I’m writing to encourage everyone in District 3 to vote in the upcoming election for the Davis City Council. While Davis is lucky to have two good candidates competing for the open seat, I’m supporting Francesca Wright. I’ve known her for over 40 years, and during that whole time, she’s been actively engaged in building community for the purpose of improving people’s lives.

Here in Davis, where she’s lived for more than 25 years, Francesca’s been an effective leader who has successfully brought positive change to our community. Among many other examples, Francesca led the effort to improve public safety in Davis, with the result we now have an independent auditor in the Davis Police Department who ensures officers enforce the law fairly and without bias. She also led the effort to address housing and mental health issues more effectively in our community, with the result that we now have a Department of Housing and Social Services here that focuses on reducing homelessness, increasing the affordable housing supply, and ensuring our residents with mental health issues can find appropriate care.

One of Francesca’s defining traits is her collaborative approach and respect for all points of view. She’s a skilled facilitator with a strong commitment to finding common ground and solutions that reflect the collective voices of the community. She brings vision coupled with direct experience in identifying and implementing concrete actions to achieve these shared goals. These are the qualities we need in our City Council so that Davis can continue to grow and support all of our residents.

For these reasons, I urge you to vote for Francesca Wright for the Davis City Council. For information about her platform and priorities for building our community, you can view her website at www.wrightfordavis.org.

Ginny Puddefoot

(From press release) Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza has announced he will not seek re-election for a 5^th term in March of 2024. Provenza was first elected to the Davis Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees in 2003 and later joined the Yolo County Board of Supervisors in 2008. When asked about his decision, Provenza cited his desire to spend more time with his extended family, especially his wife, Donna, his children, and four grandchildren. He also plans to travel, and to eventually explore new ways of serving the public. At the end of his term, Provenza will have been in public service for 45 years.

During his time as a County Supervisor, Provenza achieved several notable accomplishments including saving the Yolo Crisis Nursery in 2014 (the front door of the nursery is named after Provenza for his efforts) and obtaining millions of dollars for direct services to children and families, those without housing, and the aged.  He is proud that the Board recently approved a new South Davis Library. Provenza also worked hard for environmental justice and sponsored Yolo County’s resolution to set a goal of net negative carbon by 2030. Most importantly, Provenza served the day-to-day needs of his constituents by tirelessly representing their interests.

“There are many initiatives I’m working on, and I’m excited about what can be achieved over the next two years,” said Provenza. “I plan to spend the next 20 months working diligently on behalf of the residents of Davis and Yolo County. I intend to go out strong.”

Provenza went on to praise the strength of the community and partnerships between the cities and the County. “No supervisor stands alone in their accomplishments,” said Provenza. “We are fortunate to have five outstanding supervisors, an excellent city council, and the most dedicated and hardworking citizen advocates anywhere. These relationships contribute to addressing essential needs such as the opening of Paul’s Place in Davis, critical wildfire prevention at Putah Creek, and promotion of housing for persons with mental disabilities.”

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Note: This letter was originally published in the Davis Enterprise and appears here at the request of the author.

I’m writing to enthusiastically support Francesca Wright for City Council. (I wish I could vote for her but I’m in the fourth district.) As another co-founder of Yolo People Power, I’ve had the chance to work with Francesca and have seen her respond to numerous community issues thoughtfully, strategically, creatively, and successfully. Much has been written in this paper and elsewhere about the value that Donna Neville’s experience on city commissions, etc. would provide, which surely is not to be discredited. But a lack of the same type of experience may be equally qualifying if it serves to free a candidate to consider a wide range of possibilities, not just those assumed to be the “right” ones, or as another letter writer put it: “in the box”. Wherever she has shown up I’ve seen Francesca invite discussion, listen, encourage group interaction, and then, collaboratively, figure out how to utilize our resources to tackle issues, especially where there has been no established roadmap to success. She would be great on the council. I urge my fellow Davisites who can, to vote for Francesca. She really is the “Wright” choice!

Nora Oldwin
Davis