City of DavisIn a letter from Mayor Ruth Asmundson pasted on the city’s page for the Golden Heart Awards this year, it reads:
“As a result of the death of Andrew Mockus in April 1992, the City of Davis Recreation and Park Commission expanded its commitment to the youth of our community. Forums were held throughout the community to discuss the problems of youth and to brainstorm on how the community could do more to meet the needs of youth.
After careful consideration, the Commission suggested the City Council adopt several recommendations. One of the Commission recommendations was to develop the Golden Heart Award. The purpose of the Award is to recognize outstanding youth in the community. There are two different categories within the Award: the service award and the personal challenge award. The service award recognizes individuals who have given significant service to the community, their peers, and/or their school. The personal challenge award recognizes individuals who have overcome a significant challenge in their life.”
However, due to budgetary problems this year, City Staff is recommending that the Golden Heart Award and our “commitment to the youth of our community” be canceled.
In February of last year, the Davis City Council honored nine students with Golden Heart Awards.
“The Golden Heart Awards, which began in 1994, represent the best of the community in honor of Andrew Mockus , a 14-year-old Davis student who was killed by a group of youths in 1992 — an act that represented the worst of the community.
Following his death, forums were held to discuss issues facing the community’s youths and ways the city could do more to meet their needs. The city adopted seven recommendations, including the Golden Heart Awards to honor courageous and kind students in grades 7-12.”
Recipients last year included:
“Brandon Kitchen, a 15-year-old student at Holmes Junior High School, received a Golden Heart Award for his ability to overcome serious challenges after a biking accident that resulted in eight major surgeries, many months in bed and almost a year in a wheelchair.”
The award was created in 1994 following the brutal beating death of 14 year-old Andrew Mockus in 1992.
From a Davis Enterprise retrospective published April 24, 2002:
“Ten years ago today, Davis residents discovered that an unthinkable act of violence — one they thought occurred only in other towns — had, in fact, taken place in their own back yard.
On the night of April 24, 1992, 14-year-old Andrew Mockus was brutally beaten and robbed of $2 by three other teens, then pushed into the side of a moving freight train and killed. The incident occurred in a gully near UC Davis, a popular gathering place for youths at the time.
Two days after Andrew’s death, Solano County authorities arrested Michael Johnson, 17, and Andrew Childs, 16, both Davis residents and students at King High School. A third boy, 14-year-old Joshua Bettencourt, also took part in the beating but was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony.”
At the time of the article, not much was known of the fate of the culprits upon their release.
“Today, little is known about the whereabouts of Andrew’s assailants. Childs would have been released from the CYA at age 20, and his public defender, Harvey Bender, said he has not heard from his former client. CYA officials declined to release either Johnson’s or Child’s release dates.”
However one of the youths, would kill again.
“What is known is that Bettencourt’s involvement in violence and death did not end on that night in 1992. In December 1995, Bettencourt was involved in a road-rage incident at a Carmichael intersection in which he shot another man four times and killed him. Claiming he shot in self-defense, Bettencourt pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and served five years in state prison before being paroled last October.”
The story also quotes UC Davis Professor Larry Berman:
“That is to me the greatest injustice and the greatest miscarriage of our system, that they’re walking on the streets and Andrew is dead,” said Larry Berman, who was Andrew’s baseball coach. He organized the planting of a memorial grove of redwood trees near the baseball field at Holmes Junior High, where Andrew was a student…
He remembers Andrew as a boy with great potential and a “wicked curve ball…”
“I walk by Holmes Junior High and look at the memorial grove,” Berman said. “I remember the generosity of the community as they contributed funds to the grove and the bench that’s there. The senselessness has been replaced by the great memories of Andrew.”
Now however the community led by the city staff is on the verge of forgetting about not only Andrew Mockus but their commitment to youths.
In addition to staff proposals to eliminated the Golden Heart awards tomorrow evening, they are also talking about initiating “a $2.00 per drop-in rate for the High School Open Gym program.”
In other words, they are going to charge youths $2 to play basketball. This is how the city is dealing with their budget problems.
The Recreation and Park Commission reviewed and discussed the various proposed fees for Recreation Activities in November 2008.
According to the staff report they agree with all of the proposed fee recommendations with one exception:
“the exception of the $2.00 High School Open Gym fee. The Commission also expressed their overall concern for the rate of fee increases associated with programs that are primarily targeted to the teen population. The Commission expressed their desire to have a more comprehensive discussion with the Council related to appropriate subsidy of these types of activities.”
