This week, just as the two sides were prepared to go to war, Molly Munger, the backer of Proposition 38, decided to pull statewide ads attacking Proposition 30.
Proposition 30 is on life support, with recent polls showing it passing with barely 50 percent, what pundits are calling “a precarious position for a tax hike initiative with three weeks to go until Election Day.”
Rising was the concern about his age – 73 when he would have been re-elected. But he flipped on his opponent as the age issue arose: “I want you to know also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
It is perhaps ironic that, in recent years, the firefighters have become more influential outside of their own city political circles than inside them. After dominating Davis politics for the better part of the last decade and parlaying that influence into 3% at 50, four firefighters on an engine, and a massive 36% pay increase from 2005 to 2009, the firefighters could not give away their endorsement in the last two elections, let alone buy an election within the city of Davis.
On Monday, the Vanguard published analysis from water attorney Kelly Salt with the Best, Best and Krieger law firm, who reviewed the proposed rate structure from Frank Loge and Matt Williams which would rely on previous water usage as the fixed cost rather than the meter size.
While Ms. Salt saw some issues that needed to be potentially addressed if the WAC moves forward with this plan, she ultimately thought this could work.
The temperatures for the next three days in Davis are expected to push up to and then exceed 90 degrees, here in mid-October, before cooling down to more normal readings in the 70s with even a chance of showers next week.
But it has been another abnormal year. Sacramento broke a record in September when 26 of the 30 days met or exceeded 90 degrees. The previous record was 24 and it was set back in 1974.
Last month, an article ran on an innovative new rate structure proposed by WAC member Frank Loge and alternate member Matt Williams, who have come up with “a proportional fixed-fee structure based on water consumption history that could balance water bills in Davis” – a system that has never been tried before in California.
Reported the Davis Enterprise: “Like many public agencies in the state, Davis uses a tiered water rate structure where customers pay a fixed rate based on the size of their water meter and then a variable rate based on how much water they use.”
There was an interesting comment on the Vanguard yesterday, in discussion of the Davis Chamber of Commerce’s op-ed in the Davis Enterprise. A commenter wrote: “If Measure E and Prop. 30 pass tens of thousands of Davis households will have several hundreds to close to a thousand less dollars to spend on our local economy.”
In fact, those numbers are simply not true. If both Measure E and Proposition 30 pass, Davis taxpayers will not pay much more than they do today.
by the Davis Vanguard Editorial Board – Over the years when regular readers of the Vanguard happened to run into one another on the street or at the Farmers Market, asking about the day’s articles and comments in David’s Blog was frequently part of the ensuing conversation. For some the term David’s Blog was both a descriptor and a limitation. In the five years since Matt Williams first posted in July 2007 about a loophole in Measure J we’ve all seen both the Vanguard and David grow, and part of that growth has been a recurring refrain from David that “if the Vanguard is going to be truly valuable to the Davis/Yolo community, it needs to evolve into more than David’s Blog.”
Three months ago, the Vanguard took the most recent step in that evolution by creating an Editorial Board comprised of Robb Davis, Bernie Goldsmith, Tia Will, Matt Williams, Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald and David. Bernie has since had to pursue employment away from Davis, so the Editorial Board currently numbers five.
Yesterday’s article on the water deal had a rather egregious error reporting that the new Sacramento offer was the 30-year, 30-year renewal option agreement, when in fact it would be a permanent agreement.
That represents a non-insignificant change to the previous offer, where West Sacramento had offered the city water service only until 2032, with Davis being responsible for funding the costs of a capital improvement to add 12 mgd to the West Sacramento plant at a future date.
ChamberPAC Appears to Oppose Furloughs without an Alternative if Prop 30 Fails – The Davis Business community has been very strongly supportive of the Davis Public School System and once again have come out in favor of the parcel tax.In a press release this week, they write: “Since 1992, when the State of California began taking additional local property taxes from cities to help fund state programs, the voters of Davis have taxed themselves to pay for amenities like high-quality parks, schools and libraries. The Davis Chamber of Commerce has been proud to support these efforts since 1997.”
I have to admit while I have gotten used to some people in this community apologizing for abhorrent behavior, I was taken aback by the lack of concern about the banner and behavior at the recent soccer game between Davis High and Jesuit.
