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Category: Ethics

  • Voting for Harris is Voting for These Power Women

    Wonderfulwomen
    Venessa Chang – Department of Energy, Lina Khan – Federal Trade Commission, Julie Su – Department of Labor

    By Scott Steward

    I am motivated to keep Venessa Chang, Lina Khan and Julie Su in power (see bios below). These women are in charge of our government’s renewable energy future, market, and wage equity.  That goes very much away if Trump wins. 

    Against Trump’s authoritarian challenge, good men and good women have come together in associations where differences are put aside to elect Harris/Walz.

    Indivisible Yolo (Indivisibleyolo.org) has built a platform of action here at home. For the next two weeks, the aim is to prevail in defending democracy.

    Get involved. IY has already paved the way – training at no cost.  indivisibleyolo.org.  Weekdays and weekends. Canvassing to win congressional districts in California. Calls to win abortion rights in Arizona. Volunteers virtually go where they are needed.   You need a computer and a cell phone to be fully able to help.   It's the most important 2 weeks ever.

    When we call, text, knock we win!  Come join in!    

    (this message is provided by the author alone and not any organization)

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  • Reminder – TODAY – renown experts give climate lecture on UCD campus

    Storer Lecturship in the Life Sciences: How Decades of Climate Denial, Disinformation and Doublespeak by Big Oil Fueled the Climate Crisis

    ClimateLectureTuesday October 22, 4:00 – 7 pm ARC Ballroom (and Zoom)

    Register here: https://bit.ly/102224StorerReg (or use QR code in flyer).   All are welcome.  Please register soon to help ensure an accurate headcount.

    Speakers:

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  • Free climate lecture on UCD campus, Tues Oct 22

    Storer Lecturship in the Life Sciences: How Decades of Climate Denial, Disinformation and Doublespeak by Big Oil Fueled the Climate Crisis

    ClimateLectureTuesday October 22, 4:00 – 7 pm ARC Ballroom (and Zoom)

    Register here: https://bit.ly/102224StorerReg (or use QR code in flyer).   All are welcome.  Please register soon to help ensure an accurate headcount.

    Speakers:

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  • Al’s Corner October – Vote NO on Measure Q – Or “Spend On!”

    OutputOpen to all topics of course, but this month we'll focus on cutting off the City Council's allowance money!

     

     

     

    To highlight this month's primary topic, here is my testimony sing-a-long from last night's City Council meeting (2 minutes):

    Here are the lyrics:

    Spend On (sung to the tune of "Dream On" by Aerosmith)

    Every time that I look at the budget
    All these lines on the books, they try to fudge it
    The money's gone
    It went by like a unwatered lawn
    Isn't that the way?
    The City always spends more than it can pay, yeah

    I know, nobody knows
    Where the money comes and where the money goes
    I know it's the City Council’s sin
    You've got overspend in order to win

    [ kazoo bridge ]

    Half the spending is on bottomless budget pages
    Ladder trucks, zip lines and climate changes
    You know it's true, oh . . .
    All this spending, come back to you

    Spend with me, Spend through the years
    Spend on the soccer field, and on housing crisis fears
    Spend with me, not just for today
    Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take the City Debt, away

    But until then . . .

    Vote No, Vote No, Vote No
    Vote No on Measure Q!

    Vote No, Vote No, or Spend On!  Spend On!
    Vote No!, Vote No!, Vote No! – Waaaaaaaaa-oooooooo!

    [ kazoo piano fade ]

  • Lies All Along, War Again

    By Scott Steward

    Gaza protest

    51 Weeks of Protest, Yolo for Palestinian Justice weekly protest in front of Mike Thompson's Woodland Office. We witness a genocide and Mike does nothing. It will be a year next week.n

    51 Weeks of Protest, Yolo for Palestinian Justice weekly protest in front of Mike Thompson's Woodland Office. We witness a genocide and Mike does nothing.  It will be a year next week.

    It is some comfort, if small comfort, that the moorings of our Davis democracy are relatively intact, even as our "leadership" gambles our democracy on US/Israeli war crimes.  I would say that Israel has drawn Iran into war and the US along with it, except that it is obvious that the US has been party to the war plan all along.  12 months of Genocide?  That is the cost of doing business for Israel and the US.

    After yesterday's 200 mostly destroyed Iranian missile attacks on Israeli military targets, “Make no mistake,” Joe Biden said, “The United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.” October 1 2024, Michael Birnbaum Washington Post.

