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Analysis: How the Picnic Day Incident Completely Changed the City of Davis

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: August 28, 2018
| (16) Comments

Analysis: How the Picnic Day Incident Completely Changed the City of Davis

We are coming up on the one year anniversary of the resolution of the Picnic Day criminal matter. At tim ...

We are coming up on the one year anniversary of the resolution of the Picnic Day criminal matter. At times, it is easy to overstate the impact of one event – especially one that one is in the middle ...

August 28, 2018
| by David Greenwald

| (16) Comments

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Monday Morning Thoughts: A New Beginning – The Start of the Mike Webb Era

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: December 04, 2017
| 0 comments

Monday Morning Thoughts: A New Beginning – The Start of the Mike Webb Era

In April of 2014, the Steve Pinkerton era ended with a bang as a contingent of city employees celebrated ...

In April of 2014, the Steve Pinkerton era ended with a bang as a contingent of city employees celebrated at Uncle Vito’s with a number of elected officials looking on. For some the move to hire Dirk ...

December 04, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| 0 comments

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Commentary: Mike Webb an Easy Call for the Council

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: October 12, 2017
| (15) Comments

Commentary: Mike Webb an Easy Call for the Council

In 2006 when the Davis City Council abruptly fired City Manager Jim Antonen, they quickly named long-time ...

In 2006 when the Davis City Council abruptly fired City Manager Jim Antonen, they quickly named long-time Planning Director Bill Emlen to be interim city manager and about six months later named him a ...

October 12, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (15) Comments

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Commentary: Next City Manager Must Right City’s Fiscal Ship, Find Way Forward for Economic Development

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: October 03, 2017
| (69) Comments

Commentary: Next City Manager Must Right City’s Fiscal Ship, Find Way Forward for Economic Development

Following yesterday’s column, the Vanguard received some important feedback on the fiscal state of the ci ...

Following yesterday’s column, the Vanguard received some important feedback on the fiscal state of the city. One problem that many failed to recognize is that the recession which started in late 2008 ...

October 03, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (69) Comments

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Monday Morning Thoughts: Two Years of Ignoring Fiscal Challenges Were Costly

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: October 02, 2017
| (1) Comment

Monday Morning Thoughts: Two Years of Ignoring Fiscal Challenges Were Costly

As we prepare once again to search for a new city manager, once again it seems we have forgotten where we ...

As we prepare once again to search for a new city manager, once again it seems we have forgotten where we stood a few years ago and where we stand today. While we have a city manager form of governmen ...

October 02, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (1) Comment

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Commentary: Thoughts on the Departure of Dirk Brazil and the Needs of the City Going Forward

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: September 28, 2017
| (36) Comments

Commentary: Thoughts on the Departure of Dirk Brazil and the Needs of the City Going Forward

The statement this week that City Manager Dirk Brazil had announced his retirement, effective January 8, ...

The statement this week that City Manager Dirk Brazil had announced his retirement, effective January 8, 2018, came as a bit of a surprise. There had been speculation ever since Dan Wolk left the cit ...

September 28, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (36) Comments

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DWR to Sell to Recology in October – City Refuses to Waive Right of First Refusal

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: September 08, 2017
| (5) Comments

DWR to Sell to Recology in October – City Refuses to Waive Right of First Refusal

The Vanguard has received correspondence between Davis Waste Removal and the City of Davis indicating tha ...

The Vanguard has received correspondence between Davis Waste Removal and the City of Davis indicating that the current owners of DWR are retiring and have sold the waste removal business to Recology, ...

September 08, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (5) Comments

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Davis Hires a New Fire Chief

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: June 14, 2017
| (1) Comment

Davis Hires a New Fire Chief

Back in February, UC Davis announced that it had given the city of Davis notice that that it would end th ...

Back in February, UC Davis announced that it had given the city of Davis notice that that it would end the agreement for shared management of the two fire departments. UC Davis Fire Chief Nathan Traue ...

June 14, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (1) Comment

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Council to Look at Police Oversight System in July

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: June 08, 2017
| 0 comments

Council to Look at Police Oversight System in July

The Davis City Council will be looking at two separate issues on police oversight. Questions and concern ...

The Davis City Council will be looking at two separate issues on police oversight. Questions and concerns had been raised during public comment about the police auditor position that will be vacated ...

June 08, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| 0 comments

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Commentary: The Community Needs to Know What Happened

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: May 18, 2017
| (3) Comments

Commentary: The Community Needs to Know What Happened

On Tuesday night, about 24 people came to public comment to speak about their concerns about what happene ...

On Tuesday night, about 24 people came to public comment to speak about their concerns about what happened on Picnic Day. Unfortunately, the release of the video – limited as it is and without audio ...

