Sunday Commentary: The Best and the Worse Moves by the Davis City Council
Yesterday’s column on the decision of May 12, 2010, to push forward with a small one-year rate hike, and leave the heavy lifting for future councils, got me wondering what the best and the worst decisions of the council in the last six years (since the Vanguard started on July 30, 2006) were.
That eliminates two of the worst decisions – one that actually led to the formation of the Vanguard in July of 2006 and the other being Covell Village. Two quick points on the rules for inclusion. First, these are council decisions, which eliminates worst moments such as the Sue Greenwald-Ruth Asmundson fight or Stephen Souza shouting that they are the deciders.
It never ceases to amaze me that when the chips are down and all else is failing, the fallback position of any failing campaign – particularly a Republican one – is to blame the messenger, i.e. the media.
Earlier this week, Councilmember Brett Lee made the comment where he suggested that past councils had done us no favors with regard to financing the surface water project.
It is difficult to have designed, let alone imagined, a worse week for the Mitt Romney campaign. How bad was it? The Romney campaign actually released his tax returns for 2011 to distract from the focus on his statements that came out earlier in the week with regard to 47% of the electorate.
A new survey conducted jointly by The Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) at UC Berkeley and The Field Poll finds the initiative backed by Governor Jerry Brown, Proposition 30, continuing to lead but with support marginally lower than in early July and the undecided proportion increasing.
West Sacramento Option is Not Realistic and Electoral Defeat Self-Defeating – 
There have been past efforts to increase voter participation. In my first election as an adult, my generation launched “Rock the Vote,” aimed at getting the participation of youth. Later there was the Motor Voter Law that allowed people to register as they renewed their driver’s license.
Over the past year, we have heard a lot about the water project, particularly from the Davis representatives on the JPA – Joe Krovoza and, formerly, Stephen Souza. But with Mr. Souza’s exit from the council June, Brett Lee has been named to replace him.
By David Thompson – 
Last week at the Water Advisory Committee (WAC) hearings, the committee heard presentations on the Design-Build-Operate (DBO) process which Herb Niederberger, Davis’ General Manager of Utilities, Development and Operations, argued could save the city as much as five to ten million dollars over the course of the contract.
The application to change the zoning for the pad adjacent to Target reignited a debate of sorts about the impact of Target. The Vanguard is at least attempting to get the city to quantify a notable shift from retail to restaurants and more entertainment-oriented commerce in the downtown over the last six years.
In just over two weeks, the Davis Vanguard will host its first ever official candidate’s forum at Harper Junior High Multipurpose room. The doors open at 6:30 and the forum begins at 7.
DA’s Comment Ironic and Telling at the Same Time – 
I have always struggled to distinguish in the classical sense the difference between a comedy and tragedy. I have finally arrived at the reason for the such difficulty – a tragedy should be recast as a comedy of errors.
