COAST tries again on red-light camera ban

This just in via email:

COAST returns to Toledo with petitions to ban Red Light Cameras

Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 6:30 PM


For immediate release:
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 8:30 AM


This Thursday, COAST returns to Toledo to help local volunteers with petitions in hand to start the 2010 drive to ban Red Light and Speeding Cameras in the City of Toledo. The details of the gathering are as follows:

Cambridge Place (in west Toledo)
1821 West Alexis (West of Jackman Road in K-Mart Plaza)

Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 6:30 PM

Phone number of hall: (419) 475-6393

Last year, local volunteers with COAST assistance pursued petitions in the Glass City and gathered enough signatures, but a technical deficiency in the petitions prevented 2009 ballot access. COAST pledged to return to help in 2010 to help local volunteers, and this visit is the launch of that effort.

In 2009, at least three other cities in Ohio batted back Red Light Cameras. Pickerington residents defeated the plan with legislative action, and voters in Chillicothe and Heath, Ohio banned the cameras with ballot initiatives. In 2008, Cincinnati voters banned the pernicious and intrusive devices with a Charter Amendment.

The Toledo proposal is modeled after Cincinnati's and will effectively ban unmanned red light and speeding cameras from being enforced in City limits.


# # #

COAST to submit signatures for red-light camera charter amendment today

This just in via email:

For immediate release: August 19, 2009

Volunteers turn in Toledo Red LightPetitions -- TODAY

Press Conference at 2:30 PM at City Hall Clerk of Council's office Camera

Today at 2:30 PM, volunteers from WeDemandAVote.Com/Toledo turn in petitions at Toledo City Hall for a Charter Amendment to ban the use of Red Light and Speeding Cameras in the City of Toledo. WeDemandAVote.Com/Toledo will turn in more than 8,400 signatures to the Toledo Clerk of Council. This is nearly twice the 4.625 signatures required to attain ballot access for the proposal.

COAST is proud a member of the WeDemandAVote.Com/Toledo coalition and proud partner of the many Toledoans who have together forced this issue to a vote this November.

In November of 2008, Cincinnati voters became the first in the nation to ban the use of Red Light and Speeding Cameras within City limits. Because Toledo City Council will not repeal these oppressive devices on their own, COAST came to Toledo in January to launch this drive, which has culminated in this accomplishment.

If Toledo City Council does as the Ohio Constitution requires, they will check the sufficiency of the petitions through the Lucas County Board of Elections and vote before September 3 to place the issue on this November's ballot. If they refuse, COAST's attorneys promptly will litigate to force them to do as they are required by the Constitution.

COAST's Toledo coordinator, Scott Ross said: "More than 8,400 Toledoans have demanded that the pernicious and confiscatory policies of Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and this City Council be put to a vote this November. Thanks to these volunteer circulators and signers, voters will have the chance to seize back a small part of their liberties taken by these invasive devices."

COAST's seven reasons to oppose Red Light and Speeding Cameras may be read here.

# # #

My 1,000th post

It's hard to believe that this is my 1,000th post on Thurber's Thoughts. Let me thank those of you who've been with me from the beginning!

I'm actually taking this post a bit easy...tonight's Eye on Toledo deconstructed the paper's editorial "Say 'no' to COAST," and I've put my notes up on my Eye On Toledo blog. You can read the notes and then listen to the podcast and phone calls. The podcast should be available shortly.

Red light camera charter initiative gets under way

This press release was issued by COAST:

For immediate release: January 6, 2009

COAST, Americans for Prosperity take red light camera ban to Toledo

Organizing meeting is Monday, January 12 at 7 PM at Point Place Branch Library

COAST and Americans for Prosperity-Ohio, two partners in the coalition that enacted a ban on red light and speeding cameras in Cincinnati in 2008, are taking their campaign to Toledo this year. Their goal is to place on the November 2009 ballot a Charter Amendment banning red light and speeding cameras in that city.

The groups will be hosting an organizing meeting for the 2009 campaign on Monday, January 12, 2009 at the Point Place Branch Library, 2727 117th St. Toledo 43611 at 7:00 PM. Members of the public are invited to join the assemblage to help place the initiative on the ballot.

Throughout the spring and summer, volunteers in Toledo will be collecting the 7,000 valid signatures to place the issue before the voters. The total number of signatures needed, to account for bad and invalid signatures, will be approximately 14,000.

In 2008, volunteers from a broad-based coalition in Cincinnati collected more than 14,000 signatures to place the ban in the Cincinnati City Charter, and in November that ban was enacted into the Cincinnati City Charter. The Cincinnati coalition included representatives from the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP, the Southwest Ohio Green Party and the Ohio Libertarian Party. The group later was joined by the Hamilton County Republican Party, civic clubs and candidates from both political parties. The same groups will be invited to join the Toledo effort.

"COAST hopes to help start brushfires for liberty throughout Ohio," said COAST Chairman Jason Gloyd. "Our experience is that, when given the chance to limit the encroachment of government interference in our lives, people grasp for liberty every time. The Toledo initiative brings hope for freedom to the oppressed citizens of northwest Ohio."

All Toledo-area residents are invited to join COAST and AFP-Ohio at the organizing meeting.

I plan to be at the meeting and look forward to seeing you there!

Group plans charter amendment to outlaw Toledo's red light/speed cameras

Chris Finney, an attorney with COAST (Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes) from Cincinnati, announced on Eye On Toledo last night that they will be bringing their red light/speed camera opposition to Toledo.

