Update: Critics Want to Yank Redmond's New Red-Light Traffic Cameras

Editor's note: An from Saturday's petition drive has been posted on Redmond Patch.

Organizers aided by initiative king Tim Eyman want to put a measure to voters this fall to ban the new red-light traffic cameras in Redmond unless they’re approved by a majority of the City Council and voters in that city.

The camera opponents plan to kick off their signature-gathering drive Saturday, gathering at the at 10 am in Redmond to distribute petitions and collect voter signatures until 1 pm, when they’ll hold a rally at the grocery store’s parking lot.

The issue of traffic cameras monitoring violations is likely a concern to many Sammamish residents, who commute to Microsoft for work or drive to Redmond for shopping and activities. Sammamish city officials have said that there's an estimated 3,000 people who live in Sammamish but work for Microsoft.

Redmond started issuing camera-enforced traffic citations this month after a one-month warning period. The has issued a between March 3 and March 16 at the three intersections with red light cameras and one school zone with a speed camera. That’s on pace to exceed the that were issued during the one-month warning period.

The initiative, according to the petition website, would ban the city from using automatic ticketing cameras to impose fines using camera surveillance unless a majority of the council and voters approve. It would also limit fines, repeal ordinances allowing the cameras and require them to be removed unless voters approve.

Spearheading the effort is Scott Harlan, a former Bellevue bank executive who has lived in and around Redmond his whole life. He currently lives just outside the city limits and runs a finance company and does consulting work. He's joined by Eyman; Nicholas Sherwood, with BanCams.com; and Alex Rion, with the Washington State Campaign for Liberty.

"It’s a topic I’ve been interested in for years, as it came into the state, and I watched the products spread to other larger cities," Harlan, 49, told Redmond Patch late Friday. "I never really thought it would hit my hometown."

Harlan's objection to the cameras is about the idea of giving up liberty one small piece at a time.

“I created a Facebook page, and I’ve received numerous comments from people who came from Europe or lived in Europe. And their comments have been the most dramatic, in that they are saying, 'This is where we were in Europe 20 years ago, and we wished we had stopped it then,' because it has led to a proliferation of cameras for all sorts of law enforcement and revenue enhancement issues,” he said.

Some feel the cameras smack of Big Brother, while others feel they don't get a fair shake with them, Harlan said. And some drivers have said the camera strobes that flash as they go past are startling.

“It’s clearly touched a nerve,” he said.

Redmond Mayor John Marchione said in a statement Friday that the initiative “is the wrong process at the wrong time. We carefully and thoughtfully implemented a one-year pilot program to create and evaluate traffic safety cameras.”

He added, “We have a process already established where we will evaluate the data and determine at the end of the year whether or not to continue the program.”

Marchione also noted that the measure's sponsors aren't Redmond residents.

“The Council and I are certainly aware of the public’s interest in traffic safety cameras and therefore we undertook a prolonged and intensive public awareness campaign that began four months before the cameras were installed,” he said. “It is interesting to note that we received very little negative feedback from residents during these outreach efforts.”

Organizers say on their website that they're "proud to join citizens in four other cities (Monroe, Bellingham, Longview and Wenatchee) who are also pushing initiatives seeking a public vote on automatic ticketing cameras in their communities. The 71 percent vote (to remove similar cameras) in Mukilteo last November was very inspiring and encouraging. We are going to work really hard over the coming weeks and months to collect enough voter signatures to let the people of Redmond decide whether or not they want these obnoxious ticketing cameras in their communities.”

Harlan has had personal experience with a traffic-infraction camera, though not in Redmond. He got a ticket in the mail from the city of Bellevue about six months ago for driving 35 mph--the posted speed limit on Bel-Red Road--in a school zone while the lights were flashing yellow, which dropped the speed limit to 20 mph. He doesn't recall seeing the flashing lights and said there were no children present. But he wrote a check for the $124 ticket. "I didn’t have a leg to stand on. When the yellow lights are flashing, the cameras are on. And when they’re off, the cameras are off."

Regarding the initiative, Harlan said, “The only thing that’s important to me is that this be put in front of voters. And if voters approve of (the cameras), then I couldn’t be happier,” though he added that it's not the way he would vote.

The effort needs 3,845 valid voter signatures to appear on the ballot, he said.