Council Backs Off New Tobacco Ordinance

As the staff report reads:
As the staff report reads:
Word To The Wise
A Bombshell Was Dropped – What’s Next?
By E. Roberts Musser
In our Davis Senior Citizens Commission meeting on Thursday, March 12, 2009, our City Council liaison Sue Greenwald dropped a bombshell. At least it felt that way to some of us on our commission. Councilmember Greenwald said there was a “cost saving” move afoot to consolidate the city’s commissions – yet again. The rationale behind this move is supposedly to cut down on city staff expense.
The Vanguard was pleased to see the Davis Enterprise reporter Claire St. John on Wednesday run a story which highlighted the 100K Club of Davis for 2008, updating the work the Vanguard did on August 5, 2008 with 2007 data.
Davis Enterprise Columnist Rich Rifkin also ran an analysis in his column on the Davis Fire Department.
In a letter that Mayor Pro Tem Saylor read aloud at last night’s council meeting, Lewis Properties told the city:
So the staff is looking at creating a general plan update program that can adapt the tasks to the current fiscal situation.
However, what Mr. Saylor did not discuss was the ongoing problems that a specific group of neighbors have had with a specific facility whose noise and other problems has been anything but delightful.
The Vanguard engaged in extensive analysis through a series of public records requests. In the fiscal year of 2004-05 Davis paid its City Attorney and law firm $514,154.10. In 2005-06 it was $535,664.50. In 2006-07 it was $641,025.70. And in 2007-08 it $464,145.50.
Remember, the firefighters pumped in $30,000 into the last campaign to reelection Councilmembers Don Saylor and Stephen Souza.
Despite the rosey picture that City Manager Bill Emlen attempted to play at the outset, these projections may actually represent a best-case scenario as became clear as the conversation and discussion progressed.
As the Vanguard reported two weeks ago, DANG along with consultants for the owners had found a grocer willing to move a grocery store into the spot vacated by Food Fair in May of 2006. However, when the majority owner, Farrokh Hosseinyoun pulled his promised $250,000 in capital, the deal fell through.
Not everyone is or was convinced by the show. The residents from Old North Davis Neighborhoods who have to deal with the congestion and dangers on a regular basis certainly would like to see the change. The business community however is not convinced that the changes would not impact the ability of people to get to downtown.
I see a larger problem and it extends beyond the issue of interpersonal relations. I feel like the Mayor is systematically shutting down discourse and discussion in the name of expediency of getting home on time. If she were somewhat equal-handed about it, it might be less of a problem. But I have never seen her tell anyone else to stop talking other than Councilmember Greenwald.
One of the big questions that will need to be determined is the extent to which this process will have transparency. Often what has happened in the past is that the first time either the council or the public knows about the contract is after the city’s “negotiators” usually the city manager, HR person, and finance director reach agreement with heads of the employee bargaining units.
On January 13, 2009, the Davis City Council listened to investigator Bob Aaronson and City Manager Bill Emlen discuss very different interpretations of the Mr. Aaronson’s investigation into allegations present in the June of 2008 Grand Jury Report.
It was a report that the elected members of the Davis City Council did not get to read in full. The Vanguard subsequently filed a California Public Records Act Request for both the full unredacted report and a redacted report. The city of Davis, as expected has denied the Vanguard access to the full version of the report.
It was summer of 2005 when then 16 year-old Halema Buzayan was arrested by Davis Police Officer Pheng Ly. Much has happened since that time both within the city and the police department. But one thing that has not happened is that the Federal Lawsuit filed by Ms. Buzayan’s family has not gone to trial. That may finally change shortly as a Federal Judge last week ordered the defense to quit stalling and allow the case to move forward.
Halema Buzayan and her family allege 16 causes of action against the Davis Police Department, individual police officers, the Yolo County District Attorney and several individual’s from the DA’s Office, and the City of Davis. Specifically the list of defendants include: City of Davis, former Davis Police Chief James Hyde, Assistant Police Chief Steven Pierce, Officer Pheng Ly and Ben Hartz, Former DA David Henderson, Deputy DA Patricia Fong, and Counsel for Yolo County and the City of Davis Douglas Thorn who is himself a defendant in this case.
Back on February 3, the Vanguard made a bit of splash by invoking the spirit of Bush I circa 1988, saying “Read My Lips… No New Taxes.”
In truth, despite how it sounded, it was not a declaration against taxes, or even new taxes. It was suggestion that Davis gets its fiscal house in order.
In an interview with the Vanguard, the Davis Advocates for Neighborhood Groceries (DANG) say they thought they had a deal. Consultants for Farrokh Hosseinyoun, the majority owner of the Westlake Plaza Shopping Center on Lake Boulevard in West Davis had found a suitor for the Westlake Plaza’s empty grocery store spot.
Enter the Delano Family, owners of eight Bay Area Grocery stores bearing the same name. They operate Delano’s Markets in San Francisco, Mill Valley, Tiburon, Fairfax and Novato, many of them very upscale in appearance. Adding to the intrigue is the versatility of their product and the vast experience of the Delanos in the grocery business and their genuine interest in coming to Davis and Westlake Plaza.
One of the big questions facing the Davis Fire Department is the issue of staffing and the issue of whether or not the fire department needs a fourth fire station. Data presented by the Davis Fire Department has often shown that Davis has a relatively low number of fire fighters per thousand people, a high population per station, and a low cost per capita.
The Vanguard’s analysis largely confirms those findings that would seem to suggest that davis is in need of more fire staffing, an additional fire station, and that it is run relatively cost effective.
The Vanguard has all but stopped responding to Bob Dunning columns from the Enterprise, but his column from Friday is so outrageous, irresponsible, and most importantly just plain ignorant it would be irresponsible not to respond.
The title of the column is “It’s Time We Let Go of Our Reservations.”
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!–PART 2
By E.A. Roberts
Part 1 was published Thursday February 19, 2009
Where Do We Go From Here?
1. Stop encouraging the policy of lending money to folks who do not have the wherewithal to repay.