City of Davis Archives - Page 393 of 470

Commentary: Woodland’s Ill-Advised Pressure on Davis Backfires

By David GreenwaldDecember 7, 201160 comments

woodland-dcc-1

When Supervisor Matt Rexroad received letters against the radio tower that may be placed at the Yolo County Landfill, he was quick to highlight a letter that he thought was a bit odd, and in addition to quoting it, he derisively stated, “You don’t see stuff like this in Woodland.”

Mr. Rexroad has often fanned the flames of the Woodland hatred for Davis. And yet there he was, along with all five members of the Woodland City Council, lobbying the Davis City Council, pressuring them to stick with a water supply deal that a sizable number of Davis citizens felt strongly enough about that they not only sent in 4800 protests in September, but 3800 of them signed a petition to put it on the referendum.

Council Repeals Water Rate Hike; Will Put it To Vote in June

By David GreenwaldDecember 7, 201127 comments

In the end, compromise won out. Rochelle Swanson and Dan Wolk got the repeal of the water ordinance and the rest of the September 6 motion that had been passed by council. Joe Krovoza got the public vote in June that he desperately wanted. The only question now is whether the public will get the specific rates that would be required for them to make a real decision on the water project.

It was a 4-1 vote that prevailed. Sue Greenwald would have supported the original motion to simply repeal the water rates. While she argued that surface water is in our future, she said this is an expensive solution and she still believes we can meet our regulatory requirements in less expensive ways.

D-Day on Water For City Council

By David GreenwaldDecember 6, 201119 comments

It is three months to the day that the council made the decision to ignore 4800 protests on the water rate hikes, to reject a proposed compromise by Councilmember Dan Wolk and to instead go forward with 14% rate hikes, that really were not 14%, without even having a rate study to determine appropriate rates and their impacts on the community.

If that sounds like a loaded opening paragraph, that is, in fact, precisely the point. In the three months since the council passed the water rate hikes, the scene has become more divided and contentious.

Sunday Commentary: A Tale of Two Issues – The City Council Needs to Do on Water What It Did For the Budget

By David GreenwaldDecember 4, 201118 comments

In a way it is unfortunate that the announcement by Mayor Pro Tem Rochelle Swanson and Councilmember Dan Wolk came immediately on the heels of the budget discussion on Tuesday. On Tuesday night, the council discussed the budget, fixing what has been a tremendous oversight – the failure to include unmet needs in budget calculations.

What we were not able to get into, however, was a fuller discussion of the transportation issue itself. Road maintenance has been an issue we have hammered on for some time. This is more than a mere issue of fixing potholes, and goes to the issue of deferred maintenance, cost delays and unmet needs.

Commentary: After Months of Dissension, Calmer Heads Prevailing on Water

By David GreenwaldDecember 2, 201176 comments

A remarkable thing happened Thursday on one of the more polarizing issues facing the City of Davis in recent years – the water supply project and the water rate hikes. In the face of the proposal by Mayor Pro Tem Rochelle Swanson and Councilmember Dan Wolk, there was relative calm.

People on both sides of the very volatile issue told the Vanguard that they had to study the proposal further before making some sort of determination. Whether they ultimately agree or disagree with the proposal, the fact that there was not an immediate visceral reaction to the proposal is encouraging.

Swanson and Wolk Look To Pull Back on Water

By David GreenwaldDecember 1, 201130 comments

In a sweeping proposal released on Wednesday, ahead of the December 6 meeting that will address the issue of the referendum that qualified for the ballot last month, Mayor Pro Tem Rochelle Swanson and Councilmember Dan Wolk are bringing back their motion from the September 6 meeting, with some critical revisions.

“It is clear a significant portion of the community needs more information as reflected in the referendum, as well as the number of protest votes,” Mayor Pro Tem Rochelle Swanson said in a statement to the Vanguard on Wednesday.

Council Finally Supports “Truth in Budgeting” – Accounting For Unmet Needs in the Budget

By David GreenwaldNovember 30, 20119 comments

One of the Vanguard’s biggest criticisms of city budgeting, going back to at least 2008, is the fact that the city’s deferred maintenance and other unmet needs was not counted against the budget but rather put into a separate “unmet” needs category.

In 2008 for instance, this enabled the council to boast that they had a balanced budget with 15 percent reserve, while it was clear one of the reasons that they achieved this “feat” was due entirely to deferring costs of infrastructure, road repairs, and other needs to a future date – costs that were nontrivial, amounting to perhaps $13 million, depending on what was included in that category.

NRC to Consider Restrictions on Single-Use Plastic Bags

By uptownstudiosNovember 23, 201152 comments

By Alan Pryor –

The long-awaited proposed ordinance restricting single-use plastic take-out bags will finally start working its way through the process to get before the Davis City Council. The first step is submission to the Davis Natural Resources Commission (NRC) of a document prepared by the NRC’s Zero Waste Subcommittee containing a draft ordinance, background information, and justification for the proposed ordinance.

Timing and Information Availability

This is scheduled to be considered by the NRC on Monday, November 28 beginning at 6:30 PM in Council Chambers. This meeting will be informational and for discussion purposes only. There will be no vote on the proposal until at least until early next year to allow sufficient time for public input and comment. The entire draft proposed ordinance along with all supporting documentation will be posted on the City’s website as part of the NRC’s agenda packet within a day or two for those wishing to see the full language of the proposed ordinance and additional details. That document also contains a list of all 16 municipalities (with internet links to their ordinances) within California that have adopted plastic bag restrictive ordinances (including San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose, and Santa Clara Co., among others, in the Bay Area). There is also a list of the over 50 other municipalities or jurisdictions in the State that are in the process of weighing such restrictive ordinances.

