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Category: Politics

  • Why the Davis Downtown Economy is Falling Apart

    Bw-bicyclestatueBy Jon Li

    Do you wonder about the empty stores in Downtown Davis? Don't you wish there was somebody on the City of Davis Staff who is responsible for improving our local economy?

    Last week, the City of Davis held its "Downtown Davis Plan Team Participatory Design Workshop" for four days. It was lectures by highly paid outside consultants mouthing what the Davis Staff has decided is going to be in the Downtown element of the new Davis General Plan.  State law says ours is out of date now and must be updated. Davis Staff set up a process with as little public input as possible. They only want to legally check off the box "public input."

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  • Sierra Club Endorses Dean Johannsson for Yolo DA

    SierraClubHeader

    To our Sierra Club members and the Yolo County public –

    After an extensive evaluation process by the local Sierra Club Yolano Group, the Sierra Club Mother Lode Chapter Political and Executive Committees, and the Sierra Club Northern California Political Review Committee, the Sierra Club Yolano Group is pleased to officially announce the Sierra Club's official endorsement of Dean Johansson for Yolo County District Attorney.

    We were convinced of our choice based on Mr. Johansson's extensive and demonstrable commitment to environmental and social justice and his unwavering support for rights of victims and defendants in the judicial system. Mr. Johansson's platform embraces a progressive, humane, and evidence-based approach to criminal justice that exactly aligns with the core beliefs of most Sierra Clubbers.

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  • What Measure O (Open Space tax) Should Be

    Open space mapBy Robert Milbrodt

    While on the City Council, Sue Greenwald made a motion for the City to develop an open space and habitat protection plan with a funding mechanism to be submitted for voter approval. Her proposal died for lack of a second, even for the purpose of discussion. Sue asked a group of community activists to carry the torch.

    The Davis Visioning Group took up the task and built a comprehensive science based open space and habitat protection plan that was submitted to the City, Mitch Sears. That plan included a GIS model identifying and prioritizing land for acquisition, and a complete set of tools for maximizing the use of Measure O funds, with management and mapping tools to facilitate public scrutiny and accountability. The premise at the outset was for the community to contribute the funds necessary for property control or ownership and for the City to contribute maintenance and management.

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  • The real costs of Nishi for taxpayers; misleading overstatements on ballot arguments in favor of Nishi

    Matt-Williams-PBEBy Matt Williams

    In the 2015-16 deliberations about the Nishi 2016 proposal, the City’s economic consultant EPS presented to the Finance and Budget Commission (FBC) its initial model of costs and revenues, which showed a $78,000 deficit fiscal impact for the City in the first year of full buildout, which later grew to $106,000 after correction of a math error in the model.  The FBC rightly noted that $106,000 annual deficit would come out of the pockets of Davis taxpayers.

    Figure1

    In the robust discussion that ensued, some of the FBC members argued that the discussion should include a “cash accounting” approach in addition to the “full life-cycle accounting” approach EPS was using in their model.  The explanation was that many of the expenses included in the EPS model had already been “pre-spent” by the City and would not have to be immediately re-spent. FBC member Dan Carson calculated an estimated amount of $734,000 per year (out of an estimated total expense budget of $1,532,000), which was a 48% reduction.

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  • Money to sell Nishi 2.0 to voters, but no money for air quality testing for Nishi residents

    Pileofmoney-croppedBy Gilbert Coville and Roberta Millstein

    Davis residents have now received a second glossy multi-page mailer in support of the Nishi 2.0 project. Most likely, there will be more to come. How do proponents of Nishi spend their money? What are their priorities?

    In local elections in California, campaign finance reports are filed with the local municipality. Here in Davis, these forms are viewable on the eCampaign Public Access system accessed from the City of Davis website’s Financial Disclosures page.

    When trying to influence an election, corporations are required to report any related expenses as independent expenditures.

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  • Meet the Candidates, Pro/Con statements on Ballot Measures, from Davis Media Access

    DavisMediaAccess(Press release) Davis Media Access (DMA) has produced a series of “Meet the Candidates” and Pro/Con statements for local ballot measures for the June 5, 2018 election.

    Currently celebrating its 30th year, DMA is the non-profit community media & technology center supporting local content creation, archiving and distribution via television, radio and the Internet. DMA operates DCTV Public Access Channel 15, DJUSD Educational Access Channel 17, and KDRT-LP, 95.7 FM.

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  • Davis City Councilmember Will Arnold Endorses Dean Johansson for Yolo County District Attorney

    DeanJohansson(Press release)

    Arnold cites Johansson’s experience and progressive justice policies that reflect the values of Davis and Yolo County

    DAVIS — Davis City Councilmember Will Arnold today announced his support for Dean Johansson for Yolo County District Attorney.

    “Dean has the experience and record on public safety that reflect the values of our community. I share his commitment to fairness, equality, and justice, which is needed now from our District Attorney,” said Arnold.

    Dean Johannson has served for more than 20 years as an attorney in our justice system, both as a Deputy District Attorney and currently as a Yolo County Public Defender. He is challenging the incumbent District Attorney Jeff Reisig.

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  • Join me in voting for Dean Johansson – a candidate who represents the values of today

    DeanJohanssonBy Nancy Price

    District Attorneys are public servants. Is there any more powerful “servant” than one who wields the power of life and death?

    What troubles me is that in California, there are no term limits for District Attorneys. That’s right – California District Attorneys can stay in office as long as they want unless they’re voted out. I didn’t know this, and I bet some of you didn’t either. Jeff Reisig has been Yolo DA for 12 years already, and wants to make that 16!

    What concerns me is this: if communities change over time, shouldn’t we also change who is in this most important county office? Shouldn’t we need someone who will come in with a fresh perspective and range of experience to meet the changed and changing needs of our community?

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  • Lukewarm and half-hearted support for Nishi from the Davis City Council

    CityCounci-on-NishiExpensive and glossy mailers from the Nishi developer (paid for by "Davis Gateway Student Housing LLC & Affiliated Entities") have begun arriving at Davis addresses. The back of the mailer touts support from "local leaders we trust." These leaders are said to include the five current members of the Davis City Council.

    But how strong is the support of those Councilmembers? Let's review some excerpts from their comments from the meeting where the Council voted to put Nishi on the ballot on 2/6/2018. The video is located here. Numbers in parentheses refer to the approximate time that the Councilmembers' words appear in the video.

    Edit 4/30/2018 to add an edited version of the full video, containing just the clips where City Council members disparage Nishi 2.0.

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  • Ezra & Larry for City Council: Preserving Measure R, the Citizen’s Right to Vote

    Beeman_family Guenthers-croppedBy Robert Milbrodt

    The single most important issue in this city council election is The Citizens Right to Vote, Measure J/R. This measure was approved by voters in June 2000 as Measure J; and renewed in June 2010 as Measure R with about 77% of the vote. Essentially it requires voter approval for projects that would convert our open space or agricultural land to urban use.

    A 10-year renewal of this measure will automatically appear on the ballot in June 2020. We deserve council members who will support its renewal, and who will incorporate its democratic and community-oriented values into the city’s decision making. We are better served by council members who share these core values. Either the candidates believe in community-based governance, or they don’t.

    Of the nine candidates for city council: one has consistently opposed the Citizen’s Right to Vote, four stated their early opposition to this measure and are now waffling, two are willing to entertain “amendments” without being specific, and two are steadfastly supportive of the measure in principle and in practice. These two supportive candidates are Ezra Beeman and Larry Guenther.

    They have made my decision easy, and I urge you to join me in voting for Ezra Beeman and Larry Guenther for City Council.