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Month: February 2020

  • Picnic in the Park starts April 1

    (From press release) Farmers Market goers will have to wait until April 1 for the start of Picnic in the Park.

    The popular Wednesday evening event previously coincided with daylight saving time. However, the changing climate in recent years meant some growers’ produce wasn’t ready in mid-March. The Davis Farmers Market Alliance board voted to postpone opening till April, going forward.

    Picnic in the Park returns to Central Park, 301 C St, on April 1. Hours are 4:30 p.m. to sunset, every Wednesday through Oct. 28. The sunset closure has vendors packing up as late as 8:35 p.m. during longer summer days. In late September and October, when sun sets before 7, the market will remain open until 7 p.m.

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  • Valley Clean Energy Makes Major Solar-Power Purchase

    VCE(From press release) The Valley Clean Energy Alliance has announced that its board of directors voted Thursday, Feb. 13, to purchase 50 megawatts of renewable power from a new solar park in Kings County.

    The power from the park will replace current short-term power contracts allowing VCE to deliver higher levels of renewable power at competitive prices.

    VCE’s 15-year contract with Aquamarine Westside, LLC, CIM Group’s solar project, will begin when the project enters commercial operation, anticipated in 2021. The Aquamarine project is in Westlands Solar Park, a 21,000-acre, master-planned clean energy park with more than 2 gigawatts of solar production potential.

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  • Valley Clean Energy Makes Key New Hire

    VCE(From press release) Valley Clean Energy is pleased to announce the hiring of Gordon A. Samuel Jr. as its new assistant general manager and power services director. In this position, he will be responsible for acquiring a diverse supply of clean renewable resources.

    Samuel brings more than 27 years of experience in the electric utility industry to his new position, having served most recently as power procurement manager for Marin Clean Energy, California’s first community choice aggregation (CCA) program.

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  • Blogger receives ARC docs before Commissions and citizens do

    Sustainability-ARCBy Colin Walsh

    On Thursday morning, a local blog referred to a set of environmental sustainability "guiding principles" released from the developers of the Mace ARC business park. I looked on the City's ARC website but I could find no such document. Puzzled, I emailed City Manager Mike Webb, and received the following response:

    Dear Colin,

    I am responding to this message on Mike's behalf.

    David Greenwald contacted staff on Tuesday afternoon asking if we had received any new materials on Aggie Research Campus from the developer. The only additional item that we had received was their Environmental Sustainability Guiding Principles for the project. Considering a public document was requested, it was provided accordingly. The attached document was received last week from the applicant and will be posted to the City website later today along with the Natural Resources Commission memorandum when it is ready for posting. Our staff is not able to immediately post each document as it is received. We endeavor to post them in a timely fashion and it will be posted later today along with the staff memorandum to the Natural Resources Commission.

    The Natural Resources Commission and the Planning Commission will both be receiving the document with their meeting packets consistent with our regular and accepted operating procedures for commissions. Staff will be seeking the Natural Resources Commission feedback on the applicant's proposed Environmental Sustainability Guiding Principles and the Planning Commission workshop is an informational project introduction. The packet for the Natural Resources Commission will be posted on the City website this evening and the Planning Commission packet will be posted tomorrow evening.

    Thank you,

    Ashley Feeney
    Assistant City Manager

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  • Followup to: Mace ARC Business Park Developer Trying to Omit Details until after Vote

    Mac-ARC-map-under-mag-glassTree, Recreation and Parks Commissions will now review before the vote; still unclear what sort of project detail will be left out

    By Roberta Millstein

    On Tuesday, I published an article that detailed the fact that despite numerous requests and promises from the City, some key commissions would not be reviewing the Mace ARC Business Park until after the Measure R vote (see article here).  I had also forwarded my article to the Davis City Council.  Early yesterday evening, I received the following email response from Assistant City Manager Ashley Feeney:

    Dear Roberta,

    The ARC project has applied for a General Plan Amendment, Pre-Zoning, a Sphere of Influence Amendment and an Annexation. These are the land use entitlements that would be the subject of a Measure R vote should they ultimately be approved and referred to the ballot by the City Council. Baseline project features would also be established and memorialized as part of the Measure R vote. These initial entitlements would establish land use for the project area. The project will require future implementing entitlements that have been described on the City's ARC webpage.

