Gov. Pat Quinn has a week to decide whether to put the brakes on a bill allowing Chicago to install speed-enforcement cameras — and so far the public feedback he’s received is overwhelmingly opposed to the measure.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has spent months lobbying Quinn to sign the bill authorizing speed cameras near city schools and parks.
It turns out the public has been doing its own lobbying.
The governor has received 224 phone calls, letters or on-line communications on the bill, and more than 91 percent were against the new law, according to Quinn’s office.
Emanuel shrugged off the negative response.
“All the data show that, when you put the cameras in, people comply. It’s the right thing to do. I didn’t think it was going to be popular. The question is, can I save lives?” the mayor said Monday.
Save lives? Is "for the children" out this week?
Emanuel said he understands the controversy generated by mailing $100 tickets to motorists caught on camera speeding down neighborhood streets.
But the mayor said his police superintendent and schools CEO came to him and said Chicago has a speeding problem “unique from other cities” that’s endangering kids.
“If popularity or perception were my only issue, I’d be sitting in my office doing a lot of nothing,” he said.
“That’s not what I’m worried about. My goal is the safety of our children.”
Oh wait, there it is. Thank goodness Rahm the Humanitarian is thinking of the children because you know that no one else is. Not anyone at all.
- For the umpteenth time, the mayor denied that he views speed cameras as a cash cow for the city. That is precisely what red-light cameras have become.
It is? Oh yeah. It is.