October 2011 - Davis Vanguard

Despite Dishonesty by City Staff, Zipcar Program Working, Contract Amendments Drop Remaining City Fiscal Obligations

By David GreenwaldOctober 31, 201112 comments

Zipcar-sf

The Zipcar fiasco was seemingly completely unnecessary. For months, members of the public and columnist Bob Dunning complained about the City’s 74,000 dollar contract with Zipcar, much of which would have been removed through appropriate levels of usage.

At the one-year point in the contract, the council received the status report. Far from the $74,000 boondoggle that was described by critics, the program has broken even since March.

Some See Water Initiative, as Worded, Problematic At Best

By David GreenwaldOctober 31, 201123 comments

A number of people who have been among the core supporters of the water referendum are expressing concerns about the wording of the initiative and have explicit concerns that the initiative may actually doom the water referendum.

The referendum is a simple up or down vote on the water rate hikes. Should that pass, the city council would have to go back and draw up water rate hikes that the public would be more willing to accept.

Where Wrongful Convictions Link with the Death Penalty

By David GreenwaldOctober 31, 20110 comments

Natasha Minsker – Death Penalty Policy Director of the ACLU of Northern California

Ms. Minsker began her career at the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office, spending the first year as a research attorney in the Capital Defense Unit and the remaining four years as a Deputy Public Defender, handling all types of misdemeanor, felony and juvenile cases.

In an interview, she described her first day working the public defender’s office.

Commentary: Welcome to the Occupation

By David GreenwaldOctober 30, 201139 comments

“Welcome to the occupation. Here we stand and here we fight, all your fallen heroes. Held and dyed and skinned alive, listen to the Congress fire,” sang REM back in 1987 in words that probably resonate more today than then.

Truth be told, it is easy to dismiss movements that do not seem to make a lot of sense or have some sort of coherent message.

Sunday Commentary: Public Safety Pensions Are Crippling Local Government and Forcing Governor to Push 12-Point Pension Reform Plan

By David GreenwaldOctober 30, 201114 comments

Last Sunday at the Democratic Bean Feed in Davis, first Assemblymember Mariko Yamada and the newly-redistricted Congressman John Garamendi sung the praises of local firefighters’ union president Bobby Weist.

This is the same Bobby Weist who has been the subject of grand jury complaints, questioning his union activities and the hostile work place that his leadership has engendered. The same firefighters union that has contributed mightily to the fiscal crisis that cities like Davis have endured in the wake of an unsustainable pension of 3% at 50.

Passion for Justice Drives Public Defender Tracie Olson

By David GreenwaldOctober 30, 20110 comments

In June of 2009, Tracie Olson took over as public defender for Yolo County when Barry Melton retired. At the time of his retirement, Melton said, “Tracie is a fine lawyer, a talented administrator, a deeply compassionate human being, and a true public servant.”

Tracie Olson chose to become a criminal defense attorney after she traveled to Harlingen, Texas, to represent a Guatemalan man who had been tortured and abused because he declined to help a political cause that he did not believe in. He hid his family in a neighboring town with the promise that he’d go to America, find help, and then return for them when he could. However, upon entering America, he was detained and prosecuted for having the audacity to enter the country without the proper paperwork.

Water Initiative Would Reduce Water Rates and Cap Future Rate Increases to CPI

By David GreenwaldOctober 29, 201164 comments

Davis residents Ernie Head and Jim Stevens have drafted an initiative that they will circulate to Davis voters. Unlike the referendum, which will be a simple up or down vote on the council approved rate hikes, the initiative, if it gains enough signatures to qualify and wins, would actually update existing laws regarding water rate hikes.

The referendum has a much higher hurdle to cross to qualify for the ballot. Signature gatherers for the referendum had to collect over 3800 signatures in 30 days.

Kickoff Fundraiser for Parcel Tax Renewal November 16

By David GreenwaldOctober 29, 20110 comments

Delaine Eastin Hosts Kick-Off Fundraiser For “Yes For Our Students” Parcel Tax Renewal Measure

Yes for Our Students, the community campaign for the Davis parcel tax renewal to fund quality public education programs in Davis schools, announced today that former State Superintendent of Education Delaine Eastin will host a campaign kick-off party and fundraiser at her Davis home on Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 4228 Dogwood Place.

“The children of Davis are going into the future buoyed by a community that understands that our children, our posterity, represent our most important legacy,” said Eastin. “Renewing the parcel tax helps the children of our town and helps every homeowner to have a higher valued house and every resident to have a safer community. This is a win, win, win.”

On a Personal Note: Simply Put, the Greatest Week of My Life

By David GreenwaldOctober 29, 201115 comments

I try not to put my personal life into the view of the community, though several people have suggested I do so to perhaps make things more personal, to allow this community to see what I am about, over and above the Vanguard, which is a creation that everyone who knows me, knows I take tremendous pride in.

I have lived a good life so far, and have had many moments of joy including the day I proposed to my wife, Cecilia, surprising her on Diamond Point in Mount Lassen State Park on June 30, 2001 and our spectacular wedding on Bastille Day 2002 in Pismo Beach.

Commentary: City Explanations and Failure to Communicate Should Prompt More Questions

By David GreenwaldOctober 28, 201165 comments

The water issue, for all its divisions and acrimony, really boils down to two very separate but equally important questions: do we need the project and what is the best and most affordable way to deliver surface water to the ratepayers in a time of economic crisis?

