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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: Politics

  • The Water that Makes Local Food Possible is at Risk.

    Yolo-waterBy Scott Steward

    Add your voice. Contact your County Supervisor and our Water Board (YSGA). Best to make your request before Monday May 19th to place a moratorium on wells in the Yolo focus area that includes Hungry Hollow.  But don't stop making this request on the 19th.

    Everyone's hands are tied except the most important hands, yours. The public needs to insist on a well moratorium in the Yolo focus area in order to greatly speed the legal considerations that the county must make at the Department of Environmental Health and with County Council to develop the legal language (based on water table drop data from the YSGA) and other criteria to declare a moratorium.  Here is the problem: this cannot take years as the water and the west Yolo farms are drying up. 

    The county, through our elected Trustee/Supervisors, has the ONLY authority (not the YSGA) to place a moratorium on the Hungry Hollow focus area. The county will not do this on its own – we need public pressure, or we will lose the ability to water our own food. The majority of Supervisors welcome the pressure to enact a sustainable water policy.  We can win this. We need to speed it all up!

    The Yolo County Supervisors are governed by the State Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), requiring local agencies to form groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs).  SGMA makes it clear….

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  • Hundreds Expected for May Day Protests in Davis, Woodland and West Sacramento

    Indivisible-mayday

    By Kari Peterson

    On May 1, local grassroots and labor organizations from across Yolo County will be marching in Davis and rallying in both West Sacramento and Woodland to join the MayDay Strong National Day of Action .

     Who, when and where:

    • Davis, 5:00 – 6:30PM: March begins in Central Park at 5 PM. Marchers will gather near the wall and then march through downtown Davis before returning to Central Park. In addition to Indivisible Yolo, Sister District Yolo, and the Davis Faculty Association, participating groups include Democratic Socialists of America (Yolo), Davis College Democrats, American Federation of Teachers – UC Davis, and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement,Sacramento.
    • Woodland , 5:00 – 7:00PM: Rally is at the Courthouse on Main Street at 6th Street.
    • West Sacramento , 4:30: Rally at the corner of Park Boulevard and Jefferson.

    Why we’re mobilizing on May 1

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  • DAVIS FREE SPEECH THREATENED

    Photos show how community & political group tabling is dying in Farmer Market’s in its new park location.

    By Alan “Lorax” Hirsch  ahirsch@dcn.org

    Community and political groups have been removed from tabling in the Farmers Market along the C street sidewalk to an isolated unshaded part of Central Park. This happened by edict on 4/22/25, a decision made with no community groups’ input. Groups are concerned there would be no foot traffic in new location…and make it a waste of their time to table. The city manager said 30+ people that do the volunteer tabling should just give market manager’s idea “a try.” (LINK  to background piece)

    The results are in from the first week of this experiment. Failure.

    This is a photo at 11am (peak shopping) shows just 3 people visiting at the 7 tables of groups that took the time to set up in the unshaded and unpaved grassy part of the park near B Street. We heard from wheelchair bound shoppers that these tables were no longer accessible, like families with children in strollers.

    2025-04-26 no visitors at community tables

    It’s of note that only 7 groups set up tables compared to an average of 14/week for the previous month. No reason to waste volunteer time if no one comes by.

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  • Free Speech Curtailed in Davis

    IMG_5699

    The market shed is largely empty of vendor on Wednesday— this photo is 4/22. But the city has allow market manager the power to force community group to be table as far as possible from other farm even outside the shed in the Sun or rain. There are 2 community groups tabling behind the photographer in this photo.

     Farmers Market Discourages Community Engagement

    By Alan “Lorax” Hirsch

    (Alan passes out “love your neighbor” signs in the farmer’s market.)

    Just when you thought our political rights could not be more threatened, this Trumpian zeitgeist seems to have come to Davis.

    They are dramatically reducing visibility of community/free speech area at the Saturday farmer market by expelling these groups from their traditional tabling area along C street north of the restrooms. They will be displaced 1 block south and 2/3 of a block west to an unpaved part of Central Park.  They will be isolated from commercial vendors currently set on sidewalk next to C Street- community & political groups will be in an unpaved grass area close to B street.  An area that is unshaded and hot, so visitors won’t want to linger. This area is invisible to shoppers on C street as it will be hidden behind vendor’s trucks, banners and awnings. The Net: these Group’s tables won’t get any casual foot traffic.

