Category: Uncategorized

by Alan C. Miller — Illustrations by Art E. Fishalint-Elligence

Council Meeting (Dec. 16) link, (item starts at 38:00):

https://davis.granicus.com/player/clip/1902

I don’t care about housing and I don’t care whether Village Farms is built or not. Because I am a bad person. In your eyes.

What I do care about is transportation. And if more of you understood and cared about transportation, housing would not be the issue that it is and always will be. And you would be good people. In my eyes.

But what I really crave is a live soap opera unfolding before my eyes in City Chambers. A train wreck, if you will, to extend the transportation topic completely off the rails 🤦. And last Tuesday night in Council Chambers was the greatest episode in the long TV series “Davis City Council Meeting”, which is usually as exciting as the proverbial drying paint. Yes, this one may be runner up to 2010’s Greenwald vs. Asmundson for sheer dray-ma, but without a white-knighted local blogger galloping in to the lobby to ‘break it up’.

During Council discussions on Village Farms, three members of the development team came to the dais to ‘answer questions’. This progressively broke down into heated exchanges between the mayor and the development team. The core issue seemed to be whether ‘affordable’ housing units would be included in the baseline (Bapu’s alternative motion) for the developer to build, with a trigger, in order to ‘guarantee’ those be built, or whether to go with the new staff recommendation of the developer’s offer of more land and infrastructure. (If I got any of that wrong, people who care please clarify in comments)

I’ll highlight two statements, not because they are the best quotes to help readers understand the issue, but because they were the most dramatic and entertaining, the point of this article. The first is from Bapu in a back and forth with Doug Buzbee of the development team. This starts in the minute after 3:00:00 on the video:

“I’ll fight you every step of the way. Because that city code, what that city code says is build the units or . . . hold on, hold on, I’m gonna finish here . . . it says build the units. Or it says, give us in lieu fees and we set the in lieu fees — and by the way the level that we set the in lieu fees if they were multiplied by 280 they’re gonna come out to about $60 million which is the financing gap that we have. Or it says in language, and I pulled it up so I can read it, it says: “accommodate the land dedication requirement for the project in its entirety. The land dedicated would be of sufficient size to make the development of the required affordable units economically feasible”.

Now, do you think that City Council intended to provide an option that said either build the units, provide enough money in in-lieu fees or give us about 5% of the project value in land. Do you think that’s what City Council intended? Because I don’t. And if you want to come back with that offer, if that’s your interpretation, then I’ll fight you every step of the way.”

The second, rather jaw-dropping statement is from Sandy Whitcombe of the development team and can be found at 3:13:00 (and is the basis for the top-most political cartoon):

“I want to be clear that 16 acres of land is worth tens of millions of dollars once we’ve put all of the infrastructure in. That’s incredibly costly. This extra four acres and the six million is maybe a $30 million contribution. Just want that to be very clear.

Nobody has ever in this town done anything close. Nothing even close! And nobody will. You’ll see that very soon. Nobody will. We are talking so for over what anyone has done. And so, it is incredibly disappointing to have ‘people’ come back and ask for more more more !

Bapu! We talked. I wanted to make you happy. I had something that we discussed, and you know what it is, and that’s our line in the sand. We are not willing to go into the baseline features because we are already donating so much to get these 360 units done, that we are not willing to confuse voters and say: ‘oh, we’re going to do a hundred’. That makes no sense, and we are not willing to kill our election because of your fancy.

Basically we are willing to work in the development agreement and put in a provision that I worked on. There cannot be timing: ‘Oh in ten years if we don’t have it done we have to build it’. You’ll have another family of homeless people and that will be me — if you do that — my family. We have no ability to come up with $50 million dollars. I’m sorry.

So you can’t put timing in. You’ll have to — we, I told you what we would do, and that is our line in the sand. We’ve already said we will accept your dissent. And we will. We will accept your dissent. If we can get three of you, that’s fine. If we can’t, that’s fine.

You have to understand, this is an incredibly generous offer to the city. And I don’t think many other developers are going to come back with something like this. I really don’t. So that’s it. If you want to do the motion to include a conversation about the development agreement, we’re all in.”

