Category: Uncategorized

PART I: Vanguard Slams the Door on Required Public Disclosures

By Colin Walsh

On Friday, May 3rd, David Greenwald of the “The People’s Vanguard of Davis,” a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt company, refused to turn over nonprofit tax documentation. This appears to violate U.S Department of Treasury regulations and adopted Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines. As stated on the IRS website [my emphasis]: “tax-exempt organizations must make available for public inspection certain annual returns and applications for exemption, and must provide copies of such returns and applications to individuals who request them. Copies usually must be provided immediately in the case of in-person requests, and within 30 days in the case of written requests.” The IRS website provides more detail about the types of documentation that 501c3 nonprofits like the Vanguard are required to provide.

On Friday afternoon at about 4:10PM, Rik Keller and I visited the Vanguard office, located on the second floor of 221 G Street in downtown Davis. David Greenwald opened the door shortly after Keller knocked. At first it looked as though Greenwald would invite us in as he has previous times I have visited the Vanguard offices, but as we stepped forward Greenwald moved to block the entrance.

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Cartoon by Druiddraws 

By Roberta Millstein, Rik Keller, and Colin Walsh

Having raised concerns about the Davis Vanguard’s upcoming fundraising event in previous Davisite articles (see here, here, and here), we were gratified to see the Davis Enterprise bring the full moral authority of actual journalists to bear on our concerns regarding ethics and access in a pair of Sunday articles, one by reporter Tanya Perez and one a stinging “Our View” editorial op-ed.

We note that the advertisement of this event has undergone a number of changes subsequent to the publication of each of our articles and our comments at the Davis City Council meeting of April 23rd. The event went from having Mayor Brett Lee as a “host,” to having four councilmembers “featured” with each speaking and participating in a Q & A session (with Will Arnold there “in spirit”). And now it has been scaled back to a speaking-only event with no mention of Q & As. The Enterprise’s coverage of this event suggests that event will be even more attenuated than that, with Councilmember Lucas Frerichs saying that he can “only stay a short time at this event because he has another to attend” and Mayor Pro Tem Gloria Partida saying that she “might not speak at all.”

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By Colin Walsh

I love summer camp. I was lucky enough to get to go every year starting in about 4^th grade all the way through High School. First, I went to Frontier Ranch and then I went to Ponderosa Lodge both in the redwoods near Santa Cruz. 40 years later I still remember the lyrics we sang around the glow of the campfire with our goofy counselors:

I’ve come back to Frontier Rach just like I did the year before,
and I’m going to keep on coming till they won’t let me come any more

I would go back again if I could. Being in the forest, sleeping in tent cabins, archery, games, campfires – it was an experience that left a profound impression on me. Now as a father I love sending my kids to summer camp too. When they come home they are grubby, exhausted, beaming with confidence, and glowing with the joy of new friendships.

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By Rachel Rycerz

Saw the opening night of DMTC's "Pajama Game." Go see it! Excellent acting, fun songs, great choreography. There were many stand out performances.

I loved Morgan Bartoe as Babe Williams. She had it all — strong acting, expressive, with both humor and emotion, great stage presence, voice, dancing. She and Tate Pollock as Sid Sorokin made a believable romantic couple that you (or at least I) root for. Tate was also terrific all around in this role, solidly establishing his character and playing well with Aimee Rose Santone (a perfect Gladys, fantastic actor and spectacular dancer) in very different dynamics than their pairing as Phoebus and Esmerelda in Hunchback of Notre Dame. He also had a terrific duet with himself in "Hey There" (Go see it!).

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By Colin Walsh

I am writing this for my daughter. I mean that in several senses. She is becoming aware of the environmental crisis her generation faces and she wants to do something about it. At 11 she is already a person of action and she has been inspired to by Greta Thunberg. I am writing because my daughter is inspiring me.

I am also writing because, she is right, we need to do something. Actually, we need to do a lot of things.

Last weekend, I brought home these great reusable straws from the Food Co-op for my daughter and it was like the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny showed up on the 4th of July. She wants to live her ideals and I am proud of her.

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3 Comments Submitted to the Davis City Council on April 23, 2019

Good evening.  I am Roberta Millstein, citizen of Davis, speaking for myself.

