By Nancy Price

I was stunned to read that Bapu Vaitla, who is a candidate for Davis City Council in District 1, is considering overturning the City's phase out of glyphosate (manufactured and commonly sold as RoundUp by Monsanto) instead of improving and strengthening the City's Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. (see Question #2 at  https://www.davisite.org/2022/09/part-5-candidate-responses-to-the-sierra-club-yolano-group-questionnaire-for-the-2022-davis-city-cou.html#more). None of the other candidates made this audacious proposal.

Here is some background. The City decided to phase out glyphosate in 2017; finally discontinuing its use in 2020.  The process involved three City citizen-advisory commissions: Natural Resources, Recreation and Parks, and Open Space & Habitat. It took over a year and a half and involved a widely attended public citizens forum, a city-wide citizen survey, many individual Commission meetings, and a 3-way joint Commission meeting. Despite considerable stonewalling from staff, who attempted to derail and water down THIS [the] citizen-based effort, the measure was finally unanimously approved by the City Council. What passed in 2017 wasn’t perfect, but it was well-received by citizens. (For more details, see https://www.davisite.org/2018/07/bad-process-leads-to-mediocre-decision-on-pesticide-use-in-davis-and-not-without-wasted-time-and-eff.html). 

Around the same time, the city forced out its popular and highly respected IPM specialist (see https://www.davisite.org/2018/05/martin-guerenas-statement-city-of-davis-environmental-recognition-award-2018.html). Regrettably, that position still hasn’t been filled. But given the clear desire expressed by many staff to continue using non-organic pesticides over other less toxic weed management strategies, it is hard to see the ongoing long-term failure to fill the position as an unintended accident. 

Instead of advocating for hiring an IPM Specialist, Vaitla thinks we should go back to glyphosate because, he says, — “we cannot reasonably resort to mechanical weed management.”

There are several problems here. One is Vaitla offering an opinion that either ignores or is ignorant of this recent controversial history of pesticide use by the City. A second problem is his complete dismissal and disregard of the work of the public and three citizen-advisory commissions which collectively devoted many hundreds of hours of work to this effort, most of which occurred prior to Mr. Vaitla's most recent move to Davis. 

A third problem is that, although Mr. Vaitla gives lip service to the Precautionary Principle, he doesn’t follow it. Notably, just this past June, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected EPA's analysis for determining that glyphosate is likely not carcinogenic to people and ordered EPA to conduct "further analysis and explanation." The science is far from settled, and since there are valid reasons to think that glyphosate is a human carcinogen supported by respected international authorities and agencies, we should avoid using it especially since we have other methods at our disposal. 

Vaitla's position is hasty, overlooks a long City history and the latest Court rulings, and lacks respect for the citizen and commissions-led process in Davis. And, most importantly, it fails to protect our health. This attitude generally does not bode well for the sort of Councilmember he would make. 

Waste Management and Financial Contributors

Introduction - As has been our custom for over 20 years, the Sierra Club Yolano Group prepares a wide-ranging questionnaire and presents it to candidates in races of interest to our local membership. The questionnaire for the 2022 Davis City Council race received answers from all 5 candidates in the 2 of the 5 City Council Districts for which an election is held in November, 2022.

The candidates, listed in alphabetical order by their first name, are:

District 1 (West Davis): - Bapu Vaitla, Dan Carson, and Kelsey Fortune

District 4 (East Davis ) - Adam Morrill, Gloria Partida

Questions were asked in the following general categories :

Part 1 - Land Use and Housing Development – Peripheral Development

Part 2-- Land Use and Housing Development – Downtown Core and Student Housing

Part 3 - Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Part 4 - Transportation Management

Part 5 - Toxics in the Environment and Other Environmental Issues

Part 6 - Waste Management and Financial Contibutors

Parts 1 through 5 in this series can be viewed by clicking on that article's title above which is linked to the earlier publication.

This is the 6th in the series of articles and focuses on Waste Management and provides candidate responses to the following questions:

Question #1 - Recyclable or Compostable Take-out & In-Restaurant Food and Drink Containers

Davis has adopted a Zero Waste Resolution striving to achieve zero waste by 2025. As part of this program, all food service industry tableware and drink containers must be reusable, recyclable or compostable including a ban on all Styrofoam containers. All waste must also be segregated by organics, recyclable, or landfill but few fast food or other restaurants are currently doing so.

What should the City do to enforce this Ordinance?

