Vanguard Radio November 11: Author David Swanson
November 11, 2009 show – David Swanson whose bestseller, Daybreak, is among the top sellers at Amazon,…
Contracts Likely To Not Produce the Savings We Need
Word trickled out prior to the Tuesday’s meeting that several of the bargaining groups had reached agreement with the city in principle on new contracts. As it turns out that news was premature, but it seems very likely that in the coming weeks those contracts will be finalized.
There was suggestion on Tuesday however, that those contracts would fall well short of even the modest savings proposed by the council in June which placed the figure at 1.25 million dollars. In fact, City Finance Director Paul Navazio indicated that there might be a 350,000 dollar shortfall in the projected savings based on the current trajectory of discussions.
Council Says No To Mace Parke Project
Commentary: We Need to Change the Way We Finance Affordable Housing Projects –
Commentary: We Need to Change the Way We Finance Affordable Housing Projects – The Davis City Council had previously approved the Mace Parke project on a land dedication site at 2990 Fifth Street as a residential and office mixed-use subdivision with 29 affordable ownership units and just under 10,000 square feet of non-profit office space. It would have been developed by CHOC under the community land trust ownership model where CHOC would maintain ownership of the land that the project is developed upon through a community trust, and would lease individual lots to the buyers/owners of the single-family detached homes.
CHOC came back before the council on Tuesday asking that the City and the Redevelopment agency approve them to proceed with the project that does not use the community land trust model.
Shell Game Produces 400,000 Dollars For Battalion Chief Under the Guise of Cost-Savings
Fire Chief To Retire, Council Narrowly Votes for Battalion Chief Model in Process That Councilmembers Greenwald and Heystek Call “Deceptive” –
At last night’s city council meeting the discussion on reorganization of the fire department began with an announcement by City Manager Bill Emlen that this matter has taken on a new urgency as three top positions in the fire department, including the Fire Chief have gone vacant due to retirements. For much of the rest of the night, City Manager Bill Emlen pushed the issue of the Battalion Chief Model forward arguing that it is a necessary change from a management standpoint that will enable more effective deployment than the current model allows. He wrapped the conversation within the guise of cost-savings that would be exposed by the end of the evening as nothing more than a shell game.
However, that did not stop the council majority, a trio that has received tens of thousands in contributions from the fire fighters, at least twenty of whom were sitting in the audience to make their numbers and presence felt by the council, from voting by a narrow 3-2 margin to proceed looking into the reorganization.
Moderation Rules For Vanguard
Two weeks ago the Vanguard for the first time instituted a registration system. The system has not…
Staff Report on Fire Staffing Misleading and Confusing
On Sunday, the Vanguard a full story on the proposed staffing changes for the fire department which includes the fire department getting their long-sought after battalion chief position. We noted several problems at that time with the staff report and the combination of two separate changes to create the illusion of cash savings. However, we have with further examination and upon further information, there are additional problems with the staff report and the accounting.
We will go through several of them here to re-emphasis the points ahead of tonight’s meeting.
Finance and Buget Commission Continues To Model Fiscal Impacts of Development
Last month the city of Davis’ Budget and Finance commission began to look at the city’s model which is used to evaluate the fiscal impact of new development. Last month they discussed the overall model and the various assumptions and interpretations of the model.
From last month’s discussions, there are three types of fiscal impacts. There are projects that are always positive in terms of fiscal impacts, we could think of these as economic development projects. There are also projects that will always have a negative impact, for example a zero tax affordable project will always have a negative fiscal impact.
Vanguard Study: City’s Affordable Housing Program Falls Short
The City of Davis has often boasted of its innovative and far-reaching affordable housing program. However, as we saw in the early part of this decade, that program has often been abused and the subject of serious impropriety and corruption at the city level. The current DACHA problem is yet another stain on the city’s ability to provide low income people with affordable housing.
The Vanguard has spent a good amount of time on and off over the past year examining the core of the city’s affordable housing program. The bottom line is that Davis’ program fails to provide housing at an acceptable level for people making less than 36,000 dollars per year. Subsequently except for Federal Section 8 Vouchers, the core of the city’s affordable housing program is aimed people making between 36,300 and 58,100 dollars per year. Even for those residents, we might question as to how “affordable” the rental housing is. What follows is a look strictly at rental housing, but we will probably do a follow up for ownership housing.
City Recommends Firefighters Get Their Long-Sought Battalion Chief Model
Move will Actually Cost the City Nearly 200,000 Additional Dollars Annually –
In June, the city received a report from the consulting firm Citygate on that looked into ways the city could restructure the fire department’s staffing. In most ways, the report was a disappointment in that it failed to recommend any major reform that would result in real cost savings.
However, even within that report, there were still a few items of interest including the fact that an increased relationship with UC Davis, along with a more realistic response time requirement of 7 minutes rather than the current 5 minute standard, would result in no need for a fourth fire station for the foreseeable future short of a large amount of growth in the north of Davis–the result probably of fully developing both Covell Village and Cannery Park.
H1N1 Vaccine Shortages in Yolo County Lead to Concern and Questions
Given concerns surrounding the H1N1, the supply of vaccine is not keeping up with the need to distribute it to high risk groups. For whatever reason, Yolo County has received less of its fairshare of vaccine compared with surrounding counties such as Sacramento or Solano County.
