Al's Corner is a place to comment on local issues and articles/comments from other local forums that you may or may not have been banned from.  For the few Rule-ez at Al's Corner, see "Pages" --> "Al's Corner - What It Is".

Why is G Street still closed?

During the height of the pandemic, most businesses on G St. in downtown Davis, between 2nd and 3rd, initially supported the emergency action to temporarily close G St. This was specifically to help restaurants and bars carry on with their business outdoors.  More than two years later, eateries have now regained use of their indoor dining rooms but the street remains closed to vehicles with no store-front accessibility to businesses or parking. Minor aesthetic improvements were made and it’s still unattractive.

The Downtown Davis Business Association polled all downtown businesses. The results of the survey were overwhelming - 92% of businesses said “Reopen G St. to two-way traffic.” The City Council was informed of the results of the survey in November 2021.  Many of our downtown businesses do not support the city’s action that keeps G Street closed.

We ask the city council to put the matter of G St. on the agenda at the Tuesday, July 5th meeting for public discussion. The business owners and the community who are impacted by this “temporary emergency action” deserve a fair and open process to study and adopt a plan that suits all of us. Our emails to the council have not been adequately answered. We’d like more conversation and follow through. The City Council meeting held in 11/2/2021 on Zoom, with this item on the agenda was woefully inadequate in terms of allowing full public discourse.

You can support our effort to get this matter added to the city council agenda by contacting us at:  arteryinfo@omsoft.com and allow us to add your name to the letter; please speak up.

Additionally, you may email all members of the City Council directly at this email address: citycouncilmembers@cityofdavis.org

Thank you,

G St. Businesses
The Artery
Illusions
Sole Desire
Davis Barber Shop
Mahin Alterations
Abaton Consulting
Law offices of Roberta S. Savage
Copyland
Bankers Lending Group
Volleys Tennis Shop
Katmandu Restaurant
Brooks Byrd

Last night, less than an hour after the Rec & Park Commission meeting considered Sky Track #large echo & trumpets#, a bizarre posting appeared on a Facebook Page with the City Logo that reads like an oil company trying to claim environmental brownie points after running an oil tanker into a reef full of penguins:

https://www.facebook.com/100064544416178/posts/pfbid02aGvm4r3B34TCAQHLKCEHc8eVoCn3bWFw7PUHHXNAvPjb9ppZhF2AxcXw3RDnre2El/?d=n

The capstone of the posting: "The City of Davis and its staff work diligently to ensure a vibrant community that enhances the quality of life for residents, families, children and students."

Oh please.  Gag me with a spoon.  Make me vomit.  I'm heading to the vomitorium to hurl chunks.

Who wrote that, and why?  What is really going on here that the City has that written in an hour, and up on the web?   It's too perfect.  Why would a City website post something so vomitously self-serving?  That's not what cities do . . . they are government, not private.  Cities shouldn't make proclamations about how great the city and its staff are.  I've met several great City staff btw.  This isn't about how great or not great any particular staff is.  It's about the fact that it is not government's place to toot it's own horn -- and we should all be asking:  why is it doing so in this case?  Something is rotten in West Davis.

And why is the City providing a forum so City residents can get into a Facebook war?  So assholes can berate and belittle the neighbors for what, having an issue with the constant sound of metal grating on metal?  I had no idea the degree of vitriol from users and abusers of the zip-line. What part of 'metal grating against metal' don't you people understand?  This isn't rocket science, it's not even sound science.  We all fucking know that metal on metal and a constant grating noise next to where we live can destroy daily life.  That isn't a sound you just get used to.  We don't need paid sound scientists to use meters and numbers to justify my love when we all know whatever the damn meter says that 'metal grating on metal' is an awful sound.  I have not been so disgusted by some Davis people since the Trackside defenders.  

More on the Facebook forum There are those playing the 'envy card' -- 'you own a house!' - imagine the gall of someone owning a house in Davis :-|.  There are those playing the 'you hate children' card, even though they say they never minded any of the sounds or children playing or shrieking in joy -- only the grating of metal on metal.  There are those playing the 'you get special treatment' card, even though the Krovozas and others are getting shat on by asshole zip-line users/abusers and City government.  There's the 'you knew there was a park there when you bought your house' card, even though the Krovoza's pointed out repeatedly that they moved in next to a park and had no problem with that, the zip-line came much later and that is the only and specific noise issue.  Metal on Metal!

