I read an article in the Sacramento Bee the other day. For
those of you not from the greater Sacramento area, the Sacramento Bee is our
pretend newspaper. For those of you under the age of twenty-five, a newspaper
is how roughly six hundred remaining subscribers in the country still get their
daily information. It’s words printed on paper and usually has nothing to do
with the Kardashians or Jay Z and Beyonce. I know, right?
The article was about how the Sacramento Regional Transit
folks were planning to “ward off loiterers and fare cheats” at the train
stations. Like so many other things about the “big city” of Sacramento, it
seems that the RT system is just a Fisher-Price version of the real thing.
The plan? They’re going to draw red lines on the ground.
It seems that the light rail stations in and around the
greater Sacramento area have become rife with loiterers, skateboarders,
homeless people, drug dealers, and general miscreants, none of whom have ever bothered
to purchase a ticket for the train. This has led to a revenue shortfall, which
has led to budget cuts, which has led to some serious outside-the-box thinking
from the RT muckety-mucks.
The area inside the new red lines “will be designated as a ‘Paid
Fare Zone,’ where smoking, bike riding, skateboarding, and open containers of
alcohol are prohibited.” It seems, after reading the article, that painting the
red lines on the ground and putting up signs was found to be a significantly cheaper
solution than actual fences and turnstiles.
I’m not making this up.
The payoff quote from Sacramento RT’s new red line visionary
– “We want to start that process of getting people to think of our stations
requiring fares.”
Yes, I guess that would be good. And I think a line on the
ground – especially the “we really mean business” color red – is a great place
to start. I can’t wait to read how this “solution” works out. If the Sacramento
Bee stays in print long enough, I look forward to the follow-up article.
Here on the outer edges of the greater Sacramento
Metropolitan Region, we have no trains. We have a few buses, though. I see them
every once in a while cutting me off to get back into traffic after loading on
another passenger to bring their total ridership into the low single digits.
While we might not be cool enough to have any trains out here in Rocklin, I am
still adopting Sacramento RT’s visionary light rail station policies into my parenting
strategy.
I am immediately implementing the painted-line-on-the-ground
system for a number of different trouble areas with my children. Son Number Two
and Three, for instance, are much like oil and water. Or fire and ice. Or
incredibly annoying to be around together - however you want to look at it. I
have already painted an orange line around our entire house, designating the
area inside the line to be an argument and whining-free zone. That should solve
that issue.
Spills and generally eating like wolves has been another
trouble spot, so I’ve painted a yellow line around the entire kitchen and
dining area, designating it a spill and mess-free zone. Problem solved.
Proper aim and location of urine is always an issue near the
toilets, so I’ve painted a blue line on all the toilet rims, designating the
area outside the lines as a pee-free zone. If the lines are ever green, we’ll
know there’s been a violator.
Getting the three boys to stay on task at homework and piano
practice time has always been a major challenge, but not anymore! The purple
lines around the piano and kitchen table have successfully designated them as slack-free
zones. We’ll be laser-focused now!
Barefoot carpet Lego injuries have continued to plague our
household, but the gray line I painted across the doorway to the game room has
now designated the rest of the house as a Lego-free zone. Happy feet!
And lastly, as our children get older, we’re letting them have
more freedom to roam during play time. They range up and down our long street
with their friends, but we’ve yet to let them head over to the park by
themselves, or down to the store. I know this is a concern for all of us, not
just the folks in my neighborhood, so I’ve broadened my vision on this one. I’ve
contacted the City of Rocklin, and we’re currently talking about a plan to get
a red line painted around the entire city to designate all of Rocklin as a
creep-free zone.
The idea was well received at City Hall, and they’re
currently talking to the folks in Sacramento to make sure they get the line
specifications correct. No sense painting a line around an entire city and then
finding out it’s useless because it’s the wrong width or the wrong shade of red
to keep the bad guys out.
Thanks, Sacramento RT, for all the great ideas. Keep up the
good work over there. I can’t wait to ride one of your new, safer, cleaner
trains one of these days.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go explain the lines
again to my kids. They seem to still be arguing even though they’re clearly
inside the orange argument-free zone. I don’t understand how that’s possible.
See you soon,
-Smidge
Copyright © 2016 Marc Schmatjen
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