Links: Another look at crime and transportation
Posted on April 25th, 2007 – 6:10 AMBy Roadguy
66 Responses to "Links: Another look at crime and transportation"
Moving the bus stops will just move the problem to the front of the library. The police can’t do anything about it - there’s not enough cooperation from those being harassed and witnesses. The public tolerates this sort of behavior. It will only change when the community - those who deal with it every day, who are harassed, who witness crime and drug deals - join up with their neighbors and put their collective feet down. I don’t advocate vigilante justice. But until the average person, the law abiding, the victims stand up and say no, we’re not going to tolerate this, that the street ethic of no snitching no matter what is killing us and destroying our cities, we will continue to watch the victims pile up. Criminals don’t care about “peace marches” and rallies. It’s not stopping anything but traffic. But if all the people who rally and protest were to pool their information, turn it all in, maybe those committing murder and other crimes would be taken off the streets.
Minneapolis DT Council, City government, Metro Transit, & property owners must sit down and craft a process to create police substations at key transit stops. This would probably have benefits far beyond the transit context. For now, I’m avoiding the areas. And I agree, moving the routes three blocks is nothing but “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Let’s continue to embrace diversity so we can avoid some other areas we have enjoyed in the past. When are our local politically correct politicians going to realize they are the enablers.
R.T, really great work, pal.
Sad to say, When the transit strike was on a few years back, downtown FELT safer to us who worked every day and walked the sidewalks. Rowdy youth weren’t as prevelant and that made a big improvement. We are talking about the difference between successful, vibrant downtowns and those that folks do their best to avoid. Personal safety suffers when forced to listen to coarse language and fights. davehoug@comcast.net
Give me a break!! Someone said “…if there were Caucasians at the downtown 7th street bus stops, they wouldn’t be moving the route.” News flash!! If there were Caucasians at the downtown bus stops harrassing people, intimidating people, killing people, robbing people, running their drug businesses, breaking things, damaging the bus stop etc. you damn betcha the cops would be on their case - as they should be. God, what a nitwit thing to say. Get over yourself.
The problem with downtown Minneapolis is not the presence of public transit, but rather the absence of a positive, vibrant street life and a lack of a mix of uses. This is the result of very poor design pulling legitimate street activity up to the skyway level and intentionally covering up store windows and creating a desolate wasteland of cars, parking, more cars and noogoodniks. What do we expect?
The solution here is easy. Create a mix of legitimate uses downtown so that more people are doing more legitimate things at all hours of the day leaving less room for crime. It’s not rocket science folks. Get people out of their cars and onto high quality transit and high quality pedestrian environments. Continuing the policy of transportation and land use segregation and flight is obviously not working. Let’s leave this shortsighted and outdated policy in the 70’s where it belongs.
Uncover store window to allow informal surveillance on the streets and transit stops. Create positive activity on the streets by bringing shops and businesses out of the skyways, out of the center of malls with no street access, etc. Create positive examples for our “rowdy” youth to emulate.
The criminal element seems so prevalent largely because all legitimate activities are kept segregated and well hidden downtown. All you see from you car passing by is mayhem because everything else had been moved out—everything except those of us who “brave” the area. Let’s not make the same mistake by moving transit. That would be the ultimate irony leaving a more desolate and inviting space for criminals to lurk.
The disruptive, disrespectful behaviour may not be illegal, but then neither is it illegal for a police officer to innocently stand in the middle of a group of such individuals as they’re attempting to harass passersby. Just as the annoying groups of jerks have the right to stand on the street corner, so too do the officers have the right to stand on that same corner. Or the next corner they move to. Or the next. Or the next… until they’ve finally dispersed.
There are plenty of legal ways to bother these disrespectful individuals right back… the trick is actually implementing such measures as policy. I don’t see any reason why groups of punks should be able to congregate as such and police officers not allowed to do the same in their vicinity. If a group of people aren’t harassing others, they should have no reason to be bothered by a cop standing nearby.
