By Elaine Roberts Musser and Dan Carson

During the last few years the city has consistently failed to make the hard decisions needed to manage its finances. The proposed new city budget released on Friday is more of the same. What follows are just a few examples of how the latest city budget proposal for 2025-2027 digs the city ever deeper into an embarrassing financial morass. 

Having 10.3% and 10.2% reserves for the city’s General Fund for the next two budget years — as the new city budget plan proposes — might suffice in better times. Property and sales taxes are historically stable revenue sources for Davis and other California cities that can enable them to survive troubled times. But a 10% reserve is inadequate for the next two fiscal years given the treacherous economic circumstances the city is in. And coming are the all but certain massive state and federal funding cuts for local government programs. 

In earlier budget discussions, City Council’s direction to staff was to get the city’s General Fund reserve back to 15% over the next 2-3 years.  That plan is now dead. No specific proposal to get there is being offered — just a vague statement that new revenues or budget reductions will have to be found somewhere. This dire circumstance should trigger immediate action to put the General Fund reserve back on track to 15% in 2-3 years. 

Don’t count on that happening, though. Even as these budgetary dangers loom, another item on the Council’s consent agenda for Tuesday would make things worse: the ratification of a very rich and unwise employee contract with the Davis City Employees Association (DCEA). One that will probably set the stage for another wave of contracts for other city employee groups.

By Scott Steward

Add your voice. Contact your County Supervisor and our Water Board (YSGA). Best to make your request before Monday May 19th to place a moratorium on wells in the Yolo focus area that includes Hungry Hollow.  But don't stop making this request on the 19th.

Everyone's hands are tied except the most important hands, yours. The public needs to insist on a well moratorium in the Yolo focus area in order to greatly speed the legal considerations that the county must make at the Department of Environmental Health and with County Council to develop the legal language (based on water table drop data from the YSGA) and other criteria to declare a moratorium.  Here is the problem: this cannot take years as the water and the west Yolo farms are drying up. 

The county, through our elected Trustee/Supervisors, has the ONLY authority (not the YSGA) to place a moratorium on the Hungry Hollow focus area. The county will not do this on its own - we need public pressure, or we will lose the ability to water our own food. The majority of Supervisors welcome the pressure to enact a sustainable water policy.  We can win this. We need to speed it all up!

The Yolo County Supervisors are governed by the State Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), requiring local agencies to form groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs).  SGMA makes it clear....

(From press release) Please join the Burrowing Owl Preservation Society and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) for a Burrowing Owl Habitat Restoration Event at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area on Saturday morning, May 24.

What: Volunteers are needed for a few hours of burrowing owl habitat restoration work. We’ll be restoring/resetting artificial burrows for our beloved feathered friends and removing surrounding vegetation for their security.

When: May 24, 8 am - 11 am (only 2 hrs maximum work time is requested).

Where: Yolo County, Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=yolo+bypass+wildlife+area&atb=v315-1&iaxm=maps&source=places).

Bring: Plan to bring Gloves, Hat, Sturdy Shoes, and Water. Note that there is no toilet at the site.

Contact: Please email Catherine Portman ([email protected]) for site location details and directions.

(From press release) The Yolo Interfaith Immigration Network (YIIN) will host a fundraising dinner on Saturday, June 14 at the Yolo County Fairgrounds. The dinner will raise urgently needed money so YIIN can support local immigrants requiring funds for rent, legal assistance, and fees for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications. The dinner is also an opportunity to join with our immigrant neighbors and celebrate working together as a community for all. This will be YIIN’s first fundraiser since 2019, due to the precautions brought on by Covid.

This special evening will begin at 5:30, and guests will be treated to an Indian dinner served buffet style with Mexican desserts made by immigrants who wish to show their appreciation to the community. The program includes a silent auction and music performed by Mariachi Puente. The Chief of Staff at UC Davis Global Affairs, Andrea Gaytan, will be the keynote speaker.

Suggested donation: $75 per adult; $30per student; free for 12 youth. Tickets are available on Eventbrite or send a check to: YIIN P.O Box 74295 Davis, CA 95616. Questions can be directed to [email protected].  

