Sung at Tuesday February 21st City Council meeting, to the Tune of 'Matchmaker' from 'Fiddler on the Roof':
Parody Live at City Council (time – 20:15):
https://davis.granicus.com/player/clip/1665
Original Song:
Category: Politics
-
The Ever-Changing Justification for Widening I-80
Why can’t Caltrans Tell Yolo County the True Cost?
By Alan Hirsch
On Tuesday March 5th the Davis City Council will review and hopefully reverse the current city policy that endorses I-80 freeway widening for cars. This policy was set quietly in 2021 as two line buried a 10 page policy statement on thing the city would lobby by an ad hoc committee of Lucas Frerich and Dan Carson. But now I-80 has surfaced before council as a threat to the City Climate Change Plan its clear the current council needs to reexamine it if it want to be taken seriously on climate change.
The January 9th ye open staff report to reviewing the I-80 Draft EIR also heighten interest.. At that meeting, Councilmember Will Arnold the former Caltrans Director Of Media Relations, shared Caltrans policy which he summarized: believing freeway widening will fix anything is the definition of insanity. (Link to transcript of Arnold’s remarks)
Every-changing Justification for I-80 Widening
-
My ballot thoughts for March Election
By Alan "Lorax" Hirsch
I have again compiled my thought on voting in Davis for the March 5th election.– the 10th edition of my Davis Neighborhood Ballot flier ™
The two pages are posted below and at Facebook's Davis Ballot Talk (scroll down) where you can find this and lot of other free advice. Or download here: Download Davis Neighborhood Ballot Rec v3 2 page 2024 03 05
My thoughts may be helpful….or not?
Occasionally people think I get it right …but more usually its left.
-
Dark, Anti-Democratic Forces Sue the Davis Vanguard
These dark forces are believed to be funded by the Dark Underbelly of Davis.
In true Davis Vanguard journalistic style, no information on who the dark forces may be or why they are suing, but the Vanguard did ask for money to the tune of $100k. Statement:
-
Davis Downtown names Brazil interim executive director
Dirk Brazil (courtesy photo)(From press release) Former Davis City Manager Dirk Brazil has been named interim executive director of the Davis Downtown Business Association, effective Monday, Feb. 12.
He replaces Brett Maresca, who stepped down from the role on Jan. 26 to pursue other opportunities.
Brazil served as Davis city manager from 2014 to 2017, and as Yolo County assistant county administrator from 2006 to 2014. After retiring in 2017, Brazil worked as interim city manager for the cities of South Lake Tahoe and Alameda, and as the interim executive director of the Yolo Habitat Conservancy.
“I’m looking forward to working with the DDBA board and their membership in the next few months to first, help them in their search for a new executive director, and second, to look into how best to possibly restructure DDBA into a more focused and effective organization,” Brazil said. “I’ll also seek collaboration opportunities with City of Davis elected officials and city staff, as well as UC Davis administration. There is a great deal of potential in these partnerships.”
-
Mike Thompson Vote No on Military Aid to Israel
By Scott StewardI think we are over the attempt to confuse antisemitism with calls for a ceasefire. The implication that candidates must choose between fighting antisemitism or calling out genocide is false. It is untenable that hate speech and aggression directed at Jews, Muslims, and Arab groups are on the rise in this country. The coalition of Jewish voices for Peace, the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Yolo for Palestinian Justice are united around stopping hate-motivated aggression and bias.
While actual hate speech and alleged hate speech are confusing Mike Thompson's decision to call for a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, more than 2 million people are dying from starvation and disease, trapped in the "safe zone" of Rafah recently declared the next "military" target of Israel. Israel's anticipated aggression does not improve the chances of the return of hostages or the cessation of hostilities in the future. I conclude it's not meant to, Netanyahu stays in power only so long as Gaza is being attacked.
Mike Thompson can do his part to stop the killing of Palestinians and vote against unconditional $14 Billion to Israel's far-right government. Israel is about to launch another "over the top" (Biden) military massacre. Pressure to do something to end this episode of the Palestinian trail of tears forced the Senate to include $9.1 Billion for civilians living in Gaza and the West Bank. There should be no confidence that Israel would allow aid to be delivered without the possibility of the US conditioning military aid with proof of distribution of humanitarian aid.
-
Council Should Reverse Course on Merging Advisory Commissions
The Davis City Council Should Reverse Course on Merging Advisory Commissions
The Subcommittee on Commissions (Vaitla, Chapman) process for introducing the merging commissions concept was not accomplished in good faith.
The proposal was first made available to the public late on the Friday before last Tuesday’s City Council meeting and was quickly put to a council vote Tuesday night. Even other council members were kept in the dark about the specific proposal until Friday. This was a devious, unfair and terrible process.
