Phx thieves have advocates who denounce police

Local newspaper supports lawlessness

The City of Phoenix has a transportation farce known as light rail. It was the costly brainchild of then-Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, whose family and friends benefited from its construction, as businesses along its path suffered or permanently closed while it cut through the city. Construction began in March 2005. It began operation Dec. 27, 2008.

Just like riding a bus, going to the movie, or getting a haircut, there are fees to access the service. According to its website, there are various ways and places to purchase tickets, including fare vending machines at the light rail stations. Reduced fares are available to youths ages 6-18, seniors 65 and over, and the disabled. Violators are supposedly subject to fines ranging from $50 to $500, plus any court fees, and may lose their transit privileges — which is nothing more than an idle threat.

Therein lies the rub, as Shakespeare’s Hamlet might have said. No one routinely collects the tickets, which has made the trains a haven for the non-paying homeless. Because the rail cars are air conditioned, they provide these folks a respite from the summer heat and winter chill, plus a soft seat and scenic ride.

Since they are driving paying passengers away, police have begun occasional “fare sweeps” to “encourage fare and code of conduct compliance,” as described by the failing newspaper’s ASU Cronkite journalism school student intern Alyssa Stoney. Her sympathy clearly lies with the non-paying riders, whose advocates are given prominence in the newspaper’s report.

Yes. Street bums have advocates.

Light rail is estimated to cost over $140 million dollars per mile to build. That does not include the expense of maintenance and operation. It is obviously not a free ride, even for those taxpayers who were forced to fund it to the tune of $1.4 billion at its 2008 opening, though have never ridden it. Expansion continues.

But a group calling itself ‘Living United for Change in Arizona’ protested the “police sweeps.” Going by the acronym LUCHA, it is warmly described by co-executive director Alejandra Gomez as a “membership-led economic justice organization that is trying to support the most vulnerable communities that struggle on a day-to-day basis to make ends meet.”

New flash for Alejandra. So do many honest, hardworking Phoenix citizens who pay for what they use. Not doing so is theft, which is a crime.