Not much going on in Davis these days . . . coming up short on starter topics . . . #sigh# . . . anyone?
Category: Politics
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Yolo Holds Its Breath on Water Policy
By Scott Steward
Yolo County Supervisors placed a temporary pause on new Yolo ag well water permits until the local regional water agency can put the data and analysis together to, more certainly, tell the story about the water under our feet.
This is the story about the water that we depend on for thriving local ag and the precious remainder of our beleaguered biome in Yolo, and the greater Sacramento valley. On July 11th farmers and residents testified to the Yolo Board of Supervisors about their experience (Davisite 7/2023) with receding well water and wells going dry. The principal cause identified as newer/bigger wells drafting water for previously unirrigated land for perennial trees (nuts) and vines.On September 12th, the Board consider options that included a moratorium on new well applications. Between the July BOS meeting and the 9/12 meeting, staff and the Director of the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Agency were to help the Board with more Data. At this last meeting we found out that the data is just not ready and so, in absence of any evidence not to act more conservatively, the Board unanimously chose a 45 day moratorium option.
Supervisor Frerichs brought the final motion "I have heard from farmers and many many residents who are supportive of this (the moratorium option)." The moratorium is not blanket, specifying Clarksburg and other areas as exempt, but generally placing the restriction on the areas experiencing water table drops.
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Anatomy of an Article: That Wake Up Call was a Wrong Number (Al’s Curiousity Corner #4)
SUBJECT: "Commentary: A Wake Up Call" (Wednesday's Blavis Blansplard)
Only DG could get a robo-call about solar panels from a call center in India and think it was a a wake-up call. I was rummaging through the trash behind Vanguard Headquarters on Thursday evening at 8:17 p.m. and found the recipe for the article. As a public service I am posting it here:
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I-80 News: Two Projects on Causeway, DEIR Release, Woodland
Traffic Congregation not relevant in EIR
By Alan Hirsch
All the weeks News on I-80, as best I understand it – The Headlines:
- Draft EIR out Monday(?) – YoloTD Board meeting comments needed
- Two projects on causeway at once! Pavement Rehab is not the Widening!
- Yolo TD Chair Takes on UC Davis Transportation Experts
- Does anyone remember NISHI? Will City of Davis ignore full I-80 impact?
- What to watch For in Draft EIR
- Is Causeway bike trail maintenance being hostage to road improvements?
- Does City of Woodland’s New Tech Park Project turns it back VMT in EIR?
- Woodland says road Congestion is a “social inconvenience” and not relevant in EIR.
Draft EIR out Monday(?)
YoloTD executive director Autumn Bernstein wrote Friday she expects DED (aka Draft EIR+ other doc) will be released before the September 11 Board Meeting.. YoloTD has had earlier draft(s) for months so they likely will have slide prepared (which are not in Agenda Packet. I note YoloTD staff and board is OK with chair picking early DEIR traffic study to prove we need a wider freeway…seeming to ignore Caltrans long patterns of Understating Induce Demand Effects in its EIR, per UC Davis ITS studies. The Caltrans website still post a promise the EIR will be out in Winter of 2021.
How to Comment at YoloTD meeting Monday 6pm.
Call or write/ What to say: express concern the Caltrans may be continuing to understate Induce Demand impact in their models- as UC Davis ITS studies has shown . Express concern not enough priority is not being put on climate change. Ask YoloTD to hire an independent expert to review and comment on Caltrans EIR VMT studies due to past UC Davis studies that show the agency has underestimate it.
PLACE: YoloTD Board Room, 350 Industrial Way, Woodland, CA 95776
ZOOM & Live comments: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81573305113?pwd=VmFiZWNtSzZleVVGRVpmQ0swWnhpZz09
PHONE to zoom; : (669) 900-6833 Webinar ID: 815 7330 5113 Passcode: 135087
AGENDA & Packet: https://yolotd.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2023-09-11_YoloTD-BoardAgendaPacket.pdf
EMAIL in advance: public-coment@yctd.org:
Phone comment in advance (will be transcribed/ not read or played): 530 402-2819
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Al’s Corner – September 2023
This volume of Al's Corner is dedicated to the celebration of the Davis Vanguard's National Issues Open Discussion Page. Of course, this page isn't open to me, or several other banned people. Nor, in practice, is it a discussion. Let's do some stats and declare a winner:
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Wingnut Advocates for Nuclear Mosquito Control
by David AbramsonSteve, who previously spoke to the City Council advocating that we ban all the leaves from Davis returned this past Tuesday to give public comment in support of the pesticide spraying of the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito Vector District, particularly supporting the aerial spraying over our cities and encouraging them to develop even larger pesticide bombs to eliminate the mosquitos once and for all.I am personally outraged that Steve and the Sacramento Yolo Mosquito Vector Control District believe that mosquito activity warrants dumping pesticides on our heads several times per weeks. -
Al’s Curiousity Corner #3 – The Burning Man Attendees vs. Climate Change Activists vs. Tribal Police Incident
Tribal Police ram barricade set up on Route 447 by climate activists – the only paved way into Gerlach and from there, Burning Man, backing up traffic for miles.
