Legislative Committee Looks Into Automated Traffic Cameras After Resident’s Pitch

A District 6 resident’s proposal for automated traffic enforcement cameras sparked interest from the Pasadena City Council’s Legislative Policy Committee on Tuesday.

District 6 resident PA Brown urged the committee to explore both red light cameras and speed cameras as tools for improving safety and generating revenue. 

Brown said that any California city can now install red light cameras under legislation that took effect last October, and pointed to Assembly Bill 645, signed in 2023, which created a pilot program authorizing speed cameras in several cities — including Glendale, Long Beach and the City of Los Angeles — but not Pasadena.

Brown suggested the committee explore seeking legislation to add Pasadena to the pilot program or to ensure the city is included when the program is reviewed. He cited dangerous speeding conditions in District 6, including vehicles coming off the 710 stub and racing along the Arroyo Parkway and Fair Oaks Avenue past the hospital and medical offices. 

Brown said that Washington, D.C., generates more than $100 million annually from its speed camera program — a city roughly three times Pasadena’s size.

Committee Chair Steve Madison called the idea “intriguing.” He recalled that Pasadena previously operated red light cameras but removed them after court decisions rendered them unenforceable, possibly over constitutional issues related to a defendant’s right to confront the evidence against them.

The city’s state legislative advocate, Kyra Emanuels Ross, provided additional context, identifying Senate Bill 770, an Ashby bill, which revived red light cameras in a modified form. The new approach focuses enforcement on the vehicle rather than the driver, addressing the legal issues that doomed earlier programs. 

Emanuels Ross said communities across California are now reconsidering both speed and red light camera programs under the updated legal framework.

Madison requested that Emanuels Ross research the matter further and asked the city attorney’s office and public safety staff to contribute to a briefing at the committee’s next meeting. 

Councilmember Gene Masuda noted that San Gabriel Boulevard at Foothill in Masuda’s district had previously hosted cameras that drew a lot of complaints.

Vice Mayor Jess Rivas expressed interest in learning more about the issue’s history and current legal landscape.