(From press release) Valley Clean Energy announces the hiring of Edward Burnham as Director of Finance and Internal Operations. He will be responsible for oversight of finance and accounting tasks as well as VCE’s treasury, enterprise risk, information technology and audits.

Prior to joining the local electricity provider, Burnham worked for Yolo County’s Treasury Division, overseeing all revenue, treasury and finance activities, including handling investments for all county pool participants (county, local school districts and special districts), endowments and other investments. The pool was valued at an average of more than $500 million last year.

Additionally, Burnham spent 12 years abroad, working in finance for private and publicly traded companies in the energy sector. His duties took him to China, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Cyprus, West Africa, and the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Dear Friends,

LOTS of good news!  

What is the headline?  

SACRAMENTO COUNTY NETS $60 MILLION WINDFALL FROM FEDS. HOW IT WILL HELP FIGHT COVID-19.

Sacramento County nets $60 million windfall from feds. How it will help fight COVID-19

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article249136850.html?ac_cid=DM382849&ac_bid=-588765852

But what about Yolo County?  And why wasn't Yolo in the headline (See Davis Enterprise, not Sacramento Bee).  We get $10.4 Million!!!!

That quickly brings up a question... what is Yolo County going to do with it?  Well, let's ask the experts, ok?

Dear Friends,

Supervisor Provenza ran on a ticket of BOTH fighting COVID and supporting local businesses.  And.... he is following through on his campaign promises!

Please see the press release below for details .... TODAY is the first day that restaurants can apply for this help.

Meanwhile, everybody, to the extent that you are able, please personally support local restaurants and markets...... get some healthy take out and LEAVE A TIP!  That is what I do on a regular basis.

Take care, be safe, and hang together.

John

Yolo County Announces Restaurant Fee Waiver

South-bound Pole Line just south of East Covell. Convenient to pick-up, not so convenient for people who want to use the lane

An hour earlier - most bikes are not equipped with headlights and the person on a bike might not see it.

UPDATE: The piles I've described in this post which were on or near the East Covell corridor have been removed. There are some others in the bike lane on Loyola between the entrance to Korematsu Elementary and Alhambra, and still nothing either here or in general to communicate to people driving motor vehicles that people on bikes may deviate from the bike lanes....

*****

Last week's storm was the worst in ten years by many accounts, with serious damage to trees and property, a significant loss of perishable food and other problems caused by lack of power.

Obviously city staff, private contractors and others had their work cut out for them and certainly we applaud their efforts, though many cheered PG&E field staff and they pooped on their bosses (and shareholders).

From what I saw, arterial streets in Davis were cleared for the most part by January 28th, the day after the storms mostly ended. When out then to photograph the weird non-standard lane design on Lake at Russell I passed the dangerousafety radar speed sign on East Covell Blvd. that I blogged about last week.

I noticed that street sweepers had made at least two passes on the traffic lanes of East Covell, because there was a consistent line of debris that started a  foot or two into the bike lane from the number two lane. I noticed the same, um, edging on other arteries.

Dear Friends,

Today is Dr. Michael Wilkes last official day as a member of the Yolo County Health Council. ***  A celebrated physician and public health expert, Dr. Wilkes is board certified in Internal Medicine and has both a Masters in Public Health (Columbia) and a PhD in Public Health (UCLA) which made him the most highly educated member of the Yolo County Health Council and because of this dual training, one with particular expertise in the COVID pandemic.

On the UC Davis School of Medicine web site, Dr. Wilkes clinical expertise is described like this:

City is blocking bike lanes?

The City of Davis' only response to recent crashes in the vicinity of Pole Line Road and East Covell Blvd has thus far been Enforcement¹. Actively, the Davis Police Department has been monitoring some locations in the area.  Passively, the City has placed a radar speed sign on WB East Covell between Manzanita and Baywood Streets, right about here.

Why is the radar speed sign in the bike lane? The City places similar signs - and they and private contractors place various construction signs - off to the side on streets when there's space to do so, so they clearly understand the advantage of doing so. But when there's no space, they place the signs on the side of the street, and on most collectors and arterial streets in Davis this means it's in a bike lane.

