Last month, the Examiner ran an article talking about the “crime and grime” that surrounds the 24th and Mission Street BART station plaza. Now, a nice chunk of change is available to help BART do something about it.
On Thursday, the transit company is scheduled to accept a $2.1 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, as reported by the Ex. This money will go toward making the Mission district station cleaner and, they say, more secure for those that use it.
In the Ex article, we were told the story of a young boy getting robbed of his lunch money at the 24th Street station and left us with numbers that broke down the 166 criminal instances that occurred there within the first six months of this year.
Sure, that’s a large number, and one that should be taken care of. What was shocking though, is that the article revealed that the nearby 16th Street BART station had over four times more crime in that time period than the 24th Street station.
Plans for the grant money include removing two above-ground planters, so that the station plaza will connect with and improve Osage Alley. New bus stops around the plaza are also included in that plan, as well as replanting trees in the plaza and adding a mural.
There’s no word yet on how many trees or murals it would take to manage the 687+ offenses reported at 16th Street BART this year. Perhaps we’ll find that out during next year’s grant season.
