From The Riverfront Times:

By Chad Garrison

Early last month Riverfront Times sent Mayor Francis Slay’s office a list of questions concerning the city’s use of red-light cameras. Slay’s spokesman Ed Rhode answered some of our queries, but he ignored others entirely despite numerous follow-up calls. Curiously enough, one query — concerning how people who refuse to pay the red-light fines are punished — prompted quick action at city hall.

Days after we asked that particular question, Jim Sonderman, Slay’s lobbyist to the board of aldermen, contacted Alderman Freeman Bosley Jr. with an “emergency” board bill the mayor’s office wanted introduced. Bosley, who serves as chair of the board of aldermen’s Streets, Traffic and Refuse Committee, sponsored the 2005 ordinance that first legalized the use of red-light cameras in St. Louis City.

The bill Bosley introduced on February 15, on behalf of the mayor’s office, would amend the original 2005 ordinance by allowing the city to legally penalize anyone who fails to respond to a red-light camera ticket. Bosley expects passage of the bill by the close of the board session March 24.

Why the need for this special legislation? Because, as Bosley puts it, “The way it is now, if a person doesn’t pay the fine, there ain’t nothing nobody can do because they’ve violated no law. With my bill in place, they can lock you up and impound your car. It gives the law teeth.” Read more…

Related:

Hmmmm. Why Is Nixon Now Silent On Red Light Cameras?

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