Bapu’s alternate motion then failed 1-4, and the motion to pass the staff proposal then pased 4-1, with Bapu the “1” in both. I talked to two people I respect after the meeting — one said Bapu was ‘right’, one said the development team were ‘right’. So . . .

For context and to make up your own mind, set aside a few hours and watch the whole dang thang. It’s better than a terrible movie!

***Note: Pardon that the A.I. chose a white-male-appearing person with a suit and tie as mayor in the illustrations. I simply described the situation and used the first illustration it gave me. I did not try to describe character features, lest that get me in more trouble . . . . or lest we end up with an A.I. Bapu like what the Vanguard came up with several weeks ago 😳.

What does it mean for Davis? Let’s discuss in comments . . .

*** BE THERE !!!  7:25pm at Council Chambers – TONIGHT!  ***

There was Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.  Now locally we have:

“Droppington, the Bureaucratic Pooping Pidgeon”

Davis City Council:  “We love the Davis Manor Neighborhood, for us to poop on!“

The City Council will be voting Tuesday night on the staff recommendation to keep the Respite Center at it’s current location.   

I don’t know that there is anything civil left to say.  The Dave-Us City Council has pooped on our three neighborhoods adjacent to the Respite Center, over and over:

• Initially, in 2019, the Respite Center was “supposed” to be at 3559 Second Street. This is near where the pedestrian bridge over the railroad and freeway crosses 2nd Street.  A large contingent of persons from both sides of the pedestrian bridge, persons from District 4 and District 5, descended on the Council Chambers to protest the siting, claiming among other things that their children would be threatened.  Note there are no houses adjacent or even near the proposed 2nd Street location.
• The Council then voted at the same meeting to move the Respite Center site to L Street, despite this being on the agenda as only an alternative site, so those in the adjacent neighborhoods were not there to address the L Street location since there was no indication it would be adopted.
• Note this site had both immediately adjacent residential houses as well as two nearby liquor outlets.
• The Council listened to those who came from the rich Davis suburbs to the east where the homes on average are about $100k higher in price than those in Davis Manor!  But Davis Manor was unable to respond with concerns until after the decision was made.
• The Davis City Council gave in to the pleadings of these rich suburbites and showed how much they cared about the welfare of their children; at the same time, the City Council showed that they don’t care about the concerns of the people of Davis Manor, nor have any concern about the children of Davis Manor.  
• In moving the Respite Center siting over these concerns, the Council low key admitted there was reason to be concerned about the persons that would be using the Respite Center, yet showed a complete bias towards addressing the concerns only for the rich East Davis and South Davis suburbites.
• This is a VIOLATION of the concept of Social Justice, where cities do not place the burden of infrastructure upon those with less money.  Davis Manor has among the highest concentrations of Hispanic persons in Davis, and has some of the most affordable housing stock for first-time buyers.  Placing the Respite Center in Davis Manor next to homes, rather than in a distant lot in District 4 shows that the Davis City Council TALKS about Social Justice, but is in fact exceptionally biased and overly-influenced by those with money, just like any other town.
• The District 3 Council Member at the time told me personally that a Night Respite Center would be opened soon so that those using the Respite Center during the day would have a place to go at night, to alleviate our concerns about those using the Respite Center taking up residence in and around the neighborhood at night.  Except for a short-lived, doomed-to-fail, experiment requiring a 20 minute drive each-way to a migrant center in south Yolo, no such night-center materialized.
• Since the establishment of the “rotating”, “pilot” Respite Center across from the liquor outlets on L Street, residents of Davis Manor, Huntwood Manor, and Old East Davis have experienced numerous issues and with so-called ‘homeless’ persons, far too many to elaborate on here.  Maybe I’ll take testimonies for another post someday to document all these.  While not all are caused by the Respite Center, there is no doubt the concentration of persons using the Center and coming to and through our neighborhoods has placed an undue burden upon us.  Meanwhile, those with more wealth and apparently therefore more influence from Districts 4 and 5 who complained about the proposed 2nd Street location back in 2019 continue on with their rich suburban lifestyles, blessedly UN-burdened.
• The City has never explained why the safety of the children of Districts 4 and 5 are more important than the safety of the children of District 3.
• On March 2, 2025, over 100 residents of nearby neighborhoods attended a meeting with the City about the Respite Center at Da Vinci campus.  Many incidents were vented.  City reps feigned giving a damn.  The universal message to the City from nearby residents was: ‘We have done our share, the Respite Center must be moved’.
• In September 2025 the City Council held a meeting in which a 90-day closure and moving options were considered.  This looked promising at first, until some homeless advocates spoke up about how the Respite Center ‘services’ could not possibly have a moment of interruption, despite evidence some of the services supposed offered were non-operational.  One of the homeless advocates even testified that the neighbor’s concerns about the homeless were not even real, and were just unjustified ‘fear‘.
• Tonight, scheduled for 7:25pm at Council Chambers, the City Council will consider the staff recommendation to keep the Respite Center where it is.

