Blog Critique: Xeriscaping

In an article by The Lonestar State stands alone, xeriscaping is offered as a solution to help decrease the amount of water that is being used in Texas. I agree that this would be a good idea especially since Texas has many droughts and could be using this saved water elsewhere. I think that watering the lawn takes up a lot of water and the article says that “anywhere from 25% to 60% of household water consumption is used for landscaping”, which we should be conserving for other important uses such as drinking water. I have even seen sprinklers running while it is raining outside which just goes to show how wasteful it can be.

I have seen yards in other states, such as Nevada and New Mexico, which use xeriscaping for their yards and I think that it looks good. Some people may be opposed to switching from their lawns, but I think that it looks just as good and doesn’t need the sort of maintenance that grass does. In conclusion, I think that xeriscaping is a good plan and Texas should implement it in order to conserve water.

Texas May Refuse Environmental Rules

The Obama administration proposed a directive in June that is meant to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. However, Texas may try to ignore this proposal. The proposal is asking for a 200 billion pound decrease in carbon emissions from Texas power plants over the next 20 years.

Although I think that it is a good decision for Texas to regulate the amount of carbon emissions it has, I think that Texas should be able to make its own laws regarding the issue. I think that legislators in Texas should know what is best for their state, and creating the laws themselves may be better. An article by Neena Satija said that there was an event in the Texas Capitol where the chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality talked about the proposal. There were over 100 people who attended and the general consensus was "that the state should sue the Environmental Protection Agency, or even the federal government itself, over the rules if they are finalized." I think that other measures should be taken before Texas sues anyone in order to avoid any unintended consequences. When Texas tried to avoid federal environmental rules before, it only led to a slow-down of the permitting process and energy companies lost a lot of money.

I definitely think that the amount of carbon emissions needs to be regulated in order to take better care of our environment. There is only one earth and I think a lot of people take the environment for granted and don't care about polluting it as long as they can make money. While I know the federal government is trying to do something about this issue, I think that they should come to agreement with Texas and the other states on more specialized programs. This way, each state can do what is best for itself as well as the environment.

Editorial Commentary

While I agree with Longhorn Liberties that “traffic in Austin has gotten progressively worse over the last few years”, I am not sure that creating a metro rail system in Austin would help.

I read an article by Amanda Haight where she explained that Austinites must first adopt a public transportation based lifestyle before millions of dollars are invested. Building a metro rail system in Austin would be difficult because it would have to be built around the city, whereas New York has had their underground subways since 1904. Cities like New York have been able to grow around their public transit system and there has always been room for it. Austin is constantly under construction and there is only so much it can fit. Building the rail in Austin would be very expensive and Austinites would have to be willing to give up their cars and use the rail. I think that if Austinites support the idea of making a metro rail system and actually use it, then the metro rails could be a good solution to the traffic problem.    

Same-Sex Marriage and Texas' Economy

Texas should legalize same-sex marriage, not only to have equality, but also to boost the economy.

I don’t see why same sex couples aren’t allowed to get married in Texas. If one person loves another person, then I think that it shouldn’t be the up to the government or anyone else as to whether or not they can get married. It should only be the business of the couple getting married. These couples are going to be together anyways, so why not allow them to have the benefits of marriage? They should be able to get the social security and tax benefits that married couples receive. It’s not fair that there are more states that allow cousins to get married than there are states that allow same-sex marriage. Criminals are allowed to get married and even strangers in Las Vegas are allowed to get married- just as long as they aren’t of the same sex.

In addition to having equality, legalizing same-sex marriage in Texas would add millions of dollars to the state and local economy. A study by the UCLA Williams Institute, the amount of money spent on wedding arrangements and tourism for same-sex marriages would amount to $181.6 million for the state and local economy over the course of three years. This would also help create many more jobs and the wedding planning industry would boom. Rather than having same-sex couples from Texas leave the state and get married elsewhere, Texas could be the one attracting same-sex couples from other states and further help its economy.

I think that the pros outweigh the cons when legalizing same-sex marriage in Texas. Same-sex couples would get equality and the benefits of marriage, while Texas’ economy would prosper from these marriages. I think that in this situation, everyone wins.  

Tax-Payers' Money Used for Pizza

An article written by Christopher Paxton explains how over $200,000 of tax money is being used to build a Gattiland in Taylor, Texas. His main audience would be citizens of Taylor because they are the ones who should be aware of this issue and could possibly do something about it. He is also a credible source because he is a Budget and Fiscal Policy Analyst for Empower Texans, so he is familiar on the topic. Paxton makes it clear that it is not fair to use tax-payers' money to make this pizza restaurant, especially when some of those tax-payers have their own pizza restaurants right down the street. I agree with him and believe that it is not fair that these restaurant owners are having their money be used for their competition. The justification for building this $200,000 Gattiland was that the area didn't have enough youth hangouts which leads to a weakness in the local economy. Although this might be true, I think that the people of Taylor, Texas should have been able to have a say in what would be built and where. I agree with Paxton when he says that it is unfair for the city to use taxpayer money to stimulate certain businesses and not others. This makes it unclear on which businesses get stimulated and which don't, and there should be a more fair method of choosing this. I also agree with Paxton when he says that the citizens of Taylor should want a change in the type of leadership they are getting. They need to understand that there are decisions being made that they may not know about and that may affect them in the future.

A Public Transportation Mindset

Amanda Haight wrote an article about public transportation and the recent adoption of the 2014 Austin Strategic Mobility Plan (ASMP) by the Austin City Council. This is a $1 billion project and it would include creating a new urban rail. Haight’s intended audience seems to be Austinites since those would be the people to use this new form of transportation and she is a credible source because she is from Austin and giving her take on the issue at hand. She believes that it is not a good idea to build the new rail system until Austinites adopt the mentality of a public transportation based lifestyle. I agree with her and believe that just because a new urban rail is created, doesn’t necessarily mean people will give up driving their cars to use it. This would require them to change up their routine and there may be some people that don’t feel like doing that. There were even supporters of light rail who came to the meeting to oppose the ASMP proposition. Haight makes the point that if people who normally support a light rail are saying that it is a bad idea, then that probably means that some more thought should be put into this product before a billion dollars is invested into it.

Haight also mentions the public transportation in France, where she studied abroad, and says that everyone there has the mentality of a public transportation based lifestyle. People there don’t really use their cars because the cities were developed around the transportation systems. However in Austin, the transportation system would be built into a city that is already established. I agree with her point about the mentality they have in France because I just recently got back from studying abroad in Spain and they did the same thing. Everyone uses public transportation to get around because it has always been there. As Haight has stated, if we are going to spend a billion dollars on this new rail, then Austinites would need to be willing to adopt a public transportation lifestyle first.

UT President Forced to Resign

On July 8^th, an article was written by Richard Whittaker about the controversy surrounding Bill Powers’ job as the president of the University of Texas at Austin. Powers was being forced to resign by UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa, and UT staff and alumni were not happy. The issue seemed to stem from whether or not Powers was abusing the admissions process by allowing friends and family members of lawmakers to get into the UT Law School. Powers says that he will step down in a year, but Cigarroa wants him gone this week and Cigarroa is already scheduled to quit later in the year. I don’t know why Cigarroa is so adamant to get Powers fired, and public figures such as Sen. Rodney Ellis and Board Chairman Charles Matthews have even stated that Cigarroa’s actions are making matters worse for both UT and the Board of Regents. Since I am a student at UT, this decision will affect me and my education. This article is a good read and gives a lot of insight to the tension between Powers and Cigarroa as well as other political members.