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Davisite Banner. Left side the bicycle obelisk at 3rd and University. Right side the trellis at the entrance to the Arboretum.

  • Supporting Sensible Security at the Davis Food Co-op (Counter Petition – sign it!)

    COOP CopRoberta Millstein is correct that the COOP should have timely sent an email, perhaps with the text from the sign out in front of the store (see below). 

    However, the text with the petition calling to remove the guards drifts into anti-cop and demilitarization rhetoric that is far-far-left even for the average COOP shopper.  The statement "Security personnel in military-style equipment . . . creates the perception of shopping as a criminal act and makes the store feel like a space under occupation." is extreme. 

    Below is link to a counter-petition, thanking COOP management for their leadership on this matter.  Importantly, this petition refers to the guard as a guard (not a militarized occupation), this petition makes no list of demands, and this petition makes no threat of a boycott.  Choose the petition that fits your thoughts/opinion and sign one of them.  The link to the text and to sign the petition are here:

    https://chng.it/jMmWXHDtdh

    ENHANCED SECURITY MEASURES
    AT THE DAVIS FOOD CO-OP

    As many of you have noticed, the retail environment has changed significantly in the past year. Several staff members have expressed concern about safety and the increase in theft incidents in the store. Management has stepped up to become mitigators and although we are grateful for their leadership, it is not sustainable and our priority is safety. Many Members have also expressed their concerns about the changing environment. The overall sentiment is that the Co-op is losing its welcoming and safe atmosphere.

    We have done our best to mitigate the increased activity, however, it is becoming a bigger task than we have capacity and at times, training for.
    Therefore, after careful consideration, a third-party security company will be engaged to enhance the safety and security of staff, customers, and assets.

    This change may feel different to some members who may not be aware of the situations that have been discreetly addressed. However, this partnership will help create a more secure environment for everyone.

    The selected company is highly recommended by Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op. Additionally, the owner is a member of SNFC and is committed to incorporating the Davis Food Co-op's policies and values into how their team will engage with the community and handle situations involving theft or disturbances.

    This measure is essential to ensure that the Co-op remains a safe and welcoming space for all members, staff, and shoppers. We appreciate your understanding and support as this important change is implemented.

    Cooperatively,
    Laura Sanchez, General Manager

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  • Petition to end the security guards at the Davis Food Co-op

    By Roberta Millstein

    The Davis Food Co-op now has security guards. 

    How those security guards are dressed and armed and why they are there is the subject of some dispute — anyone interested in the variety of opinions on this subject can read the hundreds of comments I accidentally generated when I shared a picture of some sidewalk chalk concerning the guards (the first I had heard of it) on NextDoor.  There you can also read a variety of opinions about whether the guards are a good idea or not, count the number of reactions, etc.  Let's just say it was a classic NextDoor post.  Trying to look at the positives, it at least provided a platform for people to share their opinions and impressions.

    But that is not the point of this post.  The point of this post is to share a petition about the security guards, located here: https://www.change.org/p/end-the-militarized-security-presence-at-our-davis-food-co-op.  I have no involvement in creation of the petition, but whoever wrote it did a beautiful job.  It is well-written and thoughtful.

    I have signed, and I urge others to sign as well. Importantly, the petition not only calls for eliminating the security guards (and explains why) but also calls for the Management and Board of Directors of the Co-op to work creatively with the community — as member-owners of the Co-op — to find alternatives to deal with the recent challenges that the Co-op has had. 

    It is, after all, supposed to be a Co-op and not a just another business, just another grocery store.

    One thing that quickly became clear is how badly the Co-op bungled this.  At a minimum, it should have used its email newsletter to let people know about the problems and how they were thinking of handling them.  That would have saved a lot of fear, anger, and frustration on all sides. In fact, they still haven't sent out an email like this, instead putting up a sandwich board in front of the entrance with a relatively brief explanation.

    Davis Food Co-op, let's work together.  Community, let's urge them to do so.  Again, the petition is here.

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  • County Board of Supervisors Prepares to Protect Local Groundwater

    Groundwaterissue

    By Scott Steward

    It will take a 4/5ths vote by the County Board of Supervisors this Tuesday, August 26th, to implement a much-needed well moratorium for the north and west Yolo regions, where ground water replacement rates are declining, are not well understood, and where previously unirrigated land is being converted to year-round water demand: grape vines, olive, and nut trees

    The County Staff report, supporting the 45-day moratorium, provides the following excerpt: 

    " To summarize, groundwater is a vital resource essential to the health, safety and welfare of the many communities and agricultural areas in the County. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand the impacts of land use changes on groundwater supplies and gather additional information to better inform better YSGA and County evaluation of proposed new agricultural wells with an eye towards protecting the sustainability of groundwater resources.  Further study of the impacts of the planting of perennial crops on previously non-irrigated lands is critical to determine if further regulations should be implemented with respect to such land use changes to protect against unsustainable groundwater impacts."

