Speaker 1: What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to
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your support. So the Charlotte Observer piece by Mary Ramsey
headlined crime takes focus in Charlotte mayoral race after Southend
light rail stabbing. This might explain why the mayor, who
is up for reelection as a primary maybe why she
called an emergency session of the Metropolitan Transit Commission met
today at nine am. And as I mentioned last hour,
I watched it so you didn't have to, because I'm
a giver. This is what I do. The pace of
the Charlotte Observer begins. Charlotte mayoral candidates are rolling out
plans to address crime after a high profile murder on
the city's public transit system and calling out current Mayor
Vy Lyles's response to the situation, which is not mentioned
in the piece, but I will note here that her
initial response to the stabbing was a single sentence thoughts
and prayers for the victim, the twenty three year old
Ukrainian refugee who had settled in Charlotte after fleeing a
war zone, and one sentence their thoughts and prayers were
for her family, and then five paragraphs about how somehow
we the community all failed the suspect and you know,
we need to do better by him, and people thought
that was a little tone deaf after it took her
like four days to even issue any kind of a
statement at all. Multiple city council members now called for
action to improve safety on public transit in the wake
of the killing. Lyles issued a statement, as I mentioned,
days after the incident, offering condolences to Zerutzka's loved ones
that's Arena Zeruitzka, the victim here, and calling the case
a tragic situation that sheds light on problems with society
safety nets related to mental health care and the systems
that should be in place.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So it's always this call to spend more money on
more stuff, more services. How did we fail that suspect?
Some of her opponents in the Democrat primary are questioning
whether she has done enough to address crime. However, you've
got candidate Brendan McGinnis. He called Lyles's initial response to
the stabbing quote less than adequate. He told The Observer
that he worries that the Trump administration could use a
high profile killing to justify intervening in Charlotte. I don't
even know if Trump knows Charlotte exists. Okay, No, okay,
he does know it exists. But I don't think it's like,
I don't think we're on his radar for the crime situation. Okay.
I think he's looking at cities like LA Chicago, DC,
you know where, like until he works all the way
down that list.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I don't think you got to worry about that, mister McGinnis.
I do applaud him, though, because he actually released a
public safety plan he calls it, in the wake of
the stabbing, and I looked it over. I read through
his plan and it's a lot of expansion of government
spending and services in order to address the very things
that vy Lyles said in her statement, which he called
less than adequate. So he says he wants there to
be two hundred cameras installed across Blue Line stations, uh,
and link those to the Charlotte Chlamburg Police departments Real
Time Crime Center. This was actually part of the meeting
today h the transit Metropolitan Transit Commission members was Uh.
They were asked about, you know, all of the cameras
that we've got there, do they connect into the you know,
the the CMPD Real Time Crime Center where they got
all these you know, monitors and stuff, and they can
they can see cameras from all over the city. And
the answer is no, they're not tied in. There's not
a direct feed into CMPD. And so look, I mean
that's an idea. I'm not I'm not against that. If
you if there's a way to give them a feed
somehow of these cameras, I think that would be helpful.
Right if they're trying to track somebody down, they want
some evidence of some kind or whatever they think it's
going to help. If they think it's going to help,
do it, sure, why not. He also wants de escalation
training for cats operators. That's what it always comes down to.
It's always like de escalate the person who's you know,
behaving insane right. What about what about criminally insane? What
about people who are who are deranged?
Speaker 2: Right? I don't know.
Speaker 1: You think the bus drivers getting some de escalation training.
I mean, I guess it could help, but I would
say probably the primary problem is that they're you know,
driving the bus for example, And while there are a
lot of buses, I don't think you can put a
cop on every single bus. Although I will say the
cat's officials say they're trying to beef up security. Right now,
the system has one hundred and eighty four officers on staff.
They want to raise that to two hundred and nineteen.
So they want to add well that's sixteen plus ninety,
so they want to add thirty five more security officers. Okay.
They want to decouple the security from the fair collection. Okay.
