Dave Taormino asked the Davisite to post the photo at the left with the comment:

"No comment."

The sign to the left greeted me this morning as I went to vote at my polling place at the VMC.  It is, in my opinion, an example of improper electioneering.

Electioneering is not permitted within 100 feet of a polling place. Electioneering is defined by the California Election Code Section 319.5 as “the visible display or audible dissemination of information that advocates for or against any candidate or measure on the ballot within 100 feet of a polling place, an elections official’s office, or a satellite location.”

Although someone cut the "Yes" part of the sign out, it's clear that this sign is advocating for the WDAAC project and is thus prohibited.

You have to wonder about the real merits of a project when its proponents will stoop this low to promote it.

This letter is to encourage voters to elect David Murphy to the Area 2 position on the Yolo County Board of Education. I have known and respected David for nearly 20 years, meeting him through school related activities our daughters participated in.

David led efforts in the past to improve Davis schools, including the creation of Da Vinci School, initiating our local Montessori magnet program, and introducing advanced placement (AP) science programs.

David Murphy’s career eventually led him to serve in a consulting capacity for school districts in the region, focusing on program improvements while maintaining fiscal prudence and seeding available outside funding to keep budgets in line with resources.

By Rik Keller

The Yes on Measure L/West Davis Active Adult Community (WDAAC) campaign has been saying that opponents of the project are "against seniors" and has been making unsubstantiated claims that the No On WDAAC campaign arguments are "lies" [see: https://www.davisite.org/2018/10/uncivil-discourse-at-the-civenergy-forum.html]. In the added context of the Yes on L campaign spending about $250,000 in this election cycle compared to about $7,500 for the opposition (as of reports filed 10/20/2018), this kind of messaging from deep-pocketed special interest groups who stand to make millions from cynical voter manipulation is offensive.

The following is a sampling of some Davis citizen comments against the Measure L/WDAAC project from social media posts that demonstrate that Davis residents are seeing through the blizzard of marketing money and the false charges of the project proponents. To my knowledge, none of these are from anyone working/volunteering on the No On WDAAC campaign, nor were they solicited by the campaign. It is notable that a significant number of the comments were posted on the Yes On L campaign's own Facebook page posts/advertisements.

Every election a group of Davis residents meets to eat pancakes, discuss the upcoming election, and put out a whimsical Politics and Pancakes Voter Guide.  You can find the voter guide for this year's election on the Davis Wiki .  Check it out -- there are many interesting thoughts there -- and please vote!  In-person voting is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6.

Residents of Eleanor Roosevelt Circle regularly meet with their on site Social Services Coordinator

By David Thompson

With your YES vote for Measure L, these low income seniors will get to stay and live in Davis. Otherwise, there are few places for them to go.

Davis Low Income Seniors are People by the Numbers

How many low income seniors will get a home in Davis?

“This energy flowing through my senior years comes directly from the Davis Community through the Eleanor Roosevelt Circle, thank you. Davis is a uniquely qualified community to establish new models of senior housing. Please vote yes on Proposition L to house more seniors.”

Diane C. Evans, Davis

Yesterday, Jason Taormino posted the photo at the left from their setup in downtown for the Halloween walk, showing one of their volunteers dressed as Pocahontas.  Most people have heard of “blackface”, especially since Megyn Kelly recently had her NBC show cancelled over defending blackface as being “ok so long as you were dressing, like, as a character.”  So why does the Yes on L campaign think that it’s ok to dress in redface as Pocahontas? 

People have been rightly and roundly criticized for dressing in redface before.  A student at Oklahoma university was pilloried for dressing in redface, with the recognition that a costume like that is “deeply disrespectful to the Native American community.”  Stephanie Fryberg, a Professor of Psychology and American Indian Studies at the University of Washington, as quoted in an article from Indian Country Today, asks, “Why are issues for Native people taken as less serious in the domain of bias and stereotyping and prejudice than for African Americans, why is there this difference?”

Another “Untruth” by the Yes on Measure L Campaign

By Alan Pryor and Pam Nieberg

INTRODUCTION

The Yes on Measure L campaign has been falsely characterizing the soils on which the WDAAC project is to be built as “unproductive” or “low quality alkaline soils solely used for winter animal feed crops”. Their most recent mailer contained the following graphic:

These claims are demonstrably untrue. In fact, the soil is suitable for a variety of human crops as characterized by the Yolo Co Agricultural Conservation and Mitigation Program. In summary, according to the EIR certified by the City Council, the lower approximately 50% (36.2 acres) of the site is Brentwood clay loam. Approximately a third of the soils (26.75 acres ) on the site directly above the Brentwood soils are Marvin silty clay. Above that are Willows clay (11.44 acres), and only a tiny piece (0.56 acres) in the upper north west piece of the site is Pescadero silty clay/saline-alkaline.