And why is the City now a propaganda machine?  Not that many years ago if I wrote to the City Council, two or three Councilmemebers would write me back with their personal response.  Now an 'information officer' sends me a pre-packaged response about how my email was sent to all the Councilmembers.  This is a new position paid for with your taxpayer money, and what we get is pre-packaged pablum.  Now the propaganda machine is expanded to bizarre City-serving Facebook posts with forums for citizens to berate citizens.  The City isn't a corporation that needs a slogan that it "enhances the quality of life for residents, families, children and students."  Why are we putting up with this shit?

That meeting last night was bizarre.  Truth is lies.  Words are reality.  Coneheads roam City parks.  All that virtual meeting proved to me is a lot of people got dropped on their heads as infants.

Anyway, have fun playing 'Spot the Flaming Davis Assholes' as you read the comments in the Facebook page  :-|

P.S.  Why do we call it Sky Track with capital letters like it's some special thing with a proper name -- instead of "that fucking zip line" ? :-|

Recreation & Parks Commission,

I am highly concerned about the proposal to change the sound standards for the City of Davis.  My understanding from articles written by former mayor Joe Krovoza is that standards are in consideration to be changed in terms of duration, levels, and measurement of peaks.

What happened?  Drilling down into the data

By Matt Williams

Precincts
To get to an apples to apples comparison of the results of Measure H and Measure B, one has to start with the understanding that the Yolo Elections Office reported Measure H in two consolidated precincts

… one for the western portions of Davis plus Downtown and Olive Drive (seen in light blue in the left graphic below), and

… the other for the northern, eastern and southern portions of Davis (seen in the darker blue in the left graphic below).

Back in November 2020 the reporting of Measure B came in eleven (11) consolidated precincts, which are shown in the right side of the graphic below, with the precincts that had more than 50% “Yes” votes shown in green and the precincts that had more than 50% “No” votes shown in light blue.

Fortunately, the underlying precinct boundaries did not change between 2020 and 2022, so a one-to-on comparison of the two Measure H consolidated precincts can be made to their Measure B equivalents.

 by: Janet and Joe Krovoza

Regarding Arroyo Park’s Sky Track, here’s the latest reveal: data omitted from a March 1, 2022 noise report shows that for the three years of the Sky Track’s use, the apparatus has been in constant violation of the city’s noise standard of 55/50 dBA (day/night). This same data shows that alternative locations in Arroyo Park will violate the noise ordinance – day and night.

Last December, the city’s Acoustic Group, Inc. (AGI) consultants collected, but then buried, the relevant maximum (Lmax) noise data from the new March 1 report. With the Lmax data conveniently missing from its 40 pages, the AGI report continued the city’s bizarre use of average noise (measured in Leq) and the equally necessary policy assertion that “Maximum Noise Level (dBA)” explicitly stated in the ordinance really meant “average.” This theoretically allowed for a potential new Sky Track location in Arroyo Park to squeak by within .5 dBA of compliance.

Confronted again on its use of Leq and their it-says-maximum-but-means-average trick, staff refuses to own their mistaken decision and they are now asking the Rec and Park Commission to clean up their mess by endorsing a reinterpretation of the noise ordinance that will increase every noise maximum in the city by 20 dBA – huge increases on a logarithmic scale, with citywide implications. This 20 dBA increase would apply to residential, commercial/industrial, and high traffic corridor noise – all in the name of placing an amusement park caliber apparatus close to homes. We lay this out further below.  

Al's Corner is a place to comment on local issues and articles/comments from other local forums that you may or may not have been banned from.  For the few Rule-ez at Al's Corner, see "Pages" --> "Al's Corner - What It Is".

Today the D. Vanguard recycled some old content from January 2021 in a 'new' article "Commentary: Long Troubled by Some of the Comments on Pacifico" and sprinkled in some recent content from an Anti-NIMBY Council-meeting public comment.

I, too, am disgusted by some of the comments on Pacifico, but the comments I find twisted are the opposite comments Greenwald is troubled by -- those by David Greenwald, Georgina Valencia and some much-DV-recycled comments by Gloria Partida . . . and the rest of the Usual Suspects of the "Anti-NIMBY" crowd.

My position remains immortalized in the following letter:

An Open Letter to South Davis (January 2021)

Hello South Davis,

I don’t live in South Davis, but I’m looking at District 3 100’ away out my window.

