Regarding the article, “Lynnwood to reconsider lucrative traffic-enforcement cameras”: So it looks like Lynnwood has a “dilemma” with the traffic cameras that were installed nine years ago for “safety measures that … would save our children from speeding drivers.” Could the problem be that the cameras have proven to have had no significant impact on safety? Or the public has expressed displeasure with the cameras? Or that there is some evidence that the presence of the cameras hinders visitors and patrons from coming to Lynnwood? None of the above.
The problem is: What to do with those dollars generated by the cameras even though their usefulness has been proven to be suspect. For fear of bringing “sunlight” to this, the Lynnwood city officials have been reluctant to raise the issue or even tell us where the money is going. This is essentially easy money for the city. Over the years the money has become an addictive drug or even an aphrodisiac that officials readily admit, “have become dependent on the camera cash flow.” Unwilling to address this potentially volatile issue — Lynnwood has decided to ignore/hide it — hoping that the public will forget and let them continue to take their money. Looks like judgement day might be approaching.
To us simpletons, the right answer is quite obvious. Take down the cameras and quit fleecing the public. To the bureaucrats, the answer is not so simple. For them, it might be easier to kick heroin than it is to kick an “easy money” habit.
Tony Fortino
Everett
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