The Last One

   Although I completely agree with Siavash, statement in his blog Austin should extend the metro system, I must add to it. Yes, Austin should expand public transit but what’s the point if people are not really using it. From what I saw in Dec 2015 Ridership Report, a report from metro the number of passengers have been declining.
   What I believe Austin should do is collaborate with the cities around it to create a major train transit that is fast, really fast, connecting all of them. Why? Because that’s the exact reason people are not using public transportation now in days. It takes too long. Also, it would be a nice way to add tourism in a way. Because I know people would prefer to ride a fast train to Houston for example and get there in an hour instead of driving there.
   Another thing I must disagree with is that young drivers are not always at fault. I’ve had plenty of older people cut me off from the side road because they want to skip the line. Yet if you hit them it’s always going to be the young driver faults, because of “experience”.
   Overall it was a good blog but your argument lacked I didn’t feel a connection to it. In a way, you should have added, “Have you been stuck in traffic, frustrated and willing to change that? “something along those lines. Also, you didn’t mention a solution for traffic other than expanding the public transit. Shouldn’t we expand roads too? Maybe a lane for one public transit so the passengers would actually feel the benefits and actually use it?

What's going on?

     Shockingly another inmate in a Texas jail cell is found dead. According to Michaels Barajas article “Inmate Found Dead In Bexar County Jail”, a 50-year-old inmate was found dead in his cell. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office statement indicated that the inmate may have committed suicide. Seems like suicide is the answer to everything. That’s what they said about Sandra Bland, but later they granted her family a million dollars, because of wrongful death.
    This article is interesting because towards the end the author states, “If Sunday's death at the jail is ultimately ruled a suicide, the man would be at least the fifth person to take his own life inside the Bexar County lockup this year.” In another article by Michael Barajas, he states that there have been four suicides in just four weeks. I’m no detective but something is going on in Bexar County. But, according to the Texas Commission on Jail standards, there were no issues. As they conducted a surprise inspection on the jail.
     So, the question is, what is causing so many suicidal cases in that specific jail? I don’t think there’s a coincidence of four “suicides” in under a month. Something is going on in that jail, that needs to be investigated.

Texas Who?

     “Texas May Be Fracking Its Way Into Extinction” writing by my classmate who’s blog is called “Make America Blog Again”. Her commentary was about how the outcomes of fracking are destroying Texas. She includes examples such as water pollution, earthquakes, global warming and finally how fracking permanently removes water from its natural cycle.

     Her statement was, why is Texas allowing fracking when it's destroying it. Explaining that oil companies are buying out (lobbying) the government officials.  She makes a funny remark when she mentions, “However Oil companies have lots of money to spare on advertising, political agendas, and pimping out government officials as "political prostitutes." Furthermore, she explains how Governor Greg Abbot is a “political prostitute”, because he signed a bill allowing oil companies to frack all over Texas.

    I enjoyed reading this article because I once wanted to become a Petroleum Engineer. This could have been a factor that made me attach to her commentary. It was simple, straightforward and to the point. I liked the idea that she mentioned so many flaws from fracking, but she seemed biased about it. Although I completely agree with her, she could have mentioned something like, “Although fracking reduces our gas prices, helps the economy drastically, it's killing the environment. What is money when you don’t have potable water and a clean environment.” Overall her commentary was amazing and humorous, thus enjoying it the most out of all my other classmates.

Do you enjoy long rides on a train?

   A perfect world where you could go back to Dallas where you tasted the best, al pastor tacos. When you didn’t have the chance to eat at every single restaurant in the river walk, in San Antonio. When you stopped at the car wash in Forth Worth and saw your dream cars getting hand washed and detailed. But knowing the probability of you going back is slim to none. Why? Because yo're too lazy to drive.

   My proposition is creating a train connecting: Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, and Forth Worth. The total distance between all of them accumulates to 692-miles according to Google maps. The 177-mile long maglev train that is getting built in Japan cost them an estimated amount of 51 billion dollars. Therefore, it would cost Texas an estimated of 204 billion dollars.  And let’s just add another 50 billion, just to be save add stops like San Marcos, New Braunfels, Killeen, Huntsville. San Marcos for the outlets, New Braunfels for Six flags, Killen it’s just in the way and to be fair I know a cute girl that lives there so why not, and Huntsville… National Forest.

   Right now, you’re probably thinking this guy is crazy, 254 billion, NO WAY JOSE! But notice how I said Texas will pay for it. That’s probably chump change for them, this transportation system is going to be their next black gold. Why do I say this? Well because I also did research on tourism and in Austin, alone tourist spend an estimated amount of 7 billion annual according to DowntownAustin.com. This is no surprise, we host ACL, SXSW, F1, BMX and all kinds of crazy things.