Curious your thoughts, Davisites. Reference article and video may be found here:
Other references welcome.
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YES, Mayor Arnold needs to recuse himself again
Back in June I strongly suggested that Mayor Will Arnold recuse himself from City Council discussion/support of the I-80 Managed Lanes Project – The mayor's main gig is a key role in communications at Caltrans.
He did recuse himself.
Tonight the City Council is voting for approval for one of two variants for re-reconstruction of Mace Blvd (see my opinion on that below).
While it's not a Caltrans project, per se, the continued problem of operators of private motor vehicles using county roads and Mace to try to bypass traffic on I-80 is in large part due to the sad negligence of Caltrans in supporting anything but nice but expensive-to-use and proportionately symbolic commuter-regional railway service (Capitol Corridor), to focus on induced travel as a healthy strategy (the aformentioned Managed Lanes project) and to seemingly ignore any serious consideration of solutions to the awful I-80/CA-113 interchange, modifications to certain on-ramps to permit entering vehicles to get up to the prevailing speed before merging or any kind of substantial long-distance bus service to complement Capitol Corridor (and more…)
The so-called "restoration" of Mace will not solve the I-80 problem, but since Caltrans won't either, and since Caltrans won't help solve the Mace problem… the discussion and vote tonight is very, very much connected with Caltrans and so the Mayor should again recuse himself.
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As an hopefully not so itchy or worse aside in my favor regarding aerial and other spraying for mosquitoes (specifically to counter the threat of West Nile Virus) in relaton to highways workers at Caltrans and private travellers – and in relation to agenda item 4 also in this evening's Council meeting. missing any attachments! – I have repeatedly called via social media – and finally, acknowledged comments from staff for Supervisor Provenza – to ensure better outreach to workers busy on the I-80 pavement rehabilitation project and to people transitting the region by its highways who are unlikely to see or hear local (social) media announcements about the spraying. Some of this is immediately adjacent to I-80 – including tonight, during the Council meeting – and CA-113.***
Back to the Mace Re-re-design: It's a betrayal of the Commons and of the City's symbol and oft-repeated climate change and related goals to prioritize traffic lanes above bike lanes, and to sacrifice (median, in this case) trees instead of traffic lanes for bike lanes… the latter, in other words, is putting people on bikes – or really kids on bikes riding to elementary school – against trees, really, the Greater Arboreal World. It's a sad, sad day… There's no "restoration" — the four lanes of Mace are no exiled monarch, and they certainly ain't democracy – automobilist entitlement is getting its way, once again. Look around: Davis is not getting better for walking and cycling. Anyone who has encouraged this motorized farce will have to face their own conscience.
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Al’s Curiosity Corner #2 – Open Forum on the Library Issue
While there has been a discussion on that 'other' blog, the reason I hang here is that many comments get deleted there without explanation, especially on this issue and especially comments even modestly politically right. However, this is a sensitive issue, and I am not going to allow outright insults directed at trans people/supporters/protestors nor at persons associated with Mom's for Liberty.
For example, for some reason that other blog allows MFL persons to be called Nazis, and that sort of useless comment isn't going to be allowed here. On the other hand, in the Yahoo comments on the Bee article, about 153 out of 155 comments were against the library actions, despite the article leaning towards supporting the protestors. AND . . . many if not most of those commenting there were denying the existence of trans people, insulting trans people, and/or calling trans people various derogatory terms implying mental illness just for being trans. I'm not putting up with any of that shit here either. I won't outright delete a comment unless it's completely empty of anything but outright hate towards either side, and I'll always explain why a comment or part of a comment was deleted.
My views on the library matter are simple: I'm a Jew who believes the Skokie decision was the greatest triumph for the core of what makes America great: Free speech, baby!
What are your views? I'd like this to focus on free speech vs. hate speech; the actions/authority of the library/library-manager, the actions of those putting on the meeting and those protesting the meeting, and various takes in the media.
(Note: I have a life, so your comments may not be posted for many hours. Deal with it.)
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Al’s Curiosity Corner: What Do Davisites Think of ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ ?
I'm curious what the people of Davisitesville think of this mega-hit's message.
My reaction, from the lyrics, is this could be a punk song sung by 'Oliver' as a raw country ballad. Rage! Stickin' it to the monarchy, the man, the machine. Anger at what the government is doing to us, against the men in power. Yet this song is being labeled a 'conservative ballad'. True, it is catching fire in conservative circles, but I don't see that in the lyrics. I can easily hear a Johnny Rotten or a Henry Rollins versions of this song.
There's a reference to 'minors on an island'. That happened. Davis liberals don't defend pedophiles (do they?).
Davisite 