    Blinken has been lying about peace (see Veterans for Peace lawsuit below). Joe is delusional. Together along with most all of our federal representatives, including our Congressman Mike Thompson, we have been lied to about any and all consternation concerning Israel. No serious thoughts of how to secure the return of the hostages, no thoughts on how to give honor to those killed on October 7th, just a year of killing (42,000 Gazan's dead, mostly women and children).

    As we debate Measure Q and the rest of the November ballot here in Davis, you are about to see your future hopes, dreams, and dollars be flushed down the war toilet – again. Why not pay the extra 1% sales tax for Measure Q, and get our $11 million local dollars.  We might as well, we are about to experience the same Iraq/Afghan Washington Beltway war f– up with Iran  ($21 Trillion US dollars, 2,000 US and 200,000 Iraq killed). In the end, we will have a more radicalized and impoverished Arab world when it is all over.  Let's all go buy Raytheon stock! 

     

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  • Sierra Club Yolano Group Opposes New Changes Proposed for our Revered Davis Citizen Advisory Commissions

    The changes will threaten Commission independence and stifle innovation

     By the Sierra Club Yolano Group Management Committee

    A recent op-ed by Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser (see here)  alerted Davis residents to a concern with a new proposal before the Davis City Council that has the potential to substantially limit citizen input into environmental issues in the City of Davis. 

    According to the op-ed, Mayor Josh Chapman and Councilmember Bapu Vaitla recently began asking Davis City Commissioners for feedback on their proposal for “clarification of how items are placed on a commission meeting agenda.”

    Carson and Roberts Musser state:

    “…in a big change, proposals initiated by a commission would now be subject to review and veto — by either any relevant council subcommittee (two councilmembers) or that commission’s assigned Council liaison (typically one councilmember).The Chapman-Vaitla plan says these new rules would apply whenever the council wished to “undertake a particular task/project/discussion.” In other words, almost anything and everything a commission might ever want to do would be subject to veto by one councilmember. The Council and city staff would dictate what a commission can or cannot do, but the commission itself would have absolutely no control over its work.” (Bold emphasis added)

    If enacted, we find this proposal deeply concerning and undemocratic.  Historically, at least six of Davis’s volunteer citizen commissions regularly dealt with environmentally-related matters: Tree; Open Space and Habitat; Natural Resources; Bicycling, Transportation, and Street Safety; Utilities; and Recreation and Park Commission (for the latter, with topics such as the use of toxic pesticides and drought-tolerant plantings).

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  • Biberstein Social Action Fund Applications available

    22nd Annual Request for Proposals—Proposals due September 27, 2024

    (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 22nd 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, Shoshana Zatz, and Rabbis Bess Wohlner and Jeremy Simons.

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

    Grant proposals must be submitted no later than September 27, 2024. Questions may be directed to the Biberstein Social Action Fund at: cbhbibersteinfund@gmail.com. Awards will be announced in December 2024.

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  • New Plan to Micromanage City Commissions Isn’t Good Government (Or Legal)

    Commission-Task-Memo-ATT-Flow-ChartBy Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser

    Mayor Josh Chapman and Councilmember Bapu Vaitla recently began asking city commissioners for feedback on a proposal for “clarification of how items are placed on a commission meeting agenda.”  Chapman and Vaitla did not invite the public at large to weigh in on their proposal, but we feel compelled to do so in the public interest.

    To sum up, we recommend jettisoning this illegal and ill-conceived plan. It would empower even a single councilmember to micromanage and indefinitely block any commission-initiated proposal they didn’t like for any reason whatsoever. There are far better alternatives to promote teamwork and collaboration between the City Council and the city’s expert volunteer citizen commissioners.

    Current city policy allows commissions free reign to work on pretty much anything they want as long as it is consistent with the written charter established for them. Once a commission has explored a policy matter, the city’s Commission Handbook says it may submit items to the Council to be placed on the Council agenda for   its consideration.

