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

Category: Environment

  • Yolo water up for supervisor vote on Tuesday

    9018906362_22fe798eebWater water water

    By Scott Steward

    The Yolo County staff report from Elisa Sabatini, Manager of Natural Resources, has noticeably left out any specific recommendation for water policy in Yolo County.  This leaves the decision to place a much needed well moratorium entirely up to our Yolo County supervisors.

    Yolo residents should be very concerned about Item 35 Groundwater Conditions and Well Permits being heard at Tuesday, September 12th Board of Supervisors Meeting.

    On July 11th, ten citizens, comprised of farmers and residents, testified to Yolo County about water table depletion. They were unified in their call for a moratorium on new wells and regulations to rebalance the water pumped from new and existing wells.

    Anne Main – farming Good Humus for 47 years "…there is over 6,000 acres of perennial plantings on previously un-irrigated land in Hungry Hollow alone.  … 60% of Hungry Hollow land is (now) in permanent orchards and vineyards."

    Our late Gary Sandy, about a year ago, placed the sole vote against the renewal of the Teichert aggregate mine due to his concerns about our local water quality and quantity.  We need to apply Sandy's resolve now to protect our water.

    The water pumping operational efficiencies (borrowing from fracking technology) draws water from hundreds of feet deeper, and draws water from every level of aquifer in between, to bring water to land not previously irrigated, to feed tens of thousands of acres of perennial export crops (trees and vines). Our beloved table crop farms need your help now.

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  • Upcoming, Global Call to End the Fossil Fuel Era

    By Scott Steward

    As the climate careens towards more severe atmospheric carbon derived weather, the stakes couldn't be higher.  Preserving Yolo County's resilience becomes job number one for any public official. Arable land, access to food, health and safety all need more attention and everyone is required, if we are to create a resilient community for the foreseeable future.  We elders agree and will join the youth led Fridays for Future Climate Strike September 15th at noon at the 14th street side of Veterans Memorial for a march to Central Park. "End the Fossil Fuel Era" signs provided.

    FridaysForFuture

    Fridays for Future September 15th preparation  – – End the Fossil Fuel Era signs displayed.

    Thousands of strikes will be occurring around the globe on September 15th.  Davis Fridays for Future is the local version of this international event.  Here, and across the US, Biden is being asked to Declare a Climate Emergency. In California, Newsom is being asked to follow through on his commitment to stop issuing fossil fuel drilling permits.  Petitions will be available at the march.

    We have our own drilling driven extraction climate crises in Yolo County, along with fire and heat, our water table is dropping at an unrestorable rate.  The aquifer that resides in the 1000 ft deep loam soil, our subterranean valley lake, is being sucked dry.  At the current pace, half the farmers that show up at the Davis farmers market will be gone in a few years.

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  • Wingnut Advocates for Nuclear Mosquito Control

    Screenshot 2023-09-02 071056by David Abramson
     
    Steve, who previously spoke to the City Council advocating that we ban all the leaves from Davis returned this past Tuesday to give public comment in support of the pesticide spraying of the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito Vector District, particularly supporting the aerial spraying over our cities and encouraging them to develop even larger pesticide bombs to eliminate the mosquitos once and for all.
     
    I am personally outraged that Steve and the Sacramento Yolo Mosquito Vector Control District believe that mosquito activity warrants dumping pesticides on our heads several times per weeks.
     
     

  • Al’s Curiousity Corner #3 – The Burning Man Attendees vs. Climate Change Activists vs. Tribal Police Incident

    Tribal Police ram barricade set up on Route 447 by climate activists – the only paved way into Gerlach and from there, Burning Man, backing up traffic for miles.

    Curious your thoughts, Davisites.  Reference article and video may be found here:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12453081/Nevada-Rangers-Extinction-Rebellion-protest-activists-blocked-road-Burning-Man.html

    Other references welcome.

  • YES, Mayor Arnold needs to recuse himself again

    Arnold80Mace

    Back in June I strongly suggested that Mayor Will Arnold recuse himself from City Council discussion/support of the I-80 Managed Lanes Project – The mayor's main gig is a key role in communications at Caltrans. 

    He did recuse himself.

    Tonight the City Council is voting for approval for one of two variants for re-reconstruction of Mace Blvd (see my opinion on that below). 

    While it's not a Caltrans project, per se, the continued problem of operators of private motor vehicles using county roads and Mace to try to bypass traffic on I-80 is in large part due to the sad negligence of Caltrans in supporting anything but nice but expensive-to-use and proportionately symbolic commuter-regional railway service (Capitol Corridor), to focus on induced travel as a healthy strategy (the aformentioned Managed Lanes project) and to seemingly ignore any serious consideration of solutions to the awful I-80/CA-113 interchange, modifications to certain on-ramps to permit entering vehicles to get up to the prevailing speed before merging or any kind of substantial long-distance bus service to complement Capitol Corridor (and more…)

    The so-called "restoration" of Mace will not solve the I-80 problem, but since Caltrans won't either, and since Caltrans won't help solve the Mace problem… the discussion and vote tonight is very, very much connected with Caltrans and so the Mayor should again recuse himself. 

