Good News! “Criminals On Trains” Comment Comes All the Way From Fayette
Decatur Metro | April 21, 2011After thinking about it for a moment, this anti-transit comment in Ariel Hart’s morning article on Gwinnett and Cobb’s new, seemingly more snugly attitude towards mass transit, might actually be a positive indicator for pro-mass transit supporters.
Harold Bost, co-founder of the Fayette County Issues Tea Party, is taking the lead coordinating tea party groups to oppose the referendum.
He says the burden of another tax is only one reason he opposes it; he also opposes mass transit because of the people it would bring into the suburbs.
“Criminals catch that kind of transportation into our county,” Bost said, “and I’m not going to support anything that works toward increasing our crime either.”
One quote doesn’t a rule make. However, the fact that the old standby “criminals take mass-transit” opposition line came from Fayette – and not Gwinnett – is inline with other recent observations that Cobb and Gwinnett’s population growth has taken the mass-transit conversation in those counties from “why?” to “how?”. And that’s certainly a good sign for transit-friendly Fulton and DeKalb going into a 12-county referendum in 2012.
Latest from Decaturish
Growing up in Fayette county (now living in Atlanta) this makes me very, very sad. This old archaic nonsense makes me sick. So what, a guy is gonna ride all the way down to Peachtree City and go steal your flat screens and take them back on the train? Nonsense. Peachtree City wants to stay in it’s bubble and have no outside influence. (I can make fun of them, I was raised there) Even though the vast majority of them commute to Atlanta every day.
Yes, that mental image of criminals riding MARTA with TVs in their laps has been simultaneously amusing and frustrating me since the ’80s when residents of my (former) home county of Cobb, time and again, voted against MARTA making incursions into their sacred kingdom. The argument is ridiculous on its face, and barely conceals the racism that underpins it, yet it’s been the go-to rallying cry for xenophobic OTPers for decades, even as they sit in two hours of traffic each way on I-75.
DM anthem, “Always look on the bright side of life.” All together now!
I love this blog!
+1!
Of course, as any long time Atlanta resident with common sense will tell you, “criminals coming in on MARTA” is simply code for minorities coming in on MARTA. Of course the crime argument is illogical. Gwinnett and Cobb are both pretty close to being minority-majority now, so I imagine that has something to do with the attitude change.
This fellow must have moved to Fayette from Gwinnett, where this was the argument against MARTA 30 years ago. Not having MARTA sure kept the criminals out of Gwinnett !
“Criminals catch that kind of transportation into our county,”
What’s amazing is how illogical this statement is on its face. How do criminals catch that kind of transportation into his county if that kind of transportation doesn’t go to his county now? [edited: no name-calling]
The first thing any self-respecting criminal steals is a car.
Except in Decatur. Self respecting criminals in Decatur steal bikes.
And Subarus.
I’m glad you caught that, too. I will honor the DM policy on personal attacks and refrain from what I’d really like to say. Instead I’ll just say the attitude expressed by the man you quoted is not grounded in fact.
I would like to see some statistics from [edited: no name-calling] Harold Bost that back up his claim that criminals ride public transportation to the places where they commit crimes in the suburbs.
He cannot cite any statistics, because there are none to support his statement. His is a knee-jerk reaction trying to bring credibility to a prejudiced socio-economic point of view.
It will be interesting to look back in 10 years and see if Fayette County has undergone the same kind of demographic changes that Gwinnett and Cobb have seen over the past 10 years. Remember, Clayton County and Henry County adjoin Fayette and it doesn’t take much looking to see the changes there in that time.
I must admit I’m stumped. I’m trying to figure out what kind of crime lends itself to public transportation. As Chris points out, not so good for theft because surely someone’s going to notice your booty on the train.
Bank robberies? I don’t think that the bus makes for a good getaway vehicle given the delays that can be caused by traffic.
Assasin-style hits? Not so much if you’re trying to catch your victim at a specific time (see traffic delays) and blood-spattered clothing tends to draw attention (see theft).
Can someone shed some light on what kind of crimes are best carried out via public transportation?
Turnstile jumping.
Pickpocketing
It worked in The French Connection as an escape. So it must be true.
I worked a bank robbery as a CSI in DeKalb where the robber jumped on a MARTA bus after the robbery. A murder suspect also rode MARTA around for several days until he was finally caught. In fact, I worked several cases where the perp used MARTA as their get-a-way. However, I am not agreeing with the statement in article… just saying that some perps use MARTA as their get-a-way driver… as ridiculous as it may sound.
That’s amazing, Sheps. I’m trying to picture a guy with a stocking over his head, holding bags of money, waiting for the bus. Thanks for posting this. Sounds like Woody Allen’s Take the Money and Run.
He did not have a stocking cap on, or bags of money… just a baseball cap and one bag of money he stuffed in his coat. Yet again the movies/tv perpetuate steretypes that oftentimes are not realistic.
My mom works at a bank OTP and she said a robber once robbed one of their branches and escaped on a bicycle. I don’t think he was ever caught …
being different (or being thought to be different); being poor (or at least, poorer than the one making the assertion)
Smalltowngal for the win.