Lord help us! Let’s not spend money on educating, employing, and providing supervised activities and outreach for these misguided youth in the hopes that they will choose a better path, let’s spend lots of money moving the bus stop to a different, isolated street. We’ll have spent plenty of dough, the problem will still be there, probably worse, and when we finally think of a proactive/preventative approach…we’ll have no more room in the budget. When will this madness end???
I pointed out the bus stops as a problem yesterday, before this story even ran. I’ve been riding the bus for over 30 years now and let me tell you, there are problem bus stops all over this city. The mayor is only focusing on the stops downtown because of the retailers. The same thing happened in Brooklyn Center at Brookdale Mall. The store owners complained and a brand new bus stop was built two blocks away. Seems like the dollar always speaks loudest.
Yeah… Moving the bus stops won’t do anything but move the problem.
With all the “good” people saying they won’t ride the bus after dark, maybe we shouldn’t run the bus after dark.
I agree with Melissa B., must be something with the name but well written repsonse.
Moving the bus stops? Discontinuing night service? No!! The problem is NOT the transit system, the problem is the behavior of some the people who hang around the stops and ride the buses. Yes, I’m sure the merchants would love to eliminate all transit services from downtown, but this is PROFILING, pure and simple. Not racial profiling, but profiling by transportation mode. Are all of us transit riders thugs, louts and criminals? Of course not! So why make our transit service more inconvenient? On the one hand, we transit riders have to put up with the likes of the thugs, on the other we have to put up with the downtown merchants and the mayor. I’m guessing most of the later group never uses transit, so they don’t care if they are penalizing all of us because of the behavior of a group that should be penalized! That’s like saying the Mall of America should be shut down because lots of these same behaviorally-challenged people also hang out at MOA.
Mayor Rybak, the merchants’ solution is simple and facile, but incredibly wrong-headed. You should be looking after the interests of ALL of your law-abiding citizens of good will. Get some good people togther and come up with a solution that works for all.
In the transportation planning documents that are available at the City of Minneapolis website, none of them seems to seriously suggest relocating the bus stops away from Seventh and Eighth Streets. These documents suggest restructuring the service in these areas. Why does the mayor suddenly want to move the service now?
When he wanted the citizens to “smell the roses,” install street cars, and restructure the one-way streets & bus-only lanes that would have been a great time to suggest moving transit. Making this last minute suggestion that clearly has not been thought-out very well will only terrify those considering non-automobile based modes of transportation.
It seems the mayor is more interested in making headlines than solving problems.
I’m sure whatever is decided by R.T., he will first consider how he can best be politically correct like the way he handled peebles and our good chief bonnie. When it fails miserably, he can pass the financial burden on to us. Maybe Ellison has a solution. I know he’s representing his voters well. Another option is to take a cab if you are an acceptable fare.
I am a middle aged, white woman who rides the number 5 bus from time to time, NEVER after 5:30 p.m. I don’t use the bus to regularily commute because I don’t care to put up with the behavior of the young people who ride the bus in the afternoon. I am often uncomfortable at the bus stop on 7th but moving the stop to 4th would be far worse. I take comfort in having the stores and other main part of downtown around me. Standing on 4th street would make me feel like a wonderful target for those looking for a victim. I will simply never ride the bus if the stop is moved.
What about loitering?? Isn’t that against the law?? If the police start arresting these punks for loitering, they’ll stop going downtown. (And probably find that the same people that are loitering are commitng worse crimes) I am not a big fan of former New York mayor Rudy Guliani, but he had a fairly decent idea/plan for cleaning up downtown New York City. The same can be said for mayor Daley in Chicago,Illinois.
BTW, I agree with previous posters that if you move the bus stop, you’re just moving the problem to the new library.