You can listen to the podcast of the interview, including the update on their lawsuit against the City of Toledo to force the city to open camera appeal hearings to the public.

Finney said the first meeting on the charter amendment will be Monday, January 12, 2009 at 6:30 p.m., though they are still making the final arrangements for a location.

In November, Cincinnati approved a similar charter amendment:

Be it resolved by the people of the City of Cincinnati that a new Article XIV of the Charter is hereby added as follows:

Section 1. The City, including its various Boards, agencies and departments, shall not use any traffic law photo-monitoring device for the enforcement of a qualified traffic law violation, unless a law enforcement officer is present at the location of the device and personally issues the ticket to the alleged violator at the time and location of the violation.

Section 2. Definitions.
As used in this Article XIV:
a) Law enforcement officer" means any law enforcement officer employed by the City or any other political jurisdiction in Ohio, including the State. The City may from time to time and in its discretion, by ordinance or resolution, designate which City employees are, “law enforcement officers” for purposes of this Article XIV.
b) "Qualified law traffic violation" means a violation of any of the following:
(1) any state or local law relating to complying with a traffic control signal or a railroad crossing sign or signal; or
(2) any state or local law limiting the speed of a motor vehicle.
c) "Ticket" means any traffic ticket, citation, summons, or other notice of liability (whether civil or criminal) issued in response to an alleged qualified traffic law violation detected by a traffic law photo-monitoring device.
d) "Traffic law photo-monitoring device" means an electronic system consisting of a photographic, video, or electronic camera and a means of sensing the presence of a motor vehicle that automatically produces photographs, videotape, or digital images of the vehicle, its license plate or its operator.

Section 3. Any ordinance enacted prior to the passage of this Amendment that contravenes any of the foregoing is void. After the enactment of this Amendment, the City shall not enact or enforce any ordinance that contravenes any of the foregoing. In the event that any provision of this Article XIV is found to be unconstitutional or impermissibly in conflict with state or federal law, only such provision found to be unconstitutional or impermissible will be stricken, and the remainder of this Article XIV will remain in full force and effect.

Their amendment did not prohibit the use of the cameras, but did require that law enforcement officers issue a traditional ticket instead of relying upon a civil violation processed by a third party.

I'll keep you posted on updates, including the location when it is determined.

(Cross posted to Eye On Toledo blog)

BREAKING - COAST sues Toledo over access to red-light camera hearings

The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) and its chairman, Jason Gloyd, have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the City of Toledo, the mayor and others, over the red-light camera hearings.

The suit asks for a "declaratory judgment, temporary restraining order, preliminary and permanent injunction, and nominal damages arising from the unconstitutional policies and practices of the Defendant City in denying Plaintiffs access to certain administrative hearings established by the Defendant City that may result in the imposition of civil liability for putative violators of the Defendant City’s traffic laws."

In early October, Gloyd sent a certified letter - return receipt requested - to Mayor Carty Finkbeiner explaining that he'd made a request to attend the hearings where people appeal their red-light camera violations. He wrote:

"...your administrators in charge of the program have refused to let us know when the hearings are held and have indicated that my admittance is forbidden.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience to provide me with the necessary scheduling information so that I may attend the same."

After receipt of the letter, a representative in the police department phoned Gloyd to tell him that the hearings were closed to the public.

The lawsuit seeks access "to such hearings for the purpose of investigating and reporting on important civil rights, operational, and fiscal issues relating to both the operation of such automated red light camera and speeding camera systems and the enforcement procedures for the same." It states that since such access has been denied - including excluding the media - the city is violating the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

COAST seeks a declaratory judgment declaring unconstitutional the Defendants’ policies and practices of prohibiting access to the Red Light and Speeding Hearings to the public and the press; requests the Court to issue preliminary and permanent injunctions enjoining Defendants from enforcing their prohibition on Plaintiffs’ access to the Red Light and Speeding Hearings; and nominal damages as a result of the violation of Constitutional Rights.

The suit asks the Court to:

A. Declare that the Plaintiffs and the public have a right to full and unfettered access to the Red Light and Speeding Hearings;

B. Declare that the Defendants’ lack a compelling interest to preclude Plaintiffs and the public from having access to the Red Light and Speeding Hearings;

C. Declare that, if the Defendant have a compelling interest sufficient to preclude Plaintiffs and the public from having access to the Red Light and Speeding Hearings, then the means utilized by the Defendant are not the least restrictive means to promote such putative compelling interest;

D. Declare Defendants’ policy and procedure of denying access to the Red Light and Speeding Hearings to be unconstitutional and invalid on its face and/or as applied to Plaintiffs;

E. Preliminarily and permanently enjoin Defendants from regulating or limiting the public access afforded to Plaintiffs and others to the Red Light and Speeding Hearings, and thereby permit Plaintiffs and others to attend and observe such Red Light and Speeding Hearings;

F. Award Plaintiffs nominal damages;

G. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1988 and other applicable law, award Plaintiffs’ their costs and expenses incurred in bringing this action, including their reasonable attorneys’ fees; and

H. Grant such other and further relief as the Court deems equitable, just and proper.

They also ask for a temporary restraining order and preliminary enjoining enforcement of the City of Toledo's policy of excluding the public and representatives of the media, including Plaintiff Jason Gloyd and members of COAST, from attending the hearings conducted on red-light and speed cameras.