"Putting a radar feedback sign on Covell to invite drivers to slow down: good. Putting a sign in bike lane: not good," says Nicolas Fauchier-Magnan, the President of Bike Davis, who usually goes by Nico.

"Obstructing the bike lane, on a street where drivers routinely go 50 mph or more is simply irresponsible. 

"Come on, City of Davis," continues Nico. "You should know better, and you can do better. Please fix this terrible blunder before someone gets hurt. There is plenty of space on the grass, outside of the bike lane, to safely place this sign."

By Sarah Pattison

On Jan. 22, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force and becomes part of the canon of international law, after it was ratified by the required 50 states. According to Article 1 of the Treaty, states party to the Treaty are prohibited under any circumstances from any of the following activities:

1. Develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;
2. Transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly or indirectly;
3. Receive the transfer of or control over nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices directly or indirectly;
4. Use or threaten to use nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;
5. Assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty;
6. Seek or receive any assistance, in any way, from anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty;
7. Allow any stationing, installation or deployment of any nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices in its territory or at any place under its jurisdiction or control.

Because the United States has neither signed nor ratified the treaty, it does not have the force of law in this country. But the treaty was approved by 122 nations in 2017, and has since been signed by 86 nations and ratified by 51. It is a clear reflection of the frustration and impatience of non-nuclear nations with nuclear weapons states that have failed to fulfill the promise they made “in good faith” in the Nonproliferation Treaty in 1970 to negotiate the cessation of the arms race and complete disarmament “at an early date.” While our country and other nuclear weapons states may attempt to sidestep the legal force of the Treaty, we cannot avoid the compelling moral power it carries.

Move money to human, environmental needs

By Nancy Price

On Jan. 18, we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.’s Jan. 15 birthday. With the long weekend, you could listen to more celebratory radio, T.V. and webinar programs.

Usually, King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial is the highlight, often with community readings that this year may have been outdoor for safely.

Now, in the midst of convergent social, economic and environmental crises, programs often talked about King’s most revolutionary “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech, given on April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York, when he moved from civil rights to a critique of capitalism and an economic system that left tens of millions struggling in poverty.

He spoke of the “triplets of evil” — racism, materialism and militarism — and called for a “revolution of values” a shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society.” He called for a “worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concerns beyond one’s tribe, race, class and nation.” He emphasized that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

Jesse Loren

Dan Carson

(From press release) As a new year dawns, Valley Clean Energy announces a change in leadership for the not-for-profit local electricity provider.

Dan Carson, a Davis City Councilmember, was elected to chair the VCE board for 2021, and Winters City Councilmember Jesse Loren was elected to the position of vice chair. Both votes were unanimous.

The VCE board is composed of two representatives from each of the communities it serves — the cities of Woodland, Davis and Winters and unincorporated Yolo County. Loren’s appointment couldn’t be more timely, as the community of Winters is currently enrolling customers for VCE service.

Sunday January 31, 2021 3pm-4pm

(From press release) This past year we all have had our lives changed by COVID19—ZOOM-ing religious services, masks to leave our homes, not spending holidays with loved ones and adapting the Celebration of Abraham. The planners of Abraham considered cancelling this year’s celebration to ensure the safety of our participants, but we realized that Davis needs this year’s celebration as we struggle with the pandemic, environmental destruction, and political unrest. The Celebration of Abraham represents the only interfaith organization guided by the laity.

We believe that our community needs to come together for mutual support and, therefore we will hold a virtual celebration. This led us to our topic: Practicing Humility in Difficult Times. We have chosen three leaders to offer guidance grounded in their faith traditions on how each of us can go forward to help heal our world: Dr. Travis Lybbert (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), Rabbi Greg Wolfe (Congregation Bet Haverim) and Dr. Mairaj Syed (Religious Studies UCD and the Muslim DEIN).