Council Still Has Decision to Make On Water

By David GreenwaldNovember 21, 20117 comments

There is no truth to the rumor that Mayor Joe Krovoza was actually the one who ordered the pepper spraying attack on students last Friday in an effort to take the water issue off the front page.

However, the city council still has a serious decision to make, despite the Harriet Steiner issued opinion which stated: “In our opinion, the City’s newly-adopted water rates are not subject to challenge by referendum.”

Former Councilmember Calls on Council to Re-Think Mutual Aid For UC Davis Police

By uptownstudiosNovember 20, 201117 comments

by Lamar Heystek

The following is an open letter to the Davis City Council:

My heart goes out to each of you. Having borne the burden of your office myself, I know the weight. I can only imagine how much harder it has become in the months since I have left the City Council. Nevertheless, I come to you and suggest an additional burden you must take on, for the sake of our community and before the nation and beyond.

Off-Topic Column: Will We Ever Learn?

By David GreenwaldNovember 19, 201127 comments

Occupy This: Will We Ever Learn?

One of the most riveting moments of the civil rights movement was when Bull Connor turned the firehoses and attack dogs on protesters. It galvanized public sympathy and support for the civil rights movement.

After that, officials, at least those with a semblance of self-control, quickly realized that reacting in such a heavy-handed manner actually bolsters the message of the protesters, creating attention for the issue and sympathy. Smart leaders allow the protesters to say their piece, which is, after all, a First Amendment right, and be done. That is, so long as there is no real danger to public safety.

City Objects to PERB Decision

By David GreenwaldNovember 19, 201125 comments

Two weeks ago, the Public Employment Relations Board ruled that the city improperly canceled fact-finding and imposed the last, best and final offer on DCEA.

PERB ruled: “It has been found that the City violated MMBA sections 3503, 3505, 3506, and 3509(b) and PERB Regulation 32603(a), (b), (c), and (g) when it passed Resolution 10-070 on May 25, 2010, before exhausting the fact-finding process set forth in its local rules.

Blindsided: Anger Erupts Over City’s Last-Second Legal Brief

By David GreenwaldNovember 17, 201160 comments

Anger and outrage emerged over the city’s last-second legal brief by City Attorney Harriet Steiner who wrote, “In our opinion, the City’s newly-adopted water rates are not subject to challenge by referendum.”

However, not everyone agrees with that legal opinion. Even Harriet Steiner acknowledges there is a lack of case law, “We must note that there are no post-Proposition 218 cases that are directly on point.”

City Attorney Believes Rate Hikes Not Subject to Challenge by Referendum

By David GreenwaldNovember 16, 201177 comments

More than two months after the September 6 vote, after a signature-gathering campaign garnered over 5000 signatures, over 3800 of which actually counted, Mayor Joe Krovoza dropped a bombshell in an email to the Vanguard as he questioned the legality of the referendum in overturning a 218 process.

“It is very clear that you can’t overturn a 218 with a referendum,” Mayor Krovoza said.

Water Referendum Qualified by Skin of Its Teeth

By David GreenwaldNovember 15, 201167 comments

It turns out the water referendum needed every one of those 5124 signatures and probably needed to spend every dime that it did on the petition drive. That is because 1258 of the signatures, around one quarter, were found insufficient by the Yolo County Clerk’s Office.

However, at the end of the day, the only number that really mattered was 3866, the number of valid signatures, 161 more than the 3705 that were required.

Commentary: Pulling Back a Bit on Water Rate Debate

By David GreenwaldNovember 14, 201133 comments

With any luck, we will know by the end of the day if the water referendum qualified for the ballot. As we have noted for the last several weeks, the water issue, if goes on the ballot, will be a polarizing issue, encompassing about seven months’ worth of debate.

Proponents of the surface water project say that technical and regulatory requirements necessitate the project and that we will face severe and mandatory penalties and fines for non-compliance with the Clean Water Act and other discharge requirements.

Sunday Commentary: Fear the Hammer

By David GreenwaldNovember 13, 201164 comments

I caught Bob Dunning’s column this morning, in which he gave press to some guy name Greg who is ranting about a representative government that represents nobody. He is speaking of the Davis City Council.

While Mr. Dunning calls it “well considered” and says, “No, he’s not an anarchist. He’s a realist. He apparently wants something that actually works. Something that serves the people who cast the votes more than it serves the people who receive the votes.”

Off-Topic Column: The Sad Ending For Joe Paterno and Fitting Ending for Rick Perry

By David GreenwaldNovember 12, 201150 comments

For whatever reason, this seemed a good day to launch a new feature that may or may not become a regular feature. These are some more or less random musings that really did not make for a good full column…

This has been a wild week, both locally and nationally. Here are a few thoughts I have, mainly off the cuff.

PG&E Reports 42 Gas Leaks in West Davis Neighborhood

By David GreenwaldNovember 12, 20112 comments

At a November 10 open house, PG&E acknowledged that there had been 42 gas leaks in its distribution lines since 2006 in the Stonegate subdivision in west Davis.

Organizers of the event believe that number may be underreported because at least two homeowners indicated their gas leaks were not included.

Budget and Water Crisis Leaves City on Edge of Precipice

By David GreenwaldNovember 11, 201174 comments

When the new council was elected last June and they replaced Mayor Don Saylor eventually with Dan Wolk, it appeared that the city was about to turn the corner after nearly a decade of irresponsible and wasteful fiscal policy.

Indeed, there have been moments of success, but those moments have been almost entirely derailed by the current divisive water policy, along with huge errors made by the last council on the last round of employee bargaining that have only recently come to light.

By Alan Pryor –

by Lamar Heystek

Recent Posts