City of Davis Archives - Page 431 of 463

Vanguard Responds to Puntillo’s Fire Op-Ed

By David GreenwaldApril 21, 200935 comments

When the Davis Enterprise came out against the four-person engine company, one knew that it would provoke a response within both the community and among supporters of the fire department. When it coincided with revelations about the number of firefighters who made over 100K, one recognized that the urgency for a good strong response was going to increase.

So it was little surprise to see that former Davis City Councilmember Ted Puntillo, a strong supporter of the fire department would respond. Last week, Mr. Puntillo authored an Op-Ed in the Davis Enterprise entitled, “Fire Engine Staffing Saves Lives.”

How Can We Make City-Union Contracts More Transparent?

By David GreenwaldApril 19, 200912 comments

We have consistently talked about opening up the current ongoing negotiations with the city’s bargaining units to greater transparency. However, the state law makes that prospect difficult.

California laws makes it a virtual requirement to conduct bargaining in closed session, away from public scrutiny. The problem as we have seen is that once the contract is negotiated in private, it ends up as a consent agenda item for ratification.

The Public is in For a Rude Awakening on Salaries

By David GreenwaldApril 17, 200920 comments

Ever since the Davis Enterprise ran the story on employee salaries that reported that there were 72 employees receiving over $100,000 in salary and overtime in 2008 and that 38 of those were firefighters, it has been very interesting to read the letters to the editor in the Davis Enterprise.

The latest such letter was yesterday from Dennis Westcot.

Vanguard Vehemently Voices Concern Over City Budget at Council Meeting

By David GreenwaldApril 16, 200920 comments

The following is the text of my comments to Council on Tuesday night:

Good evening council, I’m David Greenwald, and I’m speaking before you to express my concern about the way that the city’s budget discussion preceded last week. My biggest concern stems from the basic fact that the city council, the city manager, and the city’s finance director spent an inordinate amount of time discussing things that frankly the finance director could have put into a report on cuts that need to be made and then council could have moved on to more substantive issues to discuss.

As Councilmember Sue Greenwald said on multiple occasions last week, the council’s discussion completely ignored the largest sources of expenditures and the areas that we must address, not only to close the multi-year, multi-million dollar deficit, but to address the structural issues that underlie our current predicament.

Word To The Wise – Universal Health Care: A Perfect Solution or Pure Folly?

By David GreenwaldApril 16, 20097 comments

By E. Roberts Musser –

The current political mantra at both the federal level and here in the state of California is the perceived need for “universal health care”. It is seen as the solution to the crucial issue of health care reform. Rather the more important question should be: “Is universal health care the answer to rising health care costs and the ever increasing number of uninsured, or are there other options to consider that might be better?”

One of the problems with the idea of “universal health care” is that the term itself is not well defined. It can mean many different things to different people. The devil is in the details, as Congress and our President are just beginning to find out. Let’s take a look at three “universal health care” models, and see how they are faring: Medicare; the Massachusetts model; and the Canadian system.

Surface Water Project Filled with Question Marks and Few Definitive Answers

By David GreenwaldApril 15, 200918 comments

The city council last night’s discussion of water and what to do about water continues. And while it appears we have learned a few things, the basic trajectory of water discussion remains undisturbed, this despite city staff’s apparent inability to know or address even whether this will actually in the end yield water for the city.

The unfortunate aspect of this evening was that the people commissioned to do the independent review of the water resources initiatives were unavailable to present the report and answer questions. That means the city had to rely on the public works department to continue to present their views of the viability of the project.

City Budget Discussions Continue Failure to Address Critical Budget Issues

By David GreenwaldApril 14, 200912 comments

A Closer Look At City’s Unfunded Liabilities –

Once again we revisit the complete failure of the city’s last budget workshop. A good amount of insight can be gleaned from the way the school district has approached their budget the last two years.

