The Davis Voice

New Cell Phone Law

Enter the Age of DWT's: Driving While Talking (on your cell phone)

Beginning tomorrow, July 1st, two new laws regarding driving a motor vehicle while talking on your cell phone will go into effect.  If you are under 18, then you may not use a cell phone at all while driving.  If you are 18+ years of age, you may use a wireless device (e.g. Bluetooth over-the-ear) while you are driving.

Fines are $20-$50 and ticketing is at the discretion of the officer.  And yes, an officer may pull you over simply for this infractions. 

For your downloading pleasure, find the FAQ sheet from the CHP.

Download cell_phone_faq.pdf

No word yet from my crack team of legal eagles, but I don't believe that there are any regulations prohibiting bicyclists from "Biking While Talking".  And once again, legislation is behind the times: looks like "Texting While Driving" is still very dangerous and very legal.

Google Street View Launched in Davis

Is that a GPS-enabled panoramic camera or is GoogleMaps just excited to see Davis?

A little over a year ago, my buddy Brian and I attended the Where2.0 Conference.  It's the annual mecca for all things GPS/GIS related.  We were stoked to be in the audience when the good folks at Google announced the launch of 'Street View' on their GoogleMaps platform.  At the time, you could simply type in an address in SF or NYC and get a 360 degree, panaromic, street level view rather than a tired old map.

Now, to little or no fanfare Google has added this option in our own little burg.

Direct your web portal browser thingy to: maps.google.com and type in a Davis address, click on "Street View" in the upper right hand corner, then click on the little yellow man on the map and prepare to be amazed. 

ALSO, in the directions portion of the site, be sure to also check out the "Public Transit" option.  Google will tell you how to get from Point A to Point B in Davis via public transportation.

After the jump, more musings about this fancy new technology.

8th Assembly District Candidate's Forum

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.

Election Update: 39 Days & Counting

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.

Downtown Parking Madness

Sexy Meter Maids Probably Won't Solve Our Parking Problems.

Our very own mensch-about-town, Michael Bartolic, if often ahead of the curve when it comes to public policy issues in our fair little burg.  He submitted this piece about downtown parking over a month ago and, failing to recognize its importance, your editor left it languishing in the depths of the Davis Voice inbox.

Perhaps your editor failed to give credence to this piece because he no longer drives a gas-guzzling vehicle and the only parking problems he has stem from being unable to remember his bike lock combination.

Anywho, last week the City Council decided to institute paid parking in the E Street Plaza Parking Lot… Dollar Scoop Night at Baskin Robbins just got mroe expensive if you want a close parking space.  A total of 59 spaces will be part of a paid system that will allow you to park your gas-guzzler for as long as you want to pay.  Get all of the details here (pdf). 

The Davis Voice thinks that we should have paid parking everywhere downtown to encourage more bikers and to fund street calming and better biking infrastructure downtown.

After the jump, read Mike’s downtown parking horror story: one of many reasons to completely revamp downtown parking.

Davis College Dems: Hometown Hero

Secretary of State Deborah Bowen to Visit TONIGHT
Davis College Democrats win State Award

In every election since your Editor been able to vote, the Democratic Party has pinned its hope for victory on one demographic or another that does not vote with the same regularity as the base of the Republican Party.  During the last few elections, the demographic in question has been the 18-30 year old vote.  Although young voters did not show up in large enough numbers to swing the presidential elections, there has been a marked increase in their turnout. 

Those of us in the civic activism world know that apathy is on the decrease, but we still have a lot of work to do to convince young people to take on the full mantle of citizenship.  Thus, we were pleased to receive a press release from our friends at the UC Davis College Democrats announcing that they had been awarded the California Democrats Outstanding Chapter of the Year Award at the recent state convention.  Bravo!

Then, hours later, we received word that the UCD College Dems would be hosting Secretary of State Deborah Bowen at Wellman Hall 2, tonight at 7pm.  Talk about strategic earned media planning! 

