Damn The Drag

(BLOG 7)
     On April 14, 2016 Terri Langford posted “Slaying Fuels Parent Demands to Make UT, Drag Safer” on The Texas Tribune. Langford writes about how over the years the popular “Drag Strip”, located on Guadalupe Street, has become infested with homeless individuals.

After the murder of UT freshman Haruka Weiser many parents are concerned of the growing homeless population that hang around the downtown Austin area. Many of them are sending emails and creating Facebook page, to the university, expressing their ideas on what should be done. Although the university has not responded directly to these concerns, one parent suggests there should be more bicycle officers, better lighting, which will inevitably push away people from sleeping/loitering. There are also online petitions that have about 624 signatures that aim to remove the homeless off Guadalupe Street.

David Cater who is the Chief of the UT Police Dept. has only 80 officers over the 434 acre campus. The University of Texas at Austin is worth million so why can they only afford 1 officer per every 5-6 acres. Carter also says that "You can't rely on the police to solve the problems of the homeless.”

I completely understand that we cannot rely on the police to solve the homeless crisis in Austin. How would the parents of Haruka Weiser feel if they were told the same thing? I can safely assume that most people feel a police officers job is to protect the people. If there is a situation where the welfare of students are being threaten the police should take immediate action and responses. There are over 40k students at UT, that’s also over 40K parents; The University should listen to all the brilliant ideas parents are expressing to them and hopefully they can create a long lasting solution to protect the students and people of Austin.