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Category: Politics

  • I-80: No such thing as a Free $86m Lunch

    On Tuesday, let’s hope council is more curious than YoloTD on DEIR

    By Alan Hirsch

    Funds

    Slide from YoloTD slide presentation on I-80 DEIR December 11 when the  board decided it was OK with the DEIR and mitigation plan. It does not disclose that the DEIR requires Yolo commit to $50m/year mitigation spending.

    At the YoloTD board meeting on December 11 the YoloTD staff the presented the I-80 project. After 6 public comment, and 16 ½ minute discussion they unanimous decided to accept the DEIR, it VMT mitigation plan, and the staff recommend alternate 4. HOT3+

    These are the slide staff presented.

    https://yolotd.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-12-11_YoloTD-BoardSlides.pdf

    No one at the meeting unpacked the ongoing financial obligation of mitigation that YoloTD took on as part of the DEIR

    ….. in turn for getting the $86 million in free starter money for the project

    The VMT/GHG  mitigation plan is on slides 15-19—which lists all the 7 mitigation measures.

    Its bit confusing so let me unpack – before the Tuesday council meeting.

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  • Recommendation for revision and recirculation of the DEIR for the I-80 widening project

    The following letter was submitted this morning by Dr. Stephen Wheeler and the Sierra Club Yolano Group as formal comments for the Yolo 80 Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), addressed to Dr. Masum Patwary, Environmental Scientist C at the California Department of Transportation. A copy was also sent to the Davis City Council. The letter concludes by stating that the Yolo 80 DEIR should be revised and recirculated.

    Dear Dr. Patwary:

    This letter provides detailed comments on the Yolo 80 Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) on behalf of the Yolano Group of the Motherlode Chapter of the Sierra Club.

    I have prepared these comments as an unpaid Technical Advisor to the Yolano Group. In my professional life I am a Professor of Urban Planning and Design in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California, Davis, and Chair of the UC Davis Community Development Graduate Group. I have studied urban and regional planning topics for more than 35 years, including interactions between transportation systems and regional land use patterns, and was formerly chair of the City of Berkeley Transportation Commission and cofounder of the Bay Area’s regional transportation-land use-housing advocacy organization Transform. I am the author of urban planning textbooks used in universities worldwide, including The Sustainable Urban Development Reader (Fourth Edition, 2023), Planning for Sustainability (Third Edition to be published in late 2024), and Reimagining Sustainable Cities (2021). My awards in this field include the Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning.

    Let me say first that it’s very unfortunate that the Yolo 80 project has proceeded this far without better alternatives being considered. As has been widely known for decades, widening freeways does not fix congestion problems; it just defers them for a few years while increasing overall motor vehicle use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, local air pollution, suburban sprawl, and related problems. The climate crisis gives particular urgency to the need to stop increasing road capacity and vehicle use. Although California is making progress in many sectors towards reducing its GHG emissions, transportation is one area in which it is not. Transportation is also the single largest source of the state’s GHG emissions, accounting for 38 percent of the total.

    In order to meet California’s GHG reduction goals, the state has adopted policies that discourage road expansion and its concomitant VMT increases. SB 743, passed in 2013, required agencies to use VMT as a metric for analyzing transportation impacts of new projects after July 1, 2020 instead of Level of Service (LOS). Put another way, this bill made reducing overall motor vehicle use the goal of state policy rather than short-term reductions in road congestion. The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA)’s Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI), adopted in 2021, establishes policy that “projects should generally aim to reduce vehicle miles traveled” and counsels agencies that “when addressing congestion, consider alternatives to highway capacity expansion such as providing multimodal options in the corridor, employing pricing strategies, and using technology to optimize operations.” However, Caltrans appears to be disregarding the state’s new policy framework with multiple projects including Yolo 80.