One councilmember is very concerned about these fee hikes and the loss of the Golden Heart Awards. Councilmember Lamar Heystek told the Vanguard, we should be looking elsewhere for balancing our budget.
“I find it disturbing that we are considering balancing our budget in all the wrong places. I cannot in good conscience vote to charge kids to play “open-gym” basketball. I cannot in good conscience cut the recreational scholarship fund for low-income families by $5,000. And I cannot in good conscience vote to eliminate the Golden Heart Awards, a program that was created in response to the brutal death of 14-year-old Andrew Mockus.”
Of all of these, the Golden Heart Awards which honors the life of a fallen youth seem the most outrageous to cut.
It is not even clear there is a cost to the city associated with the awards. Regardless, this seems to be the wrong area to cutback funding. If the city is concerned about youth activities and youth getting into trouble with drugs and alcohol, cutbacks in these areas are the wrong way to go. As are cutbacks in the area of encouraging youth to give back their community. Given the enormous budget deficit, these programs amount to literally pennies. We need to start with the bigger cuts and hold off on these kind of cuts until we have a better sense for what is needed.
I would hope the city of Davis finds a way to continue to honor the memory of Andrew Mockus with the annual awards that encourage youth to give back to their community.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Well done. The irony is that the city will cut on small and important numbers like this, but will continue to replicate the rediculous daisy chain where the city employees compare their bloated contracts to those of other equally broke cities to ensure they are paid the …going… rate, when in fact many of these jobs could be filled by the private sector for much less money. The city council should declare a budget emergency and re-write, re-negotiate every city labor contract starting at the top. Will they? No, it is much easier to kick the can down the road and eventually you end up like Vallejo.
All I hear from One Guy with a Computer is criticism of the City. I’d like to hear some solutions or new ideas.
…I’d like to hear some solutions or new ideas….He gives them all the time, you just don’t like them.
The solution is simple: don’t cut these programs. What else is really needed here?
Why is starting with bigger chunks of the budget not offering a solution? Is the budget going to live and die based on a few thousand they would save here? No. So why is DPD being unreasonable?
Just like Vallejo?? Hmmmmmm….I’m liking the sound of that more and more….that is really sad to say but I see no viable alternative. Across the board pay cuts for a minimum of 24 months…NO more Cafeteria benefits-NONE. END Pers contributions that WE pay for…employees should be required to contribute at least something to a deferred compensation plan…I bet only 1 in 10 actually do.
Back to the original topic, what is the rationale for ending the Golden Heart awards?
Cutting these youth programs and the Golden Heart award is not the way to save money. It also comes off as pretty heartless (no pun intended). If they are that worried about funding for youth programs, why don’t they suggest starting a foundation to raise money or something like that instead of just cutting it out? City council needs to look at the city employee contracts to really save money – (does Lamar have a quote on that?)
Mitch Mifkin,Get a life! If you don’t like the …one guy with a computer… then get your computer and your blog. Stop the whining!David, this is an important story. I can’t believe (although it doesn’t surprise me that council is doing dumb things) that they are trying to charge $2 per student for use. Perhaps if they cut the fat checks of the OVERTIME for FF and big payouts to city managers then they could begin balancing the budget.Time to get rid of Emlen. Maybe he could find a job closer to home since he does not live in Davis. I’m concerned about the fact that he has no responsibility to the city where he does NOT reside.
I’m sure we can find someone who already lives in Davis who would love to be paid 158K to manage the city. I mean, Davis is supposed to be filled with smart people, right? Why is it always assumed that the city manager candidate has to move TO Davis when there are probably people who already live here to can do the job?
Don’t get it said – What are you talking about? You are correct, the budget is not going to live and die based on a few thousand they would save by cutting the Youth Programs and the award honoring the slain teen. You ask, why is DPD being unreasonable?Don’t you mean why is the city council being so unreasonable?
anonymous 12:27…the city of Davis will not hire someone who lives in the city because they want to feel special like they looked wide and far to recruit a city manager. smoke screen.
What do ya guys think of that new judge on american idol ?
…american idol ?…Is that a new political show?
I agree with Lamar’s quote… but does he ever say anything the least bit controversial? Does he ever have an unpopular position?
My dog doesn’t feel very well tonight I’ll probably take him to the vet tomorrow .
I wonder what those out of work prostitutes from Davis are now doing to earn a living ?
Rich, I disagree. The police would have to keep a close eye on them to make sure no underage women (girls) were working there. This is a real problem with massage parlors in other cities, with girls being brought in against their will.
