Homeless: Criminal or just plain misfortunate?

     In a list of the top 20 meanest cities The National Coalition for the Homeless named four Texas cities (Dallas 6th, Houston 7th, San Antonio 13th, and Austin 15th) as some of the meanest cities towards the homeless in the United States. Why does Texas appear on this list more than other states? 

     Homeless, who lack private property to do even the basic necessities of life such as sleeping and going to the bathroom, are being criminalized for doing things that every human needs to do to get by. 

     Some argue that they are violent and aggressive, which I have found to be true on few occasions. Living down by The University of Texas at Austin, many homeless, locally referred to as "drag rats", populate the streets begging for spare change. A friend of mine was stabbed in the leg while innocently walking past a drunk and angry drag rat. Another occasion a female friend of mine was verbally harassed and chased down the street.  Although on these few occasions I agree, the majority of homeless people out there are kind and are just trying to do what they can to get by. They are so grateful to receive so little, and most always say "God bless" and truly mean it. Just because a few vagrants are aggressive, it doesn't mean others should be punished for those people's actions. 

     Texas has laws in place that prohibit vagrants from sleeping in public places.  Feeding the homeless is even punishable by fine if you are not at a government approved location in certain cities. Not only is it illegal for people to feed the homeless, but it's now illegal for the homeless to feed themselves in Houston. A man was fined for fishing a donut out of a trashcan at a park by a local officer. This law was put in place in an attempt to push the homeless outside of city limits to "improve the quality of life" for other residents. 

     There were approximately 29,615 persons homeless in Texas in 2013. Texas needs to do more to get the homeless off the streets and out of jails into supplemental housing or temporary housing. 

Thankfully local and federal funding has given around $2.2 million to create places like Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) to help get people off the streets and back on their feet. Even with places like this there is inadequate shelter space leaving many people out on the street and vulnerable to arrest.  According to a study done by the National Coalition for the Homeless "It is more expensive to detain a person in jail than to house and offer services." Providing homes rather than jailing could save a difference of about $110 per day. The city could offer a temporary housing situation in return for the homeless working for the government by doing something as simple as keeping streets clean, or could implementing small jobs to help them get back on their feet and build up a resume, rather than criminalizing them resulting in a criminal "record". 

     It is truly unfortunate and heartbreaking to see people on the streets being ignored and treated like trash instead of helped. I hope Texas government will see their fault in criminalizing the homeless and do something to change it. 

How safe is Houston really?

     This blog post written on July 7th, 2014 by Don Hooper in Big Jolly Politics titled, "Is the Houston Police Department keeping us safe?" brings lots of issues from over the years into the light. This post, directed towards any Texas resident, but mainly Houston area residents, criticizes the effectiveness of the HPD in solving crimes and investigating homicides. 

     In this article are attached links in which Ryan Chandler, now a former HPD homicide detective, was found neglecting to investigate murder cases he was assigned to. This isn't the only problem within Houston's Crime Lab. Other problems within HPD have risen, but this is nothing new to Houston residents.  Time after time local governance has tried to cover up their mistakes, but after so many scandals it's getting harder to hide or ignore. 

     Hooper questions the validity of HPD, and all of it's internal structure. Too many people are not doing their job correctly, and trying to cover up their mistakes. When reading this article, you can feel Hooper's strong dislike for the Houston justice system, especially his dislike for Chandler and the District Attorney.  He uses other news articles to back up the reasoning behind his feelings. The sources he uses seem valid, embedding links within his blog post to other websites including local news articles, and graphic charts. 

     I would agree with this article, something needs to be done so we can send a message to people in HPD, that these kind of actions will not be tolerated.  Our tax dollars are paying for these people to do their job incorrectly. If it goes on like it has been the problem will only progress because ultimately we are supporting it.  Houston will continue to be unsafe unless we see a change and crimes are being solved.  I think Hooper does a good job in calling out the HPD and bringing attention to their wrongdoings. If a few people are replaced it would be very beneficial to the department and city as a whole. 

New Voting Machines for Travis County

     This article feature in Texas Tribune is very interesting because it shows Travis county officials that saw a problem and are taking action to fix it.  Fed up with the old system, local office holder, DeBeauvoir, is working on creating a new software system to replace the previous technology.

     This new software should make it easier, more accurate and more efficient to vote, so people that were previously concerned with the difficulty and flaws in the system would be more likely to cast votes now that those issues are being improved. It uses new cutting edge technology and paper audits as an alternative to the old, sometimes faulty method of casting votes. 

     Because of the cost of $8.5 million, DeBeauvoir is looking to share the technology with neighboring counties. This deal, if successful, could help boost rapport between the local government offices.

     It will be interesting to see if the product will be successful in the next gubernatorial race.  Perhaps it will grow beyond just Travis County and other local Texas polling centers to become a system used nationwide.