    A certain amount of congestion isn’t bad in that it puts realistic constraints on the public’s behavior. However, if congestion is deemed to be a problem beyond that point, the academic and professional literature shows that pricing, better land use planning, and other demand management solutions (e.g. working with large employers to promote vanpools and transit use) are the best strategies. But Caltrans never considered those alternatives in the Yolo 80 case. It clearly wanted to widen the freeway from the start, and indeed appears to have illegally begun widening I-80 east of the Mace intersection and west of the I-50 split in early Fall 2023 well before the current environmental review was completed. This action  shows a high level of disregard for CEQA/NEPA processes, and we ask Caltrans to suspend construction activities on Yolo 80 until environmental review is completed and the environmental document certified.

    The Yolo 80 DEIR has a great many deficiencies which require revising and recirculating the document. These include the following:

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  • Davis Covid Spike Makes National News

    Humor by Alan Hirsch

    Image0 28Ever since the  success of “Healthy Davis Together” right wing anti-vax crowd has been waiting to strike back.

    It happen last week when the below Facebook picture from Central Davis made Fox Cable nightly news under the headline “Is A Covid Spike laying low older men?”

    Fox of course was reframing a social media post  of where the administration was claiming to have brought down inflation for Christmas.

    But then Newsmax ran the photo. Noting it was taken in Davis a 90% democratic  liberal college town, said it uncovered evidence of the secular “War on Christmas” ™. 

    CNN hearing story was about “shots”  ran picture of another mass shooting—this one a Christmas day !

    Fox picked that angle up, adding it was evidence of just another crime wave — in a Democratic city–  after a home invasion.

    One America Network then said it was reported they were “made in China“.  So their commentator conjectured they were clever disguises on spy balloons that were shot down.

  • Davis City Council are FOOLS to Declare a Davis Position on Israel-Palestine (this Tuesday Evening)

    The Davis City Council is poised to pass a resolution this Tuesday night (12/12) on Israel-Palestine.

    Last Tuesday a couple of dozen people spoke during general public comment regarding this upcoming resolution. About 95% spoke in favor of a ‘cease fire’ by Israel. The speakers appeared to be organized by Jewish Voices for Peace who had “Not in Our Name” t-shirts, along with several persons of Palestinian lineage. One Jewish man, not from Jewish Voices for Peace, spoke of Hamas as a dangerous organization.

    Most who spoke asked for the resolution by the City of Davis to include a demand a ‘cease fire’. There were several who spoke of the genocide against the Palestinians. This word is a matter of intense debate and emotional weight. Others argue instead that Hamas had ‘genocidal intentions’ on October 7th but lacked the means to carry it out. While word definitions hold no inherent truth, groups of people define words to hold an agreed-upon meaning, and certain words and phrases invoke intense emotional reactions in regard to this conflict.

    I had a clear message for the City Council last week: “Don’t Do It”. As some may know, I stand firm in the belief that cities should only conduct city business and not get involved in national or global issues, no matter how seemingly righteous or important. But the potential repercussions from this resolution goes so far beyond that. This resolution has the potential to damage Davis both within and from without . . . and needlessly. We all remember the long and tortured tale of the Davis Ghandi statue, another dip of the Davis toe into international waters. What could go wrong displaying a depiction of  ‘a man of peace’? What could go wrong with supporting a declaration ‘for peace’?

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  • Israel Needs to Ceasefire

    Jew-for-ceasefireBy Scott Steward

    I want to thank the City Council's Mayor Will Arnold and Councilmember Gloria Partida for placing a "Proposed Resolution Calling for Peace in Israel and Gaza" on the December 12 City Council Agenda. 

    The current violence, persecution and loss of Palestinian lives is abhorrent. As much as Hamas is rightly condemned and routed for its most recent attack, it is not acceptable that Israel will not ceasefire and instead finds reason to continue to disproportionately kill thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, to randomly kill a small number of combatants. 

    The continued use of a government's military to kill a functionally incapable combatant, and in so doing kill a vastly disproportionate number of millions of displaced civilians, with munitions and by furthering the conditions of starvation and disease, is a war crime. 

