Davisite logo
Davisite Banner. Left side the bicycle obelisk at 3rd and University. Right side the trellis at the entrance to the Arboretum.

Category: Current Affairs

  • Irony abounds at Davis City Council meeting: Armored Rescue Vehicle and Communication

    ARVIs the City really committed to better communication?

    By Roberta Millstein

    At its Tuesday meeting, the Davis City Council received a detailed presentation about how the City can improve its communication.  Then the Council immediately threw that information out the window and approved an Armored Rescue Vehicle (ARV).

    The presentation on communications was detailed and professional.  Among its recommendations was to make use of City Commissions whose members “are very engaged and are uniquely qualified to help serve as City messengers in the community and disseminate updated information.” The report also outlined many venues through which the City can communicate better with its residents, including communicating with residents that are otherwise difficult to reach.

    The Council seemed to receive this presentation positively, asking only a few questions of clarification.

    Then late in the meeting – around 10:30 PM – the City began the agenda item to discuss whether the City should acquire an ARV. After a presentation from Chief Pytel, the City took public comment. It was scathing.

    (more…)

  • Davis rejected the MRAP – should it buy an ARV instead?

    ARVThe following letter was submitted to the Davis City Council by email on September 23, 2019.

    Dear Davis City Councilmembers,

    I am writing to express my views on Item 09 of September 24th's agenda, concerning the obtainment of an Armored Rescue Vehicle.

    After the huge outcry and discussion over the MRAP, I am extremely surprised to see that this is being proposed as a recommended purchase by staff. I would have thought that staff would recognize Davisites' great interest in such issues, and would have scheduled time for discussion and getting citizen input before making a recommendation. I urge you not to make a decision at the Sept 24 meeting but to instead use it to get input and discuss, allowing for further input after the meeting.

    In the absence of that discussion, my own view is that the ARV is a MRAP-lite.

    (more…)

  • STATEMENT OF CONCERN RE: RE-PURPOSING OF THE JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITY (JDF)

    JuviPEOPLE POWER of DAVIS

    STATEMENT OF CONCERN RE: RE-PURPOSING OF THE JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITY (JDF)

    • We acknowledge the happy problem that the capacity of the JDF far exceeds the demand for secure detention of Yolo County juveniles, and that the county’s ongoing operational costs for the facility are high.
    • We know detained youth benefit from personal connections and support from family and community, and therefore access and proximity to these resources is fundamental to their continued well-being.­
    • The current situation places all genders of youth together, which has its risks, but also offers significant benefits, most notably:
      • proximity to family and a very engaged community; and
      • reduced exposure of our Yolo youth to influences, likely found in the Sacramento facility, of other incarcerated youth whose knowledge, experiences, and affiliations may encourage harmful impacts;
      • no contact with adult
    • The current construction to expand and renovate the Yolo County adult jail facilities requires temporary relocation of the adult booking facility, during a construction period of an estimated 18-24 months.
    • The current expansion and renovation will increase adult jail capacity to over 450 beds and improve medical and mental health services at the adult
    • During the past five years youth from under-resourced neighborhoods in Woodland, Knight’s Landing, and West Sacramento have been disproportionately represented among JDF admissions. Most impacted is the Broderick neighborhood of West Sacramento, which has suffered years under a gang injunction, lacks youth programs, and locks its school yards to the public when school is not in session;

    THEREFORE, we respectfully request the board act to:

    • Ensure any agreements to place Yolo youth in the Sacramento County JDF are restricted to not more than the time required to complete the Yolo County Jail
    • Provide transportation funding to family and encourage, through economic incentives, community support for visitation at Sacramento JDF during the construction
    • Forgo additional expansion of Yolo County adult incarceration by transferring authority for use of the JDF to the Sheriff. Rather than expand jail capacity, we should seek alternatives to pre-adjudication detention, which currently accounts for a majority of the jail
    • Preserve funding for Reinvest cost savings into meaningful community engagement and youth development resources.
    • Use this time-limited construction period to engage youth, their families, and the impacted communities to work with the Chief Probation Officer to develop recommendations for youth development and alternatives to juvenile detention options in Yolo County and to guide the community engagement

  • Reflections on the Fourth of July in 2019

    Declaration-of-IndependenceOn this day, let us not forget what the 4th of July is truly commemorating.

    When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

  • Concert to Fight Human Trafficking and Child Sexual Abuse

    62509530_2404302522942218_416424790476193792_nTaylor Chicks, The Duval Speck Trio, and The Yadao Trio Play Benefit Concert for Yolo County’s Multi-Disciplinary Interview Center 

    From Press Release

    All are invited to attend a fun-filled, energetic benefit concert with The Taylor Chicks, The Duval Speck Trio, and The Yadao Trio at The Oddfellows Hall, 415 2nd Street in Davis on Sunday, June 23 from 4:30-8:00 pm.

