Speed Cameras.

It's not about the money. It's about the children.

I wonder if Matt O'Shea voted for this?

It’s full speed ahead for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s controversial plan to use fixed and mobile surveillance cameras to catch drivers who speed near schools and parks.

Despite concerns that it’s more about raising revenue than keeping children safe, the City Council on Wednesday approved the dramatic expansion in the city’s Big Brother surveillance network. The vote was 33 to 14.

“The bottom line is, in a neighborhood as densely-populated as mine, we need to make sure that people slow down around schools,” said Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd).

“This is about behavior modification and how we train drivers to reduce their speed around parks and schools.”

The debate turned emotional Wednesday when Ald. Jim Balcer (11th) recalled that he was run over by a car at the age of 8.

“It was a traumatic experience in my life. I still remember it,” Balcer said.

“People said buckle up wouldn’t work. They said why give people tickets who won’t buckle up? It has saved lives [and so will speed cameras]. We will get used to it. We will adjust to it. If people don’t want a ticket, obey the law.”

Wednesday’s debate on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan followed a string of mayoral concessions to accommodate aldermen fearful of a political backlash once tickets start arriving in the mailboxes of speeding motorists.

But turning to his colleagues, Balcer said, “If you don’t want the cameras, let me have them. I’ll be glad to put them in to save the lives of children.”

Ald Danny Solis (25th) predicted that cameras would pave the way for a “culture change” where motorists slow down to avoid tickets. Ald. Ray Suarez (31st ) said the cameras are needed because there are “so many idiots who won’t slow down.”

During the debate, at least three aldermen confessed that they had been snared — either by red light cameras in Chicago or by speed cameras somewhere else.

That prompted Emanuel to jokingly call the confessional “group therapy.”

Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) was one of the only aldermen who dared to speak against the speed cameras. It’s not because she wants to protect speeders. She just doesn’t want top mayoral aides dictating where the cameras will go.

“We are giving up our authority. ... The last time I checked, we are still a democracy and that democracy is being chipped away. We are giving up our ability to determine what happens in our wards,” Hairston said.

“We don’t have a say-so as to where the cameras go. Why don’t we? We are elected and we should have a say-so. ... My ward will have 90 percent coverage by cameras. The other 10 percent is a cemetery.”

Wednesday’s vote followed a string of mayoral concessions to accommodate aldermen fearful of a political backlash once tickets start arriving in the mailboxes of speeding motorists.

The mayor agreed to cap the number of camera locations at 300 — 60 fewer than previously planned. The city will be divided into six regions, with each having “no fewer than” 10 percent of the citywide total.

Instead of slapping motorists with a $50 fine for going between six and 10 miles-per-hour over the speed limit near schools and parks, the fine will be reduced to $35. Those who exceed the limit by 11 mph would still face $100 fines.

The mayor also agreed to roll back the hours cameras would operate around schools from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. And the city has promised to issue two tiers of warnings to motorists — including an unlimited number during the first 30 days after cameras are installed and one more-per-driver after the break-in period is over.

And Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein has promised that speed cameras will be installed slowly—beginning with a “pilot field test” of technology provided by a short list of vendors.

“In the first year, I can’t imagine we’d even be able to roll out 50 cameras, to be honest,” Klein said. As for 300-location maximum he said, “I don’t think we’ll even get there.”

The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that City Hall has installed 10,000 speed humps in streets and alleys, 450 cul-de-sacs, 400 traffic circles and 250 “bump-out” curbs since 2005 alone--many of them near schools and parks--raising questions about why the city also needs speed cameras.

Thousands more were installed prior to 2005, but the city has no record of the overall number.

That has prompted Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) to demand that speed cameras be installed, only in those schools on “dangerous major thoroughfares” like Wentworth Ave., that have no speed bumps.

At last week’s committee meeting, Klein appeared to agree.

“If we’ve already got that [speed bump] precaution, my guess is the data’s not gonna show that it’s appropriate to put a camera in that location. The problem you talked about on the wider arterial street where people are speeding—that may be the appropriate context for automated speed enforcement,” the commissioner said.

The flurry of changes to the mayor’s speed camera ordinance continues the Emanuel pattern of proposing bold new plans, often without seeking public input, then throwing the opposition a bone or two when he encounters resistance.

That’s what happened last week, when Emanuel tweaked his signature plan to lengthen the school day—by agreeing to a 7-hour day in elementary schools and a 7.5-hour day four days-a-week in high schools.

The same script was followed when the mayor rolled back some of spending cuts and fee hikes tied to his first budget and modified strict new rules governing parades and public demonstrations heading into the NATO summit in response to a First Amendment flap.