What do you mean you don’t understand why it’s homophobic to have a sign at a soccer game that says “Jesuit (Hearts) Wieners?”
Brett Lee went about proving it up – meeting with West Sacramento on Thursday, along with Mayor Krovoza, and emerging with a new offer as he reported to the WAC on Thursday night.
While many are focusing on the Presidential Election or the local school board and parcel tax elections, Proposition 30 may have the single greatest impact locally, not just on K-12 education but also higher education.
A complication is a competing tax measure from Molly Munger. Most analysts downplayed the impact when polls showed that the wealthy attorney Molly Munger, who has spent more than $30 million on her campaign, was only getting in the low 40s in support as opposed to 51 percent for Proposition 30.
One of the critical questions regarding the propriety of the shooting of Luis Gutierrez on April 30, 2009 by three Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputies is the propriety of the consensual stop and encounter. One of the persistent questions we have had is whether Mr. Gutierrez – a non-native English speaker, reasonably knew that he was running from police officers.
To answer some of these questions, the plaintiffs brought in expert Stephen L. D’Arcy, currently a Criminal Justice Department faculty member at Sacramento State and a retired undersheriff of Placer County as recently as 2007.
Vice President Joe Biden appears to have done what he needed to do against Paul Ryan. He was never going to get, nor did he really to do to Congressman Ryan, what Mitt Romney did to Obama. What he needed to do was be fiery, combative, call out what the Obama campaign is calling lies and deception, and fight for their record.
On Thursday night, for the most part, he did just that. The two most widely available polls largely reflect that. A CNN poll of debate-watchers gave Mr. Ryan a slight edge of 48 to 44, basically a tie. A CBS poll of undecided voters found it was 50 to 31 for the Vice President with another 19 percent calling it a tie.
The Vanguard received a few notes and a photo about an incident that happened last weekend at a soccer game between Davis High and Jesuit. It has now become completely clear what occurred, based on two letters to the editor of the local newspaper.
One letter writer in the newspaper reports, “Homophobic slurs were being hollered out throughout the game and a large banner with homophobic language was displayed to the crowd as they paraded in hot dog costumes in front of the stands.”
Last week the Vanguard reported that Jose Granda’s “No on Measure E” materials were removed from the event table at a forum for school board candidates, but were eventually put back on the table.
Imelda Granda, the wife of candidate Jose Granda, told the Vanguard that they had placed campaign materials for Mr. Granda’s candidacy, along with No on Measure E flyers, upon the table that event organizers had set up for the candidates to place their materials.
Back in late August, UC Davis student Thomas Matzat pled no contest to having spray painted the word “parasite” at Starbucks on Orchard Road in Davis, in exchange for the Yolo County District Attorney dropping the remainder of four felonies and 15 misdemeanors stemming from a spree of protest-related graffiti, most of which involved the term “parasite.”
It was a probation-only deal with an agreement for no state prison and no jail time. As part of the terms and conditions, Mr. Matzat’s felony conviction would be reduced to a misdemeanor upon full payment of restitution. The misdemeanor conviction would then be expunged from his record.
by Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald GUEST COMMENTARY- It’s been nearly three years since David and I became certified foster parents in Yolo County. It was not something that was planned, but something that happened out of the blue and in the end turned out to be the best decision we ever made as a married couple because it led the adoption of our beautiful little Jasmine.
We had always talked about adoption and having our own children and then one day I received a call from a friend of my in-laws. She told me that their friend was trying to find a home for their baby grandson, because the mom was unable to care for him. He happened to be Jewish and Hispanic and we thought the match would be great even though we would be willing to adopt a child regardless of race or ethnicity. We came to learn that we had to become certified foster parents in order to adopt, so we quickly adjusted our schedules and made it work. We took classes twice a week, filled out the paperwork, had our background and home inspected to a “T” and became certified foster parents.
A letter to the editor in the paper suggested that school board candidate Alan Fernandes is a paid lobbyist, as the Enterprise described, in their profile of the candidate, that his job is “representing the county of Los Angeles in matters pertaining to state government.”
In fact, this is not that unusual. Richard Harris and Tim Taylor, both presently on the board of education, could be characterized similarly, as could former board member and current County Supervisor Jim Provenza.
