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Speed Camera on Ridge Near Senn Could Slow Pass-Through Drivers From North

By Benjamin Woodard | September 13, 2013 7:11am
 The city plans to install 50 speed cameras by the end of the year across the city.
The city plans to install 50 speed cameras by the end of the year across the city.
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Facebook/Ald. John Arena

EDGEWATER — Ald. Harry Osterman expects a new speed camera on Ridge Avenue to catch a lot of lead-footed motorists when it's installed this fall.

"Ridge Avenue does have traffic that moves very fast," said the 48th Ward alderman. "We are very much a pass-through neighborhood from the Northwest Side and Evanston people [who] come down Ridge Avenue and come down Broadway to get to Lake Shore Drive."

"The speed camera will hopefully help that," he added.

Osterman, who voted against the speed camera ordinance in April 2012 alongside 13 other aldermen, said the camera at 5887 N. Ridge Ave., near Senn Park, could be installed by late October.

Last month, the city released the 50 locations where speed cameras would be installed by the end of the year. Senn Park, Legion Park and Warren Park are the only cameras slated for the Far North Side.

Sue Morales, the president of an area block club, said the camera could help stop speeders on a notoriously speedy thoroughfare.

"No matter what you put there, that traffic is so fast it's scary," she said. "Let's see what that speed camera does for us."

Osterman said he worried the speed camera ordinance would nickel-and-dime people out of the community.

"I felt that it was a cash-driven incentive to get people and nick them with tickets," he told Morales' block club Wednesday. "All of you know it's expensive to live in Chicago. It's expensive to stay here."

Osterman said he'd advocate for all revenue generated by the cameras throughout the city to be used on public safety initiatives, like hiring crossing guards and police officers.