I share your problems and your concerns. There is a spot 200’ from my house where drug addicts / drug dealers / thieves camp outdoors. This is not a homeless encampment, it is a revolving crime den. In Spring 2020 I had three scary men on meth (I believe) approach me late at night and one threw rocks at me. There were numerous incidents of mental health outbursts. I slept little for two months as these people were up all night.

Our neighborhood mostly solved the problem *this time* eventually by having meetings with both the Police Chief and his Lieutenant, and relentlessly pestering the City Council. That took two months.

Your problems I have heard regarding Pacifico are similar, and thankfully also seem better but not solved. I am here with you in unity. We cannot participate in these issues only when the problem is next to us. We must support other Davis residents who have similar problems, as the problem is bigger than Pacifico, and bigger than the location next to me.

God Bless the people who are helping the truly homeless population that are in need. Those who spoke today on that are I believe sincere. However, the problem is not the needy, but the criminals. We cannot conflate these.

There have been times when residents, and subtly even our leaders, have shamed “the homed” for being “privileged” and not being sensitive to those in need. These are separate issues. We must recognize the needs of the truly homeless. We must also recognize that there is no shame in having a home and a roof over our heads, nor the need to protect our families and yes, our things.

When people talk of drug dealers and thieves, they are not talking about the needy homeless; we must not conflate the two as a rhetorical trick. We must recognize and acknowledge that shaming the ‘other’ and demonizing those with homes, and those without homes, will not result in constructive resolution. We must recognize the needs of all parties as legitimate. Except for criminals, they ‘need’ to be removed.

Alan C. Miller is a resident of Old East Davis

City Councilmembers,

I note that Healthy Davis Together (HDT) is scheduled to end its public testing services at the end of this month.  I am concerned about the timing of this closure during a large surge of Covid-19.  The surge is not unexpected with masking reduction, public burnout and a highly-contagious variant.  True that far less people are dying, but why shut down testing just as there is a huge upsurge in cases and a small uptick in deaths?

Last time the HDT program was slated for shutdown, I suggested rather than shutting down the program, start charging for testing, and allow for those testing to 'sponsor' more tests by paying for tests for others in need.  I believe the community will respond generously.  Many I have have spoken to are dismayed at the end of H.D.T testing, and would welcome the continuation of the program as a pay service.  I encourage Council to push for this option.

I saw pictures of the previous (first live) City Council meeting in 'a local blog'.  Great photos of all of you.  But no one on the dais was wearing a mask.  Photos of the audience showed a spattering of maskless and masked -- using cloth, surgical, N95.  What is the mask policy?  What is the message the Council wishes to send?  Why the choice to have the first live meeting and not wear masks as we headed into a surge?

Society today -- supposedly compassionate towards marginalized peoples -- is being oddly cruel in dismissing that Covid-19 "only" kills the old and the sick.  Are 'old' and 'sick' not marginalized groups that we should care for?  Being that I will be 'old' soon (in the category where Covid-19 death is much more likely), I would prefer to live in a society that gives a crap. 

I go to one business downtown and they require full N95 masking for all clients who enter.  I go to another business wearing a mask and am taken to a closed office with a maskless woman who never even asks if I'd prefer she wore a mask.  Many people seem done with Covid-19.  Yet, I know more people who have contracted Covid-19 in the last two months than the previous two years.  My pre-Covid-19 work building was just declared a 'severe outbreak location' for the first time in the pandemic.  But apparently we are tired of Covid-19, so end the testing, end the masking?

Official health guidelines are insanely confusing.  The County lists a state website that grades types of masks by their usefulness.  N95 is 'very good', surgical is 'good', cloth is 'fair'.  This is for a deadly virus. 

Can you imagine if health officials used a similar system for prophylactics?  Latex is 'very good', lambskin is 'good', a plastic baggie is 'fair' ?  Of course for something non-fatal health officials are clear that the only way to protect one's self, and others, is to use a latex condom.  But we teach that a cloth mask is a 'fair' option.   As the concept of masks has changed from 'everyone helps everyone' to 'everyone for themselves', and all masks are widely available, it is paramount that the vulnerable public is guided to use only the most protective masks.

As well, home Covid-19 tests have proven to frequently give false negatives.  This is worse than no tests at all, as people may visit an old and/or vulnerable family member with the false security of having taken an inadequate home test.

I recently learned that although HDT is shutting down, a "test -to-treat" facility is opening in Woodland, offering a same day full round of Paxlovid if one tests positive.  I learned about this not from the City, but from the California Aggie.  Will a "test-to-treat" facility be opening in Davis soon?

