This almost went unnoticed in this story from Wednesday.
Council member Angela Hunt asked her colleagues to delay the vote and send the issue to the council’s Public Safety Committee because she believes staff hasn’t provided council members with adequate information about red light camera safety, particularly whether they cause more rear-end collisions at intersections.
But had the council delayed the vote two weeks, council members would have been forced to plug a $140,000 hole in the Dallas’ 2007-2008, since revenue from the 40 new red light cameras is included in City Manager Mary Suhm’s budget proposal. The council is slated to pass a final budget by Sept. 26.
So are we under any illusion that red light cameras are about anything other than revenue generation?