City of Davis Archives - Page 421 of 470

Krovoza and Swanson Make It Two for Two, Endorsed by Davis Enterprise

By David GreenwaldMay 16, 2010115 comments

Endorsement Caps of a Great Week for Swanson and a Tough Week For Vergis –

For the second time this week, Joe Krovoza and Rochelle Swanson have received a major endorsement, this time from the Davis Enterprise.

The Enterprise has a history of supporting the pro-growth candidates and policies, indeed going back to 2002, Sue Greenwald in 2004 is the only non-pro-growth candidate to receive an endorsement. The Enterprise supported both Covell Village and Target. But times have changed, and the most burning issue has not been growth this year, but the budget and the Enterprise has fairly consistently been critical of the current council’s budget and spending priorities.

Should Measure J Be Renewed in the form of Measure R?

By David GreenwaldMay 15, 201044 comments

Measure-r

Last week, when the League of Women Voters held their forum, they not only had a candidates for with the city council candidates, but they also had the only discussion on Measure Q and Measure J.

Last week, we covered the candidate’s portion of the forum except for one question, which deal with Measure R. Today we are going to cover that question and then the discussion between Mark Spencer who represented the Yes on R side and former Davis Mayor Jerry Adler who was opposing the renewal of Measure J in Measure R.

Road Maintenance Backlog Approaching Dire Stages

By David GreenwaldMay 14, 201018 comments

City Continues to Hide the Real Costs and Real Deficit Through Deferred Maintenance –

The report was alarming on the front of transportation and street maintenance. It made front page headlines in the Davis Enterprise that reported, “But while streets, bike paths and sidewalks will stay in good condition for the immediate future, the city’s current proposed funding allows streets to deteriorate while the cost to repair them will climb exponentially.”

City Manager Bill Emlen acknowledged the problem, “There’s lots of concern about the sidewalks and the bike paths. Realistically, it’s going to be hard to address them.”

UC Davis College Democrats Host City Council Forum

By David GreenwaldMay 13, 201014 comments

Davis Democratic Club Endorses Joe Krovoza –

On Wednesday, the UC Davis College Democrats hosted a City Council candidates’ forum that was co-sponsored by the Davis Vanguard. All of the candidates came to the forum regardless of party identification. The event was attended by probably 30 or more club members making it one of the better attended forums in the series.

The UC Davis College Democrats will make their decision on who to endorse based in part on the public forum and also on written questions that were answered prior to the forum. They can by rule only endorse registered Democrats this means that they can choose between Joe Krovoza, Sydney Vergis, and Daniel Watts.

Council Puts Off Decision on Water Rate Hikes Until May 25 – But They Seem Inevitable

By David GreenwaldMay 12, 201022 comments

For Max Connor he bought a laundry business, The Laundry Lounge on Hanover Drive, two years ago and has worked hard to be environmentally responsible and as well as keep a local business local. But as the city of Davis continues to put burdens on his business and raise his bottom line he finds it more and difficult to do so.

“I’m here to state my frustration as a small entreprenuer in Davis,” said Mr. Connor speaking before the Davis City Council. “It’s harder to survive in this economy the more our bottom line gets raised by two years ago the same rates were raised for essentially the same reasons.”

Bee Endorses Krovoza and Swanson for Davis City Council

By David GreenwaldMay 12, 201015 comments

The Bee in the first major endorsement in the Davis City Council race has opted to endorse Joe Krovoza and Rochelle Swanson. Do endorsements really matter some may ask? Probably not. Two years ago, the Bee ended up endorsing Don Saylor, Sue Greenwald, and Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald over incumbent Stephen Souza and Souza still finished second in the race. Nevertheless, it may or may not be meaningful that the Bee chose Ms. Swanson over Sydney Vergis. Time will tell.

Usually these editorials are seen as reason to tell Davis that it needs to have faster growth. However, while Measure R (the renewal of Measure J) has been present in this campaign, growth has not been a huge issue. In part this is due to the economy and the real estate market. In part it is due to the dominance of the budget and fiscal issues.