Question #2 - Proposed Commercial and Multi-Family Recycling and Food Waste Collection

The City of Davis waste management plan also now requires mandatory commercial and multi-family segregated recycling and segregated food scrap collection but this City has yet to roll-out these mandatory programs on a widespread basis?

Do you support these measures and why or why not. If yes, how should the City go about rolling them out and enforcing them?

Question #3 – Financial Contributors

How much money have you collected overall to date and from which unions, developer or real estate interests, or other entities doing business with the City of Davis? Will you accept all contributions from any of these interests?

Toxics in the Environment and Other Environmental Issues

Introduction - As has been our custom for over 20 years, the Sierra Club Yolano Group prepares a wide-ranging questionnaire and presents it to candidates in races of interest to our local membership. The questionnaire for the 2022 Davis City Council race received answers from all 5 candidates in the 2 of the 5 City Council Districts for which an election is held in November, 2022.

The candidates, listed in alphabetical order by their first name, are:

District 1 (West Davis): - Bapu Vaitla, Dan Carson, and Kelsey Fortune

District 4 (East Davis ) - Adam Morrill, Gloria Partida

Questions were asked in the following general categories :

Part 1 - Land Use and Housing Development – Peripheral Development

Part 2-- Land Use and Housing Development – Downtown Core and Student Housing

Part 3 - Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Part 4 - Transportation Management

Part 5 - Toxics in the Environment and Other Environmental Issues

Part 6 - Waste Management and Financial Contibutors

Parts 1 through 4 in this series can be viewed by clicking on that article's title above which is linked to the earlier publication.

This is the 5th in the series of articles and focuses on Toxics in the Environment and Other Environmental Issues and provides candidate responses to the following questions:

Question #1 - Wood Smoke

Small particulate pollution is the leading cause of respiratory disease in the Central Valley. Approximately 50% of winter ambient air particulate pollution is related to residential wood burning and a number of Davis residents have complained of nearest-neighbor wood smoke pollution causing respiratory distress. Davis has implemented a wood smoke ordinance that allows complaints to be filed against wood burning residents if they are producing visible smoke from a non-EPA approved wood burning device. However, the police department and code enforcement) will not respond to complaints during nighttime hours when almost all wood-burning occurs because they do not have enforcement tools or available personnel.

Why or why not do you support this ordinance, and what changes, if any, would you support to it including any enforcement mechanisms?

Question #2 - Pesticide Use Reduction

Several years ago Davis banned the use of pollinator-killing neonicotinoid class of pesticides and phased out the use of the herbicide glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Round-up product). However, the City Council declined to require that only certified organic pesticides be used in the City’s Parks and Open Spaces as recommended by the Natural Resources Commission.

Do you support restricting pesticide use on City properties to only those certified as “organic” and why or why not? If not, do you favor restrictions on where non-organic pesticides or herbicides may be used?

Question #3 – Resiliency

Davis will face threats to infrastructure, operations, and quality of life as climate change impacts become more apparent including extreme heat events and drought, or excessive precipitation.

What would be your strategy for making Davis more resilient in the face of coming issues related to climate change?

Question #4 – Other Environmental Related Issues

What are other environmental or climate change-related issues facing Davis and how would you propose the City address these issues?

By Scott Steward

You can say it this way or you can say it that way, either way you say it MAGA stands for pain. It stands for Mad Americans Gone Awry.  Is there something to be angry about?  Absolutely.  Worshiping AR-15s is not the answer and following authoritarian Viktor Orban (Hungary's authoritarian leader) into an SS style penal society is not the answer.  Going apoplectic at a school board meeting is also not the answer.

The answer is working Americans working together. The Biden administration signed laws to force pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices, apply a minimum tax for corporations, provide veterans (exposed to military waste burn zones) medical care, and take steps to provide us with clean domestic energy security.  That's what government is for.

Most Republicans, most people, independent or otherwise, want corporations to pay taxes, want to stop being gouged by pharmaceutical companies, care for our veterans, and want to have the energy we need to heat and cool our homes and get us where we need to go without sending our dollars to Russia or Saudi Arabia.  Having government for the people and not a government reaching into your doctor patient relationship that is what US people want.

Some Americans are all for lining up behind an Orbanesk dictatorship.  Donald "We love Hungary" Trump is one of them.  Trump who applies the toddler rules of possession to national security documents.  "If I like it, it's mine. If it's in my hand, it's mine. If I can take it from you, it's mine."  For Trump, national security is not the issue.  He would say, "public office would just be so much better if it was just 100% me."

