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Category: Politics

  • Letter: Support a Down Payment Assistance Program

    On January 7th, the council will consider a city ordinance to create a Down Payment Assistance (DPA) Program—an initiative that can open doors for firsttime home buyers, particularly young families who can afford mortgage payments but struggle to save for a down payment.

    DPA programs bridge this gap, offering loans that help families achieve the stability of home ownership and the potential for wealth building through property appreciation. Proven successful in other cities, DPA programs promote workforce housing, increase diversity, and offer a critical step toward addressing economic inequities.

    These programs are flexible—structured as repayable loans or equity-sharing agreements—and recycle the payments plus interest, equity or both are paid back into the City Housing Trust Fund, creating a sustainable cycle of assistance. Prioritizing workforce families who live and work locally could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by shortening commutes.

    With Measure Q’s passage in November, the city will have access to $11 million yearly in new funds. While there are many critical needs in our city, both our Housing Element and the Housing Trust Fund Appendix A of the Housing Element acknowledge the need for supporting first time home buyers. Allocating $1 million yearly to the DPA program could support 50 families with a $20,000 DPA—an impactful investment that strengthens our schools, diversifies our community, and enables wealth-building for those often excluded from home ownership opportunities.

    Carpe diem—let’s seize this moment. Urge the council to create and fund a Down Payment Assistance program. Together, we can make home ownership a reality for more Davis families.

    Interfaith Housing Justice Davis

  • Vaitla/Chapman Commission Proposal

    The following letter from Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser was sent to the Davisite this morning for posting.

    Dear Davis City Councilmembers and Commissioners,

    As you know, Agenda Item 06-B on the Dec. 3, 2024 City Council agenda presents the latest proposal by Mayor Chapman and Councilmember Vaitla to control how items are placed on city commission agendas. It is, in our view, an improvement over prior versions of their proposal, in that it creates fewer opportunities for violations of the state’s landmark open meeting law, the Brown Act. However, it does not completely take care of that problem, and it contains other crucial flaws. In particular, this proposed change would improperly and unwisely attempt to micromanage deliberations of the corps of volunteer experts on our city commissions. They have long provided invaluable expertise and perspective free of charge for the benefit of our citizens.

    Accordingly, we again urge the full City Council to reject this proposal and adopt an alternative approach we outline at the end of this letter. An approach that we believe would foster a sense of community and collaboration between the Council and its commissions, rather than one that will come across as controlling and condescending.

    Unfortunately, this continually-evolving and still-vague proposal was publicly released by Mayor Chapman and Councilmember Vaitla on the city’s website just before the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend was beginning. It is likely that many affected commissioners are unaware of this new proposal. 

    But we note that prior versions of this plan were roundly rejected by most of the commissioners who were asked to review it during a series of public hearings held in September, and with good reason.  As detailed in a prior message we shared with you, one commissioner after another voiced their concern the proposal would result in delays that would stifle their ability to conduct the public’s business and render them unable to provide the very advice the council assigned them to provide.  Commissions that meet less frequently could have their ideas sidetracked for months. They would be less likely to bring their ideas forward.  Proposals that were time-sensitive in nature, such as consideration of city budget issues, would die by default.

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  • On KDRT: Deciding what Davis citizen commissions should talk about

    By Dan Carson

    On Monday, Davis community radio station KDRT began airing an half-hour radio program by local journalist Bill Buchanan examining a proposal by Davis Mayor Josh Chapman and Councilmember Bapu Vaitla to change the current authority that city commissions have to set their own agenda and send proposals forward to the council for its consideration.   Elaine Roberts Musser and I have publicly called for the proposal to be rejected because it is neither legal nor good government.

    Buchanan says, “This week’s subject is narrow, but contains a question worth considering. It involves one of the ways that ideas emerge and ultimately shape public life in Davis. This specific path involves the Davis citizen commissions that advise the City Council on subjects including city spending, planning, police accountability, and several other areas.”

    The show will air periodically on KDRT over a two-week period. A link to Buchanan's description of the show and a recording that can be heard at any time can be found below:

    https://kdrt.org/audio/davisville-nov-11-2024-deciding-what-davis-citizen-commissions-should-talk-about

    Please feel free to share this information with other Davis residents so that they can hear firsthand what is being said on both sides about this controversial proposal that we fear will damage an important aspect of Davis democracy, its system of volunteer experts who serve on city commissions.

  • Commissions Pushing Back on Chapman-Vaitla Plan

    By Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser

    This fall, Davis Mayor Josh Chapman and Councilmember Bapu Vaitla asked our city commissioners for feedback on a proposal they offered for “clarification of how items are placed on a commission meeting agenda.” Their plan, which may come before council in the coming weeks, would empower even a single councilmember to sidetrack any commission-initiated proposal he or she didn’t like, for any reason.

