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.
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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.
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From the Davis Schools Foundation web site:
The Davis Schools Foundation would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Fairfield Subaru and Subaru of America for their critical support of the Davis schools. Thanks to Subaru’s Share the Love Event, which provides Subaru retailers the opportunity to support local communities through the Hometown Charity Program, Fairfield Subaru raised more than $26,000 for the Foundation.
The funds will help DSF continue to support the ALL the campuses of the Davis Joint Unified School District in three key areas:
1) Technology. Technology is a key building block in education. The Subaru Share the Love donation will help fund access for students to Chromebooks and next generation computer labs at every school site.
2) Math/Reading Aides. Early intervention is the key to academic success. Subaru support helps make sure elementary students receive the attention they need to soar in the classroom and beyond.
3) Counseling. Being a kid isn’t always easy. With Subaru’s generous contribution, we can help ensure that children have access to counselors to help them navigate the academic and social terrain of growing up
For more information on Fairfield Subaru, please visit their website: http://www.fairfieldsubaru.com/.
To donate to the Davis Schools Foundation, visit https://davisschoolsfoundation.org/supp…/donate/how-to-give/
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By Cara Bradley, Thomas Cahill, Gilbert Coville, Pam Gunnell, Marilee Hanson, Michael Harrington, David Kupfer, Robert Milbrodt, Roberta Millstein, Don Price, Nancy Price, Rodney Robinson, Johannes Troost, Dean Vogel, Colin Walsh, and Michael Yackey
Two years after Davis voters rejected the Nishi project at the polls, it’s back on the ballot as Measure J with the same pollution hazards from the adjacent I-80 freeway and railroad, but without the commercial component that was supposed to deliver significant revenue to the City.
Here are seven problems with the Nishi project:
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By Matt Williams
In a May 31 Vanguard article and its comments the word of the day was “Crisis.” Over the past 12 months another political hype word has been in vogue … “maxi-dorm.” What do “crisis” and “maxi-dorm” have in common? They have a resonance when used as sound bites in political hype.
The article didn’t stop with the label “crisis.” One of the verbal images used was “We had another person describe living in a house and having to share the living room for $400 per month, with a sheet partition for privacy.” The metaphor that image tries to invoke has several interesting flaws, one of which was ironically displayed in the lead image of the article, which shows a dormitory room, where the student residents are sharing a single room for living. The second was the remembrance is stirs in most Davis viewers of the adventure and excitement of their college days, sharing a dorm room with a roommate assigned by the university. Getting to know that random stranger, sharing war stories, but without the sheet. Those were good times … anything but a crisis. Lastly, the sheet. For me it conjured up the Colbert comedy skit shown in the picture at the beginning of this article.
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By Gilbert Coville
Last night John Whitcombe and the Yes on J campaign gave away free hot dogs at the Anderson Place Apartments in an attempt to convince voters to approve Nishi 2.0. The Anderson Place Apartments complex, located on the corner of Hanover Place and Covell, is one of the 14 apartment complexes around Davis owned by Whitcombe and Tandem properties. I was not in attendance myself, so the following report and photographs are based on information that was given to me by individuals who prefer to remain anonymous.
Holding rallies like this where freebies are given away is legal so long as there is no quid pro quo. An example of quid pro quo would be if someone says, “I will give you a hot dog if you vote for my development.” There is no evidence that there was quid pro quo at this event; however, it is eerily similar to some of Whitcombe’s past practices that resulted in a major Davis scandal.
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By Gilbert Coville
As we all know, it’s illegal to give money to an elected official in exchange for a favorable vote. However, monied interests get around this by contributing to elected officials’ pet projects if a vote goes their way.
This doesn’t happen in Davis. Or does it?
On Feb 6, our city council voted to advance the Nishi 2.0 student housing project to a Measure R vote. They were clearly not as excited about this project as they were with the previous Nishi proposal (just search on YouTube: “Davis council lukewarm”). However, they advanced the project to the ballot anyway; it is now Measure J. The Council continues to promote the project, with the mayor as the de facto spokesperson for Yes on Measure J.
The Council also is promoting two local tax measures, H and I, to help fund local park and road maintenance. Two Council members are officers of the committee promoting these measures, and Council members have been staffing its table at the Farmers Market.
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The Aggie has a great new article on the air quality issue at Nishi, including interviews with Dr. Tom Cahill and myself. I have just a few things to add.
One is that since the article was published, the amount contributed by the developer to sell Measure J to voters has gone from over $170,000 to over $250,000 (a quarter of a million dollars). This is eight times the cost of what one air quality test would have cost.
Second, according to the article "Whitcome says there were some issues found at the site, but 'nothing of any real consequence.'" That's not an accurate statement because the site has not actually been studied, just an adjacent site. And here is what they found at the adjacent site (from Barnes 2015, the study used in the EIR):
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By Matt Williams
As follow-up to the May 6th CivEnergy forum on Measure J, I published my personal reasons why I oppose Measure J as an article for the Davisite and as a comment to the Vanguard. Prompted by my list, Mayor Davis took the time to respond to all eleven (11) of my comments one-by-one. I thank Robb for doing so, and particularly thank him for the structured format he used to reply. This is the third in a series of articles on Nishi's financials in which I respond to Robb Davis's replies to me. The first article is here and the second article is here.
Matt: Nishi 2018 has no dollars for deferred maintenance of capital infrastructure.
Robb: See previous point. We don’t need it because the developer is responsible.
Matt: That is the same short-sighted, politically-driven thinking that created the current dilapidated state of our roads and the $8 million annual shortfall in the City Budget.
Robb: That is an editorial comment to which I will not respond.
The interchange above is at the heart of the City’s current unsustainable fiscal situation. Past Councils for well over a decade have ignored the advice of Staff regarding the maintenance of the City’s capital infrastructure. The year-by-year individual circumstances have differed, but the behavior pattern was the same. Over and over again, the Council chose to avoid a public dialogue about the fact that our City’s appetite for spending exceeded its annual income.
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By Matt Williams
As follow-up to the May 6th CivEnergy forum on Measure J, I published my personal reasons why I oppose Measure J as an article for the Davisite and as a comment to the Vanguard. Prompted by my list, Mayor Davis took the time to respond to all eleven (11) of my comments one-by-one. I thank Robb for doing so, and particularly thank him for the structured format he used to reply. This is the second in a series of articles on Nishi's financials in which I respond to Robb Davis's replies to me. The first article is here.
Matt: Nishi's cash contribution to City has shrunk 90% from $1.4 million down to $143,000.
Robb: Non-sequiter. Two very different projects, one with revenue from commercial activity, unsecured property tax, sales tax. I am not sure the point of this statement. It is less. It is a housing-only project.
Robb is correct that the revenues mix is different, with no unsecured property tax in this project The final EPS financial assessment of Nishi 2016 projected the unsecured property tax revenue at full-buildout at $9,000, which was one-half of one percent of the annual revenues … a rather minuscule difference.
The annual Sales Tax projection at full-buildout for Nishi 2016 was $286,000 as opposed to $198,000 for Nishi 2018, a difference of $88,000.
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Davisite 