BUFFALO, N.Y. — As 2 On Your Side told you Thursday, members of Buffalo Common Council are pressing the Brown administration to pause the recently introduced school speed zone camera enforcement program because of various issues.
It's pitting council members against Mayor Byron Brown and his administration.
Delaware District Councilman Joel Feroleto tells 2 On Your Side he's still hearing from plenty of people upset over late notices they got for speed zone camera violations at schools.
"People call my office and they have stress and anxiety over these tickets, and they want to contest them and they can't get ahold of anyone to contest it," Feroleto said. "So I have been telling them don't worry about challenging it within a certain amount of time within the next few days because you will not have any late fees during December.
"Then they get a notice saying that they would have a $25 late fee and their registration may be suspended."
So we took that to Mayor Byron Brown who contends he was acting at council's request to slow traffic and increase safety around schools with the installation of the cameras and the system. But even he acknowledges mistakes have been made by the Swedish based vendor Senys Gatso which operates out of Massachusetts. "I've indicated as Mayor that I'm gonna hold this company accountable for correcting errors that have been made."
2 On Your Side told the mayor that with a notice on the mailed violations that car registrations could be affected, some residents who got one are really worried. And that even though the company and he said they would work all this out; some are still getting late tickets according to Councilman Feroleto.
Brown told us: "This is a citation. People are not still getting tickets in areas where the cameras are turned off. That's impossible. And any tickets that come late, that come after the 14-day period that by law the tickets should arrive by, those tickets will be dismissed."
The mayor says the company indicated weather and postal system delays caused the tickets to arrive late.
He added: "In government and the private sector, when a new program is implemented, there can be glitches. We are working through that."
Brown says extra hearing officers have been assigned and the company is to his knowledge still working to set up a call center closer to Western New York to increase access.
We also asked if the Mayor himself had spoken directly to the vendor since he personally pledges to hold them accountable. Brown says Parking Commissioner Kevin Helfer actually spoke with upper management of Sensys Gatso and expressed his displeasure to them.
Whatever the case, City Council will vote next Tuesday on that request to put the program on hold And some councilmembers want to see the cameras removed period.
Obviously the mayor strongly disagrees citing safety concerns. But the new system has also generated significant revenue for the financially struggling city. There is also a petition drive and a pending lawsuit calling for the system to be shelved.
