It took a bit longer than expected, but we now have the complete set of all ten candidate interviews. Steve Williams is the final candidate to submit responses. Steve Williams describes himself as semi-retired and living in the Wildhorse subdivision since 2000.
He has 37 years of work with city, county, and state government, including working for the City of Vacaville on their Planning Commission, the County of Riverside as a land use planner, and he also spent 32 years with the California Energy Commission. He is currently working part-time as a Senior Technical Editor for the California Energy Commission; and is responsible for editing research reports going to the Energy Commission’s senior management, the Governor and the Legislature.
We began what was supposed to be a three part series on Monday: part one, part two, part three, part four.
1. Pick an issue that you think is important that you don’t feel will get much ink and tell us about it and what you propose to do.
There is no “burning issue” for me. I personally would like to see a grade-level pedestrian crossing at the Davis train depot, which would allow Olive Street residents safe access. During the time that students are going to and from school, I would support having someone there as a crossing-guard – just as is currently done at many dangerous intersections around town.
2. What do you see as your top priority if you are the one appointed to council?
My top priority would be to “Not rock the boat.” I want to be viewed by the other council members as an effective colleague who contributes to discussions and who is prepared for all topics presented to the council.
3. What is your understanding of the problems facing the city in terms of unfunded liabilities and pensions?
My understanding is that the unfunded liabilities and pensions are met by current contributions but there will be problems in the future. I support a review of the city employees’ salaries, benefits and pensions to ensure all are adequately funded.
4. How would you resolve the city’s budget problems within the scope of the collective bargaining agreements with various bargaining units?
The entire purpose of collective bargaining is to provide an opportunity for management and the represented employees to discuss mutual issues and reach a mutual accommodation. I would expect the city manager and his staff to be the lead on identifying budget options and discussing these options within the collective bargainining process.
5. What is your view of the city’s current 1% growth policy along with Measure J/ Measure R?
I support a restrained growth policy and I support Measure J and Measure R. Studies have shown that residential land use does not – by itself – support the public services needed by the city. I also believe that the growth rate should be flexible over time and allow for periods of construction inactivity to be balanced later by increased construction.
6. How do you propose to make Davis more attractive to businesses?
We need to attract businesses that would benefit by the city’s proximity to UC Davis. The campus is a hub of research activity. Davis should be known as an technology incubator for new small businesses. We also need to recognize the value of our railroad track to prospective freight shippers.
7. What is your view of the City’s Climate Action Plan?
As a member of the technical staff at the California Energy Commission, I am very aware of the scientific research on potential climate change effects on California. I support the city’s efforts to reduce our carbon footprint.
8. How would you balance the need for clean and sustainable water supplies with the concerns of rate payers?
The city is required by law to comply with the state’s water standards. How we comply is a matter of balancing technology costs, feasibility and willingness of ratepayers to pay. Ratepayers have a legitimate concern when told their water and sewage treatment costs may double or triple. My expectation is that the city would continue to explore options for low-cost water acquisition and treatment.
9. Would you be more inclined to cut city services or raise revenues through taxes or other means as a way to balance the budget?
Providing needed public services is not an either/or situation. There will be times when ineffective programs need to be cut. There will inefficient programs that need to be modified. And there will be times when city growth creates demand for services that can only be provided through new taxes. One possible tax is a utility tax. Another would be a transient occupancy tax for our hotels and motels and other temporary lodging.
10. How do you plan to deal with Davis’ road conditions given current economic realities?
I am not aware of any major road problems within Davis. I would support the city’s efforts to continue preventive maintenance on the current grid.
11. What is your view of the proposed annexation of West Village into the city of Davis?
Annexation makes sense to me. This area is a large residential area immediately contiguous to the city. The city will be providing utility services to the area. The West Village residents will consider themselves part of the city proper and will want to have a voice in city decisions affecting them.
12. How would you deal with student rental issues?
I am unaware of any student rental issues. As a former college student who lived in rental housing for six years – and as the father of a current college student who has lived in rental housing for four years – I realize there are “good” landlords and “bad” landlords. With apartments in Davis having a 3% vacancy rate, the market provides a good return for landlords and an incentive for maintaining good property values. The strongest message that a student can send to a “bad” landlord is to move out. Word of mouth among students can be deadly.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
I vehemently protest. This is totally unfair. By being last, Steve gets a much bigger photo than the rest of us.