Ring, Ring! The planet’s calling, and we must pick up. Inspired by the saying “Earth to (insert name),” Earth to the People is a wake-up call, a reminder that action must be taken now, not later. Our staff chose this theme to emphasize that the time for passive awareness has passed. Climate change, ecological destruction, genocide, and the onoging seizure and destruction of indigenous lands by settler-colonial powers are not distant problems; they are happening now, bringing harm to the Earth and its inhabitants. We are being called not just to care, but to act – to mobilize our communities, challenge systems of harm, and create tangible change towards a more just, equitable, and peaceful world. Our theme’s accompanying artwork brings this urgency to life, urging all people to wake up and step up for the world we love. Let’s answer the call together – with passion and with action.

For the full program with lots of cool WEF history, values and stories, use this link: 

https://wef.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13446/files/media/documents/WEF%2025%20Program%20copy.pdf

Here is the entertainment & activities schedule for each day:

Here's the ed booths for this year:

Ada Vox was a Top 8 contestant on ABC’s “American Idol,” and runner up in 2022 on the Paramount+ drag queen singing competition “Queen of the Universe.” (Courtesy photo)

Drag queen Ada Vox will be the headline performer at the 2025 Davis PrideFest on June 7. The event is just one of a month’s worth of local activities to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride, including a fun run, skate and comedy nights, and plenty of drag queens.

The activities share the theme “Forever Loud and Proud!”

The 11th annual Davis PrideFest is at Civic Center Park, at Sixth and B streets, behind Davis City Hall. The community-focused, family-friendly event includes a music festival, resources, vendors, food, drinks and more – from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 7.

Ada Vox performs at the 2022 Davis Pride event. This year’s festival is June 7. (Photo by Wendy Weitzel)

Ada Vox was a semi-finalist in ABC’s “American Idol” in 2018, and the runner up in 2022 on the Paramount+ drag queen singing competition “Queen of the Universe.” She performed at the 2022 Davis Pride event. The San Antonio-based singer lists her influences as Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin and Patti Labelle. Notable performances include The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun,” Jennifer Holiday’s “And I am Telling You I am Not Going,” and Journey’s “Open Arms.” She was the first drag queen make the “American Idol” Top 8.

By Alan “Lorax” Hirsch

As announced via an article in the Enterprise, the free speech area will be at least partially returned to previous location and operating rules/customs. There will be a celebration of this free speech victory Saturday, at 8 am under the big tree in the community area. Sparking juice, American flag and copies of the US Constitution will be provided. As well as a bit of speechifying noting the power of community, and how we can’t take our rights for granted.

Do read the enterprise piece, (link), but note the reporter did not fact check statement by “officials” with source on the other side of this controversy, The result is the Enterprise piece misconstrued what was going on. The Market manager Randii MacNear says the community group use has grown  so it overcrowded with 17-20 community groups, but as the attached photo shows, on 6/2/2018 (typical for that period), the community space accommodated 39 groups. What has happened subsequently to Covid  is that the market manager has allowed food trucks to invade the original space—and the city thoughtlessly added three bike racks taking up other of the precious space.  You can see why this would not be acknowledged by those involved.

Signup sheet of free speech community group area showing 39 groups can be accommodated in current area.

Picture of the three bike racks the city has added to this reduce the table space in the community area. There are many other places for bike racks.

By Kari Peterson

On May 1, local grassroots and labor organizations from across Yolo County will be marching in Davis and rallying in both West Sacramento and Woodland to join the MayDay Strong National Day of Action .

 Who, when and where:

• Davis, 5:00 - 6:30PM: March begins in Central Park at 5 PM. Marchers will gather near the wall and then march through downtown Davis before returning to Central Park. In addition to Indivisible Yolo, Sister District Yolo, and the Davis Faculty Association, participating groups include Democratic Socialists of America (Yolo), Davis College Democrats, American Federation of Teachers - UC Davis, and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement,Sacramento.

• Woodland , 5:00 - 7:00PM: Rally is at the Courthouse on Main Street at 6th Street.

• West Sacramento , 4:30: Rally at the corner of Park Boulevard and Jefferson.

Why we’re mobilizing on May 1

Photos show how community & political group tabling is dying in Farmer Market’s in its new park location.

By Alan “Lorax” Hirsch  [email protected]

Community and political groups have been removed from tabling in the Farmers Market along the C street sidewalk to an isolated unshaded part of Central Park. This happened by edict on 4/22/25, a decision made with no community groups’ input. Groups are concerned there would be no foot traffic in new location…and make it a waste of their time to table. The city manager said 30+ people that do the volunteer tabling should just give market manager’s idea “a try.” (LINK  to background piece)

The results are in from the first week of this experiment. Failure.

