The heat wave is over and the weekend is upon us. The town is quiet and the streets seem empty but there are still plenty of fun things to do around town...most of them are under $4 (and many events are free)!
Host a pool party for your friends and neighbors or come out to any of the events I think you'll enjoy; they're just after the jump.
Let them eat wedding cake and drink Shiner Bock.
Greetings and salutations from across the country. Ten hours after the polls closed on Election Day I was safely ensconced in an airplane that took me quickly away from the exhausted environs of our Right & Relevant City. Since then, the Gmail vacation responder has been on and I've ignored all calls from "Dirty 5-Thirty."
But, for those of you who don't read The Enterprise and are wondering what happened to all of those lawn signs around town... I have results, and a little commentary for you. For those of you that are ecstatic, angry, morose or simply bored and want me to create some pithy punditry, tough luck.
My endorsements went 3 for 6 this time around. Following are our new (or returning) elected officials.
State Senate: Lois Wolk (won the Democratic primary)
State Assembly: Mariko Yamada (won the Democratic primary)
Yolo County Supervisor, 4th District: Jim Provenza
Davis City Council: Don Saylor, Stephen Souza, Sue Greenwald
After the jump, find a very small amount of commentary (a couple of little ones are begging to go play on the swing set.)
City Council Candidates are Questioned.
This is the fourth forum that I’ve covered for The Davis Voice. This forum took place on May 8th. I would have liked to post it earlier, but as you can tell by reading the Sierra Club information, we are providing you with a lot of information. The format for this event was three questions to all of the candidates and some questions from the audience.
Also, by now you can see the forum on our local Davis Media Access station on Cable 15. The election is on Tuesday, June 3rd. Be sure to vote!
After the jump, find all of the details from this Candidates’ Forum.
It's my soap box & I'll shout from it if I want to.
CA Senate - Lois Wolk
CA Assembly - Christopher Cabaldon
Yolo County Supervisor - John Ferrera
Davis City Council
Stephen Souza, Sydney Vergis, Don Saylor
I have spent many years of my life advocating for increased civic engagement by younger voters. From middle school thru college, I was an active force in student government. When I turned 18, I began registering my fellow students. In my 20’s, I helped start and lead a non-profit whose mission was to bring young voters become regular voters by engaging them on public policy matters in a non-judgmental and rational monthly forum. Then, I worked for two years as a national staff member of the non-partisan, young voter registration group "Rock the Vote".
For the past four years, I have gladly given many of my nights to our City and School District by serving on the Open Space & Habitat Commission, the Grande Site 7/11 Committee, and the Climate Action Team. To this day, I still encourage people to register and vote. I started this blog because I think that our community needs to do a better job of engaging the citizenry about the facts, difficult decisions, and realistic consequences and benefits of our public policy choices.
So, my frame of reference for choosing candidates is focused on their ability to promote: positive civic engagement, open space protection, innovative measures to preserve our natural resources, a more diverse tax base, and affordable housing for young families, civil servants and seniors.
After the jump, find all of the reasons that I encourage you to vote for some candidates and also (gasp!) reasons to NOT vote for candidates.
Third in a series of three.
After the jump, find answers to questions about Measure J, relations with the County, how to assist the School District, encouragement of bicycling and others.
Continue reading "Sierra Club Candidates' Forum: Part Three" »
Part two in a series of three.
As you are reading, think about how it felt sitting there with a laptop and two recording devices trying to take down what the candidates were saying, praying that you do not drop anything, and hoping that some weird noise does not emanate from one of the machines. Now imagine all of those things happening because the did to me that night.
However, people were kind, even if they wondered, “Why doesn’t that person put all those tools on the table in front of him and free his hands?" The only answer I have is….ummm I didn’t want to interrupt the proceedings. Of course by trying to do that, I probably interrupted the proceedings even more.
After the jump, learn all about how the candidates feel about Neighborhood Shopping Centers and the water challenges that face Davis in the coming years.
