Category: Politics

Letter: Endorsing Walsh for Davis City Council

I write to endorse Colin Walsh for Davis City Council District 2. I first met Colin when he was working on the campaign against Nishi 1.0. I was immediately impressed by his passion and dedication. He often worked late into the night and was concerned to get every detail right. Since then we've worked on a number of initiatives together, including the community blog, Davisite.org, which fosters neighborly dialogue in Davis.

Another example: Since last fall when the MRIC Mace curve business park project resurfaced to become ARC and then DISC, Colin has read thousands of pages of documents, attended Council and Commission meetings, asked hard questions, and made thoughtful suggestions, all on his own time as a citizen committed to good process and careful analysis. He raised concerns about the compressed timeline for community engagement and about the inadequate affordable housing proposed by the developers.

His comments to the Open Space and Habitat Commission on the DISC business park were particularly helpful to me as a commissioner. He pointed out that the bat studies at the site were insufficient, an issue that might otherwise have been overlooked, and urged that the Prime farmland at the site weigh heavily in any decision. I also appreciate his work as a member of the Tree Commission, arguing for a greater number of trees in the project (alas, the recommended number was rejected by the developer, but the number was increased somewhat).

So when Colin says that he will solicit community and commission input, you can believe him. When he says he will analyze thoroughly and ask hard questions, you can believe him. When he says he will foster open and transparent government, you can believe him.

Colin is committed to social justice and the environment and would make an outstanding Councilmember. Whether or not you are in his district, you can support him with an endorsement, lawn sign, letter to the editor, or donation. See his website at walsh4davis.com for details. If you are in District 2, please give him your vote.

Roberta Millstein
Chair, Open Space and Habitat Commission
(speaking for myself alone)

August 12, 2020
Burrowing Owls and Davis elections

By Catherine Portman

As candidates run to retain their elected positions they will tout issues they’ve supported to win citizen’s votes. There will be advertisements, slogans and even face mask images that imply the candidate supports certain issues. Lest there be any confusion about what the City of Davis has done for burrowing owls, I’ll recount a few “lowlights” of the city’s inaction and neglect of burrowing owls over my 20 years advocating for the owls.

In 2000 several natal burrows were disked at Mace Ranch housing development (Flatlander and Yolano Flame). The city did not pursue legal action against the developer for disking owlets into the ground.

The city, as the CEQA lead agency, was required to mitigate the destruction of the Mace Ranch owl colony. Mitigation was secured at Grasslands Park. A Burrowing Owl Reserve of 60 acres was established. In 2004, a Burrowing Owl Habitat Management plan (a legal requirement under CEQA) was developed that required the vegetation not exceed 4 to 5 inches, year round. The city never kept the vegetation within that standard height. (Sustain Environmental. Documents provided on request. ) Pam Nieberg and I contacted city council members, the Natural Resource Specialist and the Open Space and Habitat Commission. The city did not comply with the Habitat Management Plan. Pam and I met with then City Manager, Dirk Brazil. He told us if there was no money for vegetation management, it would not happen. When the consultant, Sustain Environmental, consistently found the vegetation height not in compliance with the Habitat Management Plan, the city ended the consultant’s contract. No more breeding burrowing owls at the Reserve or Grasslands itself.

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August 10, 2020
Local election season begins in earnest

Featuring two measures, City Council elections, and DJUSD school board elections

By Roberta Millstein

For those who haven't been paying close attention, a lot of things about our local elections solidified on Friday: the "pro" and "con" statements for local measures were submitted (with rebuttals to come soon) and City Council candidates turned in their ballot statements and nomination forms.

The DISC business park project, proposed to be built on Prime farmland outside the Mace Curve, is subject to a Measure J/R vote and has been assigned the letter 'B'. You can find the "pro" and "con" arguments online:

Argument in favor of Measure B

Argument against Measure B (I am one of five signers to this argument)

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August 8, 2020
Why I am running for City Council

By Larry Guenther

I am running for City Council because I am frustrated with decisions that have been made and opportunities that have been missed. And I'm running because I am hopeful and know our community can do better.

I am frustrated when our Police Accountability Commission asks the City to improve transparency and accountability by reviewing the Picnic Day Report – a report all parties agree has factual errors – the City Council unanimously votes no.

I am frustrated that when the Police Department asks for an armored vehicle and more surveillance equipment, the City Council unanimously votes yes.

I am frustrated that:

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July 31, 2020
Keeping My Commitment to the Community

By David Taormino

The list of challenges for residential developers and builders in Davis is long and well known.

To be honest, our community’s reputation for opposing nearly all growth was a major hurdle when we presented Bretton Woods to 14 financially qualified and experienced national home builders. Almost all solicited builders turned down Bretton Woods without any consideration of the project’s merits, with its Davis location cited as their deciding factor. Several builders that turned it down are currently building in Spring Lake, aka “North North Davis,” where 80 percent of buyers come from Davis.

