Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The school zone speed camera program and how to proceed in Buffalo continues to be source of wrangling and disagreement in city hall.
As the Buffalo Common Council met in a legislative committee meeting Tuesday, the debate continued over whether to continue the school zone speed camera program and a recommendation was made to increase the school zone speed limit.
The recommendation to raise the speed limit from 15 to 20mph was in the resolution ordinance amendment says Councilman Rasheed Wyatt.
"With the inaction of moving the cameras and putting in speed humps and non-punitive measures, the 20mph increase was what we're looking for, and that's what we approved," says Wyatt.
Wyatt adds the council recieved documents from 500 people calling for the removal of the cameras. "I think that speaks volumes for the type of support the initiative the majority of the council voted for," notes Wyatt.
Councilmember Ulysses Wingo voted against the removal of school zone speed cameras.
"The key issue is some of the legal processes are trying to be circumvented, and I guess for expediency, which is not how government should work," says Wingo. "It's incredible to me how on some issues folks feel it's necessary to circumvent some necessary processes and in other issues, they feel it's ok to kick the can down the road." He says he and constituents have myriad questions about the process he'd like answered.
Wingo says the recommendation of raising the school zone speed limit would cancel out any argument against the cameras altogether.
"The cameras can only clock you if you are driving more than 10mph over the speed limit. So, if you're driving in excess of 10mph over the speed limit, you'll get the ticket. If we raised the speed limit, the speed zone cameras will only catch you if you're going 31mph, which is speeding anywhere in the City of Buffalo," explains Wingo.
Wingo says the registered owner of the car gets the ticket because the car was driving more than 30mph in a school zone. "How now can you justify taking down the cameras if we already put into your proposed ordinance amendment the solution? Why should we take down the cameras that enforce speeding?" says Wingo. He says that cancels out the argument the program is not fair and targets poor people.
Wingo adds removing the cameras would create a $2 million hole in the budget. "We unanimously voted on the program. We unanimously voted to approve the commissioner of parking to enter into a contract with this vendor. Baked into the contract were punitive measures. How do I know that? We put that in the budget," notes Wingo.
But Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown says the resolution to end the camera program hasn't reached his desk. "The item was moved for immediate passage, but it wasn't done in the proper fashion," explains Brown. "The item has to be properly disposed of by the council, and then I will consider it"
Brown is urging lawmakers to reconsider removing the programs. "It is working. People are slowing down driving in school zones. I want the council to take the data into consideration and act in the safety interests of the children of our community," adds Brown.
Wyatt reacts to Brown's statement on the resolution not reaching his desk. "This speaks to the need for the council to have their own attorney because there seems to be additional shenanigans and going against the will of the people," says Wyatt. "If there's something that was done illegally, they need to put it in writing to us," adding he will take the matter to court if necessary.
Wingo says he hasn't been officially informed of that by council leadership. "A lot of folks like to tout transparency, but when we talk transparency we have to communicate. Communication is terrible, and I'm saying that publicly, because if I call leadership, the courteous thing to do would be to return a phone call regarding issues as important as these," adds Wingo. He says there is no excuse for a board member to be in the dark about meetings some members aren't invited to because he disagrees with their viewpoint.
Regarding Brown's statement, Wingo says that's a message. "I'm trying to tell my colleagues we're rushing this. We need to slow down, you all are going too fast and I don't want to be the councilmember who said I told you so, but I will be the member to say I told you so because we're not being prudent in this process. Because we're rushing something that won't go into effect until September, that makes no sense," adds Wingo.
