October 2010 - Davis Vanguard

The Specter of Declining Enrollment Hangs Over Both District and City Policies

By David GreenwaldOctober 31, 201087 comments

DJUSD-SB-Debate-2010

On Tuesday night, Councilmember Rochelle Swanson, whose concern for the school district is primary in her view, was sounding the alarm on declining enrollment. She used the issue as a justification to support a 600-unit development at the Hunt-Wesson site.

“I’ve been talking to the school district about their declining enrollment. We’re at 180 this year, 200 next year, and it’s not looking any better,” Councilmember Swanson said on Tuesday night. “I said, as a Councilperson, what is the one thing that I can do that can help make a difference and it’s resounding. ‘We know you’re not a fan of growth but we’ve got to have some market-rate affordable housing, we have to have something for the families to come here. Otherwise we are going to continue to see declining enrollment.’”

Vanguard Talks to Board Candidate Tim Taylor

By David GreenwaldOctober 31, 20104 comments

By Samantha Lynch –

Tim Taylor, an incumbent for the Davis Joint Unified School Board, is currently the board president. For the past five years, Mr. Taylor has show tireless effort in maintaining the high quality of the school systems in the district.

Mr. Taylor is both proud and honored to be a member of the board, and has stated that if he is re-elected, this will be his last term. He sat down with the Vanguard to answer a few questions concerning his candidacy and experience as a board member, as well as the achievement gap, the parcel tax, and other issues that are crucial and need to be addressed for the educational system.

School Board Candidates Lay Out Vision for Future in LWV Forum Before Tuesday’s Election

By David GreenwaldOctober 30, 20103 comments

by Samantha Lynch –

On Thursday, October 28, 2010, the Davis League of Women Voters held a ‘Candidates Night’ for the DJUSD Board candidates. With elections coming up on Tuesday, November 2nd, this served as a good way for members of the community to see the candidates in person as they expressed their views.

The League posed two main questions: one regarding declining enrollments, and another about the state budget; both followed by questions from the public.

Commentary: Discussion Puts Land Use Back on the Table

By David GreenwaldOctober 30, 201081 comments

An amazing thing happened this spring during the election. Other than the comical attempts by Choices for Healthy Aging (CHA) to bait council candidates into supporting their senior housing site at Covell Village, there was almost no land use discussion during the last council campaign.

Instead, people were focused on the looming threat that is fiscal insolvency for the city. In the now nearly five months that have passed since the election, we have not had one substantive discussion on that threat.

Enterprise Cutting From the Newsroom But Editor Blames Columnist For Loss of Ad Revenue

By David GreenwaldOctober 30, 201020 comments

For those who missed it this week, the Sacramento Business Journal ran a story on the Davis Enterprise cutting four positions in the news room this week.

That alone would be news as the paper is having to further contract, in light of declining advertising revenue during this time of economic downturn.

Commentary: Davis Business Plan Flawed With Land Use Obstacles

By David GreenwaldOctober 29, 201057 comments

Anyone watching the council meeting this Tuesday should be stunned and dismayed by what they saw. The voters of Davis have sent a clear message on growth, that if you want to grow you need to stay in the current city boundaries.

The voters in November of 2009 threw down a fairly modest 200-unit proposal by a 3-1 margin. The economy is not going to get better and the real estate market is not going to improve anytime soon.

Brown and Boxer Open Up Commanding Leads in Latest Field Poll

By David GreenwaldOctober 29, 201025 comments

Californians may want to a build a mote around the state, protecting it from the tidal wave that is about to hit the rest of the country. Fueled by anger and frustration over a lingering economic downturn and a dysfunctional government, voters around the country are ready to turn out the incumbent party. However, that does not appear likely in California.

The Field Poll this week shows Jerry Brown, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, opening up a 10-point lead over his Republican opponent Meg Whitman.

Judge Denies Victim’s Family the Right to County Paid Interpreters in Topete Case

By David GreenwaldOctober 29, 20106 comments

At the previous hearing in the Marco Topete case, DA Jeff Reisig had requested the court appoint an interpreter for the parents of Tony Diaz. Judge Richardson asked the DA’s Office to submit a motion, even though none of the parties objected to the request on the face of it. However, from the perspective of Judge Richardson this was a fiscal issue for the county, and he denied it on those grounds.

Wrote DA Reisig in his motion, “Carolina Rios De Diaz and Rafael Diaz Chavez are the parents of Tony Diaz. On June 16, 2008, they became victims in this case when their son was murdered.”

Opportunity for Public to Provide Picnic Day Input

By David GreenwaldOctober 28, 20100 comments

Press Release From City of Davis

A special public forum to solicit suggestions from the community on how to improve Picnic Day 2011 will be held at 7:00pm on Wednesday, November 3 at the Davis Senior Center, 646 A Street, in the Multipurpose Room. The forum is jointly sponsored by the city of Davis, UC Davis, the Davis Chamber of Commerce, the Davis Downtown Business Association, the Associated Students of UC Davis and the student-led Picnic Day Board of Directors.

The purpose of the Forum is to provide an opportunity for the public to share ideas and suggestions on how to improve Picnic Day within the community. These recommendations will be shared with the City Council, university, ASUCD and the Picnic Day Board of Directors, which is entirely student-led.

Council Votes to Process ConAgra Application to Convert Site to Mixed Use

By David GreenwaldOctober 28, 201056 comments

The writing was frankly on the wall, back in December of 2008, when the Davis City Council voted to move forward with an equal-weight EIR on the former Cannery Site in North Davis. At the time the city wanted to look equally at both a business park alternative and a mixed-use housing project.

However, Lewis Planned Communities balked at the cost and despite Councilmember Stephen Souza literally begging them from the dais to come back, they withdrew their application.

