Cook County defends suburban red-light cameras

Several Northwest suburbs' search for a legal block to red-light cameras in their jurisdictions continued Friday, even as Cook County officials defended this week's decision to approve them.

County board members this week approved 30 potential suburban intersections for 20 planned red-light cameras. More than half of the proposed sites are in the Northwest suburbs, including six in Schaumburg alone.

County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, one of 10 board members to back the proposal, said he supports a trial period even though his North Shore district has one potential location in Wilmette. The county already has budgeted for a minimum of $2 million in red-light camera revenues, he said.

"I don't have a bias for or against the red-light cameras, but I think it's worth a pilot project," Suffredin said.

Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno directed the county highway department to begin researching red-light cameras nearly three years ago, but ultimately voted against the contract Tuesday because one of the two camera vendors is based in Arizona.

But Moreno said he is convinced, in principle, of the rightness of the upcoming one-year trial period. In fact, Moreno believes it should have included more than just 20 cameras.

The county highway department has identified 30 potential intersections for the trial period in suburbs including Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Palatine, Schaumburg and Wheeling. The department is still in the process of narrowing down which 20 intersections will get cameras.

Commissioner Tim Schneider, a camera opponent whose district includes many of the potential sites, questioned why the locations are concentrated in traditionally Republican areas while none are in Chicago.

But Moreno explained Chicago is exempt because of a unique intergovernmental agreement under which it maintains all county-owned roads in the city. Taking on such responsibility was an expensive proposition for Chicago, and no similar arrangement exists with any suburb, Moreno said.

"There are no ominous plans to put these cameras in Republican areas," he said. "That's humorous!"

Cook County Highway Department Supervisor Rupert Graham said all the potential sites were identified by the criteria of traffic volumes and their number and type of accidents.

Villages now opposed to red-light cameras, such as Schaumburg and Arlington Heights, as well as those that have installed their own, like Palatine and Elk Grove Village, are united in questioning the county's legal jurisdiction to install cameras in their towns.

"I have serious questions as to whether the county has the authority to do this within the corporate boundaries of a municipality," said Jack Siegel, the attorney for both Schaumburg and Arlington Heights. "I don't think the mere fact that they own the road takes away the municipality's right to regulate the traffic on the road."

Schaumburg Village Manager Ken Fritz agreed, noting that while the county is responsible for maintenance of its own roadways, the policing of traffic traditionally has been the role of municipalities.

Siegel already has been directed to draft a letter to Cook County President Todd Stroger informing him of Schaumburg's intention to take legal action. He also is preparing for Arlington Heights a resolution opposing the county's move.

Brian Costin, a Schaumburg mayoral candidate who fought the village's brief experiment with red-light cameras, said private citizens also have a role to play. He believes public outcry over the more than $1 million in tickets Schaumburg issued within months after installing a single camera near Woodfield had a lot to do with the village changing its mind and removing it.

Schneider said he has asked the Cook County state's attorney's office to study the legality of the county board's authority to approve red-light cameras in incorporated areas, but has not yet received a response.

But Moreno said a January 2007 memo from the state's attorney's office to the Cook County Department of Revenue clearly states that the county does have such authority.