Lady: The mayor and the downtown merchants would treat you as they would the loiterers and troublemakers. They don’t care if it inconveniences you and other transit riders, their solution is to get rid of EVERYONE who stands on 7th street for any purpose.
C.B: Good point about Chicago. Haven’t been their lately, but in the past when walking around the Loop, it was so much more pleasant than walking around downtown Mpls. The mayor figured out how to keep the no-goodnicks away, letting the civil folk stroll, shop and even wait for buses in peace.
I work at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and ride the #5 bus to and from Nicollet where I catch my express bus home. Allina provides me with a bus pass for $25/month - A great benefit! Most of my co-workers are afraid to ride the #5 bus - and it can be scary - a few young, loud, profane individuals can intimidate a bus load of regular folks - These same individuals hang around the bus stop at Nicollet and 7th. A police presence on the bus, which I do see sometimes, makes a huge difference in the atmosphere on the bus. I would think you would get the same effect with a police presence at the bus stop. DO NOT move the bus stop - moving a problem never makes it better.
A police presence can be very effective but are we going to put police officers on every bus, at every stop? Is this a practical solution? How would this be funded?
Moving the buses will solve nothing. In fact, it will create new problems. Moving the buses to 4th street will eventually give us something else to complain about. I know what it’s like to stand on 7th street, and I know what it’s like to ride a # 5 bus. I’ve never had any problems either way. Maybe it’s because I’m black and I’m used to the loud and unruly behavior. It’s upsetting to hear all the comments about people who I identify with. It’s also upsetting to agree with some of the comments said. Everyone wants to address how bad 7th street is and how unsafe they feel. I’m saying come into our neiborhoods and stay a while. Some of your perspectives will change. If the Mayor is so concerned about helping cut down crime, he needs to target it at all locations. By no means, am I trying to offend anyone. I’m just fed up with my people, and white people. If we don’t unite we will get nowhere.
Denise, I definitely agree. It’s not necessarily the “loudness” that’s offensive, it’s what’s being said during the “loudness” along with other behaviors. I agree it’s usually the african-americans who get the bad rep. But, I’ve seen plenty of “white” people (mostly teens and young adults) being just as offensive, as well as just about any other ethnic group.
Between the offensive language, spitting, laying over two seats on a crowded bus, and just plain rude or disrespectful behavior, I’m fed up with ALL of the people who exhibit that behavior. And it seems to be showing up in younger and younger kids. (I’m appalled at some of the behaviors my 8-yr-old nephew’s friends exhibit.)
Not all the scarey young people on the 5 bus are African-American. One that I remember was a white man in his early 30’s who sat at the back of the bus, talking to himself and passing gas. The crazy look in his eye let everyone know that if he had a gun, he’d probably use it. Rude is rude, crazy is crazy, no matter what your ethnic origin.
Public transit is subsidized by us 95% of the folks who drive.
If you were to pay the real cost of the service, I bet there would be a lot more money to provide security.
If you bus riders want security - pay for it!!
DGB: The majority of Metro Transit riders also own cars and drive. So we ARE subsidizing it!
Actually DGB, if the car drivers subsidized all the damage they and their vehicles do to the environment and population and roads (costs you have conveniently ’socialized’ on society and ignored) you’d owe plenty more than bus/train riders.
But where were we?
Crime. Actually, I have not had any crappy experiences, although I know all about loud, drunk, dangerous, rude folks on the buses and train. I have stayed out of their way. Can we get rid of them? I doubt it. I’d say we have to force everyone in society to have a job, and if they don’t want one, they go to work in a CCC camp. This won’t be happening soon in a society like ours that creates and maintains poverty for hundreds of years.
Elydog, I don’t even think it’s about work. Many of these kids are still in school. As for the older ones, I’ve been out of work when I was in my 20s, but didn’t see the need to hang around downtown or on buses acting in an uncivil or unlawful manner. It’s about respect for others. There are thousands or poor and unemployed people in the Twin Cities that don’t act like this! Yes, we as a society need to work on poverty, homelessness and unemployment, but that’s another topic. Meantime, those of us who want to go about our business and use public transportation should be able to do so without having to put up with this nonsense.
