This is the second of a three-part interview of the council candidates. Part One appeared on Monday.
As we mentioned on Monday, one of the challenges is getting ten people on the same page. We still are waiting on Steve Williams and Linda Parfitt, and we will have their full array of answers when they become available.
So, we have done our best under the circumstances to provide the public with some information about these candidates, one of whom will become the fifth councilmember within the next month.
Here are the next four questions:
5. What is your view of the city’s current 1% growth policy along with Measure J/ Measure R?
Paul Boylan
Paul Boylan6. Davis is already fairly attractive to businesses. I don’t see many – if any – empty storefronts. Pedestrian traffic is always robust. But if the City Council wants to make it more appealing, and we can afford to do it, then we should do what we can to improve parking, which means investing in parking structures (both aboveground and underground).
7. Such efforts are not quixotic – they are essential to realizing the potential for thinking globally and acting locally.
8. Sorry, but I think that is a ridiculous question. How does one balance the desire for clean, healthy water with how much it costs to make sure it is clean? That is like asking how to balance the desire not to die of cancer against the cost of the medication needed to cure it. The balance weighs in favor of clean, healthy water – and if it costs a lot to do it, then so be it. Anything else is playing games with people’s health. If you want to see the results of playing that kind of game, google Fallon, Nevada.
Walter Bunter
6. We can make Davis more attractive to clean and green industries and businesses with the help of the Business and Economic Development Commission and the Davis Chamber of Commerce through extensive advertising and hosting industry visits. Some startup tax concessions may also be necessary. We have the land and the labor pool they will need. We have the ideal location with easy access to freeways, rail and air.
We need to continue telling our story – Advertise! Advertise! Advertise!
7. The June 2010 Davis Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (D-CAAP) to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions is an ambitious plan with 29 action items in the year one work plan.
It identifies the potential for solar systems to reduce energy costs for city facilities like the 775 Kw system installed at the wastewater treatment plant. It will encourage more businesses and schools to install solar systems.
The Cool Davis Green Living Festival last October was a great success and needs to become an annual event to help reduce our carbon footprint.
I believe it will be difficult to establish the proposed financing districts based on property assessed clean energy (PACE) for promoting energy efficiency, solar energy production, and water conservation programs.
The next D-CAAP update should address how the City will adjust to Public Law 110-140 that includes a mandate that prohibits the sale of incandescent light bulbs starting in 2012.
8. There is no doubt that relying on pumped well water is not sustainable. Even going deeper and deeper will not suffice since most of those aquifers yield poor quality water.
We were fortunate to arrange for future river water deliveries through our Joint Powers Agreement and hopefully, we will be successful in our water rights application being considered by the State Water Rights Board.
The impacts on rate payers could be reduced if we can arrange long term financing.
Kari Fry
Kari Fry6. I would like to put together a concierge service for businesses and developers to create a clear path for projects to be completed efficiently. We should have a high profile and empowered group of public and private sector Davis-advocates that recruit and bring new industrial and commercial partners to town. I want to improve technology transfer opportunities from UCD, and actively seek out relationships with sources of funding to keep good ideas in our city. Let’s secure close relationships with private equity and venture capital firms and angel investors, and let’s get them excited about Davis and primed to invest here.
7. We have set the bar high with our goal, and I am fully supportive of our city’s climate action plan. We need to foster conversations that align with our climate action plan and encourage innovative solutions to all of our city’s challenges. We have an opportunity to be a leader and an example in this regard.
8. I was and am still a strong supporter of our Clean Water Agency’s water rights acquisition and our infrastructure plans. I think we have a responsible and well thought out plan in place. There will be a rate increase for our water associated with these plans, but not outside the average range for rate payers across the state. We have amazing opportunities throughout the design and implementation of these plans to be innovative.
Sherelene Harrison
6. How to bring business to Davis, while maintaining a vital Downtown is an important responsibility of council members. Tax dollars from each provides the city with much needed revenue. Large businesses look for substantial reductions of fees, permits, and land use restrictions. Council should review requests along with city staff. The Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Business Association are key components in “advertising” the qualities of Davis by networking with outside businesses. Involvement means more than paying annual dues. Direct communication by council to these two entities should be promoted.
7. Review of Davis’ Climate Action Plan brings many questions. If a 10 minute walk is preferred to provide a walkable neighborhood, grocery/drug stores, physicians, schools, etc. must be within ½ mile. This is not realistic. As a council member, I would promote public transportation, increased bicycle use, a renewed feeling of security in allowing students to walk to and from school to educate residents of the importance of reducing greenhouse emissions. Davis is in the forefront by adopting a Climate Action Plan. This should provide a “heads up” when future climate control regulations become necessary.