    Israel needs to ceasefire. Thousands in Davis are part of this worldwide plea. 

    The Council's ascent to consider a ceasefire resolution was supported by some 15 public speakers and 10 callers, with a hundred people in the gallery in support, at the December 5th City Council meeting.  1 voice of public dissent.  "Ceasefire and Peace in Israel and Gaza" That would be an improved title for the draft resolution.  Why the word ceasefire was so obviously left out of the entire draft resolution, can only be guessed. The public needs to tell our City Council to add back the word ceasefire.  CityCouncilMembers@cityofdavis.org. 

    Davis groups for human rights, Palestinian human rights, Jewish Voices for Peace have been organizing around a ceasefire since October 17th, joining vigils and peaceful demonstrations to remind our members of Congress to sign HR 786 a "ceasefire resolution." The UN is trying to pass a "ceasefire resolution."  No one in the City Hall chambers on December 5th, speaking for a City resolution in support of humanity and sincere peace and repair for Palestine and Israel, was speaking to anything other than a ceasefire resolution. 

    I expect that Council members are honest about intending to constructively amend the draft resolution and to vote on the amended version on the 12th. Respectfully, Council, somewhere in the "Peace" resolution needs to be the word ceasefire.

  • A Critique of Village Farms

    In reference to the Village Farms Scoping Session

    The City has asked citizens to comment on the Village Farms project. Here are mine…

    by David J. Thompson

    The project is based on obsolete planning principles which feature the single family home.

    Preponderance of SF homes in this era is absurd for a town that thinks it’s green.

    Global Warming is guaranteed and increased by this car-centric planning model.

    Too few market-rate apartments for a community with such a low vacancy rate for the past 30 years. The lack of market rate apartments means tens of thousands of Students and working people will continue over paying on rent given the continued low vacancy rate.

    There should be many more market rate apartments to bring down the excessive rental costs in Davis. Most of the 55.7% of Davis households (the 36,780 renters) are already overpaying rent (more than 30% of income spent on rent is HUD guideline).

    Dos Pinos housing co-op has been the most successful home ownership program in Davis. 38 years later it is still providing substantial savings for its moderate income owners. It helps families time and time again rather than a one off bonanza and it’s gone forever. There are 122 households on the waiting list for DP (60 units) and the list has been closed since 2017 (2021 info from DP). There are between 6-10 turnovers per year. Why was another Dos Pinos co-op not included in Village Farms?

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  • Response to Davis Enterprise Article on December 6, 2023: “City, County, UCD Gather for Annual Meeting.”

    By Greg Rowe

    A recent Davis Enterprise article described the annual meeting of the Davis City Council, Yolo County District 2 and 4 Supervisors and UC Davis administrators, held on December 5.  UCD’s on-campus student housing construction program since 2018 was glowingly portrayed by the university representatives. The reality is that UCD had for years resisted building an adequate supply of on-campus housing to meet the needs of its continued enrollment growth, and literally had to be dragged kicking and screaming into agreeing to finally address the problem.

    Evidently forgotten amid UCD’s self-congratulatory presentation were the herculean exertions between 2015 and 2018 by a small alliance of dedicated citizens who committed countless hours working toward the goal of convincing UCD to address its student housing needs in a meaningful way. Those efforts focused on educating the Davis City Council and the Yolo County Board of Supervisors about UCD’s long-standing failure to provide on-campus student housing on pace with escalating enrollment, and the resulting negative community impacts. The group wrote countless articles, letters and a comprehensive “white paper,” met with UCD planners and elected officials, spoke at meetings of the UC Board of Regents, and documented the superior student housing accomplishments at other UC campuses. 

    Early drafts of UCD’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) proposed to only marginally increase the percentage of students living in campus residence halls between 2018 and 2030. The university’s initial intent was to simply redevelop existing campus housing rather than aggressively increasing bed capacity with new construction.