DGB, what state of denial leads you to believe that the auto dominated society you feel you are entitled to cruise around in, hasn’t been so heavily subsidized that it is no longer sustainable?
In addition to what Tom and Elydog said, add the cost of road expansion, repair, and plowing, lives injured/lost and military expenses to keep your tank full, health care from the pollution and noise, and the unrealistically free parking here in Minnesota—all subsidized. Yeah, your $2.65/gallon with it’s paltry state and federal gas tax is covering all that. Whatever….!
Ah but there is the rub Tom, the topic at hand and all of the issues you’ve listed are closely intertwined, one cannot be solved without addressing all. When I travel throughout the day to my different offices I see many teens/young people during hours when school should be in session. I’d like to assume that these students are enrolled in one of our many eh..alternative schools (another bad idea) but it’s likely they are either suspended, expelled or just truant. As I suggested in yesterdays post…standard school hours, required responsible citizenship courses, etc.. Not to say these are fix all solutions but something has got to change and the powers that be keep missing the mark by miles and miles.
As was stated before it is the lack of parenting that is the main cause of this problem. If no one is around to teach you respect you are most likely going to grow up a disrespectful person. With most households having 2 working parents , or single working parents, we don’t have a chance. This doesn’t even include the basically parentless kids mentioned previously. The public school system is a joke and no one supports teachers. Money is constantly pissed away on overpaid and overstaffed admins. A teacher tries to teach a student with a little tough love and they get sued. Then they do nothing for fear of being sued and they get blamed for being the problem. We have created a disaster of a world trying to make sure no one is ever offended or hurt. This behavior will never end because life is easier when you have no responsibility and we constantly teach kids they don’t have to take responsibility for their actions.
These punks’ moms are single moms with 5 kids by different dads, none of whom are in the picture. They are instead being raised by walking puke role models by the names of Fitty Cent and Snoop Dogg. When they hear “bitch” this and “ho” that and talk of “capping” people, that is all they know. Human life means nothing to them. They have nothing, so they have nothing to lose. The rap and hip hop industry is destroying America.
When one of these wastes of sperm is arrested the first words in the paper are usually “the suspect is well known to police” or “has a lengthy criminal record”.
It is time for a ZERO tolerance policy, complete with a Three Strikes law. Three felonies and life in prison with no possibility of parole. They are obviously not a productive member of society, and have no intention or desire to be. If we were smart, we’d make it retroactive, so as soon as one of these scumbags moved here from Gary or Chicago or Detroit, they would be given a one-way ticket to the Graybar Motel after their first scrape with the law. Talk about getting the word out that MN maybe isn’t the place to come. Also, crack down on the Gov’t welfare and handouts that so many love to come here for.
Enough with the MN Nice. It is time to quit messing around. The punks with the guns don’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever nodded harder at a comment on here than at Schwinger’s above. My parents were both teachers, one in the Milwaukee area at public schools, and in this day and age they never would have continued in the profession, so changed has it become from what they knew in their earlier careers. You can’t even give a kid a hug anymore, let alone rap their knuckles with a ruler or even speak out of turn to them. An overly litigious society is partly to blame as well — and so are school districts all too eager to settle for undisclosed sums with sue-happy parents in exchange for saving their reputation. I don’t see an end in sight to this, not with the law schools busting at the seams.
Oh, I also love the fact that these turds with legs need guns to be tough. Completely lost on them is the fact that my 83 yr. old mom would be tough if she had a gun.
Your 83 yr old mom should have one if she rides the bus.
