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Author: davisite2

  • Why is our Democratic Assembly Member endorsing a non-Democratic Yolo County District Attorney?

    DeanJohanssonBy M E Gladis

    To Voters in California Assembly District 4.

    One wonders what the Democratic Assembly Member, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry intends by endorsing the present non-Democratic Yolo County District Attorney since he doesn’t follow democratic values. This District Attorney remains neutral on Prop 39 ( 3 Strikes Reform ) but opposes Prop 47 (Sentencing Reform ), Prop 57 ( Reduce Mass Incarceration ), and Prop 64 (Legal Adult Marijuana Use).These four Propositions Yolo County voters overwhelmingly approved. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry appears to oppose Yolo County voters.

    Consider, then, this same District Attorney has filed more felony trials in Yolo County ( Pop. 213,000 ) than has the district attorney in Alameda County ( pop. 1,683,000 ) Felony trials are expensive ordeals. Yolo County 41% to CA average 19% Felony non-conviction rate. Cecilia seems to support this effort.

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  • The Nishi Project (Together with Other Projects) Will Hurt Air Quality Downtown

    Nishi-picBy Dan Cornford

    Thanks to Roberta for posting her excellent comments on Nishi and the air quality issue. The attempts to brush off or ignore Dr. Cahill's findings or to investigate them further indicate just how developer-driven some factions in this town are. I would like to make an additional related comment (s).

    On May 26, 2016 I published an Op-Ed in the Davis Enterprise, shortly before the vote on Nishi 1.0 entitled "Downtown traffic also will be worse with Nishi." It can be read in full at: https://www.davisenterprise.com/forum/opinion-columns/downtown-traffic-also-will-be-worse-with-nishi/

    To summarize briefly I argued that the traffic studies for the EIR for Nishi (on which Nishi 2.0 still relies) were outdated, inadequate, and bordering on fiction.

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  • A few more specific questions to ask City Council candidates

    Screen Shot 2018-04-05 at 5.40.46 PMBy Dan Cornford

    I totally agree with Roberta’s criticism about the candidates for city council refusing to be more specific and with specific reference as to how they stand on Measure J/R and if they want to amend it, how precisely would they amend it.

    However, I would like to broaden this discussion to make observations about the ways in which almost all candidates for city council have campaigned since I moved here in 2000. A trend that was apparent when I arrived here has become more and more pronounced.

    To put it bluntly and simply, almost all candidates are reluctant to, or more accurately often refuse, to discuss specifics especially when it comes to some of the most important and controversial issues. Their reasons for doing this are obvious. They think by appealing to as broad a constituency as possible, and not alienating any one constituency, they are maximizing their appeal and their chances of election. I could cite endless examples from the campaigns of several of our incumbent council members.

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  • Dean Johansson Supports the Just Announced ‘Use of Force’ Legislation to Curb Killings of Civilians by Law Enforcement

    DeanJohansson(Press release) Yolo County Deputy Public Defender Dean Johansson, a candidate for Yolo County District Attorney, Tuesday was among the first candidates for public office in the region to support state legislation introduced today to restrict when law enforcement officers could shoot suspects.

    The measure would modify the standard officers use to fire their weapons to "necessary force" from the current "reasonable force," which has led to 162 killings by California peace officers in 2017 – more than half of those killed were unarmed.

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  • On Nishi 2.0: A simple question about fair housing in Davis

    Housing-clipart-_9667858236By Michael Harrington

    Dear City Leaders:
    May I ask a simple question?

    If I want to advertise a rental unit on Craig’s List, and I list if for $1,000 to anyone, but $850 to a full time, card carrying student, everyone knows that as a private owner and lessor, I cannot do this. I cannot do this even if the City thinks it’s fine and gives a City Council 5-0 vote blessing and passing an ordinance.

    This question is not anti-student or anti-student affordable housing. It’s a basic fair housing question.

    So, how is Nishi 2.0 any different than my renting a house to students and non-students, with a 15% discount for being a fulltime student?

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  • How can we measure Davis as a healthy, sustainable bio-social economic organism confronted with perpetual UCD Disruptions?

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    Source: Davis Wiki

    By Jon Li

    The city staff has a status quo approach to the state requirement that the out of date Davis general plan be updated. Staff has imposed a rigid process where the Downtown Plan Advisory Committee is only allowed to listen. Everything is subject exclusively to city council ratification; staff does not want any changes from either the Advisory Committee or the City Council. Staff only wants the right to claim they are acting on the authority of the city council. The city council has no control over the city staff.

    Davis’ economy is so pathetic that it cannot afford the government we have, let alone the amenities most people in Davis take for granted.

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  • District Attorney Candidate Dean Johansson Played Key Role in Development of New City of Davis Surveillance Ordinance

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    (Press release) Yolo County ACLU* board member Dean Johansson – now a candidate for Yolo County District Attorney – played a leadership role in developing the surveillance ordinance passed unanimously Tuesday, March 20, 2018, by the Davis City Council.

    The ordinance – which regulates city departments’ use of surveillance technology, building in safeguards to protect civil liberties – was the result of a year and a half of collaboration between the Yolo County ACLU, ACLU of Northern California, Davis City Council, Police Chief Darren Pytel, and Brian Hofer, Chair of the City of Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission.

    Other community groups, including the Davis Human Relations Commission, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, ACLU People Power, and the National Lawyers Guild supported the development and passage of the ordinance.

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  • Deceptive phone calls about Nishi’s air quality “mitigation”

    Nishi-picBy Thomas A. Cahill

    Davis citizens are reporting phone calls from the pro-Nishi folk implying that I support their proposal just because they are using the ultra-fine filters we developed in their mitigation efforts.

    In fact, I strongly oppose the Nishi proposal since the mitigation they propose will be grossly inadequate to address the severe air quality conditions at Nishi. The 95% mitigation they mention is based on work in a wind tunnel, not dwellings.

    The best we have been able to achieve in occupied dwellings is well below 50%, and thus seriously inadequate to mitigate the Nishi air quality threats.

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  • CivEnergy Will Host Davis City Council Candidates Forum

    Download(Press release) CivEnergy is sponsoring a Davis City Council candidates forum from 3 to 5 pm Sunday, March 18, in the Davis Community Church Fellowship Hall, 421 D Street. Each of the nine declared candidates for the two open council seats has agreed to participate in this free community event, moderated by former Davis Mayor Ann Evans. They include: Ezra Beeman, Mary Jo Bryan, Dan Carson, Linda Deos, Eric Gudz, Larry Guenther, Gloria Partida, Luis Rios Jr. and Mark West. Visit www.civenergy.org to see candidate responses as to why they are running for office, what their platform is, and how they will be an effective city council member.

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  • On Good and Evil

    Good-vs-Evil
    By Jim Leonard

    Deception is normal.

    We naturally camouflage our behavior in order to protect ourselves and exploit others.

    One way to look at it is: good can only appear to be good but evil can appear to be good or evil; evil, thus, has a superficial advantage.

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