Spokane neighborhoods to receive red light camera funding

If you live in the city of Spokane you'll soon start seeing the benefits of the city's red light cameras.

Funds generated by those 15 cameras placed at busy Spokane intersections will pay for road and sidewalk improvements in eight neighborhoods.

The program has been met with some controversy over the last three and a half years, but the city and the police department said they have gotten the results they wanted.

"We wanted the citizens to know why we started this program, we have been talking about it for a long time," Spokane Police Officer Teresa Fuller said.

"Hatred is not a strong enough word so what ever is stronger than hatred," George Raimondi said.

"It makes people more aware 'Oh I better stop because I don't want to get a ticket' other than 'Oh I better stop so I don't hit somebody'," Jody Buck said.

So far in Spokane, over 35,000 tickets have been issued and 75-percent of those tickets have gotten paid. Officer Fuller said that from the beginning the cameras aren't designed to be a money maker for the city.

"The money goes toward more safety improvements for the local neighborhoods, they can put in to get extended crosswalks," Fuller said.

And now red light camera funds, $285,000 to be exact, will go toward improvements in eight different neighborhood, like in the Logan neighborhood where bike and park lanes will be installed.

"Anything above and beyond goes into the traffic calming fund it doesn't go into the general fund, it doesn't pay for whatever it goes specially for traffic safety in the city of Spokane, so what's put into the program goes right back out in additional safety measures," Fuller said.

Some might call the cameras inconvenient, pesky, annoying, but Fuller said they're making Spokane streets safer.

"In the first three intersections that we implemented, that started in 2008, we cut t-bone collisions in half, by 52-percent, so that's a huge safety benefit in those intersections for the city," Fuller said.