In March the D.C. Metro system abandoned a plan to raise commuters’ fares by as much as $2.10. Rider rage helped sink the proposal then, but it might not work this time: Another fare increase for Metro services has been proposed for the beginning of next year to cover a $109 million budget shortfall.

Last week Metro held a series of public hearings on the proposed increase in fares for its subways, buses and parking lots. Angry Metro and bus riders filled the agency’s hearing room last Wednesday. Hillscape happened to sit between two mild-mannered transit wonks from Potomac, Md., who had carpooled to the District to show their support for the fare increase and to suggest politely that Metro share with the public more information about its budget. They had to wait for 30 registered speakers before it was their turn.  

The second speaker let it rip, offering a litany of complaints about broken escalators, late buses and poor customer service. When she finished, the room burst into raucous applause. Ward 1 D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham, who sits on Metro’s board of directors, said, “We don’t want that kind of applause.”

“We don’t want the fare, you don’t want the applause!” shouted somebody in the audience, eliciting more applause. Graham banged his gavel, but it was the last time he complained about the clapping and shouting, which erupted every time somebody cursed Metro’s name, which was approximately every three minutes, for two hours.

Metro board members probably expected lots of angry rants, but they might have been surprised by the series of really, really angry rants by activists from the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, which hijacked the hearing.

“Why is it that the very first remedy this unelected board considers is a 25 percent tax on poor people?” asked one man, who said a surcharge on corporate profits and taxes on millionaires should cover the shortfall.

“This proposal is an attack on poor and working people here in D.C.

“This hearing is a sham!”

Several said the federal government should pay, noting that one day’s worth of funding for the war in Iraq would cover the projected shortfall four times over. About 10 people represented ANSWER at the hearing. For the duration of their comments, one ANSWER person unfurled a banner that got the message across most succinctly: “No to the fare hike! Tax the rich!”

As those in attendance continued to clap and yell, Sam Raker, one of the earnest transit wonks who’d driven from Maryland to voice support for the increase, started getting a little worried. He asked, “Are we going to get shot at?”

When his turn came to read his statement, he was brave: “I’m here to support [Metro] in seeking increases in fares and parking fees, to help pay for the increasing costs for operation and maintenance of the aging system,” he said, his written statement shaking slightly in his hand. “It’s fair that additional revenues be sought from all sources, including in particular the riders who benefit most directly.”

“BOOOOOOOOOO!” said the crowd. Raker, who does not live near enough to a Metro to benefit from it like many commuters do, made it through his statement despite the hostile environment. So did his friend, fellow Marylander Jerry Garson, who was booed but also cheered for asking Metro to be more precise about its budget problems. 

Ward 6 D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells has pounced on the super-hot D.C. tax office scandal, in which tax office employees cut themselves refund checks worth more than $30 million over a period of several years. Wells sent Mayor Adrian Fenty a letter looking to squeeze some good from this story of massive corruption.

“As a result of the investigation of the Office of Tax Revenue, it would appear that future expenditures for tax refunds within the FY 2008 budget are overstated and may no longer be needed to fund tax refunds,” Wells wrote. Pointing out that the improper funds reached between $4 million and $7 million a year, Wells asked Fenty to “restore full funding for Effective Youth Development and summer programming for children and youth during the current fiscal year.”

Funding for Effective Youth Development (EYD) programs had been cut from $8.5 million to $2.1 million for fiscal 2008, Wells wrote. Wells’s chief of staff, Charles Allen, says EYD programs fall under six major categories, such as violence intervention, gang intervention and truancy reduction.

One example of an EYD program would be the Time Dollar Youth Court, a program in which young misdemeanor offenders are diverted from the criminal justice system in favor of trials conducted by fellow youth at D.C. Superior Court on Saturday mornings. Kids sentence each other to terms of jury duty and essay writing. The program nearly shut down earlier this year because the city abruptly stopped funding it, despite the fact that its graduates have drastically lower recidivism rates than their counterparts in the juvenile criminal justice system — which saves the District millions. 

Fenty this summer extended the city’s Summer Youth Program through the beginning of the school year at a cost of $4 million. The program essentially keeps kids off the streets. Wells wants funding for a broader range of kid-helping programs. 

 State Department welfare

It’s not just District employees who excel at stealing from the city — it’s federal employees too! A former State Department employee was sentenced last month to several years of probation, 100 hours of community service, and to pay back the $50,384 she bilked from the District of Columbia government.

A U.S. Attorney’s Office report announces the sentence for Southeast D.C. resident Shellette Jackson, 34, who underreported her income in order to obtain housing benefits, food stamps and direct public assistance from the D.C. Housing Authority, the D.C. Department of Human Services, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the report, Jackson worked for the State Department from 1999 to 2006. In 2000 she started using doctored pay stubs and fake documents to apply for the bogus benefits.