Who is lining up behind the MAGA "minority alt-right grab America" way? Who is willing to take democracy down to do it?

Thirteen Election Decertification MAGA leaders choosing Trump over democracy:

Transportation Management

Introduction - As has been our custom for over 20 years, the Sierra Club Yolano Group prepares a wide-ranging questionnaire and presents it to candidates in races of interest to our local membership. The questionnaire for the 2022 Davis City Council race received answers from all 5 candidates in the 2 of the 5 City Council Districts for which an election is held in November, 2022.

The candidates, listed in alphabetical order by their first name, are:

District 1 (West Davis): - Bapu Vaitla, Dan Carson, and Kelsey Fortune

District 4 (East Davis ) - Adam Morrill, Gloria Partida

Questions were asked in the following general categories :

Part 1 - Land Use and Housing Development – Peripheral Development

Part 2-- Land Use and Housing Development – Downtown Core and Student Housing

Part 3 - Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Part 4 - Transportation Management

Part 5 - Toxics in the Environment and Other Environmental Issues

Part 6 - Waste Management and Financial Contibutors

Parts 1 through 3 in this series can be viewed by clicking on that article's title above which is linked to the earlier publication.

This is the 4th in the series of articles and focuses on Transportation Management and provides candidate responses to the following questions:

Question #1 - Bicycle Use

Davis prides itself on being a bicycle-oriented city with miles of bike lanes and paths throughout the community to facilitate bike use as an alternative form of transportation. Yet, the bicycle mode-share in Davis has dropped in recent years.

What would you propose to make the bicycle a more viable and safe transportation mode in Davis?

Question #2 - Downtown Parking Structure

Do you support the construction of a new automobile parking structure near or in the downtown core and why or why not?

If yes, where would you like to see it located, how large should it be, and how should it be paid for?

Question #3 – Downtown Parking Meters

Do you support the addition of parking meters on downtown streets or in downtown city-owned public parking lots or parking structures and why or why not?

Subsequent articles in the series in the coming days will focus on the two remaining general categories in Parts 5-6.

Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions

Introduction - As has been our custom for over 20 years, the Sierra Club Yolano Group prepares a wide-ranging questionnaire and presents it to candidates in races of interest to our local membership. The questionnaire for the 2022 Davis City Council race received answers from all 5 candidates in the 2 of the 5 City Council Districts for which an election is held in November, 2022.

The candidates, listed in alphabetical order by their first name, are:

District 1 (West Davis): - Bapu Vaitla, Dan Carson, and Kelsey Fortune

District 4 (East Davis ) - Adam Morrill, Gloria Partida

Questions were asked in the following general categories :

Part 1 - Land Use and Housing Development – Peripheral Development

Part 2-- Land Use and Housing Development – Downtown Core and Student Housing

Part 3 - Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Part 4 - Transportation Management

Part 5 - Toxics in the Environment and Other Environmental Issues

Part 6 - Waste Management and Financial Contributors

Parts 1 and 2 in this series can be viewed by clicking on that article's title above which is linked to the earlier publication.

This is the 3rd in the series of articles and focuses on Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions and provides candidate responses to the following questions:

Question #1 - Greenhouse Gas Mitigation for New Development

Davis has declared a Climate Emergency and mandated carbon neutrality by 2040. Often 70% or more of a new project's GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions are due to transportation-related impacts which are not addressed in increasingly stringent building standards. Some have proposed that developers pay for mitigation of these GHGs because they cause public harm just as sellers of tobacco pay a tax for their associated public harm.

Do you support in principal a GHG mitigation fee on new developments in Davis and why or why not?  If yes, do you have any ideas how such a fee might be assessed or used by the City?

Question #2 - Commercial / Multi-Family Solar PV Ordinance

There currently is a mandatory solar PV requirement for new single-family home and low-rise apartment construction in Davis. However, there are currently no similar requirements for new multi-family housing projects greater than 3 stories or for commercial construction.

Do you support a proposed ordinance mandating solar photovoltaic systems on new multi-family housing, or commercial construction in Davis if not otherwise planned for a net-zero energy use?

Question #3 – Other Energy Conservation Measures

What additional steps could be taken by the City, its businesses, and residents that you believe would be most effective in reducing overall energy use and GHG emissions in Davis to meet our climate action and adaptation goals?

Subsequent articles in the series in the coming days will focus on each of the general categories in Parts 4-6.

