Vanguard Radio April 29: Senator Mark Leno
April 29, 2009 show – The Vanguard interviewed Senator Mark Leno on his universal health care legislation,…
Commentary: Budget Cuts Will Impact All Levels of Service, Everywhere
As I often do, I was scanning through articles this morning trying to get a sense of what is going on not only here in Davis and Yolo County, but across the region. One thing that caught my eye was the Sacramento County District Attorney’s memo to their county administrator. It reminded me a bit of the Yolo County Sheriff’s reaction to our proposed budget cuts.
While Yolo County has to close a twenty-four million dollar deficit, one third of its operating dollars, Sacramento County is looking to close about a 187 million dollar deficit for the next fiscal year. There has been persistent talk that Sacramento County will have to declare bankruptcy.
Davis Should Be Leading the Way on Climate Change
Instead it Lags Behind Many Other Communities in Terms of Current and Proposed Policies –
Last week the city of Davis discussed new policies for reducing GHG emissions on new developments. This week, the Climate Action Team (CAT) will meet to discuss its recommendations for dealing with climate change. The Vanguard does not believe that either of these policies go nearly far enough. Davis developed a reputation in the 1970s as being innovators of environmental and green policies, but has in the past decade fallen considerably behind many other communities on this front.
Last week’s discussion typified the problem as the city staff report showed that none of the recent developments that will account for much of the new growth in Davis over the next five years comes close to meeting even the city of Davis’ modest environmental goals. And in fact, Davis’ goals are trumped by what cities like San Francisco have already accomplished.
Local Schools Poised To Take Huge Hit if the Propositions Do Not Pass
As we discussed at the end of March, Proposition 1B ensures that schools receive $9.3 billion over time, so that the money cut during the current budget crisis is not permanent. The payments to schools will come out of the newly created rainy day fund, but not until 2011-2012 when the state’s fiscal outlook is expected to improve. However, in order for that to occur, there must actually be a rainy day fund. This means that Prop 1B is contingent upon Prop 1A passing. If both Prop 1A and Prop 1B pass, it would guarantee $8 billion in school payments.
As it turns out that is just the tip of the iceberg for education. To see that we need to do a little math. In March, it was announced that the state was already $8 billion in the hole despite the budget agreement from February 20, 2009. Frankly, it may be worse than that by now, but let us assume that is the case. The ballot propositions provide for a variety of shifting and borrowing on monies. If they do not pass, the state will have to find another $7 billion. So the total impact will be roughly $15 billion that the state has to find.
Vanguard Radio will Host Senator Mark Leno on April 29
Vanguard Radio will host California Senator Mark Leno on its radio show April 29, 2009 from 6 to 7 pm on KDRT 95.7 FM. Senator Leno will be discussing his pending universal health care legislation, The California Universal Health Care Act of 2009 (SB 810).
The California Universal Health Care Act of 2009 would guarantee comprehensive health care benefits to every California resident and streamline claims and reimbursements, which will save billions of dollars in health care administrative costs.
Vanguard Examines EIR on Wildhorse Ranch Project
The City of Davis has posted the Draft EIR (Environmental Impact Report) for the Wildhorse Ranch Proposal. The Vanguard to this point in time has taken no position on the project itself. However, the Vanguard expresses some concern about this EIR for the overall goals within our community. The public is encouraged to read the full report for themselves.
The Vanguard in general has opposed new development on the periphery of the city in an effort to prevent sprawl, protect farmland, and protect the environment. However, we do not and have never taken a no growth position. If there is to be growth, it should be done with proper density to ensure that a minimum amount of land is paved over. Moreover, given the future concerns about climate change, new development ought be done in a sustainable and environmentally innovative manner. The early model for such innovative sustainable development would be Village Homes.
Brief Conversation with Assemblymember Mariko Yamada
The Vanguard caught up with first term Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada at the California Democratic Convention in Sacramento yesterday. Yamada serves the 8th Assembly District representing Davis and much of Yolo County and the Northern and Eastern Portions of Solano County.
Yamada was asked whether it was different being at the convention now as an Assemblymember.
“It is and it isn’t. It’s different of course because I have a different role. But it’s the same because I’m sitting here with all the delegation and I find that to be the proper place to be.”
Governor Candidate Gavin Newsom Address Truman Club in Sacramento
On Friday afternoon, the Truman Club had a Luncheon in Sacramento that was supposed to feature the four major Democratic candidates for Governor. But a strange thing happened along the way. First, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa did not come. Second, Lt. Governor John Garamendi announced earlier this week that instead of running for Governor where he was trailing badly in the polls, he would run in the special election in the 10th Congressional District, where Ellen Tauscher had been appointed by President Obama as the undersecretary for arms control and international security. She has not yet faced confirmation hearings in the Senate.
