initiative 2, regarding traffic cameras, from the November ballot.

THE lawsuit to take Mukilteo's traffic-camera initiative off the ballot should fail. The signatures have been collected, and the City Council has voted to put the measure on the November ballot. Snohomish County Superior Court should let the initiative go ahead.

An initiative is like a bill in the Legislature: With few exceptions, it can be tested in court only after it is passed, not before. The Washington Supreme Court has laid down this rule twice in the past five years, both times unanimously, and there are good reasons for it.

An initiative may have political effect whether it is ultimately constitutional or not. The $30 car-tabs initiative was like that, as was the 1-percent property-tax limit. In this case, the political issue is whether the people of Mukilteo shall be the first in Washington to vote on cameras, and potentially slow their spread to other cities.

The lawsuit was filed by the Seattle firm of Stoel Rives, which has represented the camera company, American Traffic Solutions Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz., in other cases. In Mukilteo, the law firm is filing in the name of a citizens' group, but it appears to be doing the company's work nonetheless.

Whether cameras are good or bad is another issue. This is about preserving the people's right of initiative.

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Thanks to Kill TN Traffic Cameras for the link!

Rolling Red-Light Camera Scourge Shames Miami-Dade
By Bob Norman, Sat., Jul. 24 2010 @ 6:05PM

Red light cameras, when misused by idiotic and irresponsible public officials, can be one of the great scourges of America. 

 
​That much is fact. Even when they are used with some semblance of jurisprudence, they might be flat-out illegal. We'll just have to see how the court challenges turn out.
But in the wrong hands they can be downright evil. Check out this Miami Herald story on the poor people of Aventura -- and all others who drive in that city -- who are getting shaken down by their own government for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars. Their "crime": Rolling a red light on a right turn. You do it all the time even if you don't know it. You come up on an intersection, see there's no cars coming, and never quite come to a complete stop.

In Aventura, this will get you a $125 fine for the first offense, $250 for the second, and a whopping $500 for each additional. It's obscene and making it worse is that if one of the cameras got installed at a red light near you, you could wrack up multiple fines before you get the notice in the mail telling you did anything wrong in the first place. 
Responsible towns don't do this. Pembroke Pines, which was the first city in Broward to install the cameras (send your thanks to Angelo Castillo), doesn't do it. West Palm Beach did it for a while, but then realizing how grotesque it was. In May WBP not only discontinued the practice, but decided to refund all the money it generated from such fines back to the citizens who paid them. But some towns just don't
get it.

Here's the top of the Herald story:
Jeff and Patricia Rudman have an unexpected $2,000 bill to pay.
The Sunny Isles Beach clothing salesman came home from work to find his pregnant wife sobbing, holding several tickets for failing to come to a complete stop at a camera-monitored red light in Aventura. After a $125 ticket in the mail the previous day, five more -- amounting to $1,875 more fines -- were dropped in the mailbox that afternoon.
All of them were for making only a rolling stop before a right turn at Aventura Boulevard and West Country Club Drive, nabbed by one of the red-light violation camera fast spreading throughout South Florida. And all were within a weeklong period.
``Two-thousand dollars to anybody right now is a hit, and to us, with a third kid coming, it's beyond. It's just way too much,'' Jeff Rudman said.
Rudman is among a contingent of South Floridians who've received multiple tickets for red-light violations before they even knew they were breaking the rules.
``We didn't have a chance to learn what we did wrong,'' he said. ``I don't think anybody in their right mind, knowing full well that the oven is hot, is going to put their hand in the oven. We didn't get the opportunity to get burned the first time.''
... City officials argue the law against running red lights has been on the books for decades, and drivers who break the law shouldn't complain when they get caught.
``That requirement that you come to a complete stop before turning right on red, it's been a state law for many, many years,'' said Joanne Carr, Aventura's community development director.
First off, Joanne Carr should be fired. Period. She obviously has no understanding of basic concepts like justice and fairness. Next every elected official in the town should be run out on a rail.
Don't pay these fines. Go to court and fight them. Judges, do your duty and dismiss the cases one after another until the derelict cities follow in West Palm Beach's footsteps

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http://www.wesh.com/news/24372624/detail.html?taf=orl

Class Suit Against Orlando's Red Light Cams Begins
Some Say Red Light Camera System Conflicts With State Statute
POSTED: 4:47 pm EDT July 23, 2010
UPDATED: 5:32 pm EDT July 23, 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A judge in Orange County listened to arguments Friday involving a class action lawsuit against the city of Orlando and its red light camera program.

Judge Frederick Lauten listened to some who argue the system is unconstitutional and conflicts with a state statute.

"He certainly seems to be more persuaded by our position and certainly it appears to be a clear conflict," the plaintiff's attorney, Jason Weisser, said. "The state seems pretty crystal clear, even for a dumb lawyer like me."

A city code enforcement officer said otherwise.

"If it goes our way, that's a positive for municipalities through the state of Florida," Mike Rhodes of Orlando code enforcement said. "If it doesn't, we've got a lot more work to do."

An attorney representing Lazer Craft, the company that installs and operates the red light cameras, showed how dangerous running red lights can be.

(BAN THE CAMS NOTE: The only things their SCAMERAS catch is the FACT THAT THEIR CAMERAS DIDN'T PREVENT THE CRASH!  We have a collection of videos if you like on this site, http://www.banthecams.org/20100520213/Videos-that-show-RLC-WILL-NOT-WORK-THEY-DIDN-T-STOP-THESE-CRASHES-where-they-were-installed.html)

The city said it aims to discourage red light running with the cameras.

