Category: Uncategorized

The Davis Friends Meeting (Quakers) will be screening Greenwich Village: Music that Defined a Generation on Friday April 26 at 7 PM. The screening is free and will be held at the Friends Meetinghouse 345 L Street in Davis.

"The 60s folk revival in Greenwich Village sparked lasting political, social and cultural changes. through Poignant interviews, rare archival footage and new live performances, this film tells the story of the great singer-songwriters, performers and authors from Greenwich Village who collectively became the voice of a generation." states a flyer distributed by The Davis Friends Meeting

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By Matt Williams

Some Davis residents have pointed to the problems with the Mace Boulevard Improvements (stylized as the “Mace Mess”) and the delays caused by the Cannery grade-separated crossing project on Covell near L Street as two examples of significant contributions to increased traffic congestion in Davis. (see the prior Davisite articles HERE and HERE and HERE, in the Enterprise HERE and HERE, as well as in a Davis Vanguard comment thread.

The difference between the Covell and L project and the Mace project is that the lane reduction due to construction of the Cannery grade-separated crossing is temporary.  Once the construction is completed Covell will return to two vehicle lanes each direction plus the enhanced and protected bike/ped lane.  In the case of the Mace project, what was originally five vehicle lanes plus two bike/ped lanes will permanently become three vehicle lanes plus four bike/ped lanes.

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By Dunn Bobbing

After a short City Council Meeting lasting only 3 days, Davis City Council members managed to wrap 3 issues into one compromising solution.

The Davis City Council has been accused of being out of step with the public in its move to eliminate its street “claw” yard waste pick up, installation of parking meters in the downtown, and its failed attempt to levy a parcel tax for road repair. In all 3 cases the City has faced stiff opposition and name calling, which prompted Council Member Frerichs to chant “I am rubber you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you!” at the recent parking meter Council meeting.

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By Char Henwood

A lot happened at the meeting at the firehouse yesterday.

Mayor Lee, Council Member Frerichs and City staff got an earful from the El Macero and South Davis Community about the many problems with the recent Mace Blvd "improvements." After extended comments they looked quite crestfallen.

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HELP SAVE MUSIC IN PARADISE, CALIFORNIA! Musicians, parents and relatives of musicians, music lovers, educators, people with empathy and compassion, people affected by the fires, people who know people affected by the fire . . . . . . . so yes, EVERYONE please support musicians from the Davis schools who will come together at:

Brunelle Hall on
Saturday March, 16th from
9 am – 6pm

Raise funds to help rebuild the Music Programs in the Paradise schools.

There will be performances all day!

Local, musician and music educator extraordinaire, Joe Craven, will kick off the final concert, with a few inspired words at 5 pm.

This "Festival Ensemble" led by Robert Schofield, is composed of junior and high school band students from Paradise and Davis. Admission is free! All donations will go directly to the Paradise school music programs to help rebuild facilities, replace burned instruments and music and replace lost equipment. If you can't attend, please donate using the link below. And whether you can attend or not, please share this post with other friends who may support the cause!

Donate $25 and receive a $5 discount at ChickPeas!
Donate $50 and receive a $10 discount at ChickPeas!
Donate $100 and receive a $20 discount at ChickPeas!
(*vouchers will be emailed within 48 hrs of donation)

*******The ChickPeas Food Truck will be at the event and will be collecting donations for the Paradise Schools! So come hungry and ready to donate for this worthy cause!

you can also donate at the GoFundMe Site

by Colin Walsh

Yesterday March 14^th the Yolo County Taxpayers Association (YCTA) weighed in on the Downtown Davis Parking Meter Issue with a resounding no thanks.

In Norton hall in the North West corner of Woodland, YCTA members from around the county weighed in on this hot Davis issue. Alzada Knickerbocker, owner of the Avid Reader, and Daniel Urazandi, owner of Bizarro World, made the case against the City of Davis’s proposal to convert a large part of downtown parking to meters.

The presenters noted the long hours 7 days a week Davis will require Downtown visitors to pay to park. The plan’s requiring payment from 10am to 10pm everyday including Sunday was highlighted as well outside the norm for most downtown paid parking schemes.

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I respect and support our local businesses

By Colin Walsh

Now is not the time to put the retail that has managed to survive in Downtown Davis in jeopardy by instituting parking fees.

CNBC reported today that nationally, “Already, 4,810 store closures have been announced by retailers in 2019, according to Coresight Research.” Only 5,524 store closing were tracked by Coresight in 2018. 2019 thus far is proving to be a fatal year for retail. (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/08/these-retailers-have-announced-store-closures-in-2019.html)

It is clearly a challenging climate for physical stores, and the City of Davis should be careful not to make it any more difficult locally.

In Davis we are very fortunate to have a vibrant downtown that includes several independent and locally owned retailers. In Davis we still have the choice to shop at locally owned hardware stores, bookstores, and more. These stores have disappeared from the landscape in most cities. Locally owned stores like this do more for the local economy by keeping more money locally. Large chains and online stores literally siphon money out of the community to pay CEOs and investors and offer only a few low paying local jobs in return.

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By Ron

In the "other" blog today, there's a suggestion that the Lincoln40 developers were more considerate of the neighbors, than the Trackside developers. And, presumably by extension, this means that Lincoln40 should have been approved, but not a 4-story Trackside.

It certainly is possible that the Lincoln40 developers were more considerate of neighbors than the Trackside developers. (Of course, this ignores the fact that Trackside is IN the neighborhood, while Lincoln40 is separated by the railroad line.)

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Mayor Lee informs commenters they may not affect decision process.

By Colin Walsh

On Tuesday March 5^th 2019 The City Council heard from about 50 people in public comment on the City’s plan for paid parking in downtown Davis. Comments ranged from unequivocal support to disgusted opposition with a wide range of complaints between. Few speakers were ready to accept the plan as currently proposed and most opposed the plan altogether.

At midnight everyone was exhausted by the several hours long display of democracy, most especially the City Council. It was then that Mayor Brett Lee gave an unusual speech from the dais that is being called “condescending,” “undemocratic,” “arrogant” and “offensive” by some.

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By Colin Walsh

It is in the best interest of the region to get as many people as possible off of I80 and onto the train. Further restricting parking at the train station works against environmental goals of reducing long distance drivers. Frankly the region needs more parking to help transition people from driving to public transit. If an added benefit of this is increasing parking for downtown at the same time, that's a good thing too.

I find it very frustrating that council members and City staff seem to have drawn a conclusion BEFORE even starting an already paid for $250,000 dollar study.

Tucked into the Staff report on the paid parking agenda item tonight is this Parking Task Force recommendation #4, “Convert Amtrak Lot to Paid Parking.”

While this is not part of tonight’s proposal, it is just as poorly thought through. Council Member Will Arnold advocated for this in his op-ed on the Davisite.org this week. He and others have cited People driving from Sacramento to Davis to avoid the pay lot in Sacramento. But there is no actual evidence of this. Indeed, Will admitted he had heard it word of mouth. But there has been no survey and no study.

Converting the Amtrak lot to paid parking is a terrible idea that is at best premature.

Let’s look at some history of this issue that the staff conveniently left out of tonight’s staff report. The future of this lot is an important consideration while considering paid parking downtown.

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