Author: davisite

Late to the Race but Right on Time: NJ Mvondo Joins the Race for Yolo County Supervisor District 4 Seat

+++ From Press Release +++

NJ Mvondo is announcing her candidacy for the Yolo County Board of Supervisors’ District 4 seat in the March 2024 primary election. A social entrepreneur and grassroots organizer, it is Mvondo’s love for her community and desire to address the pressing environmental concerns that have driven her to run for local office. Mvondo looks forward to tackling three major issues if elected: achieving sustainability via the implementation of an environmental justice framework in the decision-making in Yolo County, building a resilient economy, and reducing housing insecurity. With record breaking heat across the globe this summer, this is a wakeup call for everyone as to the urgency of the climate crisis. People need to be housed, our economy needs resiliency, and we need to combat climate change.

As the Chair of the City of Davis Human Relations Commission, NJ Mvondo works to create bridges and understanding in the community in an era of deep political divides and racial tensions. As a leader in the Davis environmental and civic realm, Mvondo encourages dialogue and collaboration across sectors to find ways to address the issues at hand, including in her work as Chair of the Yolo County Climate Action Commission. Mvondo would be honored to continue uplifting the community’s voice through the work of Yolo County Supervisor for District 4.

Sandy Holman, Davis’ Citizen of the Year 2023 and founder of the Culture C.O.-O.P., is excited to support Mvondo in this race. She shares that “NJ Mvondo is one of those rare, exceptional political candidates who has personally experienced many of the issues we are trying to address in our communities. This fact, along with her incredible professional experiences, outstanding leadership, and committed and endless service to our communities, in a variety of capacities, makes her an extraordinary choice for the Yolo County Board of Supervisors.”

Mvondo shares, “Davis and Yolo County are my home and the first places I felt I belonged in the United States. Davis is one of the few places I know to have extraordinary standards for the well-being of its residents and its environment. We have set ambitious and necessary goals for our city and county, and we can achieve them if we work together.”

One of these extraordinary goals is to ensure that Yolo County meets its promise to be carbon negative by 2030. And with the recent bomb threats towards the LGBTQ+ community at the public library in Davis, she condemns any attempts to create fear and hostility in our city, and any threats to the safety of our residents. Buildings like the public library are not just public spaces, but a home for many, especially historically marginalized groups. Mvondo champions equity, inclusion and transparency in all she does. She looks forward to bringing this care and determination to the Board of Supervisors to uplift safe communities in all of Yolo County.

To learn more about NJ Mvondo, her priorities, and her run for Yolo County’s District 4 Board of Supervisor, visit her website at  https://www.nj4supervisor.com/. You can also follow her social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram @nj4supervisor for the latest updates.

By Janet and Joe Krovoza

On Tuesday, August 27, 2023, Yolo County Superior Court judge Timothy Fall ruled that the City of Davis is not required to complete any additional environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) before proceeding with relocation of the Sky Track from its original location. The ruling isn’t final yet. A formal order will be issued in a few weeks.

The case turned on Judge Fall accepting the city’s use of the “small accessory structures” categorical exemption of CEQA. The CEQA guidelines provide examples for this category of exemption as “garages, carports, patios, swimming pools, and fences.”  The guidelines describe accessory uses as: “(a) On-premise signs; (b) small parking lots; and (c) Placement of seasonal or temporary use items such as lifeguard towers, mobile food units, portable restrooms, or similar items in generally the same locations from time to time in publicly owned parks, stadiums, or other facilities designed for public use.”

We disagree that such an exemption is appropriate. Unlike the CEQA guidelines’ examples, the Sky Track is permanent, not “temporary or seasonal,” and creates an inescapable abrasive industrial sound that ports sound directly into homes whenever it is in use, interrupting sleep, rest, and concentration, and impacting physical and mental health. Accessory structures aren’t known to have moving mechanical parts proven to violate a noise ordinance standard.

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How the Son of Robert McNamara Coped with Vietnam War; Wrote Painful, Revealing Book About His Father

By David L. Johnson

Craig McNamara in his office overlooking his 450-acre organic walnut tree farm in Winters. Craig is sitting in the chair his father, Robert McNamara, used at the Pentagon when he was Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Behind Craig are historical photos of his father and other mementos.

“My father loved me to the end of the earth and I loved him. But in any relationship, there are huge caverns, crevices and dysfunctions. I had so desperately wanted to learn about Vietnam from my father, but it never happened.”