This is a photo at 11am (peak shopping) shows just 3 people visiting at the 7 tables of groups that took the time to set up in the unshaded and unpaved grassy part of the park near B Street. We heard from wheelchair bound shoppers that these tables were no longer accessible, like families with children in strollers.

It’s of note that only 7 groups set up tables compared to an average of 14/week for the previous month. No reason to waste volunteer time if no one comes by.

The market shed is largely empty of vendor on Wednesday— this photo is 4/22. But the city has allow market manager the power to force community group to be table as far as possible from other farm even outside the shed in the Sun or rain. There are 2 community groups tabling behind the photographer in this photo.

 Farmers Market Discourages Community Engagement

By Alan “Lorax” Hirsch

(Alan passes out “love your neighbor” signs in the farmer’s market.)

Just when you thought our political rights could not be more threatened, this Trumpian zeitgeist seems to have come to Davis.

They are dramatically reducing visibility of community/free speech area at the Saturday farmer market by expelling these groups from their traditional tabling area along C street north of the restrooms. They will be displaced 1 block south and 2/3 of a block west to an unpaved part of Central Park.  They will be isolated from commercial vendors currently set on sidewalk next to C Street- community & political groups will be in an unpaved grass area close to B street.  An area that is unshaded and hot, so visitors won’t want to linger. This area is invisible to shoppers on C street as it will be hidden behind vendor’s trucks, banners and awnings. The Net: these Group’s tables won’t get any casual foot traffic.

The now lively Saturday market community area may go the way of the Wednesday free speech/community tablers. DFMA Market management decided to displace Wednesday tablers from under the awning to a similarly isolated, sunny & hot area far away from the half-empty market shed.  These tablers got no foot traffic in that location – and the sun stressed the volunteers - so now there is little or no community tabling on Wednesdays.

One of the alleged reason for moving community group/ free speech areas 1 1/2 block to the shadeless B street side of the park is there is not enough room in current area. Here is one of the three bike racks recently installed by city that takes up shaded space that could be available for community group tabling.

Dropping the Bomb

By Elaine Roberts Musser and Dan Carson

At the April 15, 2025 City Council meeting, four of the five Davis City Council members declared their support for immediately committing significant additional amounts of upfront funding to fix city roads and bike paths. The funding would come from the recently approved Measure Q sales tax increase and be incorporated into the two-year 2025-27 city budget that will be adopted this June.

A spending plan labeled as “Scenario 2” was presented at the meeting to Council and recommended for approval by city staff. It would have held pavement spending flat for at least five years and then, in theory, begun accelerating city spending for that purpose in 2030-31 through 2034-35.

Vice Mayor Donna Neville and Councilmembers Chapman, Partida and Deos made it very clear they found the idea of backloading pavement funding, and putting off any significant increases until five years from now, unacceptable.  Mayor Bapu Vaitla  proposed a much different approach to adding money for roads that we discuss below, that would involve asking Davis voters to approve another new tax measure.

We are grateful four Councilmembers took to heart our warning against approving Scenario 2. The report staff provided to Council documenting this scenario would escalate the roughly $100 million backlog of city road pavement projects that now exists to almost $150 million, an increase of approximately $50 million over the next decade (see  the chart below, on page 07-50 of city staff report).                             

By Scott Steward

We have a Groundwater Sustainability Agency called the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Agency (YSGA).  Evidently, the word "Sustainability" is optional when considering well permits in Yolo County, as Annie Main found out after a 2-year struggle to point out the obvious to the Yolo County Supervisors who voted 3 to 2 on April 8th last week to add another high capacity 350 gallons per minute corporate well to further drain Hungry Hollow's already well documented declining water table.  The Boundary Bend well could mean the end of her Good Humus third-generation farm.  What's worse, there are four more deep well applications on the way to Hungry Hollow.

You can't see our groundwater, but according to our Groundwater Sustainability Agency there are 346,000 acre feet that can be drawn from our 540,000 acres of ag land. That's 2.6 billion bathtubs worth of water.  That's our budget; use more and our invisible mega bathtub might not re-fill as high - ever.  Consider Annie Main, the most recent canary in a long line of canaries in the water coal mine, Yolo County the aquifer of choice for corporate tree crops (olives and nuts) and our County Supervisors, for now, the court of last resort.  