Land Use and Housing Development – Downtown Core and Student Housing

Introduction - As has been our custom for over 20 years, the Sierra Club Yolano Group prepares a wide-ranging questionnaire and presents it to candidates in races of interest to our local membership. The questionnaire for the 2022 Davis City Council race received answers from all 5 candidates in the 2 of the 5 City Council Districts for which an election is held in Novemeber, 2022.

The candidates, listed in alphabetical order by their first name, are:

District 1 (West Davis): - Bapu Vaitla, Dan Carson, and Kelsey Fortune

District 4 (East Davis ) - Adam Morrill, Gloria Partida

Questions asked were in the following general categories:

Part 1 - Land Use and Housing Development – Peripheral Development

Part 2-- Land Use and Housing Development – Downtown Core and Student Housing

Part 3 - Energy Use and Greenhouse Gases

Part 4 - Transportation Management

Part 5 - Waste Management

Part 6 - Toxics in the Environment and Other Environmental Issues

Part 1 in this series can be viewed by clicking on that article's title above which is linked to the earlier publication.

This is the 2nd in the series of articles and focuses on Land Use and Housing Development – Downtown Core and Student Housing and provides candidate responses to the following questions:

By Ellen Kolarik 

It was November 18, 2019 and Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law was nearing the end of his presentation to a full house at Davis Community Church.  More than 200 people remained for the Q&A. 

A member of the audience asked “How can we maintain that small town feel and still deal with our housing issues?”

The reply? “That small town feel is a euphemism for a segregated community.”

Those of us that were involved in putting on that event were excited and proud that our community was open to hearing tough information about who we are as a country and as a community.  But, how to move forward?

Interfaith Housing Justice Davis (IHJD) formed as a response to Rothstein’s call to action.  IHJD is a loose coalition of faith organizations in Davis who advocate for changes in city policy to encourage more affordable housing, the first step in desegregating a community.

 Land Use and Housing Development – Peripheral Development

______________________________________________

Introduction - As has been our custom for over 20 years, the local Sierra Club Yolano Group has prepared candidate questionnaires for some local elections in Yolo County.  The questionnaire for the 2022 Davis City Council race asked for candidates' views and opinions on a wide-range of environmental issues of interest to our local membership.

The questionnaire received answers from all 5 candidates in the 2 City Council Districts for which an election is held this November. Listed in alphabetical order by their first name, the candidates are:

District 1 (West Davis): - Bapu Vaitla, Dan Carson, and Kelsey Fortune

District 4 (East Davis) - Adam Morrill, Gloria Partida

Questions were asked in the following general categories:

Part 1 - Land Use and Housing Development – Peripheral Development

Part 2-- Land Use and Housing Development – Downtown Core and Student Housing

Part 3 - Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Part 4 - Transportation Management

Part 5 - Waste Management

Part 6 - Toxics in the Environment and Other Environmental Issues

The article below reports the candidates' responses to the questions posed to them in the first category, Part 1 - Land Use and Housing Development – Peripheral Development. The following 3 questions were asked of each of the candidates in this category:

Question #1 - Measure H – Davis Innovation and Sustainability Campus

Did you support or oppose the development of the Davis Innovation and Sustainability Campus mixed use business park in Davis on the June ballot as Measure H and why?

Question #2 - New Proposed Peripheral Housing - Projects on Covell and Mace

There are 3 new proposed large housing projects on prime farmland in east Davis for which pre-applications have been submitted to the City - Palomino Place, Shriners, and On-the-Curve. All will require General Plan amendments and Measure J/R/D votes by the citizens. Do you support these projects and, if so, would you require any changes from their pre-application? If you do not support these projects, why not?

Question  #3 – Measure D (Measure J/R) Modification

Do you support any modifications to the recently renewed (2020) Measure D (formerly Measure J/R)?  Why or why not?

Subsequent articles with candidate responses to questions asked in the 5 other general categories will be reported in the coming days.

((From press release) On the morning of September 1, 2022, Huei Young (http://www.hueis-garden.com/) hosted a private meet and greet in her famous garden for Adam Morrill, Candidate for Davis City Council, District 4.

Huei is well known for her hosted nonprofit garden tour fundraisers. She has hosted tours for the Pence Gallery, MVT's eye testing and glasses program for children in need, Youth in Focus, STEAC (a short-term assistance program), Yolo Hospice, and Shriners Hospital for Children's Cerebral Palsy Program.

Huei is an avid supporter of Adam. She endorses Adam, “I know that Adam is sincere in his desire to work on solving many of the city’s problems using practical and cost-effective means, and demanding accountability for the results… As someone interested in action to solve problems, he has no patience for kicking a problem down the road, leaving it for some future council to solve.”

