No More Parks! :(

Texas is known for various reasons and one of them is for its parks; it saddens me to see that there is going to be closure of at least 7 parks in Texas due to the budget. Parks bring families together, make memorable experiences, and it’s a place where you can connect yourself with nature.

Ian Davis expresses his opinion on the closures of parks through this article “Keep Texas state parks funded, open” available in the El Paso Times. Ian attempts to get the attention of the general public, environmentalist, and state official. His efforts are to let people know that the reasons why they are closing the parks are because legislatures don’t see the value of parks and they are expensive. Ian mentions that Texas parks stimulate the economy in Texas by producing 12,000 jobs and adding 283 million dollars into our communities. He also comments that the Sporting Good Sale Tax has not been used adequately; “The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department only received approximately one-quarter of the Sporting Goods Sales Tax revenues for the 2012-2013 biennium.”

We cannot let parks get closed down and we can’t let the legislature use the Sporting Good Sales Tax on other items. Ian suggest that there is no need for a new tax, also he thinks that the Sporting Good Sales Tax should just be used for parks and not be used for other things, because with the money received from that tax is sufficient to keep the parks open in Texas  

I completely agree with Ian, and I really liked the way he presented his opinion: he showed the benefits of the parks, and he illustrated facts to the viewers. I think that The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department should claim its money and not let it be used for other things. Ian is right we need to take pride in our parks, because if we don’t we may not be able to cherish what nature has to offer us.

Fear of Texas Becoming a Blue State...

                    I found an article on Austin American Statesman that interested me, it was by Tim Eaton “Immigration bills dwindle at Texas legislature”, it talks about how a few years back there were many bills filed that was concerned with illegal immigration, and this year that number dropped. It gives a few reasons why that number may have dropped, one of the reasons is: many republicans were shocked to see the outcome of the election of 2012, because there was a high percentage of Latino voters, which Mitt Romney only got around 27%. Republicans have a bad reputation within the Latino community, which has made many republican rethink their strategy and try to attract more Latino voters, or they could be losing their positions to democrats. The topic of immigration has been on the rise since the dream act was passed; also many other states are passing bills that are beneficial to immigrants, for example a bill that was passed in Illinois that will allow for illegal immigrants to obtain a license. I think this article is very interesting because many illegal immigrants have hope that Obama will pass an immigration reform soon.                  

                  In my opinion, when I was reading this article it made me feel like if republicans have so much hatred towards immigrants. Let’s state the fact that Native Americans were here before any other race was here in America, so we are all immigrants here. What I don’t understand why the lash against immigrants? They are human beings like any other one of us, and I think they deserve a chance to a better life, like many Europeans had when they migrated to America fleeing the desperation they were facing in Europe.

Immigration Bills Dwindle at Texas Legislature