The father is Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s. McNamara is known as one of the chief architects and defenders of the Vietnam War.  The quote is from McNamara’s son, Craig McNamara, an organic walnut farmer in Winters, who in 2022 wrote the book “Because Our Fathers Lied, A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today,” a heart wrenching indictment of his father’s integrity and actions on the Vietnam War.

The following article is based on a June 2023 interview with Craig McNamara in his office overlooking his 450-acre farm.

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Dear Council Members,

We are very appreciative of Council Member Partida's pulling of item B, the “Arroyo Park Picnic Area Shade Structure Project,'' from the consent calendar July 18. Given the magnitude of the proposed financial commitment, and the fact that the final cost differed so greatly from what the Recreation and Park Commission had been asked to consider, it was certainly appropriate to do so. We continue to hope that even at this point one of the four council members who voted in favor of the project will ask for reconsideration and that the council will vote to send this item back to the RPC.

As you know, at the July 18 meeting, the council, in a four to one vote, approved funding in the amount of $407,675 for an open-air structure that would house six new picnic tables and two barbecues. No plumbing. No wiring. No funds set aside for future maintenance. At the cost of not replacing a tree that had died and of removing precious green space from a well-used and aesthetically pleasing, shady expanse of lawn — an unwelcome departure from the original park plans. A project as staff-driven as any we’ve seen. And this vote was based on grossly misleading testimony from Davis city staff.

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UC Irvine's Mesa Court part of their Middle Earth complex of student housing including three 6-story building of beautiful student housing that the are hugely popular with the students. https://educationsnapshots.com/projects/4672/uc-irvine-mesa-court-towers/

By Eileen M. Samitz

While a recent article by UCD Chancellor May opened with his goal for UCD to be a good neighbor to Davis, there’s much more UCD can, and needs to do to reach that goal.

Historically, in 1989 UCD signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Davis, in which UCD promised to not have “sharp” enrollment increases to avoid impacting the City,  that it would provide more on-campus housing to accommodate its student’s needs, and that it would not exceed 26,000 students by 2006.

None of these promises were kept. UCD enrollment continued to accelerate, but for the next two decades production of on-campus student housing did not keep pace with the expanding student population. Instead, UCD executed “master leases” with the owners of local multi-family housing complexes, which reserved those apartments exclusively for UCD students. Because UCD is tax-exempt, this practice allowed the owners of those properties to then claim a property tax exemption, thereby depriving the City and County of much needed tax revenue. 

UCD has a long history of missing on-campus student housing targets. In November 2000, the UC Board of Regents  released a report titled “UC Housing for the 21^st Century,” which assigned  UCD a  goal of 11,143 on-campus beds by 2012, but UCD missed that goal by 1,835 beds, Then, UCD’s 2003 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) anticipated that UCD would house 10,800 students on-campus by 2016, but missed that target by 1,400 beds.

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CA forecasts extremely slow population growth for next 4 decades for  Yolo County and California.

by Colin Walsh

The state of California Department of Finance released an update to its state population projections on July 19, 2023. These projections are based on Census 2020 data and demographic analysis. (link)

The state estimates the current population of California is 38,990,487 and that the population will increase to 39,508,492 by 2060. That is only a little over 500,000 or just slightly over a 1% increase in a 37 year period. This is essentially a year-over-year zero growth rate for the State of CA.

This halt to population growth in CA comes after a century of rapid growth that transformed CA from a sparsely populated state to the most populous state in the country. This projected lack of growth comes after 2 years of slight decline in population where the state lost more than ½ million people between 2020 and 2023.

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My support for Francesca Wright is based not only on her informed approach to specific issues facing the city from housing, especially affordable housing, and city services to climate change and diversity, but also and especially on the type of experience she will bring to governance.

As a professional and a grassroots organizer over many years, she starts a process at the level of what people say about their concerns and possible solutions based on their experience. That means her solutions to Davis problems will be shaped to address our needs and interests. Several times she has listened carefully to me, and though we may not agree on every point, I have complete confidence that she is committed to the kind of dialogue that will result in good public policy.

Wright has worked for and with public institutions such as the California Institute of Mental Health and several County “First 5” programs that support at-risk children and their families. Unlike her opponent, the strength of her qualifications and experience comes from her work at the community level, rather than within the bureaucracy. You can learn more about her work over the years at https://wrightfordavis.org/bio/ and also by reading her Platform.

With the city in need of a good listener, fresh approaches and someone who will engage in the spirit of collaboration, I urge residents of District 3 to vote for Cesca Wright.

Nancy Price
Davis