Cedar Rapids Council in no mood for mercy

A week ago, I wrote that avoiding a long legal battle with the state over I-380 speed cameras would be the smart play for the city of Cedar Rapids. So, naturally, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to sue the state.

My influence knows no bounds.

I don't feel too bad. Even Mayor Ron Corbett's call for peace in our time couldn't prevail. Corbett had said he'd prefer to take a deal offered by the Iowa Department of Transportation that would allow the city to keep two cameras on the S-curve downtown while shutting down two cameras that snap speeders after they leave the curve. He commissioned a poll showing a clear majority of locals opposed a court battle.

Corbett went into a closed City Council session predicting a 25-minute discussion. Eighty minutes later, he emerged to join a unanimous vote for legal action.

'Council felt very strongly that this is a local control issue, that this was an issue about safety,” Corbett said. 'And actually, Chief Jerman did a very eloquent job in the closed session.”

Jerman must have channeled his inner Churchill to turn the tide against appeasement. 'We shall fight them on the curves, we shall fight them on the straightaways, we shall fight them in the courts, and we shall never surrender!” OK, maybe not.

But it's clear the chief feels strongly about keeping the cameras as-is. 'I know from being a police officer for almost 36 years that I don't understand how someone would go against a proven, measured system that saves lives,” Jerman told reporters.

I'd have loved to hear Jerman's closed-session pitch, and I'd argue that we should have had the chance.

I understand why a council would go into closed session to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of its legal case. But Tuesday's discussion strikes me as a public policy debate over the merits of keeping the cameras or taking the DOT deal. A debate like that should have happened in public. Instead, we get closed doors and a swift vote with no discussion.

No one dared to utter the 'r” word Tuesday, also known as revenue. Taking the DOT deal and shutting down cameras would have cost the city millions of dollars. Was it mentioned behind closed doors? We can only guess.

I still think the city faces a steep legal climb in arguing that the DOT lacks authority to regulate interstate cameras. And what happens if the city loses, and is ordered to refund tickets? There are real risks in marching to court.

At the same time, I can appreciate the desire of city leaders to shake their fists at state meddling. The Branstad administration is legendary in its disdain for local decision-making, and Cedar Rapids repeatedly has been on the short end of state-knows-best. Maybe I don't think the Death Star can be defeated, but it's always possible the city's legal team can find a small weakness in its design.

In any event, my call for mercy, to stop me from writing about speed cameras again, has gone unheeded. Cedar Trapids, apparently in no mood to become Compromise City, is headed to court. And a final resolution will be anything but speedy.

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