Category: Uncategorized

Dear Council Members,

We are very appreciative of Council Member Partida's pulling of item B, the “Arroyo Park Picnic Area Shade Structure Project,'' from the consent calendar July 18. Given the magnitude of the proposed financial commitment, and the fact that the final cost differed so greatly from what the Recreation and Park Commission had been asked to consider, it was certainly appropriate to do so. We continue to hope that even at this point one of the four council members who voted in favor of the project will ask for reconsideration and that the council will vote to send this item back to the RPC.

As you know, at the July 18 meeting, the council, in a four to one vote, approved funding in the amount of $407,675 for an open-air structure that would house six new picnic tables and two barbecues. No plumbing. No wiring. No funds set aside for future maintenance. At the cost of not replacing a tree that had died and of removing precious green space from a well-used and aesthetically pleasing, shady expanse of lawn — an unwelcome departure from the original park plans. A project as staff-driven as any we’ve seen. And this vote was based on grossly misleading testimony from Davis city staff.

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UC Irvine's Mesa Court part of their Middle Earth complex of student housing including three 6-story building of beautiful student housing that the are hugely popular with the students. https://educationsnapshots.com/projects/4672/uc-irvine-mesa-court-towers/

By Eileen M. Samitz

While a recent article by UCD Chancellor May opened with his goal for UCD to be a good neighbor to Davis, there’s much more UCD can, and needs to do to reach that goal.

Historically, in 1989 UCD signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Davis, in which UCD promised to not have “sharp” enrollment increases to avoid impacting the City,  that it would provide more on-campus housing to accommodate its student’s needs, and that it would not exceed 26,000 students by 2006.

None of these promises were kept. UCD enrollment continued to accelerate, but for the next two decades production of on-campus student housing did not keep pace with the expanding student population. Instead, UCD executed “master leases” with the owners of local multi-family housing complexes, which reserved those apartments exclusively for UCD students. Because UCD is tax-exempt, this practice allowed the owners of those properties to then claim a property tax exemption, thereby depriving the City and County of much needed tax revenue. 

UCD has a long history of missing on-campus student housing targets. In November 2000, the UC Board of Regents  released a report titled “UC Housing for the 21^st Century,” which assigned  UCD a  goal of 11,143 on-campus beds by 2012, but UCD missed that goal by 1,835 beds, Then, UCD’s 2003 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) anticipated that UCD would house 10,800 students on-campus by 2016, but missed that target by 1,400 beds.

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Periodically confusions arise about the nature of the Davisite.  This is an attempt to further clarify what sort of platform it is. 

First and foremost, as noted in “About the Davisite,” the Davisite is a multi-authored community blog by and for Davisites; it seeks to provide a space where Davisites can discuss issues freely without fear of personal attack, promoting community, fostering participatory democracy, and seeking accountability from public officials.

In addition, some organizations use the Davisite to post press releases and event announcements. The Davisite doesn’t endorse  these events, but these announcements often foster democracy and build community.

And really, that’s it. 

The rest of the clarifications are about what the Davisite is not.

The Davisite is not an organization.  It is run by unpaid volunteers who operate as individuals and who choose to donate their time.  It is literally just a blog, nothing more.

The Davisite is not a newspaper (even a virtual newspaper) or a media outlet.  Some authors may choose to write articles that are intended to be factual and/or in the style of a reported article.  Nonetheless, each author remains responsible for their own content.  In May 2023, the Supreme Court “passed up a closely watched opportunity to clarify the scope of the federal liability shield known as Section 230 that protects internet companies from most legal claims over content posted by users” (https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/18/twitter-google-supreme-court-win-00097643).  The volunteers who run this blog operate under this understanding.  Volunteers do not have the expertise or the time to fact-check authors.  As with any source of potential information, readers are encouraged to do their own fact-checking.

That being said, the Davisite’s volunteers do reserve the right not to post any article that is sent to them that they know to be patently false or which contains personal attacks.  In most cases the volunteers will try to work with authors to find a solution that is acceptable to all, but that is not always possible.  With regard to personal attacks, there is an understanding that elected officials traditionally undergo greater scrutiny than other individuals, but the rule against personal attacks still pertains.

The Davisite does not accept any money, whether in the form of donations or advertisement.  It is self-funded by its volunteers.

The Davisite does not have “guest authors,” only authors (members of the community) who may have one article, several articles, or many articles.  Some authors post their own work whereas others have volunteers post on their behalf; this is just a technical convenience as not everyone is comfortable using blogging software.

CA forecasts extremely slow population growth for next 4 decades for  Yolo County and California.

by Colin Walsh

The state of California Department of Finance released an update to its state population projections on July 19, 2023. These projections are based on Census 2020 data and demographic analysis. (link)

The state estimates the current population of California is 38,990,487 and that the population will increase to 39,508,492 by 2060. That is only a little over 500,000 or just slightly over a 1% increase in a 37 year period. This is essentially a year-over-year zero growth rate for the State of CA.

This halt to population growth in CA comes after a century of rapid growth that transformed CA from a sparsely populated state to the most populous state in the country. This projected lack of growth comes after 2 years of slight decline in population where the state lost more than ½ million people between 2020 and 2023.

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(From press release) Soroptimist International of Davis awarded $12,000 in grants this spring through its signature Live Your Dream program, which offers cash and mentorship to women seeking education and training.

