Portraits of the Plaza
With local leaders debating the fate of the STA Plaza, we spent a day getting to know people who actually use the downtown transit center INTERVIEWS BY CHRISTIAN VOSLER PHOTOS BY YOUNG KWAK
AISHA MARSHALL and IAN LOVERING Aisha Marshall, 18, is a sophomore at Eastern, studying pre-med. She says that while the Plaza is OK, “I don’t really like staying here very much at all. I try to leave as soon as I can.” Marshall and her 21-year-old boyfriend, Ian Lovering, are waiting for buses to take them to school. Lovering is in his first year at SFCC. For him, the Plaza could be a little more homey. “There’s no place to really relax and feel just away from stuff and study while you wait for a bus, that kind of thing,” Lovering says. The pair take the bus every day to get to and from school. At the top of their list of possible Plaza improvements is cleanliness; Marshall laments the state of the building’s bathrooms. “I actually really wish they had hand sanitizer — that’s, like, one of my main complaints,” she says. “I asked them about it, but they said that they’re not doing it because people started stealing them.” SARAH BAUM Sarah Baum, 61, frequents the Plaza every day, whether it’s for appointments, meetings or to take her grandson Joshua to school. This particular morning, Joshua is going to see the doctor. “I am so grateful that they put money into it so it’s a nice place to come into that’s warm,” Baum says. “It’s an open space, so it’s personable.” Baum says she feels safe in the Plaza and riding the bus. “I think the drivers are doing an amazing job,” she says. “They are all pretty nice people and a couple of them I call friends.”
NOVEMBER 13, 2014 INLANDER 23