Author: davisite

…thoughts from home quarantine

By Christy Corp-Minamiji

I had to take a Facebook break for a few days. My rage meter was spiking equally at the “It’s no big deal; I’m going to do all my usual shit” posts and the “PEOPLE ARE IN THE PARK!! HOW DO I REPORT THEM?!?” posts.

We all know this, but weird stuff happens when we are afraid. We dig in deep, often to the positions that most fuel our guilt, shame, and anger.

I get it. I’m a stubborn perfectionist. You ain’t seen digging in until I’m on a rant or feeling betrayed.

But, here’s the thing. Nature (aka a virus, let’s call it SARS CoV-2) really doesn’t care about our thoughts, emotions, or opinions. It doesn’t give a shit about politics or the economy. It doesn’t care about graduations or weddings. It doesn’t really even care about toilet paper. It just wants some cells to attach and replicate. Human cells.

I spent 15 years of my career thinking about diseases in populations — first in vaccine research then in livestock medicine. And the one truth about population medicine is that the comfort of individuals is irrelevant in the face of disease.

We’re well beyond individual needs and comfort now. Ask Italy. Ask Spain where an ice rink has become a morgue.

And yes, that means I’m saying all the things you’ve been hearing about social distance, isolation, flattening the curve, etc.

It also means I’m saying, hold back when you want to lash out, when you want to shame someone for doing it wrong. I get that urge. It’s an individual comfort thing. It’s the desire for control when faced with something over which we have little control.

But, as Brené Brown says, you can’t shame people into changing their behavior. Only solid info and compassion are going to get us to a place of looking beyond our own fears to the health of the population.

Things are going to happen over which you have no control. You’re going to feel guilty, angry, terrified, even hateful.

I get it. I like to think I was ahead of the crowd in social distancing and caution. My kids certainly thought so — yeah, guys, I know I’m a pain. But, here I am, officially on home quarantine with a cough and chest congestion. No fever yet. Could be allergies, could be “just a cold,” could be COVID19. There’s no way right now to know since I am privileged not to be a high risk patient.

When the cough started, I felt deeply ashamed. What had I done wrong? Was I a hypocrite? I’d been going on for days about flattening the curve, and here I am, sick. Finally, yesterday, I remembered.

The virus doesn’t care. No virus cares. The pollens don’t care either. And my lungs have absolutely no opinion on how good a person I am.

So, it’s uncomfortable, even for an introvert, not knowing when I’ll be 72 hours symptom free, not knowing when I get to go for walks again, not knowing how long until my kids can come back. But, my comfort matters way less than the population. So, I’ll sit here and sip my tea, and pour myself a cup of compassion.

Interview with Matt Wieland

By Colin Walsh Photos by Matt Wieland and Iggie Walsh

Q: How long have you been skateboarding?

Matt:  I started skateboarding seriously in 1985. Bought my first board from Pet Cetera in downtown Davis.  Pet Cetera was a pet store that sold bikes and skateboards on the side.  At that time, Davis had several places to buy skateboards and equipment.  There was The Davis Sport Shop, Mountain Sports, Pet Cetera, and Brett For Sports over on Covell.

My first board was a Sims Blaster. Our favorite spot to skate was Whaleback Park because it had a circle embankment. It was our neighborhood skatepark and still kind of is.  The skate location there hasn't been taken of by the city. The wood is falling off the roof overhang and the cement is cracked and uneven.

Every time we ask city workers to move the picnic table that’s been chained in the middle of it they tell us that we have a skatepark we should be skating at.  That's the ignorance of people who just don't know what's up.  Skateboarding is a way of life.  The skateboard itself can be seen as a tool or example of how to progress with other things in life. How do you fight your fear? Do you face it?

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What is UCD doing to support students with COVID-19 ?

By Eileen M. Samitz

On March 27^th, Chancellor May sent out a press release which is important for the Davis community to be aware of in case they have not seen it. The link to the entire article is at:

https://www.ucdavis.edu/coronavirus/news/checking-in-with-chancellor-may-we-are-resilient

The most relevant information in this article by UCD Chancellor May is the following section:

“Before I bring you this week’s updates, I must share that we have learned that a member of our faculty has been confirmed as positive for COVID-19. They were traveling in Europe and developed symptoms March 19 after they returned. They have been at home since returning to the U.S. and have not been on campus since March 5. For privacy reasons, we cannot release personally identifying information, but the faculty member has informed their departmental colleagues of the diagnosis and is currently self-isolating at home.

Earlier this week, in Dateline, we reported that a UC Davis student had tested positive for the coronavirus after returning home from a UC Education Abroad Program in Spain. They had been studying abroad since summer last year apart from a brief visit to campus in early January. The student is currently self-isolating at home.”

