City of Davis

City Moves Forward with Living Wage Ordinance

City Moves Forward with Living Wage Ordinance

By David GreenwaldSeptember 25, 200832 comments

On Tuesday night, city council anonymously moved forward by asking the city staff to draft an ordinance that would bring contracted workers up to $11 per hour or $12.50 per hour should health benefits not be included.

Councilmember Lamar Heystek pushed for the city to move towards a fifty percent of Yolo County median over a period of time. The council direction came on a 3-2 vote with Councilmembers Sue Greenwald and Stephen Souza joining Mr. Heystek.

Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor cynically asked staff about the absence of affected employees at this meeting.

“In all of the conversations we’ve had on this, I’ve not seen any of the affected employees in the room, and we’ve not heard from them, that’s unusual, why is that?”

City of Davis Getting Water-Jacked on Multiple Angles

City of Davis Getting Water-Jacked on Multiple Angles

By David GreenwaldSeptember 13, 200864 comments

Is Council Finally Having Serious Concerns About the Cost of the Wastewater Project?

At some point it would probably benefit everyone to go back through the records and look at the increases in the estimated cost of the wastewater treatment plant upgrade. I believe that since early last year when I first took note of the wastewater project the estimated cost of the project has risen from around $150 million to over $200 million.

Finally, the city council is taking a serious look at ways to reduce the costs. The real question is why has it taken so long? But at least now the council is looking into the costs.

Cell Phone Laws Hands-Free Restriction–Are people Complying?

Cell Phone Laws Hands-Free Restriction–Are people Complying?

By David GreenwaldSeptember 12, 200852 comments
imageCity of Davis

Back at the end of June the public was bombarded with news stories on television and in the newspaper that a new law was coming. Drivers would be fined if they are caught using a phone without some sort of hands-free device while driving. The first offense carries with it a $20 and that increases to $50 for subsequent violations.

On the other hand, despite being a clear public safety risk the DMV would not assign a point on people’s driving record.

Davis Enterprise Anti-Environmental Policies

Davis Enterprise Anti-Environmental Policies

By David GreenwaldSeptember 2, 200884 comments

I write this in part based on Matt Rexroad’s blog entry from yesterday, but frankly I have had similar thoughts lately. There was a time, I would wake up and read newspapers first thing in the morning. But that was really before the advent of the internet and the ability of newspapers to put their content online–much of the time for free. Now if the newspaper is not on the internet, I will not likely read it.

Most newspapers have most of their content available for free on the internet. However, the Davis Enterprise is an exception, though their policy has varied over the two and a half years I have read it. At one point, only the front page articles were available on their website. Then all of their content was posted on the website. Now they have all of the content on the website but it is protected by password and available to those who subscribe.