City of Davis Archives - Page 395 of 470

Commentary: Occupy the Water Supply Project

By David GreenwaldOctober 22, 201153 comments

occupy In the last few weeks we have finally seen the outcry from the left that has been muted far too long, based perhaps on their misplaced faith or misplaced admiration for Barack Obama.

I do not say much about Barack Obama on these pages, as it quickly devolves into uninteresting (to me) partisan debate. What I will say here, at the risk of people not really hearing what I have to say, is that contrary to the right’s depiction of President Obama as figure on the left, a socialist, a radical, his presidency has been very much an establishment one, relying on the mainstream forces, Wall Street and corporate America.

Wolk Packs the (Bounce) House in Announcement Party

By David GreenwaldOctober 22, 20116 comments

To put 250 people at an event, an announcement for a candidacy where the election is still eight months away, is an impressive feat. Then again, Dan Wolk probably had about a 20-year head start on the competition. Many, if not most, of the attendees at this event probably have attended Lois Wolk events in the past.

Still, there is something refreshing watching a candidate for public office, any office, chasing his young daughter around a bounce house set up on the periphery of the massive facility that once housed the Davis Branch of the Yolo County Library.

Commentary: We Need to Fix Rate Structures and Operational Concerns First Not Last

By David GreenwaldOctober 21, 201154 comments

In a bit of irony, Elaine Roberts Musser used her monthly Vanguard column to argue, among other things, “Every expert willing to speak publicly seems to agree we need the surface water project sooner rather than later. All the Davis and Woodland City Council members agree we do need the surface water project.”

By the same token, however, at the end of a long and arduous two-hour meeting with the Vanguard, city officials and project consultants, the City of Davis Interim Public Works Director made a rather candid acknowledgment that the water project is really a long-term plan.

Real Rate Hikes Could Far Exceed 14% for Next Six Years

By David GreenwaldOctober 20, 201170 comments

As many who read the comment section yesterday figured out, the city’s advertised water rate hikes include an assumption that the residents will conserve an average of 20% of their water. Failing to do this by hook or by crook, the resident could see water rates increase far more than 14% annually.

Looking at the rates alone suggests a far greater increase than just 14%. First of all, the tier 1 rate by itself goes up from $1.50 to $1.90 per unit next year. That marks about a 26.6% increase.

Word To The Wise: Surface Water Project – Sooner Rather Than Later

By Elaine Roberts MusserOctober 20, 201122 comments

By E. Roberts Musser

Reasons to do this project sooner rather than later:

Every expert willing to speak publicly seems to agree we need the surface water project sooner rather than later. All the Davis and Woodland City Council members agree we do need the surface water project.

Concerns About Fifth Street Impacts Nearly Derail Project Before Getting Back on Course

By David GreenwaldOctober 19, 201125 comments

It was supposed to be a simple item that moved forward the Fifth Street Corridor Improvement project. Council simply recommended adoption of a negative declaration which would analyze the proposed project and determine that the potential impacts would be less than significant, with mitigation, while at the same time amending the Core Area Specific Plan for consistency with the Fifth Street Corridor Improvements Project. This would include an Implementation Measure to add bicycle lanes on Fifth Street/Russell Boulevard from A to L Streets.

Both parts A and B were scheduled to last a combined 45 minutes. Instead they went on nearly for three hours, with a discussion that threatened to deadlock the proceedings at 2-2, with Sue Greenwald perhaps unnecessarily locked out of the full discussion, when her conflict existed only on the very fringe of all possible neighborhood impacts.

Veolia Has a History of Environmental Mishaps and Other Operational Problems

By David GreenwaldOctober 19, 201183 comments

While we have, up until this point, focused on Veolia’s role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, perhaps the bigger problem that Veolia should face in gaining a contract with the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency should be their handling of water issues in this state.

The DBO process is supposed to lock in lower rates and better results from a competitive bid process. But one common thread in both United Water which we covered on Tuesday and now Veolia is that the process actually results in higher rates and poorer service, as private companies seek to increase their profits.

Serious Allegations Against United Water and a Long and Troubled Track Record

By David GreenwaldOctober 18, 201165 comments

Violations, High Cost, Poor Performance Leads Eight Other Municipalities in the Last Decade to Prematurely Terminate Contract with United Water

The questions about one of the contractors under consideration, United Water, associated with the CDM “team,” have been raised, both in public and by members of the Clean Water Agency.

United Water faces serious legal issues and an indictment, which claims two of its managers at a Gary, Indiana, plant “intentionally manipulated water quality monitoring results at the facility over a five-year period between 2003 and 2008.”

Dunning and Souza Clash on Water

By David GreenwaldOctober 18, 201115 comments

Councilmember Stephen Souza does not get it right now. In fact, he does not get it on a number of fronts, which could prove harmful to him if he indeed chooses to run for reelection. Picking a fight with Bob Dunning is probably one of the worst decisions any one in Davis public office can make.

As Mark Twain once remarked, “Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.” I would point out that, in the modern age, it might be worse to pick a fight with someone who does not have to buy ink at all, but I digress.

Commentary: Davis Needs An Ethics Policy For Dealing with Business Contracts

By David GreenwaldOctober 17, 201150 comments

As we presented two weeks ago, Davis has been thrust into an unenviable bind by the creation of the water project – the choice, perhaps, between doing business with evil large companies and higher water rates.

