City News

The Davis City Council race is in full swing for the June 3 election. Candidates Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald, Sue Greenwald, Rob Roy, Don Saylor, Stephen Souza and Sydney Vergis are running for three available seats. Familiar candidates include current mayor Greenwald and current councilmembers Souza and Saylor. Sydney Vergis Vergis graduated from UC Davis in 2004 with a double major in economics and environmental policy, analysis and planning. She is currently a senior land use planner for Sutter County, where she is responsible for generating a countywide Habitat Conservation Plan and environmental documents. Vergis said she believes the city General Plan update – a guiding city policy document – is a concept for the election as well as the community.

he Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently released a revised version of its rule outlining employers’ legal obligations when an employee is identified by the Social Security Administration as a possible illegal immigrant. The revised rule shows few changes from a previous version that was stopped by a Northern California district court judge in 2007. The rule requires employers to follow a specific set of procedures if they receive a letter from the Social Security Administration(SSA) stating one of their employees’ tax forms did not match his or her Social Security records. The Social Security Administration for years has put in their letters sent to employers that receiving the letter is not meant to make any implication on the immigration status of the employee, said Evelyn Sanchez, advocacy coordinator for Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Over 500 concerned parents, teachers and community members crowded into the auditorium of Emerson Jr. High on Monday night to discuss closing the school with members of the school board. Davis Joint Unified School District is considering closing the West Davis junior high school as part of an attempt to cut $4 million from the district’s budget next year due to California’s large budget deficit. The district would save $566,000 by closing Emerson Jr. High. Emerson, which schools seventh through ninth graders, was chosen because it is the only junior high school that has not undergone renovation.

There could soon be a new state prison up Highway 113. Yolo County has applied to host a new prison facility as part of California’s prison reform plan. Known as a re-entry facility, it would be a 150-bed prison for inmates who are near the end of their sentences. The Yolo County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in March in support of locating the facility in Yolo County. Although a specific location has not yet been determined, it would be at the same site as the county jail in Woodland, said county supervisor Matt Rexroad.

The city of Richmond’s planning commission is in the middle of a contentious debate about approving the renovation of a Chevron oil refinery that has sat on the Bay Area city shores for over 100 years. After hearing over five hours of public comment at its standing-room-only Mar. 20 meeting, the planning commission scheduled a special meeting for Apr. 10 to continue receiving public input. The commission will then vote on whether to approve the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and conditional use permit, allowing the project to proceed. In April 2005, Chevron applied to Richmond for permission to proceed with its proposed $1 billion equipment upgrade, which includes replacing the existing hydrogen plant, power plant and reformer.

A dollar a day for one year. That’s what the Davis Schools Foundation is asking Davis residents to give to support local K-12 education. Its leaders are hoping to raise enough money to compensate for a $4.25 million cut in the Davis Joint Unified School District’s (DJUSD) budget for 2008-2009. School district trustees are grappling with how to deal with the nearly 6 percent reduction in the budget. They have already voted to shut down Valley Oak Elementary School and are considering closing Emerson Junior High School. They have also notified 112 teachers and administrators that they could lose their jobs.

The Yolo County District Attorney’s office re-filed for a July gang injunction although the court overturned it in April 2007. Jeff Reisig, Yolo County District Attorney, placed a gang injunction to prevent gang activity in West Sacramento in February 2005. The district attorney is saying that this place is horrible and that there is so much crime and that people are afraid to speak up and get out of their homes, said attorney Josh Kaizuka.

Despite a $4 million budget cut, Emerson Junior High School will be taking a joyride on the Ferris wheel. The Davis Planning Commission recently approved a temporary carnival that will take place Apr. 10. This four-day carnival, run by Butler Amusements, will operate at Cannery Park on East Covell Boulevard and J Street as a fundraiser for the Emerson Junior High Parent Teacher Association. It will be a community benefit and a community activity, said Greg Clumpner, chairperson of Davis Planning Commission. We didn’t feel there are any significant impacts for preventing [the fundraiser] from happening.

The California budget deficit has recently sparked a multitude of reactions from California state officials. California Assembly speaker Fabian Núñez recently proposed Assembly Bill 9xxx, which was intended to raise revenues for teachers in order to offset deficits the education system has faced due to recent state budget cuts. The bill planned to tax large oil companies to gain extra funds – however, the bill was turned down by the state assembly Wednesday. While California is facing billions in cuts to schools, big oil companies are raking in record profits – without paying for the oil they take from California, said Núñez in a press release. If red states like Texas, Colorado, and Montana tax oil production to fund the services they value, then so should we.

There is a good chance there won’t be any wild-caught salmon in California this year. The Pacific Fisheries Management Council adopted three options for public review regarding the 2008 salmon season off the coast of California and Oregon at its conference in Sacramento on Friday. Two of the options would completely shut down salmon fishing due to unprecedented low numbers of returning salmon. The council will adopt its final decision in early April after hearing public comment. The concern focuses around California’s Central Valley rivers in which only an estimated 59,100 chinook salmon will spawn this fall – a number that falls far short of the minimum conservation goal of 122,000.

For the next month or two, sheep, lambs and goats will be grazing the tall grass at the Mace Community Ranch Park Habitat Preserve to create a better environment for the burrowing owl indigenous to that area. This is the second year of a no-cost arrangement approved by the city’s wildlife specialist John McNerney between Davis and a local ranching family. In this arrangement, livestock get fed and the city doesn’t have to spend its resources on maintaining the preserve. The benefits of the arrangement is that the city is saving money on using herbicides, and it’s also more integrated pest management by not using pesticides if you don’t need to, said a coordinator from the Parks and Community Services Department, who asked to remain anonymous.

As Senator Barack Obama (D-IL)continues to enjoy a surge of momentum generated by 11 consecutive primary and caucus election victories over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), questions persist over the role Democratic superdelegates will play in determining the party’s eventual nominee. The approximately 796 unpledged party leaders and elected official delegates (PLEO delegates), who are free to cast their own votes at the Democratic National Convention in August, could play the role of tiebreaker if neither Obama nor Clinton emerges carrying the magic number of 2,025 pledged delegates. Currently, Clinton leads Obama in the superdelegate count, 241-181, according to a recent Associated Press survey.