City of Davis

by Rob White

I read the book Switch by Chip and Dan Heath a few months back. The title above is from a synopsis of the book written by the Heath brothers and posted on Amazon. I thought of the book and the topic of change after a series of conversations over the last few days with representatives of the media, the university and entrepreneurs. Conversations that often centered on a changing tide of positive dialogue drowning out negativity.

To find a quick synopsis of the book Switch to share with you, I turned to Amazon. On Amazon, Publishers Weekly describes the book this way, “The Heath brothers (coauthors of Made to Stick) address motivating employees, family members, and ourselves in their analysis of why we too often fear change. Change is not inherently frightening, but our ability to alter our habits can be complicated by the disjunction between our rational and irrational minds: the self that wants to be swimsuit-season ready and the self that acquiesces to another slice of cake anyway.”

By Stephen Souza

The idea of a major new technology park on agricultural land has prompted significant concern within our community. Although intrigued with the potential economic benefits of a technology development, residents are concerned with losing the agricultural land and character of our community.

Davis has a long history of reconciling the interests of development with conservation of agricultural land. This has to be a process which understands the importance of stakeholder involvement to finding harmonious solutions for complex and controversial projects.

By Stephen Souza

The City of Davis and UC Davis have both grown from agricultural beginnings. The evolution of agricultural innovation at The Farm has become world class and so have other disciplines on campus. According to Andrew Hargadon, Professor and Soderquist Chair in Entrepreneurship at UC Davis, “Universities do create fundamental knowledge, papers and patents.

And the University of California Davis is one of the largest research universities in the country. With its Colleges of Agriculture & Environmental Science, Biological Sciences, and Engineering; a Vet School, Med School, Law School, and Business School, we are also one of the most diverse. That makes us very well positioned to address the large and interdependent problems that typify sustainability challenges.”

by David Morris

Tech entrepreneurs becoming more active in Davis business ecosystem – techDAVIS announced today that it has expanded its non-profit Board of Directors to include four more technology sector leaders from the Davis area.

The additions include: Pam Marrone, Founder and CEO of Marrone Bio Innovations, which held a successful $61 million IPO in August 2013; Ken Ouimet, Co-Founder and CEO of Engage3, a provider of on-demand, comparative retail intelligence and digital marketing services; Zachary Wochok, President and Founder of the Wochok Group, LLC, an international management consulting firm; and Grayson Beck, Co-Founder of Aduro Laser, which develops precision laser cutting tools.

The city, after years of discussion, debate, some would say delay and obstruction, has finally commenced the Fifth Street Corridor project between A and L Streets.  According to a release, construction began on October 7 at A Street and will work toward L St.

“This is the largest of the City of Davis’ upcoming roadwork projects,” the city said in a press release. “Some lane and sidewalk closures are expected in the next seven weeks, but full street closures are not anticipated.”

By Kari Fry

Staff from The Centaur Group Goes On To Nonprofits, Campaigns, Higher Ed – Continuing its quest to nurture home grown talent, Davis-based firm The Centaur Group (TCG) has trained UC Davis students as interns and staff that moved on to area nonprofits, local advocacy efforts – and now political races.

Founded in 2011 as a partnership between Kari Fry and Kemble Pope and established as an LLC in 2012, TCG has offices in downtown Davis. Co-founder Kari Fry is  the managing partner of the full service consulting firm that assists clients with branding, digital and traditional media, and information systems. Pope remains a silent partner, but has since gone on to serve as executive director of the Davis Chamber of Commerce.

Last week at the city council meeting, about one dozen leaders of the Davis business and tech community came forward to ask the Davis City Council to reconsider the 3-2 vote on June 11, 2013, where the Davis City Council approved the resale of the Leland Ranch with a conservation easement (previously referred to as the Mace Curve property).

Following the meeting on October 1, the Davis City Council stopped short of calling for a reconsideration of the June 11 vote and, instead, requested a clarification on deadlines associated with the decision.

One of the most difficult tasks to master over the last seven years at the helm of the Davis Vanguard has been to differentiate between legitimate news and inside baseball gossip.  What would have seemed to me to have been a relatively benign post by Matt Williams in response to the Vanguard‘s Sunday commentary triggered a full-on avalanche of activity behind the scenes.

A slew of communications have been directed my way, some of which implicate me by name.

by Matt Williams

In the discussion last weekend about Davis’ Urban Boundary and Innovation Park Creation Strategy, two of the questions that arose were:

Will an Innovation Park succeed in Davis?

by Rob White

Over the last few week, there has been a fair amount of dialogue about conservation lands, urban boundaries, and technology business parks. Though the Vanguard community has spent many electrons discussing these topics, I was intrigued by a comment made by one poster that we should think “audaciously.”

Though the poster was relatively explicit in what they had in mind from that word, I pondered what that means to me. And how does that apply to my work, my life and my personal goals. Do I want to be audacious? And if so, what does that mean?