    The now lively Saturday market community area may go the way of the Wednesday free speech/community tablers. DFMA Market management decided to displace Wednesday tablers from under the awning to a similarly isolated, sunny & hot area far away from the half-empty market shed.  These tablers got no foot traffic in that location – and the sun stressed the volunteers – so now there is little or no community tabling on Wednesdays.

    IMG_5637 1

    One of the alleged reason for moving community group/ free speech areas 1 1/2 block to the shadeless B street side of the park is there is not enough room in current area. Here is one of the three bike racks recently installed by city that takes up shaded space that could be available for community group tabling.

    Dropping the Bomb

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  • Good News: Solid Council Majority Lining Up to Fix Roads and Bike Paths Now

    By Elaine Roberts Musser and Dan Carson

    At the April 15, 2025 City Council meeting, four of the five Davis City Council members declared their support for immediately committing significant additional amounts of upfront funding to fix city roads and bike paths. The funding would come from the recently approved Measure Q sales tax increase and be incorporated into the two-year 2025-27 city budget that will be adopted this June.

    A spending plan labeled as “Scenario 2” was presented at the meeting to Council and recommended for approval by city staff. It would have held pavement spending flat for at least five years and then, in theory, begun accelerating city spending for that purpose in 2030-31 through 2034-35.

    Vice Mayor Donna Neville and Councilmembers Chapman, Partida and Deos made it very clear they found the idea of backloading pavement funding, and putting off any significant increases until five years from now, unacceptable.  Mayor Bapu Vaitla  proposed a much different approach to adding money for roads that we discuss below, that would involve asking Davis voters to approve another new tax measure.

    We are grateful four Councilmembers took to heart our warning against approving Scenario 2. The report staff provided to Council documenting this scenario would escalate the roughly $100 million backlog of city road pavement projects that now exists to almost $150 million, an increase of approximately $50 million over the next decade (see  the chart below, on page 07-50 of city staff report).                             

    Roads-chart

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  • 5th & J Streets – Emergency Situation

    5th&J Image

    Open Letter to Davis City Council

    Davis City Council,

    Another collision at 5th & J Street today.  Car vs. Bike.

    Right after I called for Jersey barriers again at Council last night after the last collision. 

    This is an emergency situation.  Two collisions just this week, four in one week several weeks back.  Put up the goddamned Jersey barriers already, like today, like tomorrow.  Recognize that people are getting hurt at an alarming rate here.  I made a mistake being OK that the changes are coming after calling for Jersey barriers immediately after the four accidents a few weeks back. We can't wait.

    Here's how to do it:  put Jersey barriers on the left of each directional lane leading up to the intersection, and along the left-turn lane.  The left-turn lanes will face each other, so block the west to south lane, and allow east to north.  Put a 4' gap on each side for peds & bikes at crosswalks.  Do this also at I Street and K Street.  Similar site problems, and drivers will just cut over to I or K if J is blocked.  At I and K Street reverse which left turn lane is blocked, so cars can only go west to south.  This allows people to get into the neighborhood from 5th either direction, but prevents a 'face-off' between cars in the two left-turn lanes.  Then slap a vertical yellow reflector on the east and west ends of the Jersey barriers to prevent cars from hitting them.

    This has been going on for years, but the rate of collisions has increased greatly recently.  I live near the corner of 3rd & J Streets.  3rd is a bit less busy but still an arterial.  I can't recall ever seeing a collision there.  In over 35 years.  I'm sure it's happened, but it's rare.  So it isn't just bad drivers, it's the intersection.

    People keep asking why.  5th & J has inherent site problems.  These can't be fixed with shrub trimming – there are poles and trees in just the wrong places.  Going south to cross, you have to stop back of the stop line, then pull forward up to the bike lane, stop, and then pull across.  It's the only safe way to do it, but most people who don't use it regularly don't know this, nor is stopping twice a normal way to cross a street.  You get someone who pulls forward from the stop line with their site line blocked in just the wrong places, combined with a speeding car on 5th, and BOOM.  And it happens often.

