By Roberta Millstein

My fellow Open Space and Habitat Commission (OSHC) member, Patrick Huber, writes to defend the environmental status of the Davis Innovation and Sustainability Campus (DISC) (see Davis Enterprise letter). I respect Patrick; we have worked well together on the commission for a decade. However, although we have agreed on many things, he provides a partial and thus misleading picture of DISC in his letter.

On April 23, 2020, the OSHC voted unanimously on a motion, seconded by Patrick, not to recommend DISC (then called ARC) on the grounds that it would result in a substantial net loss of a noteworthy combination of open space values, including: prime agricultural land, open space on the City’s perimeter, habitat for sensitive species such as burrowing owl and Swainson’s hawk, and views of the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento skyline (see adjacent screenshot).

Yolo County Board of Supervisors commits to justice and mobilization

(From press release) With smoke still rising from one of California's most massive wildfires on record, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to accelerate local climate action and to fund a climate advisory committee tasked with helping the county achieve just and equitable outcomes for marginalized communities and to retool livelihoods.

Yolo County joins over 1,750 local governments in declaring a climate emergency, part of a decentralized global campaign that has engaged local communities in policymaking.

Please join me in supporting Colin Walsh for Davis City Council. Colin is a passionate environmentalist who will make climate change and mitigating anthropogenic environmental damage council priorities. From serving on the Tree Commission to his past involvement with the Native Plant Society to his concern for the harm done to wildlife by rodenticides, Colin has shown he has a deep and abiding passion for both making our communities healthier and protecting our increasingly threatened natural world. I am also impressed by his compassion for animals, including his three rescue dogs, and the way he cultivates a love for nature and animals in his children. I enthusiastically endorse his candidacy for city council.

Janet Krovoza

Supervisor Jim Provenza is a results oriented policy-maker, and as our elected representative he doesn’t merely talk about ideas, he implements solutions and accomplishes objectives to improve our lives. In 2020, under the pandemic conditions of COVID-19, and the most severe CA Wildfire Season in history, Supervisor Provenza has re-doubled his dedicated efforts in actions, not just words.

I have worked with Supervisor Provenza in multiple capacities during his tenure as our District 4 representative, and as a 45-year fire service veteran (including Fire Chief of Davis) I am particularly impressed with his solutions on issues of a public safety concern. Supervisor Provenza is one of the most responsive, action-oriented elected officials I have ever had the pleasure to work with. As such, he has a robust catalog of accomplishments for the betterment of our constituency. A sampling of Supervisor Jim Provenza’s public safety accomplishments include the following:

Contact your County supervisor to express your support

By David Abramson

Tomorrow the Yolo County Board of Supervisors will be voting on a RESOLUTION DECLARING A CLIMATE CRISIS REQUIRING AN URGENT AND INCLUSIVE MOBILIZATION IN YOLO COUNTY.

We have 91 endorsing organizations and individuals from all across Yolo County. Thank you!!

🌟To get a strong resolution passed, we need your help!🌟

🌱Action Item 1: 🌟Write Your County Supervisors🌟

Please email or call the supervisor representing your district, share your story and express support for the Climate Emergency resolution, Item #37.

It's Oktoberfest season, and the Davis Sunrise Rotary Club doesn't want area residents to miss out. The deadline is Wednesday to sign up for sausage, beer and all the fixin's for its 14th annual Oktoberfest.

The pre-ordered German dinner will be available for drive-thru pickup from 4 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, at Sudwerk Brewing Co., the fundraiser's co-host. Sudwerk is at 2001 Second St. in Davis.

Each $30 meal includes bratwurst, linguica or Beyond Meat (vegan) brat on a fresh bun, with potato salad and green salad. Along with a meal, attendees may purchase award-winning Sudwerk beer ($10 per six pack of Märzen, Hefeweizen, Pilsner or California Hoppy Lager, or $20 per four pack of 16-ounce cans of Festbier). For dessert, there are Ikeda's mini cobblers ($15 each for marionberry, peach or apple). Rotarians offer home delivery for $20 more.