Even if these events came together fortuitously, there is no luck involved.  The leaders of this organization have worked hard to resuscitate an almost dead group to a vibrant collection of 80+ students who regularly meet to discuss and debate public policy issues.  Bravo! Standing Ovation!

Whether you're a Libertarian, Green, Republican, or non-partisan, you have to respect the initiative and perseverance of these young activists.  Join with us by biking over to Wellman Hall this evening for a night with Secretary of State Deborah Bowen and congratulate Max Mikalonis, Don Gibson, Brandon Key and the rest of the leadership and membership of the Davis College Democrats.

After the jump, find the full press release.       

Climate Action Team Begins Work

Envisioning the Future of Davis is a Brainstormer's Dream

Our fair city has long been a bastion of forward thinking environmentalists.  We have a stellar (for America) bicycle infrastructure.  We tax ourselves to protect open space around our community.  Our urban density is one of the highest in the nation for our population.

But, many of our citizens (including your author) believe that, as of late, we have been resting on our green laurels.  Earlier this year, the City Council directed city staff to investigate how our People's Republic could go about reducing its carbon footprint.

One part of that solution was the formation of a citizen's advisory board, the Climate Action Team (CAT).  Your author is honored to serve on that commission as a representative from the Open Space & Habitat Commission.

After the jump, learn more about the CAT and it's efforts to convince the citizenry of Davis to get back on the bleeding edge of the green movement.

City Council '08 Candidates, cont.

Three Down, Three to Go

The voters of The People's Republic of Davis will elect 3 members to our 5 person City Council on 03 June 2008.

On 04 March 2008, we introduced you to the first candidate to file in the Davis City Council '08 race, Sydney Vergis.  A total of six candidates filed for the election with the County Clerk: Sydney Vergis, Stephen Souza, Don Saylor, Rob Roy, Sue Greenwald, and Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald (no relation). (Cecilia & Rob do not yet have campaign websites.)

In this post we'll introduce you to two more candidates: Don Saylor and Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald.  In the near future, we'll interview all of the candidates.  If you have questions that you'd like to pose to the candidates in the forthcoming interviews, please send your questions (for one, some, or all candidates) to tips@davisvoice.com.

After the jump, read more about why two of our comrades think they're qualified to make decisions for us. 

Yolo 4th Supervisor Race Gets Crowded

Ferrera, Provenza, and Kennedy.  Who is Cathy Kennedy?

For months (some would say longer), Jim Provenza and John Ferrera have been laying the groundwork for this election.  With the recent news that a heretofore unknown person has pulled papers from the County Clerk's Office to enter the 4th District's Supervisor race, the chattering class is atwitter with expectation.

Thanks to all of our readers' tips, the Davis Voice obtained an exclusive interview with potential candidate Cathy Kennedy early this evening.

Yolo County is governed by an elected Board of Supervisors (BOS).  Each member represents a geographical area in the county.  This year, 3 of the 5 seats on the BOS are up for grabs.  The 4th District, to be vacated by Assembly candidate Mariko Yamada, is populated by many Davisites.

After the jump, we'll dish on the two latest formal entries to the Yolo BOS's 4th District race.  Read our initial coverage on John Ferrera here.

And the Race Begins

Ferrera & Vergis File for Office

Fresh voices and new perspectives are the lifeblood of democracy.  Stagnation leads to (cue dramatic timpani) tyranny.

This weekend, the Davis Voice received two press releases from candidates for local office that are running their first campaigns for elected office.  Both of these candidates have impressive credentials, interesting ideas and broad support from the community. 

As the new kid in the local blogosphere, we of course welcome all new faces to the local government scene.  John Ferrera, candidate for Yolo County’s 4th Supervisor, though new to the hot seat of candidacy, is not new to policy.  In fact, he prides himself of being a policy wonk.  Sydney Vergis, candidate for Davis City Council, has an impressive resume for a young woman in her mid-twenties.

After the jump, read more about these two bids for elected office.  In the weeks and months to come, we’ll be posing difficult questions to ALL of the candidates.