Though I view such remarks as underpinned by misconceptions, I suspect I will welcome any TEA party inspired ‘no’ votes on the TIA.
(It’s Ariel Hart.)
` (It’s Ariel Hart.)
DM, to clarify, you cite the reporter as April Hart, but the correct name is Ariel Hart.
Noted. Thanks.
Not to beat a dead horse, but… Seriously??? By that same illogical argument (and applying a similarly ridiculous stereotype), I don’t want public transit extended to the suburbs because all those rednecks will just ride down here and teach my 4 year old how to cook meth in the back yard.
Eh, hee-hee-hee! Good ‘un, Kristend!
The AJC’s enlightened headline for this article was “Mass transit: A must-have or a no-win?”
Cause, you know, sometimes mass transit turns out to be a no-win situation for everyone.
I’ll be voting “no” on the sales tax & encouraging others to do the same. Why? Because with the existing sales tax, property tax (including schoo tax), ad valorem tax, income tax, gasoline tax, etc the government already gets about 40% of my income. When is enough, enough?
Should read “school tax”—sorry.
Is there a magic number of how much money the government should get? How much of our income is dependent on the country we live in?
Seems like a complicated question if you have to put a number on it. Hmm…
There’s no fixed, magical ratio. If you favor Supercapitalism, your ideal trends to 0%; if you favor Ubercommunism, it’s 100%.
If you’ve wrestled with the subject, you probably favor progressive rates (with adjustment mechanisms to offset expedient consumption taxes).
Of course there isn’t. That’s what I was getting at.
But to me, saying “Isn’t 40% enough?” inadvertently asserts that there’s some sort of magic number.
I misread your body language.
But maybe it’s worth recognizing a 1% sales tax increase for transportation as a flat tax (though someone might argue over the portion of proceeds from gasoline sales).
Darn guvmint… trying to actually, you know, provide services.
And doing a darn good job.
If you don’t believe it: (1) watch a couple of sessions of Atlanta Municipal Court, (2) try to figure out why Church St. in Decatur was widened to four lanes a few years ago and recently narrowed back to two lanes, (3) see if you can catch the subway to a Braves game, or (4) make a list of our accomplishments in Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sounds like the [edited: no name-calling] have moved from Cobb to Fayette! Only a Teapartier would cite public transportation as a cause of crime. The burglar with the flat screen under his arm is not about to jump on MARTA.
Nah, Twink– the Teabaggers have always been in Fayette. Defectors from Gwinnett & Coob are just adding to their ranks down there…apparently, the Northern suburbs are suddenly getting a little too “ethnic” for some of your more radically redneck folks’ comfort.
Let me get this right. If the guy is wrong about mass transit facilitating criminal activity he must be a racist!?!?! Where is the empirical data to support that? And I thought that in-town folks were open minded, well reasoned, accepting of diverse opinions, etc.
Racist? Not necessarily. But ridiculous? Yes.
And I thought that in-town folks were open minded, well reasoned, accepting of diverse opinions, etc.
—
Are you serious?
I certainly would not say “he must be a racist.,” but I’d certainly say it’s a distinct probability.
We have our own version of anti-transit folks here in Decatur–the anti-sidewalk folks. Not only are the criminals going to ride MARTA to cart away our wide-screen TVs but they are going to lug them on foot to MARTA using pedestrian-friendly sidewalks.
the easier it is for them to come into your community will likey increase some crime and pan handling – that’s just common sense; as well of course of the benefits of having the transit
just look at the AJC article about 2 dozen gang teens mobing and beating up/robbing two riders – you are high and drunk if you think these animals won’t use transit as way to do crime
decatur is great that is has the transit also, but yes – there is crime that happens here by people that live in reallly bad areas and wouldn’t be able to get to decatur without marta
Where do all of their service workers come from if there is no public transportation? Landscapers, house cleaners, McDonald’s workers, etc? Instead of taking the train or the bus low cost apartments spring up. Bringing the very people they don’t want riding in on MARTA to their community as permanent residents. Ironic huh?
If public transit is a marker or determiner of crime, can we please have more public transit? I lived in NYC for two years, and for those 2 years took public transit almost everyday. Also, I never got mugged, robbed, or assaulted. I then moved to God’s country aka Atlanta, GA, where there is frightfully little public transit, and got mugged, robbed, and assaulted! If there actually is a correlation, please, PLEASE! more public transit!
A fewy ears ago there was a home invasioin and rape in my relatives Gwinette subdivision. Sort of ironic was my feeling when they asked me if I did not feel fearfull living 1 block from a MARTA station.
Not all muslims are terrorist , not all teabaggers are racist.
That’s certainly true. But I’d bet there are far more racist terabaggers than Muslim terrorists.
Racists have gotten very good at couching their racist remarks, usually in remarks that have to do with security and safety.
Of course, it’s possible that this gentleman has some set of crime statistics we don’t know about, but those of us who grew up being attacked by racists can decode it easily–it’s crystal clear.
oh please, the code stuff is nonsense. not everything is couched in some code. it must be a terrible thing going around everyday seeking things that offend you. you arent a mind reader and its patently dishonest to say that someone is using coded language. this coming from a tea party member/ african american.