The citizen-led groups that want the public to decide the future of red light cameras are racist, according to lawsuits filed by American Traffic Solutions (ATS) in a pair of Texas cities. The Arizona-based photo enforcement firm filed in a state court in Baytown on Thursday and then an ATS-funded front group filed an identical case in a federal court in Houston on Friday. Residents in both cities signed petitions placing a ban on automated ticketing machines onto the November 2 ballot, but ATS cites the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 as a reason to block these votes.
“Because the camouflaged referendum has been improperly placed on the ballot, a potential for racial discrimination exists,” Houston lawyer Andy Taylor wrote on behalf of ATS. “More specifically, minority voters may lose their ability to elect candidates of their choice in local, statewide and federal offices.”
The ATS claim may come as a surprise to the diverse groups behind anti-camera petition efforts elsewhere in the country. In East Cleveland, Ohio the group Black on Black Crime led the effort to gather signatures for a referendum
. In Cincinnati, the anti-camera coalition
included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) and the Green Party. The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) has also battled cameras in Iowa and Rhode Island. Baytown initiative sponsor Byron Schirmbeck suggested the traffic camera industry was disguising its true aim with the racism charge.The Chronicle has no evidence to support this claim first developed by ATS hired gun Jim McGrath. more
1 comment:
WHAT! You can’t be serious….this is just retarded. I’s can’t vote cuz that red lite kamera stopped me.
Duh Running a red law is breaking the law, you get caught your going
...to get a ticket. Regardless of race.
Heck this was the first year you
saw record #’s of blacks voting anyways, so stop with the ‘they be
racist trying to stop me from voting act because I be black crap’
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