Jaywalking, The New "It's a Trap"

When student drivers start their learning process in order to get their license, they get a book in which to study the laws of traffic and safety. One of the first things I remembered from that book was the phrase "pedestrians have the right of way". I always thought it was pretty broad, but I used it to my advantage even before I started to drive. I have only been driving for about 9 months and before that I used to walk and ride the bus everywhere. I have always knew about that pedestrian law, but here is the catch, many drivers don't. During the time that I had to walk around, I have encountered many close calls and drivers that were too ignorant to even allowed a licensed let alone drive a car. It's not just pedestrians that are in danger of these, but also cyclists. Should the city do more in order to provide better safety and protection for these people? The answer isn't really what we are hoping for.

In this post by Gritsforbreakfast, the author discusses the issue that Austin is having regarding pedestrian safety. Grits began by criticizing the data that is provided from another source regarding the hike of "auto-pedestrian" deaths. The data claims that from 2010 - 2011, there is a 83% increase in the rate of death caused by cars to pedestrians. This is set and good but there isn't much backing behind that data to setup a real conclusion. While the source maybe accurate, this has not satisfy the author enough into believing that there is a trend on the rise. Grits further pointed out that this could be just random fluctuations. The source in which Grits gained his information from did not publish previous years to compare from. The author claims that the information is inclusive and should be further researched into. However, I do believe that there is enough data so that the city could provide some solutions. What the city started doing is ghastly at best and the author believes so too.

Instead of proving public education and providing the infrastructure to help reduce auto-pedestrian deaths, the APD decided just to ticket everybody. The majority of those tickets were issued to pedestrians as opposed the drivers who broke the auto-pedestrian laws. After, APD got bored of just ticketing mainly pedestrians, they decided to use them as decoys to ticket drivers. Grits mention that this will only further patronize the driver and does not alleviate the issue. I agree, APD is taking an aggressive approach into this issue, rather than subtle one. Furthermore, Grits pointed out that the police chief is taking a laid back approach into this matter. Instead of proactively finding a solution for everyone, the chief only complained about cuts and the "loss of respect" from drivers. I believe it is a matter of no respect and the lack of education that is causing some of these issues. The author came to the conclusion that there isn't enough data going back far enough to really press the city and APD into doing something meaningful. Right now, they are just making it up as they go. Pointless and meaningless.

H20 : The New Oil

With the continuing drought and the strive to compete for more and more water, a recent Supreme Court ruling have turned a few heads. In this editorial by the Austin American Statesman, the authors questions the ruling that was made regarding how groundwater would be regulated under one's property. The ruling made it possible for property owners to pump as much water out underneath their land as possible. This has made regulating water essentially the same as regulating oil and gas. This ruling has also encouraged property owners to sue the water districts for compensation. There are 96 water districts in Texas. Each districts tries to strike a balance between a landowner's needs and the needs of other Texans. The ruling has a opened Pandora's Box in regards to the amount of litigation that ensue in the months ahead when landowners will catch onto this scheme. The regulators and landowners will fight over the meaning of "reasonable". What is fair for the landowner to use and how much will other Texans get. The authors try to pinpoint the logic behind this decision only to come out pondering what in the world were the justices thinking when they approved of this measure. Of course, the authors said it in a much nicer tone by filtering it with much more words. I concur with the authors about preserving property rights but what about the non property owners; do we cast them aside? Do we tell them to "go find their own water"? Is there a point where the government can step in to say, "hey you need to share with everyone else." I certainly believe so, ground water does not just flow beneath their land, but it connects with other sources and one landowner should not have the rights to take away all of that water for themselves. When will people realize that Texas is more than half desert and the need for water is not just a problem for landowners, but a problem for us all. I'm all about sharing but if landowners are gonna get greedy, then what is the point being nice to them? I'm not a mean person but i do hate greed.

Repeat After Me: Education Is Important!

While Governor Perry was on the trail during his doomed campaign for the White House, Texas lawmakers began to further cut down the state's dwindling education budget. According to this post on the Burnt Orange Report (BOR) website, lawmakers slashed a total of 5.4 billion dollars in education funds while his Governorship was away. This indeed caused quite a stirred among the members of the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) and the Democratic party. With elementary school classrooms size exceeding the legal limit due to the closures of schools of previous cuts, one would think that the cut would be unwise; but then again the people running the show in this state don't think. Education should be the among the last to be cut if not cut at all, but hey what do I know; subsidizing an archaic cloth industry in South Texas seems to be more important. Keeping ranchers happy in this state is a serious business. The TSTA have began to launch a petition to tell his Governorship to  call a special session in order to reverse the cuts. We would wise to sign this petition in order to save our future generations.