Schaumburg terminates contract with red light camera provider

Schaumburg's Village Board voted to terminate the city's contract with RedSpeed - providers of traffic violation cameras - after motorists disagreed about the cameras' intended use.

The 6-0 vote in favor of terminating the contract was a welcomed move by some village residents, including younger residents, who seem to be getting more involved in their local politics.

The debate started in November 2008 when the first and only red light cameras in Schaumburg were installed at the intersection of Meacham and Woodfield roads. Since then, residents have accumulated approximately 10,000 tickets, which accounts to $1 million in fines.

Mike Theodore, a 17-year-old high school student from Schaumburg and member of the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition - a concerned citizen group that opposed the red light cameras - said the cameras were removed "to improve their [the city's] public image and increase revenue, and wasn't about safety."

Theodore became interested in local politics last year when he became "cynical of national and state politics." Afterwards, Theodore joined Schaumburg's Freedom Coalition when he became upset with the red light cameras. He eventually began attending town hall meetings and speaking in front of the Schaumburg Village Board.

"A lot of students are interested in being involved with politics, my friends are more interested on a national level," Theodore said. "State and local levels are being ignored, you can really make a difference in your community if you get involved." In response to the red light cameras, Theodore said the decision to remove them was more about profits and that accidents did not decrease.

Ken Fritz, Schaumburg's village manager, said the village chose the intersection of Meacham and Woodfield for its "pilot project" because it had a high traffic volume and the village controlled the intersection. Other intersections would have required permits from the state, according to Fritz.

The decision to terminate their contract with RedSpeed came from finding the red light cameras had little "impact on public safety" and negatively affected people who visited Schaumburg, Fritz said.

Robert Jankowski, 21, a Roosevelt sociology major and president of the Schaumburg student government association, speculated that consumers' retribution played a significant role in the decision to remove the red light cameras.

"Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson had to decide if the cost of potential lost revenue [from the Woodfield area] was worth the additional revenue from fines," Jankowski said of the consumers who threatened to stop shopping if the camera was not removed. "The Schaumburg Village Board apparently decided to take the camera out and not lose the revenue from consumer spending."

On a local level, Jankowski said participation is scarce among young voters. After attending two Illinois House of Representatives debates with a political science class, Jankowski noticed that he and his classmates were the only young people there.

"Most people don't know who their local representatives are in Springfield," Jankowski said.

Paul Green, a political science professor with the university said, "Young people get involved from national politics on down to state, then local." He added that local politics are less interesting than national and state politics to young people.

While Green said political participation is important on any level, "it is those [home owners] with a stake in the community who will get involved, rather than the young people who are most likely going to leave."