Since important and time sensitive details are not included in this press release by the Chancellor, I have sent him the following letter and asked for a response to these relevant questions.

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Meanwhile our Major Arterial Roadways Deteriorate into 3rd-World Condition

by Alan Pryor

The following email was sent to the Davis City Council prior to last Tuesday's Council tele-meeting requesting that SB1 gas tax monies be only spent on main arterial roadway repairs in Davis because budgetary shortfalls will probably eliminate other needed roadway repairs of these critical main roadways and streets in Davis. The email was in response to a posted Consent Calendar item in which Council was asked by Staff to approve sending their proposed "wish-list"of neighborhood streets to be repaired in FY 2020-21 to the state as a pre-condition to receiving $1.3 million in SB1 gas tax monies for such repairs.

The list of streets to be repaired was prepared solely by the City  's Public Works Department and not ever vetted by the Bicycle, Transportation, and Street Safety Commission (BT&SSC) nor by the Finance and Budget Commission (F&BC) nor was there any indication in Staff's Report that these streets selected were in any worse state of disrepair than other neighborhood streets or major arterial roadways in town. It was simply a wish-list put together by Staff and there was no way of knowing if there was any quantitative basis for their selections.

Further, since the list to be sent to the State was not due until May 1, there was ample time for the consideration of the list of selected streets for repair by the appropriate Commissions prior to the submission deadline.

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By Colin Walsh and Roberta Millstein

The Davis Enterprise recently published an “Our View” editorial column arguing that newspapers play an essential role during this COVID-19 emergency.  They encouraged people to write to reporters you appreciate and thank them.  We decided we should take action too.

We agree that the Davis Enterprise plays an essential role in our community now, and for many, years in the past as well (it is our community’s oldest business, founded in 1897).  But it needs our support to continue to do so in the future.  In this article, we make the case for why you should subscribe to the Davis Enterprise  if you are not already. Details are at the end of the article.

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Davis’s first attempt at online democracy has significant, “Kinks”

By Colin Walsh

Last night’s City Council was a hot mess. For the first time the council attempted to hold an interactive online meeting using the Zoom video conference platform, but the meeting was attended by several Zoomers intent on disrupting the meeting. Mayor Brett Lee repeatedly referred to the difficulties faced by the Council and the staff as “kinks,” which may have been more on point than he realized.

Meeting attendees included the profane “Haywood Jablomi,” “aids,” and “Test Test” to name a few of the obvious fake names trolls chose while disrupting the City Council meeting.

The New York Times reported about this rising phenomenon on March 20^th, stating that as Zoom’s “user base rapidly expands, the video conference app Zoom is seeing a rise in trolling and graphic content.” The Times noted that trolls “are jumping into public Zoom calls and using the platform’s screen-sharing feature to project graphic content on unwitting conference participants, forcing hosts to shut down their events.”

In Davis last night, this feature was used to project hard-core pornography on the shared screen in the middle of the council meeting and an annotation feature was used to repeatedly scrawl racist messages, including the n-word, on the shared screen. In one case, an offensive picture of former President Obama was displayed.  There is no doubt that these words and images made many members of the community feel threatened and unwelcome.

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Schools to stay closed indefinitely

By Colin Walsh

On March 20, 2020 the Davis School District announced that they, "expect DJUSD schools to remain closed after Spring Break and for an undetermined amount of time." You can find the announcement here.

The District is working to address the ongoing education at a time when kids can not physically attend school.  they are "focused on the development of an equitable, accessible, and innovative solution to serve all of our students’ academic growth and social-emotional needs through a Distance Learning model."

The District announced, "the launch of our first Phase One of continued learning with a new Learning@Home website for students and families with links to educational websites and our core curriculum that can be accessed voluntarily. These resources are not designed to replace or replicate classroom instruction; they were compiled to build a habit for learning at home, keep students engaged and curious in learning, and provide DJUSD with time to design a thoughtful Distance Learning plan for all District teachers and students, which will launch on April 13, 2020." 

The district is also making efforts to provide computers and internet connection to students who do not have access at home. "If you have a computer that your child can use at home, please provide that access. Our Instructional Technology team has a plan in place to provide Chromebooks and Internet Access to students who lack these resources." 

The District is providing 3 options for students that do not have computers:

Option #1

Fill out the Chromebook Loaner Request Form. Within 24 hours a DJUSD representative will contact you or you can pick up your Chromebook between March 23-27. See pick up locations and hours below. 

Option #2

Call the DJUSD Instructional Technology Department at (530) 757-5300 x117. Leave a voicemail with your full name, student's full name, and a contact phone number or email. Within 24 hours a DJUSD representative will contact you or you can pick up your Chromebook between March 23-27. See pick up locations and hours below. 

Option #3

Show up to the pick up location during the hours below, fill out our Chromebook information and agreement form and be on your way. Please bring your child’s DJUSD Student ID #.

