Residents question lone red light camera

Friday, September 9, 2011
BY ALICIA ROBINSON and LAURIE LUCASSTAFF WRITERSarobinson@pe.com llucas@pe.com
On Day Street at Canyon Springs Parkway, directly in front of a sign that reads "Welcome to Moreno Valley," is something city officials there already have decided is not welcome: a red light enforcement camera.
There are no such cameras anywhere else in the city, after the council voted last year to get rid of them. But Day Street is the boundary with the city of Riverside, which has cameras at 20 intersections.
So why does the Day Street camera on the Moreno Valley side remain? The question moved Thomas Ketcham to email council members in each city seeking an answer.
A Moreno Valley resident who works in Riverside, Ketcham said Wednesday he's seen the camera fail to go off when someone blatantly runs a red light, but other times it flashes for no apparent reason.
"I see these things and they don't work," he said. "If the city of Moreno Valley did away with all red light cameras, why is this one still on city property?"
Riverside Councilman Andy Melendrez, one recipient of Ketcham's email, said last week that drivers often blocked the intersection trying to get through lights, so city traffic officials contacted Moreno Valley officials, who agreed in August 2009 to allow the camera. Riverside does not pay Moreno Valley for the camera.
Moreno Valley traffic engineer Eric Lewis said two residents had griped about repeated red light running at that corner, complaints which Moreno Valley passed on to Riverside.
"Riverside owns and administers the contract with (camera company) Redflex," Lewis said. "We have no contact with them whatsoever. It's part of Riverside's overall program. We have no enforcement."
Complaints about costly fines for drivers and low revenue for the city led the Moreno Valley City Council to dump its red light camera program in January 2010, after an 18-month trial period.
Redflex Traffic Systems subsequently removed its equipment from Frederick Street at Centerpoint Drive, and Perris and Alessandro boulevards.
Wraymond Sawyerr, who owns a Juice It Up franchise on the Riverside half of Day Street, said at least one longtime customer stopped coming in after getting a ticket from the camera.
"I feel that the Riverside City Council is shooting themselves in the foot because this is their area and they need the tax (revenue)," he said. "It eliminates sales on this side because of the camera."
Michelle Moreno, a Moreno Valley resident who stopped in Sawyerr's shop Wednesday, said she doesn't think the Day Street camera deters shoppers, but "I think it makes you go different ways. I know my mother-in-law refuses to drive down this street now."
Riverside's contract with Redflex expired in August; city officials are in negotiations with the company over a renewal.
Moreno Valley Mayor Richard Stewart said when his city agreed to permit Riverside's camera, officials considered it "routine and noncontroversial," but today they might have a different opinion.
The Day Street/Canyon Springs intersection can be a traffic nightmare, but the camera may be confusing to Moreno Valley residents since it's the only one, he said.
"When the contract expires, I imagine we wouldn't let it get approved (again)," Stewart said.

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