I support Linda Deos for Davis City Council, not because she is a friend, not because she serves on the Yolo County Health Council, not because she has a rescued dog (although I enjoy dogs immensely), and not because she helped a church member pro bono.
Month: May 2018
-
Opposing the Nishi project Because of Costs & Lack of Integrity in the Process
By Matt WilliamsIndividuals have different reasons for opposing the Nishi project. My personal reasons are as follows:
- Nishi 2.0 will cost Davis taxpayers between $350,000 and $750,000 per year.
- Nishi’s cash contribution to City has shrunk 90% from $1.4 million down to $143,000.
- $650,000 per year of Community Services District revenues in Nishi 2016 have “vanished” in Nishi 2018.
- Nishi 2018 has no dollars for deferred maintenance of capital infrastructure.
- That is the same short-sighted, politically-driven thinking that created the current dilapidated state of our roads and the $8 million annual shortfall in the City Budget.
Guess who picks up the fiscal difference … Davis taxpayers
-
Dean Johansson for Yolo County District Attorney
Dean Johansson is an exceptionally well-qualified candidate for the Yolo County District Attorney. Not only has he served as a public defender in Yolo County for eleven years, he has served as a prosecutor in two other counties. He has practiced for ten years as private attorney representing civil rights cases. More of his biography and awards can be accessed at Meet Dean on Dean4DA.com
Dean Johansson plans to be smart on crime which means going after the serious offenders and diverting less serious individuals to programs that would address their underlying issues. Programs that accept these individuals without criminalizing them. Examples would include a working Mental Health Court that would treat the mentally ill as patients in need; a substance abuse program that would work on a medical model; anger management and domestic violence would be treated on a class therapy model.
-
What’s Up Davis Enterprise
I submitted a letter to the editor about our group, Yolo County Progressives, endorsing Linda Deos and Ezra Beeman.
I received the following reply:
-
In CA, it’s not too late to register and vote!
IN CALIFORNIA IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER & VOTEConditional Voter Registration & Voting at same time!
May 22 to Jun 5Yolo County Location:
Yolo County Elections Department
625 Court Street, Room B05
Woodland, CA 95695Need a ride? Call / Text M E 916.248.6442
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
May 22 to Jun 5~~~~
Do you know when a felon in CA can vote?
When she or he is finished with parole. That very day they get signed off of parole they can register to vote.
This information is kept on the down low. Spread the word.
-
UCD can, and needs to provide far more on-campus housing
Orchard Park, still closed after 4 yearsUCD’s inadequate LRDP needs major revisions
By Eileen M. Samitz
UCD’s LRDP proposal is seriously inadequate
The UCD LRDP and its associated Draft EIR were released recently after the UCD LRDP update process invited input since fall 2015. The problem is UCD LRDP and its associated Draft EIR are seriously inadequate, as was pointed out by the detailed City Staff letter review of the documents. The City Staff letter, approved by City Council recently, pointed out numerous problems with the UCD LRDP proposal.
The problems include an insufficient amount of student housing proposed (i.e. the City Council’s recommended “50/100” plan was not included) as well as the astonishing lack of many basic details including: 1) timelines of housing to materialize, 2) inadequate student housing densities, and 3) a failure to recognize and acknowledge the significant impacts environmentally and on the City’s infrastructure due to UCD’s shortfall of beds proposed. The proposed LRDP would continue shifting the majority of their student housing burden onto the City.
-
Are the Woodland Daily Democrat, the Davis Enterprise, and the Sacramento Bee to be trusted in their endorsements?
By M E Gladis Apparently the editorial staff of the Woodland Daily Democrat, the Davis Enterprise, and the Sacramento Bee, three of the newspapers that have endorsed the current Yolo County district attorney, support a 41% rate of felony trials which end in acquittal by juries or dismissal by judges.This 41% rate is more than double the state average. Could a county supervisor please let the voters of Yolo County know how many millions of dollars of taxpayer money is wasted on these futile efforts of overcharging by the current district attorney?
It would seem these editorial staff, also appreciate direct file, which is a charge as an adult on a youth. Since 2013, 93% of direct files have been against Hispanic youth.What is behind this bias of overcharging the Hispanics? It would seem a civilian oversight of the current district attorney is in order.
-
Charging 12 months rent for nine months occupancy
Photo source: KRCABy John Troidl
The majority of off campus and some of the on-campus housing targeting UC Davis students requires applicants for residence to sign a 12 month lease. When I first came to Davis and some students told me about this practice, I was astonished and asked them if they were sure this was true: Maybe they misunderstood the terms of the standard lease because after all these were young people without a lot of experiences with real estate and leasing.
They were correct, it turns out, and they told me about the "Summer Scramble" of trying to sublet their places (with/without landlord permission) to recoup at least some of the lost cash they spent for rent on apartments that they did not need for the Summer. Unbelievable!
-
Promised Nishi Mitigation Features May Never Materialize
Proponents of Nishi have made much of the promised mitigation features: the tree screen and the air filters. One has to ask, of course, why mitigation is even necessary, and the EIR for the project makes that clear: the location between I-80 and the train tracks brings with it poor air quality and "significant and unavoidable" health impacts. There is no controversy on that point, although some "merchants of doubt" have tried to turn it into one.
Questions have also been raised about whether the promised mitigation will do what it is supposed to do; for example, Dr. Thomas Cahill has pointed out that the tree screen will be much less effective because the freeway is elevated adjacent to Nishi, and the supposed 95% efficiency of the air filters has never actually been demonstrated in a real-life situation (with filters operating at a much lower efficiency in real-life situations).
But the situation is even worse than that. The promised mitigation measures might not even be implemented.
-
Flatlander In the Mail Today and Tomorrow
By Robert MilbrodtThe Flatlander is now distributing its election issue. For the first time in 20 years we are delivering it by US Post. If you live in Davis, please expect it in your mailbox today or tomorrow. Bruce Mackenzie who used to walk so many routs to deliver the paper used to say, "Hey, that was a real Flat-lander" as the paper landed in Driveways all over town. This one is for you Bruce, we miss you.
Davisite 