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How Do You Die In a Sinking Submarine? Part 1 – Carson

USS Carson copyWith a whopping 11,000 votes cast, Measure H was massacred, going down 64% to 36%, or nearly 2-1.  I was actually in favor of the project, slightly, and would have voted for it, had Carson not . . . well, no need to rehash here, you all know — some of you fellow citizens know intimately/legally/financially.  With this scaled-back version going down like a rock, it is safe to ask . . . did the decision to bring on Carson and then sue Davis residents kill this project? 

I believe the project would not have passed anyway, based on a guess I pulled out of my ass while typing this.   But a reasonable question is, could 1500-2000 of those 11,000 Davis residents been so offended by what the developer and Carson did that they changed their vote or made a point of voting when they may not have otherwise?  I believe, also sourced from my colon, that the answer is yes, they could have.  What I do know is I talked to a lot of people who were very angry at Carson and thought he had made himself into a fool clown.  Nothing motivates one to vote like anger at a fool clown.

The main conclusion of the video 'How Do You Die in a Sinking Submarine?' is that you die instantly when the hull implodes.  Carson, on the other hand, is going down slowly through June, July, August, September and October.  Painfully listening as the political hull creaks and groans under the pressure of his own stupidity reflected back on him from Davis residents, until:  BOOM!  Or, rather, since submarines implode rather than explode:  MOOB!

Why am I being such a dick to Carson?  I want to send a clear message so that never again will anyone be so brazen as to:

  1. Hire a sitting City Councilmember to be your campaign chair, honorable or not (in this case not).
  2. Volunteer to be that Councilmember who becomes the campaign chair.
  3. Hire a proxy to sue Davis citizens over ballot language.
  4. Volunteer to be that proxy.
  5. Sue anyone over ballot language on a local issue in Davis ever again.

Personally, I found much of the NO on H ballot argument outrageous; I also found much of the YES ballot argument outrageous.  I doubt anyone on the NO side ever thought, 'hey I know, let's sue the YES side over their ballot language'!  No, they used media and lawn signs, like normal, decent people do.  This skull-f*ckery of suing Davis citizens over ballot language will stop.  Y'all should have been intelligent enough to see what a bad idea that was.  You weren't.

We all tend to have very short memories when politicians do stupid things.   I intend to keep the pressure on, keep the memory of the stupidity going, and hope the people of West Davis are more intelligent than Carson and the developer.  The sub is sinking; let's all keep the pressure increasing on the hull over the next five months until we see the bubbles on the surface.

MOOB!

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Alan C. Miller

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Comments

13 responses to “How Do You Die In a Sinking Submarine? Part 1 – Carson”

  1. Arash Thranian

    Let’s also step up as voters and elect a replacement to Carson. We don’t need developers’ puppets as elected city officials who, while their salaries are paid by residents tax, have the audacity to act like Carson has.
    We need independent thinkers with integrity to be elected.

    Reply
  2. Darell

    Save for the attempt at equating the outrageousnesses of the YES and NO statements, I found this essay to be accurate, thoughtful and amusing. and. And I thank you for publishing it, Alan.
    I’m just bummed that now we won’t be solving climate change and lowering the cost of housing in Davis.

    Reply
  3. Alan C. Miller

    “I’m just bummed that now we won’t be solving climate change and lowering the cost of housing in Davis.”
    ROFL
    I wasn’t equating the two arguments, just stating that there were statements in both arguments that made me go, “ah, comon’ now”. But that’s the nature of ballot arguments. If that were all the input I had on any issue, I’d be, at best . . . confused.

    Reply
  4. Aaron Wedra

    Hmmm. Hey Davisite, what won’t you publish? This just seems super negative and includes personal attacks. I’m not interested in a part 2.
    Even if I agree that I don’t want a repeat of such a lawsuit ever again and I was vehemently opposed to how our council members seemed too comfortable with the developer and often parroted asinine propaganda, I still plan to live in the same town as these folks.
    Congratulations to the No on H campaigners. Thank you for standing up to the deep pocket developers. I voted yes, but I’m very relieved that the Davis community seems to actually have a unified voice in terms of values and turned down this project. If H would have passed I would go on to believe that money, strategy and tricks could manipulate the populace. Thank goodness that’s not the case here.
    Congratulations Alan. I hope you have a great day and are very happy 😊

    Reply
  5. Ron O

    You’re actually right to “not forget” about Carson, but I’m just happy that DiSC lost. Somehow, the second loss is even more satisfying than the first.
    At the least, Carson and the developer grossly-miscalculated how their actions would be perceived.

