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Category: Trustworthiness

  • Supporting Sensible Security at the Davis Food Co-op (Counter Petition – sign it!)

    COOP CopRoberta Millstein is correct that the COOP should have timely sent an email, perhaps with the text from the sign out in front of the store (see below). 

    However, the text with the petition calling to remove the guards drifts into anti-cop and demilitarization rhetoric that is far-far-left even for the average COOP shopper.  The statement "Security personnel in military-style equipment . . . creates the perception of shopping as a criminal act and makes the store feel like a space under occupation." is extreme. 

    Below is link to a counter-petition, thanking COOP management for their leadership on this matter.  Importantly, this petition refers to the guard as a guard (not a militarized occupation), this petition makes no list of demands, and this petition makes no threat of a boycott.  Choose the petition that fits your thoughts/opinion and sign one of them.  The link to the text and to sign the petition are here:

    https://chng.it/jMmWXHDtdh

    ENHANCED SECURITY MEASURES
    AT THE DAVIS FOOD CO-OP

    As many of you have noticed, the retail environment has changed significantly in the past year. Several staff members have expressed concern about safety and the increase in theft incidents in the store. Management has stepped up to become mitigators and although we are grateful for their leadership, it is not sustainable and our priority is safety. Many Members have also expressed their concerns about the changing environment. The overall sentiment is that the Co-op is losing its welcoming and safe atmosphere.

    We have done our best to mitigate the increased activity, however, it is becoming a bigger task than we have capacity and at times, training for.
    Therefore, after careful consideration, a third-party security company will be engaged to enhance the safety and security of staff, customers, and assets.

    This change may feel different to some members who may not be aware of the situations that have been discreetly addressed. However, this partnership will help create a more secure environment for everyone.

    The selected company is highly recommended by Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op. Additionally, the owner is a member of SNFC and is committed to incorporating the Davis Food Co-op's policies and values into how their team will engage with the community and handle situations involving theft or disturbances.

    This measure is essential to ensure that the Co-op remains a safe and welcoming space for all members, staff, and shoppers. We appreciate your understanding and support as this important change is implemented.

    Cooperatively,
    Laura Sanchez, General Manager

  • Petition to end the security guards at the Davis Food Co-op

    By Roberta Millstein

    The Davis Food Co-op now has security guards. 

    How those security guards are dressed and armed and why they are there is the subject of some dispute — anyone interested in the variety of opinions on this subject can read the hundreds of comments I accidentally generated when I shared a picture of some sidewalk chalk concerning the guards (the first I had heard of it) on NextDoor.  There you can also read a variety of opinions about whether the guards are a good idea or not, count the number of reactions, etc.  Let's just say it was a classic NextDoor post.  Trying to look at the positives, it at least provided a platform for people to share their opinions and impressions.

    But that is not the point of this post.  The point of this post is to share a petition about the security guards, located here: https://www.change.org/p/end-the-militarized-security-presence-at-our-davis-food-co-op.  I have no involvement in creation of the petition, but whoever wrote it did a beautiful job.  It is well-written and thoughtful.

    I have signed, and I urge others to sign as well. Importantly, the petition not only calls for eliminating the security guards (and explains why) but also calls for the Management and Board of Directors of the Co-op to work creatively with the community — as member-owners of the Co-op — to find alternatives to deal with the recent challenges that the Co-op has had. 

    It is, after all, supposed to be a Co-op and not a just another business, just another grocery store.

    One thing that quickly became clear is how badly the Co-op bungled this.  At a minimum, it should have used its email newsletter to let people know about the problems and how they were thinking of handling them.  That would have saved a lot of fear, anger, and frustration on all sides. In fact, they still haven't sent out an email like this, instead putting up a sandwich board in front of the entrance with a relatively brief explanation.

    Davis Food Co-op, let's work together.  Community, let's urge them to do so.  Again, the petition is here.

  • Tree Budget Cuts have made Parks, Bikeways Streets and Front yards less safe

    Failed Roots City Council Chamber Pear (1)By Alan ‘Lorax” Hirsch

    Tuesday item 7 before council is the first public discussion about the up-to-now hidden part of city structural deficit; the underfunding of tree pruning/sustainability program. This underfunding has not only made our parks, bikeways and streets less safe, but also added to our structural deficit by ballooning city’s insurance premiums. This is on top of our city’s financial deficit issues that Elaine Roberts Musser and Dan Carlson have written about so elegantly on this blog and elsewhere.

    +++

    What if your long time HMO revealed they had- without your knowledge – reduced the dose of your heart medication by 50% to cut costs- and done this secretly for over 12 years.

    That is what the city’s memo on Trees for Tuesday 8/19 council packet revealed; they state instead of a 7-year safety pruning cycle for front yard street and park tree they had in fact a longer a 12–14-year cycle.

    This is consistent with fact a woman died in Slide Hill Park in 2021 by a tree the city had neglected to inspect and prune. The city staff knew this funding shortfall for years (the previous Arbor would tell anyone) but this fact only seems to have been admitted to the public by staff and council now the previous city manager has moved on.

    But this mis where we are now: think of the embarrassment if HMO disclose an increased cost of malpractice insurance now exceed the saving from those medicine dosage cuts?  In city’s case, its liability insurance increase– due to the $24 million dollar Slide Hill Park tree death settlement.

    But this is part of a larger picture about the strategic mismanagement of the city tree program, as I will describe below.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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?

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

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    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.

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