Tacoma: Two new traffic speed enforcement cameras rolling

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• Voters will consider Bellingham anti-traffic camera initiative

  Voters will consider Bellingham anti-traffic camera initiative

  BELLINGHAM - Voters will consider a ballot measure on traffic-enforcement cameras that holds no force of law, but city leaders say they'll pay attention to the results.

  Voters in the Nov. 8 general election will decide whether to approve or reject the local initiative, which would restrict the cameras. It would require removal of any cameras that have been installed, as well as require City Council and voter approval of any plans to re-install them. It would also limit the fines to an amount equal to the lowest cost parking ticket, currently $10.

  The local group Transportation Safety Coalition gathered enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the ballot. Then the Arizona-based corporation American Traffic Solutions, which has a contract with the city to install cameras, sued. The company lost in Whatcom County Superior Court, but it appealed, and a state appeals court ruled that while the measure could remain on the ballot it wouldn't hold the force of law, making it an advisory vote.

• Redmond to get rid of red-light cameras, citing no safety improvement

  Redmond to get rid of red-light cameras, citing no safety improvement

  REDMOND — The city of Redmond says it will get rid of red-light cameras because they failed to improve safety at intersections.

  But they will consider expanding use of school-zone speed cameras, because they got drivers to slow down, according to KIRO news reports.

  Mayor John Marchione said the cameras didn’t really make the intersections any safer.

• Tacoma's bullish budgeting backfires

  Tacoma's bullish budgeting backfires

  The root causes of Tacoma’s budget shortfall are as far-flung as the worldwide economic downturn and as local as drivers slowing down on the Bay Street curve.

• Study questions outsourcing of traffic camera systems

  Study questions outsourcing of traffic camera systems

  WASHINGTON — One out of every five Americans lives in a community that pays a for-profit company to install and operate cameras that record traffic violations. A pro-consumer group says that practice could end up putting profits ahead of safety and accuracy.

  Some contracts require cities to share revenue with camera vendors on a per-ticket basis or through other formulas as a percentage of revenue. Suffolk County, N.Y., for example, diverts half of the revenue from its red-light camera program to its vendor, according to the report being released Thursday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

  Another type of agreement — conditional "cost-neutral" contracts — also contain provisions that link payments to the number of tickets issued, although the payments are capped, the report said. Under these contracts, local governments pay a monthly fee to a camera vendor. If ticket revenues fail to cover the vendor's fee in any given month, cities may delay payments. That gives vendors "an incentive to ensure

• Lacey weighs slower speeds

  Lacey weighs slower speeds

  Lacey is considering lowering the speed limit for several roads throughout the city, including near the site where a teenager was killed last year when a vehicle crashed into his home.