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I also want to point out that I have ridden the MetroLink like a thousand times, and there have only been a few incidents where I felt unsafe. Most of those times involved ignorant sloppy drunks leaving Cardinals games.
I agree. I ride the Metrolink to school, and have never had any issues where I felt unsafe. I think the worse I have seen is creepy guys hitting on young girls. Seriously, the first quesion you ask a girl shouldn't be "and how old are you!?" And then there was the guy walking around advertising free tattoos at his in home studio, and some girl asking if he would do a "tattoo party" for her and her friends. After they exchanged numbers and left, I let the girl know how sketchy and dangerous I thought the whole thing sounded. She disagreed, saying she really wanted to get her first tattoo for her birthday, but didn't have the money. So I told her good luck and left it at that.
I had the misfortune once of boarding an almost-empty train with a drunk homeless guy and a classier older woman. He kept throwing money at her and yelling at her to get off with him at his station so they could do stuff, in between swigs of Wild Turkey. It was so obnoxious and uncomfortable I just got off at the next stop and waited for another train. But that pales in comparison to the time a guy got in my face and yelled at me for looking at him the wrong way on the London Tube. See, it happens everywhere.
I feel really badly for anyone who has to rely on the Metrolink for transportation. I have heard too many scary stories similar to the ones listed here. I would NOT ride it unless it were absolutely necessary. I think you did the right thing, you have to protect yourself first. My boss was telling me last week that she and one of our co-workers were on the metrolink riding to our offices downtown and a gang banger type came on and reached up into some little alcove type spot in the ceiling (wasn't sure exactly what she meant) and pulled out a huge wad of cash and gun. Clearly someone had arranged for him to pick up the stash there. He saw her looking at it and she and my colleague were terrified. They just looked down and thankfully he got off at the next stop.
St. Louis is a rough city. Very Gritty. There are safer areas out in the burbs, but sadly, you have to be on alert in places that I would rather not worry about safety. Like trying to get to work on the Train, the CWE, the Walgreens near my house on Delmar and 170, after a cards game (recently people were held up at gunpoint after a game) etc. We have a family rule, not to go to that Walgreens after dark. I wouldn't want to get in a fender bender with half the people in the store, let alone have some type of even worse confrontation. I was there in the afternoon and this cab driver was harassing an elderly lady who had walked over from the retirement home across the street. Really being an A$$ to her. I offered her a ride home. She had no business being there alone, even in the daylight. She was a easy target.
Sadly, as the economy continues to falter, crime will continue to rise in the areas that are already having issues.
I feel really badly for anyone who has to rely on the Metrolink for transportation. I have heard too many scary stories similar to the ones listed here. I would NOT ride it unless it were absolutely necessary. I think you did the right thing, you have to protect yourself first. My boss was telling me last week that she and one of our co-workers were on the metrolink riding to our offices downtown and a gang banger type came on and reached up into some little alcove type spot in the ceiling (wasn't sure exactly what she meant) and pulled out a huge wad of cash and gun. Clearly someone had arranged for him to pick up the stash there. He saw her looking at it and she and my colleague were terrified. They just looked down and thankfully he got off at the next stop.
St. Louis is a rough city. Very Gritty. There are safer areas out in the burbs, but sadly, you have to be on alert in places that I would rather not worry about safety. Like trying to get to work on the Train, the CWE, the Walgreens near my house on Delmar and 170, after a cards game (recently people were held up at gunpoint after a game) etc. We have a family rule, not to go to that Walgreens after dark. I wouldn't want to get in a fender bender with half the people in the store, let alone have some type of even worse confrontation. I was there in the afternoon and this cab driver was harassing an elderly lady who had walked over from the retirement home across the street. Really being an A$$ to her. I offered her a ride home. She had no business being there alone, even in the daylight. She was a easy target.
Sadly, as the economy continues to falter, crime will continue to rise in the areas that are already having issues.
Are you kidding me? I ride the MetroLink every single day from the CWE to downtown (yes, through the heart of the CITY) and have never been in genuine fear for my safety. Sure, there are some uncomfortable situations at times, but that happens on every public transportation system in every city in the world. The fact that you have "Chicago" in your screen name and then accuse St. Louis of being "rough" is beyond hypocritical. Large swaths of Chicago are almost uninhabitable and as bad or worse as anything you find in St. Louis. And I'm also sure that nothing bad has ever, EVER happened to anybody on the Chicago L! What a joke.
Hindsight is 20/20 as they say - I probably should have followed them off the train at Delmar and pointed them out to security...
Probably more prudent to have not followed them. Following an armed individual into wherever their comfort zone is, is typically not advisable. If the security officer was armed you have no idea how the situation would have played out, and from my experience most "hoodlums" can't shoot that well, and most of the rent-a-cops aren't much better...and I can't think of many places I'd rather not be, than on a crowded platform with no easy escape method, unarmed, and in the middle of a gunfight.
Probably more prudent to have not followed them. Following an armed individual into wherever their comfort zone is, is typically not advisable. If the security officer was armed you have no idea how the situation would have played out, and from my experience most "hoodlums" can't shoot that well, and most of the rent-a-cops aren't much better...and I can't think of many places I'd rather not be, than on a crowded platform with no easy escape method, unarmed, and in the middle of a gunfight.