We did not see a prolonged focus on small details. That is not to say the CBO of the School District, Bruce Colby has not tried to cut all of the marginal costs he can, because he did. But at the core, most of the school district’s cost goes to employees. That is the same issue facing the city as well. And so in order to cut substantial and meaningful amounts of money to balance a budget, there are really two places to go–employee salaries and positions. Anything else is really a waste of time.

Water Projects Continue To Move Forward with Only Modest Cost Reductions

By David GreenwaldApril 13, 200934 comments

Despite Cost Cutting Measures City Staff Still Classifies Costs as “Daunting” –

While the city has finally taken seriously the immense costs of the dual water projects it has been pursuing one regarding surface water importation and the other regarding wastewater treatment, the costs still remain daunting and the increase to rate payers if these two projects go forward would be devastating at best.

The council has two items on the agenda this week dealing with water.

Commentary: Gulf Widens Between Saylor and City Staff on Growth Issue

By David GreenwaldApril 12, 2009108 comments

Today we see an interesting article in the Davis Enterprise, which analyzes the growth issue. You remember the growth issue–the issue that used to be the most important issue facing the city of Davis. That was in the days before the bottom fell out of the housing market and the economy collapsed forcing the city to finally reckon with the issue of the budget and city salaries. Or at least those of us observing the city to try to force them to reckon with it even as they appear to be unusually stubborn.

The most important thing that we learn from the Enterprise article probably has little to do with its primary intent. It shows us the widening gap now between the thinking of Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor and now even city staff. Already we have seen Mr. Saylor has moved far afield from the of his colleagues on the council. He was the only one to support without qualification the mixed-use project at Cannery Park. He was the only one to express lament at the exit of Cannery. And he was the only one to push for immediately doing a new and/ or updated General Plan.

Commentary: Mayor’s Proposals Threaten Principles of Open Government

By David GreenwaldApril 11, 200916 comments

Residents of Davis may rightfully rejoice at the news that Davis will house the Bicycle Hall of Fame–an honor that announced this week. However, in a lot of ways it obscures the more sinister and ominous developments of the week that will caste dark shadows over the governance of this city.

Mayor Asmundson’s second tenure as Mayor has been somewhat less eventful than her first tenure that saw open civil unrest befall the city. However, more quietly she has effectively moved to stifle debate and dissent at least within official city hall.

Fire Chief Defends Current Staffing

By David GreenwaldApril 10, 200935 comments

In a recent Davis Enterprise article, Davis Fire Chief Rose Conroy defended the four person fire crew. The article cites the 1998 OSHA “two in, two out” rule as a safety regulation for firefighters.

One question that comes to mind is what does this rule mean exactly? Are we required by this rule to carry four person engine units, or are there alternatives available for smaller departments like Davis to be safe but to be fiscally responsible at the same time?

Commentary: Council Missed the Mark with Budget Discussions

By David GreenwaldApril 9, 200932 comments

On Tuesday night, the Davis City Council began looking into budget cuts. The city is of course facing a $3 million deficit in the coming fiscal year. The immediate crisis has been caused by declining tax receipts. But the longer term crisis is fueled by increasing salaries, rising pension costs, and the unfunded liabilities down the line that the city faces with retirement health care.

The most disappointing aspect of it is, is that instead of going head on against the bulk of city expenses, the large monies and obligations the city faces, two of the councilmembers–the Mayor and the Mayor Pro Tem largely focused on minutiae.

City Manager’s Memo on Cuts Misses the Point

By David GreenwaldApril 8, 200923 comments

Anyone who watched even a portion of the Davis City Council meeting last night saw some amazing maneuvers by some on the council along with the city manager to avoid the real tough issues and attempt to balance the budget by nickle and diming the city to death. In order to do justice to this, we are going to break this into multiple parts.

