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Category: Current Affairs

  • Open Discussion: Library vs. Mom’s for Liberty: Library Loses — Free Speech Wins (of course)

    LibraryTransferring a few comments from Al's Corner, to open the discussion:

    Beth Bourne and M4L have been vindicated.

    The library has to change its policies and pay $70,000 in damages and fees.

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  • Open Discussion: Bob Dunning Terminated by Davis Enterprise Owners (an Al’s Corner Exclusive)

    Adfc46d7-dadc-4553-a16a-0777ff3b922bIn a bozo move by the owners of the Davis Enterprise, Bob Dunning was terminated without so much as a thank you after 55 years of service to the paper (and Davis).

    Shelley Dunning pays a very sweet tribute in a 7-minute video on her Facebook page:

    facebook.com/shelleydunning

    She also outlines how cold the termination was.  I doubt that will sit well with the Davis community.

    Bob's column will continue at: 

    thewaryone.com

    Please share your thoughts here in comments regarding this poorly-handled move by the owners of the Davis Enterprise.

    Full disclosure:  Bob Dunning once wrote a column about how I should be on the City Council 😐

    Note:  Pardon the pictured haircut, Bob, this is what A.I. gave me when I described the incident!

  • Open Forum on the Pro-Palestine Encampment on the UCD Quad

    598f7067-85aa-4d13-8b6b-0aab5b7ef1c9I went to two Seders this year.  At the first one, no one mentioned the Israel-Gaza war.  It did seem a bit the elephant in the room.  Just before the second Seder, I received an email from the host, referencing an online blog essay by author Ilana DeBare.  It suggested:

    I suggest opening up your seder to discussion, not just readings. Ask guests—in advance so they have time to consider—to bring their own thoughts and feelings about Passover and this war, and suggest that they come with open ears and an open heart. Let down the defensive walls that we’ve been carrying for months. At the Seder table, we can hopefully feel safe and able to listen to others, even if their views are different from our own.

    So in that spirit, I'm inviting the citizens of Davis to express their thoughts about the encampment on the Quad on the UC Davis campus.  While y'all are hashing this out, I'll be in the kitchen eating gefilte fish.

     

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  • Al’s Corner – MAY the Farce be with Ewe

    F0c1e298-a6b9-4787-8d01-7b930495390cWelcome to MAY on Al's Corner.  Where you MAY discuss the clown-show that is Davis politics.  At 5:30pm on Tuesday, the AWARDS will be given out.  Maybe we'll finally learn who the person nominated is who does "good" and "bad" according to at least one commenter, and what "bad" they did. 

    But I doubt it.

    So talk about anything 😐

  • Why Are People Dancing Around Some Unspoken Issue Regarding a Human Relations Commission Award?

    Unspoken-BSomething scandalous appears to be going on with the choice of a Thong Hy Huynh Award by the Human Relations Commission.  If you're looking for the answer, you won't find it here.  But that's not because I'm dancing around the issue, it's because I honestly don't know what the issue is, and for some reason those who do know what it is only want to imply to the public that there's a issue, but they don't want to say what person they have an issue with, why, or give any details.

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  • UPDATE ON COMMISSION MERGER ISSUE 4/14-24

    by Elaine Roberts Musser

    Finally the City of Davis commission  merger issue is being brought  back  to  some of the affected commissions for their feedback. Unfortunately city staff and some of the City Councilmembers are acting as if their terribly flawed plans for merged commissions are a done deal.  

    For example, last week the city began recruiting members for two of the proposed merged commissions (Fiscal Commission; Transportation Commission). And, this Wednesday, the first of an expected series of hearings will be held at the Utility Commission, to review a mission statement drafted by the City Council Subcommittee  (Vaitla; Chapman) for the new Finance Commission that would be created by combining Utilities Commission with the Finance and Budget Commission.  The Utilities Commission staff report states that it is seeking feedback on the proposed scope of work for what it calls the “newly created commissions.”  

    These commissions have not been “newly  created,”  as the full City Council only approved them in concept  last January. It did not provide final approval in the form of official council resolutions and, in some cases, new city ordinances, that are needed to actually implement such mergers. 

