February 2012 - Page 2 of 5

ACLU Files Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit on Behalf of Pepper Sprayed Students

By David GreenwaldFebruary 23, 201257 comments

pepper-spray-suit-3

On Wednesday, the ACLU announced that nineteen students and alumni filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District against UC Davis, over the university’s treatment of protesters during a Nov. 18 demonstration, in which campus police were caught on video dousing seated protesters with pepper spray.

According to a release from the ACLU, the lawsuit seeks to determine why the university violated the demonstrators’ state and federal constitutional rights, and seeks to result in better policies that will prevent repetition of such response to a non-violent protest.

Council Update: Five Have Pulled Papers, Souza and Wolk Have Filed Paperwork

By David GreenwaldFebruary 23, 201235 comments

There are no surprises so far, five candidates have now pulled paperwork and two candidates, Stephen Souza and Dan Wolk, have filed their papers.

Stephen Souza was the first to return his papers – he returned his paperwork to run for a third term last week. Dan Wolk filed his paperwork to run for his first full term on Tuesday. Mr. Wolk was appointed last February to replace Don Saylor on the Davis City Council.

Guest Commentary: Measure C is About Saving School Music Programs

By uptownstudiosFebruary 23, 201224 comments

by Hiram Jackson and Greg Brucker

About 30 years ago, Davis schools faced the biggest deficits on record up to that time. Significant cuts were made to the music program, and the school elementary music program was eliminated for three years. This occurred in the years just before Davis passed its first school parcel tax in 1984.

Once the elementary program was reinstated, it took another 10 years to restore the whole music program to its previous levels of participation and excellence. We are also faced with a similar decision in 2012 as to whether to continue funding for programs like elementary music. But in light of how much Davis families appreciate that music performance is an essential component of a basic education, this is a choice that you can make at the ballot box.

Commentary: Davis Always Has to Do Things the Hard Way and in the Wrong Order

By David GreenwaldFebruary 22, 201282 comments

Yesterday the City of Davis had an economic development roundtable to discuss, among other things, the future of economic development in Davis. Few in this community would argue that Davis not only should develop economically but, given the goals and ambitions of UC Davis, ought to be poised to take advantage of such opportunities.

No one can argue that these should be the goals – the problems come from operationalizing these goals and working them into reality.

Council Approves Conditional Use Permit For Davis Diamonds

By David GreenwaldFebruary 22, 201214 comments

Council Also Agendizes Future Discussion on Timing of Agenda Items

With Mayor Joe Krovoza leaving early due to illness, the council briefly discussed the possibility of delaying the discussion of the Davis Diamonds Conditional Use Permit. Ultimately, they decided to go forward with it, with some slight modifications, by a 3-1 vote with Mayor Pro Tem Rochelle Swanson dissenting.

According to the staff report that the Vanguard only received at noon on Tuesday, “staff has been working with the applicant to evaluate the feasibility of an alternative site.”

Judge Race: Parish List Full of Law Enforcements, Maguire Receives Endorsement of Leading Crime Victims’ Group

By David GreenwaldFebruary 22, 20121 comments

On Tuesday, Judge Dan Maguire sent out a press release announcing that he had received the endorsement of California’s leading crime victims’ group, the Crime Victims Action Alliance (CVAA). Crime Victims Action Alliance was formed in 1992 originally as the Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau, named in honor of the mother of Sharon Tate, one of the pioneers of the crime victims’ movement.

“I’m honored to have the endorsement of the Crime Victims Action Alliance,” said Judge Maguire. “This organization keeps a watchful eye over the justice system to ensure that crime victims are respected and protected from additional harm. I am humbled that they trust me to continue on with the work I am doing.”

UC Davis Settles Title IX Case with Former Students for 1.35 Million Dollars

By uptownstudiosFebruary 22, 20125 comments

Former Westling Coach Alleges Judge in Case Had Conflicts of Interest

By Paayal Zaveri

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 states that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance”

UC Davis was found in to be in violation of that by not providing adequate athletic opportunities for women during the years 1998 and 2005. This was found when former UC Davis students and women wrestlers, Arezou Mansourian, Christine Ng and Lauren Mancuso, filed a claim against UC Davis in 2003 because they cut the women’s wrestling program, while continuing to expand other male-dominated sports teams. A settlement was finally reached last Thursday by a payment of $1.35 million to the plaintiffs’ counsel for legal fees. This means that the damages phase of the trial that was scheduled to start March 5^th will no longer happen.

The Veil of Secrecy: City Continues Hiding Ball on Davis Diamonds Agenda Item

By David GreenwaldFebruary 21, 201210 comments

The preamble to the Ralph M. Brown Act reads: “The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”

The Brown Act only requires the public noticing of every meeting with a posted agenda at least 72 hours before the meeting and the agenda must contain a brief description of each item of business.

Commentary: Democrats Do Need to Get Serious on Pension Reform

By David GreenwaldFebruary 21, 201224 comments

A few days ago, Republican Senators Bill Emmerson (Hemet), Tom Berryhill (Modesto), Anthony Cannella (Ceres) and Tom Harman (Huntington Beach) wrote an op-ed in the LA Times, pushing for their public employee pension reform legislation.

They discussed Senate Constitutional Amendment 13, which “resulted from last year’s failed negotiations with Gov. Jerry Brown over the reforms we sought and that California desperately needs — including pension reform.”

HESC After Five Years: A Look Back at Davis Land Use Decisions

By uptownstudiosFebruary 21, 20126 comments

by Matt Williams

Time flies when you are having fun.

Five years ago tomorrow, the Housing Element Steering Committee (HESC) convened its first working session. A whole lot has happened since then, and I thought it would be interesting to examine how the HESC looked at and evaluated alternative housing sites.

