City-county approved partnership expands winter services at local shelters

On Nov. 6, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors approved a city-county partnership with West Sacramento, Davis and Woodland to expand services to the homeless through interfaith shelters. According to the 2018 Yolo County Homeless Count, there were a total of 179 individuals located in an emergency shelter and 414 individuals utilizing a housing program on Jan. 30.

The county will provide $14,000 to the Davis Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter. This funding will supply the shelter with medical staff for two nights a week through CommuniCare Health Services. The Davis shelter provides 40 beds to the local homeless and will be open seven nights a week in the winter.

The city of Woodland is partnering up with Yolo County to increase programs centered on serving the homeless communities.

“Homelessness is reaching epidemic levels throughout California,” said Tom Stallard, a member of Woodland City Council, via email.

In September, the Woodland City Council granted $40,000 to Yolo County to fund the Homeless Coordination Project for 2018. This project provides funding to increase services through shelters and social programs, especially during the winter.

“In Woodland, we adopted a housing first policy and are working on a housing development,” Stallard said. “Meanwhile, we have assigned two [police] officers to work full time with the homeless and our first-time social worker, through shelters.”

In addition to these actions, the funding will allow The Fourth and Hope interfaith shelter in Woodland to remain open seven nights a week during the winter.

“With new state funding sources, we are able to work on providing more permanent housing and shelters,” said Bill Pride, the executive director for Davis Community Meals and Housing, via email.

The county will provide an additional $14,000 to cover overnight staff for The Fourth and Hope interfaith shelter. It is also funding a new pilot program in West Sacramento to operate a rotating shelter at local church facilities five nights per week, which will serve 20 individuals.

In the past four years, annual funding for the homeless through the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency has grown from $2 million to $6 million. This funding allows interfaith shelters to remain open to serve as accessible housing for homeless individuals.

“Our local faith-based communities have come forward to provide Winter shelters so that those living outside can have a warm place to sleep, access to food, services and human connection,” said Karen Larsen, the director of the Yolo County Health & Human Services Agency, via email.

Despite local faith communities providing a location for shelters, funding is needed to hire regular and medical staff, provide food and source electricity.

“We have successfully housed hundreds of Yolo County residents, many of whom have been living outside for years,” Larsen said via email.

In a collaborative effort, local agencies will continue to work with interfaith shelters to provide more shelter during the coming winter. The city-county partnership with West Sacramento, Davis and Woodland will use the funding to increase shelter services for the homeless community. The county plans to use fundings to find permanent housing solutions and increase social programs.

Written by: Brooke Hill — city@theaggie.org

Tens of thousands of dollars raised by donations alone

Following devastating fires in nearby Butte County, the city of Davis hosted a benefit event to raise money on Nov. 17. Located at the Davis Senior Center, the event featured live music, food trucks and Sudwerk beer.

Local band Mumbo Gumbo as well as Mike Blanchard and the Californios performed on stage. The bands played the sets free of charge according to Lucas Frerichs, a Davis city council member and organizer of the event.

“All we are asking for in terms of an ‘admissions ticket’ is to bring in a gift card, or cash or check and just make a donation,” Frerichs said. “What we’re hearing is that people don’t need stuff donated, they really need access to gift cards so they can actually go and get the things they need.”

While this particular event didn’t accept non-monetary donations, the Davis Police Officers Association is accepting items such as clothing, toiletries and towels at Davis Police Station on Fifth Street. Online donations can also be made through the North Valley Community Foundation on its website.

“We’re working very closely with the police department, but also the fire fighters,” Frerichs said. “We are also working with some of our counterparts in Butte County and the city of Paradise as well.”

A portion of all the profits of food and drink businesses at the event also went toward the effort. Melanie Dubberley and Farrell Scott, owners of the Farmland Street food truck, chose to donate 20 percent of their profits from the event to the cause.

Scott, who has family members in the affected areas, expressed her initial enthusiasm to contribute by donating some of their profit.

“When we found what this [event] was going to be all about, we definitely wanted to participate as well in that respect, let alone just to be here and help everybody,” Scott said.

As the food truck is local to Woodland, Dubberly appreciates the opportunity to aid the local community.

