City of Davis

On March 3, the Vanguard moved its website from the blogger site to its own server.  One thing that the new site can do is track the number of people who read a particular article.  Here are the top 10 most read stories for 2009.

One thing that we learn quickly is that those with the most comments are not necessarily those that are the most read.  Measure P articles definintely generated the most discussion but only two of them land in the top 10.

The first council meeting in January has one major item and that is an affordable housing workshop.  It appears to be the first of two parts after the council receives information and provides feedback.  However, like most staff reports, it seems to fail to raise a number of important issues.

Of interesting note, while the staff report seems to provide a history of affordable housing, it does not supply any information or even acknowledge the affordable housing scandals of the early part of this decade, where the affordable housing program was abused in part by city staff.

The Vanguard toured the new Westlake IGA Market yesterday with owner Harley DeLano and Eric Nelson from DANG and while there are some astonishing bumps in the road that will be discussed shortly, the Vanguard was told that the plan is to open the store on January 15.

The Vanguard however was floored to learn that currently, the Westlake Market is having trouble obtaining a liquor license because the State Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) has deemed the district to be a high crime reporting district.

City Staff recommended against approving the proposed Carlton Plaza Davis assisted living facility for our seniors in Davis. The reasons given were the proposed project would somehow negatively impact Davis Waste Removal (DWR) and the Davis Police Department (DPD) in their ability to operate effectively, especially if either of them decided to expand operations. On December 16, 2009, the Planning Commission listened to both sides, and passed the following two motions:

The Planning Commission rejected the Staff recommendation not to approve the proposed Carlton Plaza Davis project.

Facing a daunting landscape for trying to get a project approved in Davis, Tandem Properties has turned to trying to achieve positive publicity by donating to the schools–a worthy endeavor, particularly for a group that is about to submit an application for a new Measure J project.

For those who like, neat, tidy packages, the pieces here fall to place ever so conveniently.

City staff issued a report on the revision of their Senior Housing Strategy, forwarded to the City Council as an informational item on the consent calendar of Tuesday night’s agenda. The matter will be taken up formally on January 12, 2010. The revised version of the Senior Housing Strategy took into consideration comments made by both the Social Services and Senior Citizens Commission. Each of these commissions allowed for ample public comment, including from the group California Health Aging (CHA).

Of the 10 formal motions passed by the Davis Senior Citizens Commission, 8 of them were fully incorporated by City Staff into the revised Senior Housing Strategy; one motion was partially taken into account; and one was ignored as problematic. Of the two recommendations offered by the Social Services Commission, both were included. It is very encouraging City Staff worked closely with both commissions and the public, took into serious consideration what everyone had to say, and for the most part agreed and included the suggestions into the evolving Senior Housing Strategy. Such collaboration is essential to producing good work product.

Every year at this time, the UC Davis Office of Student Housing conduct an annual survey of vacancy and rental-rate information to provide the campus and the Davis Community with information for future planning.

Last year, the apartment vacancy rate was .8 percent, this year it quadrupled to 3.2 percent.  At the same time, rental rates also rose by an average of 1.05%.

On December 1, the Davis City Council voted by a 4-1 vote to approve an MOU with Davis Community Church regarding the provision of services for homeless at their facility.  This was in response to increasing frustration expressed by the neighbors on and around D Street regarding what they describe as an over-concentration of homeless services in their neighborhood.

One of the key provisions of the MOU was a 25 person limitation on services provided both in terms of cold weather shelter and in terms of a Brown Bag Lunch Program.

There is an event Tuesday at the Davis City Council chambers at 6pm.  Up for discussion will be the city’s policy of limiting the ability of faith organizations to provide services for the unsheltered of Davis.

According to the United Nations and the United States constitution every citizen in America and throughout the world has a right to warm shelter as well as food and health care. Access to shelter is an integral ingredient to ensuring good health and well being for all.