Monday, August 28, 2006

You will not believe me but...

I saw a homeless man standing very close to a Civic Center BART station exit escalator. He was looking down while standing straight and still. As tired as I was Monday morning, it took me a little longer than usual to realize what he was doing. He was peeing into the outside corner of escalator exit. I figured that out after I got to the top of the escalator and saw a moving body of yellowish fluid flowing from the top down. Apparently, the pee waterfall was caused by the overflow from his corner.

I'm used to jumping over pee puddles around the Civic Center station, but never moving fluid on an escalator in motion. There's a first for everything I guess. Nothing surprises me at the CC Bart Station!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Elevator at Civic Center will get you high.. And I'm not talking about just going up.. Since the restrooms are closed, they use the elevator to do drugs..

Anonymous said...

this is just plain nasty and disgusting. everyone who is conscious knows that some of the downtown sf stations are particular problem areas that should have a strong bart police presence to help prevent and deal with this sort of thing. strong enforcement does send a message that people will get sooner or later, just as weak enforcement sends a message ... you get what bart management pays for (we certainly aren't).

dndgirl said...

Ewwwwwww! All I can say is that I'm glad I use Embarcadero Station.

bartmusings said...

I think public urination around Civic Center station is SO COMMON that the police just don't care enough to prevent it anymore. It's probably the "lesser evil" compared to other things that take place there like drugs, alcoholism, fights, harrassment...etc. Regardless, I hate smelling and seeing pee. I do what I can to avoid the puddles...I know to roll my pants up a bit before I walk out of the train because I know there will be pee on the ground. Gross, huh?

Anonymous said...

if anyone actually expects or wants things to change they should not make excuses for BART management or BART police. the problems and issues should be submitted to BART so they are aware of riders' concerns. if there was more of a police presence and more actual enforcement at the CC station this would send a message and likely prevent the other, more serious activities. it is too bad that this is what it comes to, but people will take advantage and things won't get better unless there is a change in the approach to dealing with these problems. BART needs to know that riders want a change.

bartmusings said...

It is really a tone of hopelessness, rather than an excuse for BART Police. When I first started riding BART long ago, I had written BART about cleanliness, safety of stations, unsafe solicitation...etc. I did not ever receive a personalized response back from BART.

Granted, I did not make this a personal mission and continue to coerce BART to make positive changes. They should know better and I frankly don't have the time to take this up another level myself.

After a few years, I started this blog (almost a year ago now). I do send entries to BART comment link every so often.

Anonymous said...

ok, air of futilty accepted. just kidding. i only meant to encourage you, or anyone with a complaint, to let bart know about it and follow it so that you do not let them off the hook. i think it's about the only way things will change (except for when a bart director gets a wild hair and decides to do something on his/her own). but these people need to hear from those who use bart so they will have some contact with the real world and so we can try to make them responsive to what is really needed.

Elaine said...

Man, that's awful. I once saw a guy taking a dump inside CC Station. He was next to a garbage can and using a newspaper to cover his actions, but I knew what he was doing when our eyes made contact mid-push. Gross.