Written By: Al Crespo May 27, 2014
Website: www.crespogram.
Between August 1, 2012 and July 30, 2013, the Florida East Coast Railway Police arrested 231 people for trespassing when they walked across the railroad track in the photos above.
From a review of the arrest reports and in talking with some of the individuals who continue to walk across the railroad tracks, their real crime was being poor.
From a review of the arrest reports and in talking with some of the individuals who continue to walk across the railroad tracks, their real crime was being poor.
The photos above are of NW 17th Street between North Miami Avenue and NW 1st Avenue, and the people arrested were people who for the most part lived on the Westside of the tracks in Overtown. Many were going or coming from work, or the Publix grocery store on Biscayne Boulevard, or from any number of other locations on the Eastside of the tracks.
They crossed the tracks here because it is the only open section along the tracks between 14th and 20th street that allows one to cross the tracks. When you’re poor - $11 a day poor - and have to walk, the most direct path between two points is always going to be the way you want to go.
For years, this stretch of track was vacant, but a couple years ago the FEC Railway company started refurbishing the track to allow cargo containers to be moved from the Port of Miami to staging areas in Hialeah, and no one disputes the issue of safety when people walk across railroad tracks, but at the same time, the frequency of arrests along a very small portion of the track from roughly NW 8th Street to 20th Street that borders the poorest section of the poorest District in the City of Miami cannot be ignored.
I live in Miami Shores, a predominately White, middle and upper-middle class Village where people walk their dogs along the track all the time, and in checking with local police no one has ever to their knowledge been arrested for trespassing on the FEC tracks.
Most folks who were stopped by the FEC Police received an Arrest Complaint like the one below.
Others weren’t so lucky.
Others weren’t so lucky.
Edduard Prince managed to piss the cops off when he stood up for his rights, and ended up being arrested. Instead of getting mad, Prince filed a lawsuit.
To his credit, Nazeribe Ihekwaba, the Director of Public Works for the City reached out to the FEC earlier this month in an effort to make the 17th Street crossing a legal thoroughfare.
In addition, I ran into attorney John De Leon, who does a lot of civil rights and first amendment legal work, and he indicated that he had heard about this situation and was interested in talking to folks who might have been arrested for crossing these railroad tracks. His phone number is 305.740.5347.
The reason why I titled this story as “A Hidden Cost Of How Income Inequality Affects Poor People In Miami,” is because these Arrest Citations become a part of a person’s “criminal record.”
In checking with the Public Defender;s Office I learned that every year as many as 50,000 people in Miami-Dade County are arrested or charged with a misdemeanor - these trespassing charges ARE misdemeanors - and even though the courts have been throwing them out as fast as they’ve been filed - the way in which employers today rely on internet background checks means that these charges can have an impact on hiring, housing and any number of other decisions.
That’s one hell of a price to pay for wanting to walk home or to work the quickest way possible.
It’s Miami, Bitches!
It’s Miami, Bitches!
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