BUFFALO, N.Y. — Drive around many parts of the City of Buffalo and you'll see the school zone speed posted as 15 mph.
But on Bailey Avenue near EduKids Early Childhood Education Center, new signs have been put up showing the speed limit is 20 mph.
Buffalo's parking commissioner Kevin Helfer says the city has started to install the new speed limit signs based on the Common Council's action in May to slightly raise the limit, and pull the plug on the program, unless a school or a majority of council members authorizes a camera be turned on.
On the sign changeover, the city put out no information ahead of time.
"That's been the whole thing throughout has been the communication of this whole thing the rollout has been just abysmal and that's the failure," said Buffalo Common Council Member Rasheed Wyatt.
The city's parking department says the only speed zone cameras that are on are the ones near EduKids on Bailey. People caught speeding in this area could get $50 citations. All the others have been turned off.
A big focus now is on getting speed humps and speed readers where cameras are.
2 On Your Side asked Wyatt, "In terms of your conversation with the Department of Public Works in getting the speed humps and the speed readers in place there what are they saying in terms of the timeframe in actually getting the work done?"
"They weren't very specific about the speed humps, the speed readers we're hoping are being ordered in the next day or two and the turnaround time is supposed to be about 30-45 days," Wyatt said.
We don't know which speed zone signs will be changed over next.
On the question as to where the city's contract currently stands with Sensys Gatso, 2 On Your Side received this statement from the company:
"As Sensys Gatso is still under contract with the City of Buffalo, we are not able to comment for publication on the City’s agreement with us.
"However, we would like to say that we have greatly enjoyed working with the City of Buffalo and helping them keep children safe within Buffalo's school zones. We hope to continue that relationship as the program has been a resounding success.
"Over 40,000 events of speeding occurred during the first week of the warning period in early 2020, compliance was a meager 34%. By the week of November 9, 2020, compliance had skyrocketed to 87%.
"More recently, in March 2021, numbers show a combined average compliance rate of 98% across the 19 school zones that have camera enforcement. In March, during the times the cameras were in enforcement hours, 704,816 vehicle passes were recorded. Only 10,686 were above the City’s threshold for enforcement and were issued notices. These figures show statistical proof that the school zone cameras are a success and highly effective at keeping children and residents safer within the enforced zones."