Adam Morrill will be tabling at the Nugget on Covell this Labor Day from 4-6pm. Please come by and meet him and ask questions.

By David L. Johnson

The following article is a satire on the August 30, 2022, meeting of the Davis City Council. At the meeting, the council voted 5-0 to relocate the existing zipline in Arroyo Park in west Davis to another location in the park. The zipline is used by children but its use causes a sharp metallic noise which has disturbed neighbors. The statements in the article may or may not be true.

Highlights

• City of Davis Consigliere Inder Khalsa argued that using a child recreation facility – the Arroyo Park zipline – is analogous to free speech cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorneys at CNN were perplexed by the Davis attorney’s comments. One legal analyst questioned whether Khalsa had walked into the wrong meeting.

Mitch Sears

(From press release) The Valley Clean Energy Board of Directors is very pleased to announce the appointment of Mitch Sears as VCE’s full-time Executive Officer. Sears has served as the agency’s Interim General Manager since its launch in 2018.

Sears has contributed his depth of experience to VCE gained through nearly 28 years with the City of Davis serving in various staff and management roles. Most recently he served as the City’s Sustainability Manager for over a decade, leading comprehensive efforts to address climate change, including implementation of community energy projects. Prior to that, he oversaw Davis’ Agricultural Land Conservation Program, helping permanently preserve over a thousand acres of Yolo County farmland.

“We couldn’t be happier to have Mitch accept this permanent appointment,” said Jesse Loren, VCE Board Chair and Winters City Council member. “His leadership and vision during VCE’s formation and launch have carried the agency through many complexities and have positioned VCE well as we step into the future.”

(From press release) Join the Davisphere this Thursday, September 1st at Central Park from 4-10pm for live music, beer and wine gardens and so much more!

Many in our community miss Picnic in the Park, so the Davis Downtown Business Association is bringing something new! This inaugural event series will feature live music, family entertainment, traditional and exotic food and beverage, a beer and wine garden, local retail and service providers, arts and crafts, and nonprofit organizations. Each event will begin with acts from local performing arts groups and end with regional or touring bands on stage with professional staging, lighting and audio.

Enjoy our lineup of vendors:

By Roberta Millstein

As most Davisites have learned by now, at least twice over the past two weekends, masked men displayed antisemitic banners from a highway overpass in Davis (see Davis Enterprise article for details).

The banners said, “Communism is Jewish” and “The Holocaust is an anti-white lie.”

Several local leaders issued responses.  These responses, although all were well-meaning, miss the mark a bit.  I want to try to explain why.

Chancellor Gary May said: “We are sickened that anyone would invest any time in such cowardly acts of hate and intimidation. They have no place here. We encourage our community to stand against antisemitism and racism.”

This isn’t false per se, but it’s incomplete.  This isn’t just an act of hate.  As I will explain further below, the banners replicate common tropes (repeatedly told stories) about Jewish people.  Without calling out those tropes, many will not understand, or fully understand, what the issues are.

Chancellor May is correct that anti-Semitism and racism are connected, but he doesn’t say how.  Again, more on this below.

By Colin Walsh

The Sky Track Saga really saddens me. It seems like every step of the process has been fraught with actions that discredit our community.

From the beginning, this equipment was a problem. Any history of an original proposal to update the playground equipment in Arroyo Park seems murky, and there doesn’t seem to have been a  specific proposal for a zipline like the Sky Track. Worse, no public notice was given to the neighbors. There was no proper approval of seating the equipment on a new playground pad and there was no study of noise impacts on the neighborhood for this equipment which was very different from what had been in the park previously.

The sound impact was terrible on neighboring houses and so, understandably, neighbors complained.

(From press release) The Episcopal Church of St. Martin is pleased to announce the second season of its Seeds of Justice speaker series, which explores the racialized history of the land on which Yolo County residents live and work. It asks: What is our responsibility as community members to the original inhabitants of this land, the ancestral homeland of the Patwin-Wintun people, and to those who have worked the land and stewarded it? What is the legacy of environmental racism, exploitation, and ecological degradation? How can we heal and repair the harm?  

Professor Beth Rose Middleton Manning

Professor Beth Rose Middleton Manning from the Department of Native American Studies, UC Davis, is our first presenter. Prof. Middleton Manning’s talk is titled:

“In Relation to Water: Indigenous Leadership in Restoring and Re-Envisioning Watershed Stewardship,”

and will be held on 18 September, 4:00pm, in person and online at the Episcopal Church of St Martin, 640 Hawthorn Lane, Davis CA 95616. To attend, please register at the following website:

https://churchofstmartin.org/2022/08/03/save-the-date-seeds-of-justice-continues/

Al's Corner is a space for YOU to comment on local issues.  Why not?

