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Category: Politics

  • Davis, Improving Muslim, Arab and Palestinian Human Relations

    By Scott Steward

    When prompted by public comment or by the City Council, the Davis Human Relations Commission (HRC) assigns subcommittees to collect Davis residents feedback on what residents are experiencing, to get direct feedback about Davis residents' experiences, with conflict, discrimination or other relations.  

    Not surprisingly the Commission has heard much in the way of incidences of Islamic/Palestinian/Arab discrimination and Antisemitism (discrimination against Jews) in the last year and a half.  Two subcommittees were formed in late 2024 and remain in place today, the Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians and their Allies (MAPA) subcommittee and the Antisemitism subcommittee.  The MAPA report was completed and presented on April 2nd and recommendations from the report were refined and voted on by the commission on April 24th.

    The Muslim Arab Palestinians and their allies (MAPA) Human Relations Commission Report is a compilation of “100s of conversations, and review of 100s of videos, photos, and screenshots from social media stories and posts, surveyed residents, DJUSD parents and staff, UCD faculty, staff and students of a relatively even mix of Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians and Ally respondents." 

    The report is a 91 page representative sample of all the Davis sources and some data from external sources.

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  • Council Should Act Now to Fix the Deep Fiscal Mess It Has Created

    By Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser

    A newly published long-range financial forecast for the city brings dire warnings of shortfalls and outright deficits over the next few years. Below, we outline tough but fiscally responsible actions the Davis City Council should immediately take to rein in this serious fiscal mess, substantially of the City Council’s own making.

    The May 27, 2025 analysis prepared by the Baker Tilly Advisory Group in collaboration with city staff found the city faces budget shortfalls of roughly $3 million each of the next two fiscal years. They estimate this would leave the city with a bare-bones General Fund reserve, in a period when the risks of recession and inflation are dramatically rising nationally because of severe funding withdrawals in Washington DC and Sacramento.

    Second, absent some painful but unavoidable decisions, the analysis found that the city will likely be completely financially underwater within five years, with annual spending exceeding annual revenues.  In other words, we are rapidly moving from having inadequate reserves to having no reserves at all, as well as serious deficits projected to grow to $5 million annually. Even these numbers may be a bit optimistic. The forecast assumes 2.5 percent annual growth in city pay even though newly signed contracts allow up to 4 percent pay growth for many workers supported from the General Fund.

    Few Davis residents likely know about this serious financial predicament. The forecast report was released to little fanfare and sparse news coverage in a Council workshop held in the late afternoon at the Senior Center, instead of the City Council’s usual meeting in the evening in Council Chambers. As this is written, no city press release has been issued to highlight these grim developments.

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  • Davis Residents Invited to “No Kings” March and Rally in Woodland June 14

    Event will be held alongside protests across the country
     
    Indivisible Yolo Rally May

    Local residents gather in Davis for a rally on May Day with Indivisible Yolo alongside events across the country to protest the Trump administration. Indivisible Yolo and Sister District Yolo will hold a countywide “NO KINGS" march and rally in Woodland on June 14 to coincide with nationwide protests
     
    (From press release)  Indivisible Yolo and Sister District Yolo invite Davis residents and people across Yolo County to join its countywide, family-friendly “NO KINGS” march and rally in downtown Woodland on June 14 at 10 a.m. The march and rally will take place alongside more than 1,300 NO KINGS events across the state and country to protest the Trump administration and authoritarian rule on Flag Day, when Trump will host a military parade for his birthday using tax-payer dollars. Participants will gather at the new courthouse at 1000 E. Main Street in downtown Woodland and will march a route to the old courthouse at 725 Court Street for a rally that will include activities, speakers and entertainment. For more information and to RSVP: https://www.mobilize.us/indivisibleyolo/event/788262/.
     
    “This event brings together our community coalition in Yolo County for a national day of action to highlight the authoritarian excesses and corruption of the Trump administration, as well as the impacts being felt here in Yolo County,” said Steve Murphy, co-chair, Indivisible Yolo. “Trump thinks his rule is absolute, but we don’t do kings in America. From farmers to faculty, students to seniors, citizens to non-citizens, all people of every race, gender and ethnicity across the county are encouraged to join us as we remember this is our Flag Day – of the people, for the people and by the people.”

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  • No “Show Me” Mike Thompson

    Screenshot 2025-06-01 at 8.23.22╯PM

    By Scott Steward

    Prior to the Friday 3:30 start of the 90-minute League of Women Voters Yolo County moderated interview with Mike Thompson this past Friday, it was good to remember that the Congressman had voted for HR 224, which calls for the urgent delivery of food to Gaza. He was also in the 2024 minority that voted against an appropriations bill that blocks the State Department from citing statistics (numbers of dead and wounded) provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health.

    So when the Congressman passed by on his way into the Woodland Senior Center where we were standing, with "Dollars for Democracy, not Genocide" signs, We respectfully asked him to speak out to end the killing.  He replied, "Yes, we should."  

    Unfortunately, Mike Thompson, like most Democrats and almost all California representatives to Congress, voted three different times for what now amounts to $22 billion to use our tax dollars to finance 70% of all weapons used to enable Israel to accelerate the decimation of an entire nation and kill mostly women and children while doing it.  Current and historical atrocities on both sides do not excuse Israel's disproportionate response.

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  • Failure to Make the Hard Financial Decisions on the City’s 2025-2027 Budget

    By Elaine Roberts Musser and Dan Carson

    During the last few years the city has consistently failed to make the hard decisions needed to manage its finances. The proposed new city budget released on Friday is more of the same. What follows are just a few examples of how the latest city budget proposal for 2025-2027 digs the city ever deeper into an embarrassing financial morass. 

    Having 10.3% and 10.2% reserves for the city’s General Fund for the next two budget years — as the new city budget plan proposes — might suffice in better times. Property and sales taxes are historically stable revenue sources for Davis and other California cities that can enable them to survive troubled times. But a 10% reserve is inadequate for the next two fiscal years given the treacherous economic circumstances the city is in. And coming are the all but certain massive state and federal funding cuts for local government programs. 

    In earlier budget discussions, City Council’s direction to staff was to get the city’s General Fund reserve back to 15% over the next 2-3 years.  That plan is now dead. No specific proposal to get there is being offered — just a vague statement that new revenues or budget reductions will have to be found somewhere. This dire circumstance should trigger immediate action to put the General Fund reserve back on track to 15% in 2-3 years. 

    Don’t count on that happening, though. Even as these budgetary dangers loom, another item on the Council’s consent agenda for Tuesday would make things worse: the ratification of a very rich and unwise employee contract with the Davis City Employees Association (DCEA). One that will probably set the stage for another wave of contracts for other city employee groups.

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  • 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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