Randy Farris will again lead us in singing Children of Abraham. We also will raise donations for the Yolo Food Bank (https://yolofoodbank.org/donate). To sign up for the event that will be hosted both on ZOOM and Facebook please go to our website for more information. www.celebrationofabraham.net.

By David Kupfer

One of the most experienced, astute, opinionated, and influential players in the Organic Farming Movement, Amigo Bob Cantisano passed after an 8 year battle with throat cancer at age 69 surrounded by his family on December 26. He was a rare ninth-generation Californian, directly descended from a Spanish lieutenant in the 1775-76 Juan Bautista de Anza expedition that led and created the first land route between New Spain and Alta California.

Just as his ancestors were pioneers in their own right, Cantisano distinguished himself by being a singular powerhouse in the organic horticulture field for nearly half a century. A San Francisco native, as a child, he first learned how to garden from his grandmother, and in the late 1960s began growing pesticide-free food while living on communes in the City’s Haight Ashbury district and in Mendocino County. He first was employed at Good Karma, an early San Francisco vegetarian café, and at the City’s first natural foods emporium “New Age,” both owned by Fred Rohé, whom Cantisano called “the founder of the whole natural foods movement.” It was these experiences, along with exposure to Rodale Press’s Organic Gardening magazine and a speaker at San Francisco’s first Earth Day celebration in 1970 on the impacts and hazards of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and large mono crops to human health and the environment, that set him off on his life-long crusade that extended through his life.

Dear Friends,

On Saturday, based on more widespread testing, Stanford University picked up an uptick in cases of Coronavirus among students at their campus in virus plagued Santa Clara County and changed the decision on bringing first and second year students back to campus this week.

"In a message to the campus community dated Saturday, Stanford leaders cited a recent tenfold increase in coronavirus cases per 100,000 county residents as a major reason for the change in plans. In addition, as of Friday, 43 Stanford students had tested positive for COVID-19 since Jan. 2, according to the university."

This announcement makes clear the benefits of more testing..... more data produces more information and ALLOWS individuals, families, communities and institutions to make better decisions.  

Kudos to those who are participating in the testing of residents across the state including Yolo County residents..... but we are still way too low in terms of testing in Yolo County.  As of a look a few minutes ago to the Yolo County Coronavirus Dashboards we have had 80,862 people have been tested AT ANY TIME during the pandemic.  That is less than half of the Yolo County population of ~ 220,000 has ever been tested.  

For the Stanford decision, please see this article in the SF Chronicle:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Stanford-cancels-plan-to-bring-undergraduates-15860193.php?utm_campaign=CHL%3A%20Daily%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=106090768&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Rp27TahNnmJaPYqnv_2g8xfti7RA9b64Bn03N_TQEcwtfyc3euJJpHyD5BD1EV0ebnmyzjlhB2ygrTVtWp_3svu7HZg&utm_content=106090768&utm_source=hs_email

Regards,

John

Dear Friends:

Hello!

Good morning and Happy New Year!

Would you like to know where/when the FIRST County sponsored coronavirus testing opportunity will be in 2021?  

Here it is:

And here are the rules, provided by the Health Department (NOTE:  You have to make an appointment):

Participants of these testing sites must be residents of Yolo County and will need to bring a document displaying their name and address, such as a driver’s license, ID card, utility bill, or piece of mail. All ages are accepted. Spanish translation will be available at most, if not all, of the sites. There may be some delays in getting testing results. Registration is recommended in order to speed up the process but is not required and does not guarantee a test. When residents register online, they will not be able to select a time slot and will not receive a confirmation of receipt. Register at: https://www.avellinocoronatest.com/patient.

And if you cannot take advantage of this "first of the year" opportunity, how do you find out about other County sponsored CV testing opportunities?  

Right here:  Please check the County’s testing website for more information: https://covidtesting.yolocounty.org/.

And remember, you get tested for yourself, your partner, you family, your friends, your community, yourself.  

Cheers,

John

PS  Did you see Rich Rifkin's column on contact tracing in the Davis Enterprise?  We have lots of challenges, but working together we can overcome them.  Let's do it 2021!  

https://www.davisenterprise.com/forum/rich-rifkin-why-covid-policy-is-not-driven-by-evidence/

Because he makes so darn much sense!

