Progressives Want to Ruin BART by Legitimatizing Fare Evasion

Because Social Justice

The San Francisco Sunrise today denounces AB 819, which would put an end to prosecuting BART fare evasion because it is supposedly racist, as an assault on working Californians and a giveaway to criminals. The bill will let repeat offenders avoid punishment while continuing to steal rides from honest citizens. That “everything is racist” emperor has no clothes. This is a travesty that must be stopped immediately.

BART hardly ever prosecutes fare evasion now. We need more fare evasion enforcement, not even less. When these freeloading criminals evade fares, they force BART to raise fares for all riders. If you want to know why your ticket costs $30 each way, look no further than the guy next to you sneaking onto the train without buying a ticket. And if you think the system is broken because the trains don’t run, remember that BART can't afford to maintain even what it has now because of the massive losses caused by fare evasion.

And then there’s the idea that prosecution of fare evasion is somehow unfairly targeted towards minorities. This is nonsense. The only people being targeted here are thieves, those who break the law by stealing. There is nothing inherently criminal about being black, but there is certainly something criminal about jumping over the barriers to steal a ride. To suggest otherwise is to engage in race-baiting and victim blaming. Minority communities need to stop making excuses for their own members when they commit crimes, and start encouraging personal responsibility instead.

Who benefits? Criminals benefit! Repeat offenders who would normally face consequences for their actions under existing state law get off scot free thanks to this terrible bill. We cannot allow our elected officials to pander to criminals and reward bad behavior. Our streets are already unsafe due to drug addicts and homelessness. We cannot tolerate more criminals robbing innocents of their hard earned cash and property.

The only reason we can imagine for supporting such an awful proposal is sheer political cowardice combined with cynical opportunism. Elected officials like AB 819 sponsor Isaac Bryan are terrified of appearing tough on crime, and desperate to burnish their anti-racist credentials by attacking phantasm non-problems to score cheap political points at re-election time. Then they have the resume to get a cushy job working three hours a week writing reports saying “more reports are needed” at some “everything is racist” non-profit later on.

Instead of standing up for what is right, Bryan and his allies are willing to sacrifice public safety in order to win votes from soft-on-crime voters. It is a sad day indeed when our representatives care more about virtue signaling on non-problems to the radical left than doing what is best for the majority of their constituents.