I urge the Council to:  A) Wear masks at meetings while the surge continues; B) Continue Healthy Davis Together as a paid program allowing donations for the needy; C)  Give a clear message as to where we are in the pandemic that considers a balance between business needs, healthy citizens, and vulnerable citizens; D) Give clear information about testing and treatment available to Davis residents beyond June 30.

Sincerely,

Alan C. Miller

District 3

Al's Corner is a place to comment on local issues and articles/comments in other local forums that you may or may not have been banned from.  For the few Rule-ez at Al's Corner, see "Pages" --> "Al's Corner - What It Is".

By Roberta Millstein

What makes a juror too biased to serve on a case? 

Recently, I was called for jury duty selection for case that involved repeated sexual assault on a person who was a minor at the time.  I was not selected; the prosecuting attorney used one of his peremptory challenges to dismiss me.  I’m OK with that – the trial would have been weeks long – although I do, in an idle curiosity sort of way, wonder about the reasons.  My friends insist it is because I have a PhD (apparently many of my fellow PhDs have been dismissed from juries), but I’d also note that the prosecuting attorney seemed very concerned about having people on the jury who were not in favor of the district attorney, who was on the ballot for re-election.

But it wasn’t the prosecuting attorney’s dismissal of me that I found troubling.  Instead, it was process, largely led by the defense attorney and, if I understand correctly, allowed by the judge, for dismissing people “for cause.”

I know at least some of what I say here will be controversial and perhaps heretical.  It won’t be as well-organized as I’d like because I am still thinking through some things.  But perhaps the reader will think through things with me.

The defense attorney’s questioning of potential jury members was very haphazard.  He asked what was ostensively the same question in different ways, to the point where they seemed like different questions, although I don’t think that was his intent.  Some people were queried more intensively than others.  And it seemed to me that women were queried more intensively than men.

That was bad enough, but as the process went on, it became apparent that anyone who had experienced sexual assault or who had someone close to them who had been sexually assaulted was being dismissed for cause on the grounds of “bias.”  Since something like 1 in 4 women have been sexually assaulted, this was quite disturbing.  A lot of people were being dismissed.  (Of course, some people are going to find it too painful to serve, and those people were rightly dismissed – but the dismissals were going beyond that).

(From press release) We are pleased by the overwhelming defeat of Measure H, which we believe would have resulted in a development that was harmful to Davis.

It was a true grassroots effort of many volunteers over many months, who poured countless hours of their personal time into the campaign. It was also the result of many passionate supporters who donated to the campaign, displayed lawn signs, wrote letters to the editor, and participated on social media.  We thank everyone who was involved in the effort.

We hope the resounding defeat of Measure H  leads to more collaborative community discussions that engage Davisites in creating future projects which will be truly sustainable and environmentally progressive.

I haven't read the aftermath article that was no doubt in the Vanguard Wednesday morning.  I have grown yawn of the analysis/spin and the predictability.  I could write the article.  I will go read it for the comments, but without Alan Miller and Keith O., the comments have really become dull.  And Ron O., by his descriptions here, half his stuff is censhored.  How is censhored content either a discussion or entertaining?

But what has changed is that the key issues/peoples the Vanguard champions died last night.  Here's my prediction (or a post-diction since it's already been written):  the article will include Measure H, Chesa Boudin and Reisig.  Am I close?  The Vanguard lost, and all such progressive/woke initiatives are going down, like a sinking submarine.  They didn't just go down, they were all massacres.  Sinking massacres.  Mixed metaphors.

Measure H?  64% vs. 52% last time.  So it's getting worse, horribly worse, for the prospects of development.  Probably not ever going to be developed unless every taxpayer in Davis is bribed $1000 to vote 'yes'.  More voters would have mattered?  Doesn't matter, that's how it is.  Where were all those student voters voting 'yes' that didn't last time?  Not voting, as usual, as students don't.  In one of the Valley's most liberal towns, it went down.  Must be all the racists on the 'no' SIDE.

Chesa?  An initiative on 'defund the police'.  Doesn't matter what the stats are.  The public has had it.  In one of the countries most liberal cities.

