It wasn’t that long ago, just in February that the Columbian was telling us that Clark County saw decrease in crime in 2011, welcome news to any community that wishes to provide its citizens a safe and comfortable place to live.
The report tells us, “Property crime was down by 1.7 percent. Burglaries increased by 11 to 950. Arson, theft and auto theft dropped” while murders saw a tragic increase, in large part due to the brutal act of Tuan Dao and his five children that died in a blaze he set on Easter morning.
But overall, Vancouver saw a 2.1% drop in crime while unincorporated Clark County saw a 9.6% drop. The smaller cities in Clark County saw even better overall decreases in crime in 2011.
That most likely will see a dramatic reversal should the Leavitt Cabal succeed in dragging Portland’s financially troubled light rail across a new bridge over the Columbia River as currently planned.
This is no surprise to opponents of Portland light rail as we have been making this claim for several years while supporters and other pundits favoring Leavitt’s “choo choo train” scoff at the idea and try to remind that the claim of increased crime is ridiculous as criminals already ride across the bridge in cars or buses.
But they are wrong.
Two years ago this blog wrote on a KATU News report where the Clackamas County Sheriff was blaming Portland’s Maxline for a 32% rise in crime in his county. TriMet, on the other hand, scoffed at the notion saying, “We’re not seeing those kinds of statistics. The only thing we didn’t touch was our transit police: that was something we felt was so critical, not only for the agency, but for the community.”
Two years has passed and KATU News revisited the crime rate seen in Clackamas County since Portland’s light rail was forced upon them. They now report Gangs and crime ride into town on MAX, survey finds.
The survey is based upon interviews with 10 different Law Enforcement Agencies across Clackamas County. From that survey, KATU reports,
“Most of the officers and deputies interviewed said not only have they seen a spike in gang-related crime during the past couple years, but they said it’s no coincidence the spike in crime came about the same time the Green line came to town in September 2009.”
“Those interviewed for the survey said they’ve seen more signs of gang activity like graffiti, tagging and drug dealing in the past two years. They said many of those gang members are from out of town or often have ties to gangs in the Portland area.”
KATU also reports on claims by Milwaukie resident Zach Adams who says he doesn’t need the survey to know how much Clackamas has changed since they got Portland’s light rail.
Adams rides the ‘Green line’ every day and said,
“It seems like since the Green line started a lot more trouble has come out this direction from Portland. Clackamas used to be a nicer place and now it’s a lot of graffiti and more fights out here than there used to be.”
Once again, TriMet officials claim the line is “safe,” adding, “there are 25,000 trips on that line every day with very few incidents reported.”
I’d place my trust in officers with 10 separate Law Enforcement Agencies over a paid PR official whose job is painting a rosy picture of the financially failing light rail in Portland.
In spite of several supporters claims that the light rail is “safe,” not a major factor in contributing to crime, a February article at Couv.com quotes C-Tran officials assuring us they would provide extra security for Vancouver light-rail trains, stations.
They cannot even find the money to turn the first shovel of dirt, but they will provide extra security.
Couv.com tells us,
“Matt Ransom, Vancouver’s manager of long-range planning, told council members Monday night that C-Tran will maintain the stations and provide additional security. Ransom explained that there is a standing committee comprised of fire, police, and C-Tran staff exploring the creation of a security protocol for the system. “There might be intergovernmental agreement where we say, ‘You do this, we do this’.”
Maybe Matt forgets that the city had to beg the federal government for a grant to reopen a closed fire station just last year for 2 years.
Most of us were bewildered to hear the news of a 33 year-old woman killed when the SUV she was driving at a high rate of speed “crashed into a power pole, and smashed through two front yards along East Burnside in Portland.”
What didn’t make as prominent a mention is that the driver was speeding away from a Maxline Platform after assaulting someone.
And we’re supposed to believe this light rail is safe?
Portland needs to keep their “Crime Train” and deal with their own mess.
Not only can we not afford to allow them to intrude into our community financially, we cannot afford to further tax our own Law Enforcement that is already stretched too thin.
