Analysis: Editorial Suggests Wrong Time to Consider POU
At the last council meeting, the Davis City Council approved a consent item that would finance an…
At the last council meeting, the Davis City Council approved a consent item that would finance an…
While the city expressed concern about organized groups that come from out of town, using trucks and…
by Michelle Millet At last Tuesday’s council meeting members unanimously voted on a resolution approving a loan…
By Lynne Nittler, Milton Kalish, and Matt Biers-Ariel Background: North Dakota Bakken crude oil production is booming,…
In December of 2013, the Davis City Council authorized the city manager and the city attorney to…
by Michelle Millet The city’s decision to move from the current loose-in-the-street collection method to a containerized…
Every time my parents come up to visit the grandchildren, they are constantly baffled by the resistance…
I was dismayed on Tuesday to watch the unfolding of the discussion on scavenging. It was a…
by Michelle Millet Unless something radically changes it appears the City of Davis will move forward with…
It was a great staff report last night by City Staffer Dianna Jensen on the issue of…
Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration on January 20th to Feature Dana Vickers Shelley from the Southern…
by Michelle Millet After reading many of the comments that were posted on my recent article Green…
by Robb Davis Adults who grew up in Davis will often harken back to their experience as…
by Michelle Millet According to the long range calendar, this Tuesday the Davis City Council was set…
On Tuesday, at his State of the City Speech, Mayor Joe Krovoza announced that the city is…
By Michelle Millet I can’t remember the first time I heard about the concept of zero waste,…
If a new study, published in the journal, Nature, is accurate, climate change may be far worse…
Gadfly Attorney Threatens to Sue Over Restaurant Provision – After some discussion about a potential lawsuit, the Davis City Council unanimously approved the first reading of the single-use plastic bag ordinance that was originally passed on September 10, 2013.
The ordinance applies to all retail business in Davis and there is a 10-cent bag charge for paper bags and plastic bags that meet the specification of a reusuable bag. The ordinance would be adopted on October 22, upon council approval, and would be effective on July 1, 2014. Staff would conduct business outreach efforts during the first quarter of 2014 to provide notice of the impending ordinance to affected businesses and to assist customers with compliance on an as-needed basis.
There is little doubt that some of our neighbors in Davis have health problems that are exacerbated by wood smoke. There is also little doubt that other neighbors enjoy having wood fires and that some use wood or wood products as a way to heat their homes. This leads to a conflict over interests/needs, but it is a conflict that is fairly localized-that is, between people who live near one another, people who share a common space and who, presumably, would be best served by resolving the conflict themselves without the automatic threat of punishment from the city.
We have the tools and resources to deal with wood smoke conflicts in this way-to find alternative forms of conflict resolution that will serve the needs of those whose health is adversely affected while providing those who desire to burn wood some latitude to do so.
On Tuesday night, the council voted 4-1 to support the idea of variable rates for waste containers, with Councilmember Brett Lee dissenting. Councilmember Lee primarily objected because of the six-dollar differential between the 65 gallon and 95 gallon containers, as opposed to a three-dollar differential on the difference between 65 gallon and 35 gallon containers.
He argued that the 20 percent rate increase seems excessive. However, after the council pondered a flatter rate structure, the concerns from city staff about revenue needs as well as the limitations of the Prop 218 process that is already underway ultimately swayed the rest of council to support the staff recommendation.