Don't let it happen to you Milwaukie. My big fear is Adams and crew plaster the eastside with streetcars, and the streetcars end up bringing crime to our otherwise quiet residential neighborhoods. Then we get congestion, density, crime, ghettos and high debt driven taxes. Not exactly the warm and happy commune that is envisioned.

Revolt, my comrades, against the bolshievks in charge!

"teens to call her "racially derogatory names,"
Will they be charged with hate crimes/civil rights violations?
Nah!

They're teenagers. They'll probably be back on the train in time to make it three weeks in a row.

I would start carrying a knife if I had to ride that garbage transporter on tracks regularly. Eventually one of these kids is going to hit the wrong "old whitey".

It was her first trip ever on the MAX, she said.

Welcome to MAX!

Bernhard Goetz know what it takes to shut this crap down, fast.

It's appalling how this double-standard exists when it comes to racism.

We had to pull my third-grade son (who has light brown skin, as we adopted him from Romania as an infant) out of Irvington Elementary School back in February in large part because of the racism there. From the black students.

Did the administration care? Nope.

Tri met continues to enable these thugs. They claim they cannot simply kick off rude or unruly passengers (probably for fear of being sued by the violators). They are afraid to lay down very specific guidelines about behavior, making the environment a free-for-all to include everything from loud F-bombs to threats. Max could be made safe if the courage existed to take a stand. They do not need a cop on every ride.

And yes, there was another group of thugs near Eugene this week who beat a man with a bat. The suspects are reported to be white in this case, and the victim was black. They are calling it a hate crime. So why is an incident involving a white victim and black suspects different? I am not really sure I even care. I just know that crime is crime, thugs are thugs, and there needs to be people in authority willing to draw a line in the sand as to what behavior will be tolerated in public places.

I would not advocate the Goetz approach, but I would say that each one of us also has a role to step up and demand good behavior, when poor behavior is witnessed.

Gibby

each one of us also has a role to step up and demand good behavior, when poor behavior is witnessed.

The victim in today's attack was doing just that when the thugs turned on her.

From this account, I don't believe we know the race of the victim (or of any of the attackers besides 'Adrian').

The grown men who attacked me and my friends on MUNI when I was a teenager in San Francisco, were the same ethnicity as I. Um, somehow it didn't make the blows to my head hurt less.

Thugs are thugs. I never have felt "safe" on MAX east or west side. I have had to move seats because teenagers were "casing" me for a robbery on more than one occasion. Different races, but still thugs. People of color get assaulted on public transit in Portland, too. It just doesn't get the coverage of the much more sensational "OMG! Reverse racists attacking whites" angle which draws folks. Our friends at Stormfront, Volksfront, and our great pal Pat Buchanan know this. Birth of a Nation, anyone?

I cross my fingers everytime my daughter catches it. And have her call and text me throughout her trip.

I think it's interesting that once law enforcement moved onto the far east piece of MAX, that incidents have anecdotally (sp?)increased on the Yellow Line. The issue is creating safety on TriMet, not trotting out every old saw about about blacks, latinos or whoever else is the scapegoat du jour.

The MAX "yellow line" should more aptly be called the "Black and blue line". It's prophetic that the victim was a woman commuting from Vancouver because this is exactly what Clark county voters are expecting with an extension of light rail over the Columbia river.
MAX will become an interstate corridor for thuggery.

The victim in yesterdays attack was "doing just that", and guess what? After the chaos and a theft three of the four suspects were arrested and jailed. We should all follow her lead.

Gibby

Florence - they stated on the news last night that the attackers were indeed black and the victim white. Not that it matters, but it was confirmed.

The disappointing part of this story is that no one jumped in. Here this lady did the right thing by telling those kids to lay off another older person they were harrassing... then she gets attacked and no one comes to her aid? Every male on that train should be ashamed. And how are we raising our kids nowadays to think it's okay to punch women?

I'd love to see an interview with those kids' parents, so we chould hear them defend their kids and say how they were being mistreated or something. Seems like that's always the case lately.

I'd love to see an interview with those kids' parents....
These kids were Black. Odds are you mean Parent. Mom.

Anybody want to bet these teen thugs got on the train without paying a fare? When are these jerks at TriMet going to get serious about putting in a turnstile type boarding system so everyone riding needs to pay to get on? And why the hell are the fare machines at the 122nd Avenue MAX Station always inoperable? Why have these machines if you can't maintain them? Hello George Passadore! Get moving or I put your home address and telephone number up on the net.
Maybe it's time to have a public investigation of TriMet and it's pathetic management.

I'm aware of the statistics, Meg, but I hesitate to make that assumption...

I hate to put a damper on the exchange, but so-called "hate crimes" are called "intimidation" under Oregon law.

So the suspects have in fact been charged with committing a "hate crime."

The report noted that among white children, 18 percent lived with one parent in 1986, compared with 30 percent of Hispanic children and 53 percent of black children.
Most children in single-parent families live with the mother. That was the case for 94 percent of the black children living with one parent.
Kevin I like my Odds,
My Dad would have kicked my A** if I did anything close to this.

I think 'hate crimes' are BS. Talking about how we want equality then making laws that recognize the color of ones skin is exactly reverse of what we need to do. Assault is assault, no mater the color of the assailant or the victim. There shouldn't be more time given out if mixed races were involved, they should hand out the proper sentence in the first place for the actual crime.

One of these days these criminals are going to run into the wrong person on the MAX and pay dearly. A four against one fight is a cut and dry case for deadly force. Thank god thugs aren't the only ones who ignore TriMet's BS weapons policy.

Comin' your way, Vancouver!

The victim in yesterdays attack was "doing just that", and guess what? After the chaos and a theft three of the four suspects were arrested and jailed. We should all follow her lead.

We're gonna have to. The Tri-Met "security" cannot do anything but call the police anyway. And Im sure the little thugs know that.

Btw, I also heard they were arrested under Measure 11. So get ready for the outcries of "its not fair".

Oh, and this is classic...a spokesman for the Portland chapter of "Guardian Angels" was on the radio today. He said Tri-Met told them they didnt want them on the MAX because it would make MAX look "dangerous."

In social services, we learn about de-escalation because in the work you may come across folks that are mentally ill, sociopathically violent, etc. and there are ways to intervene without making the situation worse. or putting oneself at risk. Do I always practice it when intervening? nope.

I think everyone who is of an intervening nature should go to a training because the folks we see in the social service field live in the world with the rest of us. Road rage shootings, melees at little league and soccer games, it's not just the MAX. and it's not just the blacks. ooh, rhyme.

Even in my Sherriff taught gun safety class, he emphasized avoidance and de-escalation because once you go all Bernard Goetz. . . the situation doesn't always work out.

When my best friend and I were assualted, not a single person came to the defense of two teenage girls. This was a number of years ago, before cell phones. The bus was packed. The driver refused to call the cops until the assailants had safely made their escape.

I want the 5 Interstate back. I miss it. I think it's interesting that the light rail is such crime magnet in PDX. As opposed to other cities with higher crime rates.