Council approves video surveillance in parking platforms

The third time’s the charm, at least for those in favor of having security cameras installed in the $12 million parking platforms being built in downtown Rochester.

Rochester Mayor Jeffrey Cuthbertson said the City Council has debated the issue twice, each time opting to leave surveillance cameras out of the equation for a number of reasons — including the city’s low crime rate and its active and efficient Police Department. But a grass-roots effort — namely a petition organized by local business owner Linda Lucaj, of Main Street Deli, and signed by nearly 2,500 people — helped encourage the council to reconsider the issue for a third time due to unease in the community about the lack of cameras.

On June 8, following the recommendation of the Parking Advisory Committee, the Rochester City Council unanimously approved a “passively monitored” security system with cameras at the gates and in enclosed areas.

Cuthbertson said all seven council members voted to not have cameras at one point in time, but said he was glad the council found a compromise that works.
“This process wasn’t always neat and wasn’t always measured, in my estimation, but sometimes good compromises can come from a tough debate,” he said.

Rochester City Councilman Stuart Bikson agreed.

“I didn’t think we were going to get there, so I am very pleased to support this. I think it’s a good compromise. I think people will feel safer, and I think that’s what we are about. We are a safe city. That, to me, was never an issue,” he said.

PAC member Eldon Thompson said a tremendous amount of discussion, debate and resources went into the recommendation. The PAC considered four options — a fully monitored camera system with capital costs ranging from about $270,000 to $356,000, a passively monitored camera system at $131,000, a record-only system with no active or passive monitoring at a cost of $87,000, and a passively monitored system for only the gate and enclosed areas at $60,000.

“When we looked at the risk in our city versus the cost, there just was no real justification for the high-end camera system. We just don’t have that kind of problem in our city. When we look at the number of instances where there have been police calls to each of the parking areas, in 2014, some of them were as low as 13 instances during an entire year. The top one was 58. When you look at the risk versus the cost, it just didn’t justify spending the extra dollars,” Thompson said.

Passively monitored in the dispatch center by the on-duty dispatchers, the system will include a number of cameras focused on the entry and exit gates, the stairways and the city’s lone parking platform elevator in the west platform. Police Chief Steve Schettenhelm said the system will cost approximately $60,201, with annual ongoing costs of approximately $4,257.

The cameras, he said, will not only help with visitors’ perception of safety and security in the platforms — even though he said Rochester is already safe — but will also allow for operational improvements.

“If the parking platform is backing up, we can see that right away; if someone is having a problem — perhaps a medical issue and trips on the stairwell, that sort of thing — we will be able to see those things as they happen. So, the (system) … is certainly an addition, and a valuable improvement, to the parking platforms going forward. I certainly have been a supporter of video cameras in the parking structures, and I stand by that,” Schettenhelm said.

The good news, Schettenhelm said, is that Rochester is already a very safe city.
“There are a lot of reasons why that is — the police protection, the clientele that arrives here in the city, the fact that we have a vibrant downtown and there are people that see things, and that’s what helps keep the downtown safe. That said, we have a responsibility — with the new parking platforms — to not only provide safety, but the feeling of safety and that sense of security to the people that are visiting our downtown,” he said.

For Cuthbertson, the move was a business decision.

“For me, spending $60,000 so that people can feel safer is a business decision. At the end of the day, it’s a business decision I’m willing to make, based on the fact that there are two new sets of spaces that exist that are unlike anything we have in this community now — that’s the stairwells and elevators,” he said.

He feels the suggested system was a good compromise for the council.

“I hope it will be judged to be a wise decision in the future, and one which is not a bridge to a camera-laden city of Rochester. I certainly don’t want any part of that,” he said.

Cuthbertson said he was excited to close what he referred to as “a rough and tumble debate” and move toward an environment where the city’s downtown business district has more parking than at any time in Rochester’s history.

“This truly is a foundational building block for future success and, in some time, this debate will be something of an afterthought,” he said.

A grand opening ceremony for the east parking platform will be held at 4 p.m. June 25 on East Street, between Fourth and University.


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source: http://www.candgnews.com/news/council-approves-video-surveillance-parking-platforms-84236