With a chance to ask questions

By Matt Williams

On Friday, November 20^th, at noon, Davis Mayor Gloria Partida will discuss the issues of the day and then take questions from the public. The webinar is free and open to the public. Please register in advance. To join us please sign up here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kswA1_FqRoG1VYL6S-FuQw

Davisite readers can post questions for the Mayor here in this thread that they feel will be good ones to have addressed during the webinar.  The questions posted here will be forwarded to the Mayor.  Presubmitting question(s) will give the Mayor time to consider her answer(s), as well as give webinar attendees an idea about the topics their neighbors are interested in.

For example, one question might be as follows:  “Gloria, the residents of District 4 voted “No” on Measure B by a 3,591 to 2,328 margin.  That is 60.7% against and only 39.3% for Measure B. What are your thoughts about that outcome?”

Another question might be “Gloria, 14,341 people voted in the three Council elections on November 3^rd, and in those same three districts 15,110 people voted on Measure B … a 5% higher turnout than the Council candidates got.  What are your take-aways from those results?”

Democracy works best when citizens actively participate.  So, here is a chance for everyone to participate.

Join the League of Women Voters Davis Area on Wednesday, Nov. 18 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. for a free virtual voter-education health-care forum, “The Future of State-Based Health Reform in California.”

With health-care reform back in the news, the event will consider what California can implement a state-based financing approach to a system that provides universal care, controls costs and improves outcomes.

Dr. William Hsiao, an internationally known health economist at the Harvard T. H. Chan School Public Health, will give a 25-minute presentation on the health, economic and political background for reform and his views of how to move ahead with a single-payer plan in California.

Cindy Young, a leader in the California single-payer movement with more than 30 years of experience as a policy analyst for organized labor, will comment on Dr. Hsiao’s views and offer her own perspective.

D is for “Democracy in action”

By Ken Wagstaff, Eileen M. Samitz, Mark Spencer, and Desmond Jolly

Background

Measure D is on the November ballot to renew Measure J, which was originally passed by Davis voters in 2000 and renewed overwhelmingly in 2010 as Measure R. Measure J requires voter approval for development of open space or agricultural land within or adjacent to the city. Historically, the city’s borders have been where growth pressure is greatest. Measure J acknowledges the importance of incorporating citizen review into the planning process and is offered for renewal to the public every ten years.

Measure J was originally drafted by Davis citizens, with the help of environmental and legal counsel, as a response to the unbridled growth in the 1990’s. At the time, Davis was growing at more than double the rate of other California cities resulting in serious budgetary shortfalls, circulation issues, overwhelmed city services and inadequate school capacity for children.

Measure J provisions

I am writing in support of Colin Walsh for City Council representing District 2. I know Colin as an active and concerned member of our community and I know Colin as a neighbor. He never fails to have information relating to current topics impacting Davis and he willingly provides details on where I may locate relevant related information. He researches topics and delves into the details.

I am especially impressed by his masterful analysis of the University Commons issue. As Colin points out, the current design will be an eyesore to the community. It is not one and a half, not two, but three times as large as the city’s General Plan permits. Does the plan exist just to be ignored whenever a developer, backed up by city staff, stands to make some money? That is certainly not how I understood the intent of the General Plan. Besides that, the developer’s claim that he will provide needed student housing is simply false, since it ignores the fact that the UC Davis West Village project currently under construction on campus will add 3,300 beds and will be only for students.

What about low- or moderate-income university workers, now burning up gas to commute from Woodland or elsewhere out of town? The present apartment design is skewed to student occupancy, and lacks the flexibility that would make it suitable not only for students but families as well. As Colin points out, we can do better with mixed-use at that site.

University Commons is simply one of several issues currently facing the people of Davis. I trust that in the role of City Council member, Colin will solicit input from citizens and experts, do due diligence to fact-finding, accept input from commissions assigned to study the projects, ask probing questions and ultimately stand up and point out vigorously when proposals as ill-conceived as the present one so violate the interests of our community.

