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Politics & Government

City Puts a Stop to Red-Light Cameras

Los Angeles City Council unanimously votes to let the contract for cameras at intersections end after July 31.

Cameras installed at 32 intersections in the city of L.A. will be removed after July 31, the City Council decided Wednesday. 

During the debate, the council decided to let their contract with Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions, the company that runs the photo red light program, end as scheduled at the end of July. The program cost the city $2.5 million a year to run.

Earlier this week, two City Council committees, the Audits and Governmental Efficiency Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee, after reports revealed that the Los Angeles Superior Court was not actively enforcing citations and that the city was losing money on the program. 

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The decision backs the Police Commission’s June 7 vote to end the program. An audit showed that the cameras did not improve safety, and approximately two-thirds of the tickets generated were for rolling right turns. 

"I think the state has failed us,” said City Council President Eric Garcetti. "Today, it is time for us to shut it down, and shut it down now.”

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Councilman Mitchell Englander, who was not yet in office when the council first took up the issue, agreed with Garcetti. However, pursuant to a motion he presented in committee meetings Monday and Tuesday, he proposed a "phase out" to remove the camera infrastructure installed by the Department of Transportation and collect the money on 65 thousand outstanding citations.

Englander said that L.A. is the only city in the country that paid for the installation of the program, which cost $1.5 million.

The councilman emphasized that there are consequences for failure to pay the $480 citation, despite reports that it was a voluntary pay program from LAPD officials. Though judges do not regularly enforce outstanding citations, the ticket can still appear on your record, and possibly affect employment prospects, said Englander.

"It’s not truly voluntary, and there are consequences," he said. “You could lose your job, depending on where you work.” 

Councilman Paul Koretz said he does not recommend that residents don’t pay their citations, despite the difficulty of enforcing collection.

"The problem is the city doesn’t have a lot of the collection mechanisms, so we lose a lot of money” said Koretz. "The point isn’t, though, don’t pay your tickets.” 

The council unanimously voted 13–0 to end the program, but there were a few councilmembers who voiced their support of keeping the technology, saying that it improved peoples' safety.

"There’s no dollar you can put on saving a life," said Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who voted in support of extending the contract last month.

Councilman Tom LaBonge said that he did not want to throw the existing technology away, while Councilman Richard Alarcon said that the city should be open to a red light camera program in the future.

City officials will work on negotiating a "phase out" of the program to clean up the backlog of citations and remove the existing infrastructure. The Department of Transportation is requesting $155,000 for the removal of the poles and equipment.

The termination of the program does not include cameras installed at MTA rail and bus ways, or cameras in incorporated cities such as West Hollywood, Culver City and Pasadena. City officials said they will not issue a refund for a citation that was previously paid.

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