Red light petition a go

Green Party, COAST hop on board NAACP's no-red-light-camera bandwagon.

The NAACP announced last year it would file petitions for a charter amendment to prevent the cameras from being installed. Chris Finney, COAST's lawyer, agreed to do the legal legwork for free.

Tuesday NAACP President Christopher Smitherman made this announcement to its membership: The petitions are ready for signing.



"On Tuesday February 14, 2008 Attorney Christopher Finney filed a petition against red light cameras with the City of Cincinnati. City Council continues to posture that they will install red light cameras.

The Cincinnati NAACP is petitioning the government to have the voters of Cincinnati decide whether red light cameras should be installed. We need 8,000 valid signatures of Cincinnati voters to place the issue on the November ballot. The Green Party and Coast who were strong partners in the collection of signatures for the jail tax have joined the NAACP's efforts to collect signatures. We are honored to have their endorsement. Citizens who want to sign the petition can go by the NAACP office at 4439 Reading Road. Citizens who want to collect signatures can sign out a petition starting Friday, February 15, 2008 at 3:00 PM. The NAACP office number is (513) 281-1900. The NAACP membership again is advising City Council to not place cameras in our neighborhoods. Smitherman says, "City Council should not use red light camera revenue to balance the city budget. All citizens have the constitutional right to face their accusers in court. The mere nature of a camera taking a picture of a citizen's license plate undermines Cincinnati citizen's civil liberties". The Cincinnati NAACP's leadership is very confident that we will collect the needed signatures to place the red light camera issue on the ballot. "