The Following is a Full Statement by Yolo People Power
Davis wants structural changes in public safety. We have protested and public commented for two years now. Last night, City Council did the opposite of that. They approved funding for the police department to hire two new sworn officers.
This is a complete reversal from the City Council’s position in June. At the June 15th City Council meeting, Mayor Partida stated that hiring 2 new armed officers was “the opposite of what we’ve been talking about for a while now” and assured the public that “these two positions are not in our budget; they haven’t been added to our budget.”
City Manager Mike Webb echoed her sentiments saying, “The positions that are on that list are not budgeted, they are not in the budget, they are not funded, they are not authorized to be hired. My recommendation quite frankly just to be as clear as we possibly can be is simply to remove those positions from the list of positions moving forward.”
Such statements and reassurances from Council and the City Manager are disingenuous in light of last night’s meeting. Additionally, there has been no evidence presented by anyone to the public to prove the need for police staffing changes. It’s disappointing to see that in a city that has accomplished so much recently, we are continuing to fall back on a structure of armed police and criminalizing human beings as a substitute for true safety.
Who?
Who? WHO?!??!!! You need to ask “who”?.
Well I’ll tell you who:
Yolo People Power is a volunteer group of residents committed to envisioning justice and public safety where individuals and communities are respected.
That’s Who!
Who how many may I ask? One guy in his bedroom on a computer? A small group which tend to be the same people involved in all these sorts of issues? Why should anyone pay them any attention? Because they form a group with a a catchy name? Everyone seems to have a group or organization these days to the point where it becomes meaningless.
20+ of the signatories to the original letter on this topic identify themselves as members of Yolo People Power:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nj7-5ct7H5IWI5ldJ-KOpDDTDuI5aAwzMQgg6324ijM/edit?fbclid=IwAR2RkX6bvDB_F2BCTjN1wP9kKSFC95Z6J6i-8uTOJ5LJuwESrbNxUOe0QBA
7 who signed identified at the time as being on the board or involved with the Davis Vanguard.
I take it that (despite being involved with the Vanguard), you are not one of the “usual suspects”. 🙂
Though it looks like a lot more than 20 signed that letter.
Though in looking at that letter, it’s not exactly the same issue as declining to fill vacant police positions.
Not sure why some organizations (such as unions) would sign that letter, though.
I do wonder how the folks advocating for the additional department would propose to fund it.
So?
A friend formed a non-profit foundation over forty years ago with a very official title. It has been involved in multi-million dollar lawsuits, sponsored legislation, been quoted in the media, has a board of directors. But it’s basically just him. And no one every seems to question it. It’s brilliant, really. But I do wonder, how many others have pulled this same trick off? Many, I’m guessing.
It’s the votes that tell us who Council members really are, not rhetoric. And even votes can deceive. Do the votes actually accomplish something, or are they meant to appease? “When someone tells you who they are, doubt them. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
Corrected:
Davis People Power wants structural changes in public safety.
You don’t speak for me!
To be clear, I’m in favor of a social worker response team. Not defund the police, not to stop pulling people over for traffic violations, not adding a disarmed traffic patrol.
So we can work together on the first one, or we can fight about the rest.
And by “we” I mean the rest of Davis that isn’t DPP.
I am sick and tired of the double-standard, hypocritical policies of the Vanguard. You insist on full disclosure of actual names of individuals (and I agree) and you post lengthy lists of seemingly-influential people (priests, rabbis, politicians). Yet you allow groups that many have not heard of to post, anonymously, without actual names of the people who can be identified as having written or supported the text that you publish. That is WRONG – pure and simple.
And it means absolutely NOTHING to me that you supply a link to names of people who might or might not take responsibility for a specific post. If you won’t print every one their REAL names and ideally, their individual affiliations (as you do with the influentials), then, please, just don’t post it.
Finally, Yolo People Power does NOT represent me,, or speak for me, in any way. And for the Vanguard to print such claims that “Davis wants….” anything on the basis of an anonymous post, without any “data” or scientific evidence,” seems to directly contradict the weapons the Vanguard uses to slash commenters who dare to speak out against its pro-criminal narrative.