Why the City Needs to Come Cleaner on DACHA

By David GreenwaldFebruary 20, 2012107 comments

The City of Davis took a battering on the issue of DACHA (Davis Area Cooperative Housing Association) at the recent council meeting – many of those who called for further scrutiny into the city’s role have cited an often repeated figure for the city’s legal costs – 800,000 dollars.

Former Davis Mayor Anne Evans, the wife of David Thompson, one of the principals at Neighborhood Partners and Twin Pines, cited the figure in her recent letter to the city, in which she lobbied city leadership to “rise to the occasion and direct your staff accordingly. There is so much to be done on your watch, but affordable housing availability is not the least of those important items.”

Staff Pushes For Additional Stop Signs to Improve Safety and Reduce Speeds on Russell

By David GreenwaldFebruary 20, 201213 comments

The December death of Megan Glanville, a Davis resident originally from Chico, has pushed the city to take further steps to protect pedestrians and others at the intersection of Russell Blvd and Lake Blvd on the westernmost outskirts of Davis.

Staff has come forward with a consent item, based on council’s direction to staff to evaluate Russell Boulevard west of SR-113 and other high-speed rural roads entering the City, for possible traffic safety improvements.

Commentary: Game Over For Republicans in 2012?

By David GreenwaldFebruary 19, 2012103 comments

It is a provocative headline, but there is some truth behind it as well. There are political scientists who believe that political campaigns do not matter. What matters is the state of the economy prior to the election.

This week, a model, one of many in existence “created by David Rothschild and Patrick Hummel, predicts that Mr. Obama will carry 303 electoral votes this fall.”

Sunday Commentary: How Liberty Mutual Defied Its Image to Team with Yolo DA to Squash a Vulnerable Injured Worker

By David GreenwaldFebruary 19, 201237 comments

It is a brilliant and powerful montage, one in which a female voice sings in the background, “I am falling half an acre.” The images depict a string of events in which people uncharacteristically go out of their way to do the right thing for their fellow human kind.

Finally, after nearly a minute of images, the music building to crescendo, the voice over comes on, “When it’s people doing the right thing, they call it being responsible. When it’s an insurance company, they call it Liberty Mutual.”

UC Davis Townhall Covers Police Practices at UC Campuses

By uptownstudiosFebruary 19, 20124 comments

Written by the UC Davis Dateline Staff

Top UC officials at a UC Davis town hall last Friday on systemwide police practices heard suggestions to disarm campus police units or even disband them altogether. But some who attended the forum raised a question about protester practices: Have they gone too far?

“This has gone on for too long,” said Quyen Le, a second-year biochemistry major. He recalled losing five to 10 minutes of writing time on a fall midterm when chanting and drum-beating demonstrators marched through Wellman Hall.

Commentary: Bad Time For Such Tone-Deaf Leadership From DTA

By David GreenwaldFebruary 18, 201228 comments

We are in crunch time of a ballot measure that has avoided controversy until perhaps now. On Thursday night, the Davis school board approved another 50 layoffs. It is not the way we want to do things here in Davis, but such a move reflects an all-cuts approach to cutting the school’s current structural deficit that remains even if Measure C passes.

A $3.5 million structural deficit is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If Measure C does not pass, the Davis schools face a deficit nearly three times that, at $10 million. In the face of such daunting numbers, you would think we would be pulling together to work as a team – district personnel, teachers, community members.

Chancellor Katehi Survives Non-Binding No-Confidence Vote

By David GreenwaldFebruary 18, 20125 comments

Supporters of the chancellor will point to the final vote on a motion of “non-confidence” in UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi’s leadership. 697 votes were against the motion with 312 votes for the motion – 69 percent support for the embattled but still alive and surviving UC Davis Chancellor.

The vote was non-binding, and no one is sure exactly what effect such a vote, had it succeeded, would have had on the chancellor, even as UC officials were unaware of a successful no-confidence vote at any of its campuses.

Release of Dash Cam Video Generate More Controversy in Topete Case

By David GreenwaldFebruary 18, 201210 comments

When KCRA 3 in Sacramento requested the dash cam video of the pursuit that ended up with Deputy Sheriff Tony Diaz being shot, and aired it on Thursday evening, it caught many off guard.

The video was a sensitive matter to the family. When it was initially shown in court, relatives of Tony Diaz responded in loud emotional outbursts that required the court to recess and prompted the defense to ask for a mistrial. While Judge Paul Richardson refused to declare a mistrial, he did admonish the family to control themselves.

Report: Yolo County Highest Direct File Rate of Juvenile Cases in the State

By David GreenwaldFebruary 17, 201221 comments

When five defendants – four of them juveniles under the age of 16 were arrested in January of 2011 for assault and robbery, the Yolo County District Attorney’s office refused to drop the gang charges. Because the gang charges remained in place, the DA’s office was able to continue their direct filing of the juveniles.

Direct filing is when the prosecutor is allowed to try a juvenile as an adult, and Proposition 21, passed in 2000, increased the ability to do that.

Eventually, the case that could have settled on the base offenses went to trial and the case blew up in the face of prosecutors as the defense was able to question the field show-up technique of witness identification. Moreover, the gang charges – thin to begin with – did not hold up.

DTA Prez: We Should Not Ask Teachers to Take Concessions

By David GreenwaldFebruary 17, 201239 comments

This is About Shared Sacrifice and That Includes Teachers

In a pointed letter to the editor from current DTA (Davis Teachers Association) President Gail Mitchell, she asked that we not ask more of teachers.

She writes: “Recent items in The Davis Enterprise made a surprising call for pay cuts and a shortened academic year. Measure C results aren’t in, the state budget hasn’t been passed, and community input has not been sought – and, yet, district officials and individuals are already arguing that we have to look to the classroom for cuts first.”

Month: February 2012