MARTA riders need assurance trains are safe
Last week brought three stories that summarize MARTA’s major problem: crime.
One, a senseless murder on a train by a rider who was not even asked to pay because fare gates had been open over a month at MARTA stations because of a poorly conceived transition to a new fare system (“‘Brutal’ deadly MARTA attack prompts safety response ahead of World Cup”).
Two, shattered glass on new fare gates, where the AJC story (“MARTA switching to thicker glass after faregate panels shatter”) at least hints that vandalism is to blame. Has no one who approved the new gates ever actually used MARTA and witnessed the rampant gate-jumping and abuse that have gone on for years?
Three, Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat announced that those accused of so-called low-level misdemeanors will not be jailed (“Fulton sheriff plans to turn away some misdemeanor arrestees from jail”), a policy abandoned in other major cities after the inevitable increase in violent crime.
Presumably, fare-jumping will be considered low-level crime, but it is crime nonetheless. In other words, neither MARTA nor the sheriff’s office has a problem with criminals roaming MARTA stations.
MARTA will likely reiterate its long-repeated mantra that crime on its trains is random and no one should worry. Really? How will this play out with the upcoming FIFA games, let alone regular riders already reluctant to ride the trains?
PAUL FRANZETTI, ATLANTA
Congress has funds to stop spread of Ebola
A rare strain of Ebola is spreading rapidly through war-torn provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Bundibugyo strain (BVD) has no known treatment or vaccine. Having circulated for weeks without detection because of USAID cuts, it is now spreading toward the volatile Kivu region and into Uganda.
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. An American doctor is infected.
Instead of responding, the White House has frozen billions in public health and international assistance funds.
During the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak, USAID deployed a disaster response team across Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea to coordinate containment.
Today, the administration refuses to address the growing public health crisis, despite having funds appropriated by Congress for this issue.
The Alliance 4 American Leadership, a network of 1,200 youth, calls on Rep. Lucy McBath, Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to work with the White House to release these public health funds and contain Ebola before it reaches Georgia.
International assistance accounts for less than one penny of every federal dollar, funding programs keeping Americans and people around the world safe.
CECILE CHARRON, ATLANTA
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