    This special event supports Yolo County’s Multi-Disciplinary Interview Center ( MDIC ) in its efforts to eliminate human trafficking and child sexual abuse. Beer, wine, Fabulous Tacos by T’s Tacos and Tunes will be available for purchase. There will be a silent auction featuring artwork by Cathy Speck, which has been very popular in the Davis 2nd Friday Art About circuit.

    Cameron Handley, Director of the MDIC (Yolo County’s Children’s Advocacy Center) reports, “Sex trafficking of our local youth is far more prevalent in Yolo County than most people realize. Because of our proximity to two major interstates, I-80 and I-5, our specific region in California is one of the most targeted regions by traffickers in the United States”

    (more…)

  • Proposal Triples Size of Homeless Shelter

    Pauls-place-renderingCurrent Zoning Does Not Allow for 4 Story Project

    By Colin Walsh 

    Paul’s Place homeless shelter was announced on the front page of the Davis Enterprise yesterday noting how the very rapid growth of the Davis homeless population has overtaxed the old H street facility. This 4-story proposal will include 28 units, 4 emergency beds, “program space to connect people with public benefits, housing and employment opportunities and health and human services, as well as the basic services needed on a daily basis by those living outdoors: food, clothing, showers, restrooms and laundry facilities.” (link)

    With the increasing local homeless population there is little doubt that solutions need to be found. Paul’s place would replace the existing well-worn Davis Community Meals 12 bed shelter at 1111H St.

    One hurdle the new shelter will need to overcome to be built is the size of the proposed new building. At 4 stories tall it would be the tallest commercial or residential building between 5th St. and Covell. It will be the building in a half mile radius and the current zoning does not allow for 4 a story building.

    (more…)

  • UC Temporarily Suspends Glyphosate-based Herbicides

    IMG-4152

    By Nancy Price

    On May 14th, 2019 Janet Napolitano, President of the University of California, sent a remarkable letter to the Chancellors of all UC campuses, the Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and the CEOs of all  the UC Medical centers announcing the “temporary suspension of the use of glyphosate-based herbicides.”

    Napolitano cited “concerns about possible human health and ecological hazards, as well as potential legal and reputational risks associated with this category of herbicides.”

    This may be a response to the mounting scientific research linking glyphosate to cancer, or it could just be that the UC system is worried about being named as a defendant in a glyphosate lawsuit like the three Monsanto/Bayer have lost over the last two years. The most recent lawsuit found Bayer responsible for damages of 2 billion dollars.

    (more…)

  • Davis Pride Festival looks back and ahead

    Davis Pride Festival
    When: Sunday, May 19
    Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
    Place: Central Park, 401 C St., Davis
    What: Free event with music, food, education, kids’ activities and support for the LGBTQ+ community
    Related event: Run/Walk for Equality, 8 a.m.
    Info: davispride.org

    Image 9

    ShellyEllenByJennyRihl061608

    Shelly Bailes and Ellen Pontac react after their June 2008 marriage in Yolo County
    Jenny Rihl/Davis Enterprise photo

    (From Press release) Shelly Bailes and Ellen Pontac are two of the most prominent faces of gay pride in Yolo County. Together since 1973, their fight to legally marry was chronicled in many news reports. Finally, in 2008, they earned that right in California.

    That perspective is something they’d like to share on Sunday, May 19, when the Davis Pride Festival returns for its fifth year. The multi-faceted day includes a fun run and culminates with a festival of music, food and support for the LGBTQ+ community.

    (more…)

  • Urgent! Act today for CA 857 on Public Banking!

    Your short calls can make the difference to get CA 857 through its first Assembly Committees!  This is the public banking bill that does so much good.

    Please, this week, all you need to say is: Please support AB 857 the Public Banking bill that will enable California municipalities and counties — and the state as a whole — to charter their own public banks.

    Many CA newspapers, the California Public Banking Alliance (https://californiapublicbankingalliance.org/)  and many of our state's local public bank advocacy groups support this bill. 

    This week, your phone call can help flood the committee members’ offices to get this bill through these committee hurdles! 

    (more…)

  • Broadband Public Comment to City Council

    On April 9, 2019 The Davis City Council took public comments on a proposed new contract for City of Davis broadband infrastructure.

    The City Council discussion was held in closed session after comments. The City Council did not record or broadcast the public comments. Audio has been provided to the Davisite by Bob Fung of CivEnergy, photos by Roberta Millstein. Approximately 30 people were in attendance.