The Oak Brook village manager and a Village Board member are doubling down on their comments about Oakbrook Terrace collecting more than $275,000 from red-light camera violations at Route 83 and 22nd Street for the months of September, October and November.
Village Manager Greg Summers and Village Board member Michael Manzo both stood firm on their views after Oakbrook Terrace filed a Feb. 9 Freedom of Information Act request with Oak Brook in response to comments against the red-light cameras made by Oak Brook officials in a Feb. 8 story in the Doings/Tribune.
“The most recent FOIA request from Oakbrook Terrace comes as no surprise, given that every village action or article regarding their corrupt red-light cameras has been met with a similar response; usually line by line targeting village officials who spoke or were quoted,” Summers said.
He said this was Oakbrook Terrace’s fifth FOIA request in as many months.
“This misuse of the FOIA process by Oakbrook Terrace continues to consume staff and legal hours, all at unnecessary expense to our taxpayers and with no intended public benefit,” Summers said.
Manzo said Oakbrook Terrace is leveraging the FOIA process “in a thinly-veiled attempt to harass Oak Brook into submission on the red-light-camera issue.”
“While these tactics worked on the prior Village Board/village manager, such harassment will not temper this board’s commitment to righting the wrong and pursuing nothing short of complete removal of these cash-grabbing cameras,” Manzo said. “These scare tactics have been used before to specifically intimidate me and have never worked, and it certainly will not work now.”
When asked in a Feb. 14 email if Oakbrook Terrace was considering some type of legal action against Oak Brook/any of its officials, or if there was another reason for the Feb. 9 FOIA request, Oakbrook Terrace City Administrator Jim Ritz responded that “due to the continuous negative and erroneous media articles directed at the City of Oakbrook Terrace and the red-light camera program, I am referring you to our city legal team concerning your requested information.
“The constant and inaccurate information as reported and being directed at the City of Oakbrook Terrace by your sources is totally unmerited.”
A Feb. 16 email to Ritz stated that both any response from from from him, elaborating on how information being reported is unmerited, and from Oakbrook Terrace’s legal team, was needed by 10 a.m. Monday to be included in this story. On Monday, another email to Ritz stated the deadline for a response was extended 24 hours.
As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, there was no response from Ritz or the Oakbrook Terrace legal team.
The Feb. 9 Doings/Tribune story included information supplied by Oakbrook Terrace in response to a FOIA request from the Doings/Tribune, asking how much revenue had been generated between the time of an Aug. 22, 2022, ruling by DuPage County Judge Craig Belford allowed the red-light cameras to be reactivated and Dec. 31, 2022.
After being ordered by the Illinois Department of Transportation in May 2022 to deactivate, and then remove, the cameras, Oakbrook Terrace filed a lawsuit, claiming that IDOT overstepped its authority with the order for the cameras used for southbound traffic on Route 83 and eastbound traffic on 22nd Street, just outside of Oakbrook Center.
In August 2022, Belford denied an IDOT motion to dismiss Oakbrook Terrace’s motion to stay the IDOT decision. Oakbrook Terrace was authorized to reactivate the red-light cameras, pending the final disposition of the case, which was continued in December 2022 to May.
Information in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Doings to Oakbrook Terrace revealed that the city collected just under $278,000 from red-light camera violations for the months of September, October and November. The amount of revenue collected from violations in December 2022 and January wasn’t available because those violations have not yet been reconciled.
A breakdown of the revenue from those three months shows $8,298 collected in September, $124,411 in October and $145,284 in November. Oakbrook Terrace collected more than $12 million in revenue from violations in the just under five years of operation leading up to IDOT’s direction to deactivate.
Oakbrook Terrace’s Feb. 9 FOIA request to Oak Brook, requested the following:
1. Any and all documents in Village of Oak Brook Trustee Michael Manzo’s possession that indicate the automated traffic law enforcement system at the intersection of Route 83 and 22nd Street in the jurisdiction of the City of Oakbrook Terrace is “all about revenue and definitely not about safety” (as alleged by Trustee Michael Manzo to Chuck Fieldman of the Chicago Tribune on or about February 8, 2023).
2. Any and all documents in Village of Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis’ possession which allowed him to come to the conclusion that the Village of Oak Brook’s “data tabulation demonstrated that the red-light cameras do not make the Route 83/22nd Street intersection any safer for the motoring public, and in fact make it less safe” (as alleged by Chief Brian Strockis to Chuck Fieldman of the Chicago Tribune on or about February 8, 2023).
3. Any and all documents in Village of Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis’ possession which allowed him to come to the conclusion that “the red light cameras are obviously lucrative for Oakbrook Terrace, but the idea that they increase public safety is statistically invalid” (as alleged by Chief Brian Strockis to Chuck Fieldman of the Chicago Tribune on or about February 8, 2023).
4. Any and all documents in Oak Brook Village Manager Greg Summers’ possession which allow him to determine how the City of Oakbrook Terrace pays for its litigation.
5. Any and all documents in Oak Brook Village Manager Greg Summers’ possession which allowed him to come to the conclusion that “these cameras facilitate the City of Oakbrook Terrace’s ability to fund their legal case through use of the ever accruing motorists fines” (as alleged by Village Manager Greg Summers to Chuck Fieldman of the Chicago Tribune on or about February 8, 2023).
6. Any and all documents which identify the amount of time spent by Village of Oak Brook staff (including elected officials) working on any matters pertaining to the City of Oakbrook Terrace’s automated traffic law enforcement system located at the intersection of Route 83 and 22nd Street between January 1, 2017 and February 9, 2023.
7. Any and all documents; account statements; checks; expense reports; etc. which identify any and all money paid by the Village of Oak Brook to anyone including, but not limited to, attorneys, Village of Oak Brook staff, contractors, lobbyists, etc., to “fight the good fight” to litigate, advocate against and/or work on any matters pertaining to the City of Oakbrook Terrace’s automated traffic law enforcement system located at the intersection of Route 83 and 22nd Street between January 1, 2017 and February 9, 2023. (Excluding the $132,960.84 identified in page 98 of the document titled “FOIA_6913_-_Emails_1_Redacted.pdf” provided to Deputy Chief David Clark on November 10, 2022 pursuant to FOIA request W006913-102422.)
8. Any and all documents; account statements; checks; expense reports; etc. which identify money paid by the Village of Oak Brook to any and all attorneys to request and/or review documents pertaining to the City of Oakbrook Terrace’s automated traffic law enforcement system located at the intersection of Route 83 and 22nd Street from the City of Oakbrook Terrace and the Illinois Department of Transportation through the Freedom of Information Act between January 1, 2017 and February 9, 2023.
9. Any and all documents identifying the number of citizens who attended the Village of Oak Brook’s “press conference” on September 27, 2022.
10. Any and all documents identifying the number of Village of Oak Brook residents who spoke against the City of Oakbrook Terrace’s automated traffic law enforcement system located at the intersection of Route 83 and 22nd Street at the Village of Oak Brook’s “press conference” on September 27, 2022.
11. Any and all documents; account statements; checks; expense reports; etc. which identify money paid by the Village of Oak Brook to any and all vendors for any and all materials and visual aids used or displayed at the Village of Oak Brook’s “press conference” on September 27, 2022.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