— Will you come by and testify?  —

Or shall Davis Manor, Huntwood Manor, Old East Davis, and District 3 in general — remain as the geographic center for the Davis City Council to POOP ON ?

BE THERE !!!  7:25pm at Council Chambers – TONIGHT!  BE THERE !!!

From “What Do You Do”, the City of Davis Bubble Gum Channel

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The Transportation Commission is discussing the General Plan at their meeting starting late this afternoon.

I am hoping that they, Staff and any Councilmember present focus on efficiency, joy, safety and sustainability rather than performative actions, feigned accountability, feigned powerlessness, being good soldiers and lying…

Arbor Day tree planting event in 2022. Davis became a Tree City USA in 1977 and was one of the first in the state to receive this distinction.

Don’t prune the tree care budget, let the voters decide!

By Greg McPherson

Davis’ urban forest is a “living umbrella.” The benefits of a healthy and growing tree canopy include providing clean air, shading streets, pedestrians, and buildings, reducing stormwater runoff, increasing property values, calming traffic, reducing noise, and contributing to reduced crime rates.

Davis has a robust urban forest thanks to an enthusiastic community, dedicated non-profits like Tree Davis and Cool Davis, expertise from UC Davis, and the amount of attention and value the city has put towards their urban forestry program. However, the city has faced challenges associated with inadequate funding for the program. For example, the lack of scheduled park tree maintenance was associated with a jury finding the city fully liable for $24.2 million in damages due to a 2021 death from a falling limb in Slide Hill Park. To address tree liability issues the city has added about 50% of the funding requested ($500,000) to inspect and prune trees on a 3-year cycle in high occupancy zones like downtown and parks.

Many of our larger trees are failing due to old age, drought stress from loss of turf irrigation, and new pests and diseases. The city removes about 200 trees per year. Many trees are removed illegally or “hat-racked” because the city is short on funds to enforce our own ordinance to protect trees. See the ironically named Oak Tree Plaza on Covell for a recent example.

The City’s 2023 Urban Forest Management Plan recommends a baseline of no net tree canopy loss, but resources to track this information are lacking. Also, the Plan notes that about 6,000 of the 30,000 inventoried trees are within the street tree easement but not maintained by the city. This lack of clarity is costly to the city because frequent “ownership checks” require staff to review index cards dating back to the 1970s or developer agreements to determine who owns a tree, and sometimes the results are inconclusive. This situation is unfair and confusing for the city and residents.

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"we are going to have troops everywhere." – DJT

by Colin Walsh

The last time National Guard members were deployed over the objection of a Governor was 1965 when Lyndon Johnson invoked the Insurrection Act to protect Civil Rights marchers in Alabama. This came after a deputized mob of segregationists attacked and beat marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. These marchers were demanding that black Alabamans be allowed to vote.

Make no mistake, Trump's deployment of National Guard soldiers and Marines is in fact directly related. Today the Federal government is acting to intimidate and exclude minorities from the US. This deployment is racially motivated. The brutal force of the federal government is now working for oppression of minorities.

