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

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The city staff has a status quo approach to the state requirement that the out of date Davis general plan be updated.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.

The problems with the city, with its finances, with the economy, with how city hall is disorganized, with how the city council works, relations between the City of Davis and UCD, relations between the City of Davis and Yolo County, all of these things are outside of the general plan. We should become a charter city, and then create criteria to do daily evaluation of the performance to match the expectations laid out in the charter. 12 major criteria (each with 10 subcategories): education, residential housing, rental housing, the retail economy, the infrastructure economy, relations with UCD, relations with other jurisdictions, health and social services, recreation, transportation, law enforcement (including daily evaluation of the city council and all city staff), environment, and quality of life. 132 daily indicators matrix add up to measure the well-being of our shared reality. Each indicator should be sensitive like 98.6.

For example, Interface between UCD and the City of Davis from the City’s Point of View

1. Environmental/Traffic/Immediate…2/10
2. Financial…2/10
3. Housing and Long Term Planning…1/10
4. Economic Development Synergy…1/10
5. Institutional Relationship of the Silos – Leadership and Guts (Police, Ongoing Operations)…3/10
6. UCD Research with Corporate War Machine…1/10
7. Media…4/10
8. Joint Relationship with the State and Federal Governments…1/10
9. Accountability back from the City to UCD…3/10
10. Sense of Well-Being…1/10

Total: 19 = 1.9/10

Where a general plan revision is a reformation of the existing concept of the city’s common vision, going through the process of actually considering a charter requires a city to dig deep into its psyche, to re-conceptualize its identity. Davis is a suburban car oriented city with a bicycle logo. Given the reality of climate change and Davis’ 53% transit caused carbon footprint, where can the city go from here?

Think of Davis as a permaculture experiment in sustainability.

The Power of the matrix is that you can work on one of the 120, and presume that the other 119 are functioning in the GREEN (5+/10). Then slowly you can work your way to where most of the 120 are no longer in the RED (1/10-4/10) danger area.

In each of the 120 areas, 1) definition and 2) empirical questions.

1) Definition: this is the beginning of developing a portfolio of ideas, data and analysis of what this is, what the policy issues are, what people care about, and why this is such an important problem that it is symptomatic of the health of the entire city.

2) Empirical questions: given everything we know so far, what things happen most days that would indicate good or bad what is really happening, what would be sensitive indicators of incipient instability that suggest the beginning of significant change that matters?

Goal: Once the Charter is laid out, the 120 indicators should cover all of the charter. Until then, the matrix serves as a background for the discussion on creating a governing structure that enhances community building in the 21st century, given what we know up to now.

After the Charter is ratified by the voters, then the daily updated matrix becomes the way the city is governed. RED areas become the major bones of contention, and citizens and the government focus their attention on reducing the RED and monitoring the GREEN to make sure they do not become RED.

The stalwarts of the status quo will argue about what a particular indicator does or doesn’t measure. At various times in political debates, the data of the matrix will drive and even define the different arguments, but the matrix will force issues to the surface, not resolve them. The purpose of the matrix is to establish a common ground for focusing political discussion towards problem solving: the art of the possible.

Jon Li came to Davis in 1966 to study political economy.