Topete Trial Now Set For March

By David GreenwaldOctober 28, 20106 comments

Two weeks ago Judge Paul Richardson denied the motion of Marco Topete, acting as his pro per counsel, a motion to continue the jury trial for an additional six months, until March. The Judge’s rationale was that the burden was on the moving party to prove reason to extend the trial, and that Mr. Topete, acting as his pro per counsel, was unable to show good cause.

However, a funny thing happened after the ruling by Judge Richardson, as the logistics showed that the defendant was exactly right. And so on Tuesday, Judge Richardson set trial motions to be filed by February 14 with jury selection beginning on March 7.

Environmental Hazard Disclosure Requirements for Wood Smoke in Davis Home Sales

By David GreenwaldOctober 28, 201010 comments

by Alan E. Pryor, Yolo Clean Air –

Part II – Estimated Effects of Different Mandatory Wood Burning Restriction Strategies on Davis Air Quality

Background – In May of this year the Yolo Solano Air Quality Management District (YSAQMD) submitted to the City of Davis a report entitled “YSAQMD Davis Wood Smoke Study_2009-2010” (the “YSAQMD Report” – see Vanguard article, “Hold Your Breath in East Davis during the Winter!” – 6/3/201). This report indicated that air quality tests performed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) at Slide Hill Park in East Davis from November, 2009 through February, 2010 showed the average PM2.5 concentrations in the measured air were on the order of 100% greater than average PM2.5 concentrations measured at the CARB monitor in the countryside west of Davis. Further, the report indicated that average PM2.5 concentrations taken at Slide Hill Park in East Davis were about 50% greater than average PM2.5 concentrations measured during the same period by CARB in Woodland and Vacaville.

Big Oil Supports Prop 26

By David GreenwaldOctober 28, 20100 comments

by Mary Zhu –

The manipulation of public policy by corporation generated propositions on our ballots and their deceitful advertising continues. Last election it was PG&E’s Prop 16. Now we have Prop 23 courtesy of Texas oil and Prop 26 from the oil, tobacco and alcohol industries.

Chevron, Philip Morris, Anheuser- Busch and other oil/gas, food/beverage industries, in order to evade the costs of their toxic wastes and the medical harm and social disruption of their products, devised Prop 26. They paid for signatures to get it on the ballot, then contributed $14.6 million to get it passed with deceitful ads claiming Prop 26 will “stop politicians from raising taxes without a public vote.”

Council Rams Through the Business Park Plan which Recommends Peripheral Growth at Three Controversial Sites

By David GreenwaldOctober 27, 201043 comments

Converting ConAgra to Mixed Use Appears to Trigger Chain Reaction of Peripheral Development –

The Davis City Council, apparently not learning yet from its past mistakes that have proved to absorb huge amounts of community and staff time, has approved a massive 336-page Business Park Land Strategy on first reading.

While there are certainly worthy aspects to explore, and likely no one opposes the City of Davis maximizing its business park potential, the specifics of the plan were too quickly glossed over.

Whither Davis Real Estate?

By David GreenwaldOctober 27, 201020 comments

How Environmental Hazard Disclosure Requirements for Wood Smoke in Davis Home Sales Will Further the Downturn and Erode the Premium in Davis Residential Real Estate Prices –

by Alan E. Pryor, Yolo Clean Air

Part I – Legal Basis for Wood Smoke Environmental Hazard Disclosures

Would you buy a home if you knew the previous owner or their neighbors had to tape their doors and windows shut every winter to prevent wood smoke intrusion from their neighbor’s chimney? Would you move your children or asthmatic parents into a neighborhood if you knew the ambient air quality each winter was deemd to be “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” on one out of every 6 days due to high concentrations of particulate matter? These are exactly the questions prospective Davis home buyers will be asking themselves if the local real estate community properly discloses the extent of the wood smoke problem in Davis as required by law.

Vanguard Note

By David GreenwaldOctober 26, 20100 comments

Dear Readers: For the first time in over four years I was unable to publish a Vanguard…

No Basis For Challenging California’s Proposition 19

By David GreenwaldOctober 26, 201031 comments

US Attorney General Eric Holder and and Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), have inserted themselves into the debate on Prop 19, arguing that they would not only enforce marijuana laws in California but that the Department of Justice would sue to overturn Proposition 19 should it be approved next month by California voters.

It was a move inspired by the possibility that the measure would pass, although recent polls now show it modestly behind as the election next week rapidly approaches.

Too Lenient? Plea Agreement For Former CASA Director Draws Questions

By David GreenwaldOctober 26, 201047 comments

On October 14, 2010, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced that Claudean Medlock had pled no contest to one felony charge of grand theft from an employer. Medlock is the former Executive Director of the Yolo County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).

She had embezzled more than $46,000 from the non-profit agency and used the money to gamble at casinos.

UCD Students Apathetic About Coming Election

By David GreenwaldOctober 26, 20105 comments

by Karina Piser –

The upcoming election will undoubtedly affect the lives of students across California. Both Attorney General Jerry Brown and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman have promised to reinvest in education and reshape the UC and CSU systems. But how do students feel about the issues? Have they formed opinions on different propositions or researched each candidate’s campaign?

As I have learned from my recent reporting expeditions on the budget crisis, student activism is hardly thriving at UC Davis. This is not to say, however, that nobody is involved; there are a number of students working to increase involvement and awareness about UC issues.

Commentary: Council Seeks More Commissioners to Ignore

By David GreenwaldOctober 24, 20107 comments

The announcement reads the “City needs commissioners.” As usual it got me thinking as to whether or not the city really wants commissioners.

In her monthly Vanguard column, Elaine Roberts Musser argued in part, “it is what makes Davis uniquely Davis.” But if we look at the last four years, you could argue otherwise.

Month: October 2010