Reisig?  He stooped pretty low with the child molester attempted link.  Then the lipstick-on-a-pig flyer came out.  OK now they both stopped low, so no moral advantage there.  But again, people in a Valley county with a super-liberal town/city, even Yolo leans law & order.  And for me, Reisig's dept. put a murderer behind bars who killed a friend's partner in front of them and their young child.  And the murderer should NEVER get out of jail, unless the living victim says so.  Period.  Majority of us don't believe in term limits for murderers.

MOOB!

Back in December 2020, some members of the successful 2020 No on DISC campaign got together and articulated what they felt was a new and better vision for Davis.  With the apparent defeat of DiSC 2022 as Measure H, currently showing a 63.52% "No" vote, I thought I would pull it out again.  I think our vision and much of what we wrote here remains pertinent , including an all-too-prescient prediction that:

"the developers will try to bring back DISC with minor changes and spend another quarter of a million dollars in the hopes of gaining just enough new votes to change the outcome of the election.  What the election vote shows is that such an attempt would be a mistake.  The project proposal was fundamentally flawed and a few more bells and whistles wouldn’t change that."

We did not, however, expect that the developer would spend significantly more than half a million dollars, and still lose.  It is to Davisites' credit that we still saw that this was a bad project delivered through a bad process (including an inappropriate developer-funded lawsuit, spearheaded by a sitting Councilmember).

I hope our op-ed stimulates you to think about an alternative path for Davis.

-RLM

The Failure of Measure B Suggests a New Vision Is Needed
Originally posted December 12, 2020
https://www.davisite.org/2020/12/the-failure-of-measure-b-suggests-a-new-vision-is-needed-.html

By Roberta Millstein, Pam Gunnell, Nancy Price, Alan Pryor, and Colin Walsh

Measure B – the measure that proposed a 200-acre business park and housing development outside of the Mace Curve – failed at the polls.  The defeat comes with official Yolo County returns showing that 16,458 people, or 52% of voters, said “no” to the project.  In Mace Ranch and Wildhorse, 60% of voters opposed the project.

This is a remarkable result considering that the No on B campaign was outspent by over 14 to 1.  As of October 28, Yes on B had spent $258,919 between when B was put on the ballot in July and the election in November, while No on B had spent $18,149.  The No on B campaign, composed solely of volunteer Davis citizens, created its own literature, designed its own sign and other graphics, was active on social media, and, to the extent possible during COVID, pounded the pavement distributing flyers to let Davisites know about the negative impacts that this project would bring.  It was a true grassroots effort.  There were no paid designers, no paid consultants, no multiple glossy mailers, and no push-polls to gather information on what messages would sell.  Opponents also could not table at the Farmers Market due to COVID restrictions, normally the bread and butter of a campaign lacking deep pocket donors to finance getting its message out.

By comparison, Yes on B hired a PR Firm and other consultants more than a year in advance of the vote to help contrive and package its message and run the campaign.

The fact that Measure B was nonetheless defeated in the face of long odds and unusual circumstances shows that DISC was a bad project for Davis from the outset.  It was too big, chewing up prime farmland and habitat.   The promise of on-site housing for DISC employees could not be guaranteed, making the development car-and commuter- oriented with extensive parking areas. Poor public transportation options exacerbated this problem. The DISC development would have massively increased Davis greenhouse gas emissions and made it impossible for Davis to meet its carbon neutrality goals. We are in a climate emergency, as Yolo County and other counties have recognized; Davis needs to shoulder its share of responsibility for climate impacts, including but not limited to wildfire impacts and extreme weather events locally and globally.

With a whopping 11,000 votes cast, Measure H was massacred, going down 64% to 36%, or nearly 2-1.  I was actually in favor of the project, slightly, and would have voted for it, had Carson not . . . well, no need to rehash here, you all know -- some of you fellow citizens know intimately/legally/financially.  With this scaled-back version going down like a rock, it is safe to ask . . . did the decision to bring on Carson and then sue Davis residents kill this project? 

I believe the project would not have passed anyway, based on a guess I pulled out of my ass while typing this.   But a reasonable question is, could 1500-2000 of those 11,000 Davis residents been so offended by what the developer and Carson did that they changed their vote or made a point of voting when they may not have otherwise?  I believe, also sourced from my colon, that the answer is yes, they could have.  What I do know is I talked to a lot of people who were very angry at Carson and thought he had made himself into a fool clown.  Nothing motivates one to vote like anger at a fool clown.

