by Lili Ma

Courtesy Sonoma Independent

PG&E’s sudden July 21 announcement to initiate what it called a Marshall Plan level effort to spend more than $15 billion to bury 1,000 miles of fire-causing overhead power lines a year for ten years marked a stark reversal of the utility giant’s argument that such an effort would be impossibly expensive. 

Potential liability for the Dixie Fire prompted the company’s recently hired CEO, Patricia “Patti” Poppe, to unveil the plan.“We know that we have long argued that undergrounding was too expensive,” Chief Executive Patti Poppe said. “This is where we say it’s too expensive not to underground. Lives are on the line.”

The announcement came two months after the Sonoma Independent, allied with the Davis Community Vision Alliance, launched a grassroots Bury Power Lines Now! Campaign.

The effort began with this article in the Sonoma Independent describing how climate change-induced high winds, hot weather and drought have caused overhead power lines in a relatively tiny area of the state to spark four of the six most destructive fires in the state since 2017.

(more…)

UC Berkeley just agreed to pay $86 Million for impacts on the City of Berkeley.

UC Davis, in comparison, agreed to contribute significantly less to the City of Davis –  $2.2 million, mostly in city and county transit infrastructure and analysis in 2018.

By Colin Walsh

Davis and UC Davis are like sister cities with a razor thin border drawn between them that runs the path of the old Lincoln Highway – 1st street, A Street and Russell Blvd. Each side of the line has its own police department, fire department, administration, and tax implications. But, what happens on one side of the imaginary line has impacts and repercussions on the other side.

No tax revenues flow from UC Davis to the City of Davis.

So what are the impacts of the 40,000 UC Davis students on Davis? What are the impacts of having o the fifth largest employers in California nestled in close with just an imaginary dividing line? What are the impacts of UC Davis’s 23,000+ faculty and staff?

It was announced last month that the City of Berkeley is to receive $86 million in a settlement to pay for the impacts from a “construction project on the northeast edge of campus” and “continued increases in UC Berkeley enrollment. The money will be paid “over the next 16 years to cover the city’s added costs in police and fire safety and other services.” (link)

(more…)

By Eileen Samitz

Yolo County Spay and Neuter Group (YCSNG) is asking for donations to help make a dream come true.  A dream that will help the entire community!

Yolo County Spay and Neuter Group is a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal welfare organization and is solely donation based and volunteer run. 100% of all funds raised go to animal care and welfare and offers a variety of services including trap-neuter-return for community cats ensuring health and welfare, low cost spay/neuter for both feral and rescue cats and dogs, and adoptions for animals that otherwise would remain abandoned or be euthanized. In 2020 YCSNG adopted out over 200 animals to loving, forever homes!

From its inception, a primary goal of the organization has been to own and operate its own low-cost mobile spay/neuter clinic.

It is exciting that this dream can now become reality with the help of community members! The organization is asking the public to help by donating monetary contributions (see how below).  The group’s leadership has identified a fully functional, well stocked, mobile veterinary vehicle that is for sale for $180,000. This fundraiser is time-sensitive because the agreement to secure the funding was limited to 90 days and there are 75 days remaining and complete the purchase, so donations are needed as soon as possible.

The clinic would be open at least three days a week, and it would be used to spay or neuter up to 30 animals a day. “This type of fully equipped unit is uniquely challenging to locate.  This is especially true for one that, like the one we have been offered, is reasonably priced and in excellent condition,” explained Amanda Hartman the YCSNG Board President.  “There is such an overwhelming need for reliable low-cost services.  The health and well-being of the entire region would benefit if we can get more dogs and cats spayed and neutered. This mobile unit is crucial to making that goal a reality.”

To make a tax-deductible donation please make your check to “Yolo County Spay/Neuter Clinic”, and mail your check to:

Yolo County Spay/Neuter Group
P.O Box 577
Woodland, CA 95776

Or donate on-line via:

1)  PayPal email ycfspayneuter@gmail.com 

Or

2) Venmo-Amanda-hartman-40 (with last digits of phone number 6585)

For more information, please see our website at ycfspayneuter.com or contact Amanda Hartman at (530) 383-6585 or email ycfspayneuter@gmail.com

Davisite Exclusive

City of Davis Claims $691,000 for Unpaid Bills

Defendant Claims Legal Theory of “Unwashed Hands”

By David L. Johnson

In a disputed controversy involving the once-proposed Davis Innovation Center, the City of Davis has filed a $691,000 lawsuit against Binning Ranch Holding Co., SKK Developments and Sotiris Kolokotronis, the owner of SKK Developments, a major residential and commercial real estate developer in Sacramento.

The city claims the defendants failed to pay the city for services related to the project’s application, including costs for environmental consultants, planning, engineering, building inspection and legal services.

The lawsuit, filed in Yolo County Superior Court, states that under a 2014 agreement with the city, the defendants agreed “to pay the City all costs incurred, both direct and indirect…associated with the review and processing of the Application….”

Jason Hoffman, an attorney for Sotiris Kolokotronis and SKK Developments denies the claim and indicates that all specified damages in the lawsuit were caused by the city, incorporating, in part, a defensive legal theory of Unwashed Hands. This theory bars relief to a party that has engaged in inequitable behavior, including fraud, deceit or bad faith related to the subject of that party's claim.