    The Chapman-Vaitla plan, summarized in a flow chart [see graphic at the beginning of the article], overrides those policies. The Council and the city staff could continue to place items on commission agendas. Yet, in a big change, proposals initiated by a commission would now be subject to review and veto — by either any relevant council subcommittee (two councilmembers) or that commission’s assigned Council liaison (typically one councilmember).The Chapman-Vaitla plan says these new rules would apply whenever the council wished to “undertake a particular task/project/discussion.”  In other words, almost anything and everything a commission might ever want to do would be subject to veto by one councilmember. The Council and city staff would dictate what a commission can or cannot do, but the commission itself would have absolutely no control over its work. This is bizarre and extremely unwise.

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  • Palomino Place Project receiving comments on environmental impact report until Sep 23

    By Roberta Millstein

    Screen Shot 2024-09-02 at 1.29.22 PMA Davisite reader sent me the following information.  Until that point, I hadn't realized that comments were being sought on the environmental impact report for the proposed Palomino Place Project, so I thought I would share the information with other Davisites, too.  I haven't seen anything in the Davis Enterprise or Vanguard about it (though it is possible I just missed it).

    Apparently, the draft Subsequent EIR ("subsequent" to the EIR from 2009) for the Palomino Place Project has been available since early August. Comments on the draft are due September 23. Comments would typically point out errors, inconsistencies, omissions of data or analyses, conclusions not based on evidence, or failures to provide discussion required by CEQA.

    As the post below indicates, there is also a public meeting about the project on Sep. 11.

    City link to Palomino Place documents:

    https://www.cityofdavis.org/city-hall/community-development-and-sustainability/development-projects/palomino-place

    Draft Subsequent EIR released August 2024:

    https://documents.cityofdavis.org/Media/Default/Documents/PDF/CDD/Planning/Special-Projects/Palomino-Place-2023/Supplemental%20EIR/Draft-Palomino-Place-SEIR-August%202024.pdf

    Notice of Availability (NOA) of Palomino Place Subsequent EIR:

    https://documents.cityofdavis.org/Media/Default/Documents/PDF/CDD/Planning/Special-Projects/Palomino-Place-2023/Supplemental%20EIR/NOA-20240807-Palomino-Place-SEIR.pdf

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  • Will council let out-of-town landlord ignore Climate Policy?

    Time to enforce the Law at Oakshade Mall?

    By Alan ”Lorax” Hirsch

    Image001 1705

    Near Treeless North Parking at Oakshade Mall

    To give the landlord more flexibility to find tenants, Davis council is being asked to rezone the Oakshade Mall (Safeway)  located  at south Pole Line Rd x Cowell.  This is before council  on the Tuesday 8/27/24 agenda ( see  staff report  item #4).   However this landlord is notorious for their neglect of its trees and is in violation of city tree protection ordinance.

    So, while makes sense for city to update zoning in response to a changing retailing climate,  it also  makes sense to do updates in city’s  relationship with this out-of-town landlord in regard to the Climate Crisis and city’s  CAAP policies, changes to sustain  Davis’s quality of life by deal with global heating.

    More Shade is Existential

    It is forecast that half Davis’s  summer days will be over 100 degree in 50 years. Unshaded asphalt reachs 140+ degrees in those conditions.  Davis’s CAAP climate plan appropriately calls for more tree shade as part our adaption plan.  To have that shade in 50 year tree need to be planted now. And investing in tree is just good marketing sense of a long-term landlord-  as contrast with incentive for on-site property manager who  often just think about next quarter’s cash flow so look everywhere to cut maintenance cost.

    Image002 528

    30 year old oak at Oakshade Mall

    But beyond increased tree shade called for Davis CAAP climate plan, this shopping center development has for years been in  gross violation of the city’s  1990’s tree ordinance under which it was approved.  That ordinance required “50% parking lot shade in 15years”  The landscape plan the developer/landlords signed off as part of plan- check had them agree to no just plant trees, but maintain the newly planted trees to obtain that 50% tree shade level.  This was not an impossible requirement:  If you drive West of Cowell just 2 block to the Kaiser clinic you can see tree can be grown in Parking lots.

    Image003 375

    In the past, a large shade tree was (killed?) and replaced with small shrub…that was then topped

    However, the landlord & his property managers have not grown and maintain trees as agreed over near 30 years the mall has been in operation. And when trees have died they have either not been replace, or replace with a shorter species. And the irrigation system has been neglected.

    As you can see from attached recent arial pictures- (and picture in below linked article from 2018), the landlord has not met their legal requirement of 50% shade.   A visit the site will make obvious the gross number of  missing, stunted and dead trees.  The north parking area is nearly tree-free.

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