The South Shore Press Man on the Street attended the victory party for Stephen Ruth, the Red Light Camera Robin Hood. Here’s what the attendees had to say about the program's demise.
“People shouldn’t be extorted by their own government. They should be there to protect us, not create a nanny state to collect our money. It's interesting how these cameras were mostly in low-income areas.”—Angelo Veltri, Save Long Island president, Shoreham
“This is fantastic news. The quick yellow lights caused too many accidents. Our roads will be safer now, and we won’t have the county picking our pockets. I’m glad we won’t have to worry about this anymore.”—Janet Hawthorne, Coram
“If it was only about safety, why weren’t they in some towns? And why was the first reaction of the politicians was where they could make up the money?”—Charles Clampett, Blue Point
“It’s great to be finally getting rid of them. We got a ticket and looked at the video. It wasn’t fair. It was green and turned yellow when we were going through it, and we still got a ticket. Good luck fighting it. The ticket cost us a lot of money.”—Kerri Fagone, Medford
“Are they going to reimburse us now?”—Marge Kochman, Belle Terre
“Steve Ruth is our own ‘Suffering County’ Red Light Camera Robin Hood. He’s our hero. He busted his butt, exposing a lot of corruption. This was a corrupt program all along.”—Linda Fregu, Port Jefferson
“I’m glad they are gone. They were nothing but a revenue source for the county. I hope we don’t get hit in the pocket with something else to make up the difference.”—Arleen Veltri, Ridge