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

Category: Uncategorized

  • Proposal to Eliminate R-1 Single Family Zoning is a Terrible Idea

    Housing

    Dear Davis City Council, Planning Commission, and Social Services Commission Members,

    I would like to take a moment to address the idea of removing R-1 single-family zoning that is popular with developer interest groups and YIMBYs at the moment. This radical policy change would allow investors to buy single family houses in any neighborhood in the city and replace them with 4-unit or more multi-unit complexes. A good way to look at this type of proposal is as deregulation and trickle-down housing. The removal of R-1 zoning is often suggested by these pressure groups as a panacea for creating affordable housing and ending homelessness. There is mounting evidence that this is just not true, and I strongly recommend you read this article on the downfalls of trickle-down housing. https://www.housinghumanright.org/trickle-down-housing-is-a-failure-heres-what-you-need-to-know/?fbclid=IwAR2a_TkSVF0Zlb6pSMrZ7n3fL3SfLHAh354XQN3NZZuL6TNs85r5eST5iqc

    In Davis we have a large demand for rental housing. That demand coupled with an abolition of R-1 single-family housing zoning will result in investors converting single family homes to 4 units or more (per lot) of student rental housing that will be leased at top dollar. This is most likely to occur in what are currently the most affordable neighborhoods, like Davis Manor. These are also the most diverse neighborhoods. This will increase the cost of housing in these neighborhoods. This is the opposite of creating the affordable housing that deregulation advocates claim will come as a result of their trickle-down theories. Deregulation will hurt the people who need affordable housing the most.

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  • Unequivocally Bad Solar Panel Placement at Cesar Chavez Elementary .

    This letter was sent to DJUSD on June 8.
     
    Redwood tree
    Dear Matt and Facility planning team,
     
    I just saw the proposal for the placement of solar panels at CCE and it is unequivocally a bad placement.
     
    The panels will cover the existing grass at the edge of the blacktop thereby creating more of a barrier between the grass and the blacktop.   This necessitates the destruction of two massive and iconic redwood trees.    Removing trees in itself is not a problem – if the result is inescapable.  In this case, it is not an inescapable result to place the solar panels in that suggested location.
     
    The video clearly says that the benefits of this placement include  only 2 things.
     
    Benefit 1) providing a solar shade structure.    This is not necessary if there were more trees on the grass AND if those trees were maintained AND if the children were allowed to use the grass and the pathway during school hours.  Did you know that kids at CCE are not allowed to use their own school yard (the grass) during recess?  Did you know that the trees that were planted at the edge of the track are mostly dieing? 
     
    Benefit 2)  Preserving Blacktop.   Preserving blacktop is not a value of the community at large and nor is it a value of the parents of CCE, were you to poll them.  Preserving play space is important, and blacktop is important for certain kinds of play – but preserving it at the expense of creating what effectively amounts to a barrier between the children and the natural space of the field (where they should be allowed to play) is not a long term postive vision.
     
    There are at least 3 other areas where the Solar panels could be placed.
     
    1) On top of the new MPR.  Why are we building a new building that apparently cannot hold solar panels?
     
    2) Shading the portable classrooms on the south side of CCE Campus.  These roofs would benefit from the shade and the industrial structures on campus would not take anymore of the campus footprint.  In fact, one could imagine the solar array shading any number of buildings on the campus in whole or in part.
     
    3) Over the parking area.  Wouldn't the teachers appreciate a solar array over the parking area to keep their cars cool?
     
    I don't claim to speak for anyone but myself on this issue.  However, I do believe I have a good sense of the pulse of the community.   This placement will be met with massive pushback from the community and I strongly recommend reconsideration as soon as possible.
     
    Best regards
    Joseph Biello
    Parent of CCE Student and Neighbor
     
    _____
    the DJUSD video mentioned in the letter can be viewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUn0h5tukbo
     
    CCE Solar
     

  • Commission Process, please

    AmidalaSenate

    Todd Edelman, former member of the BTSSC, undated photo – https://www.starwars.com/databank/galactic-senate

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Dear City Council, City of Davis,

    I've a few concerns, questions and proposals for you in regards to this Thursday's City Council Subcommittee on Commission Process (Special Meeting)…

    Questions and Concerns

    1) Why is there no actual content in the report prepared for the meeting?

    2) How can the public critically comment when we don't even know the actual, detailed content of the meeting until the beginning of the meeting? The immediately subsequent public comment period comes before everything else – not like typical general public comments at the beginning of the meeting – so will there be an opportunity for the public to respond to anything in the way they typically respond to a staff and/or e.g. developer report before Council or Commission discussion?