    ***

    Sprayingmap8292023As an hopefully not so itchy or worse aside in my favor regarding aerial and other spraying for mosquitoes (specifically to counter the threat of West Nile Virus) in relaton to highways workers at Caltrans and private travellers – and in relation to agenda item 4 also in this evening's Council meeting. missing any attachments!  – I have repeatedly called via social media – and finally, acknowledged comments from staff for Supervisor Provenza – to ensure better outreach to workers busy on the I-80 pavement rehabilitation project and to people transitting the region by its highways who are unlikely to see or hear local (social) media announcements about the spraying. Some of this is immediately adjacent to I-80 – including tonight, during the Council meeting – and CA-113.

    ***

    Back to the Mace Re-re-design: It's a betrayal of the Commons and of the City's symbol and oft-repeated climate change and related goals to prioritize traffic lanes above bike lanes, and to sacrifice (median, in this case) trees instead of traffic lanes for bike lanes… the latter, in other words, is putting people on bikes – or really kids on bikes riding to elementary school  – against trees, really, the Greater Arboreal World. It's a sad, sad day… There's no "restoration" — the four lanes of Mace are no exiled monarch, and they certainly ain't democracy – automobilist entitlement is getting its way, once again. Look around: Davis is not getting better for walking and cycling. Anyone who has encouraged this motorized farce will have to face their own conscience.

  • In the Davis Future, the Climate Crisis and Housing Affordability Crisis are Conjoined

    By David J. Thompson

    This piece is a slightly longer piece based upon remarks my remarks to the Social Services Commission on Monday, August 21, 2023.

    Since 1983 in a professional role, I have helped gain approval of and the building of over 500 units of affordable housing in Davis.

    With the Social Services Commission now reviewing the two annexation proposals I wish to remark not on the specifics of the rubric you have been asked to review but on the overall status of key elements of affordable housing in Davis.

    Here are some key facts the commissioners should consider;

    • The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) of the Sacramento Area of Governments (SACOG) directed the City of Davis to show where 530 Very Low Income (VLI) and 350 Low Income (LI) units could be built within the city.
    • To get those 930 VLI and LI affordable units (@ 15% of market rate units requires building 6.200 new market rate apartments within the City of Davis. Can anyone see 6,200 market rate apartment units being built in Davis over this RHNA cycle? I do not.
    • VLI units can only reach affordability with the deep subsidy projects get from competing in the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC). Statistically, you can only win a subsidy for VLI units if you have a free site of two acres on which you build at least 50 plus VLI and LI units. How many free sites of at least two acres are there in Davis? Certainly not enough (about 23 free sites of two acre needed) to build 930 VLI and LI units.
    • When David Taormino asked me to do the affordable housing for Bretton Woods I said I would if he doubled the land required for affordable housing. Taormino donated land for 150 VLI and LI apartments instead of the required 68. I and Delta Senior Housing Communities (DSHC) are no longer doing the affordable housing at Bretton Woods but that one act had great impact on gaining voter support and approval. 150 VLI and LI units are being built there.
    • In the proposed Village Farms development of 378 acres about 2% of the land is reserved for affordable housing.
    • However, also in the Village Farms proposal there are 149 acres set aside for parks.
    • So 39% of the land for parks and 2% of the land for poor people. Given the differences in the percentages of land use you’d think we had a park crisis rather than an affordable housing crisis.
    • Another few acres of park transferred to affordable housing would substantially address the affordable housing crisis in Davis.
    • There is an even greater problem in terms of the VLI, LI and Moderate (MOD) income people in Davis who are already rent impacted. For over 30 years Davis has had a very low vacancy rate which means that most renters in Davis overpay the HUD 30% guidelines. The small number of market rate rental units in either of the two proposals ensures that for another ten years the 35,000+ renters in Davis will continue to have no savings by living here while over-paying on the rent. That’s a whopping hit on the monthly budget of the working families and students living in rental housing.
    • If these two proposals are approved by the city then overpayment is guaranteed and enshrined by the action of the City of Davis.

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  • Climate strike Davis marks 200th anniversary

    (From press release) Youth leaders held the 200th climate strike today in Central Davis, joined by a ‘Raging Grannies’ choir, students, families and other residents of Davis. Many held colorful home-made placards that urged Biden to declare a climate emergency, called for taxing Big Oil’s record profits, and advocated low-carbon transport.

    The weekly Friday protest on the corner of 5th and B has been held since Davis’ biggest ever climate protest in September 2019 when almost 1000 young people walked out of school and marched downtown. It is inspired by the Swedish youth activist, Greta Thunberg, and is part of an international #FridaysforFuture movement.

    HPuaSDQh

    Davis strikers

    On Friday September 15, youth around the world will again hold a massive global strike and demand an end to the fossil fuel era. Everyone is invited to join the youth-led march and action at midday (12pm) outside the Veteran’s Memorial Center and to bring chants, songs, murals and more demanding that Newsom and Biden declare a climate emergency. There will also be a family friendly event in Old Sacramento at 11am on Sunday September 17th.

