Category: Uncategorized

Hello Davis! We have an exciting opportunity for you TOMORROW (June 9, 2018)! Come out and try your hand at something called 19th century base ball. We play America's pastime with 1864 rules. No gloves (scary)! But, it's an underhand pitch, which makes fielding easier. AND, you may catch the ball off one bounce and still get the striker out! It's a fantastic version of baseball that is perfect for a very wide range of talent. If you're a youngster or an old-timer, a guy or a gal, a seasoned veteran of the modern game or a novice, you're on a very similar level with each other. This is a game that has rules that really level the playing field.

(more…)

By Tom Owczarzak 

OK, think a few people will get this one right about this time.

I went to see my niece graduate last night. And not just graduate – give the Valedictorian Speech.

Yeah, cuz she is a serious badass.

Graduation is a heady experience. The excitement of the students, the charge in the air, the super proud families.

Summer just minutes away.

(more…)

By Colin Walsh

Davis has a tradition that at the end of every City Election, all parties involved work together to sweep up the campaign signs from all corners of the City. It is a refreshing idea that no matter how hard fought the campaigns may be, the day after the election they all work together to clean up the town and signs are returned to the campaign from whence they came.

(more…)

By Carey Ann Hunt

Transformation is incredible. The way we can totally count on the fact that one thing can and will turn into something else, amazing isn't?  What you see now may or may not look the way that it does for long. Change is inevitable.  Thankfully, transformative change is available if we choose to participate. So it is, too, with transforming wool into felt.

(more…)

By Rik Keller

Summary

Based on extensive analysis of the Nishi project I did using my long-term professional experience as an affordable housing and city planning consultant, I found that there is a lot of dishonesty in how the project is being marketed by its proponents as “affordable”. The Yes on J campaign website touts its “groundbreaking, privately-funded affordable housing program,” However, when the numbers are looked at more closely, it is just marketing lingo that is covering up for the developers proposing to charge substantially more by running the project with a bed-lease arrangement rather than a room-lease or unit-lease arrangement. Fundamentally, the way the project is structured provides a large profit margin for the developer for the provision of expensive, exclusive housing compared to existing Davis rental rates.

The bottom line is that the ‘market rate’ units–consisting of 90% of the units in the project–will be among the most expensive, if not THE most expensive rental units in town, and even the majority of the ‘affordable’ units will be more expensive than average current city rental rates.

(more…)

Dear Fellow Parents,

It has come to our attention that the district is planning to make cuts to the choir program for the incoming school year. The rationale given has been that next year’s enrollment numbers do not allow for two choirs at each Junior High School and the plan will be one choir per Junior High combined with 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students. Mr. Zinn’s 1.0 FTE is being reduced to a .6 position.

As we all can appreciate, differentiated teaching can be difficult.Teaching beginning choir students presents different challenges than that of more mature 9th graders, many of whom who will be preparing for auditioning for DHS choirs next Spring. Though next year’s choir class sizes could be smaller than other subject matter classes, it has been demonstrated both this year and in the past that the school district has supported and offered smaller class sizes for choir.

Courtesy of EAST BAY  COMMUNITY LAW CENTER via an attorney friend of mine.

"I have a felony conviction or juvenile adjudication on my record.  Can I still vote?    YES !

As long as you are at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, out of prison and off felony parole.

Can I vote while I'm on probation?        YES !

You can vote even if your are currently on probation, regardless of whether your conviction is for a felony or misdemeanor, or your probation is supervised(felony or formal probation or banked) or unsupervised (court or misdemeanor probation).      

Can I vote even if I've been to prison in the past?     YES !
As long as you are out of prison and off felony parole now, you are eligible to vote.      

(more…)

Davisite Sarah Joan Fulton, better known as Sadie, was certified as a write-in candidate for Assembly District 4 by CA Secretary of State Padilla on May 25^th.  Fulton joins two other write-in candidates and current Assembly Member Cecelia Aguiar-Curry in the June 5^th open primary election.

Since Aguiar-Curry faces only write-in candidates in the June 5^th primary, whichever write-in candidate gets the most votes will appear on the November ballot with Aguiar-Curry.

(more…)

By Colin Walsh

Some excellent questions where posted about the Nishi project and I wanted to share the answers here (with permission of the questioner). 

Q> Why is nobody talking about how UC Davis has increased their student population without making sure that there is housing built for students, and how that contributes to the housing crisis in Davis?

A> You're exactly right. A few years ago the University launched the 2020 initiative that brought in 5,000 additional students to campus without planning for housing or other facilities. This has absolutely contributed to the Davis housing crunch. City leaders did nothing at the time to push the University to build more housing. Some even cheered that it would lower the vacancy rate, these same leaders now support the Nishi project. For example:

Swanson said she believes the addition of 5,000 new undergraduates and 300 new faculty will have a positive effect.

(more…)