Here is what he posted on the Yolo Community COVID-19 FB page a little while ago.  Please take a look and don't forget to vote for "public health savvy" electeds like Jim Provenza!

Regards,

John

=======================================================================

Dear Friends,

You may decide that the next two weeks are an ideal time to learn more about the coronavirus.  Face it, we are all stuck with this virus and its impact for a while (read:  months!).  You can choose to ignore, to do basic coping, or dig in and learn some more.

I chose to dig in and learn some more.  Johns Hopkins University, home of the world famous School of Public Health, has been a pioneer in online education in public health for decades.  They have created some high quality, very accessible online courses on the coronavirus which are designed for lay people.  

Yes, that's you, the non-public health expert who is nonetheless smart enough to take an online course on this super important topic. For sure, you can take this course if you have no intention of becoming a Contact Tracer for the Yolo County Health Department.  You can take this course to learn more about CV to help you and your family understand how and why to protect yourselves.  

Upper Crust’s apple pies will be among the choices available at the Davis Farmers Market on Dec. 23. (Courtesy photo)

(From press release) The Davis Farmers Market will offer additional vendors for its Wednesday, Dec. 23 market, with last-minute shopping for holiday meals and gifts.

That market will have regular Wednesday hours ­– 3 to 6 p.m. – in Central Park, 301 C St., Davis. As is tradition for the Wednesday market between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the Dec. 30 market will be closed. The Saturday markets on Dec. 26 and Jan. 2 will be open with regular hours – 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Davis Farmers is filled with farm-fresh products like citrus and pomegranates, poinsettias, nuts and nut butters, juices and veggies. There’s also table décor, meats, cheeses, olive oil, nuts, dried fruits, honey and wine. Several bakeries will have fresh-baked items like pies, breads, stuffing mixes and cookies.

There is no Gift Basket Central this year. However, there are pre-packaged gift bags of market merchandise, and baskets shoppers may buy to create their own collections from market goods such as honey, jams, nuts, wine, oils, lotions, soaps, salts, masks, Kettlepop, coffee beans and bakery treats.

Year-round, rain or shine, the Davis Farmers Market is open from 3 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, visit https://davisfarmersmarket.org or visit it on Facebook or Instagram.

Pastor William H. Lamar
Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church
1518 M Street NW
Washington DC 20005
Rev. Dr. Ianther M. Mills
Asbury United Methodist Church
926 11th Street
Washington DC 20001

Dear Pastor Lamar and Rev. Dr. Mills,

The Celebration of Abraham is an interfaith group in Davis California. We write to offer our condolences and express our outrage over the December 12th, violent attacks on your congregations. As people of faith, we believe that the religious freedom and free speech rights of your congregations were trampled on by the perpetrators of these attacks. The obvious racism of the actions violates the universal tenet embedded in all our faiths that the dignity of each individual is sacred. Your public statements of hope and healing reminds us that we can get through this and build a better, more loving future.

We will keep you and your congregants in our prayers and hearts.

Sincerely,

Helen Roland Cramer, Chair
Celebration of Abraham

By Wendy Weitzel

Artists need their work to be seen and heard. But a statewide arts advocate says the arts industry is being overlooked in the pandemic.

Julie Baker, executive director of California Arts Advocates and for the statewide nonprofit Californians for the Arts, told some 25 participants at a Dec. 9 Arts Alliance Davis video meeting that their organizations need to demonstrate how essential they are.

“We want to be seen. We want to be part of the solution,” Baker said from her Nevada City base. “We’re an industry. We’re not a cause. We can support California socially and emotionally. We know that’s what the arts can bring.”

California Arts Advocates is the only statewide group that works to protect arts funding for the whole arts community. Baker said arts are 8 percent of the state’s economy, yet artists are often not seen as essential – or even recognized as workers. Two-thirds of artists are self-employed and don’t qualify for traditional unemployment. Some are truly starving artists.