City to Display Commitment to Economic and High Tech Development – The City of Davis signaled that it was serious in its efforts to develop a high-tech and university research spin-off base, by partnering with techDavis to bring in Rob White as the city’s first Chief Innovation Officer.
Now the city wishes to put these assets to work this week, as representatives from the City of Davis, Davis Chamber of Commerce, techDAVIS, UC Davis, Yolo County, and the Davis business community will be spending time in Washington, DC, starting Wed, April 10 through Wed, April 17. This trip is planned as part of the annual Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Capitol to Capitol trip that occurs each April.
In an email, Rob White explained, “The Davis/Yolo county team will be going a few days early so that we can meet with the White House, federal agencies, and elected officials to discuss opportunities specific to Davis and Yolo County.”
“We have dubbed this effort ‘Research to Jobs’ and the discussions will include identifying potential sources for more research funding, highlighting the Davis innovation and entrepreneur ecosystem, and providing details about Davis’ ag/conservation and sustainability efforts,” he added.
At last night’s council meeting, the Davis City Council passed the Guiding Principles for this effort.
As the staff report explains, the theme of this trip is “Research to Jobs,” which could embody the overarching principle, as well.
Mr. White writes in the staff report, “The Davis innovation ecosystem is exemplified by its close proximity to the world’s leading entrepreneurial culture and a strong dynamic with agriculture and medical technology.”
He adds, “As host to one of the world’s leading research universities in food, textiles, biomedicine, medical devices, transportation and clean energy, Davis continues to claim the future by challenging existing paradigms and demonstrating cross-sectorial collaboration.”
The priorities include: developing the innovation ecosystem and technology-based economy, and facilitating increased partnership and interaction between UC Davis and the national labs (specifically Lawrence Livermore, Lawrence Berkeley and Sandia
National Labs, USDA Agricultural Research Station, and NASA Ames).
The focus is also on manufacturing innovation, where Davis is a national leader in research in the areas of AgTech, and energy and transportation. Davis is central to the California-wide advanced manufacturing initiative.
Davis looks to build on its unique and successful Open Space program, which it has “used to purchase development rights around the Davis community and focused on supporting small/community farms, defining an urban limit line, protecting world class soils for agricultural production and research conducted in partnership with UC Davis (a Tier 1 global leader AgTech and Ag research).”
Strategies here include support for “the proposed Rural-Urban Connections Strategy (RUCS) for Public Health – Working with SACOG and USDA to create a pro forma analysis and feasibility plan for regional food hubs, including an assessment of food banks as food hubs to serve their clients and the broader community.”
The city is also looking for support for a proposed RUCS Open Space Strategy where “SACOG and its partners recognize that the rural landscape not only produces food and fiber, but also provides a range of environmental services including: carbon sequestration, energy production, flood protection, groundwater recharge, habitat, and a wide range recreational uses.”
Finally the city will explore transportation infrastructure opportunities including the proposed Yolo Freight Rail Realignment Project, which proposal “would potentially remove 20 at-grade crossings in Davis, Woodland and West Sacramento and improve freight-to-market opportunities throughout the Sacramento Region. By utilizing the Port of West Sacramento goods delivery option more effectively, the rail realignment proposal appears to have the additional positive benefit of the removal of a freight rail bridge over the Yolo Bypass which is key barrier to flood protection for Woodland, Natomas and Sacramento County.”
It also includes an assessment of Alternative Rail Transit Technologies, explains Mr. White, “with the need to accomplish inner-Davis transportation between the many community and civic assets, the neighborhoods and UC Davis, the City is exploring ways to identify and deploy alternative modes of transportation, including new rail technologies like personal rapid transit.”
The most exciting part of this project is that we will have daily blogs from Councilmember Rochelle Swanson that will detail “a recap from the current day and what we will be doing the next day, providing context and brief descriptions from the view of councilmember Rochelle Swanson since she is the Honorary Co-Chair of the Cap-to-Cap Trip (and we may possibly have other councilmembers add to the email/blog as available).”
“We would also like to keep the Davis community more informed and engaged with our efforts as the Davis/Yolo County team works together to impress upon our federal partners the truly unique opportunities that exist in Davis and Yolo County,” Mr. White wrote.
The Vanguard will publish the first blog on Thursday morning, which will recap the day of travel and arrival in DC.
“This first email will set the stage for the meetings we have arranged for Thursday and help to portray some of the excitement the team will be capitalizing on during its meetings,” he wrote. “We are very excited about this trip and are looking forward to describing the Davis, Yolo County, and Sacramento Metro Region messages and efforts as we meet with many representatives from the federal government.”
—David M. Greenwald reporting
How much will this trip cost, how many city staff (other than Ms Swanson) will attend, and where is the money coming to pay for this? Have heard, in the past, certain city staff members “justified” this trip as ‘potentially raising funds for the City, but treated it as an opportunity for a family vacation (the staffers, I’ve heard have paid for the “differential” amount for their families, but the staffer’s airfare, room, and “per diem” was paid by City).
I don’t know where the money is coming from, but I can answer one thing, this is not a family vacation, the city staff and chamber have put in a ton of work, they are going to showcase Davis.
BTW, another gambit used in the past, was a city staff person would pay for the airfare (fully reimbursed by City), and ‘banked’ the frequent flyer miles for their personal use.
David… think you are naive on this. What is your “off-line” e-mail, that I may elaborate.
[quote]I don’t know where the money is coming from[/quote]So much for investigative reporting.
” think you are naive on this. “
I am naive on a lot of things, but I spent a lot of time talking to Rob White and Rochelle Swanson on this trip, a lot of planning went into it.
“So much for investigative reporting. “
That’s asking a question not investigative reporting.
My email is: info@davisvanguard.org