Is the Palmdale Decision A Game Changer For Davis Water Issues?
The Answer Depends On Whom You Talk To
On August 9, 2011, the Second District Appellate Court of California struck down the water rates for the City of Palmdale, located in Los Angeles County, ruling: “After conducting an independent review of the record (Silicon Valley Taxpayers’ Assn., Inc. v. Santa Clara County Open Space Authority (2008) 44 Cal.4th 431, 448), we conclude PWD failed to satisfy its burden to establish that its new water rate structure complies with the mandates of Proposition 218 (as set forth in article XIII D of the California Constitution (article XIII D)), including the proportionality requirement which specifies that no fee or charge imposed upon any person or parcel as an incident of property ownership shall exceed the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment.”
The question that has emerged in recent weeks is what that decision will mean for Davis. There are really two questions embedded within this. One is a prospective question in that Davis, like all other cities, will have to take this decision into account when it conducts its rate study and ultimately sets its water rates, should the surface water project go forward.
When Kemble Pope sent me his comments from last Tuesday’s council meeting, which began with an economic summit, I figured his comments would be controversial. What I did not guess was that his comments would trigger a lengthy discussion of Davis economic development policies.
Senator Mark Leno last week introduced legislation that would revise the penalty for simple drug possession under the state law, from a felony to a misdemeanor. It is legislation that follows the lead of 13 other states, as well as the federal government.
Jose Granda has been given no less than two editorials and three or four letters to the editor in the newspaper to continue the same inaccurate information that he has espoused for two months and that prompted a Yolo County Superior Court Judge to have to strike portions of a ballot statement.
It is a trial that, in strange ways, still haunts me. Bennie Moses sentenced to 830 years for the crime of the repeated rape of his daughter over a period of years.
Perhaps the underreported comments of the week were made this past Tuesday during the city’s economic summit, in which leaders from the business community met with the Davis City Council at a public meeting to discuss the future of the city’s economic development, particularly in light of the loss of Redevelopment Agency funding.
Frankly, I was unprepared for the level of cynicism engendered by the lawsuit filed by the ACLU and two other civil rights attorneys, on behalf of the pepper-sprayed protesters at UC Davis.
by Matt Williams – 
A Yolo County Jury found Steve Sargent not guilty of gross vehicular manslaughter for his role in a fatal accident that killed his passenger. The jury would deadlock on a lesser included charge of vehicular manslaughter, 8-4 in favor of acquittal, and 7-5 also for acquittal on a charge of failure to stop.
Michael Morton was released from prison in October 2011 after spending nearly 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife.
The Election is rapidly approaching for Measure C, the extension of the district’s current parcel tax for another five years. We have received some reports from around the community about illegally-placed signage.
A frequent criticism of the current state of California gang laws is that they permit prosecutors to enter in damaging and prejudicial evidence that generally would not be admissible, under California’s Evidence Code section 352.