    Commissioners pushed back against the proposal in a recent series of commission hearings:

    David Sandino, Fiscal Commission: “The danger of this is [it] is pretty bureaucratic … I would personally be comfortable with the chairperson working with staff to craft agendas, and not have to have additional review by a council subcommittee or a council liaison…It seems to me too many cooks in the kitchen… I’d hate to stifle commission thought and initiative because you had a few major examples that have ruffled some feathers.”

    Mitchell Marubayashi, Fiscal Commission: “I don't really understand… the problem that this is solving…”

    John Reuter, Climate & Environmental Justice Commission: “This is something the whole city is going to have to live with… If someone has to check on every agenda item, this is a logistics nightmare…an outrageous effort and waste of time…. I think we should be allowed to set [our] own agenda… If you go down that flow chart…where does the commission’s point of view come in?”

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  • There is still time to VOTE today!

    IMG_8398

    Davisites, you can vote at the following locations until 8 PM tonight (Nov 5):

    Dropboxes:

    • UC Davis Campus, 282 Tennis Court Lane, Davis
    • Davis City Hall, 23 Russell Boulevard

    Vote centers:

    • Veterans Memorial Center – Multipurpose Room, 203 E 14th Street, Davis
    • UC Davis ARC – Ballrooms A & B, 760 Orchard Road, Davis
    • Montgomery Elementary School – Multipurpose Rm., 1441 Danbury Street, Davis
    • Emerson Junior High School – Indoor Commons 1, 2121 Calaveras Avenue, Davis

    More info here: https://ace.yolocounty.gov/305/Vote-Centers-Ballot-Drop-Boxes-Locations

    Every vote counts!  There is a lot at stake in this election at the local, state, and federal levels.  I urge everyone to let their voices be heard.

  • This Doubling of the Local Sales Tax – It’s All a Lie! – Vote NO on Measure Q! ———- [Al’s Corner – November ’24]

    622ad996-fc34-43cc-928a-94dc8cecf5beToday's article is a video against Measure Q.  This was going to be my testimony before the Davis City Council, but they didn't meet last week.  Or the week before that.  Or next week.  What do they think this is, summer break? 

     

     

     

    Here's the three-minute video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2mXBTMCgRo

    Of course, as always at Al's Corner, other subjects welcome!  😉

    Davis Citizen  (sung to the tune of "Witchita Lineman" by Glen Campbell)

    I am a citizen of Davis
    And I bike the main roads
    Searching in the street for another pah-ah-ot hole

    I hear far-lefties call “more taxes!”
    I can hear the fire fighters whine
    They say the City budget
    Is still on the line!

    You say we have to save the planet
    Cuz it don't look like rain
    And the more we subsidize housing
    The more the budget won't stand the strain

    You say you need Q more than want Q
    And you need Q for for all time
    But this doubling of the local sales tax
    Is all a lie!

    Vote NO on Measure Q, Mildred!

     

    (Original Glen Campbell version:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8P_xTBpAcY )

  • Dillan Horton Receives Endorsement from the Collective PAC

    (From press release) Dillan Horton, a candidate for Davis City Council’s District 2, is proud to announce that he has received endorsement from the Collective PAC, a political action committee aiming to build Black political power. The Collective PAC endorses federal, state, and municipal candidates across the nation that will elevate Black representation in federal, state, and local governments. It is no coincidence that Dillan also received endorsements from Black community leaders across Davis, including former organizer of Parents of African American Children – Davis Dzokerayi Mukome, former President of DJUSD Board of Trustees Cindy Pickett, Chief Emeritus of UC Davis Police Calvin Handy, founder and director of the Culture C.O-O.P Sandy Holman, former member of the Davis Human Relations Commission Rev. Tim Malone, and many others. Their endorsements demonstrate Dillan’s commitment and strength in reforming city government and fighting for racial justice.

    As potentially the first Black Councilmember in Davis, Dillan will not only bring needed representation to the City Council, but also fight for equal opportunity for all Davisites. He will make it easier to start Black-owned, other minority-owned & women-owned small businesses, along with expanding the availability of quality-affordable housing in Davis, particularly expanding workforce housing. In addition, Dillan’s successful experience in criminal justice reform has equipped him to tackle implicit racial biases in policing, such as reforming traffic enforcement, where Black Davisites report persistent racial bias.