    It also appeared that UCD intended to dodge its housing responsibilities by continuing to “master lease”  apartment complexes in Davis for exclusive occupancy by UCD students. This “band aid” approach meant fewer apartments were available to workforce families. It also allowed apartment owners to avoid paying property taxes because the lessee, UCD, is tax-exempt.

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  • Mom’s for Liberty Sues Yolo County Library – Let’s Talk About It, Davis! (An Al’s Corner Exclusive) Boogity Boogity

    Yup.  It's happening!   Mom's for Liberty is suing the Davis Library for violating their first amendment rights.

    And what better place to discuss it than on the free Davis bloglet that hasn't banned a bunch of people from its comment section:  Al's Corner!!!

    Welp — Unlike David Greenwald I'm not going to copy most of the article source material and nest that within a few badly-written sentences of my own.  Nope, I'm just gonna give you the link, and you can read it yourself 😐

    Moms for Liberty-Yolo County v. Lopez

    https://adfmedia.org/case/moms-liberty-yolo-county-v-lopez

    Mostly I wanted to scoop the Davis Greenwald on a major breaking local story.   And I don't even get the paltry drippings of a salary to do so.

    But even More Mostly:  let's talk about it, Davis!   This is major shit.

  • Al’s Corner – December 2023 (was some blah blah blah about “Taking Tuesday”)

    SUBJECT:  "Support the Vanguard on #GivingTuesday"  [Monday's Van Guard]

    I have a rule for Taking Tuesday — if someone asks me for money, or even uses the cringe phrase "Giving Tuesday", I never give them any money ever, and furthermore attempt to take money from them.  On Monday, the Van's Guard mentioned giving Tuesday, with open comments.  Did someone not consider that closing comments would be a good idea, given past experience?  Oh, yeah, you got rid of that pesky Alan Miller guy.  Still . . .

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  • Open letter to Mike Thompson, as growing Yolo numbers demand advocacy for an immediate cease-fire

    On Tuesday, dozens of us gathered to demand that our Representative, Mike Thompson, acknowledge global and local opinion in opposition to the continued attacks on Gaza. As his constituents, we reiterated our expectations that our views will be represented in calling for an end to the Israeli bombing of Palestinians. With signs, and dolls representing Palestinian deaths (most have been children), we raised our voices in support of peace and justice for the Palestinians living in Israel. Our action is part of the world-wide opposition to Israel’s horrifically disproportionate response to the Hamas attack on October 7.  Mike Thompson, as our representative in Government, we will continually call on you to recognize the global opposition to what Israel is doing to the Palestinians which cannot continue and must be opposed. We call on you to represent our views and act in our name by advocating for a Ceasefire Now.

    We understand that Israel is a sovereign nation, and that the United States has little power to influence its decisions except through withholding arms and money. (We realize that Congress just took military aid to Ukraine and Israel out of the new bill to fund government spending, so part of that decision has been made for now.) But public opinion is critical.  In aligning itself with Israel’s disproportionate response to the events of October 7, the U.S. is risking its position in the court of global public opinion. And this alignment will further erode whatever good standing we may have to exert an influence elsewhere and in the future.

    We know that the US historically has seen itself as a country representing the new idea that people of every  religion, race, and ethnicity could live together in a society based on concepts of individual freedom and justice, with a system designed to provide checks and balances for those in power. Our constitutional rights of speech, of expression, of the press, of worship, and of the right to criticize government represent a standard of freedom and justice upheld by law, admired as a model for democracy around the world. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is grossly antithetical to these standards. Continuing to align ourselves with the Israeli Government considering their cruel and inhumane treatment of Palestinians is deeply hypocritical and signals to the world that we are unwilling to abide by the very ideals on which we say our own country is built.

    Mr. Thompson, as our representative, and as a United States Government official, we call on you to uphold the values this country enshrined in its foundational documents, and repeat our demand that you advocate for Israel to immediately, unconditionally and permanently stop the bombing of innocent Palestinian civilians. 

    Nora Oldwin & Dean Johansson