…Is it just me, or does anyone else think those Davis …massage parlors… were harmless and it’s just a waste of police time to enforce vice laws of that sort?…You’ve got to be kidding??? Any policeman will tell you with prostitution comes other crime, such as drug trafficking, kidnapping of minors, etc. This is NOT a harmless vice, but insidiary. If you have doubts, I encourage you to take a trip to the nearest police station. On topic, there is no doubt in my mind the cuts proposed are symbolic, to show the city is trying their best to cut costs. But as just about everyone knows, such cuts are minimal at best, probably not a cost savings in the long run, and deflect from the real waste in city gov’t. Lamar and Sue need to jump on this one and insist we don’t nickel and dime the budget on the backs of our youth – it will resonate with the community, will probably force Souza and Asmundson to agree with them, and force Saylor to go along. It is time for Lamar and Sue to grow a firm backbone and a firm voice…
Last night the council pulled the cuts off the item. The Golden Heart Awards were taken off the chopping block. And council is going to look at the other cuts a bit later including basketball and lap swimming.
Now the city council is going to jump on this issue and pass all sorts of regulations to make life miserable for real massage parlorsMy suggestion is that city council tax the prostitutes and then use that money to fix the budget. Sue, Lamar– since you read this blog, I give you permission to steal my idea and do this. 🙂
I don’t consider the Golden Heart Awards a youth program. Yes, they honor a small handful of youth, but are they effective in really serving youth – addressing what they need? Do young people in town really care about the awards or are they really for adults to make us feel good. Charging for drop in use of public facilities is troubling if kids are turned away. But we need to really look at what we offer kids in this town to make sure it is what is needed and the programs are accomplishing what they say they are. Where’s the City’s Youth Commission? Except for the odd youth representative on different boards, there is no input from youth on things that affect them in this town.
The massage parlor busted was just one of several massage parlors that have opened up in downtown Davis in the last 18 months. It’s just gross. They were disposing of tissues full of ejaculated sperm in the community restrooms. We don’t need businesses peddling sex in downtown Davis. It is bizarre that a posting about youth services has transgressed to whether businesses selling sexual services should be allowed in Davis. This tells me volumes about the interest in youth in our town. Let’s see…youth services being cut = no or little interest. However, massage parlors jerking off their customers = high interest.
I’m sure the Davis police would be able to explain to the City Council the importance of providing drop-in activities for teens can’t be overstated. And these activities need to be free because many teens have no money and are not old enough to get jobs. For teens who are not interested in the kinds of activities parents sign the teen up for and pay for (or whose parents can’t afford that), there is nothing to do in Davis except hang out on the plaza, hang out in the arboretum, or hang out in Central Park. When these bored teens have nothing to do except hang out in these places, they are at high risk of experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Drop-in teen activities pay for themselves by reducing crime. They need to be expanded, not cut.This city has millions of commissions. Why isn’t there a Youth Commission made up of concerned adults, with youth representation?
User fees to cover the cost of maintenance and operation is reasonable. A $2 drop-in fee for basketball is insignificant to the user and will have zero effect on his/her ability to play ball. You make it sound like teens are self-supporting adults. They’re not. They have parents and most parents will give their kids $2 to play ball. If kids don’t have the money for the drop-in fee, please make the connection how they would have money for drug experimentation. Drugs and alcohol cost more.I recall paying drop-in fees when I was a kid elsewhere. It’s really not a big deal. Don’t make it one.And please….NO MORE COMMISSIONS!
…That said, because of the danger of spreading disease, I would prefer it not be illegal, but instead be regulated, the way they do in Nevada. I feel the same way about most narcotics: regulate it, don’t prohibit it….This is just too stupid to even comment on. What planet are you living on???
Nevada has a good working model. The state regulates prostitution. It is taxed. Doctors test sex workers regularly for venereal diseases. The ladies in the industry are required to be of age. The houses must be licensed. I agree regulation is much better than outlawing it, which does not work, or ignoring it.
…Nevada has a good working model. The state regulates prostitution. It is taxed. Doctors test sex workers regularly for venereal diseases. The ladies in the industry are required to be of age. The houses must be licensed. I agree regulation is much better than outlawing it, which does not work, or ignoring it….No Nevada does not have a good working model for prostitution. First of all, only a man would say that! Secondly, they had to close one brothel bc it could not pay its fair share of taxes, or some such thing. In other words, business wasn’t doing well… Thirdly, where are your moral values? Or don’t you have any? Fourthly, if you think gov’t regulation is going to prevent venereal disease, you believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny! Fifthly, legalizing crime is not a panacea for eliminating it. Sorry, the logic escapes me…
Yeah, if they charged for Open Gym, we’d all just sneak in to the ARC at UCD instead.