Yesterday Trump vowed that "we are going to have troops everywhere." What is happening in LA right now is coming to all major cities in the US if the Trump administration get's their way. This is not Trump alone – this is right out of the project 2025 plan and is being pushed by the authors, enablers and orchestrators of the new MAGA policies. Trump is only the figure head. We must work together to oppose all of them.

Keep in mind – the republicans can not win at the midterm elections without extreme actions. Republicans are now unpopular in most of the country. The push of the administration is wildly unpopular. the "big beautiful bill is facing fierce public opposition. DOGE is being shown to BE the fraud and a massive grift of national data. not even Marjorie Taylor green wants the Palantir surveillance state. This is not what people voted for and the Republicans are going to loose seats.

Some will think this a leap, but consider how well planned project 2025s implementation was and how quickly many of the goals have been achieved. What we are seeing in LA is one of the first steps to disrupting the next election and cementing the implementation of an authoritarian state.

We must organize and do everything to stop this hostile take over of the US.

Photo of John Lewis being beaten by a deputized mob at the Edmund Pettus bridge. Peaceful protester being beaten by mercenaries hired as ICE agents in LA. what has changed is whose side the federal government is on. in 1965 they protected demonstrators working for voting rights. Today they are being deployed against protesters' working for human rights. Whose side will you be on?

Ring, Ring! The planet’s calling, and we must pick up. Inspired by the saying “Earth to (insert name),” Earth to the People is a wake-up call, a reminder that action must be taken now, not later. Our staff chose this theme to emphasize that the time for passive awareness has passed. Climate change, ecological destruction, genocide, and the onoging seizure and destruction of indigenous lands by settler-colonial powers are not distant problems; they are happening now, bringing harm to the Earth and its inhabitants. We are being called not just to care, but to act – to mobilize our communities, challenge systems of harm, and create tangible change towards a more just, equitable, and peaceful world. Our theme’s accompanying artwork brings this urgency to life, urging all people to wake up and step up for the world we love. Let’s answer the call together – with passion and with action.

For the full program with lots of cool WEF history, values and stories, use this link: 

Click to access WEF%2025%20Program%20copy.pdf

Here is the entertainment & activities schedule for each day:

Here's the ed booths for this year:

By Alan “Lorax” Hirsch

As announced via an article in the Enterprise, the free speech area will be at least partially returned to previous location and operating rules/customs. There will be a celebration of this free speech victory Saturday, at 8 am under the big tree in the community area. Sparking juice, American flag and copies of the US Constitution will be provided. As well as a bit of speechifying noting the power of community, and how we can’t take our rights for granted.

Do read the enterprise piece, (link), but note the reporter did not fact check statement by “officials” with source on the other side of this controversy, The result is the Enterprise piece misconstrued what was going on. The Market manager Randii MacNear says the community group use has grown  so it overcrowded with 17-20 community groups, but as the attached photo shows, on 6/2/2018 (typical for that period), the community space accommodated 39 groups. What has happened subsequently to Covid  is that the market manager has allowed food trucks to invade the original space—and the city thoughtlessly added three bike racks taking up other of the precious space.  You can see why this would not be acknowledged by those involved.

Signup sheet of free speech community group area showing 39 groups can be accommodated in current area.

Picture of the three bike racks the city has added to this reduce the table space in the community area. There are many other places for bike racks.

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Amelia Need entertains the crowd at the 2024 Davis Pride Festival. This year’s event is June 7. (Wendy Weitzel/Courtesy photo)

(From press release) The Davis Phoenix Coalition plans a month full of events to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride, beginning with its 11th annual festival on June 7. Activities also include a fun run, skate and comedy nights, and plenty of drag queens.

The activities share the theme “Forever Loud and Proud!”

The 11th annual Davis PrideFest is at Civic Center Park, at Sixth and B streets. The community-focused, family-friendly event includes a music festival, resources, vendors, food, drinks and more – from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 7. Organizers have a great lineup of performers scheduled. Watch for an announcement of the headliner in early May. Returning entertainment includes the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus, the marching band Noise Violation, and the always popular Drag Revue. There will be activity zones for children, teens and seniors. The event is free but donations are welcome. The event’s title sponsors are Dignity Health and Woodland Clinic Medical Group.

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