When a gang of hooligans posing as protesters got to the Glen Park BART station Thursday night, destruction and economic ruin seemed more on their minds than actually affecting whatever change it was they imagined they might be creating.
They used hammers to smash all the ticket readers into the station except the one for bicycles and wheelchairs, and then turned their sights on the flower stall of Joanne, the woman who’s been selling flowers at BART for years. They pulled down and smashed some of her lights, at an unknown cost to this small business owner.
They also cost taxpayers whatever it took to pay five BART staffers for the full day it took them to replace the destroyed ticket machines.
In a perfect world, those responsible would compensate Joanne for her losses. In the real world, it’s likely up to us as neighbors to stop buy and pick up some flowers today ‘just because’ and help her out.
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From the San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO —
Vandals damaged vending machines at BART’s Glen Park Station in San Francisco, hours after at least two dozen people were arrested during a protest at the Powell Street Station, officials said Friday.
About eight to 12 men dressed in black hoodies used hammers to smash fare gates, eight Clipper Card readers and ticket vending machines at the Glen Park Station about 9:45 p.m. Thursday, said BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver.
The vandals tore lights off a flower booth and spray-painted “Osca” in black on train schedule signs, apparently in reference to the fatal BART police shooting of Oscar Grant in 2009, and “Charles Hill” in white letters on the ground of the station’s plaza, Salaver said.
The group then left the station. No arrests were made.
BART believes the incident was linked to the protest hours earlier at the Powell Street Station downtown, the most recent in a string of demonstrations against the transit agency that began after the fatal police shooting of Hill on July 3 at the Civic Center Station.
Hill, 45, was allegedly winding up to throw a knife at a police officer when the officer shot him to death.
BART thinks the vandalism was linked to the Powell Street Station protest because of “the timing of the destruction … the words spray-painted on BART property and the fact that what these individuals were wearing matched the description” of protesters’ clothing, Salaver said.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/09/BACH1L2EF6.DTL#ixzz1XZ8qWEAn