I am extremely concerned about members of the Davis City Council participating in a fundraiser for the Davis Vanguard.  Let me quote from the Facebook event:

The Vanguard Fundraiser will feature Davis Mayor Brett Lee, Mayor Pro Tem Gloria Partida, and Councilmembers Lucas Frerichs and Dan Carson, who will speak at a fundraiser for the Davis Vanguard… Will Arnold, unable to attend will be there in spirit. Each of the speakers will speak briefly and then take questions.  The event has a suggested donation of $25.

So, four out of five of you are the featured speakers of a fundraiser for a self-proclaimed local news outlet, including a question and answer period, with the fifth apparently willing to have his name associated with the fundraiser.  I note that this is a very different sort of event from other events that you all participate in together, such as Picnic Day, where City issues are not discussed.

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Hello Davisites

We deeply appreciated those who came to the 3/27 Broadband Task Force Meeting,  the community spoke with a unified voice to the Task Force and City Council Member Dan Carson! You wanted community ownership and open access, you want a network that will be a foundation for economic development for the years ahead, you are heroes!

But Big Money is barreling ahead.

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by Matt Williams

As members of our community who care passionately about social equity and the achievement gap in the DJUSD schools, I believe you should e-mail the Council members, and tell them that the closed session consideration of trading the current monopoly in the past generation of cable and wired telecommunications (AT&T and Comcast) for a new monopoly in the next generation of fiber communications (Astound/WAVE) is selling our school children down the road. Signing a lease with Astound only makes sense if it is for BOTH the City conduit and City fiber inside the conduit.

If the City owns the fiber, then competition between telecommunications service companies will be promoted. If the fiber is owned by a monopoly vendor like Astound/WAVE, they will not lease space on that fiber to their competitors. That will result in higher telecommunications prices for all Davis households, especially low income households, and service denials in the lower income portions of the City. That "double whammy" is referred to as "The Digital Divide." Good service for the rich. Poor service for the poor. And the quality and affordability of service is a major contributor to the Achievement Gap in schools here in Davis and across the country.

Astound/WAVE is a good company, but in an industry dominated by huge companies (Comcast, Astound, AT&T, Verizon, etc.) pricing always reflects the amount of competition in the market. The lease of City conduit being considered reduces competition in Davis. A lease of City Fiber within City Conduit increases competition, reduces costs to the consumers, and increases the quality of service for ALL Davis residents. That is what the Davis City Council (and the DJUSD School Board) should be fighting for.

Please reach out to the Council members and let them know that they can do better than the lease being considered in Tuesday's closed session.

Follow up to Observed Dangerous Child Safety Problem Caused by Mace Blvd Project

To: Supervisor Provenza:

Thank you for your prompt reply to my email in which I recounted my witness to yet another public safety problem created by the Mace Blvd. “reconfiguration.”  For your information, I am attaching the email that I sent to City of Davis officials after the first “fire station” meeting a couple of months ago.  That email summarizes a number of aspects of the public safety and traffic crisis created by the “reconfiguration” (with the notable exception, of course, of new problem I called to your attention: the enticing skateboard challenge created by the bike lane barriers soon to be augmented, I understand, by “signage” slalom poles).  Despite multiple meetings with and comments from residents, petitions, and "concern" and vows to fix the mess expressed by the City, yet the project continues.

I appreciate your invitation to join your small group for discussing and strategizing about this situation.  In my opinion, anyone who was involved in the conception, development, promotion, touting, or defense of this “reconfiguration” has disqualified himself/herself from participating in this matter any further; those who caused this travesty cannot be trusted to effectively undo its damage.  Please consider the following as my contribution to your “strategizing” which, in the end is really quite simple, as you will see.

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(From Press Release) Friends of Empower Yolo are hosting an April shower for the agency’s domestic violence shelter in recognition of  Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The shower will run from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 27, at Empower Yolo’s D Street House at the corner of Fifth and D streets in downtown Davis. Everyone in the community is invited to bring a new gift for the shelter and enjoy refreshments.

Staff members will be available to answer questions about the services the agency provides to families seeking safety.

All donations are tax-deductible.

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