Continue reading "Sierra Club Candidates' Forum: Part Two" »
We've been posting thorough coverage of all of the City Council Candidate Forums thus far and today we bring you the 1st installment on the Yolano Sierra Club/Davis Neighborhood Coalition/Davis Bike Club Forum.
The Sierra Club just announced a grade (NOT an endorsement) for all of the candidates. Two candidates, Escamilla-Greenwald and Greenwald received an "A" while Saylor, Souza, Vergis, and Roy received a "B". It seems that this grading was a very contentious project that exposed a stark divide in the leadership of the club. Also, some have argued that the candidates were not judged on their answers to these questions, but mainly by the personal preference of each voting Sierra Club leader. (-Ed. Note)
It has been over two weeks since I have posted on the election, but that does not mean we have not been following it.
I continue to maintain that this year it appears that The Enterprise has decided to lessen its coverage of local politics. This was affirmed by Claire St. John when she told a number of people that The Enterprise has decided not to cover any of the forums this year. I do not understand that. In a town as politically active and concerned with civic affairs as ours, to not cover at least some, if not all of the forums, simply does not make sense.
Since I last wrote on the elections, five forums for city council candidates have been held. On April 30th at the Community Chambers, the Yolano Sierra Club/Davis Neighborhood Coalition/Davis Bike Club was held. On May 8th, the Davis League of Women Voters Forum was held and at 8 am! in the morning on May 13, the Downtown Business Association held a forum at the Varsity Theater. Also, Tree Davis held a meet and greet and the ASUCD held a straw poll.
After the jump, find all of the details to help you pick your candidates for City Council on June 3rd.
Continue reading "Sierra Club Candidates' Forum: Part One" »
City Council Candidates of the Democratic Persuasion
Yesterday we posted the first part of the Davis Democratic Club Forum that took place last Thursday. Read that post to get the Davis Voice’s coverage of the 8th Assembly candidates and short statements from the 4th Supervisor candidates.
By searching in the Elections Category, you'll find plenty of background information on all of the candidates that you'll be voting for on June 3rd, 2008.
After the jump, find a robust transcript from the proceedings. We think that you'll find a lot of new information, along with some emerging differences between the candidates.
Here on The Davis Voice, we tend to concentrate on hyper-local public policy and city elections. But, on June 3rd Democrats will also be voting in a primary for our Assembly seat. Although the rest of the district isn’t nearly as liberal as Davis, it is a solidly Democratic district.
So, the winner of the primary will most likely win the seat in the general election. The 8th Assembly District of California encompasses most of Yolo and Solano Counties. Our current representative is Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, who has termed out and mounted a campaign for the State Senate.
On June 3rd, Democratic Party voters from Benicia, Fairfield, Vacaville, Winters, Woodland, West Sacramento will join the right & relevant voters of Davis in choosing between long-time West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon and two-term Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada for the.
After the jump, read Bob Schelen’s report from the Assembly candidates portion of the recent candidates' forum at the Davis Democratic Club.
Continue reading "8th Assembly District Candidate's Forum" »
Vote on June 3rd or Forfeit Your Davis Citizenship
In just 39 days (or before if you're a voter-by-mail), polling places will be open and candidates for local office will feign confidence as they await election returns. The Davis Voice will continue to bring you information, analysis, and commentary on these contests as major events happen.
Our Elections Correspondent Bob Schelen gave us a very thorough report from the Davis Chamber's candidates forum, and he'll be doing the same for the Davis' Democratic Club's forum that is happening this evening. Unfortunately, we missed the Davis College Democrat's Club forum last night but all of the candidates' written responses can be found here.
Twenty-eight of our readers have already sent questions for candidates. Go ahead and let 'er rip by sending us your public policy questions for all of the aspirants to officialdom. Feel free to send general questions for all of the candidates and/or questions tailored for the specific candidates.
After the jump, a line-up of all the candidates for those of you who haven't paid attention just yet.
