Squandered Trust
Comments given to the Davis City Council by Mimi McMahon
Trust is an important element when citizens elect officials to act on their behalf. There is no room for special interests or personal gain. A promise is a contract. The City has squandered the trust of Davis citizens and those affected by the Mace Mess you and your staff have created. You have wasted millions of dollars of our hard-earned taxes.
Broken and Unfulfilled Promises
Poor communication continues; irregularities confirmed
By Roberta Millstein
At Tuesday’s Council meeting, several Davisites and I showed up to give public comment about an item on the Consent Calendar, scheduled to be approved without discussion. The item concerned the environmental review for a new housing project proposal for Olive Drive.
We raised concerns such as: the fact that this was the first time the project was disclosed to Davisites, preventing any input from citizens prior to review; the failure of City staff to provide the project application and description, only providing them when Colin Walsh noticed that they were missing and requested them, with the result that Davisites had less than the required 72 hours to review (see article from Colin Walsh); and the likelihood that the project is not realistic as proposed, which would make the environmental review pointless at best.
This was the third time in recent days that we have had to raise concerns about items being on the Consent Calendar that should not have been, the other two times having to do with a proposed ~200 acre business park on prime farmland outside of Mace curve.
Last time, Councilmember Will Arnold yelled at us. This time, he compared us to Flat Earthers.
By Alan Hirsch
On Thursday Caltrans will hold a workshop on the future of the I-80 corridor, Davis’s Connection to the rest of the World. It will be in the Blanchard room of the Library at 6:30pm.
Caltrans will be considering different options to deal with transportation demand in this corridor.
Will they just address only thru traffic, i.e. Tahoe Snowbirds…or real needs of people who live in the corridor, for example transit needs that can’t be met by slow, limited stop and expensive Capitol Corridor Train service or the anemic and unreliable Yolobus service?
If you care about traffic on Mace Blvd…or how we can have accommodate economic growth in Davis — like the proposed 12,000 (!!!) trip a day Aggie business park on Mace curve — this is the meeting to go to.
Another example of big development lacking public disclosure is on tonight's City Council Agenda
By Colin Walsh
The City of Davis failed to disclose a significant new 76 unit project proposal on Olive Drive (addresses 1031, 1037, 1041, 1047, and 1055), just down from the corner of Richards and Olive, until a contract for environmental review was placed on the consent calendar for the Nov. 19 meeting. Even then the City failed to disclose ANY of the application information until citizens asked for it. With the documents only released on mid Friday afternoon before a council meeting Davis citizens are left with little opportunity to review the pages of material.
Supervisor race kerfuffle
By Linda Deos
Last week, the United States House of Representatives began impeachment hearings, focused on the President’s decision to withhold Congressionally approved military aide from Ukraine in exchange for dirt on his political opponent. This same week, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court indicated it might take away DACA, President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, threatening millions of young immigrants with potential deportation. These actions highlight the vast powers of the state, and the ways they can be wielded against innocent people.
We live in the City of Davis, often referred to with a bit of pride by longtime, liberal residents (and consternation by more conservative ones) as ‘The People’s Republic of Davis.’ But we are also the city that made national news a few years ago when protesting students were pepper sprayed by campus police. And now we are a city where a longtime Enterprise columnist casually referred to a group of Davis residents as “Trumpian” for writing an op-ed in the paper.
Notice of Scoping Meeting and Preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
What follows is the official notice of a meeting that you can attend to give input on the Supplemental EIR on the so-called "Aggie Research Campus," formerly named "Mace Ranch Innovation Center." The project would include not only offices and R&D space, but also housing and a hotel, with ~4300 parking spaces total.
Information on the project can be found on the City of Davis's website, here.
By Colin Walsh
So my dear neighbors I want to tell you about the flag I just hung on my porch. You probably recognize it. It has been increasingly popular in recent years as more people display it. It has come to be a symbol of pride for many, but others find it surprisingly controversial. I want to tell you why I put it out.
It all started over the last few years. Increasingly there are kids at my house who view gender very differently than my friends and I did growing up. There is really a whole range of ideas that have been represented among the young people that come and go from my house and that is just what I know about.
