Special to the Vanguard
Davis, CA – Linda Deos is excited to announce her candidacy to run for Davis City Council in District 2, representing much of Davis North of Covell, and in between Oak and CA-113. Linda has been an active community member for over a decade and looks forward to bringing her experience to the Council.
On why she is running, Linda said, “I am committed to Davis. I am proud to call this community my home and I want to dedicate my time to making it a better place. I have decades of professional experience as an attorney advocating for a wide variety of clients, focused on consumer protection and bankruptcy. I have also spent much of my time serving the community, including being appointed to the Planning Commission, the Utilities Commission, and the Yolo County Health Council, serving on the Yolo Basin Foundation Board of Directors, and volunteering with the Yolo Food Bank and the Interfaith Rotating Shelter.”
Linda is excited to face Davis’ challenges head on. She understands our City faces a multitude of problems, all of which require unique solutions. “We need a multi-faceted approach to solve the current and upcoming problems we face—this requires multi-faceted experience that I am proud to bring to the table.”
Some of her top priorities include addressing housing and homelessness, continuing to 
deliver and expand city services, and improving our infrastructure. Linda also knows we need to become a more climate resilient community, address traffic concerns, and solve many more problems.
“Our City does not have enough housing; we are currently out of compliance with state housing mandates. This is for both market rate and affordable housing. But we need to ensure that we are approving the best version of any housing project. I know we can build housing that is climate conscious that reaches our affordable housing goals, while providing additional opportunities for our young families to stay in Davis. And with the right leadership, we can achieve these goals without changing what so many love about this town.”
Linda has extensive experience in contract negotiations, litigation, and policy, all of which she believes are critical to truly be ready to tackle the City’s issues head on. “We are facing multiple legal challenges at the state level and locally. We have project negotiations and discussions actively happening. Experience and leadership is critical right now.”
On infrastructure, Linda said, “Our roads are being repaired, but we still have a long way to go. We are still missing critical funding to get our roads and greenbelts where they need to be, so we have safe and smooth roads and bike paths for everyone in Davis.”
Linda also understands how much still needs to be done with homelessness: “We need to do more to address homelessness in Davis. We have incredible services and transitional housing, such as Paul’s Place, that have made a huge impact. I applaud the leadership that has made these happen and I hope to work to expand these opportunities.”
Linda’s first career dreams were crushed due to discrimination. Despite her mission to serve our country with the State Department, she was unable to due to her refusal to stay closeted. “They found out I was gay and asked me to leave,” Deos recalled. “They said, ‘You’re a security risk.’”
Linda then turned to another form of public service, working in the state legislature and in the non-profit sector before deciding to go to law school. After nearly a decade of working for various state agencies, she started her own practice—the first openly LGBTQ+ practice in Sacramento.
Her longtime focus was on consumer law, bankruptcy, identity theft, student loans and credit report issues, while also doing extensive pro bono work, often referred to her by the Davis United Methodist Church.
“I realized I wanted to turn my profession towards helping people who were often taken advantage of or discriminated against. After my personal experiences, I knew how important it was to be an advocate for others, which is why I focused on the areas of law I did.”
Linda has taken on many community leadership roles, so she can continue listening to the Davis community, including currently being on the Planning Commission and being elected as Chair of the Yolo County Democratic Party.
“I am excited to give back to this community with as much as I can. Davis is where I feel like I truly found my home. If elected, I will work to make this community better for everyone. I promise I will sit down with not just every voter, not just any District 2 resident, but anyone in the Davis community. As a City Councilwoman, I look to make Davis a better place.”
The tree protection law has not been enforced in District 2 at apartment buildings and commercial spaces. Will Deos and Dillon take action to have city enforce the laws on the books?
There’s a scene in the movie “Batman: The Dark Knight Rises” where a police officer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who was an orphan in Gotham as a boy, tells Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) that the Gotham Group Home is no longer being funded by the Wayne Foundation. Later Bruce asks Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) his CEO of Wayne Enterprises why the Gotham Group Home was no longer being funded by the Wayne Foundation. Fox tells him that the Wayne Foundation is funded by the profits of Wayne Enterprises…and because of a decision Wayne made to shutdown a project, Wayne Enterprises no longer has any profits. So no business profits; no orphanage.
My point is that what I read here is a lot about helping the homeless, fixing city streets, expanded infrastructure, traffic…etc….things most people want (heck complaining about traffic is probably the number one thing I talk about on this blog these days). But how do you pay for all these nice things? What are the plans for city to fix it’s fiscal problems? What are the business development and growth plans for the city? How does the candidate for city council plan to pay for all of this infrastructure (which will be necessary to accommodate all those new homes the city has to plan for). These days, people tend to hinder and obstruct the economic engine that funds the social and environmental changes they want.
Also, I think I live in District 2