.   [See "Pages" --> "Al's Corner - What It Is" for Rulez.]

An example of stamped concrete

By David Taormino

After 6 years of wrangling with Davis City Staff, Bretton Woods is under construction. The actual election process was easy compared to finalizing the details with Davis staff. We still have half-a-dozen important and extremely costly imposed conditions that impact costs to homebuyers.

The craziest staff imposition requires customizing the new drainage tunnels to make the “World’s Fanciest Frog and Toad Tunnels”, reminiscent of the 1995 famous toad tunnel fiasco that brought national embarrassment to Davis. As bizarre of a request as it sounds, that tunnel only cost $14,000, these four cost approximately $200,000. Two Davis staffers, the Open Space Manager, and a Public Works engineer, are demanding the two bigger, better, fancier, customized 110-foot-long tunnels paralleling Covell Blvd near Risling Drive, and two more in our Bretton Woods Channel to accommodate critters. Without the details, it doesn’t sound unreasonable on its face.  

To “critter customize” these tunnels will cost each senior home buyer in Bretton Woods somewhere around $600 per home. While not a “princely sum”, it is only one of a dozen unnecessary costs heaped on Bretton Woods by city staff. What does each homebuyer get in return? Absolutely nothing, nada! What do the critters get for the extra cost? Only the staff knows, and they aren’t sharing, just demanding.

Where the critters are coming from or going; no one knows. I requested the staffers produce scientific evidence, or really any evidence, that this costly customization provides any more worthwhile conditions than normal tunnels. Does the staff have evidence that critters will need the customization compared to a standard tunnel? Just like 1995, NO!

Sadly, the unintended consequence of this forced customizing may be more 2019-like flooding of Sutter-Davis Hospital. Has the staff learned anything from the 1995 Toad Tunnel debacle or the flooding of 2019? Judge for yourself.

>>>from press release<<<

Throughout my 20 years as a public servant, I have responsibly administered taxpayer funds and delivered well thought out programs that improve service. I am not a career politician but stepping up because I know that together we can build a better Davis. 

Davis has challenges:  we need roads, bike/walk paths and sidewalks repaired, trees cared for, our downtown revitalized with a residential and commercial growth plan aligned to our needs.

With your support, I pledge to:

• Update and follow a citizen driven general plan
• Adopt budgets that align with our general plan and lower our carbon footprint
• Work with local businesses to revitalize our downtown as a destination for residents and visitors, and as a resilient source for city revenues
• Apply sound infill policies that make better use of existing space
• Prioritize housing projects that diversify our housing stock which will expand the range of available housing types/prices/rents
• Preserve surrounding prime farmland and encourage local farm to fork efforts
• Assist local non-profits, faith-based organizations, and the county with homelessness and mental health programs
• Support our police and fire personnel in keeping our city safe

I am the person to do the job, and that’s why I seek your support and your vote for Davis City Council, District 4. 

(From press release) Tree Davis is gearing up for a new season of events and activities that will bring community members together to enhance the living landscapes of our urban environment. With this change of seasons, the Tree Davis team has a bittersweet announcement that after five years of planting trees and growing community Executive Director Erin Donley Marineau’s tenure is coming to a close as she moves on to a statewide role in a Western-region conservation organization.

Erin and Board President, Greg McPherson, sat down for a conversation as the organization manages this transition and seeks recommendations for a new Executive Director:

Greg: Over the past five years, Tree Davis has overseen major tree planting projects in Davis, West Sacramento and Woodland. During your tenure, Erin, over 3,000 trees were planted and thousands of volunteers were engaged in stewardship activities. You forged new partnerships with the City of Davis, Woodland Tree Foundation, UC Davis, Sutter Davis, DJUSD and numerous other organizations that have enhanced appreciation and investment in our urban forest. Looking ahead, what important work do you see for Tree Davis?

Erin: First, it has been an immense privilege to serve in this role and to work with a passionate and engaged Board, stellar staff, and active volunteer community. Our tree community and the greater communities of Davis and Yolo County are so special in their willingness to search and reach for community and environmental betterment. I want to extend my personal thanks to Tree Davis’ founders, Board members, staff, donors, community partners, and volunteers for pulling together to do incredible work over the past 5 years.