Category: Uncategorized

By Alan C. Miller

And now, another blog posting from S.S. on the D.V.G.:

https://davisvanguard.org/2026/10/eric-jones-mike-thompson-ca4

And my tear apart:

“I am not fully for one candidate or the other. I see that Mike Thompson’s Establishment-Democrat methods and policies have been failing us for a while now.” — S.S.

You’re not fully for Eric Jones, but you claim Mike Thompson has failed us. Uh huh . . .

“Eric Jones offers a worthy alternative, even as he and his supporters have drawn significant ire . . . ” — S.S.

Can’t imagine why.

“Perhaps the independent, patriotic right can join the independent, patriotic left (and the middle, too) to vote for change” — S.S.

Perhaps those right/left patriotic pigs can fly [see illustration, above].

“While I might have preferred an outspoken progressive in the mold of Abdul El-Sayed . . . ” — S.S.

So, you’d like an Israel hater, by any other name.

“Jones is a populist/progressive, anti-establishment capitalist outsider . . . ” — S.S.

Outsider, of Yolo County, as well . . .

“Blue Dogs are notorious for breaking rank to vote against progressive populists, usually against most everyone’s interest . . . ” — S.S.

Your interest, in other words.

“[Thompson] believes he has been a good steward of an economy and social structure that serves the very wealthy.” — S.S.

And Eric Jones’ campaign is funded by the very wealthy.

“Jones is new, and not a progressive panacea.” — S.S.

What ever happened to those progressive panacea candidates?

“His reliance on market solutions makes his economic views closer to Thompson’s than mine.” — S.S.

The nerve of him relying on market solutions.

“Has [Jones] stuck to his no-PAC, corporate-money, and anti-donor-influence positions? Yes.” — S.S.

No.

“Critics of Jones complain that his rhetoric changes with the audience.” — S.S.

Thank you for trumpeting our point.

“Eric’s position on affordability hasn’t changed; he won’t accept the status quo system where most won’t be able to buy a home until they’re 40, if ever.” — S.S.

And I won’t accept the status quo on pigs not flying.

“[Jones] did not become convinced of the infallibility of foreign countries and their insatiable need to massacre an entire people under the pretext of safety.” — S.S.

Any . . . particular . . . foreign country you are speaking about, SS? Flying pig got your chicken tongue?

“[Jones] is more likely to continue fighting for structural change rather than settling for the decline of business as usual.” — S.S.

I thought the decline of business as usual was what you were looking for, SS

By John Smolenski

         I wrote previously about my disappointing experience at the townhall Eric Jones held in Davis on August 26. I had previously looked at Eric Jones’s website, ericjones.us, before the townhall, simply to get a sense of him and his campaign. This reinforced my impression of Jones. It also caused me to look back at how Jones’s ideas have evolved over time. This made me question Jones as a candidate even more. Jones announced his candidacy for Congress on August 17, 2025. Over the last year, his views have undergone remarkable transformations. He has undergone a significant shift to the right, especially after the June primary. Some major issues he previously championed have disappeared from view. His political values seem like a moving target. I have been left wondering what Jones actually stands for, on key issues.

         This is all drawn from ericjones.us, looking at the website as it now stands and earlier versions that can be found at the Wayback Machine. I have provided links for all screen shots.

         The issues I will explore here are: immigration; taxes; housing and renting; balanced budget amendment and sunsetting programs; and abortion, childcare, and transparency. I know this article is long, so readers can scroll down to find a particular item they might be interested in.

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(Contains Al content, as in “Al”, short for Alan. Short for Alan C. Miller. Content. Well ok, I did use A.I. for the illustration, because I can’t draw that fast, or at all. But the Vanguard uses A.I. illustrations too, so neener neener)

There is something wonderfully Davis #cough,gag# about publishing an opinion piece accusing your neighbors (do you even live in Davis, oh author?) of being too old, too wealthy, too white and too male, while declining to tell those neighbors who you are that is accusing them. The Vanguard’s August 9 op-ed, “The Face of NIMBYism in Davis – Old, Rich, and Mostly Male, White, and Retired” [https://davisvanguard.org/2026/08/measure-v-opposition-demographics/] is credited simply to “Vanguard Administrator.” Who the heck writes an “Op Ed” under the cover of anonymity? And what media outlet permits it? The Davis Vanguard, that’s who!