    Do it!  Fix it!  Today!  Now!  No later than tomorrow!

    Alan C. Miller

    Old East Davis

  • Davis City Council Agenda Item 7- 2025 Pavement Management Update Recommendation

    By Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser

    • Direct City staff to provide funding in the forthcoming two-year budget of $14 million per year (from all sources), including an increase in General Fund resources of $5.5 million per year from Measure Q sales tax increase funding approved by Davis voters, for support of the Pavement Maintenance Program. The $14 million amount represents the funding identified by city staff in a December 2024 presentation to Council that would be needed over four years to make up for previous shortfalls in funding for road and bike path maintenance that have occurred in recent years.
    • Direct city staff to return to Council with a recommendation in regard to the additional staff and contract resources, if necessary, that should be incorporated into the 2025-27 budget plan to implement the program at the funding level provided above.
    • Restore the process the Council established in 2019 for commission review and oversight of the Pavement Maintenance Program. The Fiscal Commission should:
      1. Examine why the reported condition of street and bike path pavement improved significantly in recent years, nearly reaching the original goals set by Council, despite significant funding shortfalls, and evaluate whether future technical adjustments are warranted to reassess the model used to project the level of funding required for the program.
      2. Evaluate the potential impact of the planned Cool Pavement federal grant program to determine whether any further increases or decreases are warranted for city funding levels for pavement management, due to improvements to roads expected to be achieved under the federal grant program.
      3. Review the specific proposed funding components of the 2019 Council-approved plan for pavement maintenance to:
        • Determine whether, and to what degree, they have been implemented by city staff, and why;
        • Determine which, if any of them, are still feasible and available to assist in future funding of the Pavement Management Program;
        • Estimate the fiscal impact of frontloading rather than backloading funding to maintain roads and bike paths over the next ten years. The Council should direct city staff to assist the Fiscal Commission in all four areas of this review.

    Background

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  • Errant Water Permit Puts Good Humus Farm at Risk

    Good humus at risk

    By Scott Steward

    Boundary Bend was cited by the County in August 2023 for its non-permitted well drilling in the Hungary Hollow region of Capay Valley. So how, after two years of evidence showing that the well is out of compliance, is County staff recommending upholding Boundary Bends agricultural well permit # 23-022W?  The County and Boundary Bend know that the new well is too big and too close to Good Humus farm. 

    Good Humus and other family farms have already had to modify their wells to sustain their table crop farms. Nearly three generations of care have gone into the land craft of organic farming in Hungary Hollow. Without much help, these farms have entered our region's food markets and succeeded in producing some of the healthiest food on earth. Capay has inspired farm-to-fork land care nationally.  

    Boundary Bend (application #23-022W) took advantage of one-time replacement well criteria that the county was obliged to put in place for farms and residents short on water following the seven-year drought. Replacement well designation was allowed for existing agricultural operations and drinking water. Boundary Bend did not meet the criteria for a replacement well. Instead of reapplying as a new well, Boundary hired lawyers at Kronick to lean on the county.

    Here are some of the facts that show that Boundary Bend application #23-022W did not and does not qualify for the approved "replacement well" status. The application:

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  • HandsOff Rally at Capitol, Saturday April 5

    Joint Announcement by Sacramento Region Grassroots Organizations

    Copy of Sacramento 50501 Movement_20250317_085853_0000_20250318045316158496

    (From press release)

    WHAT: Mass Mobilization to Stop the Trump/Musk Corruption and Power Grab
    WHEN:  April 5, 2025 11 a.m.
    WHERE: State Capitol West Steps, Sacramento [and in multiple outlying areas*]

    On April 5, local grassroots organizations from around the Sacramento region are calling on all people concerned about the direction of our country to join the 50501 Picnic Protest in tandem with the national Hands Off! mass rally to protest the Trump-Musk billionaire takeover and the Republican assault on our freedoms and our communities.

    Events across the country, in major cities and small towns in every state, will show that the people—the majority—are taking action to stop the corruption and power grab.

