More on DART and Moochers
Submitted by History on Sat, 01/13/2007 - 01:19.
Well, it seems that after a lengthy hiatus that the woman is back, riding the rails and mooching all over town. In case anyone from DART is reading this, she's usually at Mockingbird Station from about 6pm on. Oh, wait, you might not recognize her since she has a red jacket now.
< img src="http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/recentcoin/dart/IMAGE_00004.jpg">
DART Moochers
Well, at least she is not on a corner, which is against the city ordinance and she isn't asking to be admitted to Parkland and she hasn't been lost in the Dallas jail system.
It seems it is cheaper for the taxpayers of Dallas County to let her loose to ride the rails.
We don't have to house her or clothe her or even feed her.
If the city would come to terms with a real need for the homeless and look at them with Grace and not disdain, we might not see this lady at the Mockingbird station.
The issue is larger than someone less fortunate at the light rail station. It is about compassion.
Perhaps a city owned/sponsored homeless shelter could help rehabilitate the homeless, provide them DART passes to apply for work, provide medical treatment, mental health care, and work with the city's churches to help these people rather than complaining.
Close your eyes if you don't want to feel guilty next time you see her.
[Ed Note: City owned/sponsored homeless shelters have never done anything to "cure" the "homeless problem." They've done two things: (1) bring blight to areas surrounding the shelters and (2) made "us" feel artificially good because we can say we're giving these poor people a place to stay. Out of "compassion" we've done away with involuntary institutions where, those not capable of seeking voluntary help, would get help. Out of "compassion" we've made Dallas a cozy, friendly place for these poor souls to wander the streets.
Look, we're not going to solve the homeless problem until we have a paradigm shift in the way we approach it. So right now, we need to move them along from the areas we don't want them--and stop them from doing the things we don't want them to do.]
Read the Original Entry
1) This woman isn't really homeless. She just pretends so that goody-two-shoes like you will chuck her some cash so that she doesn't have to work for it like the rest of us.
2) She's threatened me because I've refused to give her money. She's not some poor, harmless soul.
3) She always says that she needs the money for a train ticket even though I know for a fact that she's got a monthly pass.
DART fails in so many ways
We're not safe riding DART. Dart does not service the areas the community wants and needs. Dart does not care if you make it to your destination in a reasonable time. For example, it takes me between 2-and-a-half and 3 hours to get home (12 miles) on DART, all but 55 minutes of that is waiting for busses or the train.
We need a DUMPDART.ORG grass roots movement here in Dallas. DART wastes public money and gives us terrible service, is always late (or way too early, thank you very much), and only has frequent service to areas where nobody wants to go.
Tell your own stories here, or let's get dumpdart.org going and we can force the politicians to do what's right for a change.
Everyone I talk to hates the poor service, unreliability, and couldn’t care less attitude of DART. Nobody uses it unless they absolutely have to or just happen to both live AND work close to a bus or rail station. Either get rid of it altogether and use the 2.4 billion dollars (!!) to subsidize cars for people who need one or get someone in power to fix this transit mess.
Dump the DART now! (come on everybody) DUMP the DART now!
Dump DART
Wow, this is exactly right. Why do we stand for a public transportation that does not serve us?
We need someone to stand up for us little guys and start working to get the politicians to replace DART with a better functioning organization that doesn't waste our tax dollars.
Why have giant busses that run once every hour when many smaller busses would be able to run more frequently and be more cost effective also. Bus drivers get paid far too much for the job they do. A private company would never allow this wastefulness and bloated management to exist. Replace DART with a company that is legally required to perform up to certain standards. Maybe everyone at DART (from the top down) should be paid $8 per hour and only get more if service levels are acceptable.
DART fails in so many ways
DART is just another vehicle for the politicans to separate us from our money and to create jobs that now owe alligance/votes to those very politicans.
If public transportation is so badly needed then let private industry take care of it.
Then it will be used only when needed and any lack of efficency will result in only the owner sufferieng any hardships.
Not all taxpayers.
DART is a SCAM
What part of *public*
What part of *public* transport do you not get? Mass rail transit is a bit of a natural monopoly. The infrastructure fixed cost investment creates a private market coordination failure, which is why the public (i.e. government) sector gets involved when it is clear that providing a service such as DART creates net social welfare benefits, particularly if their metric of social welfare is weighted so as to reduce the inequality in transportation access that is inherent in the Dallas area. It takes years of experience and dedicated public servants to get a public system up and running efficiently, but once it gets there the benefits are well worth it (and with the oil prices we are facing now and are predicted to face in coming years these benefits will extend to more and more people). If you are so infuriated by DART's inefficiencies why don't you go work for them and show them your wise ways? Let's be constructive and not destructive here--that seems a little more Texan to me.
What???
"Inequality in transportation access that is inherent in the Dallas area" - let's translate that for a moment in to what you really mean but won't say. You want public transit for the southern parts of the city. However, these are places that have some of the lowest ridership. Ridership is much higher in the northern parts of the city. Why not put in infrastructure where it gets used?
Dart Fails in so many ways
I don't know how long many of you have been riding Dart! I am one of the individual's from the inside of this picture, and I can tell you it is difficult to be in 5 places at one time, of course it is impossible to be in all those places. One of the reasons that Dart Officer's have trouble being more effective is that they waste there time with juveniles who play with the train doors or deal with the disturbance they cause. The homeless is a different matter altogether, with the city not doing anything about the homeless downtown of course they will get on the trains when it is too cold to be outside, think of how many homeless people there are downtown. Let's be fair to the Dart Officer's just like any police department they can not be everywhere at one time.
She hit me up yesterday
She hit me up yesterday around 4:45 pm in at the CityPlace terminal for $2 for a hamburger and a soda. She was nice and talked about the weather even after I told her I did not have any cash.
I actually felt bad since I had $5 in my pocket. -BUT- I knew that she would be back asking for more. This just just proves it. I have seen her many times on the train but have never been approach until today.
The next time I see her I will have to tell her that she is famous and that she has made it on the web.... She probably already knows.
City Place
You say you were hit up for money by a homeless person at City Place. Do you ever see any Dart employee's around to let them know of the problem you are having at that location. One of the problems that Dart Officer's have is that the public fails to let them know what area they are having problems at. If officer's knew more about the problem areas then they could try to be more effective in there job, trying better to serve the public. The rider's are the eyes and ears, they see and hear more things that are going on around them. Dart does use undercover officer's from time to time, but getting information from you the public helps alot. Think about it next time you are out there and see something happening.
Panhandling and DART
The the only way a police officer can enforce the panhandling law is if they actually SEE money being handed over to the homeless person. Otherwise, they can only get them for loitering or public intoxication, whatever.
Homeless people and the imposters hang where the money is.
NEVER, ever give money to them. They are either scamming you, or are on drugs and /or alcohol. They need to be forced by circumstances into a shelter to get help.
And I disagree with the editor's idea that shelters do not help. They won't cure homelessness, but they can provide shelter.
Give your money to Union Gospel Mission, Trinity Works or the Stewpot.