That deserves a pause from us all. This is an opinion piece about a local housing election. It concerns zoning, development and the political behavior of people who live near a proposed subdivision. We are not dealing with organized crime. Nobody is reporting from inside a cartel. There is no threat to be had from deeply-held international political divides. Deep Throat has not returned to tell us where Davis hid the missing duplexes (pardon the old people reference, young people). Yet the author apparently requires anonymity.

Why?

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This article regards Rich Rifkin’s article today in the Enterprise “Car-free downtown housing will benefit Davis”, at https://www.davisenterprise.com/forum/car-free-downtown-housing-will-benefit-davis/article_a4c63d0c-7531-4ffb-a6bd-0745b9007777.html for those of you who can break through the paywall, possibly by paying.

“Don’t build car parking spaces and they won’t come”. Pure fantasy. I live three blocks from the ACE project. I have no driveway so we have to park in the street. There are several similar properties nearby, mainly on corners. When the Capitol Corridor grew to a certain level and the parking lot reached critical mass, the cars overflowed en masse into our neighborhood. Yes, the project to keep cars off the road overflowed mass quantities of cars into our residential neighborhood.

I spearheaded a parking district that was implemented, but it took two years. We balanced this to allow open parking most of the time, but just enough to deal with Amtrak parking. There were times I couldn’t park within two blocks of my residence, again no driveway.

Now with ACE coming, we may have to redesign the parking district to keep the neighborhood from filling up at night. Simply declaring no parking does not mean people without cars will move in. As you know there is a huge business in Davis of people who rent out driveways and other spaces to students and others who can’t park. Also, these hundreds of residents will have visitors some of whom will drive. They will park in our neighborhoods.

The parking-free projects will reach a critical mass just like the Amtrak station did, and suddenly the parking districts as-designed won’t work anymore as these (dream on) ‘car free’ residents and their visitors park in our neighborhoods. Those most impacted, by far, will be those closest to project with insufficient parking-district protections. Old East and Huntwood neighborhoods between 5th and 8th will be adjacent to hundreds of carless (not really) residents who will park their non-existent cars and those of their visitors in an area with, currently at least, no parking district.

Also, all those alternative methods of transportation you (Rifkin) tout are wreaking havoc on Davis. Scooters, electric bikes and motorcycles are riding fast and in new patterns that involve riding on roads, bike paths, bike lanes and sidewalks in any direction. Discussing Davis with people, this is among the top concerns in Davis, and no one seems to have even an idea of a solution, and there is near-zero enforcement by UCD or City police.

Also, there are serious parking safety issues downtown already from Uber and Door Dash drivers who simply pull into the bike lane, turn on their hazard lights, swing their door open often without looking for bikes going around them that they just blocked, and taking up that space for as long as they want. Again, near-zero enforcement. Again, major issue for Davis and no solutions, and also a parking issue downtown.

People such as yourself (Rifkin) propose zero-parking projects as if having no parking means the people will have no cars and no visitors. Yes, on average fewer cars per resident, still more cars downtown and in central neighborhoods, and when this reaches critical mass, our neighborhoods will suddenly be impacted. I know how this happens, suddenly. I’ve been through it.

You won’t find a person who believes in and wants improved public and alternative transit than myself, and I’ve fought for this both as a private citizen my entire life and taken this as a career path. But the solution is building the infrastructure first, and maintaining it! Not fantasy ‘zero parking means zero cars’ projects.

With the state of many Davis roads in deterioration to the point bicycling can be hazardous, Thompson’s praise of Davis as a bicycle Mecca is borderline deranged. Politicians should stop praising themselves for a City that no longer should be proud of itself for being an innovator on bicycling, and instead go into emergency mode to prioritize fixing its streets and bike paths, and also come up with solutions on how to handle infrastructure and enforcement to make these new, heavy, fast ‘last mile’ modes part of the solution instead of new hazards.

The following article is compiled from Davis Vanguard comments by Ron Glick regarding the special City Council meeting held on Tuesday, April 28. Ron Glick did not wish to author a formal article, but granted me permission to compile his comments into this essay.

