Is now the time for the City of Davis to be spending millions of dollars on a ladder fire truck when it currently only needs this type of truck approximately once per month at most, when it can currently borrow UC Davis’s ladder truck for free?
What information do we need to answer this question? What do we know and what do we need to know?
According to the Davis Enterprise, on March 16 the Davis City Council “expressed unanimous support for acquiring a ladder truck for the Davis Fire Department and directed staff to move forward both on securing a detailed cost estimate for a truck as well as developing plans to modify the downtown fire station to accommodate it.”
The estimated costs discussed thus far are as follows (with the City possibly being able to obtain some grants to offset some of these costs):
The City of Davis' only response to recent crashes in the vicinity of Pole Line Road and East Covell Blvd has thus far been Enforcement1. Actively, the Davis Police Department has been monitoring some locations in the area. Passively, the City has placed aradar speed sign on WB East Covell between Manzanita and Baywood Streets,right about here.
Why is the radar speed sign in the bike lane? The City places similar signs – and they and private contractors place various construction signs – off to the side on streets when there's space to do so, so they clearly understand the advantage of doing so. But when there's no space, they place the signs on the side of the street, and on most collectors and arterial streets in Davis this means it's in a bike lane.
"Putting a radar feedback sign on Covell to invite drivers to slow down: good. Putting a sign in bike lane: not good," says Nicolas Fauchier-Magnan, the President ofBike Davis, who usually goes by Nico.
"Obstructing the bike lane, on a street where drivers routinely go 50 mph or more is simply irresponsible.
"Come on, City of Davis," continues Nico. "You should know better, and you can do better. Please fix this terrible blunder before someone gets hurt. There is plenty of space on the grass, outside of the bike lane, to safely place this sign."
Date: Saturday, Oct 24 Time: from 1:30-3:00pm Location: Central Park, Davis, CA
Because of COVID, attendees are expected to socially distance to keep everyone safe. Masks are required (extras masks/ hand-sanitizer will be provided if needed). Stay home if you feel sick!
Yolo People Power, Multiculturalism Rocks!, Women in Leadership Davis, Yolo Committee for Diverse and Inclusive Elections, and Indivisible Yolo invite you to an educational rally on re-thinking policing and public safety to help create an anti-racist, reformative, compassionate system that TRULY keeps every member of our community safe.
This event will feature short speeches by local activists, organizers, university and high school students, and experts on the problems of our current law enforcement/ criminal justice system and what solutions exist to transform it.
(From press release) Three local grassroots organizations, Yolo People Power, Envisioning Justice Partnership-West Sacramento, and Three Sisters Gardens have launched an online petition which acknowledges systemic anti-Blackness and racism in our structures of governance, and demands changes in how we envision and provide public safety. The petition calls upon Yolo County and its local municipal governments to join jurisdictions from across the nation in recognizing policing as a public health issue, and propose a transition from a weaponized approach to a public safety model. The petition is informed and inspired by programs like Eugene, Oregon's CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) which differentiates which responders are most appropriate for each call. This means employing mental health and substance abuse specialists, social workers, and advocates for the houseless community, who are not affiliated with police departments, to respond to most calls.
The petition also calls for an intervention into the mechanisms of participatory democracy, to ensure that marginalized communities are well-represented in decision-making processes, and have the opportunity to speak for themselves. Toward this end, the petition calls on policy-makers to host community forums around public safety in the next three months, and develop proposals for community review prior to the 2021 budget cycle.
All Yolo County residents are welcome to sign the Change.org petition, which has been endorsed by Indivisible Yolo. The petition can be found online at http://bit.ly/3hdaJDf
White people of Davis, this is relevant here, too:
One of the fundamental things wrong with police culture is solidarity with violent colleagues.
You may have seen the video of police in riot gear pushing over a 75 year old man who started bleeding from the head while the other officers present walked by him, seemingly unconcerned.
Two officers have been suspended and ALL 57 of the city's emergency response team resigned from the team in solidarity with their dangerous coworkers. There have been no consequences for the officers who stood by and did nothing. None of those 57 should be in any position of community authority, let alone with a service weapon.
This is not a problem "over there". This extends to Davis.
