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Davisite Banner. Left side the bicycle obelisk at 3rd and University. Right side the trellis at the entrance to the Arboretum.

  • Did Eric Jones’ wealthy donors help him advance to the General Election by funding his lesser known Republican opponents?

    (From press release) In an explosive story in The Press Democrat Friday morning, it was confirmed that Eric Jones’ wealthy donors spent more than $100,000 to split the Republican vote and guarantee that Eric Jones would make the general election. 

    The donors in question, George Dixit (Dean) and Rishi Dixit, are a married couple from Santa Monica and were the only two donors to Mandy Gushar, John McKenzie, and Sharon Brown. Gushar, McKenzie, and Brown maintained no social media presence and hosted no publicly advertised events. Each candidate hired the same campaign treasurer and their biggest campaign expense was the filing fee to get on the ballot. 

    Rishi Dixit also started and funded a SuperPAC, California Leadership Fund, that raised $75,000 attacking Raymond Riehle, the leading Republican candidate, in a variety of mailers and text messages. Riehle was endorsed by six county Republican central committees and was not attacked by any other candidates – just Jones’ donors.   Eric Jones defeated Raymond Riehle by just 1.5%. McKeznie, Gushar, and Brown received 10.4% of the vote combined.

    “This is another example of Eric Jones and his wealthy venture capitalist donors trying to buy a seat in Congress,” said Mike Thompson for Congress Campaign Manager, Thomas Dowling “80 percent of voters rejected Eric Jones’ message and we look forward to sending Eric back home to San Francisco in November.”

    Congressman Thompson was the top vote getter, beating Eric Jones by 19 points.  Despite having nearly $11 million in support, Congressman Thompson goes into the general election leading Eric Jones by a 2:1 margin.

    Read the full story here and below:

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  • The DJUSD Board Has Lost the Public’s Trust

    By Elizabeth Coolbrith

    The issue facing Davis is no longer Measure V. The issue is trust.

    For months, Davis parents were told that declining enrollment posed a serious threat to our schools. School closures, boundary changes, and district restructuring were presented as looming possibilities. Families understandably worried about the future of their neighborhood schools.

    At the same time, Davis Joint Unified School District leadership became deeply involved in the public discussion surrounding Measure V. District leaders repeatedly linked the Village Farms development to the future health of Davis schools, arguing that new housing would bring students and revenue. Many residents came away with a clear message: support Measure V or face the possibility of school closures.

    That perception matters because California school districts are expected to follow a clear principle during election campaigns: educate, don’t advocate. Public agencies may provide information about ballot measures, but they should not use their positions or public resources to persuade voters toward a particular outcome. The distinction exists for a reason. Public institutions are entrusted with informing the public, not campaigning.

    Many parents questioned whether that line remained clear during the Measure V campaign. Superintendent Matt Best conducted presentations throughout the community discussing why the district supported the project and how its approval could benefit local schools. Whether intentional or not, many residents felt these communications sounded less like neutral information and more like advocacy.

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  • Laugh loud and proud at Davis Pride Comedy Night

    Local comedian and drag performer Suzette Veneti will host the third annual Davis Pride Comedy Night on June 26. (Courtesy photo)

    (From press release) The community is invited to join in the laughter at the third annual Davis Pride Comedy Night at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, June 26, at the Stonegate Country Club, 919 Lake Blvd. in Davis.

    Presented by Laughs on the Lake and Comedians on the Go, the evening will be hosted by Sacramento and San Francisco-based drag performer and stand-up comedian Suzette Veneti, with headliner Scott Capurro and featured comics Shannon Murphy and Marcus Williams.

    DJ Wet Weather will be spinning the tunes of the 1970s at 6:00 p.m. during a pre-show happy hour, as well as at the post-show reception at 9:00 p.m.

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  • You Don’t Tug on Superman’s Cape

    By Bertie Brouhard

    Sound advice from Jim Croce in his 1972 ballad “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” But I did tug with some success. 

    Long gone are Clark Kent and Lois Lane but I have found their replacements on the UCD Campus. 

    Last week I was ushered into the office of Chancellor Gary May on the fifth floor of Mrak Hall. Hanging on the wall of the Chancellor’s dark paneled office was his Superman cape. (I should have asked for a photo of him in his cape but lacked the courage.)