Last night was awesome. The Jewish and Muslim communities of Davis met in the Town Hall and for almost three hours [and] respectfully listened to each other speak. Each person was allowed to speak for two minutes and everyone adhered to the time limit. Getting all these people together within one room and everyone being respectful and listening was an achievement in and of itself.

It has been a long two and a half years. There has been much pain, suffering and strife. Many people . . . in this town have been touched by that suffering and when the war will end is still anybody’s guess. So getting the people of this community together, with their disparate opinions, each having a voice, and listen to each other, can hopefully be a step forward towards healing.

While many words have been spilled about the MAPA report . . . another important study was conducted . . . It showed that people connected to events half way around the world can be traumatized by those events. It is clear many in Davis have been traumatized by this ongoing horrific war. Last night was an opportunity to share that pain and hopefully it was cathartic for some people. But even if it wasn’t it provided a space for a divided community to sit together and share their humanity.

The Mayor did an outstanding job of running the meeting and the staff should also be commended for respectfully setting the tone. All in all, Davis should be proud of being a place where a meeting like the one that took place last night could happen.

So much for the positive. I have a concern about one aspect of what was passed. I worry that political opinion will find its way into the training program . . . Time will tell, but as always, the devil will be in the details.

One moment from last night needs to be noticed . . . because it was off camera. After hours of testimony it was finally time for the council members to speak. . . . [Mayor Neville] spoke for a long time and remained respectful throughout as did most of her colleagues. Next came Council member Vaitla. He began by addressing what he thought the CC should do and that was fine. Then after some time he veered off and started lecturing the community about genocide. About 20 people who had patiently and respectfully sat through over three hours of the meeting all got up together and walked out.

What compelled Vaitla to go there at that moment I have no idea . . . On the other hand I think I have a good understanding of why so many walked out. The Jewish community of Davis doesn’t need to be lectured about genocide. We have plenty of experience with genocide. In fact . . . he was addressing people, some of whose families survived the Shoah . . . Vaitla has a knack for pissing people off and lecturing community members from the dais. I don’t know why he somehow consistently screws up. Last night was another example of him sadly and badly misreading the room.

[Addressing another commenter] Interesting that you would lump Jews and blacks together . . . because those are the two groups who experience the most acts of racial and religious violence in America according to Department of Justice statistics. While you may not see such bigotry and therefore don’t think it’s a problem that doesn’t mean its not a real problem.

[Addressing that same commenter] Huh? What are you talking about? The people who walked out . . . have not committed any acts of genocide. They are upstanding law abiding members of this community who are well aware of what is going on in the world and share a desire for the killing to stop. They do not need to be lectured . . . about international law. He was not saying anything they haven’t already heard and they certainly were not obligated to stay while being lectured from the dais. The people who left had politely followed the rules and respectfully sat there for almost four hours until Vaitla started lecturing them.

What amazes me is that Vaitla has a way of insulting community members from the Dais. This is not the first time I have watched him act up there in such a way that totally turned people off. While everyone else on the City Council was trying to walk the line of trying to bring the community together Vaitla decided to lecture the community about the meaning of horrific acts committed in warfare that the people he was lecturing have no control over whatsoever. Its truly bewildering to me why he thinks its appropriate to act the way he does in meetings. I think he misunderstands the job of being on the CC.

[That same commenter says, in the quotes] “He’s an activist,…”

[Ron Glick responds] Oh I thought he was a city council member.

[Addressing that same commenter] So the people who left are bullies? They didn’t say anything, they simply left. How does that make them bullies? No the bullying repeatedly is Vaitla who seems to not understand that attacking people from the dais is not a productive strategy.

[Addressing that same commenter] Well we finally agree on a point. The city should focus on potholes instead of international politics. But its not the Jews of this community who produced the MAPA report. Its not the Jews of this community who wanted the CC to take this up. Yet after behaving appropriately, according to the rules, and acting with the appropriate decorum, they got lectured . . .

What you probably don’t know is that the Mapa (sic) report made many recommendations to the CC. Many of these recommendations were outrageous, inflammatory and inaccurate. So much so that the CC wouldn’t even take up the report itself. Of the 11 original recommendations the CC adopted only three.