May 18, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (3) Comments

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Five Questions with Mayor Robb Davis

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: April 06, 2017
| (1) Comment

Five Questions with Mayor Robb Davis

This week the Vanguard sent out the same five questions to all five of the Davis City Councilmembers, as ...

This week the Vanguard sent out the same five questions to all five of the Davis City Councilmembers, as well as City Manager Dirk Brazil. We will publish the responses as we get them. Mayor Robb Dav ...

April 06, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (1) Comment

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UC Davis Ends Shared Management of the Fire Department

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: February 02, 2017
| (14) Comments

UC Davis Ends Shared Management of the Fire Department

In a move likely to reverberate in many ways in the city, on Wednesday UC Davis announced they have infor ...

In a move likely to reverberate in many ways in the city, on Wednesday UC Davis announced they have informed the city of Davis that they will end the agreement for shared management of the two fire de ...

February 02, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (14) Comments

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Commentary: State of the City Address Had Strengths and Weaknesses

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: January 05, 2017
| (5) Comments

Commentary: State of the City Address Had Strengths and Weaknesses

The Davis Chamber had a new format for their event, with Mayor Robb Davis giving the main speech, but wit ...

The Davis Chamber had a new format for their event, with Mayor Robb Davis giving the main speech, but with City Manager Dirk Brazil and Assistant City Managers Kelly Stachowicz and Mike Webb also givi ...

January 05, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (5) Comments

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Mayor Lays Out City Challenges in State of the City Address

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: January 04, 2017
| (11) Comments

Mayor Lays Out City Challenges in State of the City Address

While it was a new format and there were some differences of opinion, Mayor Robb Davis laid out a challen ...

While it was a new format and there were some differences of opinion, Mayor Robb Davis laid out a challenging view of the city’s fiscal situation in the State of the City address at the Davis Chamber ...

January 04, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (11) Comments

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My View: State of the City?

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: December 31, 2016
| (10) Comments

My View: State of the City?

I was looking forward to hearing Robb Davis deliver the State of the City this year – after the last two ...

I was looking forward to hearing Robb Davis deliver the State of the City this year – after the last two years of sugar-coating, it seemed time to hear the cold hard truth. Unfortunately, that doesn’ ...

December 31, 2016
| by David Greenwald

| (10) Comments

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Commentary: City Needs to Change Planning Staff Dynamics – and Fast

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: September 16, 2016
| (55) Comments

Commentary: City Needs to Change Planning Staff Dynamics – and Fast

Wednesday night brought another avoidable debacle from the city’s planning staff. We will get into some ...

Wednesday night brought another avoidable debacle from the city’s planning staff. We will get into some of the dynamics of that exchange shortly, but what I found interesting, first and foremost, was ...

September 16, 2016
| by David Greenwald

| (55) Comments

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Sunday Commentary: City’s Economic Development Is Crumbling

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: April 17, 2016
| (83) Comments

Sunday Commentary: City’s Economic Development Is Crumbling

A month ago we warned that “Cascading System’s Failure in Planning May Doom Economic Development in Davis ...

A month ago we warned that “Cascading System’s Failure in Planning May Doom Economic Development in Davis” as we learned that the developers for the Davis Innovation Center were moving their developme ...

April 17, 2016
| by David Greenwald

| (83) Comments

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Council Says It Supports Shared Management but Votes to Study It Further

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: April 06, 2016
| (17) Comments

Council Says It Supports Shared Management but Votes to Study It Further

The Davis City Council on Tuesday declared its support for the continuation of shared management of the f ...

The Davis City Council on Tuesday declared its support for the continuation of shared management of the fire department with UC Davis, but, in a conversation that often moved from the text to the subt ...

April 06, 2016
| by David Greenwald

| (17) Comments

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Mayor Wolk Re-Opens the Fire Issue

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: February 18, 2016
| (8) Comments

Mayor Wolk Re-Opens the Fire Issue

Despite continued data showing that fire service has improved under Shared Management, Boundary Drop, and ...

Despite continued data showing that fire service has improved under Shared Management, Boundary Drop, and staffing changes, the firefighters' union President Bobby Weist continues to attempt to disman ...

February 18, 2016
| by David Greenwald

| (8) Comments

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Commentary: Something Has to Change

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: February 05, 2016
| (60) Comments

Commentary: Something Has to Change

Driving home late on Tuesday night, I realized something – it’s been a tough year. Maybe it is not true, ...

Driving home late on Tuesday night, I realized something – it’s been a tough year. Maybe it is not true, but it seems like I have been on the losing end of every major council vote since the new counc ...

February 05, 2016
| by David Greenwald

| (60) Comments

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