“Community is really important to us, and giving back to the community,” Dubberly said. “So, each individually, we wanted to do what we could for people who are suffering. It was a no-brainer, of course Farmland Street wants to participate too.”

Tracy Walton, a member of the band Mumbo Gumbo, shared her excitement to support her fellow band member.

“Our drummer, Rick Lotter, is the brother of Scott Lotter, who is on the city council in Paradise, so it made a lot of sense for Mumbo Gumbo to play since we have been dying to something for them,” Walton said. “Everybody on the band signed on right away.”

Davis’ local radio station KDRT broadcasted the entire event on air and advertised ways of donating online using Twitter.

“If you tune into KDRT right now you’re hearing that music,” said Shawn Witte, a sixth-year graduate student in computational topology and a KDRT radio DJ. “In between, we’re broadcasting everything they’re saying from the stage, and we’re also talking about the fire benefit.”

Witte touched upon his personal contributions to the relief effort.

“I am one of the few people here who has no personal connection to the fire,” Witte said. “I had some Target gift cards that I’ve had for a while and that I’ve been meaning to use, but they could use them better than I can.”

Davis hosted a similar event last year to support those affected by the fires in Sonoma and Napa counties, raising about $30,000. Frerichs emphasized the importance of reaching out to neighboring areas.

“We really feel like in Davis, if our community ever faced a situation like this, we would just hope that other people would come to our aid,” Frerichs said. “So that’s how we approached this situation. You see this devastation in another community, and we can only help them. We have to do something.”

Frerichs announced at the end of the event that around $54,000 had been raised, excluding proceeds from food and drink.

“We knew that Davis would be generous, we didn’t know they’d be $60,000 generous,” Walton said. “Davis is wonderful, and they love their citizens and their former citizens.”

Written by: Renee Hoh — city@theaggie.org

California approves ballot to end practice of daylight savings

On November 4, California residents gained an extra hour of sleep at 2 a.m. due to the end of daylight savings time. Daylight savings will begin again on March 10, 2019. This practice could soon change, after California voters advanced Proposition 7, a bill that could end daylight savings if it moves forward.

This practice began in 1918 during World War I as a means of conserving energy and was used year-round starting in 1942. This extra hour of daylight in the morning allowed those fighting in the war to have light and heat earlier in the day so that the supplies necessary for lighting and heating could be conserved. Now, almost 100 years later, people are beginning to question the purpose of changing the clocks back and forward.

“Daylight saving time has definitely impacted me on Saturdays, for game days,” said Sophia Warda, a second-year psychology major at UC Davis and an operations intern for UC Davis football. “With football, we start around 7 a.m. when it’s still dark, and then some days we will end around 8, 9, or even 10 p.m. It’s so weird starting work when it’s dark and ending when it’s dark too. As football is year-round, we experience the negatives of falling back and springing forward, unfortunately.”

Around 152,560 people have requested an end to daylight savings time with various opinions about why it should be abolished. With war efforts not being a factor any longer, it is actually proven that DST does not decrease energy use, defeating the purpose, according to a Business Insider report.

One example in Indiana claimed that even though less electricity was being used in the morning, energy was being used more in the afternoon when homes did not have the chance to become cooler — as 6 p.m. felt like 5 p.m. — and air conditioning was turned on. What was saved in the end was utilized at the end of the day, according to the same Business Insider report.

Researchers have even found an impact on health associated with daylight savings. The number of heart attacks increased by 10 percent on the following Monday and Tuesday after the switch, as reported by the University of Alabama in 2012. An observed amount of work-related injuries and car accidents were also taken into account and are more prominent after the start or end of DST. Although there is a correlation, it cannot be determined whether or not DST caused these injuries and car accidents.

Other studies exhibit results supporting daylight savings time, however, as more light at the end of the day has been shown to motivate people to go out, spend money and be more active. This boosts sales in many industries as a result, according to the Business Insider report. Furthermore, the report showed that a small amount of saved energy over the time span of a year added up to estimated savings of $130 million.

