Month: March 2011

Council Opposes Sue Greenwald’s Appointment to the Water JPA

water-rate-iconAt Tuesday’s City Council meeting, during the portion of the agenda where council would approve changes to the appointments that councilmembers would serve on commission liasons, committees and other interjurisdictional bodies, changes were considered, based on the appointment of Dan Wolk to the Davis City Council at the end of February.

Councilmember Sue Greenwald opposes the current direction of the city’s water policies and has been seeking to get appointed to serve on the Joint Water JPA body that currently Mayor Joe Krovoza and Councilmember Stephen Souza sit on.

Governor Brown Decides to Halt Budget Negotiations

Jerry-BrownOn Tuesday, Governor Jerry Brown made the announcement that he was ending negotiations with Republicans in an effort to extend taxes to resolve the budget deficit that remains after the spending cuts were passed last week.

In a video statement Governor Brown said, “Today I have broken off discussions with the Republican Party in Sacramento regarding solutions to our budget crisis.”

Defense Attorney Mark Merin Speaks To Vanguard About Gang Injunction Ruling

Merin-MarkOn Tuesday, Yolo County Superior Court Judge Kathleen White issued her long-awaited ruling on whether to grant a “permanent” gang injunction.  The trial had lasted from July until December 15, and we have been waiting over three months for a ruling.

There was a large contingency of attorneys representing the defendants in this case.  Several of these attorneys declined to speak on the record, however, the Vanguard did speak at length with one of the lead attorneys, Sacramento attorney Mark Merin.

Judge White Upholds Gang Injunctions in West Sacramento

ganginjunction_catAfter months in a trial and several months of deliberating, Judge Kathleen White ruled, as most observers and participants expected from the very start, to impose a seven-year injunction on the “Safety Zone” in West Sacramento.

The trial began on July 12, 2010 and ended officially on December 15, 2010.  During the long on again/ off again trial, Judge White heard mainly accounts from law enforcement.  At one point, she admonished the plaintiffs in this case, the Yolo County District Attorney’s office led by Ryan Couzens and Jay Linden, to produce civilian witnesses who could testify that the alleged Broderick Boys gang represented a nuisance to their community.

Courts Found More than 100 cases of Prosecutorial Misconduct in 2010

NCIP-Report-2010The Veritas Initiative, the research and policy arm of the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) at Santa Clara University School of Law, today released Preventable Error: Prosecutorial Misconduct in California 2010, which follows up on last October’s Presentation.

While Yolo County did not have any reports of prosecutorial misconduct officially in 2010, the report adds the 2000 Miranda case that the Vanguard had noted previously.

What Grade Will We Earn in the Parcel Tax Election

Delaine-Eastin-2by Delaine Eastin –

I live in Davis for a reason.  It has great schools with great children, teachers, administrators, parents and staff.  But all school districts have great children.  The problem is that not all communities understand what a vital role high quality schools play in creating a great community. 

I think this town gets it.  We have a lower crime rate.  When a recession hits, our homes retain more of their value than some surrounding communities. We have neighborhoods where people look out for each other.  Much of this value added is because we have the best schools in a 10 county region.

Compromise on Redevelopment?

blightOne of the most contentious issues that has arisen with regard to the new Governor’s budget has been a proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies in California. 

How serious a threat was this?  Serious enough that the city has already authorized bonds to encumber as many redevelopment projects as possible.

The Myth of the Fingerprints: Is Fingerprint Analysis Science Another Discredited and Untested Forensic Technique?

Fingerprint-AnalysisYesterday the Yolo County trial of Oscar Barrientos opened.  Mr. Barrientos is accused of burglarizing a West Sacramento home.  Not exactly the stuff that a Judicial Watch is made of, except for the fact that the only real evidence linking him to the burglary is a partial print of a palm.

As the defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender Amber Poston, argued in her opening statement, fingerprint analysis is not the exact science that it is portrayed on TV.  Indeed, there is no standard for testing.

City Remains in the Red For the Next Five Years As City Looks At Structural Changes to Budget

pension-reform-stockIn 2009, Councilmember Lamar Heystek created an alternative budget to that presented by Finance Director Paul Navazio.  It called for fewer cuts from core services and greater savings from the upcoming employee bargaining session, but also a downwardly revised revenue projection.

While Mr. Heystek succeeded in gaining some modifications, it turned out that the revenue projections that he proposed were much closer to accurate than those of Paul Navazio.  Moreover, the city council failed to negotiate MOUs (Memorandums of Understanding) with the bargaining groups that were sufficient to meet the needs of the council.

The Fight For Redistricting Runs into a Huge Problem for the GOP: Reality

statewidevoteThere is an old adage in politics that I rarely subscribe to which is to be careful what you ask for.  After all you would be paralyzed if you adhered to that principle, unable to act.