I must admit, however, that he presents a visually striking and appealing figure.
Mr. Williams should not have been permitted to “game” the system here by withholding his submissions so that he could have a solo spotlight on his candidacy as well as being able to shape his responses after seeing ALL of the other candidate’s offerings. It suggests a mind-set of manipulation and lack of respect for the intelligence of the Vanguard reader that is of serious concern. As to his responses, he presents himself as a status-quo candidate, looking very much like a Saylor retread.
I can see Mr. Williams right now wearing his red cowboy shirt next to Souza’s Hawaiian shirt. However this quote bother me:
[quote]My top priority would be to “Not rock the boat.” [/quote]
The boat needs to be rocked on unfunded liabilities and employee compensation. Mr. Williams has already told us he won’t. Collegiality is important but not at the expense of going along with bad policies.
On growth his answers sound a bit better to me though they may not to other frequent Vanguard readers–he gets that residences don’t pay for themselves and he is not obsessed with apartments.
But I can’t get past the don’t rock the boat comment.
To Dr. Wu: “My top priority would be to “Not rock the boat.” This comment bothered me too…
He also got a Saturday running which is our least read day of the week. Whereas the rest of you got run for three or four days during the most read days of the week.
First of all, I was kidding. Despite the structure of this process, by now the choice has been made. Does that make me a cynic? I don’t know, because I am not really sure what “cynic” means. It sounds like the name for an economy car.
Second, am I considered one of “you guys?” If so, I protest. I am still a newcomer to these pages and will likely tire of it and move on to a place where those who participate haven’t heard all of my jokes. Seriously: at this stage of my life I’ve come to realize I really have no wisdom to pass on or communicate – just jokes, and the sad reality is that I don’t know that many jokes. So once they are told, I really have nothing else to say.
Third, we must return to the Gold Standard.
“Despite the structure of this process, by now the choice has been made.”
I don’t believe that to be true unless people are completely misleading me. In fact, I will go as far to suggest that the choice is wide open.
If nothing else, I appreciate the fact that we have a candidate who was a Planning Commissioner. I think that is an excellent preparatory experience for a member of the City Council. That said, his service in that regard was in Vacaville, and very often the anti-growth voices in Davis (who appear to be a strong majority of our residents) point to Vacaville as an example of what they want Davis to avoid. (Of course, it’s possible Mr. Williams was on the losing end of votes in that community.)
P.S. In case everyone does not know this: Vacaville was not given that moniker because it had cows ([i]vacas[/i] in Spanish). Vacaville was originally created by an American named real estate developer named William McDaniel. He bought a small part of the extremely large ranch owned by Manuel Vaca (sometimes spelled Baca) and Juan Felipe Peña, not long after California became a state and named his new town in honor of Señor Vaca. The area roughly from Vavaville to Davis was owned by those two (intermarried) Mexican families. They came to California from New Mexico around 1840, and a few years later were given this massive Mexican land grant.
As it happens, the territory which is now Davis was (probably) a part of that. In 1850, the Peñas sold the land north of Putah Creek (then Rio de los Putos) to Col. Joseph Ballinger Chiles. When Col. Chiles (who made a fortune ripping off immigrant farmers trying to cross the Sacramento River) left Yolo County for Napa County–his home in the eponymous Chiles Valley, just west of Lake Berryessa, is still there–he divided his property between his son-in-law, Jerome Davis and his nephew, Isaac Skinner Chiles. I believe the east-west dividing line was today’s Pole Line Road. (By the way, I think a good argument can be made that the city of Davis should have been named Chiles. Not only because of Col. Chiles, but also because Jerome Davis and his wife moved to Sacramento many years before the Cal-P railroad started our town on Mr. Davis’s former land. While he was never a part of this community after its founding, the Chiles family, to this day, always has been.)
