Source: Davis LocalWiki

At its February 20 meeting, the City Council was supposed to review a proposal to bring a large, corporate gym to the Cannery, a change to the original proposal that the developer is asking for. The Council decided at the request of the developer to delay the item until March 13, but a number of people gave public comment anyway.

I found many of these comments to be heartfelt, insightful, and persuasive, but one resonated with me in particular because it was so similar to my own experience, and also because I think it has very far-reaching implications:

A second hand item.

Second to what?

Second to none other than

That voice inside your head.

As if somehow box store items

Are pristine in their past.

Untouched by experience.

As if that whisper of “that’s so mine”,

Knows the difference between new or not new,

You know when it’s yours,

From: "City of Davis eNotification" <[email protected]>

City Council Agenda Update - February 20, 2018

Date: February 20, 2018 2:18 p.m.

PLEASE NOTE:
Agenda Item 5 - Public Hearing on The Cannery Marketplace Project Revisions will not be heard at tonight's City Council meeting. The item will be opened and continued to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Discussion of the item will take place at the March 13 meeting.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Despite erroneous media and staff reports to the contrary, the streetlight issue is not resolved.  

The Council will hear the item tonight, Tuesday night, February 20th at 9:15pm.  

If you still have streetlights that glow orange and are bowl-shaped on the bottom, those lights are scheduled to be replaced soon with PG&E’s streetlight brand-of-choice.  The Council needs to hear from residents of the older neighborhoods, where these replacement lamps will be installed.  

Write if you cannot be there:   citycouncilmembers@cityofdavis.org


PROGRESS

We commend PG&E for listening and making progress.  They have agreed to go with a 2700k light rather than a 3000k light.  That number is good, but it is not the light that Davis residents chose in the 2014 field survey,  and despite what the staff report implies, color temperature is NOT the primary issue here.

With discussions over the June elections heating up, it is perhaps not surprising that discussions about what does and does not constitute civil discourse are also heating up in Davis.

Luckily for us, these rules have long been established, so we need only take this opportunity to remind ourselves of what they are. The devil is in the details, but the basic idea is this: do not commit the ad hominem fallacy. That is, do not attack the person. Criticizing their arguments or actions, however, is legitimate.

by Alan Pryor and Rick Heubeck

Background

Four years ago three members of the Davis City Council (Lucas Frerichs,  Rochelle Swanson, and Dan Wolk) voted to approve a Development Agreement between the City of Davis and the New Home Company (the Cannery site developer) that granted entitlements to the New Home Company to construct 547 residential units and a Commercial District on the 100 acre former cannery site. Then Mayor Joe Krovoza and Councilmember Brett Lee opposed the project

As your nose reaches the top most step,

An aroma of Tandoori yumminess  

wafts into your hungry self.

A smile may begin to appear

Last month, Dean Johansson declared his candidacy for Yolo County district attorney (story here).  This is the first time since 2006 that the election has been contested.  But are Yolo County voters paying attention?

Seems as if they should, if this a recent Facebook post from the campaign is even remotely accurate. 

Can Davis grow its way to affordable housing?

In short, no. And you should be highly suspicious of anyone who is claiming that it can. They are either wishful thinkers, misinformed, or being deliberately misleading.

1) Affordability

UCD has the ability to set the cost of its housing.

UCD has a better ability to offer School Year only leases because it can fill the bedrooms with UCD summer camp and summer school participants in the summer thus saving students 3 months of rent every year.

UCD can include housing as part of its financial aid.

UCD already owns the land.

The discussion of Nishi 2.0 at the February 6 City Council meeting had my head spinning. Here are just a few of the things that happened that I was stunned by:

• Robb Davis rightly limiting the developers' time to present their case, only to have Rochelle undo that by asking the developer for a repeat of the Planning Commission fiasco, even though she or any other citizen could have watched that video had they cared to see the developers' well-over-an-hour presentation. Rochelle in effect completely undid Robb's directive.
  

Thus far 3 Davis City Council candidates have publicly announced plans to limit contributions from developers. Linda Deos, Larry Gunther and Ezra Beeman have declared developer contributions off limits.