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Category: Ethics

  • “Village Farms” vernal pools have been leveled

    California Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating and an open letter is gaining signatures from concerned citizens

    By Shannon Hickey

    The city’s last remaining vernal pools—the ones on the Measure V (for Village Farms) property that supported a local population of the federally endangered vernal pool tadpole shrimp as well as two rare plant species (alkali milkvetch and San Joaquin spearscale)—were potentially filled, disced, and graded in the week of September 13, 2026.

    The attached photos were taken early Saturday morning, September 19, showing the area where the largest pool existed, now a level surface. To give a little back story, this pool was on a property that has been proposed for development since the early 2000s and actively farmed since circa the late ’60s, according to historical aerial imagery. Despite regular discing, this vernal pool continued to pond because it was protected on two sides by a railroad berm to the west and an irrigation channel berm (Channel A) to the north. The developer has known about this vernal pool and the extremely rare species in it since the last time this project went up for a vote by the citizens of Davis back in 2005. At that time, it was known as the Covell Village project and it was voted down then as well. For both the Covell Village project and the Village Farms project, the associated environmental surveys supporting the EIRs revealed that these species were present.

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  • Biberstein Social Action Fund Grants Available

    24th Annual Request for Proposals

    Proposals due October 16, 2026

    (From press release) Nonprofit organizations are invited to submit applications to the Biberstein Social Action Fund for grants in support of projects addressing poverty, discrimination, abuse and neglect, and the promotion of social justice in Yolo County.

    The Biberstein Social Action Fund was established in 2002 by the Board of Directors of Congregation Bet Haverim to honor Ernie and Hannah Biberstein, who are among the founding members of CBH, and who devoted much of their lives to community service and social justice. Hannah passed away in April 2011. This is the 24rth Anniversary of the Fund.

    The goal of the annual awards made from the Biberstein Social Action Fund is to help Yolo County organizations in their efforts to meet unfulfilled needs. Special consideration is given to new and/or innovative projects.

    An annual Call for Proposals is released each Fall. Grants ranging from $500 to $2,000 are awarded in December. The Biberstein Fund members review the proposals. Current Biberstein Fund members include Congregation Bet Haverim partners Ernie Biberstein, Amy Abramson, Anne Gieseke, Sandy Jones, Joan Sublett, and Shoshana Zatz.

    Information about the Biberstein Award, including a link to the application, is available on the CBH website: https://bethaverim.org/engage/committees/biberstein-social-action-fund/

    Grant proposals must be submitted no later than October 16, 2026. Questions may be directed to the Biberstein Social Action Fund at: cbhbibersteinfund@gmail.com. Awards will be announced in December 2026.

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  • A Win for Measure W – Willowgrove May Be Our Last Chance to Preserve Our Direct Vote on Local Projects

    By Elaine Roberts Musser and Dan Carson

    Measure W -Willowgrove is the latest housing development to come up for consideration under Measure J/R/D.  This measure is the City of Davis law that requires a majority vote of the public to annex farmland or open space to our city for urban development.

    As you assess the merits of this project, it’s important to understand where we stand today. The state has imposed mandatory requirements for communities like ours to rezone the land needed for additional housing. These requisites include additional units of low income housing, as well as housing for moderate income persons who work in Davis but cannot afford to live here.  Our failure to comply with these mandates would, without question, trigger state intervention to force our compliance with state housing policy.

    That state intervention could even result in state action to override Measure J/R/D itself. The last legislative session saw strongly bipartisan approval in the Assembly of AB 2676. This bill would have curbed the use of local initiatives and referenda, that are widely being used around the state to block cities from meeting their state-mandated housing obligations.  AB 2676 did not pass the Senate, but has momentum, and will almost certainly be reconsidered in some form in next year’s legislative session.

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  • Eric Jones, a moving target, Part 1: The Davis town hall

    By John Smolenski

         I went to the town hall Eric Jones held on August 26 at Watermelon Music. I came away from the town hall without a clear sense of why Jones is running for Congress in District 4 and what he hopes to accomplish. This emerged as he talked about the policies hoped to enact if elected to Congress. (That he showed more enthusiasm regarding an endorsement from Republican candidate Raymond Riehle than he did for the Democratic party’s goals seemed telling.) Comparing what he said at his town hall to what I found re-reading his website only compounded this sense. It’s not entirely clear what Jones stands for, especially since his policies have moved significantly to the right since the primary, as he sought Riehle’s endorsement. In many respects, it seems as if this movement has happened less as a ideological evolution than an opportunistic attempt to get elected. I do not believe Jones is a viable choice for progressives seeking change in Washington.

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  • Eric Jones campaign hands out different flyers for Republicans and Democrats

    A continuation of the deceptive tactics we’ve seen since the primary

    Republican-geared version of the Eric Jones for Congress flyer, with my annotations.

    By Roberta Millstein

    Last week, a Davisite reader sent me two versions of the same “Eric Jones for Congress” flyer that had been left at homes on her North Davis street on the same day.  The one she received seems clearly pitched to Democrats; the other one, which she found near her driveway, is strikingly different and seems instead to be pitched to Republicans, which some of her neighbors on her block are. [1] To paraphrase her reaction, “How stupid does Eric Jones think we are?”

    Now to be clear, this is not the first time we have seen this sort of behavior from the Eric Jones campaign.  After months of playing the progressive, e.g., with a mailer that touted his endorsement from Our Revolution and implied (falsely) that he had been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna, he:

    But this does seem like a new low, pandering to Democrats and Republicans alike, trying to be everything to everybody, while still ridiculously claiming to be against PACs and special interests — even though his former Silicon Valley Dragoneer Investment Group colleagues and associates have dumped millions of dollars into his campaign via direct donations and a Super PAC.  And he is still trying to tout his health care experience as being good for employees and patients, when the evidence shows otherwise.