  • The City Council Used Misleading Comparisons of Compensation from Other Cities to Award Excessive Salary Increases to Davis City Employees

    Part 2 – Recent Salary Increases to the Firefighters

    By the No on Measure Q Campaign

    Introduction

    We recently reported that the City of Davis used flawed and misleading data to award excessive compensation increase to the City Manger. (See https://newdavisite.wordpress.com/2024/10/27/the-city-council-used-misleading-comparisons-of-compensation-from-other-cities-to-award-excessive-sa/). They did so by using compensation data from 12 regional cities against which to compare the Davis City Manager's compensation. Claiming this data showed our City Manager was under-compensated, in July of 2024 the Davis City Council awarded him a 2% annual salary increase retroactive to January 1 of this year, an annual 3.0% bonus retroactive for 2023 and another 3% bonus for the uncompleted 2024 year. 

    However, in that article we showed that if the comparative compensation data from only 6 regional cities of comparable size were otherwise used, our City Manager earned between 3% and 30% greater than the City Managers of any of those six comparable-sized cities in 2023 – and this was before the Council awarded bonuses to our City Manager for both 2023 and 2024.

    In May, 2024 the Davis City Council similarly approved a 6.0% increase in base salary for all firefighters retroactive to July 1, 2023. The ostensible reason given for the salary increase was that the total compensation for the average Firefighter II position was 6.0% LESS than the median total compensation earned by Firefighter II-equivalent positions in twelve regional cities and fire protection agencies; and thus a raise to ALL firefighters was appropriate to keep their compensation competitive. However, the Council again based their analysis on misleading data.

    Unfortunately, similar to the comparative analysis of compensation of our City Manager, the Davis Firefighter II compensation was also compared to that in ten purportedly “comparable” local cities and two fire protection agencies in the region.  However, many of those ten cities are much larger than Davis, and include Sacramento (population of 525,000), Roseville (population 190,000), and Fairfield (population 119, 000).  Davis’ population is only about 67,000.

    An Alternative Fair Comparison with Comparable-Sized Cities

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  • What it’s like Campaigning in Reno, NV

    IMG_3870By Alan Hirsch 

    I am one of the hundreds of Davis volunteers from Indivisible Yolo and Sister District called to get involved in this election. I share this as in a few days the experience of this moment will be forgotten in the joy or anguish of Tuesday’s election results. 

    We drove from Davis to Reno to canvass homes for Harris the last week of October. Our group of five is door knocking on a prescreened list of likely Democratic voters. The Nevada Democratic Party assigns us neighborhoods, and we use an app on our cell phones. On our first day we ran into other groups canvasing the same turfs. Many homes already had Harris literature under their door mats. Our first day of canvassing was Monday, not a weekend. 

    We look at the canvassing history of voters in the app. This history shows 10 or even 25 knocks, texts, and call attempts since beginning in July.  Almost all contacts indicate "not home."  A few are marked as voted so we don’t knock. Less than ¼ of the people answer the door (curse the ring doorbells) and of those who answer about ½ have voted already. We make sure everyone has a plan to vote, a where and when and know the hours the early polling places are open. 

    Washoe County NV, which is 1/25 the population of Bay Area, is attracting many volunteers.   

    We wonder what our efforts will mean. Will our hours here make a difference? 

    I see just one piece of Trump literature, a door hanger, cut out in shape of the state of California. It reads "Don't let Harris turn the US into California.” “California” is now a GOP shorthand meme for lawless dystopian hell hole. Socialist, even Communist.

    We knock on doors alone to cover more ground but share our stories when we gather for meals.

    In 6 person-hours of canvasing on our first day I surfaced a young Hispanic man not registered to vote and I explained how he could still register and vote. Another young man was convinced Trump will win so why bother to vote. I shared that Trump’s derogatory remarks had offended a key demographic of Pennsylvania voters. I stressed that his vote would matter.

    This is the work.

  • Letter: Annual Budget Reduced to Repair roads, bike paths and sidewalks.

    The City wants to tax us another $11 million per year on the ballot as Measure Q. They claim the money will be used to provide new services, but they don’t tell us what new services. Well I have a problem with spending millions on new services when the City can’t even maintain what it already has.

    Everywhere you go in town you can see the awful state of our roads, bike paths and sidewalks. They are in terrible shape. We now have far worse roads than West Sacramento or Woodland. It was promised this would be taken care of by the city when we approved the renewal of the previous 1% sales tax hike, but since then things have only deteriorated even further.

    And the City Council approved reducing last year’s road maintenance budget by $1.5 million. Where did that money go? I’ll tell you where it went- it went to increase employee salaries and the development of new programs.

    Let’s face it, responsible budgeting means taking care of necessities first, but that is not what is happening. The city keeps asking for more money from citizens in the form of increased taxes to pay for all their “nice to have” pet projects, which are being put ahead of essential maintenance and services. It is time for citizens to say “enough is enough” and vote “NO on Q" for more tax increases until the City Council starts acting more responsibly and accountable to the tax-payers.

    Don Price