photo: ssf.net
RED LIGHT CAMERAS TO LEAVE SOUTH CITY!
SSF City Council voted last evening(March 27) in favor of not renewing the contract with ATS for the red light cameras in South City with a 4-1 vote as Mayor Matsumoto voted to keep them. Public Safety Chief Massoni and his staff prepared a detailed report including stats on tickets/ accidents for those intersections as well as others in our city. Based on these reports the recommendation was to remove the lights on El Camino Real at Chestnut/ Westborough and the camera light on El Camino Real at Hickey. This detailed information and the statistics will be useful to help identify the areas and times when an increase in PD presence will be beneficial. The lights will remain intact and active until mid-August when the contract will expire.
More info on this link HERE (scroll down to item 10 Public Hearing) where you can also access the staff reports that contain the stats and background information.
Our facebook community had much to say when we announced the news with over 200 people LIKING the post. Here are some of the comments:
William Shon II I personally didn’t mind the red light enforcement since I don’t run lights, however there are issues with the service itself. Some examples: http://photoradarscam.com/malfunctions.php
Jim Chazer What was their reasoning? Those lights are the only reason my wife comes to a complete stop. So if she ever runs over a pedestrian, blame the city council.
Randy Quok to Jim Chazer: What!!??
Phil Fioresi Sr. to Jim Chazer: I like the humor Jim, Some people have none
Adrienne Soto Where at all off them that’s great!
Aaron Grgich to Jim Chazer: Haha so it’s the city councils fault that your wife can’t follow a simple rule?? Gimme a break.
Terri Wong-Samn to Jim Chazer Jim, Jim…! haha Pat will enjoy that comment!
Jim Chazer to Aaron, send me your address so I can mail you a quarter to put in your sense of humor fund.
Aaron Grgich to Jim Don’t try and turn it into sarcasm now, Cheezer!
Ria Higuera Yeah!
Patricia Baker It is good to see that South City is doing away with this foolishness. All it did was take $ from people turning right on red who were no real danger. And lined the pockets of that Arizona company.
Christina Barnett Haas IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME!!
These cameras are more of a nuisance than a help!
Thank you!!!
Daniel Schlimmer Thank goodness these cameras are going away, all I could count on was getting blinded by those awful flashbulbs after stopping & turning right on red.
Douglas Sellick They got me at Chestnut & El Camino. Traffic school and over 100 dollar ticket but it didn’t go on my DMV driving report
Joann Swanson Remember they still work till August. I don’t know the date that they get turned off but it is in August.
Gerardo Sanchez Finally! ….. SSF IS GOING TO STOP HASSEL THE CITIZENS THAT WORK HARD TO SUPPORT THE FAMILIES.
Renee Gomes GREAT!
Randy Quok I think studies have shown red light cameras have done very little in preventing red light accidents. It was a waste of money IMO.
Aaron Grgich Well I guess I better head on over with my sawzall get those things taken down.
Phil Fioresi Sr. The only council member who voted to keep the lights was Matsumoto, WE NEED TO VOTE HER OUT! she is bad for our city
Douglas Sellick Does that mean they will refund all ticket refunds
NOT
Just Hoping
Phil Fioresi Sr. plasma cutter Aaron
Lori McGrath I wish the cameras would stay in place ONLY used for criminal activity to help LE
Phil Fioresi Sr. lori those cameras will still be there it’s only the red light cameras
Ofelia Ramos like this
Nick Delorio thank god im tired of those random flashes blinding or randomly scaring the crap out of me on a left hand turn… not to mention the fact that things are a complete scam and 80% of the proceeds go to the camera company. good riddance.
Stephen Lynch If you live within 3 blocks on a foggy night it’s like lightning every time the flash goes off, very annoying!
Gottalove Sleepyhead I hope they remove all of them.
Jason Yee I will miss the exaggerated stops that I would do on the corner of Westborough and El Camino.
Teresa Teani Jason I do the same!
Wil Valle If anywhere they need one at the left turn into costco
Mike Valle Rear-End Crashes Go Up After Red-Light Cameras Go In:
http://www.caranddriver.com/…/rear-end-crashes-go-up…
Christopher Archuleta thats,just Great! big waist of Money! ,
Buster Harper The sheriffs got me and I’m doing 85
Anita Porpoise We don’t have Sheriffs.
Buster Harper Sheriffs was my father’s quote whenever pulled over by any law enforcement
Nanci Brignoli Nagel California will continue to ROLL.
Janel M Chrestenson Pearson Keep those signs up no matter..
Dana Compani They were entrapment, pure and simple. Glad most of the City Council members got it right.
Jeannette Yesitsnineletters won’t miss the flashes in my face when I’m at Chestnut/El Camino!!
Karen Davenport The cameras at Westborough malfunction quite often. One time, I was the only one in the intersection, and it took a picture of me going through a green light!
Norman Guerrero It must of not made that much money for the city for them to take it out!
Moserod OSe It was making money for the camera co. that installed them, very little went to the city.
Matela Benpana Finally! These traffic cameras are just used to collect money from people. It’s a shame they lasted that long. I paid a big chunk of ticket by traffic camera and the big chunk of money goes to a private company -that’s absurd!
Poor Goldman-Sachs (the biggest investor in American Traffic Solutions) will be sad. Also funeral homes with fewer clients (http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2012/fphr12.pdf). A boondoggle since the beginning (city had to refund the first six-months’ fines), these units blinded drivers and lit up the night for miles.
The lights were one more example of how poorly the city’s council and employees connect with the residents, including using bomb-proofed military vehicles to deliver warrents, lack of accountability for broken traffic signals, excruciating traffic routes, over-priced maintenance, etc.
[…] The decision to not to renew the ATS red light camera contract was made at the March 27, 2014 City Council meeting. The the majority of council members voted in favor of not renewing the contract with Mayor Matsumoto voting to keep the red light cameras in place. Information on this decision can be found on this LINK HERE […]
Councilwoman Matsumoto, in my opinion has no idea what shes talking about most of the time. She is a classic example of “Name recognition” when it comes to voting in our city. I watched the entire video on this topic and once again she sounded like a buffoon. She constantly tries to play some sort of political game pandering to certain people/groups. Her stance on other important issues in our city such as PP was a classic example on how she tries to play to both sides at the same time, as well as first saying she was not running, then running, then not running, then running and getting a spot on our council once again. It’s time to get rid of her! On the other hand I was pleasantly surprised at what Council-member Gupta had to say and while I didn’t vote for him will consider voting for him next election.
Great, now I won’t be temporarily blinded every time that thing goes off…
Councilwoman Matsumoto has done a lot of good for our town people.
All members of the council work hard to keep this town nice. I didn’t agree with her on the cameras, but she is a dedicated public servant folks!