Sadly, as I have talked with these young people, I have learned that many of their parents are unaccepting of their self-perception. For example, I know one young man coming of age who identifies male, but their father insists on calling them by their very feminine birth name. There are others who, I have learned, struggle with their parents over whether or not it is OK to love or desire the gender they have realized they do. It makes me sad to think of the pain not being accepted by their parents causes them, so I started thinking I might fly a flag in front of my house, so they know they are welcome here.
By Tom Owczarzak
I’ve been replacing a rotten deck this week. It is a pretty standard task in my world. Replacing rotten things. The fact of the matter is that nature wants to break down non-living things and return them to their cellular state. Once something stops growing, like wood, nature brings a variety of tools to bear to break it apart. Sun, rain, insects – all in the toolbox.
It provides a pretty serious level of job security.
So, when I am working on these projects, I think of myself as part of the toolbox as well. Although I have tools of destruction on my side that speed it up considerably. And like the other natural elements that work toward deterioration, I try to return the material to some form that can be re-used by nature.
I have taken almost every part of a house and re-purposed it into another part of another house a multitude of times. My last house was built almost entirely out of three other houses. Wood, tile, stone, even leftover paint have all been used with impunity.
And it usually makes me think about the cycle of things. How one thing turns into another which turns into another.
When I was teaching in college, I used to tell students that reincarnation was nothing more than composting. The various parts of us eventually become the parts of other things. And in that way, we are reborn thousands of times.
And these days I have been looking around the world at all the things that people are despairing about and thinking the same thing.
There is nothing in this universe that lasts forever. Nothing. Eventually, they will rot and deteriorate or just be worn down and need to be replaced. It is not a tragedy. It is life.
The Buddhists say that most of the grief in life comes from trying to hold on to these impermanent things. And when we can accept the impermanence then we can be freed from this endless cycle of sadness.
I kinda buy into the idea even if I still get attached to things. Not holding on to the people I love is a near impossible task. And their passing brings about tremendous suffering. But I do believe that everything passes and our relationship to that is life defining.
Sometimes I find myself wanting to broadcast some grand message to the world. To try to get a couple things across to everyone. And I mean everyone. Lately it has been this message. That there is nothing permanent in this world. And change is not a tragedy. It is natural.
That we can live our lives without the impending sense of doom or panic. That we can accept the change as it comes – even if we are attached to the things that are changing.
Basically, that all things, good or bad, pass. And, if we have faith, these things will come around again. Not in the exact same way but in some manner.
And, most importantly, that it all works out in the end. I believe that.
Happy Wednesday everyone. I hope you can find some acceptance for the things that change in your life today. Maybe it is something small or maybe it is ground-shaking. But it is all on schedule and part of the glorious ride called life. And if you are having trouble accepting it – that’s cool too. There’s room for that as well. It will all work out in the end either way.
(From press release) Benefit the greater good while shopping for the holidays at the Davis United Methodist Church Alternative Giving Fair, Sunday morning, November 24, from 9:30 to 1 pm.
The fair will include homemade items, handicrafts from around the world, calendars, cards and other seasonal items. All proceeds benefit non-profits, such as Heifer International, Sierra Club, Grace Garden, Sahaya International, and United Methodist service projects. The church is located at 1620 Anderson Road in Davis.
Davis United Methodist Church is a reconciling and an inclusive community of faith. Church services are Sundays at 8:30 and 11:00. For more information, visit www.davisumc.org or contact the church office at davisumc@davisumc.org or 530-756-2170.
(From press release) The city of Winters is the fourth local jurisdiction to join Valley Clean Energy, Yolo County’s not-for-profit public clean power electricity agency. The cities of Woodland and Davis as well as the unincorporated area of Yolo County are already members, having launched the agency in June 2018.
At its Oct. 15 meeting, the Winters City Council passed a resolution approving the terms of membership in VCE as well as the first reading of an ordinance authorizing implementation of the community choice aggregation program for all electricity customers in Winters. The second reading and adoption of the ordinance occurred at the Nov. 5 council meeting.
Davisite 