City of Davis Archives - Page 415 of 470

Commentary: City Implements Zipcar Pilot Program to Change the Way We Use Cars

By David GreenwaldAugust 30, 201048 comments

In July, the new Davis City Council undertook a very modest investment to bring in an alternative Car Sharing Pilot Program, the Zipcar. The fiscal impact, by the way, comes from Developer funds deposited for environmental mitigation obligations, which are neither currently set aside or allocated for another purpose.

The cost to the city will depend on the usage. If we get 50% utilization it will pay for itself. At most it would be $74,400 if no one used the vehicle. Staff estimates a vehicle usage rate of 30% (current campus utilization rate is 40%). At the assumed 30% utilization rate, annual costs of approximately $20,000 are anticipated or $40,000 for the initial 2-year contract period of the pilot program.

Commentary: Council Needs to Take a Lesson From Emlen and Hire From Outside the City

By David GreenwaldAugust 29, 201017 comments

In 2007, the City of Davis Police Department was facing a critical moment. They had just been rocked by a year of turmoil, both internally and from segments of the community. They had a chief that had taken a position in another city, and the organization itself was fragmented and in need of new leadership.

Instead of hiring from within that department, City Manager Bill Emlen looked to the outside to bring in fresh ideas and a new leadership style. He ended up with Landy Black, who has helped rebuild both his department and trust within segments of the community.

Commission Set To Examine Reverse-Angle Parking on Thursday

By David GreenwaldAugust 29, 201025 comments

Innovative and Needed Change or a Solution to a Nonexistent Problem?

While Davis Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning was quick to call it a solution to a “nonexistent problem,” fortunately we already have many examples and studies already available to show the safety is actually improved.

Perhaps if Mr. Dunning knew the idea came from his leveled-headed councilmember, Joe Krovoza, he would give it a second thought. Or perhaps not.

City Manager Emlen Talks About Decision To Leave and the Future of Davis

By David GreenwaldAugust 27, 20105 comments

Council To Meet Tuesday To Decide on Interim City Manager –

The Vanguard has confirmed that the Davis City Council will meet this coming Tuesday in closed session to determine who the next City Manager will be. The most likely choice appears to be Paul Navazio, who is Assistant City Manager as well as the City’s Finance Director.

In the meantime, the Vanguard was able to speak with Mr. Emlen on Thursday to discuss his decision, his tenure on the council and his and the city’s future.

UPDATE: City Manager Bill Emlen Taking Position in Solano County

By David GreenwaldAugust 25, 201050 comments

(Updated at 9 am Wednesday) – The news broke late Tuesday afternoon and seemed to catch just about everyone off-guard. According to the City’s release, Mr. Emlen informed the City Council that he has accepted a position as Director of Resource Management with Solano County. City Manager Emlen’s last day in Davis will be Friday, September 24. “The City Council is currently looking at options for filling the position, both on an interim and a permanent basis,” the release said.

Mr. Emlen is taking a position as Director of Resource Management in Solano County. The position represents a salary bump for Mr. Emlen up to $176,000. More than that, however, it represents a chance for Mr. Emlen to escape the bright lights of Davis and the heavy scrutiny. This is undoubtedly a far more low-key position.

Commentary: The Council Gets Down to Business?

By David GreenwaldAugust 22, 201011 comments

This morning I read from the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, “We are off to a great start and are getting down to the business at hand.” I wish I could believe them, but unfortunately I happen to believe otherwise.

As I read it, “For the first time in history, the farewell to outgoing council members and the welcoming of the newly-elected council were accompanied by readings by Davis’ poet laureate.”

Reverse Angle Parking Coming on Second Street?

By David GreenwaldAugust 21, 201021 comments

As most who have traveled into the Davis Downtown know, the city has been doing some extensive renovation of Second Street, an issue we covered a few weeks back. Apparently included in the renovation is the installation of reverse angle parking.

According to a memo from Katherine Hess dated August 16, the City was asked to consider re-striping for reverse angle back-in parking in the 2nd Street corridor.

Word To The Wise: Scammers Know No Bounds!

By Elaine Roberts MusserAugust 18, 20102 comments

By E. Roberts Musser –

Financial predators are becoming highly sophisticated, and their ranks are swelling as legitimate businesses join in the scamming free-for-all. Some sordid examples will illustrate this premise. A case in point is one gentleman who was in his eighties, and becoming very forgetful. In consequence, his wife had to take over the financial duties of the household. With elderly couples, this is not an unusual pattern. Often one becomes the caretaker of the other, if there is a severe decline in mental or physical health of either partner.

