Month: September 2012

Davis Should Develop New Ideas for Economic Redevelopment?

DD-BBNCOMMENTARY: West Sacramento Advisory Measure a Good Model To Start Looking At.

In this morning’s paper, three business leaders in Davis once again speak out against the proposed changes to the minimum square footage of proposed retail pads adjacent to Target.  The developer is proposing a reduction in the minimum square footage from 10,000 to 2,000, and 8,000 to 4,000 for apparel stores.

“He wants a greater percentage of the pad buildings’ square footage be available for neighborhood uses and quick-serve restaurants,” Jennifer Anderson, Maria Ogyrdziak, and Alzada Knickerbocker write.  “On the face of it, the request sounds benign enough.”

Sunday Commentary: Policing the Police

police_tape

The headline reads: “Anaheim Mayor Wants Citizen Oversight of Police.”  This is the Orange County Register writing, “Mayor Tom Tait has asked the city’s top administrator to move forward with plans to establish a citizens’ committee to review police actions and misconduct allegations.  Community leaders called for such a committee over the summer after police shootings killed two Latino men and sparked weeks of unrest.”

“The time has come,” Mayor Tait said. “It would be good for the city to have a trusted group of citizens look into any allegations of misconduct.”

WRONG CALL: WAC Reaches Divided Verdict on DBO

floating-20COMMENTARY – The WAC did on Thursday what it had previously managed to avoid – a heavily-divided vote.  It may not be the most core issue, but DBO, and the question of public versus private is perhaps one of the top three secondary issues in the question on water.

The 5-3 contested vote went down along expected lines with Alf Brandt, Jerry Adler, Elaine Roberts Musser, Jim West and David Purkey voting in the motion to recommend DBO.  Mark Siegler, Bill Kopper and Michael Bartolic were in dissent.

My View: Unsatisfying Outcome

Pepper-spray

On Wednesday, we finally learned the terms of the pepper-spray settlement.  I was covering the federal civil rights trial of Luis Gutierréz so I missed the press conference.  However, I was quickly able to speak with two attorneys and a protester, and the articles appeared on Thursday and Friday.

I will not mince words about my initial reaction –  I actually felt physically ill.  They did not get much and we the community did not get much.  $1 million spread out turned out to be about $30,000 per student.  They got an apology that was rendered useless by the fact that the officers did not admit wrongdoing.  Finally, the ACLU gets to help shape policy – which is probably the only real redeeming aspect of this settlement.

Campaign Analysis: So Far Measure E Seems in Good Shape

Measure-E-photoThe Davis School Board decided to take a rare risk when they put Measure E on the ballot.  It was largely untested.  Measure A, the measure that the new parcel tax in part renews, passed with the barest of margins just last year in 2011.  And Measure E not only renews the current parcel tax, but there is a good possibility that it will expand it, should the Governor’s Tax Measure, Proposition 30, not pass in November.

As we noted last week, Proposition 30 is passing with just 51 percent in the latest Field Poll.  A margin that has pundits and supporters concerned about whether it will pass.

Critical Witnesses Take the Stand in Gutiérrez Case

img_3299.jpgIf attorneys for the family of Luis Gutiérrez, shot and killed in Woodland on April 30, 2009, by three Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputies, are to make their case, three independent witnesses for the plaintiffs, who witnessed various stages of the pursuit and eventual shooting, will be critical.

On Thursday, two of those critical witnesses, along with the first of the three deputies, would testify.

Pepper-Sprayed Student Speaks About Settlement and Incident

Lee-IanIn the press conference at the Quad on Wednesday, Ian Lee spoke. He was a first-year student, two months into college, when he got involved in the protest that would ultimately alter his life.

“By now, the pepper-spray incident is almost a bit cliché: students protested, the University sent in riot police, and then the police brutalized us with pepper spray,” he said in his speech Wednesday.  “But I urge people interested in this case to think about the pepper-spray incident more complexly. The reason we were protesting was that the University had proposed unfair and unreasonable tuition hikes.”

Attorney For Gutierrez Family Says Tragedy Occurred Due to Baseless Hunch and Aggressive Police Tactics

img_3299.jpgLong-Awaited Civil Rights Trial Opened Wednesday, Nearly Three and a Half Years After Deadly Shooting on Gum Ave in Woodland –

Nearly three and a half years after the April 30, 2009 tragedy that saw Luis Gutierrez, a 26-year-old farm worker, shot and killed by three plain-clothed sheriff’s deputies working with the Yolo County Gang Task Force, the civil rights trial opened on Wednesday.

The start of the trial was delayed after attorneys for the defense alerted the judge to the planned protest and demonstration outside of the Federal Court Building.  Defense attorney Bruce Kilday told the court that this was a highly unusual situation and he, along with attorneys for the plaintiff, were concerned about the potential for prejudicial impacts on the jury.

Attorneys Defend UC Davis Pepper Spray Suit Settlement

Pepper-spray

On Wednesday, the terms of the settlement of the lawsuit filed by students pepper sprayed on the UC Davis Quad, November 18, 2011, was announced.  Among other things, the students would receive around one million dollars, amounting to 30 thousand dollars each.

In addition, Chancellor Katehi would be required to write a written apology to each student and the ACLU would play a role in the development of new practices.

UCD Students Reach Million Dollar Settlement with University Over Pepper Spray Incident

Pepper-sprayUC Davis Agrees to Formally Apologize to Students and Implement Reforms

Ten months after the November 18, 2011, pepper spray incident, attorneys for 21 UC Davis students and recent alumni announced the details of their settlement with the university over a federal class-action lawsuit.  The announcement comes two weeks after UC Regents approved the agreement and after the agreement was certified in US Federal Court.