I am a longtime Davis resident — I grew up in Davis, attended Davis schools from first grade on, graduated from UCD and have worked at UCD now for the past 34 years. I don’t usually get involved in Davis politics, but I know Colin is of the highest integrity and would be an outstanding council member and I encourage you to vote for Colin Walsh for City Council.

Marika Pappagianis
Davis

Having served on the Davis City Council for 12 years and having served as mayor of Davis, I understand that our quality of life in Davis is facing unprecedented challenges in the pandemic era.

I’ve known Colin for over two decades, and I know that Colin appreciates that maintaining our quality of life doesn’t come from blindly following out-of-town boilerplate consultant reports or approving every developer application with minor tweaking. Colin knows that good city planning comes from having the judgment to combine our unique small-town character with sound, common-sense environmental principles and to actually listen to the citizens.

I have complete trust in Colin’s intelligence, wisdom and dedication to oversee Davis’ city planning and financial management in these challenging times. Especially important to me is that Colin loves the unique character of our Davis downtown that has enriched our quality of life and has made Davis such a desirable town that has been enjoyed by generations of families, students and retirees alike.

With Colin Walsh on the Davis City Council, Davis will be in the best of hands.

Sue Greenwald
Former Davis mayor

The signers invite the community to color and paste in their window the above graphic to show solidarity for the democratic process at a community level (click to enlarge).

A Statement on the 2020 Election from the Davis Area Interfaith Religious Leaders Network

 Religious communities promote and protect our democracy

The religious traditions we represent are born of visions and values for human life that inspire our strong advocacy of American democracy. Over the centuries our people have offered creative insights and energies to help our nation move toward “a more perfect union.” We believe that a thriving democracy is essential to ensure that all persons are not only “created equal,” but are treated equally and welcomed to contribute to the creation of a society where “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are “unalienable rights” for everyone, without exception.

 Our democracy faces many challenges

This fall, many Americans feel anxious about the future of our democracy. Our long tradition of absentee and mail-in voting has been maligned. Foreign powers are maliciously influencing the election. Voters are challenged and often intimidated at the voting booth. And we face the likelihood of an unprecedented delay in receiving the final election results. We are at a critical moment in American history. We feel many things: concern, confusion, helplessness, anger, and reactivity.

(From press release) If you're still undecided about Measure B authorizing the 200-acre DISC Industrial Park on prime farmland and burrowing owl habitat with 2.6 Million sq ft of commercial buildings, following are five very good reasons to vote NO on this massive, sprawling, ill-conceived project that will forever change Davis for the worse.

1. Nightmarish Traffic Gridlock

• The Environmental Impact Report estimated that more than 24,000 in-and-out daily car trips will occur for the DISC project when completed - more than doubling current traffic levels. It will turn Mace Blvd. into a parking lot causing hours of gridlock every day.

• The City and Developer have no plans at all on how they will mitigate this massive influx of new traffic. Instead, a Traffic Demand Management Plan will be prepared by the Developer in the future.

• But "Figuring it all out later" is NOT a plan!

2. Unprecedented Increases in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

• Our world is burning up and melting around us. This year we have seen the largest fires ever in the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, Siberia, the Amazon, and Australia along with record-breaking ice-melts in Greenland and Antarctica.

• Yet according to the project's Environmental Impact Report, "...net emissions in the year 2035 would equal 37,724.31 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, the project would NOT meet the City’s target of net carbon neutrality by the year 2040." Instead it will increase the City's carbon footprint by over 8% from this one project.

• Our leaders passed an Emergency Climate Resolution just last year...what are they now thinking?

3. DISC will Cannibalize our Downtown

Thirty different small downtown Davis merchants recently signed a petition opposing the project's 100,000 sq ft of additional retail space (about the size of Davis Target) and the 160,000 sq ft of additional hotel space (more than twice the size of the new Marriott just across the street) because it would present severe economic hardship on the small downtown merchants already reeling from COVID.