8. Clean, sustainable water is mandated by State government. Davis needs to comply or face monumental fines. To maintain viable water sources, one must reduce usage or increase rates. Rate increases will provide revenue for wells, water rights, and water treatment plants. Mandating water usage year round, not just during peak times, may become a way of life to decrease usage. Rate payers will be faced with increases. Educating the public is a priority when understanding water sustainability. How this education is provided will determine acceptance or rejection of council’s decisions.
Kerry Daane Loux
Kerry Daane Loux6. Supporting existing Davis businesses and attracting new business are key ingredients of the economic development we need. I think that we should focus on two areas: 1) making the downtown a vibrant shopping, arts and entertainment destination while keeping the aesthetic and quality unique to Davis, and 2) branding Davis as a “green technology” or “innovation hub” center with opportunities for research, technology, eco-farming or other appropriate businesses. Mori Seiki is a great addition. We should also be increasingly looking for creative, mutually beneficial ways to partner with the University and Yolo County for jobs, services, housing and revenue sources.
7. The Climate Action Plan is a good start; regional collaboration will yield much more significant results. SACOG, League of California Cities, Yolo County, and other state and regional groups are important connections. In our own back yard, we should be working with University research centers—a few that come to mind are John Muir Institute, Information Center for the Environment, Institute of Transportation Studies, Watershed Science Center, etc. Leveraging these partnerships and thinking regionally, we can make significant progress on greenhouse gas reduction, reducing vehicle miles traveled, soil conservation, reduction of urban water run-off and other important measures.
Robert Smith
6. I would point out the many current vacancies in the central business district and outlying areas to prospective businesses, and our efficient bus routes for transporting prospective customers.
7. I would have to review the Climate Action Plan before I could answer this one.
8. I would seek to find additional water supplies outside of drilling more deep wells.
Dan Wolk
Dan Wolk6. Situated along I-80 between the Bay Area and Sacramento, boasting a world-class university and an excellent K-12 school system, there is no reason why Davis could not be like Silicon Valley in terms of its economic vitality. To move Davis in that direction, I propose that we: (1) partner with UC Davis and others to become an innovation hub for green and other technologies; (2) use incentives, where economical, to encourage businesses to relocate here, as the city did in the case of Mori Seki; (3) streamline our approval process; and (4) build on the work done by BEDC and at the DSIDE conference to find ways of improving Davis’ business climate.
7. Very positive. Davis has always been forward-looking when it comes to environmental sustainability (consider our bike lanes), and the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) is a sterling example of that. With the CAAP, Davis has the opportunity to become America’s first carbon-neutral city. Implementing it has been (and presumably will be) challenging, but the city and its residents should take it as a call to action and work hard at achieving it.
8. The future of water will be marked by greater scarcity, as already-precious supplies are pinched by a declining snowpack, depleted aquifers, restrictions in the Delta, and population growth. So, unfortunately, higher rates may be unavoidable, at least in the medium-term. The city must plan responsibly for this future, raising rates only when demonstrably necessary, and ensuring that water remains affordable for lower-income residents.
Vince Wyatt
I think Measures “J” and “R” are a good thing. They serve as a valuable form of checks-and-balances between The Many and The Few (speaking here of the citizens of Davis.). These measures are an example of Vox Popli, -which is an ancient Roman term which translates as “The Voice of The People.”
6. I would ask all of the current businesses and their respective owners in Davis, the very same question. Business is -after all- their unique area of expertise, and they are the most qualified to answer the question. I’d provide new businesses with incentive packages. One example: give them a break on commercial rental rates and filing fees. Set up an official program in which the more they contribute to this town and to it’s people (financially, socially, holistically, support for volunteer programs, etc) the more the City will give (back) to them, in return.
7. Popular support for the City’s Climate Action Plan will ebb and flow as the City toils to dig itself out from underneath a mountain of debt. People seeking to get the Pacific Gas & Electric Company to change 400 streetlights in Davis; to start using (expensive) electric/hybrid cars. To do their (our) share to reduce our “carbon footprints.” To ride bikes around, instead of using cars. All of these ideals are admirable objectives; BUT THEY ARE NOT A CRITICALLY IMPORTANT PRIORITY IN MY DAY-TO-DAY LIFE.
