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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

  • It’s Right There In Your Backyard

    By Bertie Brouhard

    Yes. Your backyard; figuratively and maybe literally. Some reading this may not have a backyard. Most with a family unit I suspect do. But like mine it’s California and rather small and fenced in. It might have a pool; likely not. But certainly it has possibilities for some summer fun; perhaps badminton, ping pong,  croquet, your hacky sack, horse shoe or cornhole area or an archery (yikes) range. In my youth I tried it all including a makeshift baseball batting cage that did not even slightly improve my hitting.

    As for your family I envision two parent figures and two youngsters and while I encourage everyone to read on, this column has these four in mind.

    One of my granddaughters once asked me “Were you ever four?” She was curious. I must have looked ancient to her. I smiled and told her it’s a wonderful age. About that time 1950 C.E. or so mine and other parents of my buds let us sleep outside in someone’s backyard on warm, humid, star studded Nebraska summer nights. I don’t recall tents but remember the many mosquitoes, the sound of UP freight trains and back porch lights and our flashlights. Feigning sleep around ten I suppose we were off on our bikes roaming the many streets, parks, construction sites and gardens in our small town. We knew where the best melons, apples, rhubarb and strawberries could be picked and where others; especially girls our age, might join us for our jaunts. It all went well until our neighbor, the ever vigilant spinster, Mrs. Pierceson, ratted us out. She caused a month’s pause in our adventures, having told my dad, “I saw your son and a couple of his “ruffian” friends downtown last night. (Just what is a “ruffian?”)

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  • Award-Winning Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) Presented July 7th

    By Scott Steward

    Kristen Wraithwall is the Manager of the Sustainability Division. The Sustainability Division operates within the Health and Safety Department of our Yolo County. Kristen will present the Update on Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) Implementation Progress at this Tuesday’s (July 7th) Yolo County Board of Supervisors Meeting at 9:00 AM.

     Zoom meeting: By PC: https://yolocounty.zoom.us/j/84359964086

    Kristen, her staff, the Climate Action Commission, and the County have made consistently strong progress in climate action despite very difficult budget circumstances. This Sustainability work continues to provide our county with grant-funded programs that Yolo County cities and other California counties look to as models for what can be accomplished in their own jurisdictions. Yolo County’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan received the Sacramento Valley Section APA Award of Excellence in Resilience and Sustainability (May 2025) and the Beacon Award from the Institute for Local Government (November 2025). 

    Vehicle use remains the #1 source of greenhouse gas emissions in Yolo County, so it is no surprise that 2026-2027 CAAP priorities emphasize transportation, including the implementation of countywide Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) programs. Transportation is followed by building energy efficiency in coordination with Valley Clean Energy, Natural & Working Lands water conservation and carbon soil enhancement, recycling, and public cooling infrastructure.

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  • Living Water, Living Knowledge: Youth Explore Indigenous Stewardship in the Yolo Basin

    (From press release) For thousands of years, Patwin-Wintun peoples cared for the wetlands and waterways of the Yolo Basin using stewardship practices that enhanced biodiversity and sustained one of California’s richest delta ecosystems. This summer, Native, BIPOC, and ally youth are invited to experience these teachings firsthand through the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Youth Program.

    Led by Wintun/Maidu educator, naturalist, Fire Boss, and cultural practitioner Diana Almendariz, participants will explore how Indigenous communities lived in relationship with the land, plants, animals, and living water. Through hands-on activities, youth will learn about tule gathering, cultural burning, wetland ecology, wildlife, traditional foods, and Indigenous approaches to environmental stewardship.

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  • Who is Eric Jones?  A summary of the series with a quick wrap-up.