Requests for subscription renewal would come in the mail for the husband on a steady basis, to magazines he had already paid for ten times over. Because of his failing memory, he would completely forget he had already paid for the subscription on numerous occasions prior in a matter of a few months. The more frequently he would pay, the more often the subscription renewal forms would come in. Eventually the deluged old fellow was getting one notice a month for each of numerous magazines and newsletters.

Clock Continues To Tick as Council Vacations

By David GreenwaldAugust 16, 201019 comments

Tomorrow night, another opportunity for the Davis City Council to work to begin to forestall the budget crisis in the city will slip by as they continue to vacation. Many area residents will undoubtedly not be able to afford to vacation this year as the region continues to suffer from high unemployment, furloughs and other cutbacks that will make money scarce, forcing many who still have employment to continue to work.

The critical issue facing the city of Davis is figuring out a way to cover current future obligations, specifically the growing concern about retirement costs, retiree medical, health premiums, cash-outs and overtime, among other issues.

The Proposed Wood-Burning Ordinance Represents a Reasonable Compromise

By David GreenwaldAugust 15, 201023 comments

by Adrienne Kandel –

While many Davis residents derive pleasure or economic benefit from burning wood in fireplaces, many of their neighbors suffer respiratory ailments like asthma or bronchitis that can be set off by wood smoke or don’t like staying indoors to –imperfectly– escape the smoke’s irritation and toxins.

The Natural Resources Commission has heard from both types of residents and has proposed to City Council a compromise to preserve much of the pleasure of the former group and avoid much of the pain of the latter. (Click here to read the full proposal).

Five Davis Priority Improvement Goals for the Downtown

By David GreenwaldAugust 14, 201041 comments

Earlier this week, the Davis Downtown Business Association released Five Downtown Action Items for Davis. These ideas are conceptual and the DDBA is seeking considerable community discussion and feedback about them.

They are also looking to explore the five areas via an official task force with city staff and members of the Davis City Council.

When?

By David GreenwaldAugust 9, 201011 comments

While the Council Vacations… The Clock is Ticking on the City’s Fiscal Bomb

The Davis City Council is on vacation. They will not return until September 7, and after that they will meet only two times per month. While more and more members of this community are struggling with furloughs, salary decreases, and threats of unemployment, your hard-working public officials are taking some well-deserved time off, knowing that they have done their jobs. They have moved the city onto a path of fiscal stability so we do not have to spend the next five years worrying about whether the city will remain solvent.

The only problem with that scenario is that it simply is not true. With the exception of the one holdout, Davis City Employees Association (DCEA), the city of Davis has completed its round of employee MOUs. While they were able to coddle together enough short-term concessions to produce a relatively balanced budget this year, the bulk of their work is not done.

Time For the City to Step Up with Leadership and Changes

By David GreenwaldAugust 6, 201010 comments

Call this the other end of yesterday’s story on MOU changes. I am not willing, at least yet, to write off the new council in terms of making the kinds of changes that will save this city from potential, and I think impending, bankruptcy in 2010. However, what concerns me is that we have been pushing this issue since at least 2008 on these pages, and some have been pushing for a lot longer than that.

Where are we now? Not very far. In fact, other cities are leading the way on reform and we are arguing over whether the current contracts are even a step in the right direction. They are not. It is August, we will not have another meeting for a month in a half, time to regroup and put forward bold new initiatives.

Honeymoon Over For New Council?

By David GreenwaldAugust 5, 201016 comments

The August meeting is supposed to be ceremonial, a mandatory meeting to fulfill the statutory requirement that the council meet each month. So they have it in the morning and generally have a light calendar. However, despite all appearances, this was not a light calendar. There were several very important issues that were addressed, including the first glimpse into the new council’s thinking on perhaps the most important issue facing them – the city’s financial condition.

The new council voted 4-1 to approve the Police Officer’s Association MOU. The loan dissenter was Sue Greenwald. On Wednesday, in Rich Rifkin’s column he took the new councilmembers to task.

NRC Sends New Recommended Wood Smoke Ordinance Back to Davis City Council

By David GreenwaldAugust 5, 201038 comments

By Alan Pryor –

On July 26, the Davis Natural Resources Commission (NRC) unanimously approved a new Recommended Wood Smoke Ordinance to be sent to the Davis City Council for review, and hopeful ly passage, some time in September. This is the 4th time the NRC has sent a recommendation for a comprehensive wood smoke ordinance to the Council

Background – Prior to the recent deliberations in July, the NRC considered the results of 2 additional studies performed last year in Davis and presented to the NRC in June.