Tomorrow: RE tells us how he really feels.
Rick is probably excused from this point. But the rest of you have been around and most of you participated in the discussion last June when the same issue came up – https://davisvanguard.org/2020/07/letter-people-power-supports-fundamental-change-to-davis-policing-model/
Yolo People Power is probably the main reason that we have the police oversight system that we do that got implemented after 2017.
We also had their five part candidate survey last fall that many of you panned.
https://davisvanguard.org/2020/09/candidate-survey-yolo-people-power-part-2/
Neither of those links list “who” is in Yolo People Power, where they live, or what connection they may or may not have to Davis.
Normally, I’m not concerned about such things, but it appears that some others are (depending upon who is commenting). In fact, you encourage it, in regard to some commenters.
Rick has nothing to be “excused” from, as you imply. All of his points are valid.
Yes, AM, THIS is how I really feel today. David Greenwald picks and chooses the individuals who have to play by his rules, and whom he cites favorably.
This is NOT journalism, it is pro-criminal, pro-development advocacy. When the Vanguard prints a public post by someone claiming what “Davis wants…” I want those people, who claim to speak for me and about 70,000 other Davis residents, to list their names AND affiliations.
If David Greenwald were actually a credible journalist, he would consider that an ethical obligation. His refusal to demand and to print that information speaks for itself.
And, RO is correct. I don’t need to be excused from anything by the founder and executive. In fact, David Greenwald should apologize to Ron, Keith and the other Vanguard commenters for his biased, simplistic labeling and profiling, to discredit them when they point out the contradictions, inaccuracies and hypocrisy of his writings.
That is how I, and many others (who shall remain anonymous), really feel about the Vanguard – and not just today.
Oh, excuse me.
Wait…you want an impartial blog article???? lol!!!!
Tell me is David a journalist or a social/political activist? I think you know the answer to that.
Expecting an unbiased article without an agenda is like going to a used car lot to look at cars and not expecting salesmen to try to sell you a car. It’s not like David and his website hide their agenda. It’s “DAVIS” (progressive/liberal leaning town) “VANGUARD” (people leading the way…in this case with ideas…..though no one ever said it was the right way).
So either roll with it….entertain/amuse yourself with the articles and comments. Tease David….maybe teach him something. Have some fun.
Getting worked up and outraged over this is silly.
I’d argue that the blog doesn’t necessarily represent either of those categories, but especially the former.
You left out part of what follows the elipsis, regarding the definition of “vanguard”. I’ll fix it for ya, as follows:
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/vanguard
Good advice.
There is at a least a third possibility… and probably mixture of all three… ‘entrepreneur’…
There is possibly a fourth, but won’t go there…
True story’… but as Wm Randolph Hearst might say, “it sells papers” (or, gets hits, good for advertising revenues in either case)
What is your price . . . to go there? I’ll pay.
Alan M… it’s (as Dad called it), a “wait and see”… all in good, appropriate, time… might be months or years from now…
Hmnnmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I am a member of Yolo People Power, the Vanguard Board, and the Davis Police Accountability Commission. I’m glad to support the principles and ideas of both the letter that was linked and the letter published today. If you want more information about YPP you can visit the groups Facebook page. You can also ask for more info by emailing yolopeoplepower@gmail.com. Generally we are a group (25 or 30 active plus more who come and go) who support progressive policies about criminal justice.
To be explicit about myself, I am not “pro-criminal” (and I don’t think David is either) but rather in favor of a reasonable criminal justice system that discriminates less by race/ethnicity/economic status and treats justice-involved individuals (particularly those with mental health problems) equitably. I don’t believe the current system does that.
Maintaining a reduced police force doesn’t achieve that either…….and it leads to other problems. You want more social workers? Fine. But not at the cost of law enforcement. You want better law enforcement? Fine. But that’s not the same as reducing law enforcement.
I have feeling that RC and KE may agree on several reforms. Wish we could concentrate on those things many of us across the spectrum agree with, instead of this fund/defund carp.
Also wish to acknowledge that as much carp as the DV/DG has taken in this article’s comments, the criticisms remained posted. That scores a lot of points in my book.