That left two likely candidates for Governor, the announced candidate, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the presumptive front runner former Governor and current Attorney General Jerry Brown. However, around twenty minutes prior to the event, it was announced that Jerry Brown was a no-show and Yolo County Democratic Central Committee Chair Bob Schelen spoke briefly in his stead.
Toughest Ten: Matt Rexroad
This is a brand new feature on the Vanguard. Every week, we will put a local official in the spotlight and ask them ten tough questions with follow ups. The goal is to press them on the tough issues of the day. We will also be tallying a running scorecard to let the public know which officials were willing to go under the gun and which officials refused to. This week we start things off with County Supervisor Matt Rexroad. The interview follows.
1. The County is facing a $24 million budget deficit which represents over one-third of the general fund budget—what could you have done sooner to prevent this catastrophe?
Davis Approves Green Policies, But Is It Too Late?
The goal the city of Davis has set is to bring its greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels. One mechanism by which to meet this goal is to raise environmental standards on new houses. These things include the financing of solar panels, solar and tankless water heaters, energy efficient windows, better wall and roof insulation, more efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, among others.
While Davis has prided itself on being green, Davis has fallen behind others in terms of green technology and innovations. City staff though is concerned that Davis may be moving ahead of the rest of the region on these issues:
Sheriff’s Department Cries Foul Over Proposed Budget Cuts
We have not covered this nearly enough, but Yolo County faces what is now a 24 million dollar budget deficit for next year. How big is that number? It represents over one third (36 percent to be precise) of the County’s General fund.
The proposal put forth by the county was to lay off 111 workers–a number that includes 53 from the Sheriff-Coroner’s Office.
Guest Commentary: What Water Shortage?
by Carolyn Hinshaw –
by Carolyn Hinshaw – In February the Governor and state water officials declared a drought emergency in California and urged all state residents to cut their water use by 20 percent. What has Davis, the city that claims to be more environmentally aware than other California cities, done to meet this challenge? Unfortunately, very little.
Why has no city leader, councilperson, or commissioner made this his cause, or taken any action on it? Are we to believe that Davis is immune to the water shortages the rest of the state is experiencing?
Vanguard Responds to Puntillo’s Fire Op-Ed
When the Davis Enterprise came out against the four-person engine company, one knew that it would provoke a response within both the community and among supporters of the fire department. When it coincided with revelations about the number of firefighters who made over 100K, one recognized that the urgency for a good strong response was going to increase.
So it was little surprise to see that former Davis City Councilmember Ted Puntillo, a strong supporter of the fire department would respond. Last week, Mr. Puntillo authored an Op-Ed in the Davis Enterprise entitled, “Fire Engine Staffing Saves Lives.”
Proposed Power Project Draws Concerns for Residents and Environmental Groups
The Transmission Agency of North California (TANC) is proposing the development of a project that would include new and upgraded transmission lines, substations, and related facilities designed to provide new access to renewable energy resources in the west, including northern California. The transmission line towers will stand approximately 100 to 150 feet in height and will cover up to 2,000 square feet at the base. Four to ten towers will be built per each linear mile of power line.
The proposal includes three alternatives routes for the project–all of which would cross through Yolo County. One proposed route (Central 3) would traverse the western portion of the county along the west side of the Capay Valley, before passing west of the City of Winters. A second route (Central 2) would pass near the community of Knights Landing, as well as directly east of the cities of Woodland and Davis. A third route (Central 1) would traverse the eastern portion of Yolo County, through Elkhorn and around the City of West Sacramento.
How Can We Make City-Union Contracts More Transparent?
We have consistently talked about opening up the current ongoing negotiations with the city’s bargaining units to greater transparency. However, the state law makes that prospect difficult.
California laws makes it a virtual requirement to conduct bargaining in closed session, away from public scrutiny. The problem as we have seen is that once the contract is negotiated in private, it ends up as a consent agenda item for ratification.
District Catches More Savings on Stadium
If there has ever been a project fraught with more misunderstanding and misperceptions than the DHS football stadium, I am simply unaware of it.
A few weeks ago the school district approved a funding stream for the district to borrow against. For the one billionth time, the way education funding works, this money can only be used for facilities never for the classroom. There is no way possible for the district to do anything with this money other than what it chose to do–use it on facilities.
The Public is in For a Rude Awakening on Salaries
Ever since the Davis Enterprise ran the story on employee salaries that reported that there were 72 employees receiving over $100,000 in salary and overtime in 2008 and that 38 of those were firefighters, it has been very interesting to read the letters to the editor in the Davis Enterprise.
The latest such letter was yesterday from Dennis Westcot.
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Vanguard Radio April 15: Health Care
April 15, 2009 show – Jessica Rothhaar from Health Access joined the Vanguard to discuss health care…
Vanguard Radio April 8: Reporter Loses Job for Organizing Union
April 8, 2009 show – Sara Steffens was a reporter working for the Contra Costa Times. She…