The main conclusion of the video 'How Do You Die in a Sinking Submarine?' is that you die instantly when the hull implodes.  Carson, on the other hand, is going down slowly through June, July, August, September and October.  Painfully listening as the political hull creaks and groans under the pressure of his own stupidity reflected back on him from Davis residents, until:  BOOM!  Or, rather, since submarines implode rather than explode:  MOOB!

Why am I being such a dick to Carson?  I want to send a clear message so that never again will anyone be so brazen as to:

1. Hire a sitting City Councilmember to be your campaign chair, honorable or not (in this case not).
2. Volunteer to be that Councilmember who becomes the campaign chair.
3. Hire a proxy to sue Davis citizens over ballot language.
4. Volunteer to be that proxy.
5. Sue anyone over ballot language on a local issue in Davis ever again.

Personally, I found much of the NO on H ballot argument outrageous; I also found much of the YES ballot argument outrageous.  I doubt anyone on the NO side ever thought, 'hey I know, let's sue the YES side over their ballot language'!  No, they used media and lawn signs, like normal, decent people do.  This skull-f*ckery of suing Davis citizens over ballot language will stop.  Y'all should have been intelligent enough to see what a bad idea that was.  You weren't.

We all tend to have very short memories when politicians do stupid things.   I intend to keep the pressure on, keep the memory of the stupidity going, and hope the people of West Davis are more intelligent than Carson and the developer.  The sub is sinking; let's all keep the pressure increasing on the hull over the next five months until we see the bubbles on the surface.

MOOB!

If you’ve been paying attention, you might be wondering just exactly what to believe these days – are we dealing with fact or fiction? Disinformation? Marketing or just good-old-fashioned propaganda?

There is no better season to witness this phenomena than an election season. By the time you have read this letter (submitted, but not printed in the Enterprise), you will have already casted your vote but the feeling is likely still present.

Case in point: Measure H

Will it be a traffic-easer or clustermess of epic proportions? Planet-savior or climate nightmare? The future of Green Development(™) or the latest corporate ‘Greenwash’? Will I get a free pony?

The Yes campaign says that it will ‘advance environmental sustainability’, ‘combat climate change’, and be a ‘carbon-free development’. The only concrete information on their website about this is a 100% renewable energy commitment (for the shell buildings).

The No campaign cites an estimated 12,000 extra cars on the road, a net 5% INCREASE in carbon emissions in Davis, and that ‘carbon neutrality’ can only happen via purchasing of offsets, instead of...you know, actually figuring out how to do sustainable development.

Dan Carson, a member of the City Council in Davis, took it upon himself (with legal fees from Measure H campaign funders) to sue members of the No on H team and lost badly in court. To me, this is a totally inappropriate, unethical, and undemocratic behavior by an official elected to serve the people.

Yolo County and the City of Davis have both passed Climate Emergency Resolutions, boldly setting goals to be fossil-free and climate-positive by 2030 and 2040, respectively. In reality, we’ve seen close to 2 years go by without significant progress towards climate drawdown or ecological restoration. Even with everything going on in the present moment, it still makes me wonder me how an emergency response can be put on the back-burner like that.

The recent 4-1 approval by the Yolo County Board of Supervisors of a new 30 year extractive gravel-mining project in the Cache Creek Watershed, the lifeblood of Yolo County, makes me wonder if we are being handed more false promises and rose colored sunglasses.

Thank G-d for Juliette Beck running for Yolo County Supervisor, who does not just put in lip service, but is present in addressing the urgency of this moment and helping to steer us into meaningful ACTION. She was the only candidate in her race to vocally oppose the mining project. I have the upmost confidence in her leadership ability, experience, and drive as a mother to include us in a viable way forward.

The time for action is now and it requires our participation and critical thinking.

Thank you -David Abramson

Dawn Coder was one of several Davis Pride volunteers who painted the crosswalks around Central Park on May 29. (Wendy Weitzel/Courtesy photo)

(From press release) It’s International LGBTQ+ month, and Davis is showing its pride with a festival, skate night, and run/walk June 11 and 12 in Davis’ Central Park.

Volunteers painted rainbow crosswalks around the Park, 301 C St., on May 29, in preparation for several pride activities, all produced by the Davis Phoenix Coalition.

Events include:

• Diva Disco Skate Night, starting at 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, under the Davis Farmers Market Pavilion. The night will include music, lights and food trucks.
• Run/Walk for Equality, a 5K run or walk from the park, and a 1K Rainbow Run for youths ­– and those who prefer a shorter trek – on Sunday, June 12, beginning at 8 a.m. Register here https://www.davispride.org/runforequality.
  