“Honestly, it doesn’t affect me too much though,” said Matthew Neufeld, a third-year communication major and member of the UC Davis basketball team. “I’d say it’s nice in the fall when we can get that extra hour of sleep, but in the spring it usually takes more of a toll on me losing that hour. But as athletes, we are kind of used to it — if we have a game on the east coast, that’s three hours we have to adjust to.”

Others do not mind the time change and whether or not it gets taken away or kept.

“I have no problem with spring forward and fall back,” said Italian professor Jay Grossi. “I really like the extra sunlight in the spring and summer in the early evening and in the fall and winter the extra sunlight in the early morning. I honestly do not understand the big deal about the change.”

Written by: Lauren Tropio — city@theaggie.org

Butte County fire has significant impact on air quality in Yolo County

The Butte County fire made a heavy impact on Northern California as the smoke resulted in numerous hazardous environments. Cities that became suffocated with smoke had to mobilize and inform residents to stay indoors for safety.

Jenny Tan, the public information officer for the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, elaborated on how the fire affected surrounding cities.

“Air quality has been impacted in the entire Sacramento region, including Yolo and Solano counties,” Tan said via email. “The air quality in Yolo-Solano AQMD has been in the ‘Unhealthy’ category from Saturday (Nov 10) to today (Nov 14). Our District comprises of all of Yolo County and the northeastern portion of Solano County that includes Rio Vista, Dixon and Vacaville. I do know that UC Davis cancelled classes on Tuesday and Wednesday and that the Davis Joint Unified School District had students stay indoors for recess and PE on 11/13.”

Mary Ann Limbos, the deputy health officer for Yolo County, indicated that the public had to adapt to the conditions in order to stay safe.

“What we are really stressing to the public is to limit outside activity as much as possible and stay indoors,” Limbos said. “We feel that limiting the exposure to the best of your ability is the best way for the public to protect themselves right now.”

Tan also advised residents to stay indoors, as the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District strived to update everyone about the air quality.

“I don’t have the complete view of how the County has reacted but we here at the District are consistently sharing messages and alerts and updating the community on air quality on our social media accounts and website,” Tan said via email. “If you smell smoke, you’re breathing it.”

Limbos emphasized that the best way for cities to react is to keep people informed.

“I think it’s really important for people to be informed,” Limbos said. “What the cities and counties are trying to do is to provide accurate and up-to-date information so that residents can make good decisions about keeping themselves and their families safe. This includes putting out websites for reliable guidance about air quality.”

While the Air District cannot strictly prohibit activities, it can advise residents and keep them up to date with the information.

“The Air District does not have jurisdiction over what individual agencies or facilities do in terms of cancellations or postponements of activities, games, class, etc,” Tan said via email. “However, at the District we are continually posting on our social media accounts and website information about air quality, especially during wildfires. We recently created a ‘Wildfire Smoke Information’ page that has some helpful information about what is in wildfire smoke, its health impacts, helpful maps on air quality and smoke plumes, as well as other information.”

While the fires have affected countless cities, there are a number of factors that determine the severity in each location.

“A lot of it depends on the proximity to the fire,” Limbos said. “Different areas in Yolo County and surrounding counties have had different levels of air quality index measures depending on the temperature, wind currents — it’s really a changing number depending on the day and when you’re measuring it. It’s a widespread effect, depending on proximity and what is happening with the weather at the time. The counties in the surrounding areas are really trying to get the info out to their residents about the current conditions, and how to check or monitor the ongoing conditions so that they can modify their activities accordingly and how to protect themselves.”

Limbos emphasized that it is crucial residents stay informed and that the information remains accurate.

“There’s hopefully been a very good response to stay safe and have people limit their activities as much as possible,” Limbos said. “That’s really important to know what the conditions are, and know how to find out the future conditions to keep yourself safe.”

Beth Gabor, the public information officer for the Yolo County’s Office of Emergency Services, directed inquires and information to Regional Public Health Officers press releases so that residents could stay involved and aware.

“Air quality issues really fall under the jurisdiction of the Air District and Public Health,” Gabor said via email. “The Office of Emergency Services is more involved right now in assisting Butte County in response to the fire and those impacted. Regional Public Health Officers are working on a press release right now continuing to advise residents to stay indoors; it really is the best response to bad air quality.”

Written by: Stella Tran — city@theaggie.org