• The DISC Environmental Impact Report (EIR) also projected than an additional 313,000 sq ft of commercial space in Davis could become newly vacant due to competition from the DISC project leaving blight in its wake.

• Our Downtown should not be Sacrificed for Developer Profits!

4. DISC will NOT have Affordable Housing

• The DISC Developer falsely claims the amount of affordable housing at the project is "record-breaking" for Davis. That is simply NOT true for either the market-rate OR the subsidized affordable housing.

• The estimated rent for a market-rate 2- bedroom apartment will be $2,500+ per month and the estimated price for a 2,200 sq ft home will be over $800,000+ and will require a $200,000+ annual salary to buy.

• There will be 128 subsidized housing units on-site which is 14.7% of the 850 total housing units. But the West Davis Active Adult Community will have 150 subsidized senior apartments on site which is 31.6% of the 475 total units.

• DISC will neither be "Affordable" or "Record-Breaking"!

5. DISC is using Voodoo Economics to Project a Profit for the City

• Property Tax revenues are based on hopelessly optimistic and unrealistic valuations that are 48% higher compared to the same analysis done by the same financial consultant for the same business park just 5 years ago and 68% higher than current regional averages.

• The City's Finance and Budget Commission voted on a slim 4-3 margin only that the project "is likely to produce a net positive financial benefit to the City"...Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

• And one Commissioner even called the consultant's assumptions a "fairy tale".

• Clearly, a thumb has been put on the scale to make the project seem economically far rosier than reality. _________________________________________________________

The more we hear about DISC, the more it is clear that Davis will get all of the traffic and pollution and the Developers will get all of the profits. It's time to just say "NO"!

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Sierra Club Endorses No on Measure B - No on DISC

What do City Council candidates think about our streets? To learn more about their visions, Bike Davis sent all candidates a questionnaire focused on three themes: making Davis more livable, reducing injuries and fatalities on our streets, and transportation infrastructure and zoning.

Some common themes emerged from the candidates’ thoughtful answers. All candidates are in favor of creating a locally-owned and operated bike share system as other cities have done (eg Biketown in Portland, or PeaceHealth Rides in Eugene). Almost all candidates walk or bike regularly. Some ride a bike for daily errands, others walk or ride for exercise. All candidates support preventing traffic deaths and severe injuries in Davis by implementing a Vision Zero approach.

On the other hand, Bike Davis was surprised to find that only four of the nine candidates mentioned bicycling as a way to reduce transportation-related GHG emissions and contribute to Davis’ climate neutrality goal.

Bike Davis is presenting each candidate below with a “favorite quote” and a link to their full answers. These materials are also available on our website at bikedavis.us/vote

Photo credit: Nick Buxton

By Juliette Beck

A little over twelve years ago when I was pregnant with my first child and deciding whether to move to Davis to join my sister in raising our families here, I looked at the air quality data and considered the impacts on newborn lungs.

I ultimately made the decision to move here and fight like hell for my children to grow up on a livable planet, in a healthy community. Given the climate emergency that has choked our skies with smoke for weeks on end, I'm not sure I'd make that same decision today.

We are at a critical turning point in human history. For decades, scientists, activists and frontline communities have been telling us we must change course. This summer, it has become undeniable that all of us here in California are now on the frontlines of a rapidly destabilizing climate.

With Measure B (thanks to Measure J/R now on the ballot as Measure D), we as citizens of Davis have the opportunity to vote on how our community will respond to the climate emergency - an emergency caused in large part based on how we as a society develop land and open space.

Located just east of the Mace Blvd curve and north of the Ikeda Market, this swath of farmland borders Davis as a gateway to our city. It could be a showcase for climate positive, regenerative farming that sustains our local food needs. But if Measure B passes, it will instead be a sprawling development comprised mainly of $800,000+ luxury homes and a massive industrial business park.