    3) Is this also intended as a meet & greet for the many Chairs who have never met each other as a way to encourage pro-active or facilitate requested collaboration – not a bad thing!

     
    PalpAmidala

    Former Commissioner Palpatine, opponent of the Brown Act; Edelman. https://www.starwars.com/databank/galactic-senate
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    4) Item 4 includes "… Intent is to allow Commission Chairs to share recommendations, tips, concerns, ask questions of staff or the Council Subcommit-tee, etc" BUT when did the Chair or Vice-Chairs solicit such information from their Commissions?

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  • Noise Ordinance Change Is Bad Idea

    Submitted by David Johnson,

    Because the City of Davis is considering a revised sound ordinance, I thought it would be helpful to hear from Robert Lawson, a sound professional, who recently posted the following informative piece on Nextdoor.com.

    —

    I am a Certified Industrial Hygienist and Certified Safety Professional with over 35 years experience taking sound level measurements and commenting on noise issues as a part of the CEQA process.

    1. It is unusual, and in my opinion a bad idea, to base the City of Davis noise ordinance in large part on sound levels averaged over a 1 hour period (l eq – 60 minutes).

    — Unusual?

     - Color coded noise ordinances from several other communities with University of California campuses (Berkeley, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara) as well as from Sacramento are available at https://nonoise.org/regulation/stateregs.htm .

    Unless I’m mistaken, only San Diego uses l eq – 60 minutes. Although several use a sliding scale for averaged sound levels (30 minutes to 5 minutes, based on sound levels) most of these have specific mention or provisions for impulsive noise (noise of very short duration with a sharp onset), which is the type of noise that has had much discussion lately in town in regards to recreational equipment.

     -The nonoise.org site also includes a summary review of hundreds of ordinances across the country, indicating that 60 minute averaging (l eq 60 mins) is not common in community noise ordinances.

    1. It could be costly and difficult to enforce a noise ordinance largely based on average noise levels over a 60 minute period.

    — Costly/difficult to enforce?

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  • Proposed Noise Ordinance Is Ill Advised

    Sports+Air+Horn_

    Dear Members of the Davis City Council,

    I have looked into the proposed changes to the noise ordinance, and I have investigated what the standards are in other communities. I find both the existing ordinance and the proposed ordinance lacking in the detail to make either enforceable without considerable interpretation. Even more surprisingly though, I found that what the staff reports to be very minor changes to actually be very significant changes thus requiring a more robust process before implementation.

    First, I want to address the new definition of Person in the proposed rewrite of 24.01 General Provision that exempts the city.  They simply remove: "…  including any city, county, district or other public agency." this move to exempt the City from the ordinance is a significant change and creates a dubious double standard. I do not think it is appropriate to exempt the City, but at a minimum that decision needs to be better vetted.

    Next I want to address averages and maximums. Clearly changing the language in 24.02.020 figure 1 from "Maximum Noise Level (dBA)" to "Average Hourly Noise Level (dBA)" is a meaningful change that alters what is covered by the ordinance. Such a significant change should be better vetted by commissions and the community before implementation.

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  • Valley Clean Energy Joins California Community Power

    VCE(From press release) Valley Clean Energy is pleased to announce that it has joined nine other Community Choice Aggregation programs (CCAs) across California in a new Joint Powers Authority (JPA), California Community Power. Membership in this JPA enables CCAs to achieve their ambitious climate and resilience goals in a cost-effective manner by combining their purchasing power.

    The new JPA serves more than 2 million customers in more than 140 municipalities from Humboldt to Santa Barbara. Member CCAs include Valley Clean Energy, Central Coast Community Energy, East Bay Community Energy, MCE, Peninsula Clean Energy, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, San Jose Clean Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, Sonoma Clean Power and CleanPowerSF.

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  • Bob Dunning celebration nears!

    Dunning column logoCommunity members are invited to celebrate Davis Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning’s unprecedented 51-plus-year career by viewing a virtual show Friday, April 9, on YouTube and by participating in a socially distanced vehicle parade on Saturday, April 24.

    The virtual celebration, which runs from 4 to 5 p.m. and can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8JQBnfTOAc, will feature highlights of Dunning’s long and storied career, including his tennis match with Bobby Riggs, his many hosting gigs for nonprofit organizations — highlighted by a visit by legendary comedian Bob Hope to raise money for the expansion of the Davis Senior Center — and his coverage of innumerable community, high school and UC Davis sports events.

    Special appearances by friends, elected officials and community members are planned. The event, which is being presented with the help and support of Davis Media Access, is hosted by retired city of Davis public relations manager Bob Bowen.

