Month: March 2011

Will New Water Project Unequally Benefit Davis Residents?

water-rate-iconReport Suggests That Some Residents will Remain on Groundwater While Others Will Move to Riverwater –

The Vanguard received an anonymous letter purporting to be from a member of city staff.  Along with this note was a letter from Alan Pryor to Interim Public Works Director Bob Clarke dated March 1, 2011.  The anonymous letter claimed Mr. Pryor’s letter was sent to the council and also the Natural Resources Commission.

According to the letter “not everyone in Davis is going to get the “good” water.”  Writes the anonymous author, “He [Mr. Pryor] explained that some people in West and South Davis will still only get well water, yet pay twice as much while the rich folks in Mace Ranch get all the good, low TDS [total dissolved solids] water for their yards and homes.”

Governor Brown Now Seeks November Tax Ballot Initiative?

Jerry-BrownWhile it remains a clear Plan B, it is becoming increasingly clear that Governor Jerry Brown is moving closer to a contingency that would circumvent the need for two-thirds legislative support and move toward spending the millions it would require to circulate a petition for the November ballot, placing his plan before the voters at that point.

As recently as yesterday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Brown Administration said that the Governor remains committed to negotiating with the Republicans in the Assembly and Senate – needing two votes in each house from Republicans – and still believes he can reach agreement.

DA Dismisses Charges in Two Cases The Same Day

dismissedMuch has been made on these pages about the fact that the DA has a tendency to bring some rather problematic cases to trial.  For the most part the DA loses these cases, but they exact a toll nonetheless, as we saw in the case of Fernando Ortega who faced criminal charges stemming from what was largely explicable, by the fact he was carrying a truck battery and had a number of tools on him at the time he encountered Woodland Police.

However, Mr. Ortega remained in custody nearly five months, missed going to the funeral of his daughter, and lost his residence.  Mr. Ortega is one of the fortunate ones, exonerated by the a jury trial and now out of custody and free to move along in his life.

Reports Show College and K-12 Staggering Under More Cuts

Flunk-BudgetSomeone wanted outrage last week. Well, there is plenty of outrage to go around, especially with two reports showing the utter devastation that budget cuts and our economic downturn have caused to our educational system, both K-12 and the UC system.

At a local level, we have had some cutbacks to K-12, but Davis has mainly come out of this all right, presuming that the voters pass Measure A in May.  However, statewide the news is pretty grim.

Clarifying How a Prop 218 Process Would Work to Avoid Tripling Water Rates

water-rate-iconThe City of Davis will see its water rates triple in the next five years, barring something highly unusual and difficult to achieve – a successful Prop. 218 water challenge.

In November of 1996, Proposition 218 ostensibly required the local government to have a vote of affected property owners, for any proposed or new assessment before it could be levied.

Was a Man Fixing His Truck or Concealing Deadly Weapons?

Yolo-Count-Court-Room-600Jury Ultimately Believes Man over Police Officer, But It Is Ultimately a Costly Experience –

Fernando Ortega, on November 6, 2010, was having a belated birthday party at his home when his friend informed him that he had left the light on in his truck.  He saw the lights on his car had dimmed and believed he had a dead battery.

Mr. Ortega went out to take out his battery, and for some reason was confronted by the police.

Roadways Reaching Critical Levels with Funding Running Out

pothole.jpgGiven the road work that is either planned or has occurred on Second, Third, and Fifth Streets thanks largely to grant funding, it might seem inconceivable that Davis roadways are reaching critical levels of maintenance.  But that is exactly what we face.

According to a report last week, the city has a baseline funding shortfall of $1.62 million.  The city has relied heavily on one-time funding over the past two years from Proposition 1B and Federal Stimulus funding.  However, that money is gone and those funding sources are gone with them.

Public Records Reveal Abject Failure of CHA To Impose Agenda

CHA-Don-VWhen a long list of Choices for Healthy Aging (CHA) released their co-written op-ed a week ago they were in effect raising a white flag in trying to influence the development at ConAgra.

They write, “Davis may be missing an extraordinary opportunity to once again be a leader in innovative housing. ConAgra, the owner of the largest undeveloped land parcel within city limits, the former Hunt-Wesson cannery, wants to develop that 100-acre site for residential and commercial use.”

Sunday Commentary: The Water Buck Was Passed to This Council

water-rate-iconThey will not say it publicly, perhaps they are too polite, perhaps they know no one will really care.  But they all know.  Some have said it privately.  The bottom line is that previous councils have left a huge mess that the current council now has to clean up.

This could be an article about employee compensation and the fact that during the last decade, salaries rose dramatically, spurned on by a booming real estate market and double figure increases in property tax revenues on a yearly basis.  That coupled with increases in the pension formulas to 3% at 50 for safety employees and 2.5% at 55 for miscellaneous employees have left the city in a huge bind that it will have to undig itself from.

Commentary: Cuts To Higher Education While Inevitable Turn Our Back On Promises to the Next Generation

higher-ed-cutsSomeone wrote with regards to the threats to UC Davis facing serious cutbacks due to the budget, “This is too bad, no doubt. But I think Californians need to realize that the State does not OWE them a college education.”

Actually, that was the pledge the State of California made back in 1961 when it formed the CSU system, creating an affordable system to allow everyone who had the desire to go to college.