    By Roberta Millstein

    Who is Eric Jones?  I started with one article and didn’t know I’d be writing a series of them, addressing:

    1. Large numbers of maximized campaign contributions from Eric Jones’s former venture capitalist colleagues at Dragoneer Investment Group and other individuals from the high tech industry (link here).  The money comes from out of the district and so does Jones.
    2. Jones’s close connections to a Super PAC, New Leadership Now, that is pouring huge sums of money into his run for Congress (link here).
    3. Some of the Super PAC’s blatantly false claims about Thompson (link here).
    4. An update reflecting that the Super PAC spent $1.1 million on ads, including an Orwellian mailer, although as of May 30 that number exceeds $2.4 million. I have no doubt there will be  more on the way (link here).
    5. The extremely unlikely claim that Jones is a progressive, given his maximized donation to Republican Jonathan Bush, cousin of GW Bush, who is running for governor in Maine, with problematic views on health care, AI, and the environment — views that Jones seems to share. (link here).

    Beyond these articles, there are just a few more points than I want to emphasize:

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  • Village Farms: Too Big, Too Many Impacts, Costs and Unaffordable Housing

    By Eileen M. Samitz

    The Village Farms project, with 1,800 housing units on 498 acres at Covell Blvd. and Pole Line Road, is the largest residential project ever proposed in Davis with the worst impacts. It would take at least 15 years for the buildout, meaning many years of added congestion from construction traffic.

    An earlier version was proposed in 2005 as Covell Village, and Davis voters wisely rejected it because of toxics, the 200-acre floodplain, massive traffic, enormous infrastructure costs, and unaffordable housing. Twenty years later, Village Farms has all the same problems and more.

    The site is seriously handicapped. That is why the current developer, John Whitcombe, and partners including Tandem Properties, acquired the original 386-acre parcel at a bankruptcy auction for a mere $3.2 million. The original Crossroads developers abandoned it because of toxics, floodplain, and unmitigable traffic. Yet, the current developer is again trying to push it through despite the health, welfare, and safety issues, and unaffordable housing.

    Massive traffic and other impacts

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  • Davis needs to do better at protecting its sensitive and endangered species

    There is still a chance to preserve and restore habitats to help native species recover, including at Village Farms

    By Kathryn Calderala

    Environmentalism – Still a dirty word for some. A category Davis has a long history of claiming to embrace when the results show otherwise. As one example (and there are many); Davis used to be the proud stewards of a healthy population of Western Burrowing Owls – those pint-sized, ground dwelling owls perched on fence posts and signs. Almost everyone I have met since I moved here told me how they used to see owls everywhere. Yet now the species is almost gone from the county (no, they are not at Wildhorse anymore). They are considered extirpated – no longer nesting here and we are lucky to see a handful of individuals trying to overwinter in the area before moving on. Mostly they have been done in by the strange apathy that pervades the area.

    If a pint-sized owl – that lives underground and has more charisma than most species – can’t be a priority, what hope do all the other dwindling native species have? The California Tiger Salamander – an icon of the state. The Vernal Pool Tadpole Shrimp – a straightup throwback to prehistoric design, trundling around like mini horseshoe crabs. The Western Spadefoot Toad – a cat-eyed chunk of toad that smells like peanuts when they are mad. If we, as a community, cannot rouse ourselves enough to fight for the underdogs, what hope do we have for the future?

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  • I Did Not Endorse Measure V

    By Rena Nayyar

    I have recently learned that, without my knowledge or permission, I have been put on an endorsement list for Yes on Measure V (Village Farms).  How did this happen?  I have actively opposed Measure V (Village Farms) from the beginning because of its many problems even though I am a teacher in Davis concerned about school closures. 

    I have spoken in opposition to the Village Farms project due to its many impacts at multiple city and school board meetings, the local Sierra Club group, and to the Davis Teacher’s Association.  I have even helped table at the NO booth at the Farmer’s Market, and donated to the No campaign.  So, how could my name have possibly been put on an endorsement list?  How many other “endorsers” are also unknowingly on this Yes on Measure V list as well?  

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  • Village Farms – Much To Do About (Developer Double-)Crossings

    Original visual used by Yes on V of Village Farms to North Star bridge, now deleted.

    by Tuvia ben Olam DBA Todd Edelman

    l lived in the Czech Republic for about seven years – where I did similar mobility curmudgeon work as I do here, BUT everyone from local district mayors to engineering company bosses liked me because my father is Slovak and I’m Jewish… but mostly because I was an activist with constructive ideas. Imagine that!

