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Davisite Banner. Left side the bicycle obelisk at 3rd and University. Right side the trellis at the entrance to the Arboretum.

Month: March 2018

  • Ready Player One: Movie Review

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    I’ll be honest; I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Ready Player One, the newest courtesan to Hollywood grandmaster Steven Spielberg’s harem of family-friendly adventure fantasy films, up on the big screen. No, I haven’t anything against the man for the vast majorityof his features are nothing short of fantastic (with exceptions to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and 1941), I simply just wasn’t all that jazzed up for Ready Player One’s premise. I still haven’t read the novel by Ernest Cline, but from what I gathered from the marketing and trailers it seemed like yet another cinematic hero’s journey structured as a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory-esque wish-fulfillment fantasy with all the sweets replaced by video game/retro pop-culture icons. Now while that all sounds chaotically amazeballs on paper I was still somewhat skeptical of how the whole picture would turn out; and you know what? I had a total blast! Once again Spielberg has proven himself as the crown king of whimsically potent visual storytelling and has produced a cinematic adventure that’s so remarkably fluid and fun that I still feel silly for doubting him in the first place.

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  • On Nishi 2.0: A simple question about fair housing in Davis

    Housing-clipart-_9667858236By Michael Harrington

    Dear City Leaders:
    May I ask a simple question?

    If I want to advertise a rental unit on Craig’s List, and I list if for $1,000 to anyone, but $850 to a full time, card carrying student, everyone knows that as a private owner and lessor, I cannot do this. I cannot do this even if the City thinks it’s fine and gives a City Council 5-0 vote blessing and passing an ordinance.

    This question is not anti-student or anti-student affordable housing. It’s a basic fair housing question.

    So, how is Nishi 2.0 any different than my renting a house to students and non-students, with a 15% discount for being a fulltime student?

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  • Seven FAQs about Nishi Air Quality

    Nishi-pic1. What is the Nishi project?

    Measure J/R gives Davis citizens the right to vote on whether residences (aimed at students, but not exclusively for students) should be built on the Nishi property.  Two years ago, Davis citizens voted down a project at Nishi.  That project had a commercial component and a residential component.  The new project proposal, often called Nishi 2.0, just has a residential component, plus allowances for daycare, nursery, outdoor exercise areas, etc.

    2. Nishi is near a freeway. So what? A number of places in Davis are near freeways.  Do they have bad air quality too?

    Studies show that all sites near freeways suffer from poor air quality.  Quoting a recent LA Times article:

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  • City Council Candidates Changing Positions on Measure R

    CivEnergyForumThe Davis College Democrats (DCD) have excoriated Linda Deos for her apparent change of position on Measure R* from "I am definitely for repealing" to "I support Measure R." Now, with the publication of the candidates' responses to CivEnergy's question about Measure R, we can see where the other four candidates besides Deos who were at the DCD forum now stand on Measure R.

    Mary Jo Bryan to the DCD: "Repealing of course. I have never voted for it."

    Mary Jo Bryan to CivEnergy: "I am neutral at this point."

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  • How can we measure Davis as a healthy, sustainable bio-social economic organism confronted with perpetual UCD Disruptions?

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    Source: Davis Wiki

    By Jon Li

    The city staff has a status quo approach to the state requirement that the out of date Davis general plan be updated. Staff has imposed a rigid process where the Downtown Plan Advisory Committee is only allowed to listen. Everything is subject exclusively to city council ratification; staff does not want any changes from either the Advisory Committee or the City Council. Staff only wants the right to claim they are acting on the authority of the city council. The city council has no control over the city staff.

    Davis’ economy is so pathetic that it cannot afford the government we have, let alone the amenities most people in Davis take for granted.

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  • A New Strategic Plan for the Open Space Program: City Process Done Right

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    Source: Davis Wiki

    At the City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 20, a very important but easily missed item was presented and approved by the Council: The 2030 Strategic Plan for the City of Davis Open Space Program. I highlight it here not only because I think the issues are near and dear to many Davisites' hearts, but also because I think it serves as an excellent example of community-staff-commission-Council coordination that I would like to see more of (and I say this as someone who has criticized City processes in the past, e.g., here).

    The process toward a new strategic plan for the Open Space program began approximately halfway into the 30 year lifespan of Measure O, a tax that the voters of Davis agreed to impose upon themselves in order to provide for, among other things, "Acquisition in fee or easement of open space lands within the Davis planning area…the improvement, operation, maintenance and/or monitoring of open space lands currently owned by the City in fee easement [or] acquired by the City in the future, including but not limited to the restoration, enhancement and preservation of habitat areas, maintenance of open space lands, and monitoring of habitat and agricultural conservation easements."

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  • A Tale of Two Towns: Searching for the “Other”

    PflugervilleBy Christy Corp-Minamijji

    I have two hometowns, a couple thousand miles apart.

    This morning I dropped my son off at his high school – his bike is broken. The rainy morning scene was almost aggressively normal – the patient loop of cars through the parking lot, waving each other on through our windshield wipers; helmet-wearing teens biking in through the exit – latte cups in one hand, steering with the other. Just another “late start” Wednesday.

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  • District Attorney Candidate Dean Johansson Played Key Role in Development of New City of Davis Surveillance Ordinance

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    (Press release) Yolo County ACLU* board member Dean Johansson – now a candidate for Yolo County District Attorney – played a leadership role in developing the surveillance ordinance passed unanimously Tuesday, March 20, 2018, by the Davis City Council.

    The ordinance – which regulates city departments’ use of surveillance technology, building in safeguards to protect civil liberties – was the result of a year and a half of collaboration between the Yolo County ACLU, ACLU of Northern California, Davis City Council, Police Chief Darren Pytel, and Brian Hofer, Chair of the City of Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission.

    Other community groups, including the Davis Human Relations Commission, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, ACLU People Power, and the National Lawyers Guild supported the development and passage of the ordinance.

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  • Deceptive phone calls about Nishi’s air quality “mitigation”

    Nishi-picBy Thomas A. Cahill

    Davis citizens are reporting phone calls from the pro-Nishi folk implying that I support their proposal just because they are using the ultra-fine filters we developed in their mitigation efforts.

    In fact, I strongly oppose the Nishi proposal since the mitigation they propose will be grossly inadequate to address the severe air quality conditions at Nishi. The 95% mitigation they mention is based on work in a wind tunnel, not dwellings.

    The best we have been able to achieve in occupied dwellings is well below 50%, and thus seriously inadequate to mitigate the Nishi air quality threats.

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  • Statement from the Dean Johansson for Yolo DA Campaign

    DeanRecently the DA’s office put out a press release stating that they may soon start doing what what we’ve been advocating for since this campaign began…voluntarily reducing or dismissing convictions for marijuana-related offenses.

    In response Dean made the following statement

    “Although this announcement is clearly politically motivated — and it is unclear whether the DA is exceeding or merely fulfilling his duties under Proposition 64 — I sincerely hope that the DA keeps his promise to help these individuals get their lives back. I’m also proud that our grassroots campaign is already having an impact and changing the conversation about drug enforcement in our county.

    “If the current DA is truly committed to restoring justice I would urge him to be transparent about the harm that his past policies have caused. We all know that the war on drugs has disproportionately harmed communities of color, yet the DA’s office claims they do not track drug cases by race or ethnicity. The DA should also explain his past decisions to target medical marijuana growers. Did he truly believe that this was in the public interest and a wise use of our resources?”

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