“Hell is other people”, said the French existentialist philosopher.
Close, but no cigar.
Hell is, however, most things “public”.
Like the behavior in public waiting rooms on public transit lines by certain members of the public.
Metro Transit is shutting down the indoor waiting area at the Hennepin Avenue transit station due to what I’m going to start referring to as Southside Cardio: Drug Abuse, Prostitution and Street Crime”. :
“Over the last couple of years, these places have become more and more of a problem for us,” [MTC spokesman Drew] Kerr said. “There aren’t a lot of locations like this that are open right now for the public to just be and to stay warm. And that’s not what they’re intended for.”
Metro Transit officials said in an announcement Tuesday the closure of the Uptown station is also due to property damage and litter. The space will be reopened later in the year when contracted security officers are in place at the station and five other locations. Those stations include the Vertical Circulation Building/Central Station in downtown St. Paul, the Blue Line Lake Street/Midtown and Franklin Avenue stations, the Chicago-Lake Transit Center and the Brooklyn Center Transit Center.
The building near the Central Station in St. Paul already closed in December after a double homicide…”The amount of open drug use is the largest thing right now. Homelessness, as well. And we’re not social workers,” Timlin said.
Across the transit system, crime rose by 54 percent between 2021 and 2022. Metro Transit officials said last year, about a quarter of the calls for service were at the six stations where they’re bringing in security.
The crime will move to the neighborhoods, of course.
Are they building an indoor waiting area for the residents of Eden Prairie on the new (or perhaps never to be finished) SW metro line? I’m sure that those residents will appreciate such an amenity and all the diversity it brings.
Step #1: Keep all such facilities open.
Step #2: Build more.
Step #3: Ban all cars, and I mean ALL cars, forcing everyone to use mass transit and mass transit waiting areas.
Step #4: Chortle as the woke are forced to live with the consequences of their dopamine addictions.
a lot of the crime will remain, how else will your vibrant doper get money for xir dope if they don’t rob somebody. but yes expect garage breakins, public defecation (just in time for summer), structure fires,and squatters in any empty apartment or duplex, and shooting galleries in unoccupied business spaces(plenty of those in Uptown).
Mitch’s post stinks of racism. Literally stinks of racism.
I read an article in the LA paper yesterday about druggies have so taken over the public transit system there that the regular folks don’t ride it. The usual hand-wringing about how to address this was included.
There is only one solution: decide if you want druggies or normies riding the public transit. They cannot co-exist. Do nothing, and you’ll have a mobile crime lab and crash center. Or you can enforce the laws and institute a zero-tolerance policy on the trains … and force the druggies elsewhere. The ocean sounds good, but after all the fuss about plastic drinking straws….
Despite the whining the obvious solution is staring them in the face. Make it a closed system by putting in turnstiles and enclosing the entire thing. Odd how this solution is considered too costly but the SW line will never be successful and is running billions of dollars over budget yet the Met Council shows no concern. Controlling the access should reduce the need for police riding the trains as well as ensuring that the system doesn’t become a refuge for vagrants, drug dealers and the homeless. Additionally, eliminate the multi-hour passes. A valid pass should last no longer than an hour or two which would be the maximum length of a one-way trip. Fares should be increased annually based on inflation. Just like State Fair tickets it should be done without any more fanfare than just a notice. I’m
The notion that paying fines and having a misdemeanor on your record for fare evasion is somehow racist is so nonsensical that you have to wonder why it’s even in this article. What’s needed is city and county attorneys who are willing to see that the laws are enforced.
What this all shows is that the entire system was poorly designed from the beginning. It was based on a Pollyanna-like belief that everyone would happily pay and there would never be a problem. When has that ever happened? This is what you get when you have the decisions made by appointees made purely on a spoils system basis and lax oversight by the Legislature. They’d be long gone if the public was allowed to vote on their retention.
Emery proposes a solution that clearly hasn’t worked in NYC, Boston, DC, LA, and Chicago. Hows it feel being a day late and dollar short?
But Emery you can redeem yourself, just answer this question…
Among so many other things you present yourself as an expert on the ethics of abortion so it should not be difficult for you to answer this question…
At what point in your mother’s pregnancy with you would it have become unacceptable for her to abort you?
As a bonus question where can I find the text in the Constitution that supports this claim you made:
“The Constitution before amendment said Clarence Thomas should be counted as 3/5ths of a person.”
Hey — we’re all dying to know how the MBerg/Bodine fundraiser is coming.. Remember to walk the walk.
Not sure what you’re referring to Emery but you can still answer this question if it doesn’t frighten you too much…
Among so many other things you present yourself as an expert on the ethics of abortion so it should not be difficult for you to answer this question…
At what point in your mother’s pregnancy with you would it have become unacceptable for her to abort you?
As a bonus question where can I find the text in the Constitution that supports this claim you made:
“The Constitution before amendment said Clarence Thomas should be counted as 3/5ths of a person.”
The space will be reopened later in the year when contracted security officers are in place at the station and five other locations.
Well now… NOW we know who the privileged class is who deserves and will get security – junkies, prostitutes and gang members. Not really news to us, but a confirmation never hurts.
Didn’t y’all pay a bunch for “public art” at those stations?
LMAO
Wonder who they private companies will be able to employ to be the actual security?
Doesn’t Metro transit have it’s own police force?
Won’t Transit Police still be spending most of their time responding to calls from whatever security they can hire?
Loren, questioning details is racisssssss…..
Woody Wilson is definitely at the top of my worst presidents list. He was the one that literally ruined the country’s economy by approving the Fed, giving a batch of elites control of our sovereign currency and fleecing the American people to this day. JFK and RFK, both recognized what a disaster that decision was and were both committed to abolishing it. Their positions got them assassinated. JFK Jr. also considered it a pox on the people and, along with bringing their murderers to justice, along with his decision to run for senate in a seat that Shilary wasn’t, got him taken out, too.
Make it a closed system by putting in turnstiles and enclosing the entire thing.
This was suggested, and summarily dismissed, when the system was built.
Not utopian enough.
Enclosing the system today would be hideously expensive, given that all the existing infrastructure was built around never needing to.
Not utopian enough.
It’s also FAR too exclusive, when the entire MO of the modern left is inclusivity. How else will those oppressed and underprivileged BIPOCs have access for free?