(Ban the cams note:  NO ITS NOT, It is called money!   AND YOU KNOW IT TOO!)

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http://www.murfreesboropost.com/intersectins-see-drop-in-crashes-cms-23876

Intersections see drop in crashes    (CameraFraud National: Tennessee city: accidents down, except where scameras are used. It's all about the money.)
 
 
By: JONATHAN HERRMANN, Post Staff Writer
 
Posted: Friday, July 23, 2010 1:05 pm
 
Murfreesboro’s intersections are safer, but not necessarily because of photo-enforced red lights.
Murfreesboro Police Department has released data taken in relation to the number of crashes occurring at intersection in the city since implementing an automated red light camera enforcement program.

The report compares statistics from a span of time over 2008 and 2009 to one over 2009 and 2010.

Data shows, in the second year of use, intersections not using red light cameras saw a significant decrease in the number of crashes reported. A decrease of 255 crashes total, nearly 14 percent, was reported.

This includes nearly 20 percent fewer side-angle crashes, down from 677 to 542, and just over 10 percent fewer rear end crashes, down to 1052 from 1172.

Intersections using the red light camera enforcement system, however, saw nearly no change in the total with an increase of only one crash reported.

Side impact crashes decreased by nearly 13 percent at these intersections from 63 to 55, but rear end crashes saw an increase from 126 to 135, just over seven percent.

Posted in: Red Light Camera News  | Add a Comment(0)

Thanks to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ban-Red-Light-Cameras/302032432443?ref=search&v=wall for the link!
 

Ban the Cams note:  The petition is short by 12 signatures due to the city INVALIDATING 350 of them.  (The first petition, they refused to allow).  http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/31/3118.asp (on Baytown Front Group), http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3004.asp Quote:  Schirmbeck said. "The city has given every indication they intend to invalidate our petition and ignore the will of the people. Even now the city is putting up more cameras even though they know we want a vote on them.")
 

I have a feeling the anti camera group http://www.saferbaytown.com/ will get those 12 plus many more in the next 10 days.  Maybe the next 10 hours!

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Baytown-City-council-looking-at-red-light-cameras-99031759.html
 

Baytown says residents’ red-light camera petition falls short
by khou.com staff

Posted on July 23, 2010 at 1:01 AM

Updated yesterday at 1:03 AM

HOUSTON -- A Baytown citizen petition to change the city's current red light camera ordinance was ruled insufficient Thursday night by the city.
The petition was ruled insufficient because they need 620 signatures to proceed.  Out of the 958 signatures submitted, 608 were declared valid.
The remaining 350 signatures were declared invalid because the forms were not filled out correctly. That's a violation of the city's charter and Texas election code.
Petitioners have 10 days to get the problem fixed and the signatures in before city council visits the issue again.
The Red Light Camera Coalition wants the cameras completely removed and had been collecting signatures to force the city to put the cameras to a vote. If there are enough signatures, the city council can rewrite the ordinance or call an election.
The group also said the cameras aren't enough -- they also want a police officer to witness the red violation before a ticket is issued.
 

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http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/32/3209.asp

Washington: Traffic Camera Front Group Tries To Block Voter Referendum
Mukilteo, Washington anti-red light camera referendum threatened by photo ticket company-backed lawsuit.

American Traffic Solutions (ATS) is following the playbook from its failed attempt to defeat an anti-red light camera referendum in College Station, Texas. The company on Monday used its law firm, Stoel Rives LLC, to file a lawsuit under the name of Christine Preston, a local resident seeking to prevent Mukilteo residents from having any say in whether automated ticketing machines are deployed on their streets.

"A controversy exists between plaintiff and defendants regarding whether the subject matter of proposed Mukilteo Initiative No. 2 is within the scope of the initiative power," the ATS law firm's complaint stated. "Proposed Mukilteo Initiative No. 2 would improperly interfere with the exercise of a power delegated by state law to a local legislative authority."

The ATS-backed firm asked the Snohomish County Superior Court to block the public vote from taking place on November 2. As happened in College Station (http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/29/2967.asp), the ATS law firm will likely face off against the city attorney and mayor in court, both of whom are strong advocates of continuing the camera program. In College Station, the city attorney in early filings attempted to throw the case by conceding all points of contention to ATS. Only after public outrage registered with the mayor did the city retain outside counsel to argue the side of letting the public vote.

Referendum guru Tim Eyman says the injunction request goes against the fundamental right of the American people to have a say in the way they are governed.

"Instead of taking 'no' for an answer, Arizona's red light camera company, ATS, is doing everything it can to prevent voters from voting on our initiative, including suing the city and county," Eyman told TheNewspaper. "They know that an overwhelming vote for our initiative repudiating cameras will be bad for business throughout Washington and invite scrutiny by the legislature. But ATS isn't just going after voters, their lawsuit makes the extraordinary claim that the city council does not have the authority to ask voters what they think."

The firm ultimately failed to prevent the vote in College Station. Last November, a majority ended up voting to ban cameras, as residents in ten of ten cities have done around the country. Eyman also questions whether Preston has any real role in the suit. He claims that when he went to Preston's home to introduce himself that Preston launched a profanity-laced tirade from behind her window. Preston refuses to comment in public about the case.