The Bike Campaign provides services, education for those seeking to use bike transportation around Davis

The Bike Campaign is a group of people from all across Davis and Sacramento dedicated to reducing car trips to schools and workplaces while increasing biking enjoyment and safety. The organization was founded by Maria Contreras Tebbutt, who also founded The Bike Garage in 2011.

Tebbutt expressed the organization’s guiding mission to educate people about cycling and encourage others to ride their bicycles.

“People at UC Davis age have grown up used to using cars, and [may] not [be] familiar with a biking lifestyle,” Tebbutt said. “They may have used the bicycle for recreation, and maybe as a toy when they were young, and then stopped using it and started using vehicles. That’s what the bike campaign is about.”

First-year animal biology major Mary Yang commented on the organization.

“I think what they are doing is really helpful for UC Davis students,” Yang said. “Many people use their bikes to get around campus often enough that their bikes will wear down eventually. Most people don’t have the resources or knowledge to fix their bikes, and these services would remedy that.”

The Bike Campaign provides various services available to everyone in the Davis community. The organization’s main place of operation, The Bike Garage, has sold bicycles of all shapes and sizes at a more affordable price. The Bike Garage also provides repairs to bicycles as well as offers information sessions on how to repair bikes. Part of its dedication to the community is to ensure that everyone has access to its services. As such, according to the website, this is a “pay only what you can” service.

“We found that one of the challenges that most of the students have is that they may have a bicycle, but the bike is not operative,” Tebbutt said. “We want to be available to not only show them what to do, [but to] help them and get it done and teach them to do it themselves. That’s just one component of riding a bike. Brake pads wear out and need to be replaced. Chains get dry and need to be cleaned and lubed. Basic bike maintenance can make your whole biking experience so much more wonderful.”

As part of the organization’s commitment to promoting cycling, The Bike Campaign has provided students and community members with free bikes. In a series titled, “Why I Ride,” people provide their own personal insights on what biking means to them.

“Everybody loves a personal story,” Tebbutt said. “I wanted to show everyday average people — people who are part of our community — that have personal reasons for using bicycles. The biggest reason is that it’s more fun than owning a car. They are thrilled with the health benefits. These are happy people who enjoy themselves, even when it’s wet. When it’s raining, we don’t stop riding; we just have different gears. We’re picking a wide variety of people, and we would like to have more Davis students.”

The Bike Campaign also hosts a number of events centered around biking education, health and fitness and cycling safety. They hosted their most recent event, the Healthy Transport Options, at UC Davis on March 4. The program consisted of a presentation about the economic, health and happiness benefits of biking more and driving less.

“We were very excited to make a connection with the coaches that are responsible for the ‘healthy living classes’ on campus,” Tebbutt said. “This topic is so exciting because this is a tool that anybody can use immediately or for the rest of their lives. It shows the different ways to live your life without being car-dependent. It offers a resource of the bike campaign to answer any questions we’re not able to cover in a 50-minute class.”

First year biological sciences major Tiffany Chen expressed her gratitude toward the organization’s outreach and events.

“With UC Davis being primarily a bike-accessible campus, these resources and events being available to students would be beneficial to campus life,” Chen said. “Education on things like bike safety could help prevent numerous bike accidents that occur often on campus.”

Written by: John Regidor — city@theaggie.org

Yolo County Public Defender’s Office fundraises for holistic defense

The Yolo County Public Defender’s Office will host its Holistic Defense Fundraiser on March 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Blue Note Brewing Company in Woodland. The event will honor of the 56th anniversary of the Gideon v. Wainwright case, which ruled that all defendants in criminal cases are entitled to attorneys, regardless of whether they can afford to hire one. The office hopes to bring awareness and help indigent individuals with basic needs.

Emily Kochly, a social worker for adult clients at the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office, explained the origin of holistic defense.

