The Evidence Keeps Saying Yes. The Incumbents Keep Saying Wait.

BART installed fare gates at 48 stations and violent crime dropped 36%, overall crime 41% — almost exactly replicating what happened when Bratton’s NYC Transit Police started arresting fare jumpers in 1990 and found 1 in 6 had outstanding warrants. Thirty-five years apart, same intervention, same result. The “root causes first” crowd had three decades to prove their case. The turnstiles proved theirs in one year.

Fifty-two people died on DC streets in 2024, and Waymo’s peer-reviewed data shows a 92% reduction in pedestrian injuries across 57 million miles. DC mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, backed by the transit workers’ union, told a podcast the city “isn’t ready.” Her opponent Kenyan McDuffie introduced legislation to bring autonomous vehicles to DC. It’s the same fight SF already had — and the same stalling playbook.