Local Officials Look To Tame Picnic Day

By David GreenwaldMay 11, 201028 comments

The Sacramento Bee this morning reports on a closed-door meeting held on Monday with the Davis police, business representatives, students leaders and city staff members. According to Gary Sandy, the university’s director of local government relations, the group has decided to form a task force to fix Picnic Day.

Mr. Sandy told the Bee, “If Picnic Day is to survive, it will have to change radically.” He continued, “The message will be sent, loud and clear, that Picnic Day is not party day. This ought to be a celebration of UC Davis and the Davis community, not a day for drunkenness and rowdiness.”

The End of Redevelopment?

By David GreenwaldMay 11, 201014 comments

Will Davis’ Pass-Through Agreement Now Be At Risk?

On Monday, the California Redevelopment Association said that agencies across the state will begin transferring the funds that the state raided last year after a California appellate court on Friday denied a request to stay a transaction that would use $1.7 billion of those funds for local schools. That means that Davis will have to pay $3.2 million from its redevelopment coffers.

In Davis, the redevelopment area, a funding mechanism ostensibly put into play to eliminate blight in the downtown Core, Olive Drive and South Davis, encompasses around a quarter of the city’s property tax revenue. In recent years the city council has looked to the redevelopment agency to fund a variety of projects in the reuse of the Historic City Hall and what has become Bistro 33 and now the expansion of the Varsity Theater. The council who also sit as board members of the redevelopment agency were hoping to use redevelopment money for a number of economic redevelopment projects including a downtown parking center on E and F between 3rd and 4th.

Lack of Funds Will Put a Huge Strain on Roadways and Infrastructure

By David GreenwaldMay 10, 20108 comments

Davis residents may have to get used to those potholes, uneven pavement, and deteriorating conditions of surface streets. Or at least that is how it looks right now. Last week, in the introduction to the budget we reported that the city was acknowledging that there would be a reduced allocation for Street re-Pavement contracts.

The report goes on to say that this continues to be a program area with significant under-funding. The report calls for the need to develop long-term funding plans and likely will require significant long-term General Fund support.

Suddenly No Candidate Willing To Take Firefighter Money in June Election

By David GreenwaldMay 9, 201032 comments

We buried the lead in order to run today’s headline article. And frankly the news got even bigger late last night. One our big themes for the last two years has been the fact that city hall, particularly the Davis City Council has been bought and paid for by the firefighters’ union. In 2008, they gave more than 20,000 dollars in both direct and indirect contributions.

We now know that regardless of who wins in June, they will not have had their campaign purchased by city employees whose contracts they need to negotiate.

Commentary: How Bicycle Friendly is Davis Really?

By David GreenwaldMay 9, 201016 comments

This week we had Davis Bicycles! and a host of other groups have a candidates forum featuring discussions on transportation and biking. I have been to a lot of forums in the past two weeks, and this was my favorite of them all. It dealt with a lot of issues that do not get enough attention even as Davis likes to do things like get a Bicycling Hall of Fame, bring in the Amgen tour, and act as though it is the bike mecca of America.

A little known fact about is me is that when I got accepted to graduate school at UC Davis, I came here to visit in April of 1996 by bicycle. That is correct, I biked from San Luis Obispo up Highway 1 to San Francisco and then cut across back roads to ride into Davis on Old Davis Road through the south side of campus.

League Candidates Forum Puts Campaign into Home Stretch

By David GreenwaldMay 8, 20101 comments

Friday marked the last of the major candidate’s forums. This one was the League of Women Voters’ forum. In addition to a City Council Candidate’s debate, they also hosted the debate over Measure Q (sales tax) and Measure R (renewal of Measure J). Tomorrow we will cover the ballot measures. For today we focus on the candidate’s debate most specifically the two league questions and several audience questions.

While this debate may have lacked the fireworks of previous debates, it generates its own headline news. Today we will bury the lead and simply report on the answers given. In the future, we will discuss some of the ramifications of today debate more fully.

Council Candidates Talk About the Downtown At the DDBA Forum – PART TWO

By David GreenwaldMay 7, 20104 comments

This is part two of the DDBA candidates forum. As a reminder, this evening at 7 pm will be the League of Women Voter’s Forum at the Community Chambers at 23 Russell Blvd in Davis.