“Holistic defense is somewhat pioneered by The Bronx Defenders out in New York,” Kochly said. “They have encouraged other public defenders’ offices to reach out to the community for a dual purpose — to provide outreach and education to the community about the work that we do and the needs of the community and to gain their support in assisting our clients and the various needs that they have. It was an idea spurred on by leaders in the field and took the idea to our office, and it was supported by the office so we are putting it forward in action now.”

Yolo County public defenders are encouraged to uphold the values of holistic defense.

According to Yolo County’s website, the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office received an award in 2014 from The Center for Holistic Defense. The website states, “The Yolo County Public Defender’s Office has been selected to receive technical assistance from The Center for Holistic Defense, a national training resource center located at The Bronx Defenders in New York and funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Center provides training to defender offices across the country seeking to provide innovative, client-centered, holistic defense services to indigent clients.”

Holistic Defense is a public defense model that seeks to have better outcomes for clients and communities through recognizing that the incarcerated are defined by more than their crimes — that criminal cases are only a part of the many issues individuals face.

According to The Davis Enterprise, Tracie Olson, a Yolo County public defender, noted that clients have other substantial needs that must be met.

“No client should pick up Failure to Appear charges due to inability to afford bus fare, nor be released from custody without access to food, clothing or essential medication,” Olson said. “Beyond our annual clothing drive, there is more we can do with the community’s support.”

In addition, Kochly mentioned how fitting the fundraiser relates to the Gideon v. Wainwright case.

“That court case was how the public defenders system started within the United States,” Kochly said. “Before that court case, people who were poor or indigent were not entitled to free public defense and now everyone is entitled to an attorney, which is what our office does. Our office provides legal representatives to people who are facing criminal charges who cannot afford an attorney. It seems fitting to have the fundraiser close to the anniversary of that case.”

Kochly noted that the fundraiser will be a first for the office.

“One of our main goals is to just have a large turnout or community support,” Kochly said. “We’ve been very excited when we’ve gone to local businesses and people in the community [are] in support of the idea — we’ve heard that people are excited to attend the event.”

Kochly hopes that the turnout will be substantial. In addition, the office wishes to raise funds to help clients with basic needs.

“We’re also trying to raise funds to help our clients meet some of their most basic needs — [we’re] hoping to have a source of funding to get bus tickets because that’s not part of our current budget and helping people get their medications after they get out of jail because they do not have insurance,” Kochly said. “Just hoping to get the community support and let them know the issues that our clients face on a daily basis.”

Kochly said they will be holding a raffle as well as a silent auction.

“We’ll have a 50/50 raffle that people can buy raffle tickets and, if they win the raffle, then they’ll win 50 percent of the money raised on raffle tickets,” Kochly said. “We’re also having a silent auction. Some items that are available at the silent auction will be artwork created by people who are incarcerated at our county jail or juvenile hall.”

Written by: Stella Tran — city@theaggie.org

Focus on environmentally-friendlier weed control alternatives over chemical products

Updates to the City of Davis’ pesticide application suggest that there was only one chemical application in Davis parks throughout 2018 and thus far in 2019. The city’s Integrated Pest Management policy established an emphasis on cultural and mechanical ways of weed control over pesticide use.

The Pesticide Information Hotline offers transparency for the public on the date and location of each pesticide application in addition to e-notifications. The Anticipated Pesticide Application Calendar also informs people 48 hours prior to the application of a pesticide. The last documented spraying in a park was on May 7, 2018 in Arroyo Park. Sprayings, however, still occur in the city’s open space areas.

Alan Pryor, a member of the National Resource Commission and the Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, advocated for the decreased use of pesticides for safety concerns.

“We wanted them to fulfill that promise to their citizens,” Pryor said. “We demanded accountability. All this led to the newground changes implemented a new IPM policy that required all these notifications like email and signs being put up.”

The changes occured after former IPM Coordinator Martin Guerena resigned from his position following disagreements with upper management regarding pest management. Near the end of his employment with the City of Davis, Guerena found that the IPM program was not always considered a “priority.” Guerena still established a downward trend in pesticide use, which earned him the city’s Environmental Recognition Award in 2018.

