City of Davis

We are polluting the world’s oceans with petroleum based materials that take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose.  Sixty to eighty percent of marine debris overall and up to ninety percent of floating debris is plastic.  In at least one area in the Pacific, plastic debris outweighs plankton by a factor of six. This debris is carried across the globe by ocean currents, and, as it is broken down by the sun, it joins the huge masses of plastic particles in our oceans that threaten marine wildlife.  According to the California Coastal Commission, more than 1 million sea birds, 100,000 marine mammals, including filter feeding whales, and countless fish are killed annually in the north Pacific alone from ingesting or becoming entangled in marine debris.  Furthermore, due to their chemical composition, plastic particles can accumulate toxins on their surface which then poison the animals exposed to them.

This means they are essentially allowing West Yost to have non-competitive bids for conducting Wastewater Reclamation Alternative Analysis.  What is left up in the air now is how much this changes what seemed to be a very promising development earlier in the evening when Drs. Schroeder and Tchobanoglous made their presentation following the April 14 release of their consultant study.

Once again an opportunity has been missed to move forward with the redesign that is in the adopted General Plan.  Replacing the 4 lane street we now have with the two lane plus left turn lane and bike lane configuration will finally provide some safety for the numerous bicyclists and pedestrians using the corridor, and has no negative impacts on vehicle flow.  The two most recent traffic models, one funded by the City and one from the UC Davis School of Engineering show that the redesigned street will actually improve traffic flow and travel times.

When Food Fair left in 2006, the owners caused considerable damage to the site, filling in the cargo bay and stripping out all of the infrastructure within the store (see photos taken in early April).

By way of example the city of Davis presented last week a short presentation to a county climate action group on their Low Carbon Diet program.

It is instructive to see how the Mayor Pro Tem attempts to quell public dissent using his moderate tone.  The difference between watching the comments and reading them is instructive.

City staff recommended a 10 percent increase for water rates which would generate roughly an additional million dollars.  There are several significant capital improvement projects (CIPs) that will be under construction this fiscal year.

We have also watched the unprecedented opportunity to reconstruct the street with federal stimulus package funds go by the wayside because the City failed to simply ask for the money.  Still, we will try to put a good face on it and join others in the community once again to urge action toward the one solution that is low cost, does not impede motor vehicle flow, reduces risk for all users of the corridor, and beautifies the street.