City of Davis

Word to the Wise: Local Heroes In Our Own Community

Word to the Wise: Local Heroes In Our Own Community

By David GreenwaldDecember 21, 20084 comments
imageCity of Davis

By E.A. Roberts
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On December 4, 2008, I had the privilege of attending the eighth annual Heroes Award Luncheon, put on by the Yolo County Chapter of the American Red Cross. My youngest daughter Lara Musser was one among the group of heroes being honored. For the holiday season, I thought I would describe this life affirming event, that was so uplifting and restored my faith in human courage and sacrifice. When necessary, ordinary citizens will do whatever it takes to save the life of another.

Water Issue: Can Council Stop This Runaway Locomotive?

Water Issue: Can Council Stop This Runaway Locomotive?

By David GreenwaldDecember 18, 20088 comments

In January of 2007, the Vanguard featured an article entitled: “Tracing the recent history of the water supply project.” In it, we argued that there was a series of decisions that changed the trajectory of water policy to become a far more expansive and more expensive project than the original course of action. The remarkable feature is that at no point was a decision actually made to proceed with this project. Instead, there were a series of staff recommendations approved by council to explore various options which lumped together became a decision.

This is very important in trying to understand where we are right now. There is a basic inertial quality to this issue that is rather remarkable. There are basically two forces driving the process, neither of which are necessarily council approval. First, the concern that we will lose our place in line. Second, the concern that down the line the costs of construction will increase if we delay now.

City of Davis to Vote To Join Amicus Brief To Petition Court to Invalidate Proposition 8

City of Davis to Vote To Join Amicus Brief To Petition Court to Invalidate Proposition 8

By David GreenwaldDecember 7, 2008148 comments

As a consent agenda item for Tuesday’s Davis City Council meeting, the Davis City Council will likely unanimously support a resolution to join an amicus brief petition to the Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8. Davis will join a growing list of cities that lack the resources to directly sue to challenge the adoption of Proposition as as the City and County of San Francisco, Santa Clara County and the City of Los Angeles did the day after the election.

On November 5, 2008 San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera joined Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and Santa Clara County Council Anne Ravel in filing a petition for a writ of mandate with the California Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8, an initiative constitutional amendment that intends to strip gay and lesbian citizens of their fundamental right to marry in California.