Commentary: Does Small or Large Sphere of Influence Best Protect Ag Land?
After watching the LAFCO meeting and discussion for awhile last night, I did something I do not…
What the Sphere of Influence Means For Davis Growth
Tonight at the Davis City Hall Community Room, there will be a LAFCO hearing on Davis’ Sphere…
Vanguard Coverage of City Council Elections
When my wife, Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald, announced last fall that she was considering a run for the Davis…
Commentary: Growth is not the Answer to Schools Fiscal Problems
Saturday’s Sacramento Bee editorial once again raises the lack of growth specter as the culprit for the…
Lamar Heystek’s Persistence Pays Off in Consensus on Living Wage for City Employees
It has been a long and at times difficult road that Councilmember Lamar Heystek has taken en route to the first step towards a $13 per hour living wage for city employees and city contracted employees.
Some of the same Councilmembers, specifically Stephen Souza and Don Saylor, who praised the persistence and patience of Councilmember Heystek on Tuesday night, had put up roadblocks in the past toward achieving a living wage ordinance.
In Councilmember Lamar Heystek’s second meeting on the Davis City Council, on August 1, 2006, he brought up the issue of having a living wage for all businesses in Davis larger than 50 employees. The Council led then by Don Saylor and Stephen Souza voted by a 3-2 margin not to agendize the item for discussion. Instead they encouraged Councilmember Heystek to bring the item back as a Councilmember item–which meant it would not have staff prepared remarks or a recommendation.
Guest Commentary: Where’s the Fire?
Word To The Wise: Where’s The Fire? By E.A. Roberts ____________ The first ever Senior Academy was…
Vanguard Investigation Part IV: Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team Findings
The Vanguard continues its multipart series of former DJUSD Deputy Superintendent Tahir Ahad, Total School Solutions, and…
Hate Crimes Workshop Last Night in Davis: All Crimes Are Not Hate Crimes
In December of 2007, there were two hate crime incidents. One involved the spray painting of two sets of residents. The other involved the vandalism of Holmes Junior High. As it turned out, the second incident involved students of color seeking to either deflect blame or rile up the adults. However, that makes it no less insidious or hurtful to the broader community.
Last night, Jann Murray-Garcia put together a program called: “Arent’s All Crimes Hate Crimes? No.” The goal is to prevent student hate crimes in Davis. She brought together a broad and diverse group of people to get the message out including Lt. Darren Pytel in the Davis Police Department and Director of Student Services Pam Mari. Also in attendance was Superintendent James Hammond who did the introduction, two school board members President Sheila Allen and Board Member Susan Lovenberg; Climate Coordinator Mel Lewis; Lt. Tom Walz of the Davis Police Department; Supervisor Mariko Yamada; Ombudsman Bob Aaronson. Conspicuously absent was anyone from the District Attorney’s Office and anyone either from the City or the City Council.
Escamilla-Greenwald Kicks Off Campaign for Council with Assemblyman Dave Jones
by Simon Efrein Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald formally announced her candidacy for Davis City Council last night, at a…
Commentary: Target and Superfund
I might have missed it during the Target election, but was it not one of the reasons…
Commentary: Beware of the Growth Boogie Man in the School Budget Debate
In two days, there have been two letters to the editor in the Davis Enterprise that have…
Councilmember Heystek’s Persistence on Living Wage Leads to Future Discussion
Early in Lamar Heystek’s tenure as Davis City Councilmember, he pushed for a living wage ordinance. This…
City To Look into Strengthening Public Records Retention Policies
File this one under politics makes for strange bedfellows. During the course of my investigation into Davis…
Charter City Proposal Moves Forward
In November of 2006, the voters of Davis passed an advisory vote to ask the city to…
Commentary: On Historic Resources, Student Housing, and Core Area Planning
Last night during the course of the Davis City Council-Historic Resources Management Commission meeting a very interesting…
Guest Commentary: Preparing For The Worst At Any Age
by E.A. Roberts ____________ Obviously disaster preparedness is on everyone’s mind, since the little mini-emergency that occurred…
Davis Enterprise’s Story on the Vanguard
While our top story remains the Vanguard investigation into Davis Joint Unified’s former CBO, Tahir Ahad, I did want to talk a bit about the Davis Enterprise story on the Vanguard. As Claire St. John mentioned to me, the Vanguard has been up for a year and a half, it’s about time we acknowledged it. I thank the Davis Enterprise and Claire for covering local blogs, it must have been a bit tough to admit that there are other news sources out there.
For those who have not read the story, here is what Claire St. John wrote about the blog and myself:
Emergency Preparedness, Emlen: “We were Fortunate”; Atria Has Serious Explaining to Do
On Tuesday night at the Davis City Council meeting, the city finally received a full report on…
Commentary: “Food Miles” Cannot Be Discussed in Isolation From Land Use Policies
Recently in the Davis Enterprise, John Mott-Smith had a provocative piece on the importance of keeping down…
Commentary: Looking Back At Rhetoric from Measure X
The discussion Tuesday night at Davis City Council about the meaning of the city’s one percent growth…
