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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.

Author: davisite2

  • Village Feast funds education and grants about farm-fresh food

    VF2019sm

    Guests sit at long tables under the sycamore trees at Davis' Central Park at the 2019 Village Feast.
    Photo by Ashley Bruhn

    (From press release) More than 350 attended The Village Feast on Sept. 28, raising more than $38,000 to support early and continued education about food and agriculture.

    Davis Farm to School and Les Dames d’Escoffier International, Sacramento paired up for the event, splitting the proceeds. The community meal, served in le grand aïoli tradition in Davis’ Central Park, will return next year, on Saturday, Sept. 12.

    A project of the Davis Farmers Market Alliance, Davis Farm to School provides garden grants, farm field trips and support for farm-fresh food in Davis-area schools. Les Dames d’Escoffier, a philanthropic organization of female leaders in food, fine beverage and hospitality, gives scholarships to area women in food and agriculture.

    Davis Farm to School will use its funds to support garden-based education for Davis students, including grants and field trips. It continues to offer matching Garden Grants of up to $500 to all interested school sites in Davis. These may be used to purchase supplies, as stipends for garden coordinators, to fund professional development, and to enhance connections between the school garden and the classroom, cafeteria, or waste-reduction program.

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  • The current Davis General Plan opposes Sustainable Response to Climate Change

    Note: Wednesday, the Davis League of Women Voters will host a presentation by Davis Deputy City Manager Kelly Stachowicz on The General Plan "What Is It and Why Do We Care!", 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM, 3300 Cowell Blvd

    By Jon Li

    Davis’ General Plan expired in 2015, like old milk in the back of the refrigerator.

    The current 2002 Davis General Plan (Housing element update 2010-15) is an update of the 1974 Plan.  That plan was once ecologically innovative but the California Building Code superseded Davis’ code in 1990.

                The 1987 General Plan had so little public participation that it was quickly out of date.   In 1993-4, 16 Davis committees worked on policies for a new general plan in such areas as youth, seniors, art, social services, community computer networks and economic development, as well as the state mandated plan elements like housing, transportation infrastructure, public safety and open space.

                Any innovation died there.  A group of anti-growth activists prolonged the process several years, and buried the innovation in the back of the plan.  The only thing that matters about the current Davis General Plan is kill any economic development because it might cause change.

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  • Sudwerk earns gold in most competitive beer contest in U.S.

    Award Winning Pils Marzen SM(From press release) Sudwerk Brewing Co. of Davis won two medals at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival, more than any other brewery in the Sacramento region.

    Put on by the Brewers Association, the 33rd GABF, which concluded Saturday, Oct. 5 in Denver, is the most competitive and coveted beer festival in the nation. The competition included 9,497 entries from 2,295 breweries representing all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

    Sudwerk was the only brewery in the Sacramento region to take home a gold medal, for its Märzen Amber Lager. It won the American-Style Amber Lager category, which included 101 entries. This was the second year in a row the beer has medaled; it earned a silver in 2018.

    Sudwerk also won bronze for The People’s Pilsner, in the Bohemian-Style Pilsener category, out of 123 entries.

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  • League of Women Voters/Civ Energy meeting. Topic: Housing

    (From press release) The League of Women Voters Davis Area and CivEnergy are holding an educational meeting on the General Planning process in Davis. It is the first in a series of free, educational forums on housing that are open to the public. The meeting will be held at the New Harmony Mutual Housing Community, 3030 Cowell Boulevard in the Community Room from 6pm to 7:30pm on Wednesday October 16.

    This series hopes to begin the discussion on a major community issue: Housing. This includes housing policy, affordability, homelessness and such issues. These events also give the City of Davis residents the opportunity to educate themselves and provide input on the issues above and help steer the housing element of the development of the General Plan update process.

    Sign up for a free ticket at Eventbrite.

    The League of Women Voters Davis Area was recently restarted in May 2019. They will be accepting donations at this event to offset costs for future educational meetings and forums.

  • Aggie Research Campus (ARC) Planning Considerations

    ARC-map-Oct2019The following memo was sent yesterday to the newly-formed City Council Aggie Research Campus (ARC) subcommittee, composed of Mayor Pro Tem Gloria Partida and Councilmember Dan Carson, with cc's to City Manager Mike Webb, Assistant City Manager Ash Feeney, and Principal Planner Sherri Metzker.

