Thanks to Abolish RLC in Longview for the link!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/abolish.redlight.cameras.in.longview

http://tdn.com/news/local/article_cb96570a-a771-11e0-a1c8-001cc4c03286.html

Traffic camera opponents confident they've got enough petition signatures
 

By Amy M.E. Fischer / The Daily News The Daily News Online | Posted: Tuesday, July 5, 2011 9:00 pm | 

Opponents of Longview's red-light and speed-zone cameras turned in roughly 1,800 additional petition signatures to the city clerk before Tuesday's deadline and expressed confidence they'd hit the minimum 890 valid signatures required to force a public vote in November.

The petition's sponsors, Longview residents Mike Wallin, Tim Sutinen and Sutinen's teenage son, Josh Sutinen, spent the last two weeks knocking on doors and distributing copies of the petition calling for a ban on the cameras the city has been using since March.

A flood of signed petitions arrived by mail over the last couple days, said Tim Sutinen, who brought the petitions to City Hall shortly before 6 p.m.

"It was just amazing to see," he said. "I am confident that it will be validated."

When contacted Tuesday evening, City Clerk Ann Davis said she needed to discuss her next steps with the city attorney.

Petition sponsors expect she will take the petitions to the county auditor, whose office will verify whether the signatures match those of registered voters living within Longview's city limits. The validation process can take several days.

"We'll have to wait and see what the auditor comes up with," Wallin said Tuesday. "I feel pretty good about it. The people are speaking pretty loud and clear on this."

Almost half of the 3,675 signatures the group first collected for the petition were ruled invalid. Many of the signers either didn't live within city limits or weren't registered voters, according to the Cowlitz County Election Supervisor Carolyn Myers, who verified the official count June 23.

By law, the petition sponsors had another 10 days following the certification to produce the required signatures.

The city has filed a lawsuit asking a Superior Court judge to invalidate the petition, arguing the city's authority to set traffic regulations is not subject to a ballot initiative. The city also is asking the judge to prohibit the county auditor from including the initiative on the August or November ballots. A hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Should the city's point of view prevail in court, voters will have a chance to voice their opinions on the cameras — but the results will be non-binding. On June 23, the Longview City Council voted 6-1 to place two advisory measures on the November ballot. One measure asks voters if they want to continue using red-light cameras at intersections after May 1, 2012. The other asks if voters want to keep speed cameras in school zones.

Wallin says that's not good enough. People want a binding vote, "not this patronizing advisory vote," he said.

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