The blog has been a little quiet tonight, as Anne and I have been in a conclave with other members of the Houston-area coven.
We’ve been trying to come up with a solution to METRO’s Park and Pillage problem.
METRO, it should be recalled, pulled uniformed security from its Park and Rides in January, promising camera surveillance would deter crime. Unfortunately, METRO didn’t plan for the camera surveillance to be fully functional until sometime this summer. So, predictably, crime has skyrocketed, highlighted (or is that lowlighted?) by the Addicks fiasco last week. METRO police chief Tom Lambert has proposed Crime Stoppers and a Task Force as solutions to the problem.
Really.
No security presence in the lots, but a Task Force and Crime Stoppers!
We weren’t satisfied with that. So we’ve conjured a few spells. We’ve looked into the crystal ball. We’ve even re-read Reagan’s famous 1964 speech (being a “hard-right” coven and all).
And we think we’ve come up with a much better proposal.
Much like the volunteers of the Minuteman Project are guarding the border with Mexico because the government has abdicated its responsibility to do so, we propose that Houstonians form a voluntary security detail for the Park and Rides, since METRO has basically said you’re on your own if you choose to use their lots. Just to give METRO grief and prompt James Howard Gibbons to write a new LiveJournal entry, we propose limiting the security detail to volunteers with concealed-carry permits.
Now, before anyone starts complaining that we’re advocating vigilante justice — that’s not what we’re advocating at all. We don’t actually want anyone shot. We think a local Minuteman Project would simply provide a deterrent to thieves and vandals that METRO isn’t providing at the moment. Or, the very thought of it will scare METRO into staffing the Park and Rides with security, like they should be doing already.
So that’s the Houston-area coven’s public-service suggestion for the evening.
