With the recession in economy, more and more people are losing their jobs and homes. These homeless people are wandering off the streets and are trying to find a place to live. Recent laws passed by some cities have allowed these people to live in camps and shelters. Some people have even found permanent housing thanks to the city and local nonprofits such as charities and church ministries. However, most of them are not that lucky. More help needs to be done. These so called "shelters" are only a temporary solution and not that good. Cities and counties are unwilling to spend a substantial amount of money to aid these homeless people. Some cities are actually shutting down these tent cities. Neighbors believe that a tent city devalues the quality of the community and actively argue against it.
I believe that cities should legalize these camps and allow people to live in organized tent communities. Wherever you go, there will be people who are homeless. Forcing these people to be rousted and cited by the police is not a solution to this problem. Allowing these people to live in organized communities would be much more cost-effective and less time-consuming than chasing after them. Also, federal assistance is necessary for these homeless people. Tent cities can lead to crime and unsanitary conditions. Some homeless people have a mental illness or addiction, or both. The government should serve to help the people, just like we let the government govern us. We cannot just abandon these people.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Classmate's Blog
In one of my classmate's blog, Shaina writes an article called Senators Seek a Ban on Texting and Driving. A legislation was introduced into the Senate that would give states up to 2 years to ban text messaging while driving or face a 25% loss in their highway funds each year.
The author supports passing this law, primarily by some statistics. It was found that truck drivers are 23 times more likely to get in an accident while texting than while not doing so. Also, the author expresses shock when finding out that texting while driving is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. I fully agree with the author. I, too, have been texting while driving and agree that this is very dangerous and distracting. The author says that "distracted drivers account for almost 80% of all crashes in the United States." If texting while driving becomes illegal, surely the number of distracted drivers, and ultimately, the number of accidents will decrease.
Issues like these are usually dealt in the state government but this is not the first time the national government tried to enforce laws to the states. Congress did the same thing by threatening to withhold federal highway funds when it pressured states to raise the drinking age to 21 years old. However, as cell phones have been growing in popularity in recent years, texting while driving has become a problem. I believe the national government is applying pressure on states with good reasons. Even after passing this law, enforcing it will be pretty difficult since it is hard to catch someone who is texting while driving. Additional laws should be made to enforce this law, but as of now, I agree with the author that the government is on the right track.
The author supports passing this law, primarily by some statistics. It was found that truck drivers are 23 times more likely to get in an accident while texting than while not doing so. Also, the author expresses shock when finding out that texting while driving is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. I fully agree with the author. I, too, have been texting while driving and agree that this is very dangerous and distracting. The author says that "distracted drivers account for almost 80% of all crashes in the United States." If texting while driving becomes illegal, surely the number of distracted drivers, and ultimately, the number of accidents will decrease.
Issues like these are usually dealt in the state government but this is not the first time the national government tried to enforce laws to the states. Congress did the same thing by threatening to withhold federal highway funds when it pressured states to raise the drinking age to 21 years old. However, as cell phones have been growing in popularity in recent years, texting while driving has become a problem. I believe the national government is applying pressure on states with good reasons. Even after passing this law, enforcing it will be pretty difficult since it is hard to catch someone who is texting while driving. Additional laws should be made to enforce this law, but as of now, I agree with the author that the government is on the right track.
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