The fundraiser supports Rotary causes locally and abroad. One such example is its recent donation to Davis Joint Unified School District to enhance Wi-Fi for students who have limited access to remote learning.

Buy tickets online until midnight Wednesday at http://sudwerkbrew.com/rotary.

I’m honored to write this letter in support of Jim Provenza in his bid to be re-elected as our Yolo County Supervisor, District 4.

For years I’ve witnessed Jim’s passionate service to our community, from his efforts to protect Ag land and preserve the Yolo Bypass, to his work on behalf of those experiencing homelessness or struggling to find mental health resources.

I got to know Jim personally through my volunteer work with the Yolo Crisis Nursery. The Nursery serves some of the most vulnerable in our community – children 0-5 years of age whose families are in crisis. In 2019-20, 99% of the children who walked through our doors were Medi-Cal eligible, 93% came from single parent homes and 94% of those homes were headed by single mothers.

When the Nursery faced with the threat of closure in 2013, Jim was there for us. He was instrumental in keeping our doors open, ensuring that at-risk children and their families continued to receive the resources and wraparound support they needed to thrive.

His commitment to parents and children in need was once again on display at the September 1 Board of Supervisors meeting, where he proposed that $250,000 in CARES Act funding be allocated for childcare assistance, lobbying for additional childcare funding for those who could not afford it. In Jim’s own words, “a strong community starts by caring for our most vulnerable”.

For over ten years Supervisor Jim Provenza has been a principle advocate for women and children in Yolo County, committed to keeping the youngest and most vulnerable members of our community safe and their families intact. He is a man of integrity, dedication and compassion with a successful history of improving the lives of all in our community. We could not be better served.

That’s why I’m offering my wholehearted endorsement of Jim's bid to be re-elected as our Yolo County Supervisor, District 4. Please join me in supporting him.

Jane M. Eadie

(From press release)

Sierra Club endorses “The Citizens’ Right to Vote on Future Use of Open Space and Agricultural Lands”

(From press release) Citing grounds of “preservation of agricultural lands and open space, in-fill development and densification and citizen oversight of sound land-use planning ", the Sierra Club announces its endorsement and support of Measure D in Davis CA on the November 2020 municipal ballot.

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Measure D is a ballot measure renewal of an existing City of Davis ordinance, “The Citizens’ Right to Vote on Future Use of Open Space and Agricultural Lands”, which gives the citizens the right to make the final decision on projects proposing to develop open space or agricultural land within or adjacent to the City. It was originally approved by the voters in 2000 as Measure J and overwhelmingly renewed as Measure R in 2010.

I am writing in support of Colin Walsh. I’ve known Colin for many years. Here I’d like to describe the Campaign to save Russell Fields to highlight the talents he’d bring to the Council. Though the first part of a larger West Village campus project had been built, in 2016 UC Davis proposed a comparably smaller amount of housing on Intramural Toomey, Howard and Russell playing fields between A St and California Ave - a recreation area for the whole student body.

Many in the Davis community, including student athletes and campus members, reacted strongly to having this beautiful open green space – lost. Anyone driving, biking or walking by could see these fields were used and enjoyed by all for recreation, and in high-spirited competitions, tournaments, intramural sports meets, and Special Olympics. 

The success of this campaign, of which I was a member, was due in great part to the spirit of collaboration that Colin brought to it. He collaborated with students and campus members, the community-initiated Friends of Russell Fields, and successfully worked with campus administrators and planners and the City Council to save the fields and relocate the proposed housing - a win-win for us all.  In particular, Colin’s networking with students from many different intramural teams and with community members helped them organize in order to amplify their voices to save the fields. Colin is a true team player.

This personal experience tells me that Colin will bring this same spirit of inclusive collaboration and problem solving to the City Council.  Please join me in voting for Colin Walsh.

Nancy Price

As wildfires continue to rage throughout California and elsewhere in the West, residents, ranchers and business owners in the greater Winters area are putting their lives back together after seeing their homes and businesses go up in flames.