Why Would Saylor Vote Against the County Climate Action Plan?

polarbearsIt was a strange vote and discussion on the County’s Climate Action Plan.  It is important to understand that the County’s Climate Action Plan only addresses “greenhouse gas emissions within the unincorporated area, which has seen very little population growth since 1990 as a result of the County’s historic land use policies.”

Moreover, “Although the inventories of the unincorporated area identify agriculture as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, when placed in a broader perspective, farming accounted for only 14% of the countywide emissions in 1990.”

Commentary: Further Examination into the Unreliability of Confessions

interrogator.jpgAfter some lengthy discussions about the interrogation process, following the conviction of Bennie Moses for the rape of his daughter over a nine-year period, it seems that there is a need to revisit the issue of false confessions.

To be extremely clear, in the Bennie Moses case, there is no reason to believe he falsely confessed. However, we do believe, with a good deal of justification, that the interrogation tactics used were improper, even if they were likely completely legal.

State Budget Half Way There – the Easy Half

stethoscopeBalancing the Budget on the Backs of the Poor, who Rely on Medi-Cal, and Students –

On Thursday, the legislature completed roughly half of the budgetary equation – approving most of the spending cuts and transfers that Governor Brown proposed.  They made deep cuts that will disproportionately impact college students, low-income families, and the disabled.

However, the hard part remains, about 13 billion dollars of the 26.6 billion deficit as the legislature did not address either the elimination of redevelopment or the extension to higher taxes.

Puzzling PERS Decision on Assumed Rate of Return Looks to Push Off Tough Decisions into the Future

pension-reform-stockIn a move that will have huge policy consequences for the City of Davis and other local communities, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System board voted on Wednesday to retain the 7.75 percent assumed rate of return.

The vote followed the recommendation by the pension fund’s Benefits and Program Committee, which voted Tuesday to support the retention of this rate.  However, it overrules the judgment of their own chief actuary and deputy chief actuary, who released a report to the board last week, advising them that it would be “reasonably prudent” to to lower the rate to 7.50 percent.

Defense Attorney Fights Back Against Drug Charge and Wins

methJury Acquits Woman of Drug Possession, Transportation, Despite Police Finding Drugs on Her –

On the surface it should have been a routine drug case.  After all, police found drugs on the defendant Maria Cortez late at night on June 1, 2010.  She admitted that she was high on meth at the time of the incident and a blood test confirmed it. 

And yet a jury acquitted her of possession of meth and hung 10-2 in her favor (presumably) on a charge of transportation of marijuana.  The DA immediately dismissed the second charge, a misdemeanor count.

Commentary: Hitting the Moving Target of Water Rates

water-rate-iconThis week for the first time, the city council put actual numbers on the magnitude of water rate hikes.  The numbers remain jarring, to consider moving the rates to three times the current rate by 2015/16.  How that will impact the average resident is unsure.

We will be critical of the past council’s lack of foresight on this issue.  As one member pointed out to me, we have known for at least as long as I have been following that we were going to undertake this kind of project.  Indeed, the planning for this project easily goes back ten years and, really, something has been in the works for twenty years.

Man Convicted of 62 Counts of Raping His Daughter

Yolo-Count-Court-Room-600Last week a Yolo County Jury convicted Bennie Moses of 62 counts of rape and a variety of sexual assault and sex with minor charges, stemming from a string of incidents in which the defendant had sex and forcible sex with his daughter from the time she was 12 until she was 21.

In July of 2009, Mr. Moses was arrested by West Sacramento Police after an individual named Hakim helped the daughter escape Mr. Moses and called the cops.  They had been staying in a West Sacramento hotel at the time of the arrest.

Word To The Wise: The World View of Choices For Healthy Aging

covell_village-600By E. Roberts Musser –

The group Choices for Healthy Aging (CHA) was scheduled on the agenda for the March 10, 2011 Davis Senior Citizens Commission meeting, at the suggestion of Commissioner Mary Jo Bryant. This occurred in advance of a presentation by city staff on senior housing in general and the Cannery project in particular. The hallmark of what CHA envisions, as presented by CHA member Don Villarejo, is encapsulated in the list that follows:
  • Age-qualified senior housing development
  • With home ownership
  • A community lodge

Commentary: Water Rate Hikes Threaten to Imperil Parcel Tax and More

water-rate-iconYesterday was pink slip day around the state.  Something like 19,000 teachers got pink slips yesterday, and some of those were in Davis.  Davis schools will have to lay additional people off, regardless of what happens with the parcel tax.

The parcel tax passage is by no means assured, as  it takes a two-thirds vote, and people seem a bit more tax-weary this year in Davis than they have in the past.  Still, I believe in the end Davis will support education, because that’s what Davis does.

Voters Appear Willing To Extend Taxes For Five Years; But Time is Ticking

sacramento-state-capitolA Field Poll released Wednesday indicates the voters are willing to consider an extension of the tax measures that Governor Jerry Brown has proposed, as a means for closing the deficit and avoiding an addition 11 to 14 billion dollars in cuts to the state budget.

In a release from the Field Poll, they find, “Voters generally do not favor simply increasing taxes as a way of dealing with the estimated $25 billion budget deficit facing the state over the next eighteen months.”