   Tourism will increase with the train. The economy is going to be so good people are going to start moving here. (they already are) But there would be one difference. We won’t be mad at them for adding to the traffic problem. Why? Because We have a train. We as Texans won’t see a train as means of transportation because we’re still not as big as a large city such as L.A.  But statistics show that we are increasing in population very rapidly. And we need to prepare for those days. Austin wasn’t designed for a large population, I can’t speak for the rest of the cities, but I can tell you one thing. When your driving do you focus on the scenery or the road? Now when someone is driving do you focus on the car in front of you or what’s ahead of you?

   We need to look ahead and let money not be an obstacle. We don’t want it we need it.

Beep Beep

     Monday, through Thursday I wake up at 8:20 a.m. By the time I leave home it's 8:30 a.m. Notice I live 7 min away from campus, and most of the time it takes me 25-30 min get to school. In my opinion, Austin needs a better transportation system.

     In the editorial, “Mackowiak: Austin transportation solutions are never enough”, by Matt Mackowiak, Mackowiak talks about how solutions are never good enough for taxpayers because it will raise taxes. Explaining that taxes are already high, as Mackowaik states, “Property taxes in Austin are already out of control, and our city leaders continue to propose expensive ways to improve traffic only marginally.” But he adds that the taxes are worth it for our daily commute. He explains Adler proposal of creating “small corridors” through the city’s busiest roads, and “synchronizes and adapts stoplights in real-time, and adds sidewalks, turn lanes and continuous movement intersections on Loop 360”, is a better idea than what is going on right now.  

     Mackowiak proposition is simple, people should vote for a bill that would help improve and reduce congestion. As he states, “Austinites would be willing to pay for significant infrastructure if it would truly help their commute.” He also mentions that people think that the taxes are going to increase significantly. But as he explains, “Adler’s proposal would raise property taxes an average of $77 a year for the average homeowner while potentially making roads more efficient…”

    In conclusion, I believe Mackowiak has a valid point, voters should be in favor of improving our roads because as he stated, Austin is getting bigger and the roads weren’t designed for a rapidly growing city. Also, if where the city of Austin, I would just do it. People hate change. But if it's put into effect, people will get used to it. For example plastic bags. 

Money = Power

In the editorial,” More evictions pushing low-income families out of schools, community” by Alberta Phillips. Talks about how low-income families are getting evicted from their neighborhoods.  For the fact that wealthy investors are buying the property.  Thus building modern more expensive neighborhoods for wealthy people migrating to Austin. She states, “So instead of fixing properties in desirable areas of town, such as 5020 Manor Road, owners sell them for big profits. Apartments that were once low-rent then are replaced with higher-rent units or condos”. Phillips has a very interesting stance on this topic, she suggests that landowners should be helped to fix their property instead of selling it. This is said because now in days Austin rent is so expensive. So it’s very difficult for those families that have been living there for so long to transition to more elevated prices when they could barely afford the bare minimum. This is mentioned, “Instead of helping the people who have been living in these conditions for so long, whose health and safety has suffered, it (the repeat offender list) seems to be rewarding slumlords who have profited off families”. I agree with Phillips argument because poor people will exist everywhere. So instead of throwing them out of their house, because of their economical stance they should be helped. They are already suffering as she states, “ …hungry because their families are choosing between paying rent or buying enough food to last the month”.  But in reality, can they actually be helped? Even if you remodel where they live and make it look nice, the rent price most definitely will increase. The sad reality is that money always has the last word.

Blog #2

             Remember when a black person was killed by a cop? Seems like it happens all the time throughout the country. Sandra Bland is no less or no more important than the others, what makes her important is that she died in a Texas jail cell. (Texas Gov Class) "Sandra Bland's Family Looks Forward from Lawsuit Settlement" an article written by Johnathan Silver, explains why many people think it wasn't a "wrongful" death but because of racism. As Coleman states, "The traffic stop that led to Bland's arrest also raised questions about race and law enforcement. Bland shouldn't have been arrested, but it's commonplace for blacks to encounter law enforcement disproportionately". Sandra's mother took it into her own hands and took the case to court for further investigation. After a year Sandra's family has reached a settlement of $1.9 million dollars for wrongful death. This topic is interesting because it raises many questions. Such as why is no one responsible for the "wrongful" death? Why do taxpayers have to pay for someone's mistake (we always do). So what do you think was this because she was of color?

Hello