Thanks for posting the link. Youtube says the video was removed because it violates its policy of hate speech? Interesting spin by them. I guess they can't handle the truth.

Gosh, I can't imagine why folks in LO are having second thoughts now about a direct public transit connection to Portland.

Maybe this footage should be viewed by the city council in Milwaukie while they continue to consider the benefits of LR.

Luckily though, Tri Met says these incidents are rare.

Well of course TriMet talked them out of filing charges - now if those involved had been raising their voice, well that's different!

(YouTube can handle the truth -- the threats of legal action from the DOJ, not so much; see DMCA and SOPA and PIPA)

I moved to the Midwest a few years ago and have kept up on Portland issues through relatives and your blog.

I recently met a young man who had lived in Portland until March 2011 and he was telling me how much he missed it. He kept referencing how great MAX was and how he didn't need a car in Portland.

I told him that "incidents" on MAX were rising quite a bit and that I, who used to take my young niece and nephews on rides to places like the zoo for fun, would not do so anymore based on the reports I was reading and seeing.

I'll have to point him to this video. I really would not feel safe on the MAX anymore, regardless of what Mary wants to tell me. (And I like Mary.)

Last night one of the local newscasts reported that Tri-Met doesn't have a video of the incident because it "taped over" the original video before learning that there had been an incident. Tape? I assume the reporter misspoke and that Tri-Met uses digital technology. But if Tri-Met uses digital technology, why would there ever be any need to erase any video since storage capacity is virtually limitless?

And now this morning, there's a conflicting report that Tri-Met did in fact know about the incident at the time it occurred.

In any case, the logic behind saving videos is obvious -- mainly, that you're not going to learn about every incident immediately after it happens. You're also not going to know if any particular video might be of help weeks or months after the fact in something like a missing persons case, or tracking the movements of a suspected criminal.

KGW constantly publicizes how it is the "news partner" of The Oregonian and in virtually all of its newscasts features one or more stories it is "partnering" with, along with the Oreognian nameplate prominently featured. Curiously, this story is not to be found in The Oregonian, including at OregonLive, where it can post stories continually as news breaks. What's with this fanatical effort to cover up hate crimes when they are black on white??

Perplexed - it's on OregonLive:

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/01/northwest_news_mother_of_cente.html

These stupid kids need to be found and punished, and TriMet needs to provide better security. But don't worry folks, drivers are still more dangerous than teenage girls.

I'm also curious what's meant or implied by our host's "racial overtones" comment.

Crime happens on all public transit systems. It's not unique to Portland. What IS unique to Portland, however, is a feckless "honor system" of fare collection and a half-a**ed approach to transit security.

Of course I have the whole VIDEO!

Sure makes me wanna ride public transit...

Not sure why YouTube made the original posting of that video go away but if you'd rather view it on you tube :

Raw video of assault on middle schooler on TRIMET MAX

Before I even looked at the video, I knew it would be a group of black girls beating up on a white girl. Does that sound racist? Having grown up in NYC, I can simply attest to the fact that, even decades ago, this particular dynamic played itself out regularly. I was a victim of it, and so were many of my friends. It was just one inner-city reality/fact of life. Apparently, it still is. My prayers go out to the rather impressive young girl who was attacked, and also to the perpetrators, in the hope that something positive will come into their lives to help them change course. Where were the adults who were on the MAX in all this? A shame that no one did anything.

I love how TriMet always has the same response to any kind of unprovoked violence: "This is extremely rare; TriMet is very safe" We hear this every few weeks, it seems. Perhaps repitition will make it so?

If TriMet is so safe and wonderful, why does the Board and the General Manager refuse to ride the system?

My repeated requests for them to join me on a random ride of the TriMet system have been turned down...just this week I had two buses pass me up (due to overloaded conditions), buses greater than 10 minutes late resulting in bus bunching, bus drivers that can't maintain a schedule, buses making all sorts of unsafe lane changes (that aren't ever supposed to happen anymore, right?), broken equipment...three broken buses on one outbound trip (fortunately mine wasn't broken, but we did pick up a lot of passengers from those broken buses).

TriMet's Board is a group of idiots that barely know what a bus is. Of course, the only reason they have the job is because they kissed the Governor's ass.

Thanks Al!

Al also has the TriMet board briefing video in case you want to watch the sockpuppets -- er, I mean the meatpuppets -- planning the future for us all.

It is sort of like a Star Chamber only with Kukla, Neil, and Ollie. I guess it's not only the CIA that has "useful idiots" as assets.

(Sorry to seem mean spirited, but they have really lost touch with reality over there.)