I do not like to drive. That being said, I am one of the few Republicans that I know who actually takes public transportation. For the last couple of days I have been taking the short hop from Mission Valley to Downtown San Diego. Maybe a 30 minute trip counting waiting time and one transfer.
Taking the train in San Diego is usually an interesting experience. Sometimes the trip is terrifying, particularly late into the night. Often there are bizarre and unsettling experiences. For example, late last night when I jumped onto my Old Town transfer train, a mob of visibly nervous police came storming in with dogs and searched the cars (20 minute delay… put up with with droll humor by everyone over 30 with the same rolled eyes I imagine one saw a lot of in the Soviet Union, and noted loudly by every young male under 30 every 10 seconds, loudly. One would think they would be the last ones to want to attract the cops, but there it is). The train is always a study in diversity. The one demographic rarely seen is the elite politicians and ascot wearing country-clubbers who love to spend our money subsidizing these dinosaurs.
Back to diversity. On my trip this morning, which was somewhat crowded, I shared half my ride in a booth with an asian main with a pile of library books, two younger latinos (one standing), and an older Irish looking white man who had been clearly nipping. All in all my car was probably about 40% white, 30% latino, 20% black, and 10% other. Evenly split in gender. I have the rude habit of listening to all of the conversations around me. On the other side of the aisle four middle aged while folks were discussing illegal immigration loud enough to hear clearly. The white folks were in pretty clear agreement “illegal means illegal… they should be punished and deported.” The train being what it is, it was pretty clear that all the seats around them were listening, and that not a few of the whites were either nodding in agreement or making whispered comments to each other. The two latinos in my booth were obviously uncomfortable.
As the train pulled into the Washington Street station there was a phrase spray painted on one of the buildings alongside the track on a white building wall. One of the latinos bumped his friend and whispered the phrase out loud: “DO THE MATH.”
April 29th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I took the trolley today to go to Art Walk and register voters and campaign for 76th Candidate Jeff Perwin. Like every time I decided to avoid the traffic and parking issues I realize that the trolley is rarely frequented by, excuse me, the middle class. Crazy to my left, crazy to my right, homeless-types and me. And yes I think I can spot a non-paying trolley squater who stinks to high heaven and is babbling to himself with bloodshot eyes at 12 noon. Am I an elitist? Ya, I’ll plead guilty. We fund the dinosaur but why? These people already aren’t driving so we are not keeping their traffic off the roads or eliminating their cars pollution as they weren’t driving to begin with!
And concerning the police search: nothing scarier than being in Sarno, Italy on their version of a trolley and the Carabinieri armed with Uzi’s take off a Gypsy passenger and beat him senseless.