BART is tallying the costs and searching for the perpetrators after a wave of vandalism targeted the new glass entryways to transit stations along Market Street in San Francisco.
KPIX
Sometime over the weekend, someone destroyed at least a dozen glass panels at several of BART’s new canopy structures. Anyone who has been in and out of these stations knows they are hard to miss. Clearly, this is bad news for BART’s new facilities, and it’s also a hit for nearby businesses.
Over the past decade, Tarek Saidi has seen a lot of change outside his Market Street Cafe, and the most recent addition was the new BART canopy right outside his front door.
“I was surprised,” Saidi said. “I mean, it hasn’t even been two months.”
Barely a few months old, and now a mess, with multiple glass panels on each side of the street.
“There was a police officer checking yesterday,” Saidi explained. “I told him I think it might have been a BB gun. But he said no, he doesn’t think so. He thinks it was probably something heavy. A hammer or something, trying to break it.”
And although the safety glass did its job and did not end up on the sidewalks and escalators below, the vandalism left a noticeable trail of destruction. Multiple stops up and down Market Street. BART’s brand new, shiny entrances have been transformed into a precious spectacle.
“Plus the work and everything,” Saidi said of the repairs.
“The cost estimate is still being compiled by BART staff,” agency spokesman Chris Filippi explained. “But we expect total replacement costs to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. That’s another reason why this type of vandalism is very frustrating for BART and our riders.”
For BART, the frustration is compounded by the fact that so much of this is out of their control. And it all starts with the reason for the new canopies, which are needed as part of the system’s long-awaited replacement of the old, unreliable escalators.
“By state law, we are required to install canopies to protect those new escalators from the elements to ensure they remain viable for as long as possible,” Filippi said.
Another set of safety rules requires street-level structures to be transparent, for better visibility. So the options were glass or hard plastics, which can pose other problems related to wear and tear and vandalism.
“In terms of real answers here, the problem is of course the vandalism.” Philippi said. “The real solution here is to not have vandalism on a scale that not only damages BART property, but also damages the property of nearby businesses.”
“And so is our neighbor,” Saidi said of a nearby business. “Their glass is broken too.”
Saidi says the broken glass is exactly what downtown businesses don’t need right now. And he hopes the repairs come soon,
“People are coming back,” Saidi said. “But when you see things like that, does it scare everyone you know?”
BART says this level of vandalism is actually rare and appears to be the work of one person or group. BART Police are investigating and the agency says it is committed to finding those responsible and holding them accountable. There’s no word yet on when repairs to the damaged stations might begin.
Wilson Walker
