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  • Who is Eric Jones?  A summary of the series with a quick wrap-up.

    By Roberta Millstein

    Who is Eric Jones?  I started with one article and didn’t know I’d be writing a series of them, addressing:

    1. Large numbers of maximized campaign contributions from Eric Jones’s former venture capitalist colleagues at Dragoneer Investment Group and other individuals from the high tech industry (link here).  The money comes from out of the district and so does Jones.
    2. Jones’s close connections to a Super PAC, New Leadership Now, that is pouring huge sums of money into his run for Congress (link here).
    3. Some of the Super PAC’s blatantly false claims about Thompson (link here).
    4. An update reflecting that the Super PAC spent $1.1 million on ads, including an Orwellian mailer, although as of May 30 that number exceeds $2.4 million. I have no doubt there will be  more on the way (link here).
    5. The extremely unlikely claim that Jones is a progressive, given his maximized donation to Republican Jonathan Bush, cousin of GW Bush, who is running for governor in Maine, with problematic views on health care, AI, and the environment — views that Jones seems to share. (link here).

    Beyond these articles, there are just a few more points than I want to emphasize:

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  • Village Farms: Too Big, Too Many Impacts, Costs and Unaffordable Housing

    By Eileen M. Samitz

    The Village Farms project, with 1,800 housing units on 498 acres at Covell Blvd. and Pole Line Road, is the largest residential project ever proposed in Davis with the worst impacts. It would take at least 15 years for the buildout, meaning many years of added congestion from construction traffic.

    An earlier version was proposed in 2005 as Covell Village, and Davis voters wisely rejected it because of toxics, the 200-acre floodplain, massive traffic, enormous infrastructure costs, and unaffordable housing. Twenty years later, Village Farms has all the same problems and more.

    The site is seriously handicapped. That is why the current developer, John Whitcombe, and partners including Tandem Properties, acquired the original 386-acre parcel at a bankruptcy auction for a mere $3.2 million. The original Crossroads developers abandoned it because of toxics, floodplain, and unmitigable traffic. Yet, the current developer is again trying to push it through despite the health, welfare, and safety issues, and unaffordable housing.

    Massive traffic and other impacts

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  • Mutual Housing needed $8.4 million from the City of Davis to build 69 affordable units, yet claims that Village Farms can do 360 affordable units with just $6 million from the developer

    The math destroys their own claim

    By David J. Thompson

    Mutual Housing needed an $8.4 million subsidy from the city to get a 69 unit project built in South Davis. The same format applied to the 360 units affordable units at Village Farms would need a city subsidy of $44,005,518.25.  And the developer is putting in $6 million and Mutual Housing affirms that it will work. Can it, do the math?

    On May 29, 2026, Mutual Housing of California wrote an OpEd in favor of the Affordable Housing at Village Farms entitled “We Know What it Takes”. They do, but it is their reality that is the opposite of what they say is in their OpEd.

    Mutual Housing claims they have developed 6 projects in Davis when they have done only 2.

    On the first of the two (New Harmony) Mutual Housing needed a subsidy of $8,434,391 from the City of Davis to get 69 units built in South Davis. That was $122,237 subsidy per each of 69 units.  Without that subsidy, New Harmony would never have been built.

    The same format applied to the 360 units affordable units at Village Farms would need a city subsidy of $44,005,518.25.

    Mutual Housing should be telling the citizens of Davis that $6 million from the developer will not be enough.

    Memo to Davis City Council from City staff:

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  • Clarifying Affordable Housing commitments (or lack thereof) in Village Farms

    By David J. Thompson

    Almost every day a Village Farms supporter (like Alan Pryor) makes unsubstantiated boasts about VF’s affordability features.

    However, in particular only the words in the Baseline Project Features have legal standing. Those listed components are only changeable by the city or the developer except by a citywide vote. The Development Agreement between the City and the developer can be changed without having to go to a citywide vote.

    As to Section 4 Affordable Housing there are only 9 lines in Section 4 of this 9-page legal agreement. There are no guarantees as to the pricing of any affordable for sale units nor any mention of them at all. 

    The false claims by VF supporters might win votes for the project but they are an empty promise of 1,000 homes starting at $400,000 to $500,000. If we had a commitment from the developer or the city of how many units will be in this sales price range that would be useful, but we do not. So the boasts of VF supporters are not substantiated but the reader is fooled. 

    That wording is nowhere to be found in either the Baseline Features or the Development Agreement.

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  • Response to Alan Pryor concerning Mutual Housing’s support of Measure V

    By David J. Thompson

    In today’s Vanguard (May 29,2026), there is an OpEd by Mutual Housing in support of the Village Farms project: “We Should Know: Village Farms Gives Affordable Housing Its Best Chance,” by Craig Adelman, CEO of Mutual Housing.