This first part will focus on a memorandum by City Manager Bill Emlen that pretty much proves he is missing the point. There is some serious denial going on in this city and it begins with the city manager. He writes:

City To Take Substantial Hit With PERS Rate Increase

By David GreenwaldApril 6, 200911 comments

Somewhat buried in the staff report on the current budget crisis is a rather bleak forecast that looks at the hit the city is likely to take with regards to its PERS contributions for the years 2010/11 and 2011/12. According to the staff report,

“The retirement plans provided through CalPERS are considered “defined benefit” plans such that, upon agreement on a specific benefit level, the employer and employees contribute annually funding amounts to CalPERS according to the contribution rates established by CalPERS through annual actuarial valuations which set the contribution rates for the succeeding fiscal year. CalPERS typically provides contracting agencies with their contribution rates in October for the following (July-June) fiscal year. As such, CalPERS contribution rates reflect roughly a two-year lag relative to “current” actuarial results.”

Commentary: City Needs to Enforce Current Ordinances Not Make New Ones

By David GreenwaldApril 5, 200914 comments

Today has been one of those days where I have several good ideas for a column, but no great ideas for a column. For example we have now had two horrific killings of police officers one of course down the road in Oakland and the other in Pittsburgh. There is not a great local angle on that fortunately, but it is pretty tragic, especially I guess some of the political biproduct that has crept into the latter incident.

There is some interesting legislation that finally looks at tackling runaway state salaries. Assemblymember Anthony Portantino has introduced legislation that looks to freeze salaries, benefits, overtime, and compensation for those who make over $150,000. One group not directly addressed in this are UC Employees. The numbers are staggering at the top end. Well publicized is President Mark Yudof getting an annual salary last year of over $800,000.

Noise Issues Persist With Little Help From City

By David GreenwaldApril 3, 200932 comments

The Vanguard has acquired records dating back to 1994 that show that the neighbors living on Cezanne Court in Davis have had to put up with an inordinant amount of noise from their neighbor, the privately owned, for profit, Montessori Day Care business located at 1811 Renoir Avenue in Davis.

Frankly, the Vanguard should have raised the community’s awareness of this problem long before it has. However, the event that served as inspiration was Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor’s move to place an exemption to the noise ordinance on the Council Agenda as an item submitted by a councilmember. The council has agreed to hear it as a full item, but the item was pulled from the last agenda.

Commentary: No Faith That Davis Can Enact the Change We Need

By David GreenwaldApril 2, 200959 comments

In yesterday evening’s Davis Enterprise, Rich Rifkin had an interesting article about 10 necessary reforms the council needs to make with regards to employee contracts. While I think this is a good start, I would probably recommend something somewhat different.

This column starts with an evaluation of Mr. Rifkin’s suggestions, and then goes on to make some of its own suggestions and overall comments. My hope is really not to provide definitive answers but start a community conversation about how to approach our contract negotiations.

City Fails to Address Critical Budget Issues

By David GreenwaldApril 1, 20090 comments

The city of Davis faces an immediate deficit of $3 million per year which is compounded by…

Can the City Do More To Bring A Grocer to Westlake?

By David GreenwaldApril 1, 200924 comments

That has long been a topic of conversation both in West Davis and throughout the community. The city has consistently maintained that they have an interest in bringing a grocery store to Westlake, but there is little the city can do other than encourage it.

The argument from the owners until recently has been that they have tried to find a suitable grocer to come into the space, but there has been no interest. However that excuse has been discredited recently with revelations that there were several grocers expressing interest in the spot, however, the owners have reneged on verbal promises.

What Will Be the Impact on Davis of Losing Gottschalks?

By David GreenwaldMarch 31, 200945 comments

In the last week, the news has come forward that the Gottschalks department store chain, which filed for bankruptcy in January will be headed for liquidation.

Last week the Davis Enterprise quoted Sarah Worley, the economic development coordinator with the City of Davis saying:

By E. Roberts Musser –

A Closer Look At City’s Unfunded Liabilities –

Despite Cost Cutting Measures City Staff Still Classifies Costs as “Daunting” –

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