http://www.star-telegram.com/living/article172092357.html

The city of Fort Worth is running into the same problem that all growing cities do in this modern age. A thriving downtown life and emerging art district have begun to lay unprecedented burdens on the city’s parking capabilities. The article notes how parking in Fort Worth used to be easily found and often free too. However, the growth of the city…

Do You Really Own Your Land? Eminent Domain Opinion, Michaela Kirkland

Eminent Domain - Full Video…

The Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at George Washington University School of Business and SmartGrowth America launched a report stating that Dallas lacks trails for transients to transit. The city occupied a ranking of 25th out of 30 big cities in an article called Foot Traffic Ahead: Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros. According to this report, Dallas has a big potential undeveloped caused, in part, to the slow expansion of DART's light-rail…

Since 1999, The University of North Texas and DART (Light Rail Transit) came together to move millions of people. This partnership benefited the economic growth of businesses near light rail stations. In this article is stated that property values near DART LRT stations grow much faster economically speaking than areas where a light rail station is not available, these public projects are within a quarter-mile of DART stations.

The region taken by the researchers of the University of…

          The Horseshoe Project, a $798 million design-build roadway construction project seeking to improve traffic flow through the heart of downtown Dallas, was created and developed by the Texas Department of Transportation. The project had its groundbreaking ceremony on April 27, 2013, and was made eligible by legislation passed back in 2011, which gifted TxDOT with "additional tools in the form of 'design-build' authorization as well as additional…

           Ian Bogost, a contributing editor for The Atlantic, argues in this article that the flooding occurring in Houston is due to a design problem. “It’s not because the water comes in. It’s because it is forced to leave again.” Flooding has always been an issue of keeping water out through both avoidance and engineering precaution; however, because floods cause greater property damage and more deaths than tornadoes or hurricanes, their impact must be addressed, especially in…

https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Americas-Transportation-Challenges.pdf

Richard Geddes, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, discusses the need for reform in America’s transportation infrastructure. He describes the current situation for our infrastructure: lack of funding for roads, bridges, etc.; outdated infrastructure, and crippling traffic in urban…

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/12/news/economy/gentrification-may-help-poor-people/index.html

Gentrification has become an issue in recent years that produces animosity towards the free market and capitalistic urban developers. CNN’s show, United Shades of America comes to mind. The show’s host, Kamau Bell, did a special on the gentrification of Portland in 2016. The…

In January 2016, Sian Berry, who was the Green Party’s candidate for mayor of London launched a campaign to close down London City Airport due to the claims that the airport contributed large amounts of both noise and air pollution to the environment and is detrimental to the neighboring boroughs in London. The plan basically revolved around the idea of closing down the accessible downtown city airport and replacing it with a development project which according to…

The City Beautiful movement subscribes to the philosophy of physical determinism which equates better buildings to better people. The design or beauty of buildings in a city would determine the way in which people would react or behave. Some inner cities have been ridden with poverty and crime due to the lack of funding for development, education, or law enforcement, and this can be attributed to the effects of urban sprawl. In order to address this issue, some…

It's no secret that President Donald Trump has made some pretty controversial remarks and actions in his short few months as president. Now, has he taken it too far? Many people have begun to voice that Trump's actions are unconstitutional. Some of these voices have come from representatives in the House. A few democratic representatives are so fed up with Trump that they have thrown around the idea of impeachment, but no one has really done anything about it. That is, until Wednesday…

The article examines satellite images in Syria, north of Damascus, and several other forms of evidence for the claim that the Syrian government is using a crematorium to hide mass murders at a prison. It examines many of the horrors of the Syrian regime and includes excerpts of citizens in nearby towns to support the suspicions. As a response to this, there are many questions being asked by the American people, such as “Why are these photos just being released?”. This matter concerns the…

There is a brand new street drug popping up in the South, specifically Atlanta, Georgia and Alabama. This new drug is called "Grey Death." The name is fitting not only because it has been the cause of several lethal overdoses but also because of it's unnatural grey color. So far Georgia police has seized about 50 batches of this mysterious new drug. The drug is mysterious because no one really knows the true contents of the concrete powder. Every batch that has turned up has been a different…

With President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration around the corner, one topic I find most interesting is Trump's loud opinions on Twitter. His tweets cover all sorts of topics, events, and issues. To be honest, most of his tweets sound like they change according to his mood. He is known for his rude, blunt and unfiltered comments, and to some that is frightening. Every time he tweets, I can rest assured one of my liberal friends on Facebook has already posted a blog about it with the title,…

This evening I read a post by a fellow DBU classmate that talked about Mr. Obama's farewell speech and the major points he spoke on. One main point my classmate stated was that Mr. Obama stated he would continue to serve our country regardless of him being in the presidential seat. I really loved hearing this statement from our past president because it shows true dedication to our country, which I believe we need more of in our country and its leaders. 

In addition, I also was…

One of my fellow classmates posted a blog post on an interview with the current Secretary of State, John Kerry. I personally, after watching the interview, agree with Mr. Kerry that our world is becoming very "factless." With the boom of technology in our world today, it is very difficult to create policies that will be centered around each individual person's opinions and the popular vote. Because of this, we have now seen an increase of people believing the content they see online or on a…

With President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration around the corner, one topic I find most interesting is Trump's loud opinions on Twitter. His tweets cover all sorts of topics, events, and issues. To be honest, most of his tweets sound like they change according to his mood. He is known for his rude, blunt and unfiltered comments, and to some that is frightening. Every time he tweets, I can rest assured one of my liberal friends on Facebook has already posted a blog about it with the title,…

According to an article posted by the New York Times and Samantha (a fellow DBU government student), the Republicans have stated that they will go ahead and begin to have cabinet meetings on Tuesday the tenth of January. Samantha detailed how this article intrigued her due to her interest and following of the most recent election, and how while many Democrats are complaining about the Republicans vast amount of power in both the executive and legislative branches.

After reading…

On Sunday night thousands tuned in to the Golden Globes, one of the film industries biggest nights for congratulating the best of their best. However, one of the acclaimed actresses decided to use this night for a different reason: to bash our country's newest president elect, Donald Trump. While many would say that we as Americans have freedom of speech and can say whatever we want whenever we want, many were outraged by Streep using her congratulatory speech television time to undermine…

            Today I read an article about the threat of clowns or people dressed around the nation due to a trend mostly seen on social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. In response to these threats, I believe that these threats while they may seem harmless should be taken seriously, especially by our local authorities and that we should begin to crack down more of these types of threats. People in these communities affected by these threats should report these threats to their…