Effort to ban red-light cameras in City draws ACLU support

Two Iowa City residents are making a third attempt to essentially ban red-light cameras in Iowa City, and this time they have the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.

Aleksey Gurtovoy and Martha Hampel on Friday filed an affidavit to start an initiative that ultimately could let voters decide whether the controversial traffic-enforcement cameras can go up. At the same time, the ACLU submitted to the City Council a legal argument in support of the pair's effort.

Iowa City does not yet have cameras installed, but the City Council earlier this year approved an ordinance allowing them, and city staffers are in the process of working out the details to get the cameras up.

Gurtovoy and Hampel twice this past summer filed what they considered affidavits for an initiative, but each time City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes said the wording made it a referendum.

The difference matters.

READ: Letter from the ACLU (story continues below embed)

ACLU Letter