Keep cameras out of Hoffman Estates
You have just stopped for a red light. Maybe your bumper is over the white line, maybe you stopped then crept forward to see around the person next to you. A week later you receive a red-light violation ticket for $100 in the mail. There is no defense. The photo proves it.
Hoffman Estates is about to join in this corrupt and unjust game by installing red-light cameras. Millions are at stake for both vendor and buyer, since the camera company keeps a portion of the ticket revenue generated. They have hired expensive lobby firms and have paid cash contributions to politicians to avoid laws being passed against them.
Greedy towns are shortening the yellow light timing to up the ticket count. Schaumburg and Buffalo Grove have said no, we don't want to be tainted by this corruption, despite the revenue it could generate.
Why is Hoffman Estates ignoring this wisdom? To the mayor and village board of Hoffman Estates, I ask you make a full accounting, in this newspaper, of any gifts you have received from the camera company. This includes cash contributions, gifts, dinners, event tickets, vacation packages, or promises of future dividends from ticket revenue.
To the Daily Herald, I ask you to do a follow-up investigative series to see if the truth is being told, or how deep this corruption actually goes.
Finally, to the mayor of Hoffman Estates, I ask you to put this issue on the November ballot. The citizens of Hoffman Estates will tell you loud and clear we don't want these cameras and the corruption that follows them, in our town.
Brent Jessee
Hoffman Estates