This represents the remainder of the DDBA questions and two audience questions.

Police Chief Landy Black A Finalist For Fairfield Position

By David GreenwaldMay 7, 201056 comments

The Vanguard has learned through numerous sources that Davis Police Chief, Landy Black, since 2007, is a finalist for the Chief position at the Fairfield Police Department.

Chief Black acknowledged that in part this was due to financial considerations, but also the opportunity for professional advancement. The city is in the process of considering whether to increase the Chief’s compensation in order to insure a continuation of his services.

Council Candidates Talk About the Downtown At the DDBA Forum – PART ONE

By David GreenwaldMay 7, 20101 comments

On Thursday night, the five Davis City Council candidates were at it again, this time meeting at a forum with the Davis Downtown Business Association (DDBA). The theme this evening was business, the economy, and the Davis downtown. It gave the candidates and the membership of the DDBA a chance to hear another very different set of issues from the previous forums.

The format here was the first question asking about small business experience was asked to all five, and then the remaining were asked two at a time. For the sake of keeping this somewhat less brief, I have skipped the first question and proceeding to subsequent questions that are more policy oriented.

Are Campaign Ads Effective in Davis City Council Campaigns?

By David GreenwaldMay 6, 201040 comments

The other day, I stumbled across Sydney Vergis’ campaign ad. It’s a pretty basic 30 second ad, basically a name recognition piece. Given Davis’ position in the market, one has to rely on doing cable ads on Comcast to reach Davis vmioters. Buying into the Sacramento market is hugely expensive.

So that leaves cable which while cost effective, I just wonder how effective the ads really are. More on that in a moment.

Compressed Timeline For Budget Discussion Problematic

By David GreenwaldMay 5, 20104 comments

Transportation Budget and Pavement Improvement Deemed Seriously Underfunded –

Last night, City Manager Bill Emlen and Finance Director Paul Navazio presented the Davis City Council with an overview of the 2010-11 budget. Given previous discussions, there was not a lot of surprises in there, though there are a few nuggets worth looking into.

The biggest issue that has emerged is the timeline. The City is pushing for a May 25 Budget adoption, which means next week there will be a Workshop, on the 18th there will be a public hearing, and on the 25th there will be a budget adoption. That gives the council only a few days to get proposed changes into the city.

Graduate to Change Picnic Policy, Will Not Sell Alcohol Before 11 AM

By David GreenwaldMay 5, 201012 comments

In light of picnic day events and public scrutiny, it appears that the Davis Graduate has reviewed its policy on serving beer at 6 am and has now changed its policies. The Graduate became a focus in part because of erroneous police reports that suggested the Graduate the locus for a fight that injured a police officer, but also because many people believed that selling alcohol at 6 am set a bad example and began drinking at an earlier hour than they otherwise might have.

From the Vanguard’s perspective, this became a story primarily because Rochelle Swanson, the wife of owner Charlie Swanson, is running for Davis City Council. She had originally stated that the decision to serve alcohol at 6 am was not a decision she alone could make.

Davis City Council Candidates Discuss Bikes and Transportation Issues

By David GreenwaldMay 4, 20106 comments

It was a different setting on Monday night in Davis, as the City Council candidates gathered outside of Bike Forth to discuss bikes and transportation issues sponsored by Davis Bicycles and the Davis Bike Collective.

The format for this one was a bit different, each candidate gave a five minute prepared statement and were asked two questions from the the sponsors and then they opened it up to audience questions. For the purposes of this story, I will discuss their opening statement, the answers to the two questions from the sponsors, and then the answers to a question on Fifth Street and Green waste containerization.

Council To Hear the Budget on Tuesday

By David GreenwaldMay 3, 20106 comments

City Decides Public Does Not Need to View Budget Prior to Tuesday’s Meeting –

The most important issue facing the city of Davis in the next four years, is an issue that we have heard thus far during the council debates the least amount about. However, with the first of four scheduled meetings on the 2010-11 budget this Tuesday, that figures to change.

I was hoping to be able to present an early look at the budget prior to Tuesday’s meeting, but when I pulled up the agenda item, instead I got a single page explaining the schedule.