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Author: Roberta Millstein

  • Nine misconceptions about Prop 50

    By Roberta Millstein

    Back in August, I wrote an article arguing for why people ought to vote “Yes” on Prop 50: “Fight Fire with Fire.” Today I write to dispel some of the misconceptions about Prop 50 that I have encountered.  These will just be quick responses — more can be said about each of them — but at least this should be a starting point.

    But first: be sure to turn in your ballots before November 4.  And, importantly: if you plan to use the U.S. Mail, mail early because Trump’s cuts to USPS mean that your envelope might not get postmarked on Election Day, and, more generally, mail might be slow enough to cause your ballot not to be counted.  On Election Day, use a drop box or voting center; see Yolo County locations here.

    And some news since I wrote the previous article: It’s not just Texas who is trying to gerrymander to increase its Republican representation in Congress — Missouri and North Carolina are now getting into the act too.

    Onto the misconceptions…

    (more…)

  • We’re back!

    Dear readers of the Davisite,

    I have good news — we are back! For those who care about such things, we are now hosted by the popular blogging/website platform WordPress.com, which will hopefully give us a stable home for many years to come. And more good news — we believe that all of our old posts and comments were imported successfully from the old site.

    In the coming days, expect that we will be working out some of the kinks: maybe tweaking the design a bit, maybe learning some of the new features. I ask that you bear with us through this process. I think it should be fairly smooth and straightforward, though.

    We have a bit of a backlog of posts to get through, and we’ll post a couple a day until we get through them all. After that, we will return to our more or less typical posting rate (which has waxed and waned and waxed again over time, and will probably continue to do so).

    For those of you who are subscribed to our email list – and I encourage everyone to do so — your emails will now be coming directly from the site (WordPress.com) rather than the 3rd party email delivery we had used in the past (Feedblitz). That will give you a few more options than you had before, like the ability to get one email per day, one email per week, or even subscribe to get email notifications of comments for individual posts (if you like a lot of email). We are hopeful that this will work better for most, if not all, subscribers.

    Thank you again for reading the Davisite! And please remember that you are all potential authors, too, so send us your articles, event announcements, etc. There’s a lot going on in Davis, the state, and the world right now, and we hope to provide a platform where ideas and information can be shared.

    Yours in community,

    Roberta Millstein

  • Davisite platform challenges

    Dear readers of the Davisite,
     
    The good news is that the Davisite, after having been down for the last week or so, is back up again — at least for now. If you haven't seen our previous messages, we wanted to let you know what has been going on.
     
    Our software platform, Typepad, recently announced that it would be ending service on Sept 30, leaving us, along with thousands of other blogs, scrambling to find a new solution. We are confident that we can make that work and hope to have something in place by early-mid October. In the meantime, Typepad is *supposed* to keep working until the end of the month, but as you can see, it's been flaky.
     
    Things might be flaky for a while. So please bear with us while we get things to a more stable platform — hopefully soon.  In the meantime, we won't be posting any new articles or comments.  
     
    Thanks for your understanding (I hope!) and watch this space!
     
    Yours in community,
     
    Roberta Millstein
     
     

  • Fight fire with fire

    The change in voting districts would only be temporary; the stakes are too high not to level the playing field

    By Roberta Millstein

    As Californians, we are used to having little say in national politics. But now Proposition 50, "The Election Rigging Response Act," will be on the ballot this November. This is our chance to really make a difference — to stand up for our democracy.  And as a largely liberal city, we Davisites have the opportunity to turn out in force.

    Donald Trump asked Texas to rig its election maps to gain more Republican seats in the House, and Texas readily complied. Prop 50 is California's response to this rigging attempt. It would redraw our maps so as to counter Texas's, easing the path for more Democratic representation in the House than we currently have.

    Importantly, this change to our maps would only be temporary. The maps expire in 2030, at which point the California Redistricting Commission’s authority to draw congressional districts would be restored.

    We've seen the dire attacks on our democracy: the deployment of armed national guards in our cities, the erosion of checks and balances, the decimation of due process, retaliation against Trump's critics and perceived enemies, interference in the governance of higher education, erratic foreign policy with regard to tariffs and our longstanding friends, defunding of scientific and medical research, and more. The stakes could not be higher.

    Some worry about the precedent that this sets for the future — that California will return to the bad old days of gerrymandering on a permanent basis. Should we be so lucky to have a functioning democracy in 2030, I am sure we can keep our independent redistricting, just as we did before.  And again, the districts created by Prop 50 will automatically expire in 2030.

    The situation is desperate. We must fight fire with fire. Vote "yes" on Prop 50.

    Information for how to get involved in the campaign, including donating, is here:  https://stopelectionrigging.com.

    [A slightly shorter version of this letter appeared in the Davis Enterprise].

  • Petition to end the security guards at the Davis Food Co-op

    By Roberta Millstein

    The Davis Food Co-op now has security guards. 

    How those security guards are dressed and armed and why they are there is the subject of some dispute — anyone interested in the variety of opinions on this subject can read the hundreds of comments I accidentally generated when I shared a picture of some sidewalk chalk concerning the guards (the first I had heard of it) on NextDoor.  There you can also read a variety of opinions about whether the guards are a good idea or not, count the number of reactions, etc.  Let's just say it was a classic NextDoor post.  Trying to look at the positives, it at least provided a platform for people to share their opinions and impressions.

