Davisite logo
Davisite Banner. Left side the bicycle obelisk at 3rd and University. Right side the trellis at the entrance to the Arboretum.

Category: Trustworthiness

  • Clarifying the Realities of Downpayment Assistance in Davis

    By Barbara Clutter

    In their August 11 piece in The Davisite, Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser rely on a preliminary report from the City’s Fiscal Commission subcommittee on Downpayment Assistance to argue that Davis should align with existing state programs, such as CalHFA (CA Housing Finance Agency), which assisted 30,000 California homebuyers in 2025. Carson/Musser point out that only two of those recipients were from Davis, implying a missed opportunity for our city. However, what they do not acknowledge is the underlying reason so few Davis residents qualify for CalHFA is the high cost of housing. Families working under CalHFA's income limits generally find that qualifying housing is virtually nonexistent in Davis, making the program largely inaccessible in Davis.

    Musser and Carson also highlight SB 417, a proposed $10 billion statewide housing bond measure which would primarily fund rehabilitation of infrastructure and existing housing. While it earmarks $1 billion for downpayment assistance, no community is guaranteed any of these prospective funds, even if the bond measure is passed in 2026.

    (more…)

  • Fiscal Commissioners Propose the State Pay for New Housing Program Instead of Davis Taxpayers

    By Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser

    We were disappointed when the Davis City Council adopted an ordinance last January authorizing a new city-funded downpayment assistance program for lower-income Davis homebuyers. It put on the books a potentially expensive new program city taxpayers can ill afford. It did so with a blank-check ordinance lacking normal programmatic limits, like how much money would be given to a potential homebuyer. 

    At the time, advocates of the new downpayment assistance program lobbied for an annual allocation of new General Fund monies of $1 million or more from Measure Q.  Measure Q was an increase in the city sales tax approved by city voters last November. 

    That didn’t happen once the full impacts of out-of-control spending by the City Council became clear. Excessive pay hikes and bonuses for city staff, including another round of new contracts rushed through in May, have gotten the City of Davis into very serious financial trouble. A new fiscal forecast shows that within the next couple of years the city will have zero financial reserves, with spending exceeding General Fund revenues by millions annually. 

    Essentially, all that new money from Measure Q has gone up in a puff of smoke. This, despite campaign promises by the Council of new housing programs and fixes to our city infrastructure. Promises that were made in public statements and official ballot arguments the Council signed and that were sent to every registered city voter.

    (more…)

  • The General Plan won’t be a Genial Plan

     

    Screenshot 2025-07-30 8.22.55 PM"The goal is to manipulate

    Heavy hands to intimidate

    Snuff out the very idea of clarity

    Strangle your longing for truth and trust

    Choke wisdom sapience and prudence

    The war economy is inviolable violently

    Suppresses all intelligence that conflicts

    With the stakes of those who drive it."  - 

    From "Melodie is a Wound" by: Laetitia Sadier, Tim John Gane. Performed by Stereolab. Album: Instant Holograms On Metal Film. Released: 2025.  https://youtu.be/Nndpg90P2O8?

  • City of Davis Fails to Meet Model County Standards for Budget Management

    By Elaine Roberts Musser

    The County Board of Supervisors has set for itself a series of excellent budgeting principles they are following in a very responsible way.  Below in italics are the ones most applicable to the City of Davis budget.  What follows are comments under each sensible standard briefly explaining how our City Council is faring.

    “The budget should be structurally balanced…” With the adoption of the new two year budget cycle, the City’s General Fund expenditures will have exceeded revenues for 5 years in a row, which is just not fiscally sustainable.

    “Ongoing expenditures should not be funded by one-time or non-recurring revenue sources.” American Rescue Plan funds were used to create new programs, with no discernible plan on how to continue funding them once the money dried up, other than new taxes.  Citizens don’t have money trees growing in their collective backyards to fund continual demands for new taxes every time the City runs out of money.

    “Reserves… shall be funded at levels consistent with best practices…” The General Fund reserve is about 11%, $4 million dollars short of the city’s target of 15%. So what happens if there is another fiscal emergency?

    (more…)

  • Fireworks Disaster in Yolo County? Cancel All 4th of July Fireworks in Yolo County!

    1000013809
    Late Tuesday evening (yesterday, July 1st) the following – minus the images – was sent to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, the Davis City Council, Davis Fire, UCD Fir, Davis PD, Yolo County Sherriff, local and regional media, relevant Commissions and advisors, and individuals active in climate and climate equity… – TE

    "Hi, I don't want to take more of your time than necessary due to the ongoing situation.
     
    People and property have been harmed. People have evacuated. First responders are taking risks – YSAQMD said that firework smoke is worse than wildfire smoke. First responders are and will be exhausted. 
     
    Do you think people who evacuated through toxic fireworks smoke will enjoy a show of toxic fireworks smoke?
     
    We already know the problems with fireworks shows: Danger to wild animals and pets, danger to people with PTSD. Pollution for everyone: The special colors in fireworks are not made of vegetable dye. 
     
    Screenshot 2025-07-02 8.51.34 AM
     
    We have an alternative going forward: Drone shows – such as at Celebrate Davis this year – or how about the money is used for true patriotism: I notice that Esparto has a single public Purple Air Monitor. (Compare this to Davis). What's the state of air equity in households there? Perhaps the money used to pollute can instead be used to clean the air of wildfire fallout and prescribed burns in households there.

    For now I call on all elected officials in Yolo County to immediately establish a complete ban of 4th of July fireworks shows in the County… and to not postpone them either! 

     
    Thank you,
    Todd Edelman,
    Davis

  • Things are Ducky in Davis

    By Alan "Lorax" Hirsch

    Congrats are in order as Dillan Horton ends his long tenure as Chair of the Police Accountability Commission and helping navigate the complete rethinking of policing in Davis. This change is best exemplified by this picture off social media from F Street between North Davis Pond & Cannery hi rises.

    Police cartoon make way for ducklings

    Capitalizing on Dillan's success, have heard a rumor Council is now thinking of combining Police Accountability Commission with Open Spaces and Habitation Commission …and also possibly the Street Safety/Transportation Commission. Similar to an earlier proposal in January 2024 to combine the city's Human Relations Commission (after its great successes!) with the Public Arts Commission.

    Thinks are so Ducky in Davis.

     

    From book: "Make Way for Ducklings"

  • 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.

    (more…)

  • 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.

    (more…)

  • 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.

  • 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.

    (more…)