    After exchanging smiles and a handshake we sat at his conference table. My “tugging” began. He, now 62, was relaxed in his white starched shirt with black cufflinks and stylish necktie. He easily, confidently projects an image of leadership competence, attention and approachability. You’d gladly welcome him as your manager, boss, supervisor – Chancellor.

    A curious townie with no knowledge or previous experience with the workings of a large university campus I’m most grateful for the time and interest he gave to our interview. I had earlier submitted questions; softball tosses I’m sure.

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  • How Yolo County Staff Blundered Review of Illegal Fireworks Businesses on Agricultural Land

    By David L. Johnson

    Introduction

    The focus of this article is how top level Yolo County administrators, including the Office of the County Counsel, ignored illegal fireworks businesses on property owned by Sam and Tammy Machado in Esparto.

    Based on a Public Records Act request, this author received a large collection of emails that document a series of negligent mistakes made by county employees. These emails are limited in number because of legal privilege and an ongoing investigation into the explosion and fatalities. However, of the numerous emails received by this author, not one county employee stated in writing to a representative of Sam Machado, or among themselves, that Yolo County passed an ordinance in 2001 banning the possession, storing or selling of dangerous fireworks – even when county employees knew there were fireworks stored at the site. More important, if the county had taken code enforcement action, the explosion, fire and fatalities would have never occurred.

    The lack of action for code enforcement in regard to the Machado property also includes the Chief of the Esparto Fire Protection District, as documented in the March 26, 2026, report entitled “Yolo County Civil Grand Jury 2025-2026 Esparto Fireworks Explosion: Officials Knew, None Acted.”

    As stated in the Grand Jury report:

    “In the evening of July 1, 2025, massive explosions obliterated a family farm located at the northwest corner of County Roads 23 and 86A in Esparto. This incident, commonly known as the Esparto Fireworks Explosion, claimed the lives of seven workers….The explosion leveled the site and ignited what was named the Oakdale Fire, which expanded to 78 acres including nearby properties….Seven employees of a company called Devastating Pyrotechnics were killed instantly….”

    The county’s lack of action ultimately led to the tragic deaths of:

    Name             Age

    Jesus Manaces Ramos – 18

    Angel Mathew Voller – 18

    Jhony Ernesto Ramos – 22

    Joel “Junior” Jeremias Melendez – 28

    Neil Justin Li – 41

    Carlos Javier Rodriguez-Mora – 43

    Christopher Goltiao Bocog – 45

    The victims included three brothers – Jesus Ramos, Jhony Ramos, and their eldest stepbrother Joel Melendez.

    The First Red Flags

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  • The Sleeping Giant Is In Your District Too: Follow The Money, Part VI

    Grow California spent $1.5 million in my backyard. Then I found out they’re doing it all over the state. And the endgame isn’t Sacramento — it’s 2028.

    By Judy Tipple

    I’ve been following this money for months. In April, I wrote about the Silicon Valley venture capital network behind Eric Jones’s congressional campaign in CA-04 (Part I: Wrong Seat, Wrong Moment). When the same donor fingerprints showed up attacking a candidate in my own Assembly district, I kept pulling the thread (Part IV: They’re Doing It Again). What I found goes well beyond two races in the North Bay.

    The primary is over. The votes are counted. And now it’s time to show you the full picture, because if you live anywhere in California, this maybe happening in your backyard too.

    Here is the common thread running through all of it: tech and crypto money flowing into Democratic primaries, looking for candidates who won’t get in the way of their industry interests; who won’t tax their unrealized gains, who won’t put guardrails on AI, who won’t ask hard questions about data centers reshaping energy grids and water supplies across the state. They can’t do this through Republicans. Democrats hold 75 percent of the seats in both legislative chambers, and in a midterm year with a Republican in the White House, that’s not changing. So they’re doing it through us.

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  • Save Mart Funds Cooking Kits for Former Foster Youth Through Make It Happen for Yolo County

    Cathi Schmidt, executive director of Make It Happen for Yolo County, helps a local youth select cookware for his apartment. The nonprofit received a grant from Save Mart to provide cooking kits to under-resourced youth.

    (From press release) The Save Mart Companies CARES Foundation is providing food preparation items for 50 local youth moving out of foster care, homelessness or the juvenile justice system through a $5,000 grant to nonprofit Make It Happen for Yolo County. The nonprofit provides under-resourced youth moving out on their own with furniture, appliances and household items needed to fully furnish a small apartment. Each cooking kit includes bakeware, mixing bowls, pots and pans, cooking utensils and kitchen knives.

