A safety and poverty crisis on Metro

Re “Metro declares crisis over violence,” April 26, and “Metro killing suspect was tied to earlier violence,” April 24

I’ve lived in the L.A. area since 2007 and have been a champion of public transit. Yet, in the last five years, I’ve seen the degradation throughout the system as reported in your recent articles on Metro safety. Yes, we have to make our bus drivers and other personnel safe. But we’re also dealing with a problem occasioned by our nation’s failure to deal with poverty. As more and more people become homeless, drug-addicted, frightened and broken, violence grows.

We can’t make life perfectly safe, but we can do so much for those likely to resort to violence — better schools and universal healthcare come to mind.

We must become a nation dedicated to the abolition of poverty. We have the money for it; I’m not sure we yet have the will for it.

Hats off to our public transit system and those who make it work, and hats off to those who point us in the right direction to mitigate the deadly influence of poverty. Tom Eggebeen, Pasadena

In your article on Metro declaring a safety crisis, I saw no mention of efforts to increase the safety of the riding public.

They’re putting bus drivers behind protective tempered-glass barriers — great! Now, place an armed officer on each bus and in each subway car. Until then I will consider each ride on Metro a game of Russian roulette.

I have lost confidence in the leadership of Metro.

Scott Herbertson Burbank

Hours before Mirna Soza was killed exiting a train at the Universal City Metro station, I rode the very same subway line.

When I exited at Universal City, there were two police officers walking outside near the stairwell. I thanked them for keeping us safe.

In hindsight, they should have been inside the station rather than outside.

Perhaps the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will spur Metro and the city to take action — the almighty buck has a way of doing that.

For now, police officers need to be inside the trains, not outside. Patricia Tyson Glendale

Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times COMMUTERS at the North Hollywood Metro station. A woman was killed last week at a nearby station.