    • The actual motion that was approved by the City Council “task(s) the subcommittee with continuing work on reviewing and revising the authorizing resolutions of each Commission…(with) bringing information back to the full Council for final review and approvals.”
    • That same evening City Manager Mike Webb advised the City Council: “… ultimately …

    none  of  it  becomes  official until  the  City  Council adopts  updated  authorizing resolutions.”

    The proposal to merge commissions is still extremely flawed: 

    Disparate skill sets – Merging two commissions will require an incredibly steep if not impossible   learning  curve  for  commissioners   to   become   well-versed   in  disparate commission missions.

    More  difficulty recruiting  applicants  –  Because  applicants  for  the  proposed  merged commission need expertise in both commission missions and meetings are apt to run long to cover all the ground required, it will be difficult to recruit citizens to serve on the merged commissions.

    Time constraints – The agendas of commissions are often quite full.   A merging of two commissions  will  result in half as much  time  spent  on critical  issues and much  longer meetings.

    Proposed scope inadequate, vague and unclear – The proposed scoping statements appearing in the city’s press release and staff reports for the new Finance Commission and Transportation Commission omit many functions of existing commissions and has been simplified so much that they are vague and unclear. The draft mission statements for the other commissions remain secret as of now. 

    ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE VOICE YOUR CONCERNS ABOUT THIS TERRIBLE MERGER PLAN TO CITY OFFICIALS. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD THROUGH EMAILS TO THE FULL COUNCIL  (citycouncilmembers@cityofdavis.org), AT  COMMISSION  MEETINGS  (the Utilities Commission meets Wednesday,     April 17, in the City Council chambers conference room), PUBLIC COMMENT AT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS (next meeting is April

    23) AND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (to the Davis Enterprise, Davisite, and Davis Vanguard).

  • Analysis of Vaitla’s Statements in Davis Enterprise Article on Merging Commissions

    By Elaine Roberts Musser

    If you parse through Councilmember Vaitla’s statements appearing in the Davis Enterprise, it shows:  a  lamentable  lack  of  understanding  about  how  commissions  work;  a  complete disregard  for  the  opinion   of  commissioners   who  are  the  ones  effected   by  merging commissions;  and  an  extremely  questionable  and  ill  informed  rationale  for  what  he  is proposing. Furthermore, because of his refusal to appoint applicants to commission vacancies, the FBC is no longer providing citizen oversight of the city budget. That, together with his proposal the city pay to create new city public health services that are the responsibility of the county, will sink the chances of any tax increase proposed for the November ballot.  

    1. Vaitla: “…either City Council is not proactive in asking the commissions what to do; or the membership of the commissions is such that people have interests of their own and they are kind of deviating from what Council is asking, outside of the authorizing resolutions of the commissions…”
      • If the City Council is not proactive in asking commissions what to do, whose fault is that? The commissions cannot read the City Council’s collective mind. The City Council needs to be more communicative as to what information it wants.  Why should commissioners be punished by being forced to merge with another commission because of the fault of the City Council?
      • If commissions are deviating from their authorizing resolutions, city staff will rein them in if necessary.

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  • The Commission Subcommittee Song (Matchmaker Parody)

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    Sung at Tuesday February 21st City Council meeting, to the Tune of 'Matchmaker' from 'Fiddler on the Roof':

    Parody Live at City Council (time – 20:15): 

    https://davis.granicus.com/player/clip/1665

    Original Song: 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8J5hNqELzI

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  • My ballot thoughts for March Election

    By Alan "Lorax" Hirsch

    I have again compiled my thought on  voting in Davis for the March 5th election.– the 10th edition of my Davis Neighborhood Ballot flier ™

    The two pages are posted below and at Facebook's Davis Ballot Talk  (scroll down) where you can find this and lot of other free advice. Or download here: Download Davis Neighborhood Ballot Rec v3 2 page 2024 03 05

    My thoughts may be helpful….or not?

    Occasionally people think I get it right …but more usually its left.

    Davis Ballot Flier page 1 of 2 2024 03 05

    Davis Ballot Flier page 2 of 2 2024 03 05

  • Dark, Anti-Democratic Forces Sue the Davis Vanguard

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    These dark forces are believed to be funded by the Dark Underbelly of Davis. 

    In true Davis Vanguard journalistic style, no information on who the dark forces may be or why they are suing, but the Vanguard did ask for money to the tune of $100k.  Statement:

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