    “Kitchen supplies are the most frequently requested items among our clients, so we are especially grateful to Save Mart for recognizing this important need,” said Cathi Schmidt, executive director, Make It Happen for Yolo County. “Our cooking kits address a practical gap that has real health and financial implications. By providing the tools to cook at home, we can help youth save money, eat more nutritiously and develop essential skills for independence.”

    Make It Happen for Yolo County equips local transition-age youth ages 16–24 with essential furnishings and household goods to create safe, stable homes as they move into independent living, as well as bicycles for transportation. Serving young people emerging from foster care, the juvenile justice system or homelessness, the nonprofit provides items that turn an apartment into a place of comfort, dignity and belonging. Clients are referred through county agencies and community partners and receive personalized support along with connections to partner organizations and ongoing advocacy. Since its founding in 2014, Make It Happen for Yolo County has helped nearly 400 transition age youth and is the only organization in Yolo County offering these services. To make a financial or furniture donation, visit: www.MIHYolo.org.

    The Save Mart Companies CARES Foundation focus is building stronger communities through fresh foods, access to food, and programs that support youth and helping them thrive. For more information, visit: www.TheSaveMartCompanies.com/Community.

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  • Living Water, Living Knowledge: Youth Explore Indigenous Stewardship in the Yolo Basin

    (From press release) For thousands of years, Patwin-Wintun peoples cared for the wetlands and waterways of the Yolo Basin using stewardship practices that enhanced biodiversity and sustained one of California’s richest delta ecosystems. This summer, Native, BIPOC, and ally youth are invited to experience these teachings firsthand through the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Youth Program.

    Led by Wintun/Maidu educator, naturalist, Fire Boss, and cultural practitioner Diana Almendariz, participants will explore how Indigenous communities lived in relationship with the land, plants, animals, and living water. Through hands-on activities, youth will learn about tule gathering, cultural burning, wetland ecology, wildlife, traditional foods, and Indigenous approaches to environmental stewardship.

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  • There’s no place to park there

    By Bertie Brouhard

    [Note: We at the Davisite hope to feature Bertie’s columns going forward with the permission of the author and the DE]

    There? Where’s “there?” Are you driving to the Marina in San Francisco? Sutter Hospital in Sacramento? Yosemite Valley? South Shore at Lake Tahoe? 

    Not just major attractions in big urban centers, but I hear the complaint about midtown Sacramento or Golden One and certainly for many places in our fine city of Davis. “There’s no place to park!” 

    All I have are my observations which I capture visually as a street photographer and hopefully entertain you with words in this column. And I love automobiles having been born into, raised by and shaped in an exciting, vibrant car culture.

    My dad cherished his Scotch-plaid-seated Chrysler, his yellow Buick Special Convertible with the red leather seats, his sporty white V-8 Studebaker Hawk and his grumbling Hemi Dodge Charger. In 1976, when my family of four left Cleveland for Colorado Springs in our new red Plymouth Volare station wagon, I was riding higher than ever.

    We’ve since travelled in Chevy station wagons, a Dodge Caravan and several boring but practical sedans. Currently, I have a Mini Cooper and a Dodge Promaster RV. 

    Now proudly 80, I recently passed the eye test and had my driver’s license renewed for five more years. I don’t intend to renew it again! 

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  • Where are we? Where are we going? 

    By Matt Williams

    Davis has a history of building only large footprint, rich amenities homes on large lots.  As a result, as a community we have excluded the vast majority of the Davis workforce (a workforce that educates our children and provides us with the suite of services that provides us our high quality of life) from the opportunity for home ownership.

    The numbers tell the story.  Since 2004, Davis added 1,261 units of high-priced, detached, single-family homes on large lots for the economic elite, and at the same time has built zero (or close to zero) small-footprint, low-priced, owner-occupied homes for its citizens with modest economic/financial resources. 

    We are all to blame for this classist approach to owner-occupied housing, and it calls into question the motto on so many lawns that Davis Is For Everyone. 

    There has been very little leadership from either the citizens or our elected leaders illuminating our classist pattern of (A) catering to the elite while (B) throwing our workforce under the bus, and (C) providing no proactive guidance to developers on project concepts that could be providing “Missing Middle” housing designed and priced for the members of the workforce, rather than the elite.

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