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Category: Ethics

  • Responding to Lee-Carson OpEd on BrightNight Solar Deal

    Brightnight-greatdealBy Matt Williams

    The commentary by Mayor Lee and Councilmember Carson in the Sunday Enterprise really does not address the core concerns that have consistently been raised by the community. In summary, those concerns are that the city used a non-competitive process which resulted in a low-offer and thus left money on the table while failing to go through a full public process that might have identified deficiencies in the offer by BrightNight.

    After reading the Lee-Carson OpEd, I (and I'm sure many others) now have one additional major concern … that it does not appear that the Council Majority has actually listened to the Public Comment voicemails, or actually read the Public Comment e-mails they have received.

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  • Hop on your bike for fun, exercise and exploration – even now

    BikeBasketGroceries

    May is a great time to use your bike for essential errands like grocery shopping. (Adobe Stock photo)

    May is (still) Bike Month

    By Wendy Weitzel

    Social distancing might keep us from hosting in-person events, but it doesn’t stop us from getting out for solo bike rides or trips with other members of our household.

    Hopping on a bike is a great way to enjoy the spring weather, get some exercise, and feel mentally refreshed. The practice not only relieves stress, it may start a healthy habit worth keeping down the road. And it’s absolutely allowed during the shelter-in-place order, as long as you maintain at least 6 feet physical distance.

    Wearing a face covering is not required while engaging in outdoor recreation such as walking, hiking, bicycling or running. However, anyone engaged in such activity must comply with distancing requirements. Everyone should carry a face covering with them, to use if needed.

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  • Don’t Miss Out on your Utility Rate Discount

    VCE(From press release) The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on everyone in Yolo County. Some are able to shelter in place, work from home, and continue to receive a paycheck. Others are providing services to others — sometimes at personal risk. Still others have been laid off from their jobs and are having trouble paying for rent, food and utilities.

    “If your income has suffered in the past months, we’re urging you to check on your eligibility for a utility rate discount during these trying times,” says Valley Clean Energy board chair Don Saylor, a Yolo County supervisor.

    California utilities provides rate discounts to income-qualifying customers. In Yolo County, these programs include the California Alternate Rate for Energy Program (CARE), which provides a discount of 20 percent or more for electricity and natural gas, and the Family Electric Rate Assistance Program (FERA), which provides an 18 percent discount for electricity. Valley Clean Energy and PG&E offer the same special rates.

    Local residents whose income has changed significantly due to COVID-19 may now be eligible for these rates, even if they weren’t able to qualify before the pandemic.

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  • Did Our City Council Just Agree to the Absolute Worst Deal in the City’s History?

    Cfe371da68ff6f4005d6e0b94b79fd20By Alan Pryor

    Over $121,000,000 may have been left on the table when Council approved a secretive, closed-door no-bid, 54-year land lease option and agreement for a photovoltaic system on 235-acres of City-owned land.

    How many miles of Street and Bike Path repairs per year would $121 million pay for? What was Staff and Council thinking ??? 

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  • Request for Reconsideration of Solar Lease Option Agreement and Term Sheet with BrightNight

    Bright-night

    The following letter was sent to members of the Davis City Council today.

    We respectfully request that the Mayor and Council place an item on tonight’s or a future council meeting agenda to reconsider its approval of Item 9 of the March 24, 2020 Solar Lease decision. In its reconsideration we believe Council should (1) direct staff to research the fiscal, legal and business issues identified in this letter, and (2) pending the results of that research, rescind Council’s approval of the Item 9 resolution to allow the City Manager to execute the Lease Option Agreement and Term Sheet (collectively, the “Agreement”) with BrightNight that will “give the solar energy company an Option to Lease up to 235 acres of city-owned land near the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant on County Road 28H for a Commercial Solar Farm and Solar Energy Testing Facility.”

    Our review of the Agreement to date has uncovered serious concerns which we believe have not been fully considered by the City, and that the resolution and lease, as written, establish a legal arrangement that is harmful and disadvantageous to the City and residents in several respects. We, individually and collectively, stand ready to work with staff to facilitate their research of these issues. We are preparing a detailed document fleshing out each issue, which will be available shortly on request.

