6 ms·

>"Yes, but poor people use public transportation to come from bad neighborhoods to good neighborhoods to rob us! We must ban all expansion of public transportat

>"Yes, but poor people use public transportation to come from bad neighborhoods to good neighborhoods to rob us! We must ban all expansion of public transportation!" This is why the (Boston) red line doesn't extend to Arlington.

subpixel 10y ago
Replace "poor" with "black" and you have the reason public transportation has been suppressed in large parts of the US. When I lived in Atlanta a suburban city official explained that "we all know the sort of people who hang around bus stops" while killing plans to expand bus service.
- Karunamon 10y ago
  I'm sorry but that official's statement does not even kinda imply race. Like it or not, bus stops and train stations accessible by everyone are hotbeds of panhandling, pickpockets, and sometimes worse. An area where people just pass through on their way to somewhere else far away, distracted and in a hurry, is a great place for criminal behavior.
  - tzakrajs 10y ago
    It's a dog whistle for racists. Please don't apologize for racists.
    - Karunamon 10y ago
      Your proof that the statement is some kind of coded language is what, exactly? Parent's assertion? Please don't assume racism where none has been proven to exist. I absolutely refuse to cease challenging unsubstantiated statements because of this conceptual boogeyman, and so should you.
      - dsr_ 10y ago
        You are arguing about whether a non-attributed quote which was explicitly intended to show racism via coded language actually shows racism via coded language. If this were an attributed quote, you could go look up the source and argue context. It isn't.
        deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - smileysteve 10y ago
        I added a quote from a Cobb County (Atlanta Suburb) in 1971 from a GA House Representative. http://www.mdjonline.com/news/marta-s-expansion-remains-controversial/article_287d7e88-f5f4-57e3-8c83-f042a02a5767.html http://www.mdjonline.com/news/marta-s-expansion-remains-cont...
  - subpixel 10y ago
    To understand the context, this was a white suburb in a largely segregated city twenty years ago. And in that context, the racial implications were very clear. If you read up on the history of public transportation in the US, you will be gobsmacked by the racism at play. To wit: in NYC, the highway to the beach was explicitly designed with overpasses too low to accommodate buses, to keep blacks from the beaches and the white suburbs that surrounded them: http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/now/politics/216905-the-lingering-effects-of-nyc-racist-city-planning http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/now/politics/216905-the-l...
    - Karunamon 10y ago
      This is information that was not in play in the original statement - without it, there is no context to make the proclamation in the first place.
  - wcummings 10y ago
    Train stations are as safe or safer than the surrounding areas if crime statistics are to be believed.
- smileysteve 10y ago
  Also from Atlanta. Here's a quote from 1971 Wilson gave to the media at the time, which said, “People fear that rapid transit would give Negroes greater mobility and consider the $0.15 fare as a gift to ‘a certain segment of the population.’”
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
c0ntrarian 10y ago
I am sorry, good sir, but I must vehemently disagree with your reasoning. Arlington is not such a bad area, especially when compared to Dorchester, to which the Red Line does connect. In addition, the Red Line links through Mattapan cough Murderpan via trolley. So, I consider your comment thoroughly debunked.
- gregshap 10y ago
  It was arlington that blocked the expansion because they didn't want the wrong people coming from the wrong areas, not the other way around. [I lived in Arlington in the 90s-2000s]
- albedoa 10y ago
  Arlington resident here. Your comment in no way debunks the parent. The commenter did not say Arlington is a bad area. If I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, you either misread or do not understand.
- thex10 10y ago
  Wow such confidence. Too bad your understanding is lacking. Arlington is indeed not such a bad area. But folks in Arlington and Lexington (the planned terminus for the red line) were the ones that objected to the expansion. They didn't want increased traffic (all the people trying to park to take the train would make their towns less quaint and all), and they didn't want the urbans/poors/etc to be able to easily visit.
URSpider94 10y ago
... and why the DC Metro doesn't go to Georgetown.
MaxfordAndSons 10y ago
...and why most of Chicago's south and southwest sides are barely accessibly by the CTA Rail.
- clw8 10y ago
  TBF the north/south rail coverage discrepancy already existed a hundred years ago when you could get from the Loop to Evanston with one transfer at Uptown Station. Though perhaps the same mentality applied but towards the Irish.

subpixel 10y ago

Replace "poor" with "black" and you have the reason public transportation has been suppressed in large parts of the US. When I lived in Atlanta a suburban city official explained that "we all know the sort of people who hang around bus stops" while killing plans to expand bus service.