    Why do I say that these flyers are pandering? 

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  • Good Fire, Living Water: The Gifts of a Marsh Economy  

    Public Invited to New Exhibit on Native Californian Stewardship

    Promotional Flyer for Good Fire, Living Water; Illustration by Ooti Maxine

    (From press release) Over 90% of the Sacramento Valley’s wetlands have been destroyed over the past 150 years, contributing to today’s interrelated extinction, climate and water crises. Naturalist, artist, and Maidu/Wintun Cultural Practitioner Diana Almendariz is working diligently – with plants such as tule and cattail, and with artists, youth, land managers, and scientists  – to reverse this significant loss.

     A leader in revitalizing Native Californian stewardship through cultural burning and Native plant restoration, Almendariz brings to life indigenous knowledge that was once targeted for erasure and genocide. In a sign of changing times and attitudes, the Sacramento Bee recently recognized Almendariz as one of the region’s top change makers. She praises tule – a keystone wetland species — for renewing her cultural traditions.

    “Tule has been my creative muse for 30 years. This important reed is at the heart of the marsh economy – drawing down carbon from the atmosphere, creating rich soil, cleaning water, and cultivating the valley’s rich food web. By restoring wetlands, we can revitalize the  natural systems that are key to a livable future,” explains Almendariz.

    A new exhibit, Good Fire, Living Water: The Gifts of a Marsh Economy, opening on September 20th at the Davis Art Center, showcases Almendariz’ multifaceted eco-cultural practice that spans the arts, education, Native homeland culture, and environmental stewardship. The exhibit highlights how she is passing on this vital  knowledge to the next generation of Native cultural practitioners – her daughters Ooti Maxine and Christina Almendariz.

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  • Prophets of the Finite: Remembering Paul Ehrlich, Ronny Davis, and Wendell Berry

    From L to R: Ann Ehrlich, Amory Lovins, Dr. Paul Ehrlich, and David Kupfer, having lunch in Palo Alto in 2022

    By David Kupfer

    The summer of 2026 has witnessed the quiet, heavy closing of an era. With the recent passings of population biologist Paul R. Ehrlich, radical theater pioneer R.G. “Ronny” Davis, and most recently, the visionary agrarian writer Wendell Berry on August 31, we have lost a singular trinity of American defiance. Operating in vastly different arenas—the university laboratory, the public park, and the rural hillside—these three men were bound by a shared, ferocious commitment to shaking humanity out of its industrial complacency. To have known them as friends and mentors over the decades was to witness the rare alchemy of brilliant intellect wedded to an uncompromising moral compass. Now, as the dust settles on their long lives, their final, intimate moments reveal the heavy burden borne by those who dare to speak truth to a civilization bent on its own consumption.

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  • Eric Jones’s Healthcare Record: Employers 7, Patients 0; the good news is your boss saved money

    Wrong seat, wrong moment, CACD-04 Part VI

    By Judy Tipple

    His campaign biography says his father’s health struggles taught him “how critical affordable health care” is to working families (ericjones.us/meet-eric). It says he “built a firm that built businesses.” It lists Lyra Health as a company he helped make “accessible to millions.”

    Fair enough. Let’s look at the businesses.

    His job was healthcare

    Jones joined Dragoneer Investment Group in 2013 and became a partner 4 years later, where he remained until he resigned in July 2025. Not an employee. A partner. His sector title at the firm was “Partner – Healthcare, Fintech, Internet” (RocketReach profile; his LinkedIn will confirm). Healthcare was not a side interest. It was his book.

    So the question is simple. When Jones and Dragoneer put money into healthcare, who was the customer?

    Seven companies. Same answer.

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  • In CA04, which Eric Jones do you get?

    Wrong Seat, Wrong Moment – Part V

    By Judy Tipple

    Yesterday in Marysville, Eric Jones stood in front of 250 farmers at the Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau forum and said this:

    “Let me make a simple statement: no more data centers in California.”

    He called for a national moratorium. He said members of Congress who don’t understand the technology shouldn’t be in the room for these decisions (Patch, Sept. 2, 2026).

    Strong stuff. The kind of line that gets applause in a room full of people watching data centers drink their water and eat their farmland, and farmland all over the country.

    Here’s the problem. It’s not what his campaign has been telling voters for months.

    Go to ericjones.us right now. His official AI platform page said something very different, until 2 days ago:

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  • Give Yourself a $200 Pay Raise

    By Bertie Brouhard

    It may be more. Might be less. But it’s monthly and this is a raise of after income tax dollars. Most living dwellers, bill payers, are eligible. Those incredibly wealthy, not even slightly cost conscious, a few living off the grid or your neighbor perhaps who has recently invested a large sum in solar panels, lithium battery banks and highly efficient mechanical systems might not be. My  target audience for this article is the rest of you.

    We live in a meteorological wonderland; this huge valley with its high desert, dry heat climate. Thankful every summer evening for our refreshing delta breeze. And our frost, snow free winters. As I type this about 9 AM it’s bright and still on this late August morning. Outside air temp is 68F and it’s 66F in my living room. Last night’s low was 58F and today’s high is 93F. My predicted indoor high is 78F. Only my laptop, my fridge and the trickle charges (TV and smart speakers) are consuming any electrical energy.

    Your pay raise is generated by the cost saving measures you implement to drastically lower your P, G & E monthly devotional, offering, bequest, and irksome payment.

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