After months of debate and planning, the city of Albany is officially in the red light camera business. Two of the cameras went live for the first time Monday morning. Geoff Redick has more.
ALBANY, N.Y. — You could call it, "Lights, Camera -- Warning."
Make no mistake, there is "action" at two busy intersections in Albany, where the city activated its first red light cameras Monday morning. However, police are not taking "action" on anyone the cameras catch, at least not for the next 10 days.
The cameras, installed by a private vendor, will photograph and ticket any driver who blows through their assigned red lights without stopping, including so-called "rolling stops," or rolling rights-on-red. Until August 1 though, the cameras will only be generating "warning" tickets, mailed to the offenders to let them know next time, it will be a $50 fine.
Reaction was mixed in the Beverwyck neighborhood, where one camera now looks over the intersection of Quail Street and Washington Avenue.
"It's just ridiculous," said Maynard Archer, who lives a block away from the new camera. "That's just another way to increase revenue, because this is not what you'd call a dangerous intersection."
Archer says he has four recent traffic tickets on his license, and has not been able to pay the full sum of the fines he's accrued. Another $50 ticket could be the back-breaker, he says.
"Not only that, your insurance is going to go up," Archer said on Monday. "For a split-second decision!"
Pedestrians were generally more welcoming, with one neighbor describing the new camera as a "relief."
A local bus rider, John O'Connor said he crosses Washington Avenue at Quail Street, each day.
"One time I saw a motorcyclist get hit," he said. "Luckily it wasn't a fast speed, but I saw him go barreling across here. I worry. It's dangerous."
O'Connor praised the new cameras as a "necessary" safety measure, something Mayor Kathy Sheehan, and acting police chief Brendan Cox have echoed during the months of discussion over red light cameras. Each has insisted the cameras are not primarily here to collect revenue, though Sheehan did budget for $2 million in this year's spending plan. The mayor later cut that number in half when she reduced the number of cameras the city would install.
A second camera went online Monday at the corner of Albany Shaker Road and Northern Boulevard. Thirty-four additional traffic cameras are expected to go live at 18 other city intersections, over the next several months.