ABQjournal: Camera Forum Draws 150, Mostly Critics By Dan McKay, Journal Staff Writer
People pointed fingers, waved their arms and lectured city councilors on the Constitution.
They talked about George Orwell, excessive fines and yellow lights that aren’t yellow long enough.
Lee Logan, a disc jockey for 106.3 The Range, railed against “Big Brother and the taking away of our rights.”
My natural sympathies are with people worried about Big Brother. Even country DJ’s, whose listeners fancy themselves rebels even as they consistently vote Republican. Perhaps the right to run a red light is in the Second Amendment.
Maybe these people are sincere. Maybe they aren’t just looking to break the law whenever they want without consequences (other than death). But, if you’re truly worried about your rights, I suggest you read the USA Patriot Act (if you can find the unredacted, “need-to-know” version). Maybe you should protest the Transportation Security Administration (now xraying citizens) or burn your national ID card. Perhaps you should protest an administration with secret CIA prisons, an administration which views US Attorneys as its busboys. Yes, freedom is on the march, in jackboots. Deadly intersections are far from the biggest danger.
Red-Light Cameras Gone In a Flash? Mayor Says Bill Passage Would End City Program, By T.J. Wilham and Trip Jennings, Copyright © 2007 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writers
Last week, Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said the rest of the state suffers when Albuquerque doesn’t pay the state traffic violation fees, which finance everything from court construction to brain injury services. …
“Why should the people in the whole rest of the state build Albuquerque’s Metro Court and they don’t pay anything back?” he said. “That’s basic fairness, but then, I don’t live in the Imperial City.”
There you have it; under it all is the resentment of a Representative whose feelings are hurt. By the way, he doesn’t mean Santa Fe.
What is the logic of complaining about Abq taking money from the state when this program pays for itself — and won’t, if the state gets involved? What is the logic of someone from Roswell telling Abq what it can do?
I’m furious with the NM State Legislature, which has considered several bills designed to ruin the red light cameras. They’ve talked about warning everyone which intersections it is OK to blow through. They’ve debated reducing the cost of risking murder. Finally, they want their cut.
At the bottom of all this noise, there are statistics. How many accidents and deaths before and after the cameras? Does anything else matter, particularly the views of puny pols, DJ’s and scofflaws? mjh