Great Moments In Guest Columns

Well la de da! Last week, Alan Butkovitz had one of those wacky press conferences where he talked about ending the student TransPass program and other SEPTA-related ideas. Fair enough, I guess. Earlier this week, Butkovitz responds in an editorial about how great he is, and how shoddy he thinks the Daily News editorial was. And look who has has backing him!

THE BEST response to the Daily News editorial criticizing me for exposing problems with SEPTA’s student TransPass program and subway security measures came from Maude, a reader who posted this online comment: “The writer of this editorial obviously doesn’t have to depend on SEPTA like the rest of us. Try riding the system before forming your opinion.”

More than 80 percent of the comments posted on the newspaper’s own Web site expressed a similar bewilderment that the People Paper would be so out of touch with the reality of crime and violence in our subways.

Yes, that’s right, Alan Butkovitz is using Philly.com commenters to defend himself. But what does the KKK think about the SEPTA TransPass program?!

On SEPTA safety, don’t shoot the messenger [Daily News]

Man Holds Wacky Presser

It had been a while since City Controller Alan Butkovitz had had some ridiculous press conference where he came up with some wacky idea, and so Get rid of the student TransPass program! Hell yeah! Wait, what?

Ahh, he says that the TransPass program allows truant kids “to roam the system from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.” Umm, probably? Oh, right, and one person was attacked and died on SEPTA, and if he could exploit that death a bit, he would be able to sleep well at night. (I think that was the gist of it.)

SEPTA says it has no evidence of crime by students with TransPasses. More specifically, to quote the Inquirer: “In a written response to Butkovitz, he said crime statistics, which show a spike in crime after school dismissal times, have not changed much in recent years.”

But whatever, let’s get to the most awesomest idea in the history of awesome press conferences:

And he urged that SEPTA police turn over the responsibility for rousting homeless people from the concourses to civilian officials, to free up more police to deal with violent crime.

Civilian officials? Who, Center City District? Once Upon a Nation? City Tavern employees? Society Hill Civic Association? The A-Team? An Army of Robocops?

Either way, I can’t wait ’til a team of private employees get to harass the homeless downtown so the homeless don’t harass rich people. Sometimes I’m so proud to live in this city it almost makes me cry.

Should SEPTA end student TransPass program? [From The Source]