Two propositions that will be on Jersey Village ballots May 7 could potentially alter the city’s charter to permanently ban red light cameras from city limits. Proposition 1, if approved by voters, would ban the city from ever taking on future red light camera programs. Proposition 2, if approved, would allow the city to continue its existing red light camera program with American Traffic Solutions in the event that cameras are banned through Proposition 1. No red light cameras are currently installed in Jersey Village, and no plans are in place to have any installed. However, the city’s contract with ATS runs through 2024, and cameras could potentially be installed and used through the end of that contact. [polldaddy poll=9392306] If Proposition 1 is approved and Proposition 2 is not approved, future red light camera programs will be banned and the city must also end its current program with ATS. The propositions were added to the ballot as the result of a petition to ban red light cameras that was presented to Jersey Village Secretary Lori Coody before the Jan. 18 city council meeting. The petition garnered 439 signatures from Jersey Village residents, surpassing the necessary amount required by Texas law—at least 5 percent of current voters—to qualify as a legally binding. An April 4 meeting was organized at the Jersey Village Civic Center by residents Rod Erskine and Curtis Haverty to present a case against banning red light cameras. Because there was the potential for a quorum of city council members to be present, city staff issued a notice of the meeting online, but the city was not involved in the meeting itself. Although the event was organized to present arguments against the ban, many people in favor the ban attended the event to speak with residents, current council members and council candidates running for the three positions up for election this May. Erskine, who served as Jersey Village mayor from 2013-2015, explained the propositions and presented on the city’s history with red light cameras. Cameras were installed at 10 locations along the Hwy. 290 frontage road in 2008. The Texas Department of Transportation instructed the city to remove seven cameras in April 2013 to accommodate the Hwy. 290 expansion project. The final three were removed in November 2013. No cameras have been installed since that point. Through a public information request, Erskine confirmed that the contract with ATS began Aug. 20, 2007, and city council adopted a 15-year extension on May 28, 2009. Proposition 2 was added to the ballot to give voters the ability to ban future red light camera programs without forcing the city to end its current program with ATS and face a possible six-figure settlement for breach of contract, Jersey Village Mayor Justin Ray said. During his presentation, Erskine said he got the impression that the movement to ban red light cameras in Jersey Village was largely organized by nonresidents. He pointed out that 137 of the 144 petition documents were circulated by nonresidents. “This has the appearance of nonresidents forcing their will on the city of Jersey Village,” he said. H. F. Van Der Grinten, a Sugar Land resident and the founder of the Houston Coalition Against Red Light Cameras, played a role in circulating the petitions in Jersey Village. He said that he is fully within his rights in doing so. “The vast majority of [red light camera] tickets issued in Jersey Village are issued to out-of-towners,” he said. “We have the right to inform the citizens of Jersey Village about how badly the city is treating those who are passing through.” Jersey Village resident Richard Jacquet played a role in circulating the petition as well. He said that he opposes red light cameras for a number of reasons, including that the government cannot be trusted to use them properly and that profit is prioritized over safety. Jacquet also disputed the idea that red light cameras improve safety in any significant way and disputed claims from Jersey Village about how much money they actually brought in. "Red light cameras do not promote the claimed safety, as the statistics appear flawed," Jacquet said in a statement. "Other analyses indicate red light cameras cause more accidents." During the April 4 meeting, Haverty, a local emergency medical technician and first responder, presented on the correlation between red light cameras and a decrease in car crashes and injuries in Jersey Village. Data obtained from the Jersey Village Police Department shows 48 crashes occurred at seven red light camera intersections before the cameras were installed. The number of crashes fell to 22 in 2010 and hit a low point of 17 in 2013, the year the cameras were removed. Total crashes rose to 28 in 2014 and 38 in 2015. “This is a clear indication that, once people realized red light cameras were there, and that running them is costly, they learned how to change their behavior,” Haverty said. When the cameras were operational, the money they raised was split between Jersey Village, ATS and the State of Texas. During the 2008-09 fiscal year, the cameras generated about $2 million in revenue, roughly $600,000 of which went to Jersey Village. Revenue reached a peak in the 2011-12 fiscal year when around $3 million was raised with around $1.2 million going to the city. By law, revenue generated by red light cameras must be spent on the city’s traffic safety initiatives, such as safety improvements at intersections and the hiring of more traffic safety officers.