Tuesday, October 30th from 6pm-7pm
Location: Congregation Bet Haverim, 1715 Anderson Rd

Celebration of Abraham, Hillel at Davis and Sacramento, and Congregation Bet Haverim will coordinate a community-wide service of healing and solidarity. This is a sacred gathering to lift up our prayers through song and spoken word, with the focus on healing and unity.

Let’s Meet the City’s Real Internal Housing Needs, Including for Low-Income Seniors

By Nancy and Don Price

In October 2002, the City Council appointed a subcommittee to study housing needs in Davis. In particular, the Council wanted to consider providing housing opportunities for the local workforce as the primary reason for city residential growth.

In this context, the phrase “internal housing need”  was incorporated in City policy framework, documents, and studies to refer primarily to low and moderate income workforce housing. Indeed, work force housing is the only category of housing specifically mentioned as “internal needs” in the City’s General Plan and for which specific policies have been crafted to meet the need.

For instance, Measure J (voter approved in 2000) and Measure R (voter approved in 2010) as an update of Measure J was intended to “further” and “implement” meeting this “internal housing need” based on local employment growth, UCD growth, and “natural” growth. Indeed, meeting this “internal housing need” is the only justification provided in Measures J/R for converting agricultural lands on the periphery of the city.

Unfortunately, the Yes on Measure L campaign has erroneously misappropriated the term, “internal housing needs,” to otherwise claim the WDAAC project, providing low-income subsidized senior housing and much larger and expensive homes  for senior purchase, meets these needs and thus should be approved by voters. This is a false claim and is not supported anywhere in City documents.

By Dan Cornford

A couple of weeks ago after many of us in were in despair at the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh and asking what we could do, I suggested that we could help get out the vote (GOTV) in one of the Congressional districts relatively nearby where the race was close. I also mentioned that one such place is CD10 (broadly Stanislaus County and Modesto). CD10 has for the last few elections been narrowly won by Republican Jeff Denham, and in 2016 HRC got more votes than Trump in this district. [See Dan's comment on Roberta Millstein's article].

In the midterms, Democrat Josh Harder is challenging Denham (as you may have picked up for the TV ads saturating us). The race is rated as a “toss-up” with JH holding a very narrow lead in most polls. Without taking any corporate donations, JH has raised almost $7 million (at two different house fund raising parties a Berkeley friend of mine raised almost $100,000 for him). JH was endorsed by the Modesto Bee in late September but it is going to be a brutally close race.

Volunteers are badly needed to help get out the vote, phone bank, and do office work (and yes, you are given a choice as to what kind of work you want to do, as well as appropriate training where needed). Because of my personal connections (I lived in Berkeley 1980-2000), I am working with Indivisible Berkeley (IB). IB is focusing on Tracy as they think that is where the most swing votes are. For well over a year they have been canvassing Tracy with busloads of people going there every weekend. So with the Tracy Democrats they have laid the groundwork well.

I support and endorse David Murphy for Yolo County Board of Education, Trustee Area 2, and I hope you will too.

I encourage you to vote for David Murphy, as the YCBOE, Trustee Area 2, as he has been involved in education, in a variety of ways, for a very long time.  David is a resident of Davis who has many years of cumulative service, in and out of Davis, ranging from being the principal of Davis Senior High School to being the superintendent of Davis Joint Unified School District.

I am delighted to endorse David Murphy for the Yolo County Board of Education, Trustee Area 2. We hired David as superintendent of the Davis schools in 1998, at the end of my first year on the school board.

Under his outstanding leadership, we passed a construction bond, built three schools (Harper, Montgomery and Korematsu), opened the Montessori program at Birch Lane, and received a grant from the Gates Foundation to open Da Vinci High School. He will bring his considerable skills and insights to support the County Office of Education and its programs, including education at the juvenile hall, Headstart and programs for high school kids expelled from local districts.

In this time of national political tumult, it is refreshing to celebrate local politics in Davis. And it is so important to seek out those with optimism, those who push on in the face of difficulty. This is what sparks my enthusiastic endorsement of David Murphy, who continues to work steadfastly for students and families of Yolo County.