You are probably right, but I would have waited until they left the platform before I said anything. Anyway, the point is moot; there is nothing I can do about it now.
@chicagoerin
Yeah it was very much an isolated incident. I ride the MetroLink every day, and most of the time it is just people trying to get to work. Don't feel bad for me because I ride the train. I ride it by choice because I freaking hate to drive. Plus I enjoy the exercise walking to work.
I was on the MetroLink and it's a full train and there are no seats so I am standing by the door next to two guys. The whole ride the one guy is telling the other guy how he was in this big gang fight the day before and beat up a bunch of people so these are obviously violent people. The guy that did the fighting adjusted his pants, and next thing I know he dropped a gun on floor of the train, and he quickly picked it up and put it in his pocket. Then they got off the train like 2 stops later. Now I didn't feel like getting shot so I just kept my mouth shut, but now I am kind of second guessing myself like maybe I should have said something to somebody. I don't know who I would have told though.
What would you have done?
Sounds like you got your cherry popped. It's only scary because now you know. Ignorance was bliss, wasn't it? Get used to it because the reality is there are a ton of hood types out there carrying guns. It's common in urban cities like STL and KC. So is the discussion of violence and sociopathic outlook. When you choose to live in the city, even in the goods areas that dual as common areas where everybody crosses paths, you're going to be rubbing shoulders with these folks - you just didn't/don't realize it. I remember being very optimistic about urbanity and was sort of 'high' on it and saw no bad, but at some point I started to be able to pick up on and see all the bad all around me. You have to know what to look for, but drug deals, gun-toting, public drinking, ducking into alleys and stairwells to smoke crack are all very common. I don't know about STL, but the KCPD knows this goes on and is very lax about it...I've seen a cop take crack-cocaine from an individual and merely dump the contents on the ground and smash it into the conrete and letting the individual go. My opinion is the police are used to it, think the individual can't be helped, and just sort of look the other way. Although, I must say those guys are usually not so careless with their guns. When I woke up to what was all around me, I no longer had the desire to move downtown when I was with my then long-term GF because I was concerned for her safety in that type of environment.
Sounds like you got your cherry popped. It's only scary because now you know. Ignorance was bliss, wasn't it? Get used to it because the reality is there are a ton of hood types out there carrying guns. It's common in urban cities like STL and KC. So is the discussion of violence and sociopathic outlook. When you choose to live in the city, even in the goods areas that dual as common areas where everybody crosses paths, you're going to be rubbing shoulders with these folks - you just didn't/don't realize it. I remember being very optimistic about urbanity and was sort of 'high' on it and saw no bad, but at some point I started to be able to pick up on and see all the bad all around me. You have to know what to look for, but drug deals, gun-toting, public drinking, ducking into alleys and stairwells to smoke crack are all very common. I don't know about STL, but the KCPD knows this goes on and is very lax about it...I've seen a cop take crack-cocaine from an individual and merely dump the contents on the ground and smash it into the conrete and letting the individual go. My opinion is the police are used to it, think the individual can't be helped, and just sort of look the other way. Although, I must say those guys are usually not so careless with their guns. When I woke up to what was all around me, I no longer had the desire to move downtown when I was with my then long-term GF because I was concerned for her safety in that type of environment.
I've lived in big cities my whole life. I'm not that naive. It was scary because that kind of thing doesn't typically happen on the MetroLink in St. Louis, MO.
I feel really badly for anyone who has to rely on the Metrolink for transportation. I have heard too many scary stories similar to the ones listed here. I would NOT ride it unless it were absolutely necessary. I think you did the right thing, you have to protect yourself first. My boss was telling me last week that she and one of our co-workers were on the metrolink riding to our offices downtown and a gang banger type came on and reached up into some little alcove type spot in the ceiling (wasn't sure exactly what she meant) and pulled out a huge wad of cash and gun. Clearly someone had arranged for him to pick up the stash there. He saw her looking at it and she and my colleague were terrified. They just looked down and thankfully he got off at the next stop.
St. Louis is a rough city. Very Gritty. There are safer areas out in the burbs, but sadly, you have to be on alert in places that I would rather not worry about safety. Like trying to get to work on the Train, the CWE, the Walgreens near my house on Delmar and 170, after a cards game (recently people were held up at gunpoint after a game) etc. We have a family rule, not to go to that Walgreens after dark. I wouldn't want to get in a fender bender with half the people in the store, let alone have some type of even worse confrontation. I was there in the afternoon and this cab driver was harassing an elderly lady who had walked over from the retirement home across the street. Really being an A$$ to her. I offered her a ride home. She had no business being there alone, even in the daylight. She was a easy target.
Sadly, as the economy continues to falter, crime will continue to rise in the areas that are already having issues.
This is a wise and realistic outlook and one of human beings that are honest with themselves. Unfortunately, I think many who suggest urban areas are as safe as the suburbs (or whatever rhetoric they use) are actually just naive and ignorant while suppressing any indication of the reality that tries to penetrate their conciousness because of their want to be pro-urban and live in the city.
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