Valley Clean Energy, the local electric generation service provider, urges locals to join the agency in offering support in the form of donations to the Greater Winters Fire Relief Fund created by the Rotary Club of Winters. VCE contributed $1,500, and so far, nearly $40,000 has been raised toward a goal of $60,000.

Many of the fire victims live outside the Winters city limits and are “our friends, our extended family, business owners, and parents to classmates of our children,” says Winters Councilmember Jesse Loren, a member of the VCE board of directors.

Join the League of Women Voters Davis Area and Davis Media Access for a Zoom forum from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27 for five candidates vying for three spots on the Davis Joint Unified School District Board of Education.

Zoom forums will also be held on Sunday, Oct. 4 for the nine candidates vying for three seats on the Davis City Council. The District 2 forum will be at 1 p.m., followed by District 3 at 3 p.m. and District 5 at 5 p.m.

This is the first time candidates will compete to represent specific city council districts and school board areas, which are different.

Larry Guenther cares deeply about the Davis community.

He is a people-person, which means his focus is on all of us who live here in Davis. He wants to build a strong Davis community that exists to support and strengthen all of us—regardless of age, gender, race, ability, or wealth.

If you believe in—and want—a strong Davis community, vote Larry for City Council (District 3).

Jordy Margid

Larry Guenther has some frustrations with Davis, but mostly, he has positivity.

He brings hope for a better future to Davis. But not just hope alone—hope teamed with ability and passion for making hope come to fruition.

He brings hope for more effective and people-oriented development projects. Hope for more advanced tech for all Davis. Hope for more effective, earth-focused solutions to our energy and waste needs. Hope for improved fiscal responsibility to better serve all Davis.

If you share these hopes, vote Larry Guenther for City Council (District 3).

Catherine Rudiger

(From press release) Greenbelt Chat with Colin Walsh on Thursday morning, Sept. 24, 7:30 am to 9:30 am!

Please come meet Colin Walsh, candidate for Davis City Council, District 2. Neighbors are invited to drop by the Greenbelt near the sculpture of the dog on the tricycle. Feel free to ask questions and share your concerns.

Literature and hand sanitizer will be available. Physical distancing and masks required.

By Todd Edelman

City of Davis people... why has there not been a ban on use of leaf blowers in the nearly month-long wildfire fallout event?

Why do feel the need to remove every leaf and bit of dirt from our landscapes?

Why do we allow ourselves to send dust clouds and noise to our neighbors when we might not even know their names?

Vote for Larry Guenther for City Council. The Council needs more voices committed to more transparency and procedural reform. Larry Guenther is committed to being that kind of voice. The City needs a healthy balance of the "expert" recommendations of staff and the considerable real subject matter expertise of the community and its Citizen Commissions.  

The Cannery project, with its litany of developer miscalculations and repeated applications for reconsideration of their ever-changing plan, is a text book example of failure in transparency and procedure. Cannery is just one example of a continued pattern of failure that is a huge problem for the city and its residents. All across the city we have been saddled with  months-long traffic problems and extra expenses without meeting our need for low income housing.

We need a city that does not regard the General Plan as an invitation to developers to come in with a half-baked request for an exception. The City Council needs to represent its electorate. There is a long history of the City Council's development decisions that documents its failure to do so. This goes all the way back to the saving of Central Park and the great Farmers' Market we now have there. If the City Council had had its way in 1986, we would have a three-tiered shopping mall, with incalculable damage to downtown business, crawling traffic and more climate carbon footprint.

We really have to get past the "business as usual" mentality, and Guenther will help us do that.

Don Price

(From press release) Lea Darrah, an advocate for children for more than 20 years, will be representing the Davis School Board as Trustee for Area 2. Under recently adopted policy, the Davis Joint Unified School Board election process established five trustee areas. As Darrah was the only person to file for candidacy in Area 2, she will be appointed to the office and her name will not appear on the Nov. 3 ballot, per CA Elections code 10515.

Darrah's term as the Area 2 representative is scheduled to begin in December. The district's Area 2 map consists of some neighborhoods in north to east Davis. But, as part of the full board, she represents all students in the DJUSD.