North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 8, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 7, 2011 Page: 1 of 8

Fields of Mean Green dreams
Find out where to watch UNT's fall sports teams compete
Sports | Page 5
Little fitters
Heat, drought force wildlife into the open
Arts & Life | Page 3
Wednesday, September 7,2011
Volume 98 I Issue 8
Cloudy
87° / 57
North Texas ]Daily
News 1,2
Arts & Life 3
Sports 4,5
Photo Story 6
Vie ws 7
Classifieds 8
Games 8
3 ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Group gives
opinions on
city surplus
Alex Macon
Senior Staff Writer
About 50 Denton residents
attended the Denton City Council
meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to
give their input regarding the city's
proposed 2011-2012 budget plan,
where the conversation quickly
turned to the implementation of
a new bike plan.
A diverse group that included
cyclists, college students, children
and an elderly woman who said
she rode her bike 10 miles, voiced
their support for the city's bike
plan. Mayor Mark Burroughs read
from the comment cards of other
Denton residents who said they
wanted the city's surplus money
to go toward the bike plan.
Devin Taylor, a cyclist and
supporter of the bike plan who
drew a raucous round of applause
after his brief presentation on the
plan, suggested the city spend
$232,295 of its current surplus to
add 20 miles of bike lanes in the
next year.
"This is a start," Taylor said. "If
we build a mile ayear, we'll never
catch up, but if we build 10 ayear
we'll get there."
The city's budget includes a
$333,676 surplus for city council
initiatives. The surplus was initially
estimated at $192,000, butwentup
because of an increase in the city's
projected sales tax revenue.
See COUNCIL on Page 2
t
Photo by Brian Maschino/Staff Photographer
The remains of a house located at 537 Highway 21, Bastrop, Texas. Over the past week, more than 118,400 acres of land in the Austin area burned from wildfires.
Wildfires continue path of destruction
Wire and staff reports
Four people have been killed and more than
1,000 homes destroyed as fast-moving central
Texas wildfires raged Tuesday, the third day of
one of the most devastating wildfire outbreaks in
Texas history.
Severe drought conditions have contributed to
the outbreak of about 180 separate fires across the
state in the past week, the most severe of which
continued to blaze Tuesday outside the town of
Bastrop, 30 miles southwest of Austin. The fire
has claimed more than 600 homes and forced the
evacuation of several thousand mostly rural resi-
dents.
Governor Rick Perry cut short a campaign trip to
South Carolina on Monday to oversee the disaster
response. In what Perry has called the "worst Texas
fire season ever," wildfires have burned more than
3.6 million acres, and Perry has issued disaster
proclamations nine times since December.
About 1,200 firefighters from local departments
and across the country are battling the Texas
flames, and more are expected to arrive in the
coming days.
To see a photo story of the Texas
wildfires and aftermath, see Page 6
A-train ridership grows, students demand more routes
Caitlyn Jones
Intern
After less than two months
of service, Denton County
Transportation Authority's
A-train seems to have hit its
stride during UNT's first week
of classes.
Ridership spiked from about
1,100 riders per day before school
started to 1,500 last week when
hundreds of commuting students
between Dallas and Denton used
the rail line to travel to and from
campus for their first week of
classes.
"We're now carrying 1,400 to
1,500 passengers on the trains
and another 17,000 on shuttles,"
said Dee Leggett, vice president
of communications for DCTA.
"The trains have been full and we
can safely assume that it's been
because of students."
The A-trainis a regional rail line
that connects Denton to Dallas
via DART lines in Carrollton.
It follows parallel to Interstate
Highway 35E, making stops in
Dallas, Denton and Lewisville.
The cost of a monthly regional
pass is $120.
The peak hours of ridership
are in the mornings around
7-9 a.m. during the week when
1,100
riders per day before
the start of school
1,500
riders per day after
the start of school
17,000
shuttle riders per day
$120
for a DCTA monthly
regional pass
$8.2
million ayear to
operate the A-train
system
both college students and work
commuters fill the trains to their
maximum capacity to reach their
destinations.
While the trains have many
shuttles in the morning and
evening, some students are
unhappy with the lack of
multiple mid-day shuttles for
commuters who are done with
classes early or who have after-
noon classes. No northbound
Photo by James Corfas/Senior Staff Photographer
Two men board the A-train on its opening day. Since then, ridership has grown to 1,500 riders a day.
trains run between 8:36 a.m.
and 3:06 p.m., and southbound
trains are not in service between
8:51 a.m. and3:19 p.m.
"I currently cannot ride the
train due to the hours," commu-
nications junior Delori Brittain
said. "I would make it to UNT
without difficulty. The issue is
that they don't start running
again until three, so I'd be waiting
two hours for the train."
DCTA says it will develop a
survey to collect information
about travel needs of the riders.
Until then, riders will have to
work their schedules around
the A-train.
"I understand DCTA is
recouping the cost of the train,"
Brittain said. "But the bus
running once an hour is not an
adequate solution in my eyes."
DCTA spends $8.2 million
a year to operate the A-train
system. With the increase in
ridership in the past few weeks,
the revenue from the project is
expected to increase as well.
"Although we don't make
profits off of the trains because
they're a public service, we do
expecttomakeup 15percentof
the total cost in revenue," Leggett
said.
As of now, DCTA is leasing
trains from DART to use for the
A-train system.
Permanent trains are being
imported from Switzerland
through the Gulf of Mexico and
shipped up to Denton.
"Two trains have already
arrived and another is set to
arrive today," Leggett said. "But
because we have to run tests on
the trains, they won't be running
until spring."
What's Inside
NEWS* UNT seeks to enhance
public percep tion
A RTS & I IFF* Alumni premiere
comedy cartoon
SPORTS* ^en*01 f°rward earns
* conference award
VIEWS- C°ach McCarneywrites
* open letter to students
Page 2
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Page 7
New ordinance addresses game-day parking
k'f
Nicole Bat,per as
Senior Staff Writer
With this weekend's first UNT foot-
ball home game in mind, Denton offi-
cials are taking measures to be sure
that neighborhoods surrounding UNT's
new Apogee Stadium don't become a
new tailgating spot.
Ordinance No. 2011-138 was passed
and approved by Denton Mayor Mark
Burroughs Aug. 16 to ensure the safety
of Denia neighborhood residents. The
neighborhood, which borders Apogee
Stadium, was thought by some of its
residents to be at risk for game-time
traffic.
"We do have some traffic concerns,"
said Denia neighborhood resident Bruce
Chamberlain. "Bonnie Brae is such a
skinny road, so we're willing to go along
with this plan."
The ordinance, which can be viewed
at cityofdenton.com, will restrict street
parking in the neighborhood during
stadium event times.
Signs indicating times of enforce-
ment will be put up about two hours
before stadium events, said Emerson
Vorel, director of parks and recreation
for the city of Denton.
Anyone parked along the street during
an event must visibly display a resident
or guest permit in his or her vehicle.
"It's been formulating for several
months now while we talked with the
city and with residents," Vorel said.
"This seemed to be the best answer."
Denia residents have been notified
of this change, and now it's up to event
attendees to use caution when choosing
a place to park.
"I don't know that we're really antici-
pating [extra ticketing] because we have
sent out notification to residents, so I
think most people know about it," said
Denton deputy officer Renz.
Because times of enforcement will
vary depending on the event, residents
and visitors of the Denia neighbor-
hood should be vigilant when parking
and plan ahead for large events, Vorel
said.
See PARKING on Page 2