Mayor Steve Bach was quoted in the Wall Street Journal today in a story about “a small but growing number of cities” that have deactivated their red-light cameras.

Bach got only one sentence in the story, but it’s still worthy of today’s Quote of the Day.

“The red light cameras have not demonstrated that they result in a material decrease in property damage and bodily injury,” Bach told the Wall Street Journal.

Last month, the Police Department announced that it was getting rid of the red-light cameras despite hailing them a week earlier as a high-tech way to make the city’s streets safer.

Fines collected from red-light runners cover the $5,200 it costs every month to use the equipment.

But interim Police Chief Pete Carey said the cost of employing two officers to review the photos and a half-time sergeant’s position to supervise was too expensive.

“That’s over $200,000 for that program that we hopefully will put it in a more urgent need area,” Carey said. “Right now, there’s lot of issues downtown. If I had 2½ officers I could plug into some downtown problems, it would be highly, highly beneficial for everybody.”

Carey said “public opinion” also factored into the decision.