Industry pushed Photo Red

Among those lobbying Spokane City Council members to begin using cameras to catch red-light violators was an advocacy group financed by two companies vying for the contract to operate the program.

The National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running is a nonprofit organization financed by three firms that contract with local governments to run camera enforcement programs.

Two of those companies – Affiliated Computer Services State and Local Solutions, and Redflex Traffic Systems – have bid on the contract to run Spokane’s system.

An attorney representing the organization read a letter to the council at Monday night’s council meeting from the Washington, D.C.-based group’s executive director, Leslie Blakey. The letter noted that the organization is “industry-funded.”

“We are very pleased to hear that Spokane is considering developing a red light camera enforcement program,” the letter said. “Your efforts, combined with similar programs already operating and under development in localities all across Washington, demonstrates the value placed on traffic safety in your state.”

The council voted Monday to approve rules allowing cameras but has yet to approve a company to run the system.

Councilman Rob Crow, one of the four council members who voted to allow the program, said he was most influenced by the evidence presented by Spokane police Sgt. Eric Olsen, who has led the effort to start the program.

The advocacy group “was just another entity that was sharing the same information that I heard elsewhere,” he said.

Crow said one factor in his support was a February council decision that earmarked revenues generated by the program for traffic safety projects. Opponents have argued that cities with red light cameras are more motivated by extra revenue than they are by traffic safety.

Some supporters of the program in Spokane, like Crow, say the council’s funding direction takes away that argument.

Councilman Bob Apple, the lone vote against the program on Monday, disagreed and said the February vote “predisposed” the council to support cameras.

Under the rules approved by the council in February, revenues generated by camera tickets will first pay for expenses of the program. Those could eventually include $80,000 in salary and benifits for a police officer to administer the program.

After that, the council directed that the next $150,000 be placed in a fund for “traffic calming” projects. Neighborhood councils will be able to apply for grants for projects such as lane striping and road narrowing to help slow traffic.

Any money generated beyond the extra $150,000 will be devoted to bike lanes, pedestrian safety improvements and improved traffic signage around schools.

Olsen said that when the program is first up and running, it likely will only take an officer a couple hours a day to administer it because only a few intersections will be monitored. If cameras are expanded, it might require an officer to be fully devoted to it, he said.

Cameras could be operating by the end of the summer, Olsen said.