As a resident of Redmond, I’m absolutely appalled that the city council chose to ignore the red-light camera ballot initiative submitted recently and not submit red light cameras to a vote of the people as the city’s constitution requires.

To blatantly disregard an initiative that over 6,000 residents signed is an abuse of power and a disregard for the people you supposedly represent.  Government derives its power from the consent of the governed. When the government we elect fails to recognize this fact, it’s time to change our government.

As the CEO of the largest traffic data company in the country, I’m amazed that the city council has disregarded the safety issues related to red-light cameras.

Indeed, it is now common knowledge within the transportation data industry that red-light cameras actually increase accidents rather than decrease them. There is a significant body of research that clearly documents this, which I suspect American Traffic Solutions (ATS), Redmond’s traffic camera vendor, has failed to provide you with.

If the city chose to install red-light cameras as a safety feature, it’s having the opposite effect, which you know since your city’s own reporting has shown that collisions have increased this year over last year by 27 percent, and rear-end collisions are up 33 percent at the intersections where the cameras are located.

Finally, as the founder of a high-tech company that started in Redmond with two people and now employs more than 275 people, and is looking to move to larger offices as we have outgrown the ones we currently occupy in Kirkland, I can tell you we just crossed Redmond off our list of cities to consider.

If the City Council of Redmond and the mayor are not accountable to their constituents and if they fail to demonstrate belief in the rule of law, then Redmond is not a city where we would choose to locate.

Bryan Mistele, Redmond