Tribune Columnist Steve Chapman. Photo credit: Chicago Tribune

Tribune opinion columnist Steve Chapman received his first red light camera ticket recently.

Shockingly, he’s not upset.

Even more oddly, his $100 experience has actually sold him on using red light cameras as a traffic enforcement tool.

Chapman, somewhat of a libertarian in his political views, is a consistently contrarian voice in his columns and perhaps this may his most unique position yet.

In his piece, while originally doubting the veracity of the ticket, he watches himself online making a right turn on red without coming to a complete stop and realizes he screwed up.

While many people would still be angry, knowing that studies show crashes rarely happen when someone does what Chapman did making a right turn on red, he feels there’s one distinct advantage to RLCs–no cops.

Chapman makes the case that if a police officer stopped him for the infraction it would not only be expensive (like the RLC ticket) but he would have to endure 15 minutes or more of having to go through the ticketing process.

Essentially, he rationalizes his acceptance of a red light camera ticket by saying it is more convenient than getting ticketed by CPD.

Here’s Chapman’s full piece, “Red light cameras: My experience.”

Oh, and hear is a recent WGN Radio interview Chapman did on the subject of red light cameras.

The new deadline listed in a bid addendum dated May 10th, is now May 24th.

The City was confident its original deadline of April 16th, would give them ample time for a review of the bids, short list two potential vendors for pilot tests, perform a 30-day pilot, select a winning vendor and negotiate a contract by July 31st–when the current contract with Redflex Traffic Systems was supposed to expire.

A previous delay forced the City to admit it could not meet the July 31st deadline and extend the scandal plagued Redflex’s contract indefinitely until a new vendor could be selected and can transition to the new RLC system.

Based on the timeline the City’s speed camera contract has taken, Redflex may continue to run the nation’s largest and highly lucrative red light camera contract until the end of the year.

The City’s first speed cameras were supposed to be clicking away by the end of March. The original request for proposal (RFP) was issued last June, and while the city awarded the contract to American Traffic Solutions back in February, a contract still has not been finalized and announced.

These delays are certainly financially beneficial to Redflex which generates an estimated $800,000 a month from Chicago’s 384 red light cameras at 190 different intersections. The company brought in $10 million in revenue from their contract with Chicago in 2012, and over $100 million during the lifetime of the ten years it has been the vendor for the City’s RLC program.

Critics say, a report released Tuesday by the Chicago Inspector General’s Office backs up their claims and, according to one alderman, undermines the basis for the program’s existence.

“Our audit uncovered little evidence that the overarching program strategy, guidelines, or appropriate metrics are being used to ensure the [Red Light Camera] program is being executed to the best benefit of the City or the general public,” the report summarized.

“Specifically, we found a lack of basic record keeping and an alarming lack of analysis for an ongoing program that costs tens of millions of dollars a year and generates tens of millions more in revenue.”

The inspector general’s office started an audit of the city’s extensive red light camera program earlier this year in response to revelations of an internal investigation by current vendor Redflex Traffic Systems. That investigation, headed by former Inspector General David Hoffman, alleges employees for Redflex may have bribed the former city official overseeing the city’s RLC program.

Read more at DNA Info Chicago.

That’s essentially what Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters Thursday in regards to moving forward with the city’s planned speed camera enforcement program.

Emanuel was asked at a press conference whether the city should half implementation of the speed camera program due to all the controversy surrounding the city’s red light cameras.

“They’re totally unrelated,” Emanuel said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Multiple investigations are looking into whether Redflex Traffic Systems may have bribed the city official overseeing the RLC program for the past 10 years. The company’s own investigation believes it was bribery and has parted way with several managers and has filed a lawsuit against one former employee.

Redflex has been prohibited by the city from renewing the red light camera contract they’ve held for the past 10 years, and were banned from bidding on the speed camera contract.

Here’s the Chicago Tribune’s full story, “Emanuel: No need to halt speed cameras because of red-light scandal.”

At least that’s what the Chicago Tribune is contending in a story which claims problems with Redflex Traffic Systems and the city’s red light camera contract were being pointed out as far back as 2006.

It seems after Redflex was awarded a contract expanding the size and scope of the city’s red light camera program in 2007, one of its biggest competitors, American Traffic Solutions, began complaining about what they perceived as special treatment for Redflex.

In 2006, ATS hired the law firm of Alderman Ed Burke, the powerful head of the city’s Finance Committee, to help the company bid on the new contract. But when ATS first met with the city, they were told Redflex had already been awarded the exclusive contract without going through the bidding process.

Burke’s firm found problems with how Redflex was awarded the contract and threatened to hold public hearings in the City Council if the contract was not opened to a competitive bidding process.

In a series of letters to top mayoral aides, Burke accused the administration of illegal procurement practices, “unfathomable” failures to meet minority hiring requirements, and labeled the relationship with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. “suspect since its inception.”

Ultimately, after a year of back and forth between Burke and the Mayor’s office, the Daley Administration relented and allowed for other company’s to bid on the contract. Ultimately, Redflex still won out, somehow, mysteriously, winning the bid with a perfect score.

It’s probably no coincidence, Ald. Burke is now calling for hearings on the entire Redflex controversy.

The story is a juicy, behind the scenes look at how the sausage is made when it comes to awarding multi-million dollar contracts in the Windy City.

Here’s the full story, “Warnings about Redflex go back years.”

