I hate all this nonsense - or - GET AWAY FROM ME!

[Dee]

In an effort to purge some of my lingering anger over what happened this morning, I just sent the following to the city transit company. I hope I'll get some sort of response other than well, don't try to catch an early morning bus. LOL

I have been a resident of the Bayshore community for three years now, and more and more lately I am having to deal with pan handlers and kids bumming cigarettes at the Bayshore transit station. I am asking for direction in how to deal with these incidents since this morning just before 6:00 a.m., I was being aggressively verbally harassed by two youth demanding I give them “smokes.” Unfortunately there were no employees around until a maintenance truck came by and I flagged it down. I asked the driver if she could please call someone to deal with these two and fortunately a 97 heading downtown arrived soon after, which I boarded.

I realise security personnel cannot be monitoring every property at every hour, but I do wonder why there are none to patrol overnight especially at a transit station. I felt that if no one had happened by, a physical assault might soon have followed.

In the Conduct section 3.2.12 2 of OC Transpo bylaw it states that No person shall,

In or upon any vehicle, passenger shelter, transit station, or any other property owned or occupied

(a) loiter

(h) assault or otherwise use threatening behaviour towards any other person

(i) cause a disturbance or nuisance by disorderly conduct

I find it illogical that as a Transpo customer I need to tolerate this kind of threatening behaviour or the pan handling. Any suggestions you could give me would be much appreciated.

Sincerely,

[Oak Kitten]

Sorry to hear about the hassle, Dee.

You may get better results by reporting the problem to the police. When we were living in NJ, we had a similar problem with a bunch of punk kids hanging out near the 7-11 and harassing customers for spare change. One of them was particularly cocky and aggressive toward me, following VERY closely behind me and haranguing me. I wheeled around and made him jump back about a foot. He said, "don't hit me!" Believe me, I was tempted to do exactly that. But I called the cops instead.

I told the cop what was going on, he went over and dispersed them, but within 20 minutes they were right back at it. So I sent an e-mail to the mayor. She was one tough lady. I saw her in the local supermarket parking lot one day, shouting at a guy who was speeding through the parking lot to slow down. He leans out his window and says, Yeah, and who are you? She steps right in front of his car and says, "I'm the mayor." That took the wind out of his sails.

Anyway, I contacted the mayor and the very next day I get an e-mail from the Chief of Police apologizing profusely and assuring me that the problem would be resolved. No more wise-ass kids after that.

So call the cops and do it every time you have a problem. If you establish a consistent pattern of complaints, they are more likely to take action.

If that doesn't work, get yourself a tough broad from New Jersey to straighten 'em out. Fuhgeddaboutit!

Oak

[Dee]

Here we have "Special Constables" built into the system Oak, so that would be sort of redundant.

"Uniformed and plainclothes Transit Special Constables are sworn Peace Officers. They have the powers of a Police Officer to enforce the Criminal Code of Canada, the Controlled Drug and Substances Act, the Liquor License act, the Trespass to Property Act, and the Safe Streets Act on all transit vehicles and property."

We'll see what response I get to my request.