CLEVELAND, Ohio -- RTA's board has tabled, and effectively killed, a controversial proposal to crack down on youths who aren't paying fares on rapid-transit lines.

George Dixon, chairman of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority board, said Tuesday that he feared the policy would fall too heavily on young black males and minority communities served by the transit lines.

Dixon said he and at least two other black male members of RTA's nine-member board had concerns about sending young fare-jumpers to the county's juvenile court.

Minority leaders have long been concerned about the disproportionate number of blacks in the county's juvenile and adult court systems.

The fare-jumping policy, supported by RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese, would not have resulted in a criminal violation for youths who didn't pay the fine. Instead, they would have performed community service, possibly at RTA facilities, under the juvenile court's diversion program.

But Dixon said the youths would still be "in" the juvenile system.

"Once in the diversion program, RTA no longer has control," Dixon said after the meeting. "This is nothing negative about the [juvenile] court system. I prefer a system where we had a little more control."

RTA officials believe they are losing tens of thousands of dollars to youths abusing an honor-based fare system on the HealthLine and Red Line rapids.

Calabrese proposed a plan under which young scofflaws, and their parents, would receive notice of a $50 fine. They would have 30 days to pay or face having the case referred to juvenile court.

RTA transit police have few options now in dealing with young scofflaws, other than arresting them. Other transit systems levy fines on them, Calabrese noted.

Before the vote, an ACLU official asked RTA officials to consider the "racial implications" of a policy that could add to the disproportionate number of blacks and other minorities in the juvenile court system.

"You should work not to push kids into court," said Shakyra Diaz, education director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation.

Dixon and other members of the RTA board's finance committee voted in favor of the policy, in a meeting held just before the RTA board's regular monthly session on Tuesday.

That's why several board members looked stunned when Dixon successfully moved to table the policy during the regular meeting.

"I have more control with it at the full board level," Dixon said after the meeting. "I knew it was troubling all the board members. I just took if off them and put it on me."

Dixon said tabling the policy had nothing to do with concerns expressed recently by the Cleveland NAACP that an increasing number of young black men are being arrested on some RTA lines.

Calabrese said he has called NAACP President George Forbes to address the issue.

Concerns might stem from background checks RTA police perform while issuing tickets to adults who illegally park at bus stops or who jump transit lines without paying, Calabrese said.

When those checks turn up outstanding warrants, "our cops, like every other cop, are obligated to take action on that warrant," Calabrese said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: tbreckenridge@plaind.com, 216-999-4695