|
Each week the Davis Vanguard asks candidates a question. Here's the fifth question, my answer, and a link to the article. What do you think the most important pieces of the Downtown Plan are - and would you make any recommendations of changes before the final plan is approved?We lack a joint vision for the future of Davis and a roadmap for how we can move forward together. This is an important step with dense, yet diverse housing, a focus on pedestrian infrastructure, and an introduction of form-based code which provides guidelines for developers and an outline of what Davisites can expect for the future.
Specific Improvements:
Finally, I believe we should have in place a schedule to regularly update planning documents, so that they continue to represent the community’s vision and allow us to remain proactive. I suggest we schedule for revisiting the planning commission and downtown plan advisory commission in 2025, community outreach in 2026, and an updated draft in 2027 which look further toward the future. Planning on a continual basis prepares us for the future by shaping it!
0 Comments
Each week the Davis Vanguard asks candidates a question. Here's the fourth question, my answer, and a link to the article. How would you address racial disparities in police stops?This problem is pervasive and costs people their lives. I believe that performance based standards and budgeting, moving non-sworn staff jobs out of the police department, and shifting funding from fighting to preventing crime are three important steps in creating more equitable public safety.
To implement performance based standards and budgeting, we must collect quality data. The fact of the matter is, we don’t know who is being stopped by police. Los Angeles performed an audit using .2% data from 2019 and found misreporting for 18% on those interactions. Who knows how many interactions are missing entirely. Using auditing processes, we can identify how well police are reporting their interactions and create incentives for proper reporting. We can then determine where this issue is prevalent and create policy and incentives for change. We have a new department of Housing and Social Services. Traffic and code enforcement and dispatch which do not require a sworn officer should be moved to this new department. We should put our money where our mouth is and shift funding from fighting crime to preventing crime. The most commonly reported crimes in Davis are bike and catalytic converter theft. Secure parking, bike registration, and subsidizing catalytic converter cages are a few ways to help prevent these. It is most important that we create continued conversation about this, so we can collect and implement the community’s ideas on the best ways to move forward. I don’t have all the answers, the community does. Last week, there were three forums held by local organizations. If you feel like you haven't had a chance to hear us actually speak on our priorities and the topics of interest to the community, these offer a great opportunity to get to know us. You can find recordings of all three using the link below!
Each week the Davis Vanguard asks candidates a question. Here's the first question, my answer, and a link to the article. More to come! Discuss your views of the city’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan - do you support it? Does it go far enough? What concerns do you have?I support creating concrete plans to move toward a carbon neutral future quickly. However, there are clearly areas where the CAAP can be a better policy and process.
I plan to create an independent climate commission to hold the city accountable and facilitate an updated CAAP beginning immediately. We have no time to waste in improving this plan with community input and buy-in. This update needs to engage activists and community members of all ages, income-levels, etc. and increase its focus on transportation and resilience. I also plan to immediately begin the proliferation of resilience centers that can disconnect from the grid in times of emergency at grocery stores, churches, and schools for those in our community as well as climate refugees. The city’s most important job is to work with the community, which is why it is important to address the whole house electrification mandate. This is not a well thought through policy and the Natural Resources Commission, professional realtors, and the public have identified this. The issues with this policy are threefold. It is inequitable, will decrease housing stock turnover, and will cost the city money. Instead, I suggest our community consider annual fee schedules for gas appliances which provide property owners with incentives to switch to electric at time of replacement but still allow them the option to continue with gas. This would raise funds that can be used to assist people with this transition, cover the costs of enforcement, and help us increase energy resilience. Each week the Davis Vanguard asks candidates a question. Here's the second question, my answer, and a link to the article. The city of Davis must build 930 low and very low income housing units during the next RHNA cycle ending 2029. Explain your plan to meeting the city’s affordable housing requirements.The city is in an unfortunate situation when it comes to affordable housing because of previous council decisions to allow developments to meet the city requirements in ways that do not count toward RHNA standards, repeatedly renewing an interim affordable housing ordinance that only requires 15%, and continuing to require an arduous and costly process to create affordable housing in our city.
To address the first and second issues, the council must reject the interim affordable housing ordinance in favor of a long term ordinance requiring 30% dedicated affordable housing with at least 10% very low income and an additional 10% low income. The city must also work with developer and nonprofit partners to secure outside funding to create additional affordable housing opportunities outside of these requirements. The Downtown Plan and a new General Plan are two large pieces of addressing the third issue. My opponents both supported Measure H which only built 85 affordable housing units while creating demand for over 2,000 new employees. This would have made the housing affordability in Davis worse. The city has favored ad hoc proposals like Measure H instead of prioritizing planning. We can do this. We can choose not to settle for developer scraps. If we set strong standards, have reasonable, high goals, and work together, we can achieve them. There has to be an appetite for doing better, and that is what I bring to council. |
KelseyKeeping you up to date with my thoughts on my campaign, Davis, and changing the world. Archives
October 2022
Categories |
RSS Feed