The Common Council member who spearheaded the effort to remove Buffalo's school zone speed cameras declared victory Tuesday.
It looks like the cameras will come down by Sept. 1.
“Today is the 11th day (after) we passed the ordinance to repeal the school zone cameras," University Council Member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt said. "And from my understanding, as I reached out to the clerk, there was nothing forwarded by the mayor’s office, so that would mean this is now the law, that the school zone cameras will be ended,” Wyatt said Tuesday during the Council’s Legislation Committee meeting.
The ordinance follows more than a year of conflict between the Common Council and Mayor Byron W. Brown over the use of the cameras.
The Council on May 25 approved legislation to end the use of speed cameras, part of the city's School Zone Safety Program, at 20 school zones, and it was sent to the mayor June 4, according to the City Clerk’s office.
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Brown had 10 days from receipt to sign it, veto it or do nothing. If he did nothing, the legislation then would become effective automatically.
The legislation was sent back to the City Clerk’s Office without Brown’s signature, said a city spokesperson.
The City Clerk's Office confirmed the 10-day window has closed.
Each of the cameras have been activated for various hours when the schools are in session. Buffalo Public Schools will conduct in-person summer school, Wyatt said, so the cameras will not shut off necessarily when classes during the current quarter wrap up in coming weeks.
Under the contract with the camera company, Sensys Gatso, the city must give notice at least 60 days before Sept. 1 if the city intends to eliminate the speed cameras for the upcoming school year.
Sensys Gatso did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Wyatt has called on replacing the speed cameras with radar speed signs and nonpunitive traffic calming measures in school zones, such as speed humps. The new legislation also changes the school zone speed limit from 15 mph to 20 mph and requires the city to place "school" pavement markings and crosswalks by schools.
The School Zone Safety Program set a 15 mph speed limit around 20 public, private and charter schools. Drivers captured on camera traveling at least 26 mph have received citations mailed to the car's registered owner. The city gets $36 of each $50 citation. Sensys Gatso, which also issues the citations, receives $14.
The Council approved the contract in 2019, but the program has drawn criticism that it was poorly rolled out and executed. Others have complained that the cameras target the city's most impoverished residents by placing many of the cameras in high-poverty, minority neighborhoods.
But Sensys Gatso, the Brown administration and some residents have said the program works and saves lives. About half of the citations were issued to people who live outside the city, according to a March 29 report from the camera company. And the cameras had increased compliance by Buffalo drivers to 82% since February 2020.
The current city budget, which ends June 30, includes $2.3 million in revenue from the speed camera program. Last month , the administration said the revenue generated was $1.84 million.
Brown did not include any revenue from school zone speed cameras in his 2021-22 budget proposal that the Council approved May 20.
The Common Council and the Brown administration were at odds over the required legislative procedure to make the legislation official.
In April, the Council approved the item for immediate passage by a 6-3 vote, enough to override a potential mayoral veto.
But Brown refused to sign the expedited legislation or veto it, saying the members did not follow the proper legislative process for immediate passage.
Council President Darius G. Pridgen and other members maintained that the Council’s vote was appropriate. Still, Wyatt filed an identical item that went through the regular legislative process. It was approved again 6-3.