Since broken by the Tribune in October, the story continues to grow and now it looks like federal investigators have begun looking into the scandal.

The newspaper has been reporting about what looks like a bribery scheme between Redflex employees and the former head of Chicago’s red light camera program, John Bills–a revelation which came out of an internal investigation conducted by an outside law firm.

The revelations have cost Redflex its contract in Chicago, it’s once largest client, accounting for nearly 14% of it’s revenue or about $10 million a year.

But it’s been getting even worse and worse for the company.

A Tribune story last week reports Redflex is conducting an internal investigation of contracts with two other municipalities which have suspicious qualities to them. The names of the towns nor whether the investigations have turned up anything has not been revealed.

More recently, the Trib reports major problems with the original investigation Redflex conducted on the ethical breaches involving Bills. The law firm which spearheaded the investigation either failed to do their job correctly or ignored pertinent details which would have exposed these ethical lapses much earlier.

On Saturday, the newspaper is reporting the U.S. Attorney’s office has launched its own investigation.

The attorney for Bills ex-wife confirms she was served with a subpoena asking for financial records.

An investigation by the Chicago Inspector General is reportedly still ongoing.

In addition, two sets of City Council members have asked for hearings into the city’s red light camera program and the Redflex contract.

Aldermen Scott Waguespack (32nd), John Arena (45th), Bob Fiortetti (2nd) and others requested hearings last month, while Finance Committee Chairman Ed Burke (14th) asked for hearings at this past week’s city council meeting.

All the while Redflex struggles to survive the scandal, it’s stock plummeting and now trading under $1 a share on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Chicago has 384 red light cameras at 190 intersections around the city. The program has generated $375 million in revenue between its inception in 2003 through 2012.

A sign warns drivers of red light cameras at Kedzie & Irving Park

Could red light cameras be used to give out parking tickets, too?

The City of Chicago, while searching for a new vendor to operate its controversial red light camera program, is asking bidders for ideas on how else to use the cameras, including spotting parking violators.

The city insists it’s just asking at this point and has no plans to use the red light cameras to ticket drivers for anything other than running red lights.

But one critic said the aggressiveness of the city’s camera enforcement “makes my hair stand on end.”

“Chicago has to be the most predatory camera city in the country,” said James Walker, executive director of the National Motorists Association Foundation.

Read more at DNA Info Chicago.

First, the Chicago Tribune gets hold of some internal company documents which shows the former Chicago Department of Transportation manager in charge of the red light cameras received some free hotel accommodations. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel disallowed the city’s current red light camera vendor from bidding on the new speed camera contract. A shocking turnaround for the company that seemed a sure bet for that contract.

More recently, the Tribune reported even more unethical behavior. Emanuel struck again and disallowed Redflex from rebidding the red light camera contract–a contract the company has held for ten years, since the program’s inception. The Chicago contract accounted for 13% of total company revenues.

Since then, things have continued to flow downhill.

After the Trib story, the company’s stock has plunged to half it’s value in a handful of days and now trades at around $1 a share on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Late last week Redflex fired a long time Vice President named Aaron Rosenberg, who allegedly has first hand knowledge or participated in some of the company’s bad behavior in Chicago according to the Chicago Tribune. In fact, the company has filed suit against Rosenberg claiming he misappropriated funds from Redflex.

The Daily Herald reports Redflex’s problems in Chicago has raised the eyebrows of suburbs who use the company for RLC enforcement in their towns. These problems, the story implies, may affect contract renewals in Carol Stream, Gurnee and Aurora.

The Redflex scandal in Chicago has been bad for the entire automated camera industry in general. The Chicago City Council is planning on having hearings on the city’s RLC program in a few months. News organizations have jumped on the anti-camera bandwagon and have put RLC enforcement under the microscope.

Not only did NBC News broadcast a national piece on red light cameras, but Fox News will reportedly air a similar story on Tuesday.

A technician installs an ATS speed camera in the 6500 block of north Western Ave. for pilot testing this past November

Chicago is now one more step closer to having speed cameras on its streets as the city’s Procurement Services Department announced its choice for a vendor late Friday.

According to Procurement Services Department spokesperson Bill McCaffrey, the city’s evaluation committee, which included nine voting members from city departments and one technical adviser without a vote, unanimously recommended American Traffic Solutions to be that provider.

“This recommendation was made for a variety of reasons, including the performance of its camera system and technology, cost, the extent and depth of data that can be collected, and its user-friendly web site,” said McCaffrey in a statement.

ATS spokesperson Charles Territo said his team had put a lot of work into the bid and was happy their company was chosen.

“We’re excited to have an opportunity to partner with the City of Chicago on this important public safety initiative,” said Territo.

Read more at DNA Info Chicago.

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.

NBC 5 News did an investigative piece on Chicago’s red light cameras Tuesday night.

While not really breaking any new ground in its news report, NBC 5 did list the top five revenue producing red light camera intersections in Chicago Tuesday night.

For 2012, these five intersections produced $8 million collectively or almost 12% of all red light camera revenue.

Remember, Chicago has 191 intersections with RLCs.  So these five represent not even 3% of the city’s total camera intersections.

Also, friend of this site,UIC Professor Rajiv Shah, makes an appearance in the report explaining his research seems to undermine the city’s assertions the cameras improve safety.

Here’s NBC 5′s full story and video.