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Category: Politics

  • When hate masquerades as protest, we all lose

    Note: This article was originally published in the SF Chronicle and is reposted here with permission of the author. I think it expresses ideas that are very relevant for Davis, yet have been missing (as far as I know). -RM

    The attack on my cafe is an inexcusable act of violence. But even in the middle of this ugliness, there are many points of light

    By Manny Yekutiel

    The windows at Manny’s in San Francisco are boarded up on Thursday. In an act of violence, people vandalized the Mission District cafe on Monday night during protests against ICE actions.

    Earlier this week, protesters broke into Manny’s, my cafe and civic space in San Francisco’s Mission District, smashed the windows and spray-painted messages like “Intifada,” “Death 2 Israel is a Promise” and “Die Zionist” on my walls.

    It was violent. It was antisemitic. And it was heartbreaking.

    This kind of hatred has no place in San Francisco, the city that’s given me everything. And it has no place within the progressive movement — a movement I am a part of.

    I created Manny’s as a space for dialogue, for civic engagement and for tough conversations. I’ve seen what’s possible when people sit down with those they don’t agree with. I still believe in that work. But what happened on Monday night wasn’t dialogue. It was destruction intended to cause fear, and it crossed a line.

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  • #DisappearedinAmerica Protests TODAY in Davis, Woodland & West Sacramento

    Residents of Davis, Woodland & West Sacramento to participate in nationwide demonstrations on June 26 confronting the Trump administration’s illegal abductions, detentions, and deportations. #DisappearedinAmerica

    Screen Shot 2025-06-26 at 10.58.43 AM(From press release) Residents will gather 4:30 – 5:30 PM in:

    • Davis at City Hall, 23 Russell Blvd
    • Woodland at the Courthouse, 1000 Main St.
    • West Sacramento at City Hall, 1110 W. Capitol Ave.

    to speak out for people who have been disappeared by the Trump Administration and demand an end to vigilante terrorism.  No Vigilantes! No Masks! 

    On Thursday, June 26th, Yolo County residents will show up at three locations in Davis, Woodland and West Sacramento to join activists across the country for #DisappearedInAmerica, a national day of action led by a coalition of immigrant rights, faith, rule of law, and pro-democracy organizations. Together, Yolo County residents are mobilizing to shine a light on a disturbing reality: under Trump’s immigration agenda, people like Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Mahmoud Khalil, and Andry Hernandez Romero are being forcibly detained, deported, and disappeared. Yolo County residents are united in demanding transparency, accountability, and due process for all.

    With the Trump administration doubling down on its abuse of power and government overreach, everyday residents are sending a clear message: In America, we don’t let the government secretly detain or deport people without trial — it violates our Constitution and our way of life. This kind of lawless behavior isn’t just immoral, it’s un-American, and we must draw a clear line against it. 

     

    Indivisible Yolo is a chapter of the grassroots movement Indivisible (indivisible.org), which is based on the vision of a real democracy—of, by, and for the people. Indivisible Yolo’s mission is to promote progressive policies by activating people to engage in their democracy at all levels of government. We organize and advocate for our policy goals, and to get out the vote to elect candidates who pursue those policies. These complementary efforts ensure our democracy works for everyone and that those in power do, too.

  • Speak Out at June 17, 2025 City Council Meeting to Increase Funding for Roads and Bike Paths

    By Elaine Roberts Musser & Dan Carson

    On June 17, 2025 the City Council will “finalize” the 2025-2027 city budget, although it is not written in stone and subject to change. The grim reality is the lion’s share of Measure Q funding (recently approved sales tax increase) has already been spent on employee compensation, and there is absolutely no Measure Q funding left. 

    Thus there is zero money to front load more funding for roads and bike paths as recommended by both City Council and City Staff.  $14 million is needed, but only $8.6 million has been set aside, the same inadequate pavement management funding as before. So the pavement will further deteriorate from its current abysmal state, and be exponentially more expensive to fix, adding tens of millions of dollars to the already huge backlog of pavement projects. And it will present particularly unsafe conditions for bicyclists, especially children going to school.

    It should be noted the Yes on Q ballot statement, signed by all five sitting City Council members at the time, declared Measure Q was: “To support essential city services, such as…pothole repair… and bike path maintenance”.  Instead, the City Council devoted Measure Q funds to increased employee compensation, while the draft budget plan released May 20 would spend nothing more on roads and bike paths.

    This is a bait and switch, an abject betrayal of the voters who approved Measure Q.

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  • Measure Q was a “bait and switch”

    By Elaine Roberts Musser

    During the 6/3/25 City Council budget discussion, I stated: “There will be no Measure Q revenue left to frontload funding for roads and bike paths as promised in the Measure Q ballot language. This would be a bait and switch scam, an abject betrayal of voters who approved Measure Q.” Mayor Vaitla responded: “This accusation of bait and switch is inappropriate.…” I beg to differ.

    Bait and switch consists of a misleading statement intended to deceive voters, that is likely to influence voters, and will probably result in harm.

    Let’s take a look at what happened with Measure Q funding. The ballot statement, signed by all five sitting City Council members, declared Measure Q is: “To support essential city services, such as…pothole repair… and bike path maintenance”. Notice it did not mention employee raises. The City Council knew the specific ballot language about roads/bike paths was apt to convince voters to approve Measure Q. Yet the City Council spent Measure Q funds on employee raises, but nothing on roads/bike paths. That deception will result in the city’s abysmal roads/bike paths deteriorating further at exponentially greater cost.

    As the budget is finalized on 6/17/25, the only way the City Council can nullify the Measure Q bait and switch is to cut costs in other areas of the budget – and redirect that funding towards roads/bike paths. Then, and only then, can Mayor Vaitla with justification, claim there was no bait and switch.

  • 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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