The lawsuit charged that the police violated state and federal constitutional protections, including the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, when they arrested and used excessive force against these non-violent demonstrators. The UC Regents approved the settlement in a September 13 meeting, and the settlement documents were filed with the court today, according to a release from American Civil Liberties Union this morning.

Feds Authorize 16.7 Million Dollars for Water Project in Yolo County

Sacramento-River-stockBy Kim Floyd –

Millions in federal funding are headed to Yolo County, thanks in large part to the efforts of local water suppliers seeking to minimize cost of service increases for their users. Reclamation District 2035 (RD 2035) and the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency (WDCWA) announced today that the United States Bureau of Reclamation has authorized 16.7 million dollars toward the construction of a 39 million dollar joint water intake facility on the Sacramento River.

Of that amount, $8.3 million has been appropriated in the current fiscal year to allow construction in 2013. The balance of funding will be delivered as construction progresses.

Analysis: Will the City Be Able to Achieve Necessary Cost Savings?

Owen-DavidThis past weekend, the Vanguard rated the Council’s 2011 budget as its top achievement.  This drew some questions, in part because, while the council indeed hold firm in the face of 150 angry city employees packed into a hot council chambers, the city only realized about one million of the $2.5 million in cuts as actual savings.

However, the rating reflected the fact that, for the first time, the council prioritized putting additional money into fully funding retiree health, shoring up pensions against the expected hit from the reduced earnings forecast, and finally putting general fund money into road maintenance.

California Takes the Lead on Voter Access with Three New Laws

Bowen-votingIt has been a long time since California has been on the forefront of anything in this nation.  However, as many other states have moved to making voting more difficult, enacting draconian if not disenfranchising laws, California in the past week has moved in the other direction, enacting same-day voter laws, online registration, and other innovations.

In a press release, the ACLU announced, “California leads the nation in promoting voter access.”  They applaud a third voter access law which enables voter registration through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Commentary: Troubled By Case of Angelique Topete

Topete-A-face-1The news story that the Vanguard ran on Tuesday regarding the knife-slashing attack on Angelique Topete raised a number of questions.  Unfortunately, the public remains ill-served by a District Attorney’s office that refuses to communicate with a media entity  because that media entity has leveled criticism toward them.

In fact, that very issue is at the core of the questions regarding what would have appeared to have been a relatively routine case in which an individual attacked and slashed the face of Ms. Topete in late July.

School Board Candidates Written Responses – Part Two

schoolOn Monday, October 1, 2012, the Davis Vanguard and Davis Media Access (DMA) will be hosting a candidates forum for the Davis School Board candidates, to be held in the Harper Junior High Multipurpose room. The doors open at 6:30 PM and the forum begins at 7:00 PM.

The forum will have a unique setup in that candidates will be seated facing each other in a discussion format. Each of the five candidates will ask one question to be answered by themselves and the other candidates and then there will be time at the end for question and answer of the candidates.

DA Declines To Charge Man Who Slashed Face of Topete’s Wife

Topete-A-face-1In late July, the Woodland Daily Democrat reported that Woodland police had arrested a husband and wife who were suspected of slashing the face of Angelique Topete.  Ms. Topete is the wife of Marco Topete, who was sentenced to be executed earlier this year for the 2008 killing of Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Diaz.

At the time, authorities argued that the attack had nothing to do with Mr. Topete or his crime.

Poll Finds Stunning Shift on Death Penalty Views; Voters Now Split

death-penaltyFor years the overwhelming majority of voters favored the death penalty, to the point where it became a bit of a political third rail that Democratic politicians would not touch.  They would either proclaim their support for the death penalty, or, such was the case with Attorney Generals Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris, both pledged to uphold the law despite personal opposition to the death penalty.

But that has all changed in recent years.  This morning’s release of the Field Poll shows Proposition 34, which would repeal the state’s existing death penalty law and make life in prison the ultimate penalty for a capital crime, is very narrowly trailing in the polls 45 percent opposed, 42 percent in favor, with a sizable 13 percent still undecided.

School Board Candidates Written Responses – Part One

schoolOn Monday, October 1, 2012, the Davis Vanguard and Davis Media Access (DMA) will be hosting a candidates forum for the Davis School Board candidates to be held in the Harper Junior High Multipurpose room. The doors open at 6:30 PM and the forum begins at 7:00 PM.

The forum will have a unique setup in that candidates will be seated facing each other in a discussion format. Each of the five candidates will ask one question to be answered by themselves and the other candidates, and then there will be time at the end for question and answer of the candidates.

DA’s Office Reluctant to Charge Law Enforcement with Crimes for On-Duty Transgressions

reisigLast fall, when a Woodland police lieutenant took money from the Woodland Police Supervisors Association funds, the DA’s office was quick to charge him with embezzlement even though the defendant believed no crime occurred, as the money was re-paid through payroll deductions.

Similarly, in 2009, when a former Yolo County sheriff’s deputy sergeant got drunk and shot his dog, he was charged with illegal discharge of a firearm in a grossly negligent manner that could result in injury or death of a person, and wounding an animal.  He quickly pled to the former charge.

Getting Rid of the Death Penalty Means Getting Rid of Plea Bargains?

san-quentinResearch Inconclusive and Claim Ignores Problems with Coercive Plea Bargaining and Wrongful Convictions –

Political campaigns, unfortunately, are times when exaggerated political claims trump the need for truthful and honest discussions.  Such is the case in the recent column by Debra Saunders, dubbed the “Token Conservative,” in the San Francisco Chronicle.

After her account of Marc Klaas, she notes, “Thanks to a highly successful defense lobby and federal judges who have stalled the enforcement of California law, only 13 of the state’s death row inmates have been executed since 1992.”