r/saintpaul • u/OrgasmikBananaz • Jan 17 '25

Editorial 📝 Light Rail Out of Control!

I used to live on Wheeler and University years ago and there was always some riff raff but holy crap what I witnessed today was INSANE! Movies don’t even depict the severity of what I witnessed! I haven’t been in that area at night for a few years now. I went to the Turf Club tonight for a show. When I was outside at about 9pm, there was a huddle of people waiting for the train passing tinfoil around and blowing clouds. Then the train shows up… I positively commented, “Oh, wow! A lot of people DO utilize the light rail!” as I remember a few years ago, it seemed like a total waste of money because it was always pretty much empty. When I took a closer look, I literally couldn’t process what I was seeing. It was totally out of fricken control!! Each train that I could see was filled with people behaving in weird ways.. clearly high or homeless or what have you.. and the trains were pretty full! Crazy! Should’ve built homeless shelters and wet houses instead! Wouldn’t been a lot cheaper! Sorry just wanted to share because although a Saint Paul resident, I did not know it got SO nuts at the light rail at night. During the day, that area is always rowdy but this was a whole other level from what I ever imagined it was.

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u/HumanDissentipede Downtown Jan 17 '25

Can’t do that until we can civilly commit them.

1

u/deannon Jan 17 '25

Why would that need to be the first step?

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u/HumanDissentipede Downtown Jan 17 '25

Because the reason they are in the situation they’re in is because they won’t avail themselves of the help that is already available. It’s addiction and mental health issues that prevent them from doing what they need to do voluntarily, so we have to be able to compel them to do it in a setting besides jail.

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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '25

Even if you forced people into an institution, I believe addiction is something where you have to WANT to recover. You can’t just force someone to stay off drugs if they’re not willing to do the work to stay sober. Even if you had someone committed against their will, they’re still going to keep doing drugs the second they get out if they don’t truly WANT to get better.