Kids will do as their elders and role models teach them. How many adults are willing to step up and say “I see what you’re doing, and you’re not going to do it any more - and I’m willing to say what I see, be a witness”? Example - Lil Kim went to prison for lying in court, saying she couldn’t identify a shooter that was on tape standing next to her. Wow, a big celebrity is willing to go to prison rather than snitch! Or the kid accused in the most recent bus shooting. Oh, no, he’s a good kid, he was at home, no matter what the video shows, no matter what witnesses that do step up say. Lets have a big rally to demand he be released! And if family members do say anything negative about the kid, we’ll hear “How could they say that about their own? That’s so wrong.”
My kid knows - he does something that completely stupid, I’ll be there for him but I won’t lie for him, and he’ll need to accept the consequences. That’s the only way he’ll grow up to be a man. And that goes for every community, rich or poor, inner-city or suburban or rural. It’s all got to come from within - we can’t expect the cops and the schools and the rest of society to do it all for us. We need to take care of our own problems, make sure that the kids who broke into the school in Hopkins are punished fully, as well as the kids involved in the bus shooting in St Paul.
Perhaps instead of moving the problem they should focus on making these stops and the ‘problem’ lines safe. I couldn’t dream of using local buses from my home on the weekends to get downtown because the route I’d have to connect with is the 5. I don’t mind people who are different, but I do mind for personal safety and just hopping in the car is easier than risking it.
On the weekdays I use express routes, so we just ‘avoid’ the problem, once again. If/when northwest LRT/BRT/etc is put in place, I bet you that its policed adequately like Hiawatha seems to be. I know some other cities have first class/second class rail vs bus issues, lets not turn into one of those cities.
Seems like there are bums, criminals, rude teenagers, and psychos on the busses. Seems there are in the city to. I’ve been stopped by beggers several times in the downtown area. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t ride busses and don’t like going to the inner city. Of course I was stopped by rude, begging teenager with some sob story about running out of gas at Lake Nokomis, where I thought it was safe. Maybe it could of happened in the burbs too, but one more incident in the city and I won’t voluntarily return.
At least people are trying to fix the probelms, but I’d like to see better ideas than just moving some bus stops a few blocks.
Move the bus line’s downtown route, it only shifts the crime north 3 blocks. Seriously, not a hard move for dealers and junkies. The 5 is the 5, and will always be the 5, no matter what downtown street it runs on.
I forwarded the link to this blog in an e-mail to the Mayor…perhaps if we all did the same he might hear our voice.
Moving the bus stops to 4th St. will not help the police, because the crowds would be larger with the 5/19/22 routes, then add the 3/7/16/50/94 to that and there is twice as much foot traffic. Or if MPD wants to look for the criminals better Metro Transit can have buses on nearly every street(downside is transfering, especially at night with low route frequencies). Or MPD can have cops on foot ,or even undercover cops (and actually get something done), those cameras at block e just dont cut it, because the criminals can be gone in less than a few minutes on a bus.
Many years ago when I was a student at the U, it was enjoyable to spend a night in downtown Mpls. But we decided to continue the philosophy of embracing diversity and insisting we can all get along. What’s the problem with encouraging friendly folks from Gary, Indiana, Chicago, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan to help improve our community, after all, we don’t have any gang problems. These are good kids that lack leadership. And while were at it, let’s continue to subsidize housing, medical care, and utilities. These are all good things, right? Nobody will take advantage of us, will they? Some may view these remarks as cold, but the fact of the matter is you all know it’s true. Keep electing ass clowns, and you get what you get.
Ed Gein, I’m a Wisconsinite and your choice of username always fills me with dread before I even read your comments.
Isn’t there a police precinct right down the street on the same block as the eastbound 4th street 16/50/etc. bus stop (at Hennepin)?
Melissa B. says:
April 25th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Ah but there is the rub Tom, the topic at hand and all of the issues you’ve listed are closely intertwined, one cannot be solved without addressing all. When I travel throughout the day to my different offices I see many teens/young people during hours when school should be in session. I’d like to assume that these students are enrolled in one of our many eh..alternative schools (another bad idea) but it’s likely they are either suspended, expelled or just truant. As I suggested in yesterdays post…standard school hours, required responsible citizenship courses, etc.. Not to say these are fix all solutions but something has got to change and the powers that be keep missing the mark by miles and miles.
