As legal problems mount in Chicago for Culver City’s red light camera provider City Hall continues to insist that the company’s hands are clean here, and that is all that matters.
Despite prosecution of a multi-million-dollar bribe case in Chicago – where Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired the company — and accusations of similar problems elsewhere, the City Council last Monday voted 5-0 to renew its contract with Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. for three more years.
And now one more person has stepped forward to avidly defend retention of Redflex while dismissing the vendor’s legal woes.
“Let me state two points above everything else,” a City Hall source told the newspaper yesterday. “One is the issue of red light cameras themselves,” the source said. “The contention of the Police Dept. is that they cut down on the amount of accidents. They help to save lives. Is that true or not? Let’s get to the bottom of that.
Any Cause to Doubt?
“The other issue is, did Redflex in anyway influence the decision to select them as the firm for Culver City?
“What bothers me,” the source continued, “is that your newspaper is leaving the impression that because there were issues of corruption elsewhere, that this may have been an issue of corruption here in Culver City.”
The person’s assertion was answered affirmatively by a reporter.
However, the source would not be dissuaded. “Nobody has indicated any problem with the performance of the cameras or with the city’s ability to have one of the highest collection rates of any city (“How Much Does City Hall Net from Red Light Cams? Hmmm”).
What Trouble?
“There doesn’t seem to be a problem with getting the notices out, or anything like that.
“As far as Redflex doing its job,
there has not been any problem with them doing what they are supposed to be doing. And the equipment works well.”
Question: If Redflex is in trouble elsewhere, isn’t that reason to be suspicious of a company giving off unsavory signals?
“Well…” said the source before stopping.
“There were people within the Redflex organization, and apparently there were people cityside in Chicago who were willing to accept the bribes or whatever it was in Chicago…
“Nothing on the face of it tells me Redflex is not qualified to do the job, that they have been doing the job, that the system is working well, and to support the police contention that it saves lives and prevents accidents.”
Exasperated, the source exhaled and said, “I don’t know where to go with that. You are asking me to prove the negative, prove they are not corrupt.”
Remarkably, despite Redflex’s most recent legal embarrassments, no one in position of power in City Hall has admitted a single doubt about the company’s character.
(To be continued)