Pick up locations will be at Harper, Montgomery and Patwin. more details can be found here.

The District is also making arrangements for students who do not have at home internet access. They request families of students in need of internet access call, "DJUSD’s Instructional Technology Department at (530) 757-5300 x117 and leave a voicemail with your name and contact information. A DJUSD representative will contact you within 24 hours." 

The District also urges anyone who knows of a student that needs a computer or internet access to also call and inform the district. 

DJUSD will als be providing tech support for DJUSD Chromebooks, just call  Instructional Technology Department at (530) 757-5300 x117.

The District announcement includes no information for specialized instruction for students with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) but does promise that, "DJUSD is committed to providing appropriate resources and strategies focused on making distance learning both engaging and accessible for all English Learners and students with disabilities. Our teachers will receive professional development on designing distance learning and instruction with all learners’ needs in mind (Universal Design for Learning)."

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Council asked to give broad and ill-defined powers to City Manager

By Colin Walsh

The City of Davis has announced a “special meeting” for tomorrow evening to address the COVID-19 virus and local situation. The agenda contains only 3 action items:

• A proclamation of local emergency
• Urgency Ordinance Adopting Emergency Regulations Related to Evictions
• Closed Session with the city attorney on a matter posing a threat to the public’s right of access to public services or public facilities

The proclamation of emergency grants considerable authority to the City Manager.

The City Manager or their designee is to be the head of the local emergency response and they will have latitude to purchase supplies as needed and to “to ensure the continued operations of essential city services, including but not limited to police, fire, water, streets and highways, wastewater, or solid waste services.”

“The City Manager is further authorized to take any necessary actions to approve plans and specifications; to award and execute construction contracts, amendments, and equipment purchase contracts where sufficient funds have already been budgeted in appropriate programs for these purposes or where appropriate funds can be identified; to approve subdivision improvements, final maps, and parcel maps; to accept modify, or quit claim easements; to apply for or accept grants, and to approve budget adjustments.”

This ordinance gives the City Manager latitude to address the potential looming COVID-19 health crisis, by giving the ability to approve emergency development without council approval, like a new hospital for example.

The language “to approve plans and specifications,” and “to approve subdivision improvements, final maps, and parcel maps; to accept modify, or quit claim easements,” also seems to give the City Manager the authority to advance new non-emergency development, like new apartment complexes, housing subdivisions, or business developments.

[edit 3/17/2020 12:15am] – much of the language cited in the paragraph above "The City Manager is further authorized… budget adjustments." is largely the same as resolutions the council passes when they take a summer recess, for example this one from the summer of 2018 and actually grants fairly limited power to the City manager as it relates to new development.

What is most notable here is instead this language, "In order to reduce the number of necessary public City Council meetings." The City Council will be considering whether or not to essentially take a recess or at least to meet less for an undefined period of time. Usually recess resolutions like this have a defined end date, but in the case of the emergency resolution, no end date is defined. Instead, the City Managers extra authorities only ends when the council votes to end the declaration of emergency.

Thank you to Council Member Frerichs for explaining some of this. [end edit]

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Mace Business Park developer pushes for development while so many others are concerned for the effects of Covid-19 on Davis, California and beyond.

By Colin Walsh

While our community reels from school shutdowns and unprecedented uncertainty, as there are runs on essential foods at the stores, as many fear for their health or their paychecks, while we are experiencing significant economic disruption, Dan Ramos pushes on with his massive Business Park development project.

Ramos chose this time, of all times, to publish  an opinion titled, "Commentary: ARC would improve traffic conditions" in the Davis Enterprise.

Ramos chooses now to lie to us that 24,000 more vehicles from the business park on Mace every day will “improve our traffic.” Just look at all of these factors that will make the traffic so much worse from page 33 of the just released Supplemental EIR in this image.

Ramos chooses now to claim that, “local road improvements associated with the project’s buildout will improve traffic flows.” What is he talking about? The project description offered no road improvements to existing roads at all, and notice Ramos doesn’t claim the project will fund any improvements either.

Ramos chooses now to tell us that the non-existing affordable housing plan will bring “unprecedented construction of new affordable housing.” False – I was there at the Commission when Ramos’s representative said they hoped to pay in lieu fees and/or locate any affordable housing outside of the project area.

Ramos chooses now to claim that, “It will generate millions of dollars in new revenue for city needs and services,” but there is no analysis yet of the revenue generated by the current proposal.

Ramos, please for the sake of the community, give it a rest.

We don’t have time for your smoke and mirrors right now.

Mr. Ramos, there is just no time for this silliness. No time to counter all of your blatant fallacious Orwellian misinformation.

Your misleading propaganda piece today clearly demonstrates that your project must be put on hold until it can be properly vetted.