    In summary, the issues are as follows:

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  • Support the Yolo Food Bank

    VCE(From press release) As the COVID-19 pandemic ramps up in the Yolo County region, many of us are wrestling with the hardship of confinement and with other, more tangible, constraints. That’s precisely why it’s more important than ever to be our best selves during these times.

    Businesses have closed, countless workers have been laid off, and everyone has been asked to shelter in place. Many who have lost their jobs may not be able to pay rent or buy food for their families.

    The Yolo Food Bank — always an important resource in our communities — steps in during these times to provide food for those in need. Food Bank representatives say the number of requests for help is on the rise and is expected to increase dramatically in the coming weeks.

    Valley Clean Energy, which is focused on the health and well-being of the communities it serves, has donated $2,500 to the Yolo Food Bank in the hope that others might also contribute during this pandemic.

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  • Rate discounts for VCE customers through PG&E

    VCE(From press release) No one expected to see days quite like this. And for some of us, it’s beginning to feel as though we’ll have a tough time keeping our heads above water as our economies and paychecks adjust to this pandemic.

    That’s why Valley Clean Energy representatives want to be sure that local residents are aware of the discounted electricity programs PG&E offers to income-qualified customers, even those who are Valley Clean Energy customers.

    For example, the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) discount from PG&E is open to all eligible customers of VCE. Those who qualify to enroll in the FERA program could end up paying much less to stay warm through a chilly spring and cool this summer.

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  • Valley Clean Energy Offers Covid-19 Update

    VCE(From press release) As Yolo County residents join others throughout California in sheltering in place, Valley Clean Energy (VCE) is working to assure that customers receive a safe, reliable electricity supply throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Electricity has truly become the lifeblood of our lives as we self-isolate in our homes,” said Don Saylor, a Yolo County supervisor who chairs the VCE board of directors. “The cleaner electricity we buy for you will remain unchanged during this time.

    “We want to assure our customers that the Valley Clean Energy team is working to ensure that lights will stay on; computers, phones and data centers will be powered; food and medicine will be refrigerated; and homes and water will be heated.”

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  • Valley Clean Energy now enrolling solar customers

    VCEBy Don Saylor

    (From press release) Valley Clean Energy (VCE) is our local community choice energy program serving electricity customers in the communities of Woodland, Davis and unincorporated Yolo County. The purpose of VCE is to provide customers with higher levels of renewable electricity, encourage energy efficiency and local generation, and offer rates that are competitive with PG&E, the region’s investor-owned electricity provider.

    Decisions on rates, energy resources, programs and finances are made locally, in public, by a local board composed of people elected by the residents of our communities.

    Most electricity customers in our area have been receiving their electricity from VCE since June 2018. Their monthly bills display VCE’s electric generation charges and PG&E’s electricity delivery charges.

    Based on changes to state regulations, the VCE board decided to delay until 2020 the enrollment of solar customers who had installed solar panels on their homes or businesses before we launched in June 2018. In 2020, these energy-conservation pioneers will begin receiving their electric power from our local agency.

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  • What’s wrong with City staff’s new burrowing owl policy

    A response to Ash Feeney

    Feeney-with-owlsBy Roberta Millstein

    A few days ago I learned of a new policy from City staff concerning the 25 acres outside of Mace curve, aka Mace 25, prime farmland that was purchased with citizen tax dollars from the open space fund.  According to this new policy, the City will not be mowing areas in which burrowing owls are already nesting, instead allowing the owls to be “naturally displaced from the site… by allowing tall dense vegetation to grow along the western edge.”  By not mowing, the City will be “doing what it can to prevent the owls from using the site.” Burrowing owls prefer short grasses (e.g., native short prairie grass or grass that is kept short through mowing) so that they can see their predators coming, and they will leave an area if the grasses aren’t short.

    At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, I along with a number of other citizens attended to protest this new policy and to ask the City Council to direct staff to promote burrowing owl habitat at that site.  Burrowing owls, it should be noted, have been designated as a Species of Special Concern by the State of California, and their numbers have been declining dramatically over the past 10 years in the Davis area.  No action was taken at the meeting, although I have since learned that at least one Councilmember is in favor of taking up this issue at a future meeting.

    What did happen at the meeting was that Assistant City Manager Ash Feeney defended the new policy.  He has apparently issued a statement summarizing his views, published on the Davis Vanguard (staff could not confirm this by the end of yesterday’s business day).  Unfortunately, this response contains false and problematic statements.

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