$6.5M Plan Proposes To Install Warning Lights Outside Nassau County Schools
MERRICK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – First there was an uproar over speeding tickets in Nassau County school zones. But now there is a proposal to install warning lights.
But who will pick up the $6.5 million bill?
As TV 10/55's Richard Rose reported, the good news about the speed cameras already at work at some Nassau County schools is that everyone agrees it has drivers slowing down.
Michael Schaeffer says it has made crossing the street much safer when he picks up his 5-year-old son after school.
"I can actually say for the first time, people are actually following the school speed limit," he said.
Nassau County officials will take the good news.
Earlier this summer, they had to dismissed tens of thousands of tickets after drivers complained they didn't even know the cameras were operating.
Now, County Executive Ed Mangano is proposing to spend $6.5 million to put flashing lights not just at the 50-plus schools where speed cameras have been set up, but all of the more than 430 schools in the county.
Minority Democrats in the county legislation are calling the Republican county executive's borrowing plan overkill.
"This idea of warning lights at all the schools now, when we already have lights at some schools, I want to see the plan," Nassau County Legislator Dan Denenberg said.
Traffic safety groups are also weighing in, saying the county should not be borrowing money when it's taking in millions from speed camera tickets.
"The money that's collected from red light cameras and speed cameras should be used to pay for the program," Robert Sinclair, with AAA New York, said.
Just who will pay for the new flashing lights will be debated.
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