It's baaack ...

Just eight weeks after installing — and then uninstalling — a state-of-the-art red-light camera in East Rockaway, Nassau County has been given the green light to reinstall the system, which is designed to catch red-light runners, at the intersection of Atlantic and Ocean avenues.

The camera was originally erected at what Sieban described as “a notoriously dangerous intersection.” But camera placements in two of the county’s first 50 planned locations — East Rockaway and Massapequa Park — were re-evaluated just two days after they were installed in August, according to Nassau County Administrative spokeswoman Jennifer Kim, and the systems were immediately removed. They had been erected within village limits, Kim explained, which prevented the county from collecting the revenue generated by tickets issued to red-light violators.

“It was a mistake of just a few feet,” Kim said.

A resolution to reinstall the East Rockaway camera, which required the village’s approval, was passed unanimously at the Oct. 5 village board meeting. “We were willing to permit them to reinstall the camera without [the village] getting any share on the revenue,” said Mayor Ed Sieban, explaining that the county contacted him regarding the reinstallation. “I complained when they took it down. It’s about safety, and not the money.”

The cost of the goof, Kim said, is being absorbed by the vendor, American Traffic Solutions, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company that leases the cameras to the county.

“In the studies we have done,” Deputy County Executive Ian Siegel said of the intersection of Atlantic and Ocean, “this intersection has one of the highest rates of accidents in the county.” Siegel added that the camera is due to be reinstalled by the end of the month.

The legislation to install the cameras on Nassau County streets was signed by Gov. David Paterson in April. Even though county roads run through villages such as East Rockaway, the county oversees the traffic lights on those roads. Villages have no authority over the installation of lights or cameras, and therefore cannot collect revenue from the resulting tickets — but if such a camera is installed within an incorporated village, neither can the county, without the village’s approval.

A second set of 20 cameras was scheduled to be installed by Dec. 1. The final 10 cameras will be in place by mid-January.

The county is expecting to generate $4 million in revenue from tickets, which will cost red-light offenders $50, for the remainder of this year, and $20 million next year.

According to Pat Reilly, executive director of the county’s Traffic and Parking Violations department, each camera will be leased from American Traffic Solutions for $4,250 a month.

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