"Thefts rose 26 percent on MBTA in 2011; Bicycles, smartphones were leading targets" by Eric Moslowitz | Globe Staff, January 24, 2012
A rash of smartphone, bicycle, and catalytic-converter thefts spurred a 26 percent increase in property crimes targeting MBTA passengers last year, far outpacing growth in ridership, Transit Police reported yesterday.
Thieves are swiping visible and valuable iPhones from riders’ hands, stealing bicycles locked to flimsy posts and fences, and surgically removing expensive catalytic converters from beneath cars parked in MBTA lots. That drove larcenies, which make up the bulk of property crimes, to their highest total since 2001....
But the economy is getting better and crime is down, blah, blah, blah.
But the T’s projected $161 million deficit for the coming year, which prompted a recent set of proposals to raise fares and cut service, and the $5.2 billion plus interest it owes in debt have constrained investments in stations and other infrastructure.
Yeah, that's B as in BILLION!
Related: Cuts protested at State House
Also see: Massachusetts Sales Tax Swindle
The Big Pit
It's where tax dollars always end up.
The same is true of the ability to monitor the unstaffed “honor lots’’ found throughout the commuter rail system, where riders leave their cars for the day and pay by stuffing money into slots or via credit card and cellphone.
Lots on the South Shore in particular have been plagued by catalytic converter thefts, part of a national trend driven by the increasing value of platinum and other precious metals found in the converters.
Thefts from cars - not to be confused with thefts of cars, which numbered 22 last year, one-quarter the total a decade ago - hit 238 last year, the most in eight years. And nearly half of those were catalytic converters stolen from beneath cars, boosting a category that once consisted largely of smash-and-grab theft of navigation devices and valuables locked inside cars....
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Related: T police arrest 2 in thefts of catalytic converters
Also see: Rally touts bill to ban alcohol ads on all state property
If it pays off debt, keep 'em.
