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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: January 2020

  • Commissions and Quorum-Buffers

    By Todd Edelman

    The high wheeler bike share bikes are rusting, the tomatoes are hibernating, the persimmons are throbbing, the Creek’s not so full, I-80 is roaring and stinky, the sun’s shining perhaps a bit more than it should… it’s mid-winter in Davis and I was just temporarily suspended from the Bicycling, Transportation and Street Safety Commission (BTSSC).

    Any situation like this is Davis is subjectively-analytical, and dynamically-objective, but there’s several factors at play dealing more with facts (with spin, if only because none of us have infinite context.).

    For now I am going to give what I hope to be an accurate accounting of the quorum piece of the matter at hand, and some suggestions… and then later on (today, tomorrow etc.) will provide some details on activity of the current membership of the BTSSC, including myself:

    Quorum: My position is that this didn’t have to be an issue at all, or at the very least less of one.

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  • Gun Violence is the Focus of February Programs at Davis Methodist

    Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement for gun safety, estimates that, by early February, more people will be killed by guns in America than are killed by guns in other high-income countries during the entire year.  Yet, despite wide-spread demands for sensible gun reform, the number of deaths by firearms continues to grow.  Davis United Methodist Church is offering two programs on gun violence on Sunday mornings, February 9, and 23, from 9:45 to 10:50 at the church, which is located at 1620 Anderson Road in Davis.

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  • Statement from Equity Advocates on SB 50

    Screen Shot 2020-01-30 at 5.54.10 PMReacting to the failure of SB 50 to move out of the Senate, the groups Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles (ACT-LA), Public Counsel, PolicyLink, Western Center on Law and Poverty, Public Advocates, and the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation made the following statement:

    It is time to reject false choices and get serious about affordable housing and community stability.

    The debate around SB 50, and SB 827 before it, has too often been reduced to a false choice: protect the status quo of exclusionary zoning or embrace a trickle-down market-based model. While this simple NIMBY-YIMBY binary fuels online arguments and frames the public narrative, millions of Californians continue to suffer without appropriate solutions. We reject the status quo, but we also reject the notion that the low-income communities and communities of color most harmed by the planning and zoning decisions of the past should be forced to accept new policies that fall short of true equity and inclusion.

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  • ARC Biz Park Needs Proper Vetting

    The Natural Resource Commission needs to look into the ARC Business Park

    By Colin Walsh

    ARCBizPark

    A schedule of Davis Commission meetings for the ARC Business Park was posted back in November that included some tentative hearings before certain City Commissions but seemed to omit other important Commissions. Notably absent were dates before the Natural Resources Commission, the Recreation and Parks Commission, and the Tree Commission. It should also go to the Unitrans Advisory Committee.

    In this article I will address examples of why the ARC Business Park must go before the Natural Resource Commission (NRC).

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  • FARM BUREAU ENDORSES PROVENZA

    Farm bureau pic

    YOLO COUNTY FARM BUREAU ENDORSES PROVENZA

    — for immediate release —

    Yolo County Farm Bureau is pleased to announce the endorsement of Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza for re-election to the 4th  Supervisorial District. The District encompasses portions ofthe City of Davis and nearby unincorporated areas including El Macero and Willowbank.

    "Jim works very hard and pays attention to every detail on matters that come before him. He takes the initiative to assist agriculture and his door is always open," said Joe Martinez,

    President, Yolo County Farm Bureau. "We appreciate his willingness to listen to us and seriously consider our perspective on matters that impact Yolo County agriculture. Never doctrinaire, he knows and appreciates that we are the on-the-ground experts."

    Supervisor Provenza helped enact one of the strongest agricultural land protection ordinances in the state and helped obtain millions of dollars in outside funding for agriculture and water projects in Yolo County, among many other accomplishments.

    "In order to fight climate change and assure that we have food security, it is essential to protect agricultural land and help farmers thrive. We must promote agricultural economic development and work to limit unfair government mandates. Together we can address water issues, urban growth, and other threats to our agricultural economy. Farmers are our future and I'm deeply grateful for this endorsement," said Provenza.

    The election will be held in conjunction with the March 3 primary. The deadline to register to vote is February 18, 2020. For additional information, contact Yolo County Elections at yoloelections.org  or 530-666-8133

  • Letter: Provenza has dedicated his life to helping people

    EnterprisePic (4) - cropI am voting for Jim Provenza for Supervisor for the Fourth District. 