    In the Czech Language the term for “communication” generally encompasses systems and technology for things like the Internet and physical transportation infrastructure, for example…. bridges!

    In that framework or lens I offer now a hopefully somewhat fresh look at bridges and the communication about bridges connected with projects of the Seven Generational Families of Davis (Henceforth: The Seven).

    Still, the obvious place to start is Promenade (Formerly Known as Nishi)…

    I’m binging GoT right now. That’s all.

    The Bridge of Friendship between The Seven and Union Pacific

    In a May 16th Op-Ed for the Davis Vanguard – its title is the basis for mine for this article – The Seven’s Sandy Whitcombe refers to the claim of Measure V opponents that “… Union Pacific Railroad (henceforth: UP) is holding up a grade-separated crossing”. She then says she wishes that the opponents “…asked us first…” about it.

    Well, back in December 2017 during my first meeting on the Bicycling, Transportation and Street Safety Commission (BTSSC – the predecessor to the Transportation Commission), the then Assistant City Manager Ashley Feeney told us that City had a good relationship with UP and it would likely be possible to have a level crossing between Arboretum Drive and Nishi. Later on, as the proposal moved through Council’s approval step in County annexation and then towards the popular vote, the documents for the project referred to a “grade-separated crossing” but the main imagery I recall – and could find in a search – was an undercrossing. 

    Visual by Promenade (Nishi) proponents from 2017 or so.

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  • Village Farms Flood Analysis Is Behind the Times

    Ponding at the Wildhorse Agricultural Buffer during winter storm.

    By Marjorie Longo

    Water doesn’t care about property lines—it flows wherever the land takes it. That’s why flood studies shouldn’t stop at property lines. However, the Village Farms flood analysis mostly focuses on the project itself and a few broader downstream areas (https://www.cityofdavis.org/city-hall/community-development/development-projects/village-farms-davis). It does not show detailed results for existing neighborhoods—the places where people actually live, drive, and may need emergency access. Where are the post-Village Farms flood maps for Wildhorse, North Davis, or the streets south of Covell?  A few extra inches of water during a storm can mean the difference between a dry home and a flooded one, or between a passable road and a blocked evacuation route.

    While the Village Farms flood analysis provides numbers for farmland and shows water pooling on the Wildhorse Golf Course and Wildhorse Agricultural Buffer, it doesn’t answer the key question residents have: what happens on my street?  When the next atmospheric river is dumping on Davis, runoff spreads broadly over our flat topography. And inches of extra flood water add thousands of dollars of damage to flooded homes and can mean the difference between muddy flood water in your home or not.

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  • Village Farms Davis: Why I Differ With Councilmember Deos

    By Greg Rowe

    This article responds to the endorsement of the Village Farms project by Councilmember Linda Deos, published by The Davisite and the Davis Vanguard on May 9. Deos was appointed to the planning commission during my tenure as chair.  While dealing with many complex planning issues and projects, Linda impressed me as thoughtful, articulate and deeply caring about her community. It was therefore with pleasure that I subsequently endorsed her city council candidacy. 

    I continue to applaud Linda’s council performance, and share her concern that Davis must become a viable, vibrant home for new residents without losing its soul and core values. Along with Mayor Donna Neville, Deos had the demanding task of negotiating the development agreement (DA), ballot baseline project features, and other legal documents for the Village Farms Davis (VFD) project.

    Among Linda’s reasons for endorsing VFD are the grade-separated bicycle and pedestrian crossings of F Street and Pole Line Road, and preservation of the 47-acre alkali playa wetland habitat.  As explained below, these project components are not due to any benevolence or authentic community commitment on the part of the developer (North Davis Land Company, LLC).  These requirements were, in fact, imposed on the developer as a condition of placing the project on the June ballot. In the case of the alkali playa wetland habitat, specimens collected in the 1950s by UC Davis faculty and historical aerial photography clearly demonstrate that the existence of this rare habitat should have been known to the developer.

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