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  • Virtual film fest features documentaries by and about women

    LUNAFESTsquareSocial 1(From press release) Soroptimist International of Davis is a local host for LUNAFEST, an all-documentary lineup of seven short films by female filmmakers, which begins streaming on April 23.

    The gender disparity in film is real. Women are still underrepresented in this medium where, in the last 13 years, 4.8% of directors are female. However, change is happening. Research from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reports that 10.6% of the directors of 2019’s top movies were women — the highest in more than a decade.

    For 20 years, The LUNA Bar brand has inspired women, championed change, and demanded that equality is a right. These values fueled LUNA to create LUNAFEST, the first all-female traveling film festival, now in its 20th season, and screening virtually in 2021. This year’s films are:

    • “Overexposed: Filming an Arctic Odyssey” by Holly Morris: A behind-the-scenes look at the film team that captured the daring story of the Women’s Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition.
    • “Knocking Down the Fences” by Meg Shutzer: A.J. Andrews, the first woman to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award, struggles to make it as one of the best professional softball players in the world.
    • “A Line Birds Cannot See” by Amy Bench: Separated from her mother at the border, a 12-year-old sets out on a harrowing journey to the United States to find her.
    • “The Scientists Versus Dartmouth” by Sharon Shattuck: A young neuroscientist and her colleagues make a life-changing decision to speak up for women in science everywhere.
    • “Until She is Free” By Maria Finitzo: Mixed-media artist Sophia Wallace imagines a culturally literate world, where all people are equal and able to live with rich possibility and purpose.
    • “Connection” by Tracy Nguyen-Chung & Ciara Lacy: A lifelong angler, Autumn Harry had never fished beyond the waters of her reservation – until she picked up a fly rod.
    • “Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business” by Christine Turner: There’s no stopping this legendary artist, even at age 93.

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  • Cycling to School – Encouragement isn’t enough

    DJUSDparking

    Student parking lot at Davis High School (Google Maps)

    Today the other Davis blog ran a guest opinion on cycling to school. The comments are useful. My comment follows:

    Walking and cycling should be the primary means of travel to school – and I applaud the earlier comments, especially those that reflect on how the biggest danger to people walking or cycling to school is people driving themselves or being driven by their parents to school.

    The school drop-off is actually not permitted in some cities… students can’t be dropped off at or near school. The discussions and planning for the school commute in relation to Chavez Elementary are dominated by the necessity of the infamous drop-off.

    Then also we have the new, Federally-funded connector from east Olive Dr. to Pole Line (and South Davis). It’s great and its primary purpose is to connect kids on Olive to school in South Davis, BUT the City has allowed the Ryder (Lincoln40) frontage to be re-constructed in such a way that bike lanes are below Davis minimums. They so far refuse to consider moving parked cars from the south side of Olive, which allow re-striping on both sides to City Standards. While the westbound I-80 exit to Olive will be eventually be shut down, in the process towards that – i.e. while the 80-Richards interchange is being re-constructed – the plan is to detour ALL westbound traffic headed into Davis onto Olive, crossing the path of students headed the other way to South Davis (and also alongside university students headed to campus).

    The bus should be a great alternative – especially in DJUSD schools where 20 to 40% of elementary-age students don’t come from areas near them – but unfortunately Unitrans doesn’t really work for students below 4th or 5th grade.  Yet the DJUSD Board has repeatedly refused to consider implementing a return of intra-city school buses… they won’t even consider doing a study. No movement there, even as other schools around the country – including UCD – move towards 100% electric bus fleets.

  • “urgent safety concern….”? & City Soil

    Please write the City of Davis Tree Commission today at <treecommission@cityofdavis.org> in advance of today's early evening meeting, or call during the meeting, and ask them to incorporate elements of my City Soil concept to their draft modifications of Chapter 37 of the municipal code.

    IMG_20210303_174621(1)

    Trinita Terrace & 5th St, entrance to The Cottages at Mace Ranch

    City Soil builds roots to support not only trees, but also clean air, quieter neighborhoods,  jobs and sustainable transportation!

    In Davis, it's not allowed to place leaves or other yard waste in bike lanes. Never. Never Ever. It's a good regulation…. because it's DANGEROUS!

    There's a stretch on 5th St. in Mace Ranch where unknown assailants who live in the neighborhoods east of the police station and west of Alhambra place leaves and/or branches in the bike lane. Per a discussion on NextDoor, at least in The Cottages there's no scheduled yard waste pick-up due to some financial arrangement made when it was established, or  later. It's not clear. Myself and several others have been using the City's notification system to report these transgressions for years… but the only result is that the rest of us pay the City to pick up what these people won't pay for.

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