    Reply
  6. Todd Edelman

    Was the defeat of H progressive? Yes. And no: No, because apparently for some it was solely a protest vote against Carson – i.e. this is not people who were woken up about the problems with DISC because of Carson’s behavior.
    And perhaps also “no” because No on H-supporter Beck lost to H-supporter Frerichs, and because Rodriguez lost to Reisig.
    I wish we could know – based on the County election process itself – how various votes aligned: For H but against Frerichs, against H but also against Beck, and so on.
    But I think it has a lot to with personal relationships, and misunderstanding of the DA’s role, and perhaps racism and sexism as we saw how well Johansson did against Reisig last time around.
    Then also the Yes on H forces included many important actors and leaders in multi-culturism and societal inclusion in Davis, such as NJ Mvondo and Anoosh Jorjorian and others from e.g. various UCD bodies. That they had a different opinion about DISC is one thing; my bigger problem is how they seemed to at least overlook not only the behavior of Carson but also the exaggerations and misrepresentations of the Yes campaign.

    Reply
  7. Alan C. Miller

    Hmmm.
    Hmmmmmmmm . . .
    Hey Davisite, what won’t you publish?
    The real question should be, “Hey Vanguard, what won’t you censor”? Not that they censor everything, they just don’t even follow their own rules and do everything on a whim and with much political bias. I’m grateful for the Davisite allowing people to express themselves and sink or swim on their own arguments.
    This just seems super negative and includes personal attacks.
    It is super negative. Because suing Davis citizens is super negative, and this reflects that. Personal attack? This is a public figure, and I’m criticizing their decision making abilities in the public sphere with colorful language. Nothing about personal appearance, or social personality.
    I’m not interested in a part 2.
    I am.
    Even if I agree that I don’t want a repeat of such a lawsuit ever again and I was vehemently opposed to how our council members seemed too comfortable with the developer and often parroted asinine propaganda, I still plan to live in the same town as these folks. Congratulations to the No on H campaigners.
    I plan to live in the same town as these folks as well. I don’t plan on being on speaking terms with all of them.
    Thank you for standing up to the deep pocket developers.
    I was going to vote yes. I didn’t stand up to anyone, I just voted no.
    I voted yes, but I’m very relieved that the Davis community seems to actually have a unified voice in terms of values and turned down this project.
    You voted yes, but you are glad it went down to defeat. You sound like an independent thinker 😉
    If H would have passed I would go on to believe that money, strategy and tricks could manipulate the populace. Thank goodness that’s not the case here.
    Yup.
    Congratulations Alan.
    On what? 😐
    I hope you have a great day and are very happy 😊
    I’m having a lousy day, and happiness comes and goes like fog along the California coast. But thanks for the kind thoughts 😐

    Reply
  8. Keith

    “I’m not interested in a part 2”
    That’s the beautiful thing about free speech. You don’t have to read Part 2. Now as far as I’m concerned, I can’t wait for Part 2.

    Reply
  9. Todd Edelman

    Aaron: “We have to live together” is a good operating philosophy, but it begs the question if Dan Carson wants to live in the same town as some of us.
    There’s a power imbalance which you seem to recognize by your other words in your above comments, which are very succinctly anti-DISC and anti-DISC process. I don’t understand why you voted for it.
    So you and many others have incisive and often critical comments both before and after the election, and yet Council member Carson’s official statement about the loss is:
    ““While I am disappointed by the election results, I congratulate the No on H committee on their hard-fought campaign and I accept and respect the apparent decision of Davis voters to disapprove Measure H,” Carson said.
    “Looking forward, I’m hopeful that our community can come together and find common ground for building a more sustainable, welcoming, and vibrant Davis.”
    Does this look like honest words from someone who pushed and pushed about a few words in election materials? Someone who earlier likely led the push to kick Matt Williams, Alan Pryor and myself off our Commissions a couple years ago? How ’bout the stuff about workers at Sutter Davis being heroes as he pleaded for the solar panel installation and tree-felling, preventing access of fire department vehicles from the City to West Village by pushing bag against a connection primarily for buses? (Also given his tendency to conversational narcissism and his former career in journalism, you’d think he’d write something a bit more educated-sounding, rather than bland and without any substance.)
    This is an elected official, paid (if not really much). He has power. He is against a vibrant and welcoming Davis. People like him need to be stopped.
    Did I say he is bad, that I hate him? No, I did not. If he wants to sincerely apologize to the community for his actions, I’d be happy to take it at face value.
    But also is this going to be only statement by the losers?

