Month: November 2008

Looking to Local, Regional, and National Transportation Goals

Looking to Local, Regional, and National Transportation Goals

By David GreenwaldNovember 25, 200868 comments

There was an interesting note in the Davis Enterprise yesterday about the rising Capitol Corridor ridership. Ridership jumped by nearly 20% over this time last year. Truth is, iti’s the 10th consecutive year that ridership has increased.

Gas prices are only one factor in this equation, congested roadways and stressful commutes have played a role as well according to the article.

One of the huge keys to our future will be solving our transportation puzzle. There are some who believe that Americans will never give up their cards. They might be right. The real question is whether you can get them to drive less in cars that are more energy efficient.

Would the Gang Injuction Serve Us Well In the Case of the Amtrak Beating?

Would the Gang Injuction Serve Us Well In the Case of the Amtrak Beating?

By David GreenwaldNovember 23, 2008189 comments
imageYolo County

I post this letter to the editor that appeared a few days ago in the Woodland Daily Democrat. I am not certain I agree with all of the letter. But there has always been something about the case described above that has not sit well with me.

Five of the youths were charged for crimes. Four of them were found guilty. That’s of course the headline. It is interesting that while a lot of the news accounts covered the guilty verdicts, a few of them did not note that they were acquitted of the most serious charge–attempted murder.

In fact, from what I see, only the Sacramento Bee reported that they were acquitted of the attempted murder charges.

Change We Can Believe In

Change We Can Believe In

By David GreenwaldNovember 22, 2008172 comments

I am sure this will get me into a lot of hot water with those on the left. But so far so good with Barack Obama. I am not going to argue he’s not going to make a good deal of mistakes along the way. What I am going to say is I like his governing philosophy so far. He is bringing in high profile people, who he doesn’t necessarily agree with on everything, people with stature, experience, people who can challenge his assumptions. The biggest flaw of the Bush administration is that Bush never allowed his core assumptions to be challenged.

I will grant anyone that on paper his foreign policy team should have been able to do that–Powell, Rumsfeld, and Rice should have been formidable. However, Powell was marginalized from the beginning, and everyone fell into dangerous group-think. Under other conditions, Rice might have been more effective. So naming a strong team on paper is no guarantee. However, that’s where the mentality of the leader comes into play. Bush never had a day of intellectual curiosity or philosophical doubt in his life. Obama from all accounts likes to be challenged, likes to consider opposing viewpoints, and I think that mindset will serve him well as long as he remains true to it.

School District Considers Shifting Elections to Even Years

School District Considers Shifting Elections to Even Years

By David GreenwaldNovember 19, 200820 comments
imageSchools

In light of the very low turnout of the 2007 off-year elections, there were a number of proposals to both increase voter turnout and save money. One idea that Freddie Oakley put out there was to go to either a heavily mail-in election, where there would only be a very small number of polling stations available and the majority of voters would simply mail-in their ballots.

While this was not a bad idea, the idea that I favored is one that I had seen areas like San Luis Obispo go to, which was to consolidate all of their elections onto the even year.

Former California Supreme Court Court Justice Cruz Reynoso Named to Obama Agency Review Team

Former California Supreme Court Court Justice Cruz Reynoso Named to Obama Agency Review Team

By David GreenwaldNovember 19, 200816 comments

According to a release from UC Davis, Cruz Reynoso, professor emeritus of law at the University of California, Davis, has been appointed to President-elect Barack Obama’s Justice and Civil Rights Agency Review Team. Reynoso will help lead a review of key federal departments, agencies and commissions, as well as the White House. The review will provide the Obama-Biden Transition Team with information needed to make policy, budgetary and personnel decisions prior to Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

Reynoso is an internationally known civil rights leader, the first Latino to sit on the California Supreme Court, and a 2000 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. He has served as associate general counsel to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, as a member of the Select Commission on Immigration and Human Rights, and as vice chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He joined the faculty at UC Davis in 2001.

Councilmember Heystek’s Purchase of Affordable Housing Done Properly

Councilmember Heystek’s Purchase of Affordable Housing Done Properly

By David GreenwaldNovember 18, 200882 comments

At the request of one of the councilmembers, the city of Davis investigated the purchase of a home by Councilmember Lamar Heystek. After review of the documentation, the city was satisfied that the Councilmember’s home was purchased through the standard processing steps.

A September 9, 2008, an item appeared in the consent calendar pertaining to the purchase of Councilmember Lamar Heystek’s home in the redevelopment area of the city.

Davis Police Officer Arrested In Sacramento

Davis Police Officer Arrested In Sacramento

By David GreenwaldNovember 17, 2008311 comments
imageCity of Davis

Davis Police Officer Antoine Feher, 26, was arrested on the evening of Friday, September 12, 2008, outside the Park Ultra Lounge Night Club in Sacramento for a violation of California Penal Code 647(F), public intoxication.

The officer on the scene described Feher in a police report as having slurred speech, being unsteady and belligerent, while having a “strong odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath.”

Officer Feher was asked numerous times to leave the premises by security guards and officers, but he refused. He remained belligerent and argumentative and was taken into custody for public intoxication.

Soaking the Ratepayers on Water Already

Soaking the Ratepayers on Water Already

By David GreenwaldNovember 16, 200896 comments

I was just reading Bob Dunning’s most recent column in the Davis Enterprise. He writes about a man named “Glen” who is having trouble absorbing his new city utility bill. We have covered this issue before, but it bears another examination. What the city did with a simple change of methodology is unconscionable.

The Vanguard discussed this issue back in September, but the human cost here is extraordinary. What has happened is that the city has gone to water usage as a means by which to gauge sewer rates. If one proceeds carefully and cautiously, that is probably a decent approximation of sewer usage. Even then there are some problems that develop from such a methodology. For instance, it will over-estimate sewer usage for people with large gardens who use a lot of water to water their plants–water that does not then go into the sewer.