Month: May 2011

Second Street Implements Shared Lane or “Sharrow” Pilot Project

sharrowThere are two things that I don’t believe in: coincidence and leprechauns.  In yesterday’s story about E Street Plaza parking returning to paid status, we also made the remark that the city has revamped the Second Street Corridor, which was funded through the federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act  and City of Davis Redevelopment Agency funds, at a time when the city is lacking funding to do basic road repair work, and it gives us the opportunity to discuss parking once again.

We went on to make the observation that, while we say we want our downtown and core to be bike and pedestrian friendly, there are no bike lanes and, in fact, bike travel is rather dangerous given the traffic, lack of visibility and other problems.

Councilmember Sue Greenwald responds on Courthouse Construction Issue

yolo_county_courthouseDavis City Councilmember Sue Greenwald finds herself in the middle of an unusual debate, in the sense that the Yolo County Courthouse on the surface does not directly involve her elected position with the City of Davis.

Nevertheless, in Thursday’s Davis Enterprise, the councilmember argued, “My concern is not merely with the $173 million cost of the replacement courthouse. It is with the entire $5 billion cost of the statewide courthouse construction bonds, which are currently under the radar screen.”

Looking To Prison Sentence Reforms To Balance California’s Budget

prison-reformOn Thursday, the ACLU of California sent an open letter  to Governor Jerry Brown, Senate President Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez, asking that two key reforms targeting waste in prison spending are included in the May revised budget.

They claim that these two reforms alone would save the state hundreds of millions annually: making possession of a small amount of drugs for personal use a misdemeanor instead of a felony and making low-level non-violent property offenses – like vandalism or writing a bad check – a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

Vanguard Analysis: Measure A Was Supported By the Overwhelming Majority of Davis Residents

schoolIn beginning my analysis of the Measure A vote, let me start with a bit of cold water for the critics who are rejoicing in the close call – the close call such that it was is an artifact of an archaic system that unfairly gives the opposition to taxes twice the voting power of proponents.

A candidate having received 67.2 percent of the vote would be said to have won overwhelmingly.  Indeed the overwhelming majority of Davis voters supported the parcel tax.

E Street Plaza Parking Lot to Return to “Paid” Status

Parking-GarageCity Still Lacks Integrated Plan For Downtown Parking and Transportation –

The City of Davis sent out a press release yesterday to let the public know that upon the completion of the Second Street Corridor Improvements project, parking restrictions in the E Street Plaza parking lot will return to “paid” status on Monday, May 9, 2011.

While it seems the true purpose of the press release was to discuss the Second Street Corridor Improvements project, which was funded through federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and City of Davis Redevelopment Agency funds at a time when the city is lacking funding to do basic road repair work, it gives us the opportunity to discuss parking once again.

Another Look At Miranda and Confessions

interrogatorA man is arrested for the rape of his daughter over a nine-year period of time.  He is taken into an interrogation room at six p.m., he is told he can freely leave but then not allowed to exit, he may or may not know that he should contact an attorney, and somewhere around nine hours later he confessions to something short of raping his daughter, but nevertheless incriminating enough to be arrested and convicted.

The question before us is whether this was a legitimate confession and whether we should be doing more than we have already to prevent false confessions, which lead to long imprisonment for innocent individuals.

Measure A Passes By the Skin of Its Teeth

Robersons-Measure-A

It was close, too close for comfort by some, but Board Members and District Officials are cautiously optimistic, despite the uncertain state budget situation that could push the deficit to nearly three million under worst case scenarios even with the passage of Measure A.

With the all-vote-by-mail election, 16,000 ballots were counted almost immediately at 8 pm.  At that time, Measure A was passing very narrowly.  The question was how many more ballots.  Had Measure A had a sizable lead it would have been over at 8 pm, but given that a few votes could swing the election, it took a bit longer to know for sure that Measure A had passed.  As it turned out, the original percentage mirrored the final vote breakdown.

 

Man Charged With Felony For Stealing Candy Bar

godivaJudge Knocks Charges Down to Misdemeanor Over DA’s Objection –

A Woodland man faced petty theft, with a series of prior convictions which enhanced the charge to a felony, for stealing a candy bar from JC Penneys in the Woodland Mall. 

The defendant, Ovan Taylor, apparently suffers from schizophrenia and has a long history of mental illness.  Following a preliminary hearing, Judge Paul Richardson reduced the charge to a misdemeanor in the interest of justice, over the protests of Deputy DA Jennifer Davis.

SB 286 Offers Redevelopment Reform Option

redevelopment-2By  Dan Oney –

A bill sponsored by the California Redevelopment Association and League of California Cities, would redesign certain aspects of redevelopment law. SB 286, by Senator Rod Wright, underwent substantial amendments this week, and is now introduced as an alternative to the Governor’s proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies. The bill is sponsored by the California Redevelopment Association and the League of California Cities.

