Blog Stage 8

I personally agree with Amanda 's blog post about the inefficiency of the HB 2 bill that is being passed in congress. I think she did a great job at addressing the points the original author tried to emphasize and listed her own reasons why she disagrees with the HB 2. Her point about the increase of education in order to stop people who are not ready to be parents form getting pregnant is a great point made.

Blog Stage 7

The good old Austin we know and love, a place for breakfast tacos and breweries, is changing every day right before our eyes. In the past 10 years the Austin scene has seen a great amount of change, by pushing the poor people out of the east side and bringing the rich in. The gentrification system is leading the state to become more weak in my eyes, in order to have social and economical stability ,I feel that there should not be concentrated populations of rich as well as the poor. The United States will end up having slums and  estates like those seen in many countries in the world, like Saudi Arabia, Mexico, etc. Social flexibility cannot be obtained without the population feeling somewhat “equal” to their neighbor, and this is exactly what gentrification is doing to the US. The Austin, Tx we know and love is being gentrified right before our eyes. The east side is becoming less affordable every year “At the end of 2006, rents at 22 apartment buildings considered affordable along the East Riverside corridor ranged between $496 and $871.The Austinist has stated that this year, rents at those complexes range between $568 and $1,550” which is leading the more wealthy population to migrate to those areas, leaving the less fortunate to move to outer places like Del Valle (Chan, 2). The low income families that are relocating to Del Valle suffer have to suffer with food insecurity and worry about wether or not their children are getting the best education they can based on their location. Overall, there are many different opinions on if gentrification has positive results or negative results, obviously the rich believe it is a great tool for clearing geographic areas but a few of us Austinites would definitely agree it is not the only answer. 

Blog stage 6

The blog topic talking about metro rails in austin expressed the positive opinion on having trains running through the entire city of austin as well as neighboring communities. While others may oppose, I actually believe that the metro rails have been extremely effective and are a step in the right direction towards decreasing pollution and conserving more natural resources. The metro rail system in Austin exceeded the predicted cost of $2.5 million by $11.5 million, costing a total of $13 million in the past year. Obviously the price of labor as well as fuel has been increasing in the past ten years which is when this estimate was given. Even though this seems like a large sum of money, it's quite insignificant if the government is providing it. Due to QE, the fed has been printing uncanny amounts of money like its nothing. I think the metro rails will be extremely effective for the environment and overall stress levels of the austin residents. The economy in Austin is booming right now and has positive predictions for the future years. The author makes a good effort to point out all the positive outcomes the metro rail will have on the austinites as well as the history of austin's introduction to metro rails in the 2011 project.

Immigration Reform

The Texas immigration issue that is going on right now does not take in consideration to the children that are transported here against their will. These children often come here on a legal status and overstay their welcome in the United States without knowing so. Later on in life they will face extreme hardships if they remain in America, such as not being able to have a drivers license, have a job with a legal wage, or even find an apartment to live in. 

Republicans make the assumption that the immigrants are the ones draining the government funds with welfare programs, without really looking at facts or numbers. 

The way that the republicans look at the issue is on the side of the native born citizen, but what constitutes a “native born citizen”? In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived to the United States on a ship on accident. Once he arrived, he claimed this land as Spain’s land. Most of the “native born citizens” in the United States are decedents of Spain, which could also be known as immigrants. The problem we face currently is the influx of Mexicans into the United States. There are many people who want to be in the United States but cannot be here legally unless they have specific representation of identification.

 This is not what Mr. Columbus did when he came to the now known United States and killed every rebellious Indian in his path. If Spain could have taken this country with brute force and no consequences, why cant the rest of the world take this land as their own?

Blog Stage 4

Harold Cook’s article talking about the open carry legislation and its’ opponents was great at letting the public see both sides of the story. On one hand he talked about how the NRA have been fighting for the open carry activism, and on the other hand he mentioned anti open carry groups such as the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.  What I liked best about his article was his ability to show why people with opposing ideologies are both right in their arguments. While the NRA is supposed to be an organization filled with admiration and respect, they failed incredibly when they decided to call the MDAGSA (Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America) “thugs with jugs” simply because they don’t believe in open carry policy.  Cook clearly is not very supportive to the NRA since he calls them the  Penis Compensation Caucus so I imagine it was refreshing to some people who are also non-supportive to open carry policy , to read his article, especially  coming from a Texas man. I really respected his way of calling out the careless members of the NRA who resorted to name calling when defending their beliefs. Although it is very easy to see who he identifies himself with, he made a clear point to treat both groups of believers equally. A group of women should not be referred to as “wenches” simply because they don’t share the same ideologies as the organization. Overall I think Harold Cook did a great job at setting equal grounds for both arguments. 

Blog stage 3

For the past 4 summers, the city of Austin has been dealing with a serious drought, and although this summer we have been blessed by a couple of rainstorms, we are nowhere near full recovery from the drought. An article on the Dallas News explains the history of water management and it shines a light on riverside industries’ damage to our environment and water needs. 

Over the years the quantity as well as the quality of water has decreased due to businesses’ “Prior Appropriation System” which provides water rights and access determined on seniority. Companies’ as well as farms’ ability to draw large quantities of water is dooming the environment even more than we know. Rice farms have also drained large amounts of water from the lakes. Unfortunately we rely solely on mother nature to provide water for all the bodies of water in central Texas, and thankfully this finally caught the eye of city leaders and has caused them to start acting towards creating better water reservoirs. Smaller cities in central Texas, especially in the west, have started to look for other solutions including recycling treated sewage water because they are so concerned about what the future holds for them in terms of water supply. 

The fact that the courts are concentrating on establishing fair usage standards will help out the state overall in my opinion. I agree with DeLuca’s editorial and I’m also really glad I found it to help me understand the history as well as the causes of water supply issues in central Texas. 

Blog stage 2

The article from the Daily Texan  I chose to write about talked about Greg Abbott’s opinion over Obama’s last speech given in Austin, Tx regarding the economic progress. The reason I think this article was worth reading is because I found it interesting to see why Abbott had rough critique on Obama’s speech. I can’t decide if Abbot is giving constructive criticism about the President’s speech and future plans for the economy or if he is just bashing on his word choice and lack of effective action. Abbott spoke in a room full of mostly women, about their gender’s huge influence on the economy and recognized them for playing such a big part in the rise and stabilization of the austin economy, yet it’s been said that he does not pay  the women in his office a fair wage, so maybe that’s some food for thought.