The Davis Voice

Climate Action Team Public Forum

Ladies & Gentlemen, the CAT is In the Building.

If you're worried about global climate change, your carbon footprint, peak oil, and/or sustainability issues, then tonight is the perfect opportunity for you to share your ideas, comments, and suggestions with a group that has been tasked to help reduce our community's carbon footprint.

City of Davis Climate Action Team Public Forum
TONIGHT, Thursday, June 26th 2008
6:30pm-7:00pm - Background Presentation
7:00pm-8:30pm - Open House: Drop-in format to share your ideas
Veterans Memorial Center MPR

Click here for our first post on the CAT.  After the jump, a little more information about tonight's proceedings.

This Weekend in the People's Republic

Did you know that there is something interesting going on every day of the week? Every weekend, there are at least a dozen activities that might interest any given person. There are so many resources at our fingertips (literally...it's all over the internet!). If you're into music like I am, undietacos.org and the Mondavi Center's and Sophia's music calendars are great places to check for performances. If you're into Davis politics and would like to attend Planning Commission and City Council meetings, dcn.org is the best place to check. My favorite place on the web for all things Davis?  The daviswiki.org Events Page! With all of these wonderful opportunities for entertainment and community involvement at such a close distance, what are you waiting for?

Stay with me until after the jump, and I'll tell you about my picks for this weekend.

Editor's Endorsement

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.

This Week in YOUR Government

If you haven't registered to vote in the June 3rd, point your browser here and submit your registration form by May 19th.  To learn more about the candidates running for office, there is plenty of information on this very site.

This week there are several opportunities to voice your opinion at public meetings of our city government.  In addition, the League of Women Voters will be hosting their candidates' forum on Thursday night.

Also, let's all give a round of applause to Yolo County for overhauling their website.  The user interface is now intuitive, functional and oh-so pretty.  The Board of Supervisors' agendas, minutes, and video of meetings are now easy to access... they've even got RSS feed.

Find all of the details on how to be a good citizen after the jump.

Nugget Fields Meeting: May 6th

Nugget vs. 7/11: Is This a Fair Match?

As has been mentioned before on The Davis Voice, a 7-11 Committee is not a new way to buy a Slurpee, but a committee of the school district. It determines whether school district should be declared surplus or not. If it is declared surplus, the School District has the option to sell it or use it for non-educational purposes.

Our editor has served on a previous 7-11 Surplus Property Committee and this writer is the Chiar of the present 7-11 Surplus Committee.  In previous posts by other Davis Voice writers, you have read about Nugget Fields.  The present 7-11 Surplus Committee was actually put in place to deal with Nugget Fields aka the Wildhorse property.

After the jump, find all of the details on how to voice your opinion on this important matter.

This Week in YOUR Government

As summer and the June 3rd Election stare us down, our citizens' government is in full swing with deliberations over many issues.  Yes, this week is a little light on commissions, but there are several other events to round out your week.

Most importantly, join us on Wednesday, April 30th from 7pm to 9:30pm in Community Chambers (behind City Hall on Russell Blvd) for the second full City Council candidates' forum hosted by the Yolano Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Davis Neighborhood Coalition.

After the jump, all the deets on how to be a better citizen: just show up at a meeting!

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.

Earth Day Special

Live Blogging with help from Local Asparagus, the Davis Bike Czarina and Councilman Max Headroom

In case you were unaware, today is Earth Day (soon to be renamed "St. Al of Gore Day" because he invented the environment and protection thereof.)  This is the one day of the year that we are allowed to pat ourselves on the back for all of the new and exciting things that we are doing to create a more sustainable planet. 

Obviously, it is also a day of reflection for all of the things that we could be doing better.

This Earth Day, your Editor is attending an event at our Community Chambers.  We are currently celebrating Earth Day with a presentation from the Farmer's Market people and soon we will have a  Joint Meeting of the Planning Commission and the City Council to hear a presentation about the finalized report from the General Plan Housing Element Update Steering Committee (how, where, and when we should build new housing units in Davis until the year 2013.)

After the jump, find all of the fun liveblogging details from Community Chambers on Earth Day and our how Councilman Max Headroom and his colleagues are going to solve all of our housing needs.

This Week in YOUR Government

This week, like every other, there are many opportunities to do your civic duty by giving up one night of prime-time television and going to a city commission meeting.  But, the real excitement is at the two City Council Candidate's Forums that will be held this week.  Did you read about the 1st forum?  Not many people have, because our paper of record did not cover it.

After the jump, all the details on where to do your civic duty.

This Week in YOUR Government

The DJUSD funding situation is still at the forefront of civil discourse, even with a City Council election just 50 days away.  On Thursday, the DJUSD Board of Trustees will consider their first round of cuts to "support" (calling them "support" should rub you the wrong way if you consider counselors and librarians to be integral to a child's education) staff.

This Saturday is Picnic Day and we'll be offering up a list of must-see events on that epic day.

Next week is chock-full of opportunities to see the City Council candidates in forum/debate settings, so it's time you clicked on the "Elections" category and learned about your choices.

After the jump, find the details on this week's opportunities to get involved in your local government.