If you’re looking to avoid crime, you might want to stay away from the railroad station — and trains.
First came news of a 46-year-old Weston man forging his parking permit. He got snagged when a parking officer noticed 3 permits on the car, all the wrong color or with different size lettering — and different license plates.
The man — who faces 2nd degree forgery charges — was one of 2,300 people on the station permit waiting list. Presumably, that number is now 2,299.
Mind the gap! Watch your belongings! Don't cheat!
The railroad crime wave continues, with word that felonies on Metro-North — including the New Haven line — are up 6 percent in the 1st 8 months of 2011, compared with last year.
Leading the way are thefts of cell phones and other electronic devices. They increased a whopping 22 percent.
The good news: Major crime is down.
Robberies dropped from 11 to 6 this year; felony assaults dipped to 6, from 7.
And hey: No murders or rapes were reported on Metro-North trains last year.
So: Odds are good you won’t be killed on a train.
Though you might have your cell phone or laptop stolen.
All aboard! (Just be sure you’ve got a parking permit.)
I see a lot of cars hop on 95 after leaving a Westport commuter lot. My guess is there are probably a lot more fraudulent RR parking passes in distribution (real stickers on out of town cars).
There also seems to be a lot more handicap parking passes at the train station than I ever remember seeing before. I suspect not all them are legit (but that just the kind of cynical anonymous poster I am).
…need to clarify – I see an overflow of cars with handicap permits parking in the 1 hour retail parking.
You do not need to be a Westport resident to get a Westport RR parking sticker.
I did not know this.
And if they wind up building some sort of massive parking structure, don’t think that Westporters will unilaterally benefit with more spaces and decreased wait time. Putting a garage right off I-95 will make our already overcrowded station a magnet for much of the surrounding communities.
How about the safety of walking to the overflow lots? Pitch black in the morning and at night, weak overhead lights, cars zooming down the road, no good crossing area, rarely any police directing traffic. Two nights ago amazingly saw an officer pull someone over for speeding…of course the cop car’s high beam then completely blinded everyone trying to get out of the parking lot. Especially annoying as a daily parker – have to park faaar away even though the main lots are still completely empty at 615am.
The cops spotlight the vehicle they pulled over, so that the driver can not see which side of the car they are approaching on. Unfortunately, cops are killed every day on traffic stops…Just because the car is registered to a particular person does not mean that is the person driving or what mental state they are in. But Tubulus, if your crystal ball is working and you would like to loan it to officers, you should. Also, I am still on the waiting list for a parking permit and unfortunately, there is no residency restriction, so anonymous will see cars getting on the highway.
I realize that the light was on for a reason and completely understand. I just found it ironic that one of the few times I’ve seen a cop doing anything in that area when tons of people are trying to cross a dark street with zooming cars – he made it more dangerous! Once in a blue moon there is someone helping people cross the streets and get out of the lots, which is greatly appreciated.
How come the robbing of the Merritt Superette wasn’t blog worthy??? The heart and soul of 24/7 Westport was robbed at gunpoint. 200$. Shame on them. I do have to admit ripping off Chicklettes from them as a young whippersnapper. What is the statute of limitations on that lawyrgal?
Pleae record any hypothermia cases when the overhead fails in the first major snow and ice storm.
Tubulus, I am confused. You want the police to make it safer in Saugatuck but when they stoped the car the other day it was the wrong time for you. You also say they don’t usually stop cars in the area durring peak hours which is what you want. Maybe the police dont stop cars if it could make things more dangerous but this person did something so bad it was important to stop them. Our police do a great job and all I ever see here and WN is the negative comments from the public.
I am happy they stopped the car. The police did nothing wrong. They should pull over everyone speeding there. It was simply ironic that one of the few times I see an officer there, he or she happened to be making the area more dangerous at that particular moment. I realize this was not the intent, and in the long wrong pulling over more speeders will make the area safer.
Personally, I’m just trying to keep up with the rules for train parking. It used to be that when the daily spots were full near Exit 17, you could park in the other spaces after rush hour and pay the daily rate if there were lots of spots available. Sometimes you’d get a warning note if it was almost full.
Last Thursday I had to take an off peak train and the daily spots were full there (and in the lot near Gault) but the rest of the lot was almost empty. I was surprised when I returned and found a $25 ticket on my windshield. Is it better for the town to get some revenue from those spots, or to discourage us from parking there?
“Two nights ago amazingly saw an officer pull someone over for speeding…of course the cop car’s high beam then completely blinded everyone trying to get out of the parking lot.
I just found it ironic that one of the few times I’ve seen a cop doing anything in that area when tons of people are trying to cross a dark street with zooming cars – he made it more dangerous! ”
I would hate to see how you would write about the police if they did something wrong.
Tubulus, I see cops doing traffic at those two lights on Riverside Avenue every night and morning on my way to the train….maybe thats why you usually don’t see them doing traffic near the train parking lots during rush hours…because they’re 50 feet up the street doing something else
That’s why they call it, ‘the other side of the tracks’.