Melissa–I largely agree with what you are saying about the bigger context. However, these same problems spill into other venues besides public transit and they are somehow managed. For example, large groups of these same uncivil and violent individuals frequent the Mall of America, but no one is suggeesting that it be closed or moved. Also, there have been gang shootings on the freeways (e.g., Brooklyn Park a few months ago), but no one proposed closing or rerouting that freeway.
The thing about transit is, the vast majority of suburbanites and city residents, including the mayor and the downtown merchants and boosters don’t use it and care nothing about it. Their perception is that all of its users are like the problem crowd we need to crack down on. At best, transit is a social service for the poor, not an essential alternative to the automobile. Eliminating service or moving stops seems logical to them because it removes their nuisance. They don’t care if it inconveniences anyone or further degrades a system that has been degraded for the past 3 decades, it doesn’t effect them.
Public transit is essential to thriving cities all over the world, and of course it’s part of the solution to our dependence on fossil fuels and suburban sprawl. Attacking transit because of the extreme behavior of some of its users is ludicrous. If more people used the system, there would be more support for it, but with more the perceived danger and unpleasantness, fewr will use it, causing a downward spiral as service is reduced due to lower demand.
Yes, we have huge social problems with a growing underclass in our cities, and we should be working on every facet of these problems. But meantime, we need to manage this little piece of the problem that is threatening the vitality and livability of the downtowns and accelerating transit’s downward spiral.
I agree with Ed, a highly mobile non-community-invested population is part of the problem. Why care about someplace when you can just use it up, trash it and move on? I am also sick of people coming to Minneapolis just because someone told them it was an easy mark or a good place for benefits.
Additional - with all these shooters, have you ever noticed it’s always the grandma saying, “Oh I’m so sorry.” Where are the parents?
I forward a link to the earlier conversation in regard to the metro transit issues in the comment section of metro transits’ website and today I got a reply…looks like they are just too busy to listen. Oh well, maybe next time.
Melissa,
Did you have a specific question? All I see is a web site address. I do not have
time to read through the entire contents of this site, but would be happy to try
and answer a specific question.
Sincerely,
Bruce Howard
Director of Marketing
REF#: 200704966
Busy doing what I wonder?
Well, presumably marketing! 
Pretty hard to market a devlaued and deteriorating product, I would guess.
Melissa,
They may be just be looking for concrete evidence.
Can you cut-and-paste all the comments from people who had bad experiences with the hoodlums on the bus? Just stick all of them on your email.
LOL…I think I might try that next depending on if I get a reply from my response to his e-mail.
Bruce,
As the Director of Marketing perhaps you should make the time to read the contents of the site. I would think you would appreciate such a valuable opportunity to learn more about your customers concerns without having to spend a dime on market research. Given the large number of responses to the Roadguy blog in the Star Tribune, the service and security of metro transit operations is being discussed at length throughout the service area, shouldn’t a metro transit representative be part of that discussion? If you don’t think so, that might have something to do with the current state of things eh?
Melissa Barth
Proactive Bus Rider
Melissa, that’s awesome!! Please, keep us posted on what you hear back.
Nice job, Melissa! Thank you.
Yes!
I think Bruce Howard, who doesn’t seen to have time to read Melissa’s email, should take his notebook, get on the 5 and ride out to Brooklyn Center and get a cup of coffee at the Carubu across from the hub. Maybe by the time he get’s out there, he’ll really want to read that email.
Melody,
What a lovely suggestion!
Bruce Howard wouldn’t last five minutes on the 5 or in Brooklyn Center, either. If anyone remembers the bus strike of a few years ago, isn’t it obvious that the MTC doesn’t care about its riders? Pawlenty either - MN is the most unfriendly to mass transit state I’ve ever lived in.