“You can see the history,” Guerena said. “I was there for 10 years, so I’ve made the annual report every year, and it showed a steady decline — not total elimination — but a steady decline of the major pesticides.”

Since then, the IPM Policy, last updated in 2017, requires signage indicating an application location and phased-out use of glyphosate. According to John McNerney, the Wildlife Resource Specialist for the City of Davis, the city is moving away from chemical herbicides overall in response to concerns over “pesticide hazards to non-target organisms,” such as humans and wildlife.

“Multiple control methods are utilized including mechanical, cultural, biological, and chemical,” McNerney said via email. “Chemical control methods are considered the ‘last resort’ when all other methods are either not working or are known to be the only effective method of control. When needed, only least-toxic chemical pesticides are considered for application in parks, greenbelts or other high use public areas.”

Instead, the city uses mechanical methods such as weed whackers and weed flamers, as well as significant amounts of mulching to inhibit weed growth. McNerney also credited “the change in land use [and] pest management requirements at our wastewater treatment facility” with reducing the city’s pesticide use. Extension Weed Specialist, Brad Hanson, notes the benefits and potential drawbacks to non-herbicide weed control.

“Any weed control effort is really a series of tradeoffs,” Hanson said. “You can do it with chemicals like the herbicides, you can do it with labor crews, people pulling and hoeing weeds, that has a different set of tradeoffs in terms of logistic costs and social justice. You can do it with mechanical cultivation using tractors and tillage implements and that has a carbon footprint and speed of operation. So there’s not really a one-size-fits-all approach to weed control.”

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, categorized glyphosate, a common active ingredient in pesticides, as a group 2a carcinogen. The decision followed lawsuits alleging that the ingredient, found in popular Roundup products, caused cancer, which may have further precipitated Davis’ battle against pesticide use. Pryor shared his praise for the city’s actions.

“It appears the city has done 180-degree turn, rather than increasing pesticide usage as we were fearful of –– we lost Martin Guerena –– we have gone way beyond organic-only pesticides,” Pryor said. “They’ve gone to functionally pesticide-free parks in Davis in the last year.”

Guerena finds that the ability to sustain this trend of pesticide-free parks is unpredictable.

“Especially right now with it being a wet year, you’re going to have a lot of weeds emerge, and they’re either going to have to physically remove them or probably apply more pesticides to catch up,” Guerena said. “So in other words, not doing anything is not an option.”

Hanson noted that Davis may, in theory, be able to bear the economic responsibility of being pesticide-free.

“That may not be achievable in every similar size city,” Hanson said. “It may be sustainable given the ability of a relatively high-net income city like Davis. If they are able to eliminate pesticides, then more power to them.”

Moving forward, Pryor expressed his desire for the Davis Joint Unified School District to follow the lead of the City of Davis and the Woodland Unified School District in elminiating glyphosate use.

Written by: Renee Hoh — city@theaggie.org

Neighborhood Court seeks input from community for second rounds of grants, expansion

Over the past couple of weeks, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office and the Health and Human Services Agency have been hosting a series of community engagement meetings to attain public feedback regarding grant proposal development for the second round of Proposition 47 and Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant funding. The funding would expand the Steps to Success and Neighborhood Court programs, both of which are restorative justice programs which aim to address root causes of criminal activity.

Neighborhood Court is a voluntary program that invites eligible offenders to participate in a conference with a three-person panel that decides what steps the offender should take to resolve their offense. After completing the steps, the offender’s record is cleared.

Nicole Kirkaldy, the Neighborhood Court paralegal, explained this philosophy.

“[Neighborhood Court] looks at addressing crime as not just a specific offense but looking at the harms it creates,” Kirkaldy said. “It looks at how to best address these harms, how to make things right as much as possible, what needs are created and how to meet those needs.”