Like so many people in Davis, I am an avid animal lover. I worked at UCD VMTH until I retired 5 years ago. I loved my work there and was privileged to help many animals during that time, but since retiring, I decided to volunteer with the local Yolo County SPCA which has helped backfill some of the gratification I got from my work. I also have coordinated the holiday pet basket charity annually for Mercer Clinic for the Pets of the Homeless for 25 years, but now one of my biggest concerns is the need for a new Yolo County animal shelter.
The good news is that there is a path now open to get there now thanks to the work of a number of people working with Supervisor Jim Provenza who serves with Supervisor Gary Sandy on the County committee working making a new animal shelter a reality. The first thing needed is the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) which a number of entities have worked on to draft including Jim, Supervisor Gary Sandy, UCD’s Koret Animal Shelter program and the Yolo County SPCA.
This Joint Powers agreement which would change the structure of management for a Yolo Animal Shelter to be a shared responsibility, with shared input. This has been needed and the good news is that this JPA moved forward this past Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting. The motion was led by Jim Provenza which, with his impassioned statement, passed unanimously by the entire Board of Supervisors. Jim has cared about this need deeply and even has a video posted making the appeal for a new Yolo animal shelter needed which you can view here:
I was present at the Board of Supervisors February 25hth meeting with several other animal lovers and advocates who testified and we were thrilled to see how Jim spoke so passionately about the need for this JPA to move forward and to help us to move forward on efforts for a new animal shelter. A non-profit was started a while ago thanks to a number of dedicated animals lovers called “Unleashing Yolo” to help fundraise for a new Yolo animal shelter. To learn more about it and to help by donating, the website is www.unleashingyolo.org
In addition, there is another non-profit supporting this goal named “Friends of Yolo County Animal Services” which has a website at www.friendsofycas.org and are dedicated to helping improve the lives of animals and support adoption within Yolo County.
In short, I wanted to share this wonderful news, and to reach out to others who may want to help in this much needed effort and also, to urge people to please vote For Jim Provenza to be re-elected for Yolo County Supervisor, so we can move forward to make a new animal shelter a reality.
The Davis Post Carbon Association hosted a climate change discussion of all 3 candidates for Yolo County Supervisor 4th District. Supervisor Jim Provenza, and challengers Linda Deos and David Abramson joined in a visionary and wide ranging discussion of what Yolo County can do to address climate change. The discussion was held on 1/10/2020.
This video was provided to the Davisite by The Davis Post Carbon Association.
Max was killed after being placed in an illegal prone restraint for nearly two hours at his school. Soon, The Aspergian will cover this story in more detail, but right now the world needs to know Max outside of “the boy who was killed.”
Max was a boy who lived, a bright, vibrant, loving, curious, hilarious, creative, outgoing soul whose life had purpose and value.
I talked to Stacia Langley, Max’s mom, to get to know Max outside of the sparse, often-dehumanizing soundbytes that have punctuated the news stories about his last days.
While tabling for free parking at the Farmers Market, we have encountered very few advocates of “paid parking.” We find that many casual paid parking supporters, upon consideration of all facts, will reconsider or at least support putting the issue to public vote. There are some extremists who assert there should be no vehicles or vehicle parking in the downtown, not even for frail, elderly or handicapped individuals. But most people accept the existence of automobiles and realize that even electric cars must park.
This space is too brief to answer every question or assertion that we have heard, but we will address the most common. For additional examples, we refer you to our website: freedomtopark.org.
First, the initiative prohibits the charging of a fee for the public parking that is already provided by our tax dollars. It does not change standard parking regulations; it does not change the parking time limits; it does not change the city parking permit program. Second, the initiative requires the replacement of the 120 parking spaces that the City has already removed from the downtown. These spaces can easily be replaced by turning parallel spaces into perpendicular or slant parking spaces, for example.
Comments given to the Davis City Council by Mimi McMahon
Trust is an important element when citizens elect officials to act on their behalf. There is no room for special interests or personal gain. A promise is a contract. The City has squandered the trust of Davis citizens and those affected by the Mace Mess you and your staff have created. You have wasted millions of dollars of our hard-earned taxes.
Davisite 