Nevertheless, Republicans and some “good government” Democrats and Independents have been pushing the notion of the California redistricting panel hoping that perhaps there will be more competitive Congressional and Legislative districts in California.

All-Mail Ballot Cost-Saving Wave of the Future, Not an Experiment

ballot-mailIt was interesting to read Bob Dunning claim this morning that an important election is an odd time for an experiment.  I agree that Measure A is an important election, one of the more important that we have faced in this community.  The community has a chance to continue its commitment by locally funding half of the deficit left by inflation and cuts to state funding for education.

The experiment he talks about is the all-mail ballot.

Sunday Commentary: A More Limited Government Doing More With Less

we_the_peopleEvery week, I use this space and time on Sunday to highlight a critical issue facing our community.  This past week was a strange week with an odd combination of occurrences, Spring Break at UC Davis, week off for council, quiet week in the courts.  I spent more time this week waiting around and trying to find a story than actually finding stories.

The biggest news is probably the water situation, but frankly that has been covered sufficiently for now.  I remain disturbed by the Michael Artz situation and the role that government has taken into the private life of a citizen.  And it is that thought that leads me finally to a third issue, the role of government and pension reform.

Commentary: The Facade of UC Davis Tolerance

Sit-in-3.jpgLast year, the UC Davis campus was shaken by a series of apparent hate incidents.  This year those have not occurred, for whatever reason.

This week, the UC Davis Chancellor has come out with an op-ed talking about all of the efforts they have taken to promote diversity and tolerance.  Unfortunately, most of this is some form of PC symbolistic rhetoric, rather than real action.

The Sentencing Phase of Michael Artz Case Continues Six Months After the Completion of His Trial

Yolo-Count-Court-Room-600In August of 2010, Michael Artz was found not guilty of the main charge in his case, forced oral copulation, but guilty of having sex with a minor and contacting a minor for the purposes of having sex.

The sentencing phase has gone on since mid-January and now figures to continue at least until April 22, when Judge Stephen Mock indicated that there would be closing arguments and then a ruling, but we have heard that before.

“Outside” Investigator Looking into UCD Sports Cuts Has Lengthy Track Record Working for UC

saveucdathleticsThe Vanguard Looks Further into Investigation That Found No Wrongdoing in UC Davis Sports Cuts –

Two weeks ago, the Davis Enterprise reported that an “outside” investigator had cleared UC Davis administrators of any wrongdoing stemming from their decision last year to cut four sports teams.

Last year at this time, UC Davis announced it would discontinue 4 of 27 intercollegiate sports, and its athletics department would absorb another $400,000 in annual operational cuts as the campus continues to struggle through an unprecedented financial crisis.

Governor Warns Unions to Consider Concessions on Pensions

Jerry-BrownI will never forget the day, at the behest of a mutual friend back late in 2009, I met with two organizers from a prominent union organization in California, the California Labor Federation.

I understood that there were concerns about my view on the local firefighters union, as well as my view on pensions in general.  What I did not expect was a nasty and unpleasant experience unlike any I had ever encountered before.

Linking the Budget to Criminal Justice Reform

ACLU-3

The campaign to link the budget with reforms to the criminal justice system got another boost this week, and activists descended on Sacramento to urge the California Legislature to protect critical social services — including education programs and drug treatment — by cutting the Corrections budget.

One simple reform would free up $450 million dollars, they say. According to them, that is the amount California taxpayers spend to lock up adults who were convicted of non-violent instances of possessing a small amount of drugs for personal use.

Commentary: List of Water Issues Grows Rather Than Shrinks

water-rate-iconThere are so many different kinds of problems that the water proposal faces right now, it makes sense to pause and take some time to lay each of them out in turn.  While it is tempting to put all of this on the past councils or all of this on city staff, it seems there is a measure of shared blame here combined with inevitable fall-out from policies by the previous city manager.

It is there where I begin because this is a somewhat new point.  But part of the problem here is that when Bill Emlen chose to cut staff, he did so through attrition and not rehiring.  The result is that Bob Clarke, who was the city engineer, is not just the acting Public Works Director, but he also has to do Sue Gedestad’s previous job of Operations Administrator.

Applicant Proposes to the County A Solar Farm For Davis Periphery

SolarSaylor Names Vergis to County Planning Commission –

Yolo County has its own planning commission which consists of seven members.  Each Board member gets to appoint one Commissioner from their district to the board and there are two at-large commissioners that are voted in by all Board Members.

Earlier this month, Supervisor Don Saylor used his appointment to name two-time, former Davis City Council Candidate Sydney Vergis to the planning commission.