Petition for red-light, drone ban lacks enough signatures
Written by Lee Hermiston Iowa City Press-Citizen
A petition asking the Iowa City Council to consider banning the use of red light cameras and drones fell short of the required signatures.
However, red light camera opponents will get a second chance to collect the necessary signatures.
On April 1, red light camera and drone opponents submitted a petition with 3,322 signatures. However, on Monday, City Clerk Marian Karr said the petition had only 2,106 valid signatures, short of the 2,500 that were required.
Aleksey Gurtovoy, one of the leaders of the anti-cameras/drones effort, said the decision from the city was not entirely surprising.
“We kind of expected it,” he said.
At the same time, Gurtovoy said that he and others are excited that they are only a few hundred signatures short of their goal.
“It’s in the same ballpark,” he said. “We think we can make up the difference.”
In February 2012, the Iowa City Council approved a resolution to direct city staff to investigate the installation of red light cameras at certain intersections in the city with the goal of reducing collisions that result in property damage and personal injuries.
Gurtovoy and others opposed the measure and sought a referendum opposing the cameras on the November 2012 ballot. However, opponents did not file a petition with valid signatures by the deadline to have it placed on the ballot, which was 110 days before Sept. 2, 2012. The group then set its sights on 2013.
Karr said the petitioners have two days to file a notice of intention to amend the petition, which Gurtovoy said he filed Monday afternoon. After that, the petitioners have 15 days to collect more signatures.
“Then the city has another 15 days (to verify the signatures),” Karr said.
Gurtovoy said he intends to “just go out and work hard” the next two weeks. He added that he expects more favorable weather will make getting signatures easier than it was during the winter.
“We’re excited. We think we’re going to get it,” he said. “We have a lot of support in the community. We just need to get out there and get those people who support us to sign.”