I do a lot of reading online. I don’t know why I continue to be so surprised by this, but I see more casual racism on the Strib and PiPress comment threads than anywhere else. When it’s not disgusting, it’s just plain sad.
JR,
If African Americans account for 5% of the population in Minnesota, but are responsible for 90% of the violent crimes, would that be considered a racist statement, or simply a fact?
85 percent in MINNEAPOLIS. I would safely guess that crimes in Chanhassen, Lakeville, Montevideo, Richfield, Eagan, and International Falls are mostly White.
How about in the US?
How did things go at the funeral today?
They are good boys. Just need direction. Damn public transportation.
Race has nothing to do with the issue at hand. It’s about behavior, not race.
Alright, Tom.
Who then is responsible? Parents? It sounds as if this rift has been going on for over a year according to the police. What do you suggest for these poor kids, that we all arrange our schedules and routes to accomodate them?
Ed–My immediate concern (and the theme of this thread)is not about who is responsible for the kids’ behavior, it is about what is the responsible thing for the Mayor to do.
The point is, don’t penalize those of us who use transit because some riders have behavior problems. And acknowledging that these riders do have behavior problems, what responsibilty will Metro Transit take to make the rides of the civillly-acting passengers more pleasant and safe?
If you and some of the other posters here want to assign the blame to parents, the welfare system, or an entire race of people for that matter, or debate whether or not criticizing bad behavior is racist if the bad guys are of a certain race then go ahead, you are guaranteed free speech. I’m just interetsed in solving the rideability problem for those of us who use the bus.
Tom,
I do use public transportation. Don’t you feel we are the one’s being penalized by setting routes according to others behavior? this city needs to stop worrying about being politically correct, and if necessary, profile. I don’t know about you, but I’m able to spot trash. I’m tired of having to cross the street with my wife to avoid having to deal with some punk who needs an ass kicking. And Tom, in most cases race is a factor. Sorry for being honest.
Ed–I agree with your last post in its entirety. I’m just saying focus on the behavior, not the race. When you bring race into it, it just opens the door to those who would quash the effort to solve this problem. Here’s how it works:
1) Ed, Tom and many others condemn the behavior of the punks who make bus riding unpleasant for many and dangerous for some.
2) As many of us who ride buses regularly notice, the bad behavior is disprortionately exhibited by members of a certain racial group.
3) Those with certain political agendas say that because of #1 and #2 above, those who subscribe to #1 are racists!
I, for one, am not a racist, and I don’t believe in the “original sin” viewpoint that all whites are racists just because we are white.
My analysis: The mayor cannot touch this without grave danger to his political standing. He hopes that by moving the 7th St bus stops that he will incur less wrath with the #3 crowd above than if he ordered the police to enforce the law, while currying favor with the downtown businessmen’s crowd, and those tourists and citizens who have to walk past the 7th St. bus stops, most of whom probably do not ride the bus and don’t care one way or the other where the stops are. The group of good guys who just want good, tolerable, convenient transit is relatively small, so he doesn’t mind sacrificing us.
Again, the focus should be on the behavior, not the race. I don’t want to see “driving while black” spread to “bus riding while black”, I want to see profiling based on behavior. While the #3 crowd will accuse those who demand better behavior on the buses and at the stops as being racists, I believe 90% of our citizens are reasonable thinkers and will reject this notion. It’s not the 70s any more, we mustn’t allow ourselves to be hamstrung by PC.
Tom, you have laid out your argument well. It seems that if behavior was targeted and explicitly defined, this could work. I would add for their own protection against racial profiling, that law enforcement would have to film a videotape of behavior, as often as possible or practical, before intervening and save it as evidence to back themselves up. That would be the only proof to offset the inevitable, “I wasn’t doing anything.”