MOU With Davis Police Officers Association Approved And New Mayor’s Rigid Style of Governance

By Elaine Roberts MusserAugust 3, 201017 comments

By E. Roberts Musser, filling in for David M. Greenwald

The City Council approved without change the Davis Police Officers Association MOU, as described thoroughly in the August 2, 2010 Davis Vanguard article on the subject. The vote was 4-1, with Councilmember Sue Greenwald in opposition. She expressed her concern that the structural changes were not substantive enough to address the city’s unfunded health and pension liabilities. For informational purposes, City Staff noted the total compensation currently budgeted for an average five-year fire fighter is $139,792 (or $143,569, whichever figure is correct since Staff was very unclear why they gave two different numbers); for an average five-year police officer it will be $131,992. The average five-year fire fighter’s yearly salary is $94,783; for an average five-year police officer it will be $86,479.

Councilmember Greenwald stated she could not support any contract “that doesn’t make the necessary reforms in the cafeteria cash-out and allow us to put it towards paying off our unfunded health liabilities”. Assistant City Manager Paul Navazio clarified that the total compensation figures do count the value of the cafeteria cash-out. When Council member Greenwald tried to respond to Mr. Navazio’s statement, Mayor Saylor forbid further commentary. He would not recognize her, despite her having raised a point of order. Instead Mayor Saylor emphatically stated “as presiding officer” he would “take a vote”. Council member Greenwald was helpless to do anything without running the risk of censure or being stripped of a committee/commission assignment.

RDA Funding Approved to Finance New Hanlees Volkswagen Auto Dealership

By David GreenwaldAugust 3, 20106 comments

By E. Roberts Musser, filling in for David M. Greenwald –

At the unusually early hour of 9:30 a.m. on August 2, 2010, the City Council considered a City Staff proposal to provide financial assistance for relocating a VW auto dealership from Napa to a vacated/blighted parcel within the redevelopment project area of the city. The parcel in question is located at the former Ford dealership site in south Davis on Chiles Road. It is currently being underutilized for an auto repair shop. The proposed City Staff resolution authorizes the Redevelopment Agency to execute an Owner-Participation Agreement with Hanlees Partners (who already own several auto dealerships in Davis), to allocate up to one million dollars from the Redevelopment-Commercial Development funds (funding Davis receives from the federal gov’t) as a loan.

According to City Staff, discussions with Don Lee of Hanlees indicated it would cost approximately $2 million dollars to demolish the existing building, erect a new state-of-the-art showroom, remodel the service building and improve the site. A consultant, Economic and Planning Systems (EPS), was hired by the city to do a fiscal analysis of the project and Hanlees’ need for city financing. Prior to this, upgrades of such a nature have been done without the city’s fiscal assistance. However, because of the recent downturn in the economy, it has become virtually impossible for dealerships to obtain suitable financing on their own at reasonable rates, said City Staff.

Early Test for New Council? DPOA’s New Contract Set For Ratification

By David GreenwaldAugust 2, 201026 comments

One of the most contentious issues on the previous council was the approval of the new contracts for the employee bargaining groups. Councilmember Sue Greenwald, along with former Councilmember Lamar Heystek, consistently opposed the contracts. They argued that there was too little in the way of long-term concessions, insufficient short-term cuts and insufficient mechanisms to fix unfunded liabilities or pensions.

The Council has drawn the line in the sand with one employee group, the Davis City Employee’s Association (DCEA). They did so however at a contract that was roughly similar to what groups like the Firefighters already agreed to.

Davis Celebrates 20 Years of ADA with Disability Pride Parade

By David GreenwaldAugust 1, 20102 comments

On Saturday, over 100 people gathered in Davis’ Central Park to celebration the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Organizers say they hope to “strengthen the pride, power and unity of people with disabilities, our families and allies” and “challenge the way many people think about and define ‘disability.’ ”

The lively group marched on the sidewalk around the park and then gathered at the Rotary Stage for speakers and performers.

On 20th Anniversary of ADA, City Thwarting Efforts to Allow Access Ramp to Davis Community Church

By David GreenwaldJuly 31, 201028 comments

The Davis Community Church has been proposing and has requested to be allowed to install a new universal access ramp. This would be an enlargement of the landing at the main entrance to provide a concrete patio for a gathering place, and new landscaping in order to hide the railings of the proposed ramp off of Fourth Street.

As was explained to me, at the present time the church has members who are not able to access their church because they cannot get in and out of the front door. This includes a number of elderly parishioners whose mobility is limited and other members who are also wheelchair-bound. In addition, the church wishes to increase the size of the front patio to enable the reverend to stand away from the door and greet the congregants. The access ramp would land on the new patio.