(more…)

by David Abramson

Background

Davis area folks: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year(TM) is nearly upon us…no not that holiday!!

I’m referring to Dumpster Christmas, Raccoon Holiday, Dumpster Hanukkah, Trash Treasure Tidings, or as known in many secular or agnostic Davis/Yolo traditions.

Friday July 30th- Sunday August 1,
peaking on Saturday the 31st
August 30th-Sept 1 also peaking on the last day of the month!

Ring in Dumpster Christmas!!

*see historical Dumpster Christmas Photo Gallery

There will be couches, beds, bookshelves, and frames!
There will be Versaci and other types of clothes, shoes, and other wears!
There will be packaged food, spices, and kitchen supplies galore!
There will be laser printers!
There will be phone charging cables!
There will be musical instruments and art!
There might be air fryers (2 years streak going)!
There will be antiques and people loading antiques off in trailers to sell at antique shops for hundreds of dollars!
There will be magic and manifestation!
There will be untold gems that come once in a blue moon!
All…thrown…into…dumpsters

What to Do About it?

You have the answer in your own way!

This “guide” was drafted by a longtime celebrator of Dumpster Christmas, but please please feel free to make it better, do it better, collaborate, and engage in a way that makes sense for you.

Please add your needs/offerings and share this document with your network!!

🎁Dumpster Christmas Mutual Aid Organizer🎁

Contents: Needs, Offerings, Places to Dumpster, and Rideshare

Some Simple Actions & Ideas (please add your own flavors)

1.  take what you need!

2.  distribute what your community needs

3. pull out useful things from dumpsters that you aren’t going to take and set them aside and/or create a on-the-spot donation station if one doesn’t exist

4. Document and take pictures (then upload them here)!!

5. Wear a homemade badge or nametag to identify yourself as a member of the ‘Davis Waste Recovery Network’ (is anyone good at drawing raccoons???)

Other ideas:

-map out who is already working on this kind of thing and potential partnerships for distribution and transport (e.g. Davis Night Market | Freedge | Davis Bike Collective(?))

-Organize an “awards ceremony”, write-ups, create content and culture locally to highlight the apartment complexes who did great, and which ones flubbed. Take lots of pictures of the amazing stuff that is getting thrown away and what you’ve recovered.

-What else?

 

Safety and Security

You are solely liable for any activity that you partake in during the beautiful holiday of Dumpster Christmas. All info in this guide is simply for informational purposes only. 

Be safe, stay hydrated, wear gloves, watch out for sharp objects, be mindful of your surroundings, and be courteous to those who are moving out.

Do a proper inspection of any furniture for bed bugs (how-to article), mold, and structural integrity, and make sure appliances are in safe and working condition.

When you are finished with an area, leave it cleaner than you found it!! Do not block roadways

 

Legality of Dumpster Diving

 I will not give any legal advice here, but if you google search “legality of dumpster diving” or read this article, you can see various perspectives and landmark cases. Decisions have largely ruled in favor of Dumpster Divers and Good Samaritans, including the Supreme Court case of “California vs Greenwood”.

 

David’s Note
Sometimes an apartment manager will ask you to leave. I usually don’t have that much of an issue. note: my experience is of a white person dumpstering in Davis. 

My partner has experienced discrimination as a person of color while dumpster diving in Davis and she recommends that if you are a POC, you go alongside some white friends. It’s a shame that this has to even be a thing, but it’s the world we live in, even in Davis :/ 

I normally have a conversation with the apartment managers and let them know that I’m from the Davis Waste Recovery Network and that I am there documenting waste for a report on move-out waste. Most of them want to be known for doing the right thing.

Usually apartment managers just want to know what you’re doing. Be kind and respectful…this could be an opportunity to build bridges to apartment complexes and no longer be complicit in the insane wastefulness of move-out. Maybe they will voluntarily put up a donation station.

Do what you feel comfortable with personally. Nobody can choose that for you except yourself.

You can have an apartment manager call David Abramson at 530-902-8223 (informational purposes only), and you can also reach me at this number at any time if you have any other issues or questions. 

If you are asked to leave or experience any discrimination, please call or text David Abramson at 530-902-8223 and/or add that information to the ‘Places to Dumpster’ in the Mutual Aid Organizer.

And happy dumpstering!!!

 

Dumpster Christmas Mutual Aid Organizer spreadsheet
(add your needs, offerings, and support capabilities)

Please share this guide and organizer with anyone who might have a need or an offering and likes to get down with trash treasures!! Happy holiday!

by Alan Hirsch aka the Davis Lorax  Alan@davislorax.org

I hope people can help save Sutter trees by signing the change.org petition to support the appeal…and passing the petition  on to your friends with a note: http://chng.it/mft8fNRGmF

This is the story in 7 bullet points:

•  205 trees to be cut at Sutter Hospital unless the Davis City Council affirms a citizen appeal.
• Hospital "saves on solar” by cutting trees instead of putting solar on roof, the empty lot north of the hospital, or the treeless parking lots north of clinic.
• City OKed Phase I of the Plan in 2019 without notifying the community.
• City claims tree cutting will “improve the neighborhood character.”
• Ignores science showing healing nature of a tree-filled environment.
• City illegally issued permit when it bypassed Tree Commission.
• Sutter may already be killing the trees now by stopping watering.

(more…)