    By Greg Rowe

    The following comments and suggestions are respectfully offered for your consideration, in the spirit of facilitating a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed ARC project.  The subjects are not arranged in order of priority or importance.  I full acknowledge and recognize, as stated on page 2 of the October 8 City Council report (agenda item 5E), that the project will be scheduled for future commission meetings.  I also concur that, as noted on page 9 of the same report, “In sum, there will be a series of subsequent entitlements at which time more definitive detail will be proposed,” and there is “…the potential for building locations or other features to shift during the final planned development process.”

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  • Interfaith Feast of Fellowship in Central Park on October 14

    Feast 10.14(From press release) The Celebration of Abraham is hosting an interfaith Feast of Fellowship in Central Park on October 14 from 5 to 7 pm. All are welcome: those who follow any religious tradition, those who are not religious, those who are agnostic or atheist.

    The formal program will be VERY short—maybe five minutes. We hope folks with sit with folks whom they do not know well. Abraham will provide some potential topics for folks to discuss as well as some information on how to have conversations with folks who are different from ourselves on topics that might be uncomfortable. Abraham will also provide some resources on children’s books that can help folks begin discussions with young people on diversity.  The main goal is to enjoy our Davis neighbors and to build community across different groups!!

    Abraham will provide paper products and silverware. Please bring a vegetarian potluck dish to share. Also please bring a blanket to share.

    For more information contact Helen Roland hroland2@gmail.com

  • United Methodists Host Program on Students with Disabilities

    (From press release) Large numbers of K-12 and college students have disabilities and, although schools are legally required to accommodate the special needs of students with disabilities, often they do not. 

    On Sunday morning, October 27, from 9:45 to 10:50, the Davis United Methodist Church will host a presentation on Disabilities, Students, and Schools with Joyceanne Beachem and Austin Tam, members of the Disability Task Force of the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church.   The church is located at 1620 Anderson Road in Davis. 

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  • Farmers Market turns into a Pumpkin Patch on Oct. 26

    PumpkinPatchSoroptimistsSM

    Soroptimists give away pumpkins, paint faces and help kids play games and paint pumpkins at the Davis Farmers Market Pumpkin Patch, coming up on Oct. 26. Enterprise file photo.

    (From press release) Pumpkins, plants, face painting and a petting farm. Those are just a few of the highlights at the annual Pumpkin Patch, Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Davis Farmers Market.

    The event, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., has all of the usual Saturday market vendors, with fruit, veggies, nuts, bread, breakfast, lunch and coffee. But this annual event has lots of extras that celebrate the fall harvest and mark the transition to a Winter Market schedule on Wednesdays. Come in costume and enjoy the many activities in Central Park, 301 C St.

    Soroptimist International of Davis will have free pumpkins for youngsters, as well as face painting, pumpkin painting and games. Soroptimists work to educate and empower women and girls, and give out free pumpkins once a year to thank the community for supporting their beer and wine booth at Picnic in the Park. All profits from beer and wine sales go into Soroptimist programs like monthly mentorship at King High, grants for single moms, and their work to end human trafficking. The service organization is also a key supporter of Davis Farm to School.

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  • Open Letter to City Council on Jump’s Age Discrimination

    Jumpvote

    Uber photo modified by T. Edelman

    Todd Edelman sent the following email to the City Council today for tonight's Council meeting. For reference, please see yesterday’s article by the same author.

    Dear City Council,

    1 -  I feel it is important to note that when modifications to the bike share ordinance related to bike share were initially adopted, the BTSSC was bypassed, and that one element which Staff pushed hard for – locking bikes TO racks – resulted in a lot of the problems we had with bikes parked where they were not supposed to. Though Sacramento's unofficial policy permitted flexible parking in 2018, the Staff resisted a change until the spring of this year. Thankfully, the current Staff Report recommends e.g. "parking in the street like a motorcycle".

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  • City of Winters set to join VCE in special meeting, Thurs, Oct 10

    VCE(From press release) The Valley Clean Energy board of directors has scheduled a special meeting for 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, in the Woodland Council Chambers, 300 First St. in Woodland.

    The board is scheduled to accept the city of Winters’ request to join Valley Clean Energy, a community choice energy agency that has been providing electricity service to customers in Davis, Woodland and unincorporated Yolo County since June 2018.

    The Winters City Council is set to execute a joint powers agreement with VCE on Oct. 15 and authorize enrollment of Winters’ municipal, commercial, agricultural and residential accounts.

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