For example, a student offender with an alcohol-related offense may be referred to Student Health and Counseling Services. An offender who was disruptive at a bar may need to write letters of apology to the bar-owner, their family and themself.

Yadira Paiz, a 2018 UC Davis alumna who began volunteering with Woodland’s Neighborhood Court as a student and is now an employment specialist and case manager for Steps to Success, shared her thoughts about this approach.

“The person matters as well — not just the community, but them too — [and] how you can heal in the process,” Paiz said. “I think that’s really a concept that I haven’t heard of, but it really works.”

Neighborhood Court began in 2013 and expanded in 2015 to cover a growing variety of offense types, a broadened criminal history eligibility and a wider region of Yolo County, including West Sacramento and Woodland. The second round of Justice Assistance Grant funding would support Neighborhood Court’s operation and continued expansion, as the DA’s office looks for ways to include more people who would benefit from the program.

“We’re finding that this process has benefits to a pretty wide variety of participants, some who are not first-time offenders,” Kirkaldy said. “They might have a bit more of a criminal history; maybe they have a higher level offense than we’ve seen in the past, or they might just need some additional resources and support that’s not necessarily available through the core program.”

As Neighborhood Court currently operates, most eligible offenders are responsible for specified minor misdemeanors, although individuals can qualify on a case-by-case basis for other offenses. There are also restrictions based on criminal history, but Neighborhood Court is looking to expand the program to more individuals who are not first-time offenders.

“We’re looking to see how we can reach a broader population and better support the needs of that population within that expansion so that they’re able to benefit and be successful through this program,” Kirkaldy said.

Along with Neighborhood Court, the parallel program Steps to Success specifically addresses the needs of individuals with substance misuse and mental health challenges. Individuals can opt into intensive case management that offers therapy, medication support, housing assistance and employment guidance.

Steps to Success was made possible through funding from Proposition 47 — the Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes Initiative — which passed in 2014. Health and Human Services Agency led the application, along with probation, public defenders and the DA’s office but contracts most services out to partners such as CommuniCare Health Centers, Empower Yolo and Legal Services for California.  

This next round of Proposition 47 funding, called Cohort 2 — for which the DA’s office and HHSA are applying — will more directly address the homelessness that many Steps to Success clients experience. Ian Evans, an alcohol and drug administrator and forensic and homeless services manager with HHSA, said that Cohort 2 will support a program similar to the current one but with changes to ensure both the originally targeted population and individuals experiencing homelessness are supported. Although Steps to Success wasn’t intended to be a homeless-driven program, about 45 percent of participants are either homeless or have recently experienced homelessness, according to Evans.

“The idea would be to utilize this [Cohort 2] funding to help support the individuals that are from that target population that are also homeless so we can have the Steps to Success program continue with the target population it was intended for, and also for these individuals living homeless with the new funding,” Evans said.

The DA’s office and HHSA have sought community input for both program expansion proposals through community discussions in Davis, West Sacramento, Winters and Woodland. These discussions were livestreamed and are available to watch on Facebook.

Additional engagement efforts include a consumer input session at the Fourth and Hope shelter in Woodland and a meeting with the Yolo County Homeless and Poverty Action Coalition in order to determine ways to make the grant’s service model as impactful as possible.

Community members with questions, comments and ideas about the programs can email prop47@yolocounty.org.

“We’ve been getting a lot of email comments and questions in from folks that have been giving some good guidance and initial ideas about how we can structure the program,” Evans said.

Some ideas, for example, had to do with securing housing to support individuals in Steps to Success, including the possibility of landlord incentives.

This engagement process helps to inform residents about Steps to Success and Neighborhood Court.

“A couple of the comments at the first session were honestly just thanking us for coming out and sharing the information because people had no idea that the current Neighborhood Court program or the current Steps to Success program [were] happening and what [they] entailed in Yolo,” Evans said.

Written by: Anne Fey — city@theaggie.org