Infill would be a better choice

By Pam Gunnell, Richard McCann, and Matt Williams

A 200-acre business park like DISC is not an objective in the City of Davis’ General Plan.  Additionally, DISC contains uses (housing, retail, parks, ag buffer) that require land that would not be needed with an infill model that uses existing parcels inside the city limits. According to the project’s own environmental review documents, the FSEIR, only 101 acres of the 200-acre DISC are needed for R&D, office and light manufacturing.  (FSEIR p. 2-21 and p. 2-254) 

Since DISC is proposed to be built out in 4 phases over 20-25 years, 101 acres of land is not needed all at once.  For that reason, existing smaller parcels in Davis may be able to accommodate the initial R&D development and defer the need to consider DISC for a number of years … at a time when the impacts of COVID on market demand for Office/R&D/Flex space are much clearer.

The City, however, is not seriously considering meeting its commercial needs with infill of existing parcels, despite the fact that a 2019 City study enumerates 124 acres of vacant parcels inside the city limits. (FSEIR p. 2-21 and LINK) This does not include City–owned properties and parcels that are underutilized and could be rezoned – for example the PG&E property on the edge of downtown nor does it include redevelopable properties already appropriately zoned.

By Matt Williams

On Friday and Saturday two articles appeared online that covered the work-in process due diligence research that I was in the midst of undertaking regarding DJUSD's Community Facilities District No. 1 (CFD #1) Special Tax, which was originally passed by the voters in Measure A on November 7, 1989. Friday's initial article by me can be read HERE in the Davisite, and Saturday's response article by David Greenwald can be read HERE in the Davis Vanguard.

As part of the Friday article comments, Don Shor posted the following observation and question. Based on his comment, it appeared that Don accepted on face value the words that he quoted and bolded.  I read those words differently than Don did, and my response to him also appears below.  One additional piece of background is that the intent of my initial communication to DJUSD was to bring some additional transparency and clarity to the questions raised by those very same words that Don quoted.  So far the trajectory of the events has been consistent with that intent.

The Colin Walsh for Davis City Council District 2 campaign announces the endorsement of six former Davis City Council Mayors: Jerry Adler, Michael Corbett, Sue Greenwald, Bill Kopper, Joe Krovoza, and Ken Wagstaff.  Walsh has also been endorsed by former Councilmembers Stan Forbes and Mike Harrington.  These endorsements follow the Sierra Club’s earlier endorsement of Walsh.

Former Mayor Krovoza stated, “He's a kind, thoughtful and reflective person. Most important, Colin is an independent thinker. He's balanced, informed, transparent and open in his thinking.”  He continued, “Colin will seek to understand all sides of issues and then consider the path forward.”

Former Mayor Corbett noted that “Colin will stand up to the financial influences of developers who are trying to shape the city to their advantage. He will push for a new citizen based general plan that addresses: a stable economy, climate change, income and racial equality, connects bicycle paths, and preserves the character of our town.”

“Colin is hardworking, honest, and principled. He will respect the right of citizens to be heard. A master of city planning detail, he will hold developers to all aspects of their agreements with the City,” according to former Mayor Wagstaff.

“Colin has the judgment to honor our unique small town character while applying sound environmental planning principles,” affirms former Mayor Greenwald, adding that “Colin won't blindly follow out-of-town boilerplate consultant reports and approve every developer application with only minor tweaks.”

In response to the endorsements from the six former Mayors, candidate Walsh stated, “I am honored to have the support of so many past Davis Mayors. Having lived in Davis most of my life, these are community leaders I have watched shape our City. I will work hard to live up to their belief in me and the forward thinking and high standards that they set during their own tenures.”

For more information on Colin Walsh’s campaign for Davis City Council, visit https://www.Walsh4Davis.com/

By the League of Women Voters Davis Area

The Question:  Should residents approve annexing agricultural land to develop the Davis Innovation and Sustainability Campus (DISC)?  Annexation of county land for city-related uses has required citizen approval since voters passed the “Citizens Right to Vote on Future Use of Open Space and Agricultural Lands” ordinance in 2000 (as Measure J) and renewed it in 2010 (as Measure R). 