But something I heard Brent Kagil say. It was the
interim CEO of CATS. I heard him say today at
the meeting. He said that, you know, fair collection and
fair enforcement is mainly like a revenue protection operation. That's
why they do it well. Right, But that's that's one
part of it. It's the right to protect your revenue collection,
which I would submit that's also important. However, when you
crack down on fair jumping, you are also making your
transit system safer because the people who who would jump
the fares, jump the turnstiles to get into your system
right to not pay. They then feel emboldened to engage
in more criminal activity because it doesn't cost them anything,
especially if they're under the age of eighteen. They can
run amok, they can get arrested, they're gonna get released
right back out to their parents or guardians within hours,
and there's no penalty, right so at least if you
have to pay it again in why do you think
Disney charges so much money to get into their theme parks?
As Neil Boorts would tell you, famous talk show host
out of Atlanta, it's to keep the riff raff out.
And maybe that's offensive for you to hear, or some
lefties to hear. Oh my gosh, he said, riffraff. Yeah,
that's behavioral. If you're going to behave like a jackass,
then you don't get to come onto the property. If
you cannot abide by the social norms of a civil society,
then you don't get to participate in those privileges that
the society pays for. That's the deal. If you don't
like that deal, then go live off somewhere else where
there are no transit services, right, and there might not
also be a lot of victims for you to pray upon. Uh,
let me go to Ralph. Hello, Ralph watching.
Speaker 3: Yes, I would like to come in defense of live
bials read and I why it took so long for
her to make a statement four days she was keeping
her grandchildren that week, and I mean, you know I
ever heard this probably you know her number one priority
and everything you know for tidy town. We don't like
these little messes. We would need to squeak them under
the rug. And especially the news media outt they don't
need to be reporting because if we if we won't
visit to come to Charlotte, we don't need this kind
of coverage.
Speaker 1: Well, then it's a fair point. I do not deny
that mentality exists. I would submit, if you don't want
the coverage, then address the crime, address the problem, Ralph.
I appreciate the call, Buddy, good to hear from you.
I think that's really the like, that's the problem. The
problem is the problem. It's not the coverage of the problem.
So when I was a kid, my Grandpa died with Alzheimer's,
and before he died, my mom and my dad took
care of him as he got worse. Forty years ago,
there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers
and family. But things are different today because of the
work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of
Western Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with
huge hearts. I've been a supporter for twenty five years.
This cause means a lot to me. I participate in
the annual Walk to end Alzheimer's and I'm leading a
Charlotte team again this year, and it's called once again
Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you can join
the team and walk with us. It's on October eighteenth,
that truest field. Sign up at alz dot org slash
walk and then you could search for my team name
Pete's Peck. There's also a link at thepetepod dot com.
There's also a link in the description of this podcast. Also,
I'll be am seeing the Gastonia Walk on October eleventh,
and so you can make a team and join that
one too, or make a donation and help me hit
my goal of five thousand dollars. If you do, I
really appreciate it. There are a bunch of other walks
all over the Carolinas. You can go to alz dot
org slash walk for all the dates and locations. We're
closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. Can you help us
get there? Will you walk with me? For a different future,
for families, for more time for treatments. This is why
we walk. I got this text from Dana. You keep
speaking on George Floyd's murder, almost as if you think
it was his fault that he was choked out. You
don't know it, but you sound like an undercover racist. Okay, sorry, Dana,
that charge carries no purchase any longer. Here there is
a difference between commenting on the way George Floyd was
killed and the way that he was essentially elevated to
martyr status by the left and the media. Okay, that's
why I call it. That's why I call him, you know,
Saint George Floyd, because that's what was done to him.
Speaker 2: That is that is.
Speaker 1: A commentary on the media reaction to him. They disregard
all of the stuff that he did, all of the
contributing factors everything else, and it just becomes this this
hagiographical figure. That's it. And then in his name, now
defund all the police, tear down all the systems of
oppression and institutional racism, and now here we are. And
people like me were saying you're being stupid at that time,
and now we are in the reaping phase. Not very pleasant,
but I would venture to guess I know which side
of that argument you were on, and now you are
trying to avoid the responsibility of what we are reaping, right, Craig,
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 2: Hello Craig, Hey, how are you good?