    Eliot Larson, coordinator of Fridays for Future Davis said:

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  • Locally produced, “Yellow Skies” Music Video for Climate Action

    Yellow Skies Cover(From press release) On Friday the locally produced Yellow Skies launched a YouTube music video from the Fridays for Future noon time Davis 5th and B location.  "We are starting from a shoestring and the viewership is growing steadily. We have several hundred views and some really enthusiastic reviews."
     
    @eliotlarson7422
    So powerful! Thank you ❤
    @sarahnovick3168
    So moving!!
    @geraldineclemens5150
    Heartfelt song she does beautiful job. Thanks

     

    Watch here:

     Yellow Skies asks you to join in the work and to declare a climate emergency, a national climate emergency. It is not an emergency to run around in chaos. It is an emergency called to calmly stop using fossil fuels and go into hyperdrive on local food, locally sourced just-about-everything and to produce lots of renewable energy – and to do it quickly. 
     
    The Yellow Skies music video is built around a song. "The song aims to make an enjoyable and meaningful listening experience about what our youth are experiencing, what we are all experiencing." Yellow Skies starts and finishes with clips of youth climate activists speaking out for all of us to take action and points to a few of the many organizations leading the way and demanding change to policies that protect fossil fuel use.

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  • Concerns regarding our pesticide spraying program

    BiteBy David Abramson

    Dear Neighbors,

    You may have seen that over the past several months, I have been sharing regularly with notifications about and my concerns regarding the pesticide spraying program that’s being done by the Sacramento Yolo Mosquito Vector District in our County. Yes I'd rather be doing something else but alas, many people don't even know this is happening, so I thought an awareness campaign was appropriate.

    As others have posted, the agency has scheduled an entire blanket aerial spray of the chemical Diprom/Naled over the cities of Davis and Woodland tonight and tomorrow between 8:30PM-12AM.

    My concerns are that:

    1. They are using a pesticide (Naled/Diprom) that’s currently banned in the EU due to concerns of it’s toxicity
    1. This pesticide has known toxic effect on bees and butterflies even at the doses prescribed for mosquito spraying programs (1)(2)(3). Many studies have conducted tests of varying quality in controlled environments, single-species results of large insects, or for single dose exposure, but not for this particular spraying program or frequency in which the spraying is happening and in an ecosystem setting accounting for all variables of the real world.
    1. Formal requests to the SacYolo Mosquito Control Vector District to share the science that shows the pesticide to be safe for the ecosystem, including our native pollinators has not been satisfactorily fulfilled. In neither of the two requests did they highlight a study showing the spraying program to be safe for insects or other pollinators.
    2. There is a lack of transparency, accountability, and oversight on the spraying programs. As far as I know, there are no ground samples being taken by the agency or independent researchers after these sprayings and no regular monitoring or data that's publicly available.

    To that end, I am recommending that:

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  • Response to I-80 update piece by Alan Hirsch

    Note: The following email was sent to the Davisite, asking for a correction to Alan Hirsch's recent articles.  As the email contains some misunderstandings about the nature of the Davisite, a new article has been written that tries to correct these misunderstandings and other common misconceptions – see More about the Davisite.  Just as with Alan Hirsch's articles and with any other article on the Davisite, the volunteers who operate this blog do not vouch for the correctness of what is written below.

    The Davisite has recently posted a series of guest-authored pieces by Alan Hirsch about the Yolo 80 Managed Lanes project containing a pattern of significant inaccuracies, potentially causing confusion about the project among the general population. Providing a forum for vigorous policy debate is an important role of blog-based local media, however, informal media should aspire to post accurate information, even from guest authors.

    As Caltrans’ partner on the Yolo 80 Managed Lanes project, the Yolo Transportation District (YoloTD) responds to two inaccuracies in Mr. Hirsch's most recent July 24, 2023 article posting titled, "I-80 update: Caltrans proposes cutting mitigation for Phase I".

                   Article Title and Article List Item #1: Mr. Hirsch's title “I-80 update: Caltrans proposes cutting mitigation for Phase I” is inaccurate. Caltrans has not proposed in any way to cut mitigation for Phase 1 of the Yolo 80 Managed Lanes project. Any version of the project that moves forward will be subject to CEQA. The Draft Environmental Impact Report has not yet been released, and any speculation about its contents is just that — speculation. Mr. Hirsch has speculated that funding will not be available for mitigation, which is an opinion, not a fact.

                   Article List Item #2: YoloTD's statement that an HOV lane would be congested on day 1 requires additional background. The comment refers to "peak" hours at bottleneck locations under a specific HOV2+ scenario where high-occupancy vehicles with two or more people (HOV2+) are allowed access to the lane, which is one of several scenarios that could advance. Other scenarios with higher occupancy requirements could result in lower congestion levels on the new lanes.

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