Re: Railroad Newsline for Monday: Portland Max
Author: Bruce Kelly
Date: 01-17-2008 - 07:00
Just because there's more vandalism in the suburbs vs. Fairless Square doesn't mean the criminals come from the suburbs. In Fairless Square, even in the dead of night, you have more people and passing motorists, and a higher percentage of police nearby, than at a suburban station, hence more eyes to deter potential vandals in the city. Not to say there aren't punks in the 'burbs. But statistics on this subject show it's largely city punks riding out to the suburbs, doing whatever, and leaving their mark. I saw enough of it before leaving Orange County, CA, in the mid-1980s. Overpasses and walls along the Surf Line that had been generally spotless for years were being increasingly plastered with graffiti "tagging" that spot in the name of one L.A.-based gang or the other.