Although Valentine’s Day is normally a day filled with love and romance, neither sentiment was present Sunday afternoon on Chicago’s northside, at the intersection of Western Ave. and Addison St.

This is the location of one of Chicago’s notorious red light camera intersections, where approximately 30-40 anti-red light camera protesters took to the street armed with signs and fliers to get their message out to area motorists.

Drivers coming through the intersection honked, waived and yelled out their windows in support of the protesters’ message.

At some points, during the height of the rally, between 12:30 and 1:30, the volume of horn honking from cars was so loud it was difficult to communicate at a normal level of conversation.

“It was very positive as far as community support,” said Barnet Fagel, who traveled from Buffalo Grove to be part of the protest. “People don’t want just a reduction in cameras or reduction in fines. The cameras need to be taken out.”

Protesters brought signs with messages like, “Rise Up Against the Machines,” “Stop Red Light Scameras,” and “Ban Them All – Pass SB 2466.”

One particularly large sign, directly challenged Illinois Senate President John Cullerton.(D) to take action. The six foot high sign bluntly states, “Sen. John Cullerton – Tear Down These Cameras – Pass SB 2466.” The sign refers to Senate Bill 2466, a bill that would ban all red light and speed cameras in Illinois. Supporters of the bill believe Sen. Cullerton is preventing the bill from leaving committee for a full debate and vote on the Senate floor.

Volunteers passed out fliers to motorists stopped in traffic at the lights with a message to contact Cullerton’s office and members of the Traffic Committee, asking them to allow a law banning red light and speed cameras to move out of committee and onto the Senate floor for debate.

Standing in the intersection, in the northbound lanes of Western Ave., protesters handing fliers out to drivers in front of the Popeye’s Chicken, heard shouts of “Hell yeah!,” and “Thanks for doing this!” pouring out car windows.

“Obviously I’ve seen bigger protests,” said volunteer Caitlin Huxley. “But the support was overwhelming. The one thing I can’t emphasize enough was that almost no one, didn’t hate red light cameras. It’s good to see people waking up to the government’s BS. They (red light cameras) doesn’t make anyone safer, they just make us poorer.”

The protest, part of a loosely coordinated national effort by Missouri-based The Liberty Restoration Project, was spearheaded by Scott Tucker, the Republican nominee in the race for 11th District State Representative and Scott Davis, Cook County Coordinator for Campaign For Liberty.

“There was a lot of enthusiasm,” said Davis. “We got up on Facebook and with just a week’s worth of planning on this, we had this turnout.”

“It couldn’t have been any better,” said Tucker who has made his anti-red light stance a key element to his platform. “90% of the the motorists were on our side honking and screaming support. We passed out over 2300 fliers.”

Oddly enough, it seems like both the Democrat and Republican candidates vying for John Fritchey’s seat are opposed to red light camera enforcement.

While her feelings on red light cameras are not quite as strident as Tucker’s, Democratic nominee Ann Williams seems to have a distaste for this type of camera enforcement as well.

“I generally favor the ability of local governments to provide tools for law enforcement,” explained Williams who did not attend the protest. “But red light cameras should not be in place to solely generate revenue. I would be interested in seeing some safety studies.”

The anti-red light contingent is now focused on the vote on Tuesday in the Senate’s Traffic Committee, where SB 2466 will face a vote to proceed to the floor of the Senate for a full vote.

Proponents of the bill are pushing citizens opposed to red light cameras to contact members of the Traffic Committee as well as Sen. Cullerton to vote to move the bill forward.

“Transportation votes at 4 PM on Tuesday,” explains Tucker. “Our fliers urge people to call Transportation Committee members to vote for SB 2466. We need to have Cullerton call for a vote.”