Cedar Rapids’ DOT appeal is uphill fight

So Cedar Rapids is going to fight for its right to put speed cameras where it pleases. For safety, of course.

Local control is at stake. File the appeals. Retain the lawyers. Don't let the state's heavy hand push you around.

In case you're just tuning in, the City Council likely will vote today to appeal a ruling by the Iowa Department of Transportation that the city must remove two of its I-380 automated speed enforcement cameras and move two others. The appeal goes to DOT Director Paul Trombino, not a camera fan.

I can appreciate the city's pro-local position. Traffic enforcement is primarily a local concern, and the cameras were approved by local elected officials. Why should the state stick its nose in, especially when lawmakers failed to act?

It seems like most local citizens are OK with the cameras, with vocal exceptions. The clear majority of people I hear from dislike speeders more than cameras. No local official has been booted from office over his or her support for cameras. Heck, it hasn't even been a major issue in local elections.

Skirmishes such as this one are how we figure out where state authority ends and local authority begins. I assume the city's appeal to Trombino will be rejected and the whole thing will end up in court, which isn't unusual in these government vs. government fights. Sioux City already has sued the DOT over its camera rules, adopted last year.

And, frankly, despite all city rhetoric to the contrary, Cedar Rapids now depends on camera revenue to help balance its budget. Millions of dollars are at stake.

Trouble is, I don't think the city will win.

The DOT basically makes an airtight argument that it has rule-making jurisdiction over the state's primary highway system, even when those roads run through cities. The DOT insists it has a legitimate governmental interest in making sure highway cameras are installed for sound safety reasons and not as cash machines. I think most judges and justices will find that argument compelling.

The city can make a sound argument that its cameras checking speed as drivers enter the dicey S-curve have improved safety. The DOT wants those cameras moved closer to the curve, giving drivers more distance to slow down. That seems reasonable.

The city has a much harder time proving its cameras clocking speed on straightaways as drivers leave the curve are a safety enhancement and not just a revenue maker. One camera, on northbound I-380 at J Avenue, accounts for 40 percent of speed camera citations alone. The DOT wants that camera and one southbound past the curve removed. That also seems reasonable.

I know the city is crying foul because the DOT gave it permission to place the cameras. But a new governor was elected and a new DOT regime changed the rules. Unfair? Perhaps, but not unusual.

Ask school district officials across Iowa who once received a state waiver to start school in mid-August about the effects of regime change on local control.

So many months, maybe years, from now, when the dust settles, I predict that Cedar Rapids will have to move and remove. Local control takes another blow.

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