Hungry Hollow family farmers like Annie Main of Good Humus are under threat of disappearing. Her area of land is in a designated "Focus Area." Focus Areas are so named because of the historical steady Hungry Hollow drop in the water table and because it's taking forever to get decent monitoring wells into place to "understand" what locals have been saying for the last two decades (no more additional well capacity!).  

State and local water policy that was not enforced on April 8th.

From left, Jennifer Penrose, Jessica Garcia, Molly Malm and Madeline Duncan were four of the five Live Your Dream Award winners for Soroptimist International of Davis. They were recognized at a club meeting on April 16 in Davis. (Wendy Weitzel/Courtesy photo)

Soroptimist International of Davis awarded $12,000 in grants this spring through its signature Live Your Dream program, providing cash and mentorship to women seeking education and training.

Women are encouraged to apply for the annual awards if they are the primary wage earners for their families, and need financial assistance to further their education or training. Recipients often persevere through hardships or challenging circumstances.

This year, SI Davis gave a boost to five women, with cash awards ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. These unrestricted grants may be used to offset costs that a scholarship would not cover, such as child care, transportation or other financial obligations that hinder a woman’s ability to reach her goals. Soroptimist International of Davis members remain in contact with the recipients, offering them mentorship and support.

The club’s top 2025 awardee is Molly Malm, 36, of Yolo County. Soroptimist International of Davis members offer her support and an award of $5,000. Her application was selected for another $3,000 award at the Sierra Nevada Region, which covers all clubs in Northern California and Nevada. Malm has four children between the ages of 11 and 5. She attended Santa Rosa Junior College, Woodland Community College and Sacramento City College, earning an associate’s degree. In December, she expects to complete her bachelor’s of science in nursing from Sacramento State.

Amelia Need entertains the crowd at the 2024 Davis Pride Festival. This year’s event is June 7. (Wendy Weitzel/Courtesy photo)

(From press release) The Davis Phoenix Coalition plans a month full of events to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride, beginning with its 11th annual festival on June 7. Activities also include a fun run, skate and comedy nights, and plenty of drag queens.

The activities share the theme “Forever Loud and Proud!”

The 11th annual Davis PrideFest is at Civic Center Park, at Sixth and B streets. The community-focused, family-friendly event includes a music festival, resources, vendors, food, drinks and more – from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 7. Organizers have a great lineup of performers scheduled. Watch for an announcement of the headliner in early May. Returning entertainment includes the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus, the marching band Noise Violation, and the always popular Drag Revue. There will be activity zones for children, teens and seniors. The event is free but donations are welcome. The event’s title sponsors are Dignity Health and Woodland Clinic Medical Group.

By Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser

• Direct City staff to provide funding in the forthcoming two-year budget of $14 million per year (from all sources), including an increase in General Fund resources of $5.5 million per year from Measure Q sales tax increase funding approved by Davis voters, for support of the Pavement Maintenance Program. The $14 million amount represents the funding identified by city staff in a December 2024 presentation to Council that would be needed over four years to make up for previous shortfalls in funding for road and bike path maintenance that have occurred in recent years.
• Direct city staff to return to Council with a recommendation in regard to the additional staff and contract resources, if necessary, that should be incorporated into the 2025-27 budget plan to implement the program at the funding level provided above.
• Restore the process the Council established in 2019 for commission review and oversight of the Pavement Maintenance Program. The Fiscal Commission should:
  1. Examine why the reported condition of street and bike path pavement improved significantly in recent years, nearly reaching the original goals set by Council, despite significant funding shortfalls, and evaluate whether future technical adjustments are warranted to reassess the model used to project the level of funding required for the program.
  2. Evaluate the potential impact of the planned Cool Pavement federal grant program to determine whether any further increases or decreases are warranted for city funding levels for pavement management, due to improvements to roads expected to be achieved under the federal grant program.
  3. Review the specific proposed funding components of the 2019 Council-approved plan for pavement maintenance to:
     • Determine whether, and to what degree, they have been implemented by city staff, and why;
     • Determine which, if any of them, are still feasible and available to assist in future funding of the Pavement Management Program;
     • Estimate the fiscal impact of frontloading rather than backloading funding to maintain roads and bike paths over the next ten years. The Council should direct city staff to assist the Fiscal Commission in all four areas of this review.