    But that is not the point of this post.  The point of this post is to share a petition about the security guards, located here: https://www.change.org/p/end-the-militarized-security-presence-at-our-davis-food-co-op.  I have no involvement in creation of the petition, but whoever wrote it did a beautiful job.  It is well-written and thoughtful.

    I have signed, and I urge others to sign as well. Importantly, the petition not only calls for eliminating the security guards (and explains why) but also calls for the Management and Board of Directors of the Co-op to work creatively with the community — as member-owners of the Co-op — to find alternatives to deal with the recent challenges that the Co-op has had. 

    It is, after all, supposed to be a Co-op and not a just another business, just another grocery store.

    One thing that quickly became clear is how badly the Co-op bungled this.  At a minimum, it should have used its email newsletter to let people know about the problems and how they were thinking of handling them.  That would have saved a lot of fear, anger, and frustration on all sides. In fact, they still haven't sent out an email like this, instead putting up a sandwich board in front of the entrance with a relatively brief explanation.

    Davis Food Co-op, let's work together.  Community, let's urge them to do so.  Again, the petition is here.

  • When hate masquerades as protest, we all lose

    Note: This article was originally published in the SF Chronicle and is reposted here with permission of the author. I think it expresses ideas that are very relevant for Davis, yet have been missing (as far as I know). -RM

    The attack on my cafe is an inexcusable act of violence. But even in the middle of this ugliness, there are many points of light

    By Manny Yekutiel

    The windows at Manny’s in San Francisco are boarded up on Thursday. In an act of violence, people vandalized the Mission District cafe on Monday night during protests against ICE actions.

    Earlier this week, protesters broke into Manny’s, my cafe and civic space in San Francisco’s Mission District, smashed the windows and spray-painted messages like “Intifada,” “Death 2 Israel is a Promise” and “Die Zionist” on my walls.

    It was violent. It was antisemitic. And it was heartbreaking.

    This kind of hatred has no place in San Francisco, the city that’s given me everything. And it has no place within the progressive movement — a movement I am a part of.

    I created Manny’s as a space for dialogue, for civic engagement and for tough conversations. I’ve seen what’s possible when people sit down with those they don’t agree with. I still believe in that work. But what happened on Monday night wasn’t dialogue. It was destruction intended to cause fear, and it crossed a line.

    (more…)

  • Draft EIR for Village Farms released for public comment

    Screen Shot 2025-02-02 at 3.24.20 PM
    The project site is bounded by Pole Line Road to the east; East Covell Boulevard to the south; the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) mainline, F Street, and Cannery development to the west; and Davis Paintball, Blue Max Kart Club, and agricultural land to the north.


    By Roberta Millstein

    On January 7, the City of Davis released the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Village Farms Davis Project for public review.  The approximately 497.6-acre project site is located north of East Covell Boulevard, east of F Street, and west of Pole Line Road in a currently unincorporated portion of Yolo County, California.  The City has invited public comment on this document for a 45-day period extending from January 7, 2025 through February 25, 2025. (Sorry for the late notice, but there is still time to submit comments).  EIRs are part of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process.

    The DEIR materials can be found within the ‘CEQA Documents and Information’ tab at: https://www.cityofdavis.org/city-hall/community-development/development-projects/village-farms-davis

    It's a very long document, but citizens can start with:

    And then, you can peruse particular areas of interest or concern:

    (more…)

  • Thurs, Jan 23: New book on Aldo Leopold’s land ethic at the Avid Reader

    Millstein Avid Reader Event AnnouncementFrom the Department of Shameless Self-Promotion, I bring you an announcement of an upcoming event for my recently-published book: The Land Is Our Community: Aldo Leopold’s Environmental Ethic for the New Millennium (University of Chicago Press).   Mark your calendars now for this free event, one month from today!

    Event info:

    Thursday Jan 23rd, 2025
    6:30 PM-7:30 PM
    Avid Reader
    617 2nd Street
    Davis, CA
     
    Publisher's book description:

    (more…)

  • There is still time to VOTE today!

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    Davisites, you can vote at the following locations until 8 PM tonight (Nov 5):

    Dropboxes:

    • UC Davis Campus, 282 Tennis Court Lane, Davis
    • Davis City Hall, 23 Russell Boulevard

    Vote centers:

    • Veterans Memorial Center – Multipurpose Room, 203 E 14th Street, Davis
    • UC Davis ARC – Ballrooms A & B, 760 Orchard Road, Davis
    • Montgomery Elementary School – Multipurpose Rm., 1441 Danbury Street, Davis
    • Emerson Junior High School – Indoor Commons 1, 2121 Calaveras Avenue, Davis

    More info here: https://ace.yolocounty.gov/305/Vote-Centers-Ballot-Drop-Boxes-Locations

    Every vote counts!  There is a lot at stake in this election at the local, state, and federal levels.  I urge everyone to let their voices be heard.

  • Reminder: Palomino Place meeting, Wed Sep 11, 7 PM

    As mentioned in this earlier post:

    On September 11, 2024, starting at 7:00 PM, the City of Davis Planning Commission is scheduled to conduct a public meeting to solicit input and comments from public agencies and the general public on the Draft SEIR for the Palomino Place Project. This meeting will be held at the City of Davis Community Chambers, located at 23 Russell Boulevard, Davis, CA 95616.

    There will be no transcription of oral comments at these meetings. Comments received will be summarized by staff for inclusion in the Final EIR. Those who wish to have their verbatim comments incorporated in the Final EIR must submit their comments in writing.