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Transit riders and advocates press Detroit council over metal detectors and loss of waiting space at Rosa Parks and Jason Hargrove centers
Summary
Riders and transit advocates told the Public Health and Safety Committee that private security and newly installed metal detectors at Rosa Parks and Jason Hargrove transit centers are keeping people from sitting inside and chilling ridership; council members said they would raise questions with DDOT and may invite the director to a future session.
Riders, advocates and several callers told the Detroit Public Health and Safety Standing Committee on June 16 that new security measures at two downtown transit centers are preventing people from using indoor waiting areas and are chilling ridership.
"Denying transit riders access to a warm or air conditioned space to wait for their buses ... is outrageous," Joel Batterman, campaigns manager for Transportation Riders United, told the committee during public comment. Batterman and other speakers said private security at Rosa Parks and Jason Hargrove transit centers are searching everyone who enters and instructing riders not to wait inside.
Advocates argued the measures do not improve safety, instead criminalize riders and disproportionately affect seniors and people with disabilities who rely on indoor shelter while waiting for buses that may run hourly. Michael Cunningham, an advocate and frequent public commenter, asked council to send someone without a badge to attempt to sit inside as an audit of the new rules.
Other callers described incidents they said illustrated aggressive or poorly trained security conduct. "You'll get more than my name if you keep asking questions," Lucas Lisakian of Transportation Riders United quoted a guard as saying in an exchange he described as threatening; Lisakian said he planned to notify city officials.
Council members acknowledged the concerns and noted several DDOT contracts on the agenda for the day. Chair Council member Gabriela Santiago Romero said the committee would seek answers from DDOT and invited the possibility of bringing the DDOT director to a future meeting or raising the issue during quarterly updates.
No formal action was taken on the public comments during the committee; members instructed staff to raise the questions with DDOT and suggested the department join a future session to provide an explanation of security contracts and access policies.
The committee recessed and continued into the remainder of its agenda; the chair said questions raised by riders would be taken up with DDOT or in a future committee meeting.