    Communications with the two Supervisors in District 2 and District 4 (Lucas Frerichs and Sheila Allen), who represent large numbers of Davis residents, indicate strong support for the 45-day moratorium.

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  • Tree Budget Cuts have made Parks, Bikeways Streets and Front yards less safe

    Failed Roots City Council Chamber Pear (1)By Alan ‘Lorax” Hirsch

    Tuesday item 7 before council is the first public discussion about the up-to-now hidden part of city structural deficit; the underfunding of tree pruning/sustainability program. This underfunding has not only made our parks, bikeways and streets less safe, but also added to our structural deficit by ballooning city’s insurance premiums. This is on top of our city’s financial deficit issues that Elaine Roberts Musser and Dan Carlson have written about so elegantly on this blog and elsewhere.

    +++

    What if your long time HMO revealed they had- without your knowledge – reduced the dose of your heart medication by 50% to cut costs- and done this secretly for over 12 years.

    That is what the city’s memo on Trees for Tuesday 8/19 council packet revealed; they state instead of a 7-year safety pruning cycle for front yard street and park tree they had in fact a longer a 12–14-year cycle.

    This is consistent with fact a woman died in Slide Hill Park in 2021 by a tree the city had neglected to inspect and prune. The city staff knew this funding shortfall for years (the previous Arbor would tell anyone) but this fact only seems to have been admitted to the public by staff and council now the previous city manager has moved on.

    But this mis where we are now: think of the embarrassment if HMO disclose an increased cost of malpractice insurance now exceed the saving from those medicine dosage cuts?  In city’s case, its liability insurance increase– due to the $24 million dollar Slide Hill Park tree death settlement.

    But this is part of a larger picture about the strategic mismanagement of the city tree program, as I will describe below.

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  • Op Ed on City Street Tree Relinquishment

    Savedavistrees

    Arbor Day tree planting event in 2022. Davis became a Tree City USA in 1977 and was one of the first in the state to receive this distinction.

    Don’t prune the tree care budget, let the voters decide!

    By Greg McPherson

    Davis’ urban forest is a “living umbrella.” The benefits of a healthy and growing tree canopy include providing clean air, shading streets, pedestrians, and buildings, reducing stormwater runoff, increasing property values, calming traffic, reducing noise, and contributing to reduced crime rates.

    Davis has a robust urban forest thanks to an enthusiastic community, dedicated non-profits like Tree Davis and Cool Davis, expertise from UC Davis, and the amount of attention and value the city has put towards their urban forestry program. However, the city has faced challenges associated with inadequate funding for the program. For example, the lack of scheduled park tree maintenance was associated with a jury finding the city fully liable for $24.2 million in damages due to a 2021 death from a falling limb in Slide Hill Park. To address tree liability issues the city has added about 50% of the funding requested ($500,000) to inspect and prune trees on a 3-year cycle in high occupancy zones like downtown and parks.

    Many of our larger trees are failing due to old age, drought stress from loss of turf irrigation, and new pests and diseases. The city removes about 200 trees per year. Many trees are removed illegally or “hat-racked” because the city is short on funds to enforce our own ordinance to protect trees. See the ironically named Oak Tree Plaza on Covell for a recent example.

    The City’s 2023 Urban Forest Management Plan recommends a baseline of no net tree canopy loss, but resources to track this information are lacking. Also, the Plan notes that about 6,000 of the 30,000 inventoried trees are within the street tree easement but not maintained by the city. This lack of clarity is costly to the city because frequent “ownership checks” require staff to review index cards dating back to the 1970s or developer agreements to determine who owns a tree, and sometimes the results are inconclusive. This situation is unfair and confusing for the city and residents.

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  • Clarifying the Realities of Downpayment Assistance in Davis

    By Barbara Clutter

    In their August 11 piece in The Davisite, Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser rely on a preliminary report from the City’s Fiscal Commission subcommittee on Downpayment Assistance to argue that Davis should align with existing state programs, such as CalHFA (CA Housing Finance Agency), which assisted 30,000 California homebuyers in 2025. Carson/Musser point out that only two of those recipients were from Davis, implying a missed opportunity for our city. However, what they do not acknowledge is the underlying reason so few Davis residents qualify for CalHFA is the high cost of housing. Families working under CalHFA's income limits generally find that qualifying housing is virtually nonexistent in Davis, making the program largely inaccessible in Davis.

    Musser and Carson also highlight SB 417, a proposed $10 billion statewide housing bond measure which would primarily fund rehabilitation of infrastructure and existing housing. While it earmarks $1 billion for downpayment assistance, no community is guaranteed any of these prospective funds, even if the bond measure is passed in 2026.

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  • Fiscal Commissioners Propose the State Pay for New Housing Program Instead of Davis Taxpayers

    By Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser

    We were disappointed when the Davis City Council adopted an ordinance last January authorizing a new city-funded downpayment assistance program for lower-income Davis homebuyers. It put on the books a potentially expensive new program city taxpayers can ill afford. It did so with a blank-check ordinance lacking normal programmatic limits, like how much money would be given to a potential homebuyer. 

