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

  • You Can’t Compare Davis with San Francisco

    Bridge-bike
    By Jon Li

    Roberta Millstein recently wrote in the Davisite that if six to ten story buildings were allowed in the Davis Downtown area, then there would be all kinds of urban problems, citing an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

    Wait a minute.  You can’t compare suburban Davis with world famous celebrity magnet City By The Bay with over ten times the population of 750,000.  There are villages, nooks, streets that have more economy, more society, more culture than all of Davis put together.   I get that some people came to Davis to escape that rat race, but many people who work in Davis commute from SF.

    (more…)

  • How High Should the Downtown Go – And Why?

    IMG_1296In a recent post, Jon Li decried the process used by "Downtown Davis Plan Team Participatory Design Workshop." In addition to those concerns about process, in his view the right solution to Davis's economic problems is to turn the Downtown into 10,000 residences by building six stories, and higher, and having jobs and housing downtown."

    In reply, one commenter thought that "the charrette consultants went straight to tall, dense downtown buildings as a first solution" and that that "would probably gentrify downtown to the point where all the small independent businesses would be forced out because rents would go too high."

    Interestingly, then, we have agreement that there were problems with the process, but disagreement with the desired outcome: a tall, dense downtown.

    Would a tall downtown in fact improve Davis's economy?

    (more…)

  • Why the Davis Downtown Economy is Falling Apart

    Bw-bicyclestatueBy Jon Li

    Do you wonder about the empty stores in Downtown Davis? Don't you wish there was somebody on the City of Davis Staff who is responsible for improving our local economy?

    Last week, the City of Davis held its "Downtown Davis Plan Team Participatory Design Workshop" for four days. It was lectures by highly paid outside consultants mouthing what the Davis Staff has decided is going to be in the Downtown element of the new Davis General Plan.  State law says ours is out of date now and must be updated. Davis Staff set up a process with as little public input as possible. They only want to legally check off the box "public input."

    (more…)

  • Why is our Democratic Assembly Member endorsing a non-Democratic Yolo County District Attorney?

    DeanJohanssonBy M E Gladis

    To Voters in California Assembly District 4.

    One wonders what the Democratic Assembly Member, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry intends by endorsing the present non-Democratic Yolo County District Attorney since he doesn’t follow democratic values. This District Attorney remains neutral on Prop 39 ( 3 Strikes Reform ) but opposes Prop 47 (Sentencing Reform ), Prop 57 ( Reduce Mass Incarceration ), and Prop 64 (Legal Adult Marijuana Use).These four Propositions Yolo County voters overwhelmingly approved. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry appears to oppose Yolo County voters.

    Consider, then, this same District Attorney has filed more felony trials in Yolo County ( Pop. 213,000 ) than has the district attorney in Alameda County ( pop. 1,683,000 ) Felony trials are expensive ordeals. Yolo County 41% to CA average 19% Felony non-conviction rate. Cecilia seems to support this effort.

    (more…)

  • Dean Johansson Supports the Just Announced ‘Use of Force’ Legislation to Curb Killings of Civilians by Law Enforcement

    DeanJohansson(Press release) Yolo County Deputy Public Defender Dean Johansson, a candidate for Yolo County District Attorney, Tuesday was among the first candidates for public office in the region to support state legislation introduced today to restrict when law enforcement officers could shoot suspects.

    The measure would modify the standard officers use to fire their weapons to "necessary force" from the current "reasonable force," which has led to 162 killings by California peace officers in 2017 – more than half of those killed were unarmed.

    (more…)

  • How can we measure Davis as a healthy, sustainable bio-social economic organism confronted with perpetual UCD Disruptions?

    Bw-bicyclestatue

    Source: Davis Wiki

    By Jon Li

    The city staff has a status quo approach to the state requirement that the out of date Davis general plan be updated. Staff has imposed a rigid process where the Downtown Plan Advisory Committee is only allowed to listen. Everything is subject exclusively to city council ratification; staff does not want any changes from either the Advisory Committee or the City Council. Staff only wants the right to claim they are acting on the authority of the city council. The city council has no control over the city staff.

    Davis’ economy is so pathetic that it cannot afford the government we have, let alone the amenities most people in Davis take for granted.

    (more…)

  • District Attorney Candidate Dean Johansson Played Key Role in Development of New City of Davis Surveillance Ordinance

    399a952f6da55671839f719b9de05a16
    (Press release) Yolo County ACLU* board member Dean Johansson – now a candidate for Yolo County District Attorney – played a leadership role in developing the surveillance ordinance passed unanimously Tuesday, March 20, 2018, by the Davis City Council.

    The ordinance – which regulates city departments’ use of surveillance technology, building in safeguards to protect civil liberties – was the result of a year and a half of collaboration between the Yolo County ACLU, ACLU of Northern California, Davis City Council, Police Chief Darren Pytel, and Brian Hofer, Chair of the City of Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission.

    Other community groups, including the Davis Human Relations Commission, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, ACLU People Power, and the National Lawyers Guild supported the development and passage of the ordinance.

    (more…)

  • Proposed revisions to the Cannery project will NOT be heard by the City Council tonight

    From: "City of Davis eNotification" <webmaster@cityofdavis.org>

    City Council Agenda Update – February 20, 2018

    Date: February 20, 2018 2:18 p.m.

    PLEASE NOTE:
    Agenda Item 5 – Public Hearing on The Cannery Marketplace Project Revisions will not be heard at tonight's City Council meeting. The item will be opened and continued to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Discussion of the item will take place at the March 13 meeting.

    We apologize for any inconvenience.