Taking a high-speed half-loaf

Is 'Cedar Trapids - Where the Fifth Season is for Braking,” on its way to becoming 'Compromise City?”

Could be, if the City Council follows Mayor Ron Corbett's lead and grudgingly accepts the Iowa Department of Transportation's edict on the city's I-380 speed cameras. The DOT ordered the city to move two camera installations closer to the infamous S-curve downtown and shut down two cameras tracking speeders after they leave the curve.

Corbett is not conceding the city's argument that cameras have made the curves far safer, nor is he accepting the DOT's contention that raising bags of revenue is the city's true motivation. He's also still convinced that the DOT's rules are a backdoor regulatory effort to do what elected legislators would not, ban or severely limit camera use.

But the mayor also commissioned a poll using his own campaign bucks that shows 61 percent of Cedar Rapidians surveyed oppose taking the DOT to court. So he's loathe to give the people what they don't want.

'We're the city that cried uncle,” Corbett said.

Perhaps. Other City Council members I contacted are less ready to toss in the towel. They're waiting to hear from the city attorney and police chief in a closed session during next week's council meeting.

'I think there are some members who want to pursue legal action, others don't,” said Council member Scott Olson. 'I'm sitting on the fence.”

'I will tell you the ONLY people I receive emails from are traveling through from Missouri or Minnesota,” said Council member Ann Poe, also undecided.

But avoiding a court fight is the right call, mainly because I don't think the city will win. As weak as the DOT's argument is for butting into a local decision and playing Legislature, its jurisdictional argument over primary roads is strong.

So you sidestep a long, costly battle, take a half-loaf and keep a couple of cameras. Corbett says he'd like to leave the other two cameras online to gather data but not issue citations. That way, the city will know if changes cause speeds to increase.

There's also been talk of lowering the camera citation threshold from 12 mph over the limit, 'extreme speeders” as the mayor calls them, to 8 or 9 mph. It would be the police, not the council, that make such a call.

And it would be a mistake. I think much of the public support for cameras is anchored in the fact citations are being sent to folks caught going excessive speeds. Lower the threshold into single digits, and support erodes. A $75 citation for 63 in a 55-zone starts looking unreasonable to reasonable people.

'I'm not saying we're going to do it. I'm saying we're going to look at it,” Corbett said.

In the end, who could blame city leaders for wanting to close the book on this long camera saga? Its dispute with the DOT hasn't exactly brought laurels and bouquets to the city. Instead, it's spawned stories and some snarky columns about the 'Ultimate Speed Trap of the Midwest.,” and, of course, those insipid 'we're never coming back to Cedar Rapids again,” letters to the editor. Ugh.

So, please, have mercy. Stop me before I write another speed camera column.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com