The Situation:  Davis has studied options for an innovation park with the goals of leveraging UC Davis' international reputation for academic and research advancements in agriculture, biotech, green-tech, and food science research.  As the options were studied, four options initially appeared to be available but these have since been reduced to one (see Appendix for a more detailed history).  The project site is agricultural land that has been productively farmed for many decades.  Moving forward with the project will put an end to farming on the site.

By Matt Williams

The following Public Comment was submitted by e-mail to the DJUSD School Board with copy to DJUSD CFO Amari Watkins.  The Public Comment was read into the record by Superintendent John Bowes.  As noted in the text of the Public Comment, I have been dialoguing with Amari Watkins over the past three weeks.  What came out of the due diligence homework leading up to that dialogue was a complete surprise.

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Members of the DJUSD School Board, over the past three weeks I have been in e-mail communication with your CFO Amari Watkins regarding the current and future status of DJUSD’s Community Facilities District No. 1 (CFD #1).  Amari has provided the 1989 Resolution documents that created and govern CFD #1, which I have reconciled with the numbers from the four most recent DAVIS JOINT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT MELLO‐ROOS COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT NO. 1 SPECIAL TAX REPORTs (“the reports”) prepared by DJUSD’s tax administration consultant, SCI Consulting Group.

Bottom-line … subject to Amari’s (DJUSD’s) provision of any additional legal and/or election documents … the numbers from “the reports” say that CFD#1 will have reached the point where the language from the Rate and Method Resolution, “The special tax shall be levied and collected only so long as it is needed to pay the principal and interest on debt incurred …” will reach both its logical and fiscal conclusion during or before DJUSD’s Fiscal Year 2021-2022 … possibly as early as during or before Fiscal Year 2020-21.  Said another way it appears to be clear that CFD #1 will be fully paid off at the end of Fiscal Year 2020-21, or at the latest Fiscal Year 2021-22.

The implications of CFD #1 ending for the DJUSD annual revenue stream are significant.

Measure B (DISC) is perhaps the worst development project that has ever come before Davis voters. Above all, it will have major adverse and irreversible environmental effects, and instead of helping to solve the housing problem, it will only aggravate it. Finally, it will do nothing to solve the city’s major fiscal issues, and indeed only exacerbate them.

A year ago, Davis leaders declared a “climate emergency” and declared it would achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. This massive project (over twice the size of the Cannery project) will spew more than 37,000 metric tons of carbon emission every year from the traffic it generates, according to the EIR, a net increase of 8% in Davis’ existing carbon footprint.

The project will generate 24,000 additional car trips daily, and the EIR (Appendix F, p. 123) says that at 14 intersections traffic will deteriorate to Level F. This does not take full account of the cumulative traffic impacts produced by the building of the many many thousands of units completed, under construction and approved in the last few years.

Moreover, the developers are in no way committed to mitigating in any way the inevitable traffic deadlock.

Furthermore, the EIR notes that DISC will create a minimum need for 3,760 housing units to accommodate the jobs generated. But it will only provide 850 units, and 83% of them will be at high-end market rates.

Finally, this development, even on its own terms, will not provide the revenues to offset the city’s serious fiscal deficit, quite to the contrary. The city’s Finance and Budget Commission was deeply skeptical of the developers’ claims, three doubted that there would be a net fiscal profit, and one even called the fiscal projections a “fairy tale.” This does not even take into account the major infrastructural spending by the city necessary to try and mitigate the environmental impacts.

What’s not to abhor? Please vote No on B.

Dan Cornford
Davis

DISC for me represents a 20+ year commitment to going down the wrong road.  It represents a reversal of fundamental tenets that have shaped Davis for the better.

DISC is sprawl plain and simple. It circumvents every good planning principle that Davis has stood for. It places retail, office and dense housing on the periphery while destroying 200 acres of farmland. It is the antithesis of what we should be doing in the era of global warming as DISC depends on car commuters and makes a joke of the City’s mandate of carbon neutrality by 2040.