  
• The Davis Pride Festival is 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 12. It includes performances by several local and international music acts, a drag queen revue, educational booths, food, drink and vendors. Musical headliners are Drag queen singer Ada Vox, and pop music’s OneUp Duo. The Davis Pride Committee is working in partnership with the Davis Craft and Vintage Market.
  
  
• Bike Party Davis Ride with Pride, starting in Central Park at 7 p.m. on June 24.
  
  
• Business owners are asked to show their support by hanging a rainbow flag poster in their window. Posters are free, and available by emailing admin@davisphoenixco.org.

Today (Tues, June 7) is the last day to vote! Polls close at 8 PM.

Easiest way to vote is with a drop box.  Just vote, put your ballot in your envelope, seal your envelope, SIGN your envelope, and drop it in the box.

• Outdoor boxes:
  • Davis City Hall, 23 Russell Boulevard, Davis
  • UC Davis Campus, 282 Tennis Court Lane, Davis
• Indoor boxes:
  • Nugget Markets, 409 Mace Boulevard, Davis
  • Nugget Markets, 1414 E Covell Boulevard, Davis

If you need in-person assistance, our election-day voting centers are:

• Veterans Memorial Center - Multipurpose Room, 203 E 14th Street, Davis.
• UC Davis ARC - Ballroom A & B, 760 Orchard Road, Davis
• Montgomery Elementary School - Multipurpose Room, 1441 Danbury Street, Davis
• Emerson Junior High School - Multipurpose Room, 2121 Calaveras Avenue, Davis
  
  

My votes:

• Measure H (the DiSC industrial project): NO
• Yolo County Supervisor, District 2: Juliette Beck
• Yolo County District Attorney: Cynthia Rodriguez
• Yolo County Sheriff: Tom Lopez
• U.S. Congress: Andrew Engdahl

But even if you don't vote like me, please vote!

This is Al's Corner, a place to comment on local issues and articles/comments in other local forums that you may or may not have been banned from.  For the few Rule-ez at Al's Corner, see "Pages" --> "Al's Corner - What It Is".

(From press release) Here are six of the many respected and well-known community leaders who urge you to vote No on Measure H against the DiSC project, together with a brief statement of their concerns.

"Previous City Councils required 25-35% affordable housing per each new project. DISC is providing many fewer low income units under a weakened ordinance that does not apply to land outside the city. This project is designed to deliver less units of affordable low income housing."
Ann Evans
Former Mayor of Davis; Founder of the Davis Food Co-op; Author, Davis Farmer’s Market Cookbook
w/ David Thompson
Affordable Housing Developer

“If these developments were about providing needed and affordable housing and not speculation, the developers would have broken ground on already approved projects. No on Measure H.”
Desmond Jolly
Former Long Range Planning Commission Member
Director Emeritus, UC Statewide Small Farm Program
w/ Julia Jolly

“Long-term fiscal sustainability of projects for Davis is paramount. This means projects that pay for their impact and don't further burden city resources. The tax sharing deal with the county was done after the city announced the supposed financial returns. That's completely backwards. I firmly believe the 50/50 split with the county is low, and there's no evidence it’s based on which jurisdiction would pay the most for negative impacts. No on H, for sure.”
Joe Krovoza, Former Mayor of Davis
w/ Janet Krovoza

“A sustainable project needs to be sited and connected to the community it serves; it needs to favor walking and bike-riding. The location of DiSC 2022, the promise of minimal connectivity for active transportation, and a decidedly car-optimized design will ensure thousands of additional motor vehicle trips through town and onto the freeway each day.”
Darell Dickey
Former Commissioner, City of Davis Bicycle Advisory Commission
Living Streets Activist
Advisor, Bike Davis

“There are better options for Davis than DiSC. It will not do what they say it will do. With a new general plan Davis can maintain its compact size on existing land and actually provide a better transportation design, more affordable housing, desirable jobs, and improved City financing.”
Mike Corbett
Former Mayor of Davis
Developer of Village Homes
Affordable Housing Developer
w/ Grandson

“The worst, most deceptive, and disgraceful greenwash campaign in Davis’ history.
Measure H is bad for Downtown, bad for climate, bad for traffic, bad for Davis! Please vote for the Davis you Love, vote no on H”
Heather Caswell
Owner of The Wardrobe
Founder Davis Community Vision Alliance