People here on the west coast like to say that in New York you could die on the street and nobody would notice. People who are saying this like to pride themselves, that here in LA it’s so different. I’m of a different opinion:

Yesterday at noon I went down to the Metro to ride to NoHo for my rehearsal. I went down to the ticket machines and I noticed a young kid, about 20 years old, take a display apart in the middle of the platform. And people were passing by, completely ignoring him, the theft, and the tempering of the art installation.

I yelled at him “Hey, don’t touch that!” and he asked me “Why not?” That threw me off for a second and I took a good look at him, thinking that maybe he works on the project, and he is putting it together not taking it apart.

He wore sneakers, baggy pants, white t-shirt and a dark shirt dropped over his shoulder. Nothing else. No vest, no name tag, no sign of him being a Metro employee or staff or official or whatever. He was a kid.

So I answered him “Because that is not yours. That is an art installation. And there are cameras everywhere, so if you steal anything, it will be seen. You shouldn’t steal from my station! This is my neighborhood!”

So he came up to me apologizing. He asked me if I’m going to call the cops. I said “No, why would I call them? They would only abuse you and not do anything good anyways.”Then I continued: “There are cameras, so if the Metro wants to alert the cops they are welcome to do so. But I don’t want you to steal anything from my neighborhood. I live here. I know you are trying to get by but we all need to get by, here in LA and everywhere else in the world. I know it’s not easy, but don’t steal shit and make my neighborhood unsafe. Do something original and reinvent yourself. But don’t be a criminal. That will just ruin it for the rest of us.”

He seemed to get it. Or he was just playing polite very well. Yes, I got scared a bit when he walked up to me, but I didn’t talk down on him and I had no intention of scaring him. I tried to communicate with him that I understand his behavior but we are in the same boat. And, I believe that people need to know that we care.

I will report this incident to the Metro. They can deal with it and I only hope that they will. This one particular station has given me the creeps a few times, because strange people hang out and I don’t feel safe. I will send the report to customerrelations@metro.net and to goldsmithl@metro.net . If you would like to report a crime at the Metro, be it on the Bus or in the Underground, please also cc or bcc to metro@illuminateLA.com .

We can ignore the small stuff and we can pretend that it’s not happening. But then we wonder why the crime in our neighborhood goes up. Why people are being mugged and harassed. People act surprised when they read of rape and robbery. If only they would pay attention to the small activities we could avoid the big hassle.

Get out of your cars and walk your neighborhood and get to know your neighbors. Pay attention and don’t ignore the small stuff. Stay away from danger and report anything suspicious! I rely on you and we all rely on each other to keep our homes, our streets and our neighborhoods safe!