WCS 29: That dark post concerning trains

Murder on the Portland Max, plus a Green Beam to light in Sactown?

Before we get started, a quick reminder of the freebies on your horizon.

This Sojourn comes to you from The OC, where public transportation isn’t much of a local concern. The need is there though. Orange County is more diverse than many realize.

The underlying, rock ribbed white guy politics still bleed into public view, sometimes.

For the past week in Garden Grove I have felt like the only pedestrian south of Long Beach. This region is proving to be far more than a San Fernando Valley to the south and fascinates me. But I don’t imagine that I’ll ever reside on this side of The Orange Curtain.

(Orange County did play host to a novel sound bath, buoyed by psilocybin gummies, on Saturday evening in Huntington Beach. The lady on the next yoga mat over confided that the city has an insurgent Nazi problem).

The skimpiness of OC public transit meant me turning down last-minute tickets to see Springsteen on Sunday. My experience trying to get in and out of proper LA over the past week had told me that—no matter how much love I’ve got for The Boss—taking public transit from Garden Grove to The Forum on a Sunday would almost literally be a nightmare.

You certainly wouldn’t be reading a timely Monday email.

Actual nightmares, however, can still be for folks who actually board Western American public transit.

An unstated fact of 21st-century urban living in Western America is that public transit riders must be prepared for a stabbing attempt by a person who is off their meds. On some level you’re either braced, a black belt, or a psychopath. It’s not an exaggeration or aggrandizement to say that we passengers learn to live with the menace.

In the case of Portland Max rider Michael Brady, last Friday evening he learned to die with that expectation.

Brady boarded an Eastbound Blue Line train at Pioneer Square. He had not interacted with 51-year-old Shondel Larkin, a wanted man who was seated across from him. Witnesses say that Larkin shouted, “You said you were going to kill me!”

And he was all over Brady.

Then it was all over for Brady. According to court documents, the man tried to defend himself as he staggered out of his seat and to the train’s doors.

Larkin stopped stabbing, Brady leaned against the doors, and then fell out onto the platform when the train stopped and the doors opened.

Brady died at the platform scene. Larkin, who was unhoused, had gone off his meds after being arrested in Culver City on peeping charges. Cops busted him at the 82nd Street stop. He’s facing second degree murder charges.

It’s not Western transit operations’ fault that trains and stations and platforms are rest havens for the disturbed and unhoused. Train violence on Max is markedly down. Problem is, this symptom of a broader social horror show will have to get down to zero violence before we straphangers unlearn our urge to brace for the maniac’s blade.

These 10 news items are compensating because I now live in the Echo Park area of LA. The newsletter is gonna lean PNW a bit, for a while.

10 So do the Blazers just suck forever now? 

No one’s yet used to watching Lillard and McCollum fight for playoff position in those still-unfamiliar uniforms. Yet, that’s what’s happening.

The Trail Blazers have been described as the only Western Conference team without a plan. They are starting at the bottom. No better time to listen in on Portland fundamentals with Alex Sarama, the Rip City Remix’s head of player development.
Kenny’s G League Podcast

• Shooting guard Antoine Davis led the entire league in three-point shooting percentage. Veteran guard Elfrid Payton, oddly, is a member of the team.

• The Remix (18-16) narrowly missed the playoffs this season, impressive for a first-year franchise.

• Sarama’s a Brit, which is initially alarming. However, he’s internationally known for teaching the game.

Lil Hit

• That camera-friendly wolverine of Oregon made an appearance in Eugene on Thursday.
  Register Guard

• Kids hate wine, and the industry is scared shitless.
  LA Times

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Name the celebrity!

Picture from before both her politics and work schedule changed. The throat birthmark is a sure giveaway.

Answer below.

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9 Can SF Weed Week be better than the real thing?

On Saturday, a new event called Weed Week hits San Francisco. With The Hippie Hill 420 festival cancelled and cannabis events in general lacking, the event is a welcome newbie on the cannabis landscape. Weed Week promises lounges, free entry, and “new strain and product releases from top California growers for 7 days and nights leading up to 4/20.”

Dope. As long as everyone understands that anything called Weed Week has an extremely high bar to clear.
WeedWeek