Cardenas Keeps Red-Light Cameras on Life Support

The Los Angeles City Council decided today to keep the city's red-light camera program on life support, sending the issue to the Budget and Finance Committee for more discussion about its cost.

A divided City Council, unable yesterday to muster the eight votes needed to override a Police Commission decision to let the contract expire, left the contract with American Traffic Solution to expire July 31.

Councilman Dennis Zine, however, introduced a motion that would have officially killed the program, but it failed on a  7-7 vote that left the council able to revisit the issue over the next few weeks.

Councilman Bernard Parks, who chairs the Budget and Finance Committee and moved to send the issue to that committee, said ending the program would leave the LAPD with $2.7 million fewer dollars in its budget in the new fiscal year.

Councilman Tony Cardenas, who has led the fight to keep the program alive, said if the council does not vote to continue the red-light camera program that "they'll rip out the cameras, and there goes millions of dollars in infrastructure."

The council has been, which are installed at 32 of the city's more than 4,000 intersections.

The Police Commission concluded there was no evidence the cameras improved safety, and the city has not realized the increased revenue it expected.

But a spokesman for ATS disputed that claim.

"There is no question that the LAPD has shown in their analysis some significant benefits,'' Charles Territo, an ATS vice president, said Tuesday.

An LAPD report found that collisions at camera-equipped intersections decreased by 62 percent from 2004 to 2010. That's compared to a 22 percent decrease at intersections citywide.

If the Budget and Finance Committee does not send the issue back to the full City Council in time for its July 29 meeting, the program will officially end.

Parks said he was unsettled by reports that it costs the city between $26 million and $36 million for about 300 police officers to write tickets.

"Yet we're willing to cut out a program that deals with saving lives and reducing injuries, because it costs us about $400,000 a year," Parks said, apparently referring to the net cost of the annual $2.7 million contract.

ATS is based in Arizona, and the City Council last year resolved to quit doing business with companies based there, because it disagreed with state legislation that encouraged local to police to lend a hand in identifying illegal immigrants. But it was unclear how much bearing that had on how council members voted.

Cardenas said today that there is a strong possibility ATS would no longer be an Arizona-based company by July 31.

The City News Service contributed to this report.