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  • Last Chance for the Claw

    Claw
    By Colin Walsh

    If you have a yard, I hope you planned on getting all your spring cleaning done this weekend. Next week is the last time the Claw will be coming by for months. (See the helpful city chart for details). After next week any piles you put in the street will sit and molder until the first week in May.

    Or if someone tosses a cigarette into the pile of dry leaves and sticks it may smolder instead.

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  • Protect UC LGBTQ+ and Reproductive Care

    Screen shot 2020-02-19 at 4.34.47 PMThe following was forwarded to me in an email, and I was asked to forward it further.  Everyone is welcome to submit a comment, whether affiliated with the University of California or not. –Roberta Millstein

    Dear UC Students, Faculty, Staff, and Community Members, 

    Three weeks ago, the University of California (UC) released a report with request for public comments (sample text below) that considers whether UC Health should affiliate with religious hospitals, which prohibit basic reproductive health services for women and LGBTQ+ people.

    The report describes OPTION 1, supported by UC Health, in which UC would expand affiliations with restrictive religious hospitals. We endorse OPTION 2, which prohibits UC Health from affiliating with entities that discriminate against women and LGBTQ+ people by prohibiting contraception, abortion, assisted reproductive technology (e.g., IVF), and gender-affirming care for non-binary and transgender people. More details are outlined in this LA Times article and this letter to UC President Janet Napolitano. Also consider UCI Law Prof. Goodwin’s assertion that it is illegal for UC Health to restrict care based on religious directives.

    The UC Regents will take up this matter in May, but first they need to hear from you! Please post a public comment by February 21 (sample text below) to tell the Regents that you support OPTION 2. UC doctors, nurses, and patients must not be subject to religious restrictions that deny women and LGBTQ+ people essential care. Share your story and why this issue is important to you.

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  • I no longer trust Linda Deos

    Dcd forumDear Linda,

    This is a sad letter to write. I am writing to let you know how disappointed I am.

    I have given you the benefit of the doubt many times before, but I can’t do it anymore. This recent time you changed your position on an issue important to me was one time too many.

    I remember back before you ran for Davis City Council in 2016, we sat on the patio at the Co-op talking about your potential candidacy. It was a cool evening, but the conversation was warm. We were friends who had worked on a campaign together before. I remember suggesting then that you run for County Board of Supervisors, because I knew that so many of the issues you were interested in were actually dealt with at the county level and not at the City Council. I think I may have been the first to suggest your current campaign.

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  • Letter: Deos has the right priorities

    Deos-for-supervisorI am pleased to be supporting Linda Deos for county supervisor. I went to lunch with her last fall, and was very impressed with her willingness and ability to listen, and her passion for uplifting those disenfranchised in Yolo County – her priorities of affordable housing, protecting the environment and alternatives to mass incarceration will be a refreshing and much needed voice on our Board of Supervisors.  

    I am thrilled that Linda will advocate passionately for immigrants, people of color, and other marginalized folk. As an immigration defense attorney myself, I often see bias in county agencies resulting in needs in our communities' not being met fairly and accountably.

    And finally, we really need a strong, progressive woman on that Board!

    Ann Block

    Davis

  • Mace ARC Business Park Developer Trying to Omit Details until after Vote

    Mac-ARC-map-under-mag-glassThe City’s promise to include full commission review is being broken

     By Roberta Millstein

    The developers of the Mace ARC Business Park are avoiding a full analysis of their project proposal and omitting important project details until after citizens have voted on the project.  City staff seems to support them in this, and City Council isn’t asking any questions – even though they had already promised that the proposal would be seen by all of the relevant City commissions. 

    Without a full public disclosure of the project and proper impartial commission analysis, citizens will not have the information they need to make an informed decision.

    For those who don’t know the legal context, this project will require a city wide vote – because the 200 acres proposed for the ARC business park outside Mace Curve is outside the Davis City limits with an agricultural land use designation, it is subject to a Measure R (formerly Measure J, now Davis Municipal Code Chapter 41) vote.  One of the provisions requires:

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