Month: September 2013

Chamber Supports Task Force Recommendations and Urges Council to Implement Them – Representing the Davis Chamber in an op-ed, Executive Director Kemble Pope, along with Chamber Chair Gregg Herrington who is also president of the Yackzan Group, and Don Palm, secretary of the Chamber board and dean of the Davis campus of Sacramento City College, lay out a scenario where visitors to the downtown are welcomed and have a positive experience.

They write, “All of these visitors, utilizing various modes of transportation and with different goals for their visit, felt welcomed, experienced satisfaction with their entire visit and later told their friends and family what a joy it is to work, shop, dine and be entertained in downtown Davis.”

By Robb Davis

Markets fail when transactions do not result in efficient outcomes from a societal point of view.  One cause of market failure concerns the problem of one partner in a transaction having more or better information than the other.  The lack of (quality) information by one party leads to power imbalances that can harm one party and inappropriately confer benefits on another that a free market transaction would not allow.

Two recent examples of information asymmetries related to land use decisions in and around Davis explain why we as citizens tend to approach such decisions in what appears to be narrow, self-interested and ultimately very conservative ways.  In both cases it is clear that one party in the transaction possesses more and better information that risks placing the City at a disadvantage in the transaction it is negotiating.

The Nishi Property is one of the more tantalizing properties in the city – its close proximity to both the university and the Davis Downtown has made it the subject of numerous plans, ranging from the current Innovation Hub idea to high-density housing.

Indeed, the Davis City Council has given some preliminary approval for a Nishi mixed-use innovation district which would include some high-rise and mid-rise apartment units, as well as a technology park.

In June, there is no way around it, the discussion on a potential land swap involving a parcel of land east of Mace, Mace 391, and the Shriner’s Property was a debacle.  There are many reasons for that, which we have discussed previously and will not go into here.  The process problems destroyed any chance to have a real conversation on the merits of the proposal – and there are, as well, some legitimate concerns.

Earlier this week, David Morris, who proposed this arrangement, repackaged the proposal and took the unique step of putting it out to the community and vetting the project proposal on the Vanguard where the public could ask questions, scrutinize the project, and criticize it if need be.

by Rob White

Those that stayed at the Davis City Council meeting until the very end or watched on TV from home, you are already aware that the City Council has decided to reconvene the Innovation Park Task Force. Council member Rochelle Swanson made the request, which was in turn supported by the Council.

This comes at a time when efforts to retain growing technology companies has been a mixed bag of bittersweet farewell and successful retention. We heard in late July that Bayer CropScience had announced that it would relocate its two divisions in early 2014, growing from the current 130+ to as many as 300 employees and increasing their facilities from an aggregate of about 60,000 square feet to well over 160,000 square feet on 10 acres, with an additional 10 acres for grow fields.

By David Morris

The City of Davis is preparing to place a permanent 391 acre conservation easement on City-owned lands between Mace Blvd and Howatt Ranch (the “Mace 391” property – see Figure 1).  The purpose of this article is to better inform our community dialog about the benefits of reconsidering this plan.  The most important take-home messages are:

• A conservation easement on Mace 391 will have a significant negative impact on the City’s economic development potential.