This has led many in the public to question the distribution system. Some have suggested that for the most part the only kids being vaccinated were the kids of doctors and nurses. Officials for their part are that the problem was the small quantity received and the need to get the vaccine to specific high risk groups. They are hopeful that the statewide distribution system problems will be rectified and a supply of vaccine will become available to the general population.
City-UCD Student Liaison Commission 2009-2010 Goals
By Chris Dietrich
Commission Chair and ASUCD Vice President –
The City-UCD Student Liaison Commission meeting met on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 to discuss their plans for the 2009-2010 year. With some new and excited student members, the Commission has put together some broad and ambitious goals that will improve student and community relations within our city.
Davis MoveOn Takes Health Care Fight to the Streets
by Diane Evans –
Davis MoveOn Council joined 700 cities across America when they organized a high impact Stand Up for Health Care Rally at the Amtrak Train Station Tuesday November 3, 2009 at noon.
Davis residents greeted people coming off the Amtrak Train with chants demanding Health Care for All Now. They flooded the Davis restaurant area with more chants calling for the Public Option. Under bright sunlight, the public saw the determined and compassionate faces of those who need health care and those who support health care for all.
A Look Back at the Housing Element Sites
Much has been made of the fact that the recently rejected Wildhorse Ranch Project is only ranked No.22 currently and was originally ranked as low as No.27 by the Housing Element Steering Committee (HESC). The voters rejected Wildhorse Ranch (Measure P) by a wide margin. Given the housing market, it seems unlikely the voters will approve another Measure J project in the near future.
However, it would be helpful to take another look at the other potential housing sites. The city is likely going to have to focus on infill sites in the near future to meet whatever housing needs it has. Recall that there are roughly 500 already approved but not built units already in town. In addition, there will be just under 500 faculty homes built on the West Village site to go along with around 1000 student housing units.
Vanguard Radio November 4: Family Courts in Crisis
November 4, 2009 show – This week we discussed the crisis that faces family courts. Kathleen Russell…
Clarification to “What’s Cooking at the Senior Citizens Commission”
By E. Roberts Musser –
Apparently city staff follows the Davis Vanguard pretty closely, and provided the following information as clarification to my article on the Vanguard entitled “What‘s Cooking at the Senior Citizens Commission”. David Greenwald should feel flattered his blog is of such importance to city government!
“The Davis Senior Center will continue to be designated as a Focal Point, despite the fact that it will no longer be receiving grant funds for the Information & Assistance function beyond June 2010. The Focal Point designation is based upon the site meeting the following criteria:
No on P Able To Win With Low-Cost Campaign Effort
Yesterday’s Vanguard analyzed the political climate that played a considerable role in the large victory for the opposition to the Wildhorse Ranch project. However, the subtext of the election is the huge discrepancy in the amount of money spent. Current estimates place the final campaign effort in support of P at around 375,000 dollars. While this is considerably less than the reported 600,000 dollars spent in 2005 by Measure X and estimated actual expenditures of one million dollars, it is far more than the few thousand reported by the No on P campaign.
How did they do it? A large part of that answer goes back to yesterday’s column which talks about the political climate, the housing market, the lack of pressing need for housing, the uncertainties facing the community with regards to home prices, and of course a number of mistakes and miscalculations.
Senator Wolk and Assemblywoman Yamada Express Outrage at Water Bill
“Historic” Water Deal Puts Yolo and Other Delta Counties in a Bad Position –
“Historic” Water Deal Puts Yolo and Other Delta Counties in a Bad Position – While the Governor and Democratic Leadership are lauding the water deal as an historic achievement, local leaders such Senator Lois Wolk and Assemblymember Mariko Yamada in addition to environmental groups are lamenting it as the prelude to a peripheral canal that will end the delta as we know it by diverting water away from the delta and to the south.
Said Governor Schwarzenegger:
Voters Resoundingly Say No To New Growth
While one is never quite sure the results of a local election until the votes are counted, by all measures, this is no surprise except perhaps for the final margin of defeat. Last night the Davis voters overwhelmingly and resoundingly rejected the city’s second Measure J vote by a 3-1 margin.
While much will be made about the amount spent by the two sides in this race, criticism leveled toward the project applicant for pushing forward with this vote in a year where the housing market was the worst we have seen, the bottom line is that this result is not simply about a campaign, it is too wide a result to be about errors and mistakes and we can certainly go down the list of them again, this is a wholesale rejection once again by the voters of peripheral development and growth.
Measure P: My Closing Comments
If there is one thing I agree with Bob Dunning on, it is that everyone regardless of the side that they are on, will be happy when Measure P is over. I have said numerous times, that there are far more important issues facing us here in the city than the disposition of 191 units. However, embedded within this issue are in fact other serious issues that residents need to follow long after the glare of the spotlight is off this project.
It is these issues that I wish to discuss in my closing remarks. Tomorrow at this time, we will know the outcome of this election. I have written two pieces in advance, one of them will be published while the other will never see the light of day. Which one you read will depend on what happens today at the polls.
DA’s Office Trumps Up Charges and Overplays Incident for PR Gain
If you read the press clippings that were covered in the local paper, a West Sacramento man with a history of violence against police has been convicted of a felony stemming from a confrontation he had with officers this spring. According to a press release that was covered in all of the local papers, including the Sacramento Bee, a Yolo County jury convicted Anthony Gino Roman, 43, on one felony count of resisting a police officer in the performance of his duties by use of force or violence.
As usual however, the District Attorney’s office presented a very one-sided view of what happened and the local papers, including the Bee never bothered to try to get the other side of the story.