    At the time, advocates of the new downpayment assistance program lobbied for an annual allocation of new General Fund monies of $1 million or more from Measure Q.  Measure Q was an increase in the city sales tax approved by city voters last November. 

    That didn’t happen once the full impacts of out-of-control spending by the City Council became clear. Excessive pay hikes and bonuses for city staff, including another round of new contracts rushed through in May, have gotten the City of Davis into very serious financial trouble. A new fiscal forecast shows that within the next couple of years the city will have zero financial reserves, with spending exceeding General Fund revenues by millions annually. 

    Essentially, all that new money from Measure Q has gone up in a puff of smoke. This, despite campaign promises by the Council of new housing programs and fixes to our city infrastructure. Promises that were made in public statements and official ballot arguments the Council signed and that were sent to every registered city voter.

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  • Mass Starvation Used to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza, Our Federal Representatives Are Responsible

    Gaza15

    Photo modified from multiple sponsored USCPRACT.ORG

    By Scott Steward

    This has to stop.  I could not continue my regular day after listening to the 15-minute interview on Breaking Points 8/1 time mark, minute 33 to minute 48 with Dr. Ambereen Sleemi, Urogynecologist and Executive Director of the International Medical Response Foundation. Dr. Sleemi returned this week from volunteering for several weeks at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza. (Note: Breaking Points newscast produces lengthy reporting, and therefore, readers should skip to the time stamp to hear her interview.  The excerpts that follow my editorial are from Democracy Now and have much of the same content as the Breaking Points interview).

    As a taxpayer to the US federal government and a constituent of three US federal representatives, Mike Thompson (Congressman District 4) and two Senators, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, it is the least I can do to publish an excerpt of this firsthand account of the conditions of mass deliberate starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. 

    Mr. Thompson, Padilla and Schiff are guilty of aiding in the mass extermination of a national ethnicity and in the case of Padilla and Schiff, guilty of having recently voted against two Senate Resolutions to block more than $675 million in weapons sales to Israel — only weapons that were offensive in nature, the resolution did not seek to block defensive weapons.

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  • Davis Rabbi shares Reform Judaism Movement’s Statement on Starvation in Gaza

    [Note: There are three parts to this post: an "unauthorized" preface by Alan Hirsch (his word), a message from Rabbi Jeremy Simons to Davis Congregation Bet Haverim (shared with permission), and then "Reform Judaism Movement’s (URJ+) Statement on Starvation in Gaza," which Rabbi Simons shared with his congregation].

     

    Unauthorized preface by Alan Hirsch

    Please read carefully both statements beyond headline and first paragraphs. These are likely “Straussian texts” after Maimonides – i.e. contain nuances and facts that may challenge the topic sentence.  This I conjecture reflects the divergence in opinion on Israel within the liberal (‘reform’) part of Religious Jewish community that its leadership has to straddle.  I believe the fact it only once references Netanyahu between two of them – and does not note his conduct of the war– is interesting. Don’t jump to conclusions- read closely and decide for yourself.

     

    Message from Rabbi Simons:

    Dear CBH members & friends,

    I write to you having returned from vacation this morning. Like many of you, I have spent the last few weeks reading about the increasingly dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The situation is complex; however, one thing is not: allowing people to starve to death, especially children, is wrong. There are those, including cabinet members of the current Israeli government, who say the lives of any of the 20 remaining hostages are worth more than those of all Gazans combined. While I believe Hamas bears responsibility for this disaster, there is a difference: Hamas is evil, and Israel is not. We ought to hold Israel to a higher standard. Israel, and Israel alone, has the power to allow or prohibit aid. To keep hundreds of tons of food in storage while people die of hunger miles away is indefensible. I say that not because I hate Israel–God forbid–but because I love it. I will not allow Zionism to be redefined by bigots and zealots who say, proudly, that Jewish lives are the only one’s worth saving. Condemning a country’s actions and policies is not the same as condemning a country. Tochecha (rebuke) is necessary, as is demanding immediate humanitarian aid and an end to this war that will see the return of the remaining hostages. Below is a statement from the URJ that I urge you to read.

    Rabbi Jeremy Simons
    Davis Congregation Bet Haverim

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  • The General Plan won’t be a Genial Plan

     

    Screenshot 2025-07-30 8.22.55 PM"The goal is to manipulate

    Heavy hands to intimidate

    Snuff out the very idea of clarity

    Strangle your longing for truth and trust

    Choke wisdom sapience and prudence

    The war economy is inviolable violently

    Suppresses all intelligence that conflicts

    With the stakes of those who drive it."  - 

    From "Melodie is a Wound" by: Laetitia Sadier, Tim John Gane. Performed by Stereolab. Album: Instant Holograms On Metal Film. Released: 2025.  https://youtu.be/Nndpg90P2O8?

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