Who cares about the will of the people when revenue for the government is involved?
Officials in Houston, Texas are in the stage of denial regarding the public vote to ban the use of red light cameras. Despite losing by six percentage points, Mayor Annise D. Parker is not ready to shut down the program. The language approved by voters Tuesday as an amendment to the city charter is unambiguous.
“The city of Houston shall not use photographic traffic signal enforcement systems to civilly, criminally, or administratively enforce any state law or city ordinance against the owner or operator of a vehicle operated in violation of a traffic control signal, specified by Section 544.007(d) of the Texas Transportation Code, nor shall it collect any money from any recipient of a notice of violation issued, in whole or in part, in connection with the use of a photographic traffic signal enforcement system,” Proposition 3 stated.
Houston is home to one of the largest automated ticketing programs in the country. Its seventy cameras generate about one-fifth of the total photo enforcement revenue for the entire state. In the last fiscal year, Houston cameras issued 236,812 tickets worth $17,760,900 — double the amount of the next largest camera program in Dallas. This regular stream of revenue is divided between the state, the city, and the vendor in charge of the program, American Traffic Solutions (ATS). The largest shareholder in ATS, with a 30 percent stake, is the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.
Read more at theNewspaper.com.
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