The “do we need the project” question actually has at least three camps: those who do not believe we need it, those who question when we need it, and those who believe we need it now and probably yesterday.

Yolo County’s Realignment Missing the Opportunity

By David GreenwaldOctober 28, 201113 comments

AB 109 and realignment have the potential to change the way that we do business at the county level and the state level. Thus, it is disappointing that despite the fact that the process in Yolo County brought the stakeholders together, the plan became less about getting things right and more about protecting one’s funding source and thus one’s turf.

The process was laudable but flawed, bringing together various stakeholders in a Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) in hopes of creating a community based approach.

Do Speeds Need to Go Up West of Davis on Russell?

By David GreenwaldOctober 27, 201137 comments

Yolo County Public Works staff recommended raising the speed limits in 14 unincorporated areas including Russell Blvd to the west of Davis out near Pedrick Road.

The Board of Supervisors held off increasing the limits to four of the county roads, citing safety concerns and looking toward alternative ways to reduce speeds.

Former Davis Police Chief Hyde’s Antioch Legacy Ends in Federal Court Supervision

By David GreenwaldOctober 27, 201114 comments

In 2006, embroiled in an ugly and polarizing controversy, Police Chief Jim Hyde abruptly left for greener pastures but not before firing some parting shots at the City of Davis and the Human Relations Commission, chaired at the time by my wife, Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald.

Nearly three years later, Chief Hyde could apparently not get over his problems in Davis, as he fired shots at his former department in a small “indy” magazine in Contra Costa County.

Assemblymember Calls Crack Down on Medical Marijuana ‘Pure Thuggery’

By uptownstudiosOctober 27, 201129 comments

by Dan Aiello –

Following today’s press conference timed to coincide with the visit of President Barack Obama to San Francisco, the City’s Democrat Assemblymember Tom Ammiano says he’s “pretty pissed off about this unwarranted attack,” referring to the multitude of federal raids orchestrated by the Obama administration’s Department of Justice on California’s medical marijuana dispensaries, their landlords and patients.

The DOJ and federal prosecutors have said the raids are part of an effort to stop the proliferation of for-profit dispensaries and prescribe-for-pay doctor’s offices that have sprouted up in California communities that have no local regulations for dispensaries of medical marijuana.

Busted: Myth of Revoked Water Rights

By David GreenwaldOctober 26, 2011130 comments

The Vanguard has spent quite a bit of time sitting down with city staff and water consultants to understand this complex water project and the stakes.

As we have mentioned previously, based on what we have learned, we believe most but not all of the downsides to delaying the project are worst-case scenarios. Peeling those back, we find the water issue comes down to a simple but uncertain calculation of the costs of proceeding now, versus the costs of delaying.

Advocates Express Concern That County AB 109 Plan Lacks Funding For Mental Health Services

By David GreenwaldOctober 26, 201126 comments

One of the big problems facing the AB 109 budgeting process, at the county level, is that it takes a 4/5th’s vote of the Board of Supervisors to block the implementation of budget and recommendations put forth by the Community Corrections Partnership, made up of the various stakeholders in the process.

The problem, as one of the supervisors put it, is that the budget process turned into a funding security plan where the stakeholders were able to divvy up the budget in a way to protect their turf, rather than look at the best uses for money.

Supporters Turn in Enough Signatures

By David GreenwaldOctober 25, 2011106 comments

Vanguard Further Evaluates Rate Hike Claims –

Supporters of the petition and Michael Harrington turned in 5,124 signatures yesterday to the city clerk’s office. In the petition receipt, City Clerk Zoe Mirabile certified that “Michael Harrington submitted to my office petitions for referendum against an ordinance passed by the city council, ordinance no. 2381-Ordinance of the city of Davis amending chapter 39 of the Davis municipal code related to water rates to increase the base rates and metered rates.”

The counts are unofficial until the county certifies them over the next month. While Mr. Harrington told the Vanguard he expected the list to get trimmed, it is believed by most that they have enough to gain the 3705 signatures needed to put an up or down vote before the voters perhaps in June – that will be a decision of the Davis City Council.

Commentary: How Concerned Should District Be About Next Parcel Tax?

By David GreenwaldOctober 25, 201168 comments

At last week’s Davis School Board meeting, the district announced that a poll of Davis voters will take place as early as next week, aimed at the assessment of the public’s support for a parcel renewal.

We are just four months away from when the next parcel tax would be held, in March of next year. According to the meeting last week, the district will receive the results in time to formally authorize the parcel tax election on a special all-mail March ballot.

Sources: Referendum Has Enough Signatures to Qualify

By David GreenwaldOctober 24, 201169 comments

The Vanguard has learned from several sources well connected that the referendum committee has collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Supporters of the referendum will turn the signatures in to the city clerk’s office this morning.

Today marks the deadline to submit more than 3700 signatures which would be needed to overturn rate increases approved by a 4-1 council vote in the early morning hours of September 7.

Shooter of Police Officer Dies in Custody

By David GreenwaldOctober 24, 20116 comments

Over the weekend, Tyrone Smith, 32 was arrested after being suspected of shooting a Twin Rivers Unified School District Officer multiple times during an attempted traffic stop.

The officer, just 25 and a police officer for less than two years, had been in critical condition but appears to have survived and is recovering after surgery. A spokesperson for the Twin Rivers Police Department reported that the officer is in pain but “awake, talking and in good spirits.”

Month: October 2011