Women are encouraged each year to apply for the awards if they are the primary wage earners for their families, and need financial assistance to further their education or training. Recipients often persevere through hardships or challenging circumstances.

This year, SI Davis gave a boost to four women, with cash awards ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. These unrestricted grants may be used to offset costs that a scholarship would not cover, such as child care, transportation or other financial obligations that hinder a woman’s ability to reach her goals. Soroptimist International of Davis members remain in contact with the recipients, offering them mentorship and support.

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My support for Francesca Wright is based not only on her informed approach to specific issues facing the city from housing, especially affordable housing, and city services to climate change and diversity, but also and especially on the type of experience she will bring to governance.

As a professional and a grassroots organizer over many years, she starts a process at the level of what people say about their concerns and possible solutions based on their experience. That means her solutions to Davis problems will be shaped to address our needs and interests. Several times she has listened carefully to me, and though we may not agree on every point, I have complete confidence that she is committed to the kind of dialogue that will result in good public policy.

Wright has worked for and with public institutions such as the California Institute of Mental Health and several County “First 5” programs that support at-risk children and their families. Unlike her opponent, the strength of her qualifications and experience comes from her work at the community level, rather than within the bureaucracy. You can learn more about her work over the years at https://wrightfordavis.org/bio/ and also by reading her Platform.

With the city in need of a good listener, fresh approaches and someone who will engage in the spirit of collaboration, I urge residents of District 3 to vote for Cesca Wright.

Nancy Price
Davis

What is going on with the City Council?  Tuesday’s meeting was surreal.

By Roberta Millstein

First, Councilmember Bapu Vaitla, critic of NIMBYs who dare to say that projects should be better, suggested that the proposed University Mall redevelopment isn’t good enough.  Somehow, even though the site has been retail-only for decades, Councilmember Vaitla claimed that that use isn’t consistent with the General Plan – stating, among other things, that the project does not provide “a diversity of housing options” – and he called for an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of the project.

If Councilmember Vaitla were a defender of the project as approved, he would likely say that an appeal like this was just a delay tactic.  But because it’s his objection to the project, he marshaled Davisites to come speak in favor of the appeal.

Then Councilmember Gloria Partida, who has consistently argued that we need more housing in Davis, voted to deny Councilmember Vaitla’s appeal, effectively guaranteeing that there would be no housing at the University Mall site (since the vote to hear the appeal had to be unanimous).

To further the up-is-down left-is-right Council meeting, the council – to a person – decided no, it will not go forward with putting any of four housing-projects-in-process on the ballot for November 2024.[1]  This is in spite of, again, all four councilmembers touting themselves as being pro-housing, and perhaps even more puzzling, in spite of the fact that two of the four councilmembers wrote the report suggesting that the Council take up the question of which project to put in process for November 2024.

A representative of one of the developers of the four projects even got up to say that nothing should be put in motion for November 2024!  Surely this was April Fool’s?  Nope, April 4.

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DAVIS, CA – In a stunning announcement today, the University of California, Davis revealed that it would be retiring its current team nickname, the “Aggies," in favor of a new name that better reflects the school's commitment to undergraduate students and the hefty tuition bills they pay. 

Effective immediately, the university's new nickname and mascot will be the “Ca$h Cow$.” The decision was reportedly made after a lengthy debate among university administrators about how to best celebrate the financial contributions of out-of-state and international students. 

"We felt it was important to honor our biggest contributors," said Chancellor Dairy Dismay. "We want our students to know that they're not just a number, they're a dollar sign," added Dismay. "And what better way to show them that than by making our mascot a literal representation of the financial burden they're shouldering?"

Reaction to the news was mixed on social media, with some observers praising the university for embracing its financial realities, while others criticized the decision as cynical and tone-deaf.

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Welcome to April, fools.

Al's Corner is about free speech.  Especially speech you don't like.  If you delete posts because you don't like them, you're an asshole. 

If the shoe fits, wear it.  On your asshole.  An asshole shoe.  Do they come in pairs?

Bon Ami says, "Hasn't Scratched Yet".  At Al's Corner we say, "Haven't Moderated Yet".  Though some day we will, but it will be on principals, not politics.  Someone blatantly violates the rules.  But unlike 'Disappearing Donny', we'll let you know what you did wrong, not simply disappear your comment into a progressive void.  (Full Disclosure:  I once had to moderate one of my own comments – and yes, I did inform myself of it.)

The 'topic' for this month is "Stomping Davis, Crushing Locales".

Based on a March 30th comment in the Davis Vanguard by Dave Hart:  "I’m tired of the emotional and knee jerk negative reaction of those, particularly on the fringe of town next to proposed new development. I would love to see these locales get crushed and I’m starting to feel that way about Davis. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but yeah, we need to be stomped on for being so intransigent and narrow."

Crush & Stomp your fellow citizens, those usual suspects, so intransigent and narrow.  Oh Davis YIMBYs!

Carry on . . .

Two articles today in the Davis Vanguard about ChatGPT. 

But ChatGPT is woke:

ChatGPT goes woke!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11646463/Conservatives-test-AI-ChatGPT-uses-responses-prove-going-woke.html

One quote:

"Developing anything, software or not, requires compromise and making choices, political choices, about who a system will work for and whose values it will represent."

I certainly don't agree with some of the political views used as examples in the article, but clearly a political bias is shown when the machine calls out writing about subjects as being 'inappropriate'.  If you can't see how this could so easily be manipulated by whomever is in power, you aren't being real about the concerns.