Big Brother won’t be watching Solvang tourists and residents anytime soon.
In a 3-2 vote Monday night, the City Council rejected a proposal to buy license plate readers that staff said could be for both law enforcement use and marketing data collection, although the latter doesn’t appear to be legal at this point.
Cost and other concerns sparked opposition — both from the council and community.
“I don’t want cameras anywhere. … I don’t want my life to be under a microscope,” said Councilman Daniel Johnson, who voted against the proposal with Mayor Ryan Toussaint and Councilwoman Karen Waite.
Councilman Robert Clarke, who earlier opposed 5G technology because of surveillance claims, said he requested an item on cameras and license plate readers after talking to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department deputies.
“Law enforcement wants this. That’s why I brought it up,” he said.
Clarke and Councilman Chris Djernaes voted in favor of the proposal, although Djernaes said he wanted to explore the item further.
Solvang is uniquely situated since most of the traffic comes in and leaves via Mission Drive at the eastern and western edges of the city, City Manager Xenia Bradford said.
The cloud-based data could be shared with other law enforcement agencies, she added.
The system also would provide reports that could be used for marketing, including showing when a vehicle entered and exited the city.
“But at this point, this company has not fully worked yet through the California Consumer Privacy Act,” Bradford said. “That’s kind of a work into the future so this could be a multistep approach eventually.”
Vigilant Solutions representative Greg Mills said the fixed cameras would focus on the backs of vehicles after they have passed through the intersection.
“We’re not taking the front of the vehicle. We’re not taking any driver photos, no occupancy photos,” Mills said.
The equipment would provide five pieces of information — color photo overview of the vehicle, a zoomed in image of the license plate, text interpretation of the license plate number, date and time stamp, and GPS coordinates.
Once the state reaches the Vigilant database, it would be cross referenced to the law enforcement hot list, triggering alerts.
The data could be used for small crimes or more serious situations such as narcotics or human trafficking, he added.
“What we’re doing is we’re automating the process to make them more effective and more efficient for your community,” Mills said.
Some rules in California restrict who can get the information, with one law prohibiting sharing the data with any agency involved in immigration enforcement.
Since Mission Drive also is state Highway 246, the installation of license plate readers would require Caltrans approval.
“Caltrans is notoriously difficult to put up any type of infrastructure regardless of what it is or who you are,” he said, adding that to counter any Caltrans hurdle, Vigilant could offer longer-range cameras and solar-based cameras.
Most of the discussion focused on the license plate readers, although the council briefly discussed surveillance cameras at popular tourist spots — Copenhagen Drive, Solvang Park and Alisal Road.
Local residents raised concerns about the proposal, which came after the city laid off a number of employees several months ago because of financial woes, and questioned why Solvang should pay for them.
“I don’t think that this is a good idea for the city at this time, considering the budget and all the other issues,” said resident Mark Infanti, who also is running for the City Council.
Ironically, the discussion Monday came after some council members, including Clarke, expressed concerns about privacy related to 5G wireless technology following a presentation by a local opponent.
“You’d have to be a moron to think the government will not use these things to reach into your life, because that’s all they want to do,” Johnson said about 5G technology.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.