Background

Commentary by Heather Caswell

The Bike Campaign is a 501(c)3 non-profit providing free bike repair at our Bike Garage location, free Davis Bike Maps, and lots of support and encouragement for anyone wanting to be a part of the biking lifestyle in our community. We have an open house on Saturday, April 26th, from 1-4pm at our 606 Pena Dr. #300 location in Davis and everyone is invited who would like to experience how we support our community members in how to BIKE MORE. Drive Less.

Questions?  Contact Maria Tebbutt at [email protected] and check us out at www.TheBikeCampaign.org

By Scott Steward

Boundary Bend was cited by the County in August 2023 for its non-permitted well drilling in the Hungary Hollow region of Capay Valley. So how, after two years of evidence showing that the well is out of compliance, is County staff recommending upholding Boundary Bends agricultural well permit # 23-022W?  The County and Boundary Bend know that the new well is too big and too close to Good Humus farm. 

Good Humus and other family farms have already had to modify their wells to sustain their table crop farms. Nearly three generations of care have gone into the land craft of organic farming in Hungary Hollow. Without much help, these farms have entered our region's food markets and succeeded in producing some of the healthiest food on earth. Capay has inspired farm-to-fork land care nationally.  

Boundary Bend (application #23-022W) took advantage of one-time replacement well criteria that the county was obliged to put in place for farms and residents short on water following the seven-year drought. Replacement well designation was allowed for existing agricultural operations and drinking water. Boundary Bend did not meet the criteria for a replacement well. Instead of reapplying as a new well, Boundary hired lawyers at Kronick to lean on the county.

Here are some of the facts that show that Boundary Bend application #23-022W did not and does not qualify for the approved "replacement well" status. The application:

Open Letter to City Council on NE Transportation Corridor Item 7 (8:40pm, Tues 4/1)

City Council,

I may not be able to attend tonight so am making email comments here.

I appreciate your taking up the NE Transportation Corridor.  As specified, the item as written would be part of the General Plan.  From the staff report, this involves more detail than the concept suggested by the Davis Citizens Planning Group (DCPG or close to that name).  

I also came up with the almost identical idea of a transportation corridor north and east of Covell/Mace to run through the new suburbs, as a BRT or Bus Rapid Transit corridor parallel to a bike line.  As separate citizens came up with almost identical comments, perhaps the consultants should meet soon with the citizens for initial input, rather than or in addition to the consultants having citizens comment on the consultant's plans.

Here are the basic features that I believe I and DCPG agree on:

• There would be minimal stops as per BRT standards (1/4-1/2 mile spacing).
• The corridor would not be for automobiles
• There would be and adjacent and parallel bike track on the south/west of the corridor.
  
• There would be minimal intersections, with only major arteries crossing the corridor to minimize conflicts.
  
• The BRT would continue into Davis on regular roads, with some upgrades for the BRT infrastructure.
• The Route:
  
• The BRT would start at shopping center south of Hwy. 80 along Mace (Nugget) for a SE anchor.
  
• The route would cut east on the north side of the tracks to access the corridor.
• The dedicated corridor would continue in an arc north and west parallel to the curve of Mace and Covell.
• At Wildhorse, the BRT could divert south to Covell, or use the 'cut-through lot' to access Moore and run to Moore & Pole Line.
• From there the BRT could continue through Village Homes or south on Pole Line.
• The BRT would serve Oakshade Shopping Center
• The BRT would then continue Covell-->F Street-->Amtrak-->First Street-->South Campus (Library Silo)-->West Village
• Each development could proceed on its own once the basic route is confirmed through the to-be-developed areas, as long as all developers agreed to link to the future through corridor once each segment is built.
• The new route should minimize turns and instead follow a smooth arc.
• IMPORTANT:  Building density for each development should be at its maximum nearest bus stops and along the corridor, and step to medium and to lowest densities (per project) as one gets further from the corridor.

I believe the transportation corridor placement needs to be negotiated and agreed to with each landowner/developer far in advance of the General Plan Update.  This will allow the corridor to be whole and usable once all developments are in place.

Alan C. Miller