As a longtime English teacher at Davis High School, I benefited from David’s leadership while he served as superintendent of schools. As a teacher of two of his daughters, I got to see him not only in the superintendent role, but also in the parent role. He was superb in both, always asking what more needed to be done to aid teachers like me, particularly in terms of serving our most vulnerable, at-risk students. David has a huge heart, and I have witnessed many occasions when he helped out students less fortunate, including the scholarship that the Murphys give every year to a deserving immigrant.

David has enjoyed a long and storied career. His resume is legendary – Teacher, Principal, Superintendent. He has given incredible service bringing creative solutions to complex educational challenges. We are so fortunate that he wants to continue to serve.

A recent Harvard study, “Aging Well,” concludes that the key to a long, happy, and productive life includes “building a good life, becoming a well-rounded self, and then giving back.” This describes David perfectly. We need his experience, energy, and expertise to provide solutions to the complex problems that face the Yolo County Board of Education.

Widgen Neagley
Davis

By Carey Ann Hunt

The ground was dusty and the air was bone dry. 

Midafternoon dense with heat,

Smoky with the chance of ash.

Fires blazed in hills nearby.

Engulfed in heat, I tired from merely walking   

I made my way to the three greenhouses

Just past the fire station on the left.

Voter Forum

"When we rise, we vote!”

Voters’ forum focused on the issues of concern to voters in Yolo County and the region and CA state ballot initiatives, with the goal of maximizing voter turnout. This event is sponsored by the Yolo County Democratic Party.

Sunday at 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Davis Senior Center
646 A St, Davis, California 95616

<<<press release>>>

Local Democratic clubs, community groups and candidates are invited to table at the event. There may be a brief amount of time provided for speakers at the opening and closing of the event. We ask all clubs and community groups to bring a food item to share for 10-50 people. Together, we can provide some light snacks and refreshments for up to 200 people. 

More importantly, we ask that you come prepared to share facts, figures, Get Out The Vote strategies that work, and solutions that empower, either by tabling for your group or leading a breakout session. We strive to be as welcoming and empowering as possible. We are coming together as a very diverse, respectful, and progressive community.

For more details and to co-sponsor (bring your own table, lead a breakout session, or provide food), contact: Kris Edwards (writemindfulness@gmail.com), M. E. Gladis (916-248-6442, mixieups@yahoo.com), Desiree Rojas-Bates (Desflores5@gmail.com)

By the No on Measure L Campaign

Introduction

A letter received from the Fair Housing Council of Orange County, posted yesterday on the Davisite, advises the City of Davis of the wrongful naming of the West Davis Active Adult Community senior housing project:

“the term ‘active adult community’ is very much misguided and needs to be changed...rather than moving forward with a name that readily implies that the community is not welcoming of individuals who have a right to choose to live within in its borders.”(excerpted from letter)

Eric Gelber, a Davis resident with 26 years experience as an attorney with disability rights advocacy experience - including fair housing advocacy - made the following statement in response to this letter:

“The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (FHAA) added disability and families with children as protected classes under the federal Fair Housing Act. A concession to seniors was also enacted to allow for senior housing developments, which could continue to utilize age restrictions if specified conditions were met. One of the conditions is that 20 percent of the housing in such developments must not be age-restricted, and must be available to younger households, including families with children.

Some of the earliest cases under the FHAA focused on advertising for developments, which marketed themselves as communities for “active adults.” Such advertising was determined to be a not so subtle way of discriminating against people with disabilities who were not traditionally “active.” Similarly, advertising a senior housing development as an “adult” community, gives the impression that families with children are not welcome in even the 20 percent of homes that are not age-restricted.(emphasis added)

The Davisite was forwarded the following letter from the Orange County Fair Housing Council (OCFHC), a private 501(c)(3) non-profit located in Santa Ana, California. The OCFHC raises concerns about the project's use of the term  ‘active adult.'  With respect to the term 'adult,' the letter states that "fair housing and related civil rights laws...do not recognize or sanction adult-only or otherwise age restricted housing within California that falls outside of the specific definition of what constitutes senior housing" and "may give the impression that families with children are not welcome to live in that community."  They also raise the concern that the use of the term 'active' "may tend imply that, even for the properly age restricted portion of the project, people with disabilities may not be welcome."  The letter appears in its entirety below.