    Reply
  10. Keith

    DG posted this today on the Vanguard:
    “Unfortunately, I have watched for 14 years now how he and his office have handled the Ajay Dev case, how they turned it into a political football this time, how they filed a motion that insinuated a non-existent conspiracy theory, and I just don’t believe he has implemented change, he has merely rearranged the deck chairs. But of course, that’s just my view.”
    My response wasn’t posted for some reason so I’m going to post it here where free speech isn’t stifled:
    (Not word for word, just a summation of what I wrote as I didn’t cut and paste it at the time)
    “that’s just my view”
    But that’s not the view of the Davis voters who handily re-elected Reisig. But look at the bright side, you will still have material to write about or maybe you can just recirculate old Reisig articles.

    Reply
  11. Aaron Wedra

    Oops. Sorry for the confusing tone of voice I took and familiarity Alan Miller. I thought I knew you because there were two other people named Alan who were conversing regularly on H. That’s why some of my remarks were off base.
    Anyways, thanks for your input. Freedom of speech is important, but I guess I want to keep the Davisite thoughtful on with what kind of platform it is going to be. Admittedly I am still trying to distinguish between personal attacks and negative speech about politicians.
    I plan to stay on speaking terms with everybody on both sides of the line. Even the guy who yelled at me and called me greasy at the Farmers Market for being “for H” haha. I think he thought I was being paid to stand in front of their booth (I wasn’t).
    Your writing was certainly entertaining and fed a primitive part of my brain that wants to see people publicly shamed so as to prevent repeat offenses down the line. I do genuinely see value in that social mechanism. Gossip is good too. So we know “hey what that guy is doing is wrong right—It’s not just me?”. Still I think the insults went too far. But whatever, I’m glad that folks on the Davisite help me find my values and offer me a place to defend or rethink my views or maybe regret what I said in the first place.
    And I’ll end with an emoji for anyone I disagree with or question. I don’t want to cause a sinking feeling in their chest or get their blood pumping too fiercely 😅. I always have to take a breath before looking at the replies. Todd, your thoughtful and informed replies scare me 😁

    Reply
  12. Nikki

    Todd’s comment was really interesting. Even if No on H wasn’t totally supported by progressive voters, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is it was defeated. Now to gather better ideas to achieve goals that deal with climate crisis, affordable housing, decreased traffic on streets — all the supposed things that DISC was going to deliver (LOL). But deliver these things as part of a new vision as Roberta said that is not based on falsehoods and is implementable in the short range, as we have very little time.
    I so wish that Juliette Beck had won, but it’s really hard to go up against a well known personality who is generally liked such as Lucas F. I think Davis people like to consider themselves progressive, but not as progressive as to move away from “tried and true” white males. Personally I just had to look at the smear campaign that the [flag] neo-nazi looking [flag-comment on personal appearance not OK] DA ran against Ms. Rodriguez to know he was no bueno.
    Very grateful for this site and all the information sharing. Thank you!

    Reply
  13. Alan C. Miller

    So far with four Al’s Corner’s and a couple of articles, hundreds of comments (most of them mine), I have not “moderated” a single comment nor banned a single person.
    The “rulez” for Al’s corner is under “Al’s Corner – What It Is” in the ‘Pages’ Section. I strive to be as consistent as inhumanly possible in enforcing these few rules. I strive primarily to be NOT inconsistent, moody, politically-biased, silent-as-to-why, not following posted rules, telling people to ‘figure it out’, not having new rules and not following the non-existent rules, an asshole, sell plants, etc.
    However, I do need to flag one comment in these comments. I decided not to delete the comment, as if you delete something, especially without saying why, how can people know what is not acceptable? And so in the rulez it says no direct personal insults, and that leeway is given for public figures; i.e., you can insult a public figures’s decision making qualities, but not their weight (i.e., their ‘figure’ — go figure).
    And so to the following comment:
    Personally I just had to look at the smear campaign that the neo-nazi looking DA ran against Ms. Rodriguez to know he was no bueno.
    My criteria for a public figure is: is the direct insult to their persona as a politician (etc.), or it to their personal persona? As I see it, if you are saying, “the neo-nazi looking DA” and that refers to a single person, it is a direct insult to their appearance, which is not a political persona trait. Therefore, I am flagging that comment. [flag]
    What that means is I am pointing this out as an example of something that is not acceptable at Al’s Corner. You can insult their political persona and their record from here until Sunday. Or Monday. But appearance . . . off limits.
    I won’t remove the comment so we’ll all know what isn’t cool. However, if a single person keeps doing the same thing over and over, that could lead to an actual removal of a comment. The horror! We should do an office pool on when that happens 😐
    Thanks, all. This moderation thing is easy when one is consistent. ROFL

    Reply

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