There was no material input from commissioners. Some commission chairs and vice-chairs were consulted about what was and wasn’t working in their respective commissions. But some commissioners said they were never asked about the radical plan to merge their commissions, and some commission chairs and vice-chairs testified that they were not consulted at all by Council members Chapman and Vaitla.
The Subcommittee on Commissions has refused to appoint applicants to fill commission vacancies for the last six months, causing commission quorum problems. The Finance and Budget Commission has not met for months and is now down to two members and effectively out of business. After months of waiting to be appointed, applicants move on to other things rather than sit around and wait. The claim that commissions must be merged because there are not enough applicants is a sham.
Merging commissions with two disparate areas of expertise would make them less able to accomplish either mission. If the mergers happen, the workload will double, and there will either be less time for discussion of issues or the meetings will have to run very long. A commissioner is not likely to have expertise in both missions. For example, the Utility Commission has almost nothing in common with the Finance and Budget Commission, and the Human Relations Commission has nothing in common with the Civics Art Commission.
We, the undersigned commissioners, request that the City Council:
- Immediately reverse their preliminary action of approving moving forward with the concept of merging commissions;
- Then (a) send the City Council staff report on merging commissions to each affected commission (b) to provide full and proper feedback on the merger plan to the City Council, so (c) it could consider the merger plan in a future council discussion.
(Note: Anyway wishing to add their name to this petition can log on to change.org and search for the petition title, Reverse City Council Decision to Move Forward With Merging Commissions.)
Jim Cramer – Member, Tree Commission Member
Elaine Roberts Musser – Member, Utilities Commission
Gerry Braun – Member, Utilities Commission
John Reuter – Member, Tree Commission
Alana Gamage – Member, Tree Commission
NJ Mvondo – Member, Human Relations Commission
Sheila Allen – Former Chair, Human Relations Commission
Colin Walsh – Vice Chair, Tree Commission
Margot Loschke – Former Chair, Senior Citizens Commission
Alan Pryor – Former Member, Natural Resources Commission
Eileen Samitz – Former Member, Planning Commission
Roberta Millstein – Former Chair, Open Space & Habitat Commission
Larry Guenther – Former Member, Tree Commission
Connor Gorman – Member, Human Relations Commission
37 Davis residents and activists
-
Petition to protest the City Council’s merging/eliminating citizen commissions
The City Council needs to re-think and re-do its current plan
By Roberta Millstein
Elaine Roberts Musser has put together a petition protesting the City Council's recent decision to move forward with merging some commissions, which would reduce expert citizen input into City matters and effectively eliminate some of the issues that commissions currently are able to address. The petition asks for the City Council to stop its current direction and to give the proposed commission merging a better, more thorough, and more inclusive analysis. I have no connection with petition, other than having signed it myself — I am just passing along the word.
The petition is located here: https://www.change.org/p/reverse-city-council-decision-to-move-forward-with-merging-commissions-1e9f0d8d-0697-4f45-85ad-6a7720e2b8b3
(There are more signers than it would seem from the webpage, as ERM was collecting signatures prior to putting the Change.org online).
If you follow the link, you will see the reasons given for objecting to the Council's decision. The petition ends with the follow requests:
- Immediately reverse their preliminary action of approving moving forward with the concept of merging commissions;
- Then a) send the City Council staff report on merging commissions to each affected commission, b) to provide full and proper feedback on the merger plan to the City Council, c) so it could consider the merger plan in a future council discussion
-
Letter: Andrew Engdahl for Congress, Davis Farmers Market Feb 10th
Andrew Engdahl is a smart, principled vote for you, a healthy, affordable country, and a vote against military overspending and inhumane policies abroad—March 5th Congressional Primary. Of the people, he is not shy about showing his colors. Meet Andrew Engdahl at the Davis Farmer's Market on February 10th. Hear him for yourself online:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C2vwXFEpT7b/ Instagram/TikTok
Andrew Engdahl is a long-time Sonoma County resident and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma survivor; his campaign goal is to win runner-up in the Primary Election (March 5th) and then square off with the incumbent, Mike Thompson.
Why should we tolerate military overspending, continued gun violence, and incarcerating the poor? Thompson is not fighting a future for most of us and has supported policies of corporate control of unaffordable housing, massive wealth inequality, slow-walking climate action, and the list goes on.
If your kids and their kids are looking at a better future, it will be because you voted for Andrew Engdahl.
Scott Steward
-
League of Women Voters Supervisor Candidate Forum
The League of Women Voters Davis Area is having a candidate forum on Wednesday Jan 31 at 7pm for Yolo County Supervisor District 4. There are 3 candidates. The forum is at the City of Davis Community Chambers. Get tickets at: lwvyolosupervisorforum.eventbrite.com.
Candidates Sheila Allen, Yolo Supervisor’s Deputy, Antonio De Loera-Brust, Farmworker Communications Director, and Nathalie “NJ” Mvondo, Social Entrepreneur will introduce themselves to the community and answer League and community questions.
Davisite 