8. The answer to this question would depend on three things: (1) where the money comes from with which to make this happen, (2) where it actually goes in relation to administrative costs -vs- citizens actually served with clean and sustainable water, and (3) how the rate-payment system to pay for all of this is configured. If the public gets clean, fresh water to use at a reasonable cost, this is one thing. But if the infrastructure that the City uses to achieve this goal is too pork-barrelish, or expensive, or unwieldy, that’s quite another.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
[i]”5. Davis is the fastest growing “slow-growth” city on the face of the planet.”[/i]
As far as I know, the Census Bureau has not released any official statistics as to what our current population in Davis is. (This ([url]http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/18/3333384/census-bureau-to-hold-web-conference.html[/url]) says the local numbers will be revealed in this month or next.) Nevertheless, there is no reason to think that our City has grown at all in the last 8 years. Not only have no major new projects been approved, but most of those small subdivisions which have received a green light over that period have not completed any new units.*
According to this Census data ([url]http://cityofdavis.org/misc/census.cfm[/url]), Davis had a total population of 60,308 in the year 2000. And according to this City profile ([url]http://cityofdavis.org/aboutdavis/cityprofile/index.cfm?topic=population[/url]), our population stood at 64,401 five years later. That’s a 1.32% growth rate (compounded) over the first 5 years of the last decade.
If we had grown at 1% per year from 2005-2011, our current population would be 68,363. My guess is that we are probably right around 65,000, now. If so, that means that since the year 2000, we have averaged a 0.6834% annual growth rate.
Given the poor housing market, the addition of more dorms on campus, the slow growth of UC Davis, the decline in state and other government jobs and the erection of West Village, I have a feeling that by 2020, our annual growth rate in the City limits over the 20 preceding years will be below 0.5%. I also doubt that the voters in the next 9 years will approve any Measure R projects.
*Except for about 15-20 houses off of Mace Boulevard in the southeast most section of south Davis and a smaller number near North Davis Farms, I can’t think of anywhere that new housing projects have been erected. There must be some, but none come to mind. Meanwhile, Grande and Chiles Ranch (Simmons) sit still. Verona appears to be ready to build new homes. I wonder if they will be able to sell them?
I tend to agree Rich that the growth rate will be far lower by 2020 if we exclude West Village.
I do wonder why in the two days so far of these interviews, there have only been a couple of comments. Were not people asking for questions and interviews of these folks just last week?
I’ve been reading with some interest. I’m glad you’ve done this, and that the Enterprise is profiling the applicants. But they aren’t actually candidates in any real sense, and I agree with Bob Dunning that it doesn’t really matter what we think. There’s an electorate of four that will decide, so folks here could discuss these issues in detail without making any difference in the process or the outcome.
I disagree with Don to some extent, because we know that the Council members (sometimes) read this blog. That means they will be exposed to the “candidates” statements, thoughts, and depth of knowledge about issues in a forum that allows feedback. And Rich’s comment above is a good example of that – I had the same reaction when I read that statement.
I think these two installments so far have been very useful, but all the candidates need to be represented.
I’m not sure why most readers have not commented. I read yesterday’s piece–and appreciated all the work it took for you, David, to produce it–but I didn’t have any comments on it.
I understand Bob Dunning’s opinion–shared here by Don Shor–that only four people are voting and thus public opinion matters little. But that’s not entirely my view.
I think of this vote by the Council like I think of most votes by the Council: that people in the public should let their views be known.
Look, when the Council voted on the recent water deal or the proposal to prohibit fireplace usage, it was only the members of the Council who had a vote. We did not hold public referendums on those topics. Yet people who had strong views spoke up. They hoped to influence the council in part. They also just wanted to make their views known.
I think it is mostly the same with this contest. However, a confusing thing for me–and maybe for most people in the general public–is the large field. Unless you have a strong preference for one candidate–maybe a friend, a neighbor, a colleague or some other strong connection–it’s a bit hard to voice much of an opinion yet, especially because most of the group of 10 are not people who most of us are that familiar with.
So far,the degree that these public “candidate” statements are revealing appears inversely proportional to the probable strength of the candidate for appointment. It would be my guess that, of all of the candidates, Dan Wolk is most likely contemplating a political career beyond our Council.
davisite2 – Your conclusion is apparent. But the larger question is whether it matters that Dan has aspirations for higher public office. I don’t think Dan’s political aspirations should impact the City Council’s decision. If Dan is the best candidate to fill the vacancy, then he should be chosen. I believe I am the better choice, of course, but it isn’t because I lack similar aspirations.