Speaker 1: How are you.
Speaker 2: So? I don't believe that paying the fare is a
priority for our mayor or any of our city council,
because if it was, they would have had things and
programs in place from day one to ensure that it was.
Being that. They are Democrats who think that pretty much
everything should be free. I can pretty much guarantee you
they believe that there should be no fair being charged
with us are light Rail, so they don't care about
trying to make sure anybody pays it.
Speaker 1: Well, that would be I mean, that would explain sort
of the response today from the interim CEO of CATS,
Brent Kagel, who said that, you know, fair enforcement is
primarily a revenue protection operation. And to your point, if
they don't care about revenue protection, then they wouldn't care
about enforcing the fares. When in fact, there's a twofold
reason for the fair collection, which is, as I said,
you know the other part of it is to keep
the riff raff out.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't believe they do care because as we
all know, this one penny sales tax, it's going to
happen on the votes just a formality. So if they
can just keep going back and raping the taxpayers for
the money that they need to run these programs, then
they're not going to concern themselves with warring about making
people pay. They don't believe these people should have to
pay anyways. They think that they're poor and they're maligned,
and they're unserved and any other adjective democrats like to
say about people, and that they're basically owed a free
ride because of their situation in life.
Speaker 1: Book, there are yeah, I mean there are the City
of Ashville. I mean not just reparations. They literally just
did this, Uh, they did their reparations presentation this week.
But they also they have done free buses in Ashville
for years. They've been doing that for that for those
very reasons, and they are rolling homeless shelters, and then
they wonder why people don't want to get on the
buses and sit in somebody else's vomit and defecation. Right,
And you're again like you you can't come to me
and ask me to increase funding for your transit system
through this referendum while the transit system has the has
these problems. Right, It's a hard sell to now have
to make. And I'm not so sure that I'm not
so sure that they aren't too worried that they aren't
worried about the way this election might go, because I mean,
this is going to be an off year low turnout
election for where this reference is up. You've already got
voters that are mad because it doesn't have funding for
the light rail to Huntersville, right, So people are complaining
or not hunters But but Matthew's right, they're complaining about that,
and the North side is complaining about bait and switch stuff.
I'm not so sure that there isn't going to be
enough of an oppositional force that may very well turn
out and vote this thing down. It is a county
wide referendum, so it could happen.
Speaker 2: I mean they hope it does.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the the Arena vote back in two
thousand went down in a you know, an in an
odd year off cycle referendum vote too, because if you
just get the angries that get out and vote, you
could have a lot of people that are angry, you know,
for different reasons, and then they all create one big
coalition to vote it down. So it's possible, Craig, I
appreciate the call man. Good to hear from you. And
to Craig's point, I got this message from Mark who
says the blame for this rests squarely on the show
of Pat McCrory and ron to Pat McCrory, the former
mayor of Charlotte, ron Tober the original Cats CEO. They
were the ones driving the train, if you will. No
consideration was given to securing access to riders who had
paid by installing security turnstiles. That is, not the little
green ones with a silver waste bar, but actual security
where a person cannot breach the system. Of course, that
would imply there were people in Charlotte that weren't the
patrician Southerners that the mcrory's and Tobers and others thing populate.
The Queen City curses upon them all. So, yeah, this
was the original design flaw with the system was the
open platforms, Like you can walk up to any of
these platforms. They wanted it nice and clean and tidy, right,
They wanted it all nice and clean and open, so
anybody could just walk up. And that's the whole idea
with the trolley line too. Oh, just like I got
these visions of San Francisco, I just jump aboard the
trolley and I just write it up the hill. That's
that was the vision. And yeah, how are you gonna
stop the fair jumpers? How are you gonna keep the
revenue protected? They didn't care to. It was the original
design flaw. They're not gonna go back on retrofit this
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Ticket Slash terms Limited time offer. Let me get back
to the text line with some more commentary. Do these people,
this is from a nine to eight zero number, do
these people realize that you aren't going to find volunteers
to check tickets? You would be the one being knifed.
