2010 Retrospective Frames a New Year

Our community of readers and contributors is growing by the day and we’re ecstatic that you like what we’re doing.  Behind the scenes, though, it’s the local people that make this all happen.  Susan Lovenburg is a continuing source of motivation and a fount of ideas as my co-editor. I would not still be doing this without her dependability, persistence and good cheer. In the very long ramp-up to financial sustainability, my silent partner and Publisher Stephen Souza has kept our web developer, the amazing Josh Sullivan at Hi-Fai Interactive, paid and the site live.

Speaking of money, in the coming weeks you’ll see paid local advertisers join our friends at Davis Life Magazine and Davis Community Network over there in the right hand toolbar.  While Souza is in elected office, he will have no editorial input and his half of our profits will be donated to a rotating cast of local non-profits: DCN is first in line.

And did you notice that we made friends with the new cool kid in town, The Davis Dirt?  Check in every Friday to get the insider dirt on weekend entertainment and happenings.  We’re pretty excited about that hot little relationship.  Our UC Davis interns deserve attention too.  The estimable Lucy Potter and Gillian Taylor have moved on into the great, big world (and we expect great things from these ladies) but Suzanne Lewis has already proven that she’s ready to rumble in 2011.

Everywhere you look there is a different list of all-things-2010, and we’re no different from the average bear (yes, I’ve seen a few films with my little cousins over the holidays).  I didn’t pull this information out of my top-hat; it is our top content from 2010 as determined by the page views of our readers.  Our web traffic analysis tool allows us to keep tabs on how many people are visiting, what they’re reading and thematic connections.  I don’t look at this information often, but it will help to inform how we’ll be focusing our attention in 2011.  We want to give you the content that you want!

Top 10 Viewed Posts on Davis Voice in 2010

Beware the brick throwing con artist!

1. Crying Girl Grifter at Large in Davis - I heard mentions of this con artist for months before I wrote this piece.  Our friends at DavisWiki.org were already interested, but our traffic and comments section really lit the fire… and before the fire was out, The New York Times even weighed in but neglected to mention us.

2. The Most Dangerous Half Mile in Davis – This thoughtful commentary presaged the current debacle over the impending fence construction along the UP rail line in downtown.

3. Googlephile Davisites Want Faster Internet – In February 2010, Google announced plans to select a pilot city for their new gigabyte fiber project.  Davis made a good showing.  They still haven’t announced the real winner, but wouldn’t it be great to have reliable lightning speed internet in every home?

4.  City Council Clash Sends Mayor to ER – When Ruth Asmundson suffered an anxiety attack during a Council meeting, I wrote “this brouhaha is about a culture of incivility in our public sphere, bordering on abuse, that has persisted for far too long and is blithely written off by some as “politics, not personal”.”

5. A Brave New City Council in 2011 – This topic is sure to be a top story in 2011.  Do you want to be appointed to City Council?  The process begins soon!

Not a good idead to bike and talk on your cell phone at the same time.

6. Law & Order: Bicycle Lane Unit – John Berg’s post back in January is a surprise hit, but we do love our bicycles don’t we?  Come on back, John!

7. Garbage to Games: Converting Landfills to Parks – This piece makes the case for converting the old landfill to a new athletic complex.  Because of your interest, we’ll be covering the Sports Park Master Plan in more detail… right, Will Arnold?

8. An Exit Interview with City Manager Bill Emlen – As the City Council moves to replace Emlen in a nation wide search, we’ll keep you updated.

9. You Need Zip Car, Trust Me on This – While Bob Dunning can’t seem to write about anything else, the community in general is pretty silent on the matter.  At the three public hearings at City Council regarding Zip Car only two comments have been made: both in favor and both by me.  See also: Want to Share a Ride? Zip Car Redux

10. Banking, Planning and Governing, oh my: City Council Liveblog Tonight! – My new series to cover City Council meetings live has proved to be quite popular.  I’ll keep going if you promise to keep reading and commenting!

And finally, the Most Under-Appreciated yet Most-Important Post of 2010 (hopefully because it got lost in the holiday mix): Explained: A Primer of Local Water Projects. Read it people, it’s very important that we all understand how and why we’re spending large amounts of money to ensure that our children and grandchildren have access to and discharge clean water.