Furthermore, DISC will destabilize existing businesses and compromise our ability to fill existing vacancies. Even before Covid, DISC was a poor plan for a community that values a strong downtown. But, Covid on top of DISC boggles the mind.  The SEIR states that cannibalism from DISC will cause sustained commercial vacancies of up to 313,000 sq. ft.

The good news is that we have an alternative option that would take us down the right road.

We have enough land in Davis to serve our commercial needs. In 2019, the city’s justification for converting 3820 Chiles Rd. from commercial to residential reads “the existing current inventory of vacant land for 0ffice and R&D/Flex uses will meet demand for the next 43 to 69 years”.  We also have a Downtown Plan that is full steam ahead and calls for intensifying residential and commercial in the core. Joe Minicozzi, hosted by Cool Davis in March, was unequivocal that investing in the ground Davis already has, that has existing services and infrastructure, is the best path to economic stability and revitalization.

I want to add that Colin Walsh, candidate for City Council District 2, is the one council candidate who has studied every aspect of DISC and has taken a lead role against the project. In Colin you will find a candidate who will make the tough decisions to do what is right, and not what is politically expedient.  He has the resolve and commitment to go down a better road.

Pam Gunnell
Davis

I have lived in Davis for 50 years and have known Larry Guenther for the last 10 of them.  He is always friendly, respectful, and a good listener.  He is also down-to-earth and a problem-solver.  He will make an excellent addition to the Davis City Council, and I endorse him highly!

Dorte Jensen
Davis

Part 5  - Toxics Reduction

by Alan Pryor

Introduction - Every 2 years the Sierra Club Yolano Group prepares questionnaires for candidates in local races we deem to be seriously contested and/or where there are clear differences between the candidates on matters of interest to the public and/or our local Sierra Club members. We use questionnaires with written responses to allow the candidates to directly express their views and opinions in their own words. We report these in a series of articles on a range of environmentally-related topics.

This is Part 5 of the series in which we report candidates' responses to a series of questions regarding toxics reduction in the City. The candidates responses are in alphabetical order based on their first name.

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1st Question re: Pesticide Use Reduction

Preamble: Davis recently banned the use of pollinator-killing neonicotinoid class of pesticides and phases out the use of the herbicide glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Round-up product) next year. 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 and endorsed by the Sierra Club Yolano Group.  

Question: Do you support restricting pesticide use on City properties to only those certified as “organic” and why or why not?

Part 4  - Transportation Management

by Alan Pryor

Introduction - Every 2 years the Sierra Club Yolano Group prepares questionnaires for candidates in local races we deem to be seriously contested and/or where there are clear differences between the candidates on matters of interest to the public and/or our local Sierra Club members. We use questionnaires with written responses to allow the candidates to directly express their views and opinions in their own words. We report these in a series of articles on a range of environmentally-related topics.

This is Part 4 of the series in which we report candidates' responses to a series of questions regarding transportation management in the City. The candidates responses are in alphabetical order based on their first name.

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1st Question re: Bicycle Use

Preamable: 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.  

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

The following signed petition was sent to the Davis Downtown Business Association (DDBA) by a group of downtown business owners expressing concern that the DDBA issued a statement in support of Measure B and asking that that statement of support be rescinded until the full DDBA membership can be polled in an open, transparent, and democratic manner – Heather Caswell, The Wardrobe

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Be Bold – Be an Agent of Change! - A Petition Opposing Measure B and DISC

We believe the heart and soul of Davis is our downtown core. And we believe we must protect it and nurture it to realize its long term, sustainable potential. We support he Downtown Development Plan as a viable means to rejuvenate and enhance the businesses and livability of the downtown core.

We also believe the development of the Davis Innovation and Sustainability Campus (DISC) on the far east side of Davis, with 2.6 million sq ft of commercial space including 100,000 sq. ft. of retail space and 160,000 sq. ft. of hotel and meeting space, will siphon business tenants and merchant customers away from our downtown coreadversely affecting affecting its viability and vitality. 

We therefore are opposed to Measure B which seeks to approve the annexation of prime farmland into the City and the construction of the massive DISC project.