Oh that's from Doug. Well, yeah, I mean cats employees
you would hire. You would hire employees and they would
walk the trains and they would check the tickets, and
then if somebody doesn't want to show the ticket or
doesn't have a ticket, whatever, they then call that in
to the security and then the security comes and removes
the people. The cat's conductor isn't supposed to be doing enforcement,
Like they're not cuffing people and anything like that. Bob says, uh,
felony rap sheet. I wish the courts and judges were
civilly liable for felonious behaviors in some circumstances. I've heard
that kicked around as a potential way to reign in
some of these people. Baine thanks me for taking his call,
and not a problem. I always good to talk with you.
Speaker 2: Ban.
Speaker 1: Whatever happened to institutes that housed all of the crazy people, Well,
it's funny you mentioned that there actually are still some
of these. Now, there was a piece I pulled from
actually twenty twenty one North Carolina Healthnews dot org. So
this was at you know, twenty twenty one. The defund
the police movement was really you know, genned up at
this time. And one of the things that they were
talking about in the North Carolina General Assembly actually before
the summer of fiery but mostly peaceful riots. Before that,
they had passed a law on involuntary commitments or ivc's,
And part of the problem North Carolina has is that
there aren't a lot of these institutions still open for
and involuntar Harry commitment, and most counties use their sheriffs
deputies or law enforcement in general to transport people to
the to the hospitals, and the mental health professionals are saying,
have been saying for years that that compounds the trauma,
so there needs to be some different kind of an
ambulance service. Basically, we shouldn't be handcuffing people and sending
them to these hospitals. Although I would point out, as
Russ did here in a message on Twitter, that all
the people who want to prioritize de escalation over police
use of force seem totally unaware that professional mental health
institutions also use very large people with straight jackets, batons,
and tasers in case the de escalation fails, right, I
This idea that you just got a couple of you know,
nurses that are talking kindly to somebody, and that's going
to de escalate the situation, Yet it ignores the fact
that they are backed up by three or four very
large guys in white lab coats or smocks, right, that
are able to physically restrain somebody who is a danger
to themselves or others. Let me see, I let me
clear out another texter to do do you? De escalators
will not help?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: Says another Texter, Tell that jackass that said in the
meeting this morning that there is no way to check
tickets for every rider to take a ride on Amtrak,
Long Island Railroad or any well run public transportation. The
LI double R has been doing it successfully for as
long as I've been alive, seventy years. Yeah, it's like
it's a very simple it's a very simple system, right,
Like train technology is not new, Okay, it's been a
round for over a century, So they figured this out
a long time ago. Guy walks through with a little
ticket puncher and he puts it onto your seat, this
little clip on the seat, and you stick the ticket
on the seat, and they know that you have paid
for that ticket, and you click, you punch the hole
in it, you put it on the seat, and now
they know I've already come through, I've already talked to you.
Because there are a lot of stops, so they're constantly
walking through checking for tickets. Mike says the state needs
to change the law for legal concealed carry on cats
trains and buses. That would help the crime problem, No,
because then then the bad guys would conceal carry on
the buses and trains too. Mike. Oh wait, oh, they
already do, if you want to call their bluff, says Stan.
Put the light rail up for sale so somebody can
run it and maintain it for a profit. That's an idea.
Why not privatize it, See if somebody else can do
a better job. Simple solution until they can figure out
is to bring in the National Guard. Bring off duty
sheriffs and CMPD officers, team them up with the National
Guard MP or soldier and let them patrol the light
rail until they get it under control. Uh yeah, I
mean the mayor can ask for some assistance from the
state if she wanted to. Betty says, let me get
this straight. They want me to vote yes to millions
of light rail dollars and the revenue is not rider shared.
