Chad’s Morning Brief: Downtown Redevelopment, Immigration Triggers Defeated, and More
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of May 10, 2013. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am.
1. Downtown
I predict that over the next week or so you might hear a lot about Downtown redevelopment in Lubbock. With the Imagine Lubbock Together folks sharing their and your ideas with the public on Tuesday about how to make Lubbock a better place, the Downtown area is sure to be brought up.
Already this week a caller on my show brought up how it was a huge need in Lubbock to have a vibrant Downtown and how we should be okay spending taxpayer money on it.
Personally, I don't buy it. The people in Lubbock have spoken and right now they don't want to live, shop, or eat Downtown. Southwest Lubbock is booming and even Northwest Lubbock is starting to become a destination. Yes, Downtown Lubbock is dead. So what? So is Downtown Dallas and other Downtown areas throughout the United States.
Don't get me wrong, if private businesses want to spend their own money to revitalize and area, then I have no problem with it. But to spend taxpayer money on it would be stupid.
I always hear the argument from the Downtowners that businesses won't come to Lubbock or people will leave Lubbock if there isn't a vibrant/exciting Downtown. Give me a break. Businesses want to move to cities with low crime, good schools, and low taxes. Fix those areas of Lubbock first if you are worried about business. As far as visitor reaction to Downtown goes, I've never had anyone tell me that Lubbock is a horrible place because of Downtown. It doesn't happen. I think people from Lubbock are much harsher on the image of Lubbock than people outside of Lubbock are.
In time we will see how this revitalization goes, but I wouldn't expect much. People have decided where they wanted to live, work, and socialize and right now it's not Downtown.
2. Trigger Amendment Defeated (link)
Should the border be secure before the legalization of 11 million illegal immigrants happens? An amendment that would have done just that was defeated yesterday.
A bloc of 12 pro-immigration senators blocked a GOP amendment to freeze the proposed legalization of 11 million illegals until the border is secured, highlighting a fundamental political divide on the first day of voting on the far-reaching Senate immigration bill.
“The bill is … legalization first and enforcement later, and just opposite what the people think they’re getting, and opposite to what many members of Congress think is in the bill before us,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, the leading Republican on the Senate’s Judiciary Committee.
The defeat, however, gives critics an obvious argument during national debates over the immigration bill. Numerous polls show strong public demand for a secure border with Mexico.
Democrats defeated, by 12 votes to 6, an amendment that would have frozen the conditional legalization process until the White House actually completes construction of a two-layer fence all along the border. Public support for a fence is also high.
The majority bloc, led by chairman Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the author of the pending bill, insisted that Grassley amendment would not increase security, but would stop the legalization.
The amendment “would basically delay probably forever legalization and bringing people out of the shadows,” Schumer claimed.
The amendment “would be less effective in making our borders … safer and more secure than what we do in the bill,” he insisted.
Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham — both of whom worked with Schumer to draft the bill — voted with the 10 Democrats.
Disappointed in the Republicans who voted along with the Democrats on this, but I'm not surprised. Does the border need to be secure? Yes, and most Americans want to see that happen before anyone gains legal status.
3. Small Government Youth? (link)
According to a new poll out, the majority of college-age students want government to stay out of their lives. If that's true, why did college-age people vote for President Obama?
In a survey launched by Young America's Foundation and conducted by the polling company, Kellyanne Conway, Inc., more than 60 percent of college-age students feel that government should not take an active role in their day-to-day-lives, and half of respondents believe that the federal government is mostly hurting economic recovery.
President Ronald Reagan said, "Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States." And, as the poll suggests, young people share this belief: 66 percent of the students polled had a positive opinion of "entrepreneurship," 44 percent found "free markets" positive, and 42 percent believe the federal government is an opponent rather than a partner in the pursuit of the American Dream.
It seems every time we turn on the TV or visit our favorite news site, the media is telling us what issues should matter to us, such as gun control and abortion. However, in YAF's study, neither of those issues ranks in the top five for the respondents, who cited the economy (21 percent), jobs (16 percent), education (16 percent), and the national debt (14 percent). We went to college or received an advanced degree in hopes of bettering our situation and having a productive and fruitful life. Isn't that the goal of every generation?
I really do wish I could believe this poll, but I don't.
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These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com
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