Stop and Go politics

City certifies red light camera petition, but a vote is still uncertain

Opponents of Houston's red light cameras should send a nice gift basket and possibly a spa certificate to city secretary Anna Russell.

In just over two weeks, Russell and her staff have accomplished a Herculean task, certifying 22,000 signatures on the petition to ban red light cameras from Houston just before the deadline for ballot initiatives to be voted on by the city council at their meeting this afternoon.

"This is a great day for Houston," Michael Kubosh, a leader behind Citizens Against Red Light Cameras, told the Houston Chronicle. "People just need a right to vote, that's all we're saying. Now the citizens will have a chance to decide."

But getting the issue before voters in November is far from certain. Keep Houston Safe, a political action committee supporting the cameras, have previously expressed their will to keep the issue off the ballot in November via the court system if the city council were to approve the initiative.

"We've got two key legal issues here and if the city was to bow to political pressure to go against that, we would take action," Keep Houston Safe spokesman Jim McGrath told CultureMap.

KHS claims that the ban qualifies as a referendum election to ban or repeal a city ordinance, which according to law must have petitions completed within 30 days of enacting that law. Since the red light cameras have been in operation since 2006, McGrath says that to bring it forward now would constitute an illegal referendum.

The issue is sure to get heated well before (and perhaps through) November. The city has collected a total of $43 million in fines from the cameras since 2007, and no red light camera system has ever survived a public vote.

Update: The city council has voted to approve the red light camera ban charter amendment for voter ballots in November. Though several council members support the cameras, at Mayor Annise Parker's urging the vote was nearly unanimous to allow Houstonians the right to a vote.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”