I am voting no anyway, because the upticking businesses and
dwellings that spring up around the rail should fund it.
I am really voting no.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: How arrogant and irresponsible of the council. Yeah, they're not
even protecting their revenue share. That's the frustrating thing too,
Like you have this light rail that has spurred all
this development, and yet you want to ask me for
more money on everything I buy. But you're not even
trying to police the fair collection. All right, So you've
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Eric at eight eight eight five three three seventy six
thirty seven Extension two seven for the details. Don't know
who this is from. I don't think hang on um
no pete. I grew up here, but I lived fifteen
years in the DMV area. That was about how long
it felt when I was last at the DMV. Anyway,
I rode the DC Metrorail every workday for a long time,
and when I took the Charlotte light Rail, I was
floored that there were no security turnstiles to prevent fair jumping. Granted,
the metrorail is the only major public transportation system that
I know of that is supported by a tax or sorry,
that is not supported by attacks. It's supported by the
riders and the jurisdictions promised to pay. So it's a
tax from those jurisdictions maybe, but not a standalone in
sales tax. I guess, but I don't understand it because
seeing homeless people pandering in the or panhandling in the
system was way more uncommon up there. Well, that's because
the people who work in government don't want to see
this stuff. This is just for you people to see
and have to suffer through when you ride the train
when it's their train. No, no, no, no, they're going
to make sure that they're not exposed to any of
those people. Stan asks, I wonder why they don't enforce
tax collections the same way they enforce fair collection on
the light rail. Make it the honor system. I like it, right?
Why not that? That makes me think too. It's like,
if you paid more attention to the collection of the fares,
you wouldn't have to ask me to pay more money,
and you wouldn't have to outsource the fair collection to
local businesses because that's what you're doing, right. You're having
the local businesses collect the sales tax and then refund
the sales tax, you know, through the state and then
back around. So it's going to devalue that total revenue
and then give it back to the local so the
businesses become your fair collectors. Is that fair?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: But there's certainty. See, there's certainty. If ever, there's an
indictment on public versus private right, the public sector doing
something versus the usual superiority of the private sector doing it.
This is it no?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: You have the private sector that is able to actually
collect all of the sales taxes to fund your train system.
When you cannot do it, nay, you refuse to do it.
Here's from the story that wbt's news director Mark Garrison
wrote up after the Metropolitan Transit Commission meeting today. Transit
chief Brent Cagel told the city council quote, with an
open system, it will always be impossible to check every
passenger every day. I'm going to need some numbers on that. Actually,
I'm going to need to see some analysis before I
say that that's true, before I agree with that premise.
I'm going to need to see some data. How many
people would it take to walk the trains because the
buses are a different animal, Okay they are, I mean,
because you've got way more buses than you have trains.
So I'd like to see what it would cost, Like,
how much revenue would be generated if you got close
to one hundred percent fair collection, how much revenue is
brought in for that versus the cost of hiring the
personnel to do it right. And then also I'd kind
of like to see what impact that has on public
safety security because a greater presence on the trains, I
mean other cities have shown us that when you crack
down on this stuff and you put more police presence
in your transit system, you get less crime. By the way,
President Trump told the Daily Caller that he is open
to bringing back insane asylums to institutionalize mentally ill individuals
on America's streets. So there's that. And also came across
this too, Tim Wigginton over at the Blue Ridge Times,
reporting that the ashvill City Council passed an update to
the city Ordinance addressing panhandling and solicitation in high traffic zones.
The update increases high traffic areas to now include areas
that experience a large amount of pedestrian foot traffic as
well as bicycle traffic. Previously it only applied to areas
of downtown and built more village. So they're expanding this out.
And so in general, panhandling and solicitation are allowed on sidewalks,
but it's prohibited anywhere within the high traffic zones. Prohibited
on a median in the street or on a roadside shoulder. Congratulations, Ashville. Finally,
I don't know, maybe cleaning up just a tad all right,
that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much
for listening. I could not do the show without your
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and don't break anything while I'm gone.