    I have known Jim for over 25 years. He has dedicated his life to helping people in his district.

    Some examples: he helped my neighbors who were in their 90’s get connected to city water; he helped stop PG&E from stringing lines over homes in El Macero; he has supported the Yolo County libraries, critical in these times of increasing complexity.

    While we are living our daily lives, he is watching over all the people in Yolo County. Check his voting record and you will see his devotion.

    This is not a job you learn overnight. This takes a life of working for the public.

    Jim has that background.

    Vote for Jim Provenza for Supervisor for the Fourth District. 

    Holly Bishop

    Davis

  • Downtown Debacle

    Comments for the meeting of the Davis Downtown Plan Advisory Committee

    By Jon Li

    DowntownI find it tremendously irresponsible of the City Council that they would find it necessary to have an emergency closed session during the final meeting of the Downtown Advisory Committee, to evaluate the city manager, so none of them can be present.

    This Downtown Plan does not reflect the thinking of the Advisory Committee at all, any more than it reflects the thinking of downtown merchants, developers, property owners or the public. 

    City staff and the consultant brag that you cannot change their work at all: not the public, not the business community, not Cool Davis, and not the Advisory Committee.  The Advisory Committee’s role is only to rubber stamp approve each report; the meetings only happened when the city staff wanted something they needed approved that they wanted to take to the city council.  The Advisory committee meetings are littered with the battles of committee members trying to advise, and how adamantly staff defended their right to stop any communication of change ever actually getting to the city council.

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  • That Great Lawn Sign Feud of 2020

    Who can capture a Supervisor seat by placing the most lawn signs?

    Deos 1

    photo by Rik Keller

    By Colin Walsh

    Some Davis politicos swear that local campaigns are won and lost in the front yards of Davis with the placement of lawn signs like pins in a map, marking a campaign’s territorial conquests. Others see the perennial lawn sign war as a bit silly and overwrought.

    Last week, two of our Yolo County Supervisorial candidates for the 4th district were off to the races to see who could place the most lawn signs. Jim Provenza and challenger Linda Deos quickly filled the East and North Davis’s lawns with plastic pop up propaganda. Not a sign for the other challenger David Abramson was to be seen.

    Linda signs sprouted up on many lawns in her North Davis area, while Jim absolutely dominated Poleline Road. Driving the road I noticed only one Linda sign and it was inexplicably sharing space with a Provenza sign.

    It didn’t take long for controversy to erupt on Nextdoor.com.

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  • WTF is Regenerative Economics?!

    More than one person has asked me…

    By David Abramson

    Capital-institute-1536x1536

    Image from capitalinstitute.org.

    No, it’s not a fancy economists’ term like “Asset Turnover Ratio”, “Speculative Motive”, or “Marginal Standing Facility”. It’s not the latest econ diet fad, scheme, or tomorrow’s scandal. No I didn’t invent it . It’s not even defined by a single person or a single idea, but it is a collection of ideas under shared guiding principles. You may already have a sense of what it might entail by hearing the words Regenerative and Economics joined together. To me:

    Regenerative Economics represents an economic system, or many interlinked economies that are in line with the needs of our planet and the needs of people who live and work in our communities. It represents a measure of wealth defined by a healthy planet and thriving people.

    Simple, right? Well perhaps not, if you consider the role of the current economic system in our ongoing ecological and social crisis.

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  • How much housing is being built in Davis?

    The answers might surprise you.

    Sterling-project-under-construction
    Sterling project, 2100 5th St, under construction (611 beds)

     By Roberta Millstein

    Recently on NextDoor and elsewhere, Davisites have been disagreeing about whether Davis is building enough housing or whether it needs more.  The discussions have become particularly relevant in light of two potentially large projects: the University Commons project (264 residential units / 894 beds) and the so-called Aggie Research Campus (ARC), which proposes 850 units as part of the larger proposal for a massive 200 acre business park outside of Mace Curve.

    But to answer the question of whether we have enough housing or not, Davisites need to know how much is in the pipeline.  I suspect that most Davisites don’t know the answer to that question, even if they’ve been paying attention.  This article is the result of my attempt to figure out the answer. 

    If you just want the answers I calculated, here they are: the housing that is now in the pipeline will accommodate more than 10,000 additional people in the City and more than 20,000 additional people in the City and UC Davis combined.  The details of those answers are below.

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