Waiting for transit: The good and the bad
Posted on June 23rd, 2009 – 10:17 AMBy Roadguy
Here’s something you can’t do (or rather, shouldn’t do) if you drive or bike to your destination:
Transit can take longer, but there are ways to make good use of the time, such as this gentleman was doing last week in Uptown. But then there’s this story about the former Pioneer Press transportation reporter getting mugged while trying to pay his fare at the Lake Street light-rail station on Father’s Day. (In broad daylight, even.) At least he didn’t have a laptop with him.
13 Responses to "Waiting for transit: The good and the bad"
Now only if the monthly charge for wifi in minneapolis was reasonable. Boingo charges $10 for nationwide access, and I’m expected to pay more than that for access just within a city for quick stuff like hanging out at the bus stop?
I live in Minneapolis and would be glad to pay for their wifi, however I live in one of the “challenge areas” of the city which doesn’t have it installed yet. So even I were waiting for a bus near my house, I couldn’t be surfing the net….
Daylight muggings… I’ll be happy to pay taxes for cameras or armed guards… They said the crime rate was going down.
Jim, the RSS summary is a bit inflammatory.
Look, the city is no more dangerous than anywhere else in the metro. You can be mugged in the city, you can be mugged in Maple Grove. You can be harassed. You can be carjacked.
Is any of this likely to happen to you? No.
We’ve got to break this fantasy that the suburbs are safer than the city and the city is a festering wasteland of crime and flying bullets. Get out and visit North Minneapolis or East St. Paul sometime. There are some fabulous restaurants and shops! And yes, you are perfectly safe walking around there.
“They said the crime rate was going down.”
‘Going down’ means just that. It doesn’t mean crime is eliminated. One mugging of a reporter isn’t a crime wave, its one mugging.
David - completely with you. I moved to downtown from an inner-ring suburb and I feel much safer around my building than I ever did in my old neighborhood. The only reason that there seems to be more crime in the city is because there are more people. But on a rate of crimes per people in that spot, it’s probably about average. Even the crime rate is a bit faulty because a lot of people visit the city, but don’t live here. If they didn’t come downtown but stayed in the suburbs instead, the criminals would just go there (i.e. criminals follow the people).
Personally, I generally read my Blackberry on the bus. No WiFi problems and much easier to carry than a full laptop.
What a brazen mugging, especially given the fact that there are cameras all over the LRT stops. The reporter has the right attitude too… he’ll be back to ride the train soon.
“Look, the city is no more dangerous than anywhere else in the metro. You can be mugged in the city, you can be mugged in Maple Grove. You can be harassed. You can be carjacked.”
With all due respect, that’s just silly. I’d feel completely safe walking around Maple Grove alone at 2:00 AM. I would never do the same at Bloomington/Lake or Broadway/Penn.
Brian - we can all pick our respective places. I feel completely safe walking around the Kenwood neighborhood at night, but wouldn’t go near places in Brooklyn Center. So? What does that prove? Nothing.
The idea that the suburbs are safer because you can cherry pick which parts of a large city you want to compare it to is what is truly silly.
I lived in a suburb for 19 years and had 1 incident. I lived in Minneapolis for 2 years and had 6 incidents.
Based on my unscientific data of personal experience, I prefer the suburbs.
I wouldn’t walk around *anywhere* at 2am, but that is just me.
DrivingInAKilt-
I grew up in So Mpls. Lived in the same house for 14 years. We had our car broken into once.
Moved to Blaine in the mid 90’s. In the first year we had a peeping Tom, our mail box stolen, and damage done to one of the windows (looked like someone trying to pry it open with a crow bar).
So, based on my unscientific data of personal experience, I prefer Minneapolis.
DrivingInAKilt -
I’ve been to Akron once on a three day visit and had my car broken into. Ergo, I conclude that 100% of people in Akron are victimized once every three days.
Besides, all suburbs are not created equally. Sure, gated North Oaks is pretty nice, but I wouldn’t say the same thing about many other suburbs. You can’t make a blanket statement that the “suburbs” are better. Some of them are better than some parts of the city some of the time, but you can hardly declare that all of them are better than all of the city all of the time.
Any neighborhood is only as “good” or “bad” as the people who live there, and the people who visit or travel through. Any lowlife loser is going to turn their house or apartment into a dump regardless of where it’s located. The same loser is likely to have loser friends who’ll visit and create problems for the neighbors.
