ATS filed application for temporary restraining order to prevent the shutoff of Houston Scameras!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/7695490.html

link from www.stpetecameras.com

Vendor says mayor is preparing to turn off red-light cameras
By CHRIS MORAN HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Aug. 12, 2011, 9:29PM

The city's red-light camera vendor said Friday that Mayor Annise Parker is trying to turn the cameras off again, and it has asked a federal judge to stop her from doing it.

American Traffic Solutions has filed an application for a temporary restraining order to prevent the shutoff of the cameras, which voters rejected in a referendum last November.

City Attorney David Feldman said he and the mayor are discussing a resolution to put before the City Council on Wednesday, but he said Parker has not yet decided what that resolution should say. Shutting off the cameras is under discussion, he said, but so is settling the breach-of-contract lawsuit ATS has filed against the city.

"This has been an unprecedented and colossal flip-flop," said Andy Taylor, an attorney representing ATS. Should the city turn the cameras off, he said, it faces liability of up to $25 million.

"The number is growing daily," he warned.

Feldman speculated that ATS is talking about the case prematurely as a tactic to apply pressure for a settlement.

Parker has the authority to turn the cameras on or off without the council's approval. Indeed, she ordered them turned on last month.

"There was the feeling that council neeed to participate in the discussion, and that's why there's an agenda item," Feldman said.

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