As part of the CRA’s Legislative update issued at the end of last week, they made the following statement about the future of Redevelopment. “CRA recognizes that the strong reforms in SB 286 represent significant changes and may not meet with favor by all our members… The reality is that redevelopment must operate differently in the future. (CRA’s Board of Directors) also believe that the reforms contained in SB 286 will achieve those objectives and actually strengthen redevelopment and increase its support.”

School Board Members Stung By Criticism, Negative Tone of Campaign

schoolNormally about this time in an election, the comment would be that the matter is in the hands of the voters now.  But the truth is, it has been in the hands of the voters for quite some time.  43,000 ballots were sent out a month ago, and it appears just over one-third have been returned already.  The election is over, we just do not know the results until tonight.

Nevertheless, it is dismaying to see the amount of mud and accusations thrown in this election, at a time when the district is going to face a $6 million deficit, a time when teachers will be laid off, a time when class sizes will increased, and a time when the most vulnerable students in the school district will be at grave risk.

Another West Sacramento Gang Case

ganginjunction_catAsian Rival Gangs Selling Drugs Together – Or Overreach by Authorities?

Like many so-called gang crimes, a central question is always whether a gang crime, and thus gang enhancement charges, are a “specific intent” charge as defense attorneys would argue, or whether they are more general, as prosecutors would argue. The former interpretation insists that gang enhancement charges require a specific intent to promote or benefit a criminal street gang, while the latter views such charges as simply applying to gang members committing crimes that may indirectly also benefit their criminal street gang.

In this case, four individuals, Det Kalah, Dom Kalah, Anthony Kalah and Saengphet Onsri face a series of drug charges, that the DA argues is a conspiracy to the benefit of the Asian Gangster Crips, along with enhancements for possession of a gun.

DA Defies Judge’s Order and Judge Backs Down

Yolo-Count-Court-Room-600Exactly two weeks ago today, Judge Janet Gaard of the Yolo County Superior Court was to hear the case of People vs. Oscar Arreola in her courtroom, Department 8, at 9 am.

The case, in which Mr. Arreola is charged by the District Attorney with rape after his former girlfriend accused him of raping her, had already been through a preliminary hearing and subsequent hearings by that time.  However, this hearing was to be unlike any of the others.

Commentary: Life After Bin Laden

Plane_into_Building.jpgI do not know what was more stunning last night, the news that Osama Bin Laden was killed finally or the realization that the attacks on September 11 occurred nearly ten years ago.

To drive home the point, as we watched transfixed yet again to the TV, we had to explain to my seven-year-old nephew why this was so important and why he would remember this for a long time.  Indeed, it sunk in that the attacks occurred before he was even born.

The Fate of Picnic Day Still Looms

Picnic-Day-ArrestThe city council on Tuesday will hear a largely informational report on the 2011 Picnic Day, which followed a 2010 Picnic Day that saw “uncontrollable crowds and riotous behavior in downtown Davis.”

Efforts were made by leaders in the community and on campus to “make Picnic Day 2011 a different event, focusing on family and community-friendly efforts and ‘rewinding’ Picnic Day to its original purpose as the university’s primary open house.”

Sunday Commentary: Gas Prices a Curse or Blessing?

Oil-RefineryThe general attitude towards taxation has been that people want services, they want quality education, and they are willing to raise taxes but not on themselves.  Why do I bring up taxes?  Because I am about to contradict that theory.

I will be very honest, the cost of gas is kicking my hind parts and crippling my precariously “balanced” budget in my home.  I spent 45 dollars filling up the small gas tank of my Honda the other day.  We have two cars and 80 to 90 dollars for gas every week or two takes a huge hit on our budget.

Vanguard Court Watch Launches Editorial Board

Yolo_Judicial_Watch-400In January of 2010, the Vanguard created its Vanguard Court Watch.  The idea behind YJW was to monitor and report on what was occurring in the Yolo County courts.

During the last 17 months since we founded the court watch program, interns have monitored numerous hearings and court trials, we have reported on dozens of cases, and the program has been remarkably successful.  Last week, we had 8 interns cover every single of one of Yolo County’s felony courts.

FPPC Complaint Filed Against the District on Measure A

chalkboardThe Davis Enterprise is reporting this morning that Thomas Randall, one of the primary movers against Measure A, has filed an FPPC (Fair Political Policies Commission) complaint against the district on Measure A.

According to the Enterprise, Mr. Randall “said his committee has filed the complaint against the Davis Board of Education, and specifically board president Richard Harris and trustees Gina Daleiden and Sheila Allen.”

Governor Brown Shifts Parole Policies of Predecessors, But Not in Yolo

prison-reformBee Editorial Calls on California to Reconsider Proposition 89, Requiring Governor Approval of Parole Decisions –

The Sacramento Bee reported earlier this week that Governor Brown is allowing that “convicted killers leave prison on parole at a far higher rate than previous governors, only rarely using his power to block decisions of the parole board.”

According to the paper’s research, Governor Brown has allowed 106 of 130 convicted killers’ parole releases to stand, which is about 82 percent.  Compare that to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who let stand only 27 percent of parole decisions, and Governor Gray Davis who only allowed 9 of 374 (about 2.5%) paroled killers to be released from prison while he was governor.