Category: Uncategorized

By Carey Ann Hunt

            “I don’t think my future girlfriend would appreciate the fact that I drive 90 mph every chance I get. So, considering that, I try to slow down to 65 every time I notice how fast I’m going.” He is a tall slender young man, wearing a black San Francisco tee-shirt, and fine rimmed glasses. He chatted to his friend, a young woman with a grown out bob pulled back into two pony tails. They sat across from each other in a booth, on the Chiles’ side of the restaurant. Piano music played in the background. It was a slow Tuesday evening at Cindy’s.

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By Rachel Rycerz

Aimee Rose Santone will be playing Mimi in Davis Musical Theatre Company’s production of Jontathan Larson’s rock musical RENT, running June 14 through July 7. This will be her third featured role at DMTC; she debuted with the role of Esmeralda in Hunchback of Notre Dame in January, and just finished playing Gladys in Pajama Game. Ms. Santone took a few moments before rehearsal to duck into the hall outside the theater (located at 607 Pena Drive in Davis) and talk about her latest role.

Mimi is the youngest principal role in RENT. Though the character is only 19, Mimi has already had it pretty rough in her life, has a drug addiction, and is living with AIDS. Aimee shared “Despite having a hard life, she brings a positive attitude.  She lives each day in the moment, like it is her last.”

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I just took the Davis Amtrak station transit survey and I have some questions of my own.

By Colin Walsh

The City spent $250,000 on a User Survey about the Davis Amtrak station. The funding came from a state of California grant and not the City of Davis, but that is still a pretty good chunk of CA taxpayer change.

I am a frequent train commuter, so I was interested to take the survey. Having grown up in Davis I am a native bike rider, having lived in New York I am an adaptive strap hanger, and having lived in LA I have certainly done my share of driving.

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By Colin Walsh

Sacramento's ABC 10 ran an uplifting segment about long time Davis residents Ellen Pontac and Shelly Bailes on Monday June 10th. The 6 minute segment shares this long time Davis couple's story in their struggle for marriage equity. 

After years of domestic partnership that the state refused to legally recognize, Bails and Pontac were first married in San Francisco in 2004 but the marriage was invalidated by the California Supreme Court. The second time was the charm and in 2008 they became the first same sex couple to wed in Yolo County.

Bailes told me, "We think it was very sweet that ABC 10 did this. It was a fun interview because we got to talk about the past and reminisce."

https://www.abc10.com/article/news/this-davis-couple-had-a-long-road-to-marriage-equality/103-b0a1c094-dea9-4d79-bdc2-89476e95c9db?fbclid=IwAR0xMeUkG6EwS6RGo0zAzBPoNNcm1hZo4HdeePB9kVjOVn9jApd9FsiFRJE

By Michelle Jillian Bailey

The welcoming aroma of coffee. The clink of dishes and whoosh of the foamer. A tiny woman behind the counter. She owns a huge smile and an even bigger heart. This mighty woman is Jira, proud new owner of Barista Brew Café.

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On 6/4/2019 Matt Williams, Chair of the City of Davis Finance and Budget Commission, acting as a representative of the commission presented the following resolutions to the Davis City Council.

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Comments provided by Abbie Dewitt to the Davis City Council 6/4/2019 published with permission.

Good evening. My name is Abbie, and I live on Evergreen Court, the first residential coul-de-sac closest to the Pacifico property, the entrance being about 700 feet away, to give you an idea. I have lived on this street my whole entire life, and I've seen how the community and neighborhood has changed over the past 20 years.

Growing up, I rode my bike to school with my best childhood friend who lived on the same street as me, via the bike path behind our house – the same one the residents of Pacifico use to access their living units. I remember the first day our mothers let us go alone in the 3rd grade, and how independent and mature I felt. Now, almost a decade later, a 3rd grade girl lives in that same house my best friend used to live in. I've babysat her since she was 5, and I know how much she would love to ride her bike to school, but her mother refuses to let her because of how dangerous that same bike path is now. Contaminated needles on the ground, garbage, and people screaming and cursing, to name a few concerns.

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A future focused interdisciplinary institution grows from the deep roots of UC Davis’s alternative communities.

By Annika Forester and Colin Walsh

In the middle of Saturday afternoon at the 50^th anniversary Whole Earth Festival a throng of die-hard festival goers left the UC Davis Quad and headed west. We gathered together with others at the Student Farm, a place on campus that showcases many of the values and ideals the Whole Earth Festival has celebrated for five decades. As special as the festival’s golden anniversary was, we were headed to something more important focused on the next 50 years.

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Firefighters to lock it up at night

By Colin Walsh

The City of Davis Parks department delivered as promised and the Arroyo Zipline is back up and zipping. Even so the Change.org petition to reopen the zipline permanently has continued to gather signatures.

This afternoon I found several Davis Parks employees restoring the zipline to operation. They reattached the swings and I witnessed them squirting large amounts of lubricant onto the tracks. Even Martin Jones, the Superintendent of Davis Parks, was there. They were smiling and clearly happy to be restoring the equipment.

Interestingly, the lock up mechanism is no more than a beefy chain and pad lock. Jones described the lock down plan for me. A City Parks Employee will unlock the zipline every morning and a Davis Fire Department Employee will lock up the zipline every night.

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Noise complaints, a petition, and City response

By Colin Walsh

On May 20 the City of Davis disabled the large brand new zipline playground equipment in Arroyo Park apparently in response to noise complaints from neighbors. The substantial over 30-foot-long equipment was only just opened at the end of April but was already quite popular with parents and kids.  Since closure just 4 days ago, already a change.org petition titled “Permanently bring back the Arroyo Park ziplines” has received 248 signatures.

Neighborhood sentiment was easily visible on Facebook and Nextdoor with many posts urging the City to reopen the Zipline.

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