Driving this, in part, is the decision to go with private firms to build this project through a DBO process – Design – Build – Operate. As the name implies, the contract means that the same group of companies would be involved in designing, building, and then operating (at least initially) the water project.

Councilmember Wolk Officially Announces He Will Run For Election For First Time

By David GreenwaldOctober 17, 201110 comments

It has been just about nine months since Dan Wolk was appointed by the Davis City Council to replace Don Saylor. He has become a critical third vote on the budget, and the architect of a compromise that might have averted the current water referendum had his colleagues taken the lead.

In press release issued on Sunday, citing the unfinished work ahead and the need for a new generation of leadership, Dan Wolk has decided to run for Davis City Council.

Pattern of (Mis)Conduct By Davis Firefighters

By David GreenwaldOctober 16, 201156 comments

The latest revelations of the Davis firefighters taking out their anger at the Vanguard on a struggling local business, Westlake Market, is a reminder of a much larger issue – that of a pattern of abuse of union power and misconduct on the part of the Davis firefighters.

The Yolo Grand Jury Report from 2008 highlighted a string of incidents involving everything from abuse of authority, unfair hiring and promotional practices, hostile work environment, untoward union influence and, oh yes, being drunk and causing fights in the downtown and sleeping off drinking binges in the beds of the local fire station.

Sunday Commentary: Occupy This!

By David GreenwaldOctober 16, 2011136 comments

On Saturday during Farmer’s Market, a small group of mostly young people walked through the crowd – these were Occupy Davis protestors.

The Davis Enterprise reports this morning that on Saturday morning “protesters marched to the Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase Bank branch offices downtown and took up residence in Central Park.”

Commentary: Councilmember Souza Needs to Let this Go

By David GreenwaldOctober 14, 2011116 comments

Earlier this week, I defended Councilmember Stephen Souza from charges of “blocking” – preventing those who wished to sign petitions from doing so. However, in the last few days we have had reports that Mr. Souza may have been a bit too zealous in defending his cause.

There is nothing wrong with that, per se. As we noted, he has a first amendment right to speak out as a citizen.

Counter Protest Message: The Democratic Right to Fear the People

By David GreenwaldOctober 13, 201192 comments

Earlier this week, the Vanguard covered the counter-protest, if you will, those residents of Davis who are opposing the referendum. Yesterday the Davis Enterprise reported that that group of residents includes Kemble Pope, Alan Pryor, Kari Fry and Tom Cross – and ironically makes little mention of Councilmember Stephen Souza, who at least appears to be spearheading the movement.

As reported earlier in the week, the message is simply: “Think before you sign! Forcing a vote on the clean water project is a delay which will cost rate payers more money.”

Commentary: Water is Pitted Against Schools – Like It or Not

By David GreenwaldOctober 12, 201172 comments

It sounds good, the simple notion of pitting students and water against each other. After all, in the ideal world we should just decide every project, every expenditure, every law on its own individual merits.

And so part of me wants to agree with School Board Member Susan Lovenburg when she writes, “Will these separate needs – water and students – be pitted against one another? I trust not.”

Loophole in Reporting Process For Expenditures and Contributions for the Signature Gathering Process

By David GreenwaldOctober 12, 201130 comments

Whatever side one comes down on in the water battle that has been increasing in this community, as supporters of a possible referendum have two weeks left to get the necessary citizen signatures, the need arises for a fully transparent process.

The Vanguard has always believed that the hallmark of a free and democratic society, particularly at the local level, requires full transparency.

Ethical Considerations Plague DBO Process in Selecting the Team to Run the Water Project

By David GreenwaldOctober 11, 201174 comments

The Clean Water Agency (CWA) had a special meeting to continue the discussion from two weeks ago about two key elements of the Design-Build-Operate process that is paramount to making the water project as affordable as possible.

On the one hand, the CWA is acting cautiously on the ethics front, as serious but different issues plague two of its bidders. On the other hand, the CWA – clearly divided on the issue of offering a fourth company a chance to bid – declined to take any further action, leaving in place the companies currently in the running.

Commentary: Starting to Question Water Tank Art Expenditures

By David GreenwaldOctober 11, 201116 comments

I am certain that the art community is not going to appreciate my views on this matter and that is fine. I have been on the fence about the water tank art project. On the one hand, I have argued that in these tough times, we ought to stop doing business as usual.

On the other hand, I think the public does not sufficiently appreciate that non-general fund expenditures cannot go to operating costs.

Fire Department Merger, Fire Staffing and the Budget

By David GreenwaldOctober 10, 201113 comments

It would be perhaps fitting if the Davis firefighters, for the last several years the symbol of failed fiscal restraint in the City of Davis and really across the state and the nation, represented the undoing of Davis’ budget hopes.

That is perhaps a premature judgment, but an increasing possibility. The city had hoped it could merge the fire operations with UC Davis as a way to save money. Indeed, the pilot project was implemented a year ago, in which there would be a sharing of the two departments’ administrative staff – the fire chief, assistant chief, and two full-time division chiefs.

By E. Roberts Musser

Violations, High Cost, Poor Performance Leads Eight Other Municipalities in the Last Decade to Prematurely Terminate Contract with United Water

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