    Why we’re mobilizing on April 5th

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  • Go See “October 8th” @ Davis Varsity playing through Thursday

    by Alan C. Miller

    The showtimes for Monday March 31st – Thursday April 3rd are:  6:10pm & 8:40pm

    The official summary is:

    "OCTOBER 8th" offers a look at the explosion of antisemitism on college campuses, social media and in the streets of America beginning the day after the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas. Through meticulous investigation, the film also uncovers how over decades, Hamas created sophisticated networks in America to permeate U.S. institutions and examines the tsunami of online antisemitism, propaganda, and disinformation unleashed by Iran, China and Russia – with the sole purpose of dividing American society.

    I am sure some will dismiss this movie as "Isreael propaganda".  I've seen two single-showing pro-Palestine movies at The Varsity that could  be considered Palestinian propaganda.  Not that I didn't learn anything or that it is all BS, but of course the most effective propaganda contains mostly truths and leaves out truths not flattering to the propaganda side.  I did not consider "No Other Land" to be propaganda; it was about a particular situation from the effects of the settlements in the West Bank.  I have yet find anything convincing to morally justify the settlements.

    I haven't seen "October 8th" yet, but will be seeing it this week.  From the clips I've seen, there is a parallel to what I felt on October 8th and the days following.  I had lived as we all have, knowing there were, as in the 40's, and through much of history, people out there who wanted to kill us for who we are, for some to kill all of us —- with one or dozens killed in individual terrorist attacks over the last few decades.  I had only come into contact with real antisemitic hatred a few times, but it's really ugly when it happens directly, and astounding.  And it has been ramping up, and most white people don't get it.  I said that on purpose to get a rise; most non-Jews don't get it.

    And then it happened.  1200 Jews killed, and hundreds dragged over the border.  I never thought I'd see an event of the mass slaughter of Jews reflecting of the Holocaust in my lifetime.  While not as massive, the genocidal intent and the hate was clear.

    The next day, on October 8th, I had no expectation of the media and public reaction, but I was shocked by what occurred.  Why would I not hear mass mourning and understanding by so so many?  I heard calls for Israel to 'stop the genocide', still weeks before Gaza was invaded, with no recognition of the genocidal attack that had just occurred.  Multiple independent news sources that I trusted and hosts I admired suddenly turned with narratives that bordered on or were outright antisemitic.  1200 Jews had just been killed, and the term 'Zionist' was now being openly used with the same tone as 'Nazi' by large swaths of the public and even some media outlets — Israelis were even being called Nazis.

    I was watching Israeli media directly as much as possible.  The day after the "40 beheaded babies" story broke, the story was debunked in Israel.  Yet days later our President (Biden) repeated it (why??? @#$%&!).  Then for months this group, suddenly empowered in the media, the 'anti-Zionists', including anti-Zionist Jews, began repeating the 40 beheaded babies story as a lie told by Israel, even though it had been debunked the next day in Israeli media.

    And the most heinous lie of all – summed up by many as "Listen to all Women, Unless they are Jewish".  The anti-Zionists spreading information that there were no rapes.  One of the darkest things I ever witnessed was — just a few days after October 7th — two hours of interviews with a team of women who had prepared the bodies of the women slaughtered at the Nova Festival for respectable and fast Jewish burial.  This wasn't propaganda — there wasn't even time to have orchestrated such a thing — these were women who had traveled to help out due to the massiveness of the task.  They described the burns, the semen stains, the broken bones and pelvises, the severed limbs.

    And then — journalists I respected said it was all a lie — there were no rapes.  Some say it to this day.  I believe the NY Tines didn't get it all right, but that doesn't mean there were no rapes.  And this just a handful of years after 'Me Too'.  And all this macro-hate directed at Jews when just a few years earlier we were told of the evil of 'micro-agressions'.

    I've made it a point to listen to both sides, to all sides, and seek to watch every pro-Palestine movie that comes through, to fully understand, if not to agree.  And yes, criticism of Israel is more than valid, it's a right and necessary.  I am not a fan of Netanyahu nor the West Bank settlements and Israel deserves much criticism.  But the outright double-standard used against Jews, and the hate, that has to be recognized by more Americans for what it is, as it isn't going away.

    So this may be propaganda in some people's eyes, and maybe it is.  As I said, I haven't seen it yet.  But I make it a point to see what is put out by all sides on this issue.  I hope you will too.