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.

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.

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.

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?

How did things go at the funeral today?