Karunamon 10y ago
I'm sorry but that official's statement does not even kinda imply race. Like it or not, bus stops and train stations accessible by everyone are hotbeds of panhandling, pickpockets, and sometimes worse. An area where people just pass through on their way to somewhere else far away, distracted and in a hurry, is a great place for criminal behavior.
- tzakrajs 10y ago
  It's a dog whistle for racists. Please don't apologize for racists.
  - Karunamon 10y ago
    Your proof that the statement is some kind of coded language is what, exactly? Parent's assertion? Please don't assume racism where none has been proven to exist. I absolutely refuse to cease challenging unsubstantiated statements because of this conceptual boogeyman, and so should you.
    - dsr_ 10y ago
      You are arguing about whether a non-attributed quote which was explicitly intended to show racism via coded language actually shows racism via coded language. If this were an attributed quote, you could go look up the source and argue context. It isn't.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
    - smileysteve 10y ago
      I added a quote from a Cobb County (Atlanta Suburb) in 1971 from a GA House Representative. http://www.mdjonline.com/news/marta-s-expansion-remains-controversial/article_287d7e88-f5f4-57e3-8c83-f042a02a5767.html http://www.mdjonline.com/news/marta-s-expansion-remains-cont...
- subpixel 10y ago
  To understand the context, this was a white suburb in a largely segregated city twenty years ago. And in that context, the racial implications were very clear. If you read up on the history of public transportation in the US, you will be gobsmacked by the racism at play. To wit: in NYC, the highway to the beach was explicitly designed with overpasses too low to accommodate buses, to keep blacks from the beaches and the white suburbs that surrounded them: http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/now/politics/216905-the-lingering-effects-of-nyc-racist-city-planning http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/now/politics/216905-the-l...
  - Karunamon 10y ago
    This is information that was not in play in the original statement - without it, there is no context to make the proclamation in the first place.
- wcummings 10y ago
  Train stations are as safe or safer than the surrounding areas if crime statistics are to be believed.
smileysteve 10y ago
Also from Atlanta. Here's a quote from 1971 Wilson gave to the media at the time, which said, “People fear that rapid transit would give Negroes greater mobility and consider the $0.15 fare as a gift to ‘a certain segment of the population.’”

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

c0ntrarian 10y ago

I am sorry, good sir, but I must vehemently disagree with your reasoning. Arlington is not such a bad area, especially when compared to Dorchester, to which the Red Line does connect. In addition, the Red Line links through Mattapan cough Murderpan via trolley. So, I consider your comment thoroughly debunked.

gregshap 10y ago
It was arlington that blocked the expansion because they didn't want the wrong people coming from the wrong areas, not the other way around. [I lived in Arlington in the 90s-2000s]
albedoa 10y ago
Arlington resident here. Your comment in no way debunks the parent. The commenter did not say Arlington is a bad area. If I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, you either misread or do not understand.
thex10 10y ago
Wow such confidence. Too bad your understanding is lacking. Arlington is indeed not such a bad area. But folks in Arlington and Lexington (the planned terminus for the red line) were the ones that objected to the expansion. They didn't want increased traffic (all the people trying to park to take the train would make their towns less quaint and all), and they didn't want the urbans/poors/etc to be able to easily visit.

URSpider94 10y ago

... and why the DC Metro doesn't go to Georgetown.

MaxfordAndSons 10y ago

...and why most of Chicago's south and southwest sides are barely accessibly by the CTA Rail.

clw8 10y ago
TBF the north/south rail coverage discrepancy already existed a hundred years ago when you could get from the Loop to Evanston with one transfer at Uptown Station. Though perhaps the same mentality applied but towards the Irish.