CORRECTION: “Vacaville was originally created by an American [s]named[/s] real estate developer named William McDaniel. He bought a small part of the extremely large ranch owned by Manuel Vaca (sometimes spelled Baca) and Juan Felipe Peña, not long after California became a state and named his new town in honor of Señor Vaca. The area roughly from [s]Vavaville[/s] Vacaville to Davis was owned by those two (intermarried) Mexican families.
David – Again, I attempted to communicate with less precision that is required to avoid misunderstanding. When I say the choice has been made, I am not referring to anything official, and I am certainly not referring to any group decision. No official choice has, of course, been made. Nor can one be made without violating open meeting laws. However, as a practical matter, and one consistent with presuming even the most informed and fair minded decision making, it is likely that, by now, at least three of the four board members have made their choice. It doesn’t mean their minds are closed and that they cannot change them. But, again, deferring to human nature, if such a choice has been made (which is likely) based, if on nothing else, on the statements you published here at the Vanguard, then it is nevertheless unlikely anything will happen that will change those choices.
That is not a criticism or inditement: it is an real-world, no nonsense, pragmatic observation – and, if not, then it is merely my opinion, but an opinion based on many, many years of working in close proximity with other decision makers.
Rifkin – Like (possibly) the illusion that this is an open race and anything can happen, there are some illusions that should never be challenged. One of them is the wide-spread belief that “Vacaville” means “Cow Town.” Like H.L. Menchen’s Bathtub Hoax and the popular misconception that Americans enjoy the highest standard of living on earth, some myths become fact when enough people believe them to be true.
Paul: I guess I’m not following you.
Not sure what I can do about that other than apologize and try harder to communicate more clearly.
With four votes and ten applicants, it seems there would be a series of “runoffs” before a final selection.
I wouldn’t hold a single planning commissioner responsible for the disaster that is Vacaville growth management. It would take a concerted effort by several commissioners over a long period of time to change the growth patterns there. But if you want to see a city that is an example of developer-driven growth, Vacaville is it.
Or Houston, TX.
[i]”… there are some illusions that should never be challenged. One of them is the wide-spread belief that ‘Vacaville’ means ‘Cow Town.'”[/i]
If you lived in this area in the 1960s or 1970s, you would know that to everyone who travelled I-80 to the Bay Area knew Vacaville as ‘onion town.’ I don’t think Vacaville holds its fall ‘onion festival’ any longer. All the onion fields were paved over by affordable housing.
I’ve been here since ’85. This is the first I’ve heard about a Vacaville onion festival.
The pungent smell of onions as you drove past Vacaville wasn’t because onions were grown there. It was because the Basic Vegetable dehydrator was there. The onions were grown all over the valley. It was akin to the smell of tomatoes in Davis due to the Hunt plant on Covell.
Rich mentioned earlier that Ms. Harrison had been declined for a commission appointment in the past. Do you know which commission?
[i]Rich mentioned earlier that Ms. Harrison had been declined for a commission appointment in the past. Do you know which commission?[/i]
Business & Economic Commission. If you look at this document ([url]http://cityofdavis.org/meetings/councilpackets/20030115/11_City _Council _Minutes.pdf[/url]) on the top of Page 7, you will see what took place.
FWIW, not making it on that commission does not seem to me to be any kind of negative on her. I presume that when there are many applicants, the people selected were just closer personally to the members of the Council.
[i]”The pungent smell of onions as you drove past Vacaville wasn’t because onions were grown there. It was because the Basic Vegetable dehydrator was there.”[/i]
This is somewhat of a chicken-and-egg things. The processors came to Vacaville because in the Vacaville area a lot of farmers grew onions. I know a lot of farmers in the Elmira area who primarily raised sheep also grew onions.
But if your point is that onions in the field don’t smell–it’s the processing plant’s usage of them which smells–I didn’t really know that, it makes sense, and it trumps my earlier point. My bad. But I still think of Vacaville as a place (in the Fall) which always reaked of onions.
One more onion thing: The farmers in that area I knew (all family friends) did this weird thing (which may be standard still) to store them. The piled them in massive half-sphere piles, roughly 25-30 feet across and maybe 6-8 feet high in the center. They were then covered in black plastic sheeting; and the sheets were held down with old tires.
Those piles of onions smelled strongly of onions, too.