    Early this morning Alan Pryor, a frequent poster on behalf of Village Farms supported the OpEd stating among other items that:

    “Mutual Housing is the largest and most respected affordable housing developer in Northern California – and in Davis.”

    Both facts promoted by Alan Pryor in this statement are simply not true. I say that as over 40 years an advocate, funder and co-developer of affordable housing in not only Davis but throughout California and five other western states.

    Here is the remainder of my response to Mr. Pryor in today’s Vanguard:

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  • Twelve Davis teachers in support of Measure V

    [Doug Buzbee emailed the following to the Davisite for posting]

    Dear Neighbor,

    We are Davis teachers, and we are lucky to teach in this wonderful community. But our schools are in trouble. Every year, we have fewer and fewer new students. It’s gotten to the point that unless something changes, we will struggle to sustain the quality schools that Davis expects and deserves.

    Because of declining enrollment, the Davis Joint Unified School District announced potential plans to close two elementary schools and possibly a junior high school.

    Make no mistake – the ripple effects of school closures would be felt across our town, and not just by families with students. Deep-rooted school communities would be dissolved, surrounding neighborhoods would become less desirable, biking to school would become harder, car traffic would increase, teachers would be let go, and the list goes on.

    Those of us who teach at these threatened schools face a simple question from our students: why is this happening? The answer is clear – Davis has not done enough in recent years to make it possible for young families to move here.

    This is why we are supporting Measure V on the June ballot.

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  • Letter: Former Yolo County Supervisor did not endorse Measure V either

    I have received calls from Davis residents stating that they have seen my name and/or photo on a communication endorsing Measure V. This is to clarify that I have not endorsed Measure V. I was never approached by the YES on V campaign and never gave my permission to be listed as an endorser.

    Jim Provenza

    Jim Provenza served on the Davis Joint Unified School District’s Board of Education from 2003 to 2007 and was the representative of District 4 on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors from 2008 until 2024.

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  • Davis needs to do better at protecting its sensitive and endangered species

    There is still a chance to preserve and restore habitats to help native species recover, including at Village Farms

    By Kathryn Calderala

    Environmentalism – Still a dirty word for some. A category Davis has a long history of claiming to embrace when the results show otherwise. As one example (and there are many); Davis used to be the proud stewards of a healthy population of Western Burrowing Owls – those pint-sized, ground dwelling owls perched on fence posts and signs. Almost everyone I have met since I moved here told me how they used to see owls everywhere. Yet now the species is almost gone from the county (no, they are not at Wildhorse anymore). They are considered extirpated – no longer nesting here and we are lucky to see a handful of individuals trying to overwinter in the area before moving on. Mostly they have been done in by the strange apathy that pervades the area.

    If a pint-sized owl – that lives underground and has more charisma than most species – can’t be a priority, what hope do all the other dwindling native species have? The California Tiger Salamander – an icon of the state. The Vernal Pool Tadpole Shrimp – a straightup throwback to prehistoric design, trundling around like mini horseshoe crabs. The Western Spadefoot Toad – a cat-eyed chunk of toad that smells like peanuts when they are mad. If we, as a community, cannot rouse ourselves enough to fight for the underdogs, what hope do we have for the future?

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  • I Did Not Endorse Measure V

    By Rena Nayyar

    I have recently learned that, without my knowledge or permission, I have been put on an endorsement list for Yes on Measure V (Village Farms).  How did this happen?  I have actively opposed Measure V (Village Farms) from the beginning because of its many problems even though I am a teacher in Davis concerned about school closures. 

    I have spoken in opposition to the Village Farms project due to its many impacts at multiple city and school board meetings, the local Sierra Club group, and to the Davis Teacher’s Association.  I have even helped table at the NO booth at the Farmer’s Market, and donated to the No campaign.  So, how could my name have possibly been put on an endorsement list?  How many other “endorsers” are also unknowingly on this Yes on Measure V list as well?  

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  • Why Traffic “Improvements” Destroy Cities

    By Tim Keller

    I would like to briefly weigh in on one of the elements of the debate currently being waged online regarding Measure V.

    Opponents complain that the new residents will clog our streets with “traffic” while supporters of the project point out that Village Farms will pay for “traffic improvements” that will mitigate or perhaps even improve traffic. 

    It is my distinct impression that both sides of that debate are missing the most important question: What exactly are “traffic improvements”?

    In practice, “traffic engineering” is usually shorthand for constructing LARGER intersections: adding pavement, turn lanes, traffic lights, slip lanes, and other infrastructure intended to move more cars through an area more efficiently.

    You can optimize signal timing to some degree, but beyond that, most “traffic improvements” simply mean making more room for automobiles.  This is not necessarily something we should be cheering for.

    As urban planner Lewis Mumford warned all the way back in 1955:

    “Adding lanes to deal with traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity.”

    Consider these two downtown intersections here in Davis:

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