Voters approved Measure L in November 2018, with the understanding that Bretton Woods would be a community intended to accommodate current Davis residents, and that 90 percent of sales would be limited to Davis connected buyers. This was what I pledged, and my commitment to achieving this goal remains unchanged.

In October 2019, I asked the City, on behalf of the builder, to amend the Development Agreement (DA). The builder requested that the City remove the 90 percent Davis connected limitation from the DA for two reasons — they would have more autonomy if the market for Davis based seniors was not as substantial as expected; or if someone filed a discrimination-oriented lawsuit. Some in the community criticized this request to remove the language pertaining to the Davis Connected Buyers Program a “bait and switch.” I want to explain why that is not the case.

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July 31, 2020
Walsh Seeks City Council Seat In District 2

(From press release) Colin Walsh is running for Davis City Council in District 2 (see map). Walsh states he is motivated to run “out of a deep love for our community and from a sense of duty and service”. If Walsh had to sum up his campaign platform in two words they would be “transparency” and “inclusivity” he says.

As someone who grew up in Davis, but has lived in many cities, Walsh values the fact that Davis has become home for people from all over the world. He now lives on the same street he grew up on with his two children and his mother. Colin works as a litigation graphics and technology consultant and has led teams supporting civil trials in courts across the country.

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July 30, 2020
Improving City of Davis Decision Making: An Open Letter

Informed and transparent decision-making is an essential pillar of good local governance. In Davis, this pillar is eroding. Recent years have seen multiple alarming instances of secretive action, shortsighted planning, and disconnect between community and leadership priorities.

We the undersigned—including current and former members of city commissions—call on City Council to address these issues. Specifically, we urge swift adoption of the attached common- sense proposals regarding (1) transparency, information disclosure and public engagement, (2) city commissions, and (3) advancement of significant actions and initiatives.

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July 23, 2020
Rebuttal to University Commons Staff Report

By Greg Rowe

This is a rebuttal to the staff report on the proposed University Commons project. It falsely implies that limiting 4-bedroom units to 45% of the 264 units (or 119 units) is a developer concession. But as stated in the EIR Notice of Preparation (November 16, 2018, p. 4), the developer originally proposed that 66 units (25%) would have 4 bedrooms. The 45% cap now offered is higher than the original proposal by 20 percentage points and 53 units. Specifying there would be no units with 5 or more bedrooms is meaningless because the original proposal had no such units.

The report asserts student oriented rental projects can have a beneficial impact by easing pressure on single-family neighborhoods and reducing competition for single-family rentals. That would be true if UCD's student population remained static, but UCD's July 16 "University News" confirms that UCD is continuing its relentless enrollment growth far beyond the City's ability to respond. UCD offered fall 2020 freshman and transfer admission to a record high 45,820 applicants, including 35,838 freshman admissions, a jump of 17.5% above last year. The campus expects to enroll 9,500 freshmen and transfer students, or 5% more than fall 2019. The upshot is that UCD's student growth will outpace available housing no matter how many more student projects the City approves. The need for rental housing near campus for UCD employees has meanwhile not been addressed.

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July 20, 2020
Please Endorse the Planning Commission’s Unanimous Vote Against the Umall Project

The following letter was sent to the Davis City Council and is reprinted here at the request of the author.

Dear City Council,

I am writing to ask you to support the unanimous decision of the Planning Commission to not approve the U-Mall project for all of the reasons they gave and the ones that were elaborated on in great detail by Commissioner Rowe. I will only highlight several key points.

Firstly, let it be noted that last week UCD projected that fall enrollment would be almost 40,000 students, or, I think, 13.6% above last year. I am a retired university professor and I have lived in university towns all my life in the US and UK. I am not anti-student. I continue to like living in a university town and that was one reasons I moved here in 2000 and bought my first house. However, I never imagined that UCD's rapid enrollment expansion would, and will further, drastically re-shape the city. I don't have time to crunch a bunch of numbers but few cities in the US can have such a high proportion of students to its population. Furthermore, until about five years ago I was not aware of UCD's abysmal record, the worst in the UC system, of building on-campus student housing.

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July 20, 2020
Looking for leadership to do the right thing this time around

COVID-19 is all about concentration

By Roberta Millstein

We were flattening the curve. We were staying at home. We were doing the right thing. Then our leaders – county, state, and federal – blinked. They caved to pressure from the business community to “open up.” And they opened up even where it made no sense to open up: bars, restaurants, churches, movie theaters. Now the prevalence of COVID-19 is far worse in our region than it ever was.

Here is what our leaders should have said to the business community: “If we open up, cases will spike and we will have to shut down again. Not only will it be costly to ramp up only to have to close down again (especially for restaurants), but also, it will delay an economic recovery even further.” In other words, they should have led.

Instead, they somehow expected that families and friends from different households wouldn’t get together even though people were getting together in bars. And now they blame citizens instead of blaming themselves for putting out a mixed and inconsistent message.

There are some sensible ways to open up, but they require paying attention to “The Six C’s” (Note: I have modified this from others):

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July 16, 2020