BUFFALO, N.Y. — The school zone speed cameras could be near their end very soon.

"I believe this program has seen its last days," said Common Council Member Rasheed Wyatt.

Those words ring truer now than ever before.

On Tuesday, the Buffalo Common Council voted 6-3 in favor of an ordinance amendment that would repeal the city's school zone safety program, which allowed the installation of speed cameras in school zones across Buffalo last year.

But the cameras have attracted a great deal of criticism, ranging from the cameras being disproportionately installed in high-poverty areas to insufficient signage and markings not adequately warning drivers of the speed limit changes.

“We could not in good conscience continue a program that continues to burden people in the midst of a pandemic,” Wyatt said.

The ordinance amendment, which was sponsored by Councilmember Wyatt, calls for non-punitive traffic-calming measures such as speed humps to replace the cameras by September 1.

But some other councilmembers say the program is not all bad.

"I can tell you anecdotally as someone who drives by one every morning and takes their kids to school through one of these zones and drops them off, people are absolutely slowing down,” Common Council Member Christopher Scanlon said.

"Yet we want to give the folks who are breaking the law a break, why don't we give all the law breakers a break if that's the principle you're going to argue," Common Council Member Ulysees Wingo said.

The ordinance amendment now goes to the mayor's desk. A city spokesperson tells Spectrum News Mayor Byron Brown will review the item when it's presented to him by the clerk. The mayor could work with the council on a compromise, approve the amendment, or veto it. 

"Now if it is vetoed, we have a supermajority of which if that supermajority stayed together and voted the same way, it could override the veto," Common Council President Darius Pridgen said.