As a guy who grew up 18 miles from Gary, rode the South Shore Railroad through Gary into Chicago (through some of the rougher projects around Chicago as well), took the "El" in and out of the city many times, and who spent a fair amount of time in Compton, I like to believe I've seen a little bit of the rougher part of the world. Not that I'm terribly street smart, but I've learned a little.
Even I was surprised, however, when riding on the "blue line" from Fort Snelling to Target Field for a baseball game, mostly through neighborhoods that would be "on the right side of the tracks" if you put them in Gary or South Central, and my ticket was checked by a group of three transit police armed with taser and a pistol. It was a far cry from the jovial old guys I'd meet on the South Shore who would put your ticket in a slot on the edge of your seat and make small talk while the Gary city hall and Genesis Center were in view.
I can't figure out for the life of me whether it's simply misplaced resources, or whether there really is a big reason that the conductors on our "death train" (it kills pedestrians regularly) need to be armed. Either way, it's rather strange.
(side note; the Twins won with a beautiful line drive with the bases loaded against the Indians/Guardians/Kielbasi in the 10th)
2 comments:
We could ask our friend DA who works in NYC... but having been on the subway in LA, I would have been much happier to have had a gun. The train is okay, but the train is too expensive for the homeless and others to live on. It's a thing. So the question is... how expensive is the death train?
$2/ride. I admit that growing up, there were times I'd have loved to be armed when taking the "El" through certain neighborhoods, but it just struck me as odd to think of the transit police collecting tickets and going in a gang of three when so many Minneapolis neighborhoods get little police protection at all these days. It reminds me of Detroit putting a ton of protection to the RenCen and letting the neighborhoods fester.
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