Interview with Fourth District Supervisor Candidate John Ferrera

The Vanguard recently sat down with John Ferrera, Chief of Staff to State Senator Denise Ducheny, who has recently formally announced his bid for the Fourth Supervisorial District to replace current Supervisor Mariko Yamada who is running for the 8th Assembly District. A few weeks ago, we spoke with his opponent, School Board President Jim Provenza.

Why are you running for County Supervisor?

Anna and I grew up in families that were really active in our communities when we were growing up. We learned that participating in things is the best way to get what you need and the best way to help other people. I think we’ve been that way ourselves. We’ve both worked in public service. It’s just been a natural progression for me wanting to take a little more responsibility. I feel like I’m at a place in my career and our family is at a place in our lives where we can give back a little more directly and this seems like the best opportunity to do that.

Can you describe your experience both in government and in the community and explain why you believe those experiences prepare you to serve on the county board of supervisors?

I have like I said worked in public service for 20 years, on the hill for working for a couple of different members, mostly working on transportation and economy policy, infrastructure policy and land use and environmental policy. I think all of those things are really important for how we set up the county and our community for the next 20 years. Here in California I’ve worked for two governors and two members of the legislature. Right now I’m working for the Senate Budget chair and I think all of those experiences from a professional level have helped me to bring people together and bring divergent interests together to help solve problems. Collaboration is a huge theme in what I want to do and working between levels of government and between government and the private sector and advocacy groups is a really important tool we used to be successful in government to provide what everybody needs.

In the community, we’ve been very active in each and every campaign and election since I got here. I walked precincts with the kids and with Anna every single time, against the recall, against the special election, I was actually the spokesperson on the televised debate for the Democratic Club for the recall debate. And then we’re active in the school, Pioneer Elementary is where our kids have gone. Jake, my son, is now in Harper Middle School and we’re really active in the schools. Coached in little league.

And then on the county level, Supervisor Rosenberg appointed me to the library advisory board so that we could work on getting services in South Davis to supplement the main branch. Supervisor Yamada reappointed me and Measure P is a great opportunity for South Davis actually to finally get some resources to get services to South Davis, so I’m proud of that.

What accomplishment in your adult life do you feel most proud of?

When I started with the Davis administration, we had a booming year because of the dot.com economy and we had some extra money in the state budget to spend. I was the leading person at the Business, Transportation, and Housing committee for Governor Davis and put together a $15 billion transportation plan. The reason why I’m so proud of that is not just the huge amount of dollars that we spent on infrastructure that we badly need in this state, but we did a great deal of work on alternative transportation, on transit, I worked with now Supervisor, but then Assemblywoman Thomson to make sure that Sacramento RT and Yolobus got its fair share of funding for clean air buses. So we changed out a lot of the fleet to cleaner burning buses which is great for the environment and also helped her on her work on the bike lanes in and around Davis, 113 being one and the pedestrian overpass for Raley Field. So having a direct impact on people when you have your job is really gratifying and I’m really proud of that work.

People have consistently asked me about you, my response is that you seem like a very nice person, you have a nice wife, but I know very little about what you’d do if elected. So right now tell us a bit about what you believe, philosophically—i.e. what are your core values? What is the primary role of government and who do you believe is government’s primary responsibility to serve?

I think government’s primary responsibility is to facilitate what people need, what human beings need, whether that’s our small business or our farmers, to help them succeed so that they can have money in the county coffers or the city coffers, to provide for people who can’t provide for themselves. Whether it’s health and human services which is 50 percent of the budget or whether it’s law enforcement and public safety, if we don’t help as a government to facilitate what people do for a living to be prosperous in ways that are environmentally friendly and serve the public, then we won’t have the resources to provide for the people who most need it.

What are your primary goals on the board of supervisors if elected?

One of my primary goals… I would say I have two primary goals and I have a lot of goals. The overreaching goal I have is a long-term vision and a creative vision for the future. We in government tend to look at the problem we face today or the opportunity that we face today and don’t do a good enough job sometimes of looking out on how our decisions are made today are impacting the future. That is a broad theme of mine. Another goal I have is to work as collaboratively as I possibly can, and I’ve really developed an ability to do that over 20 years in public service, to bring people together and facilitate conversations and collaboration that will help us solve our problems, and reach the opportunities that we have.

Specifically a big goal of mine is to help Yolo County deal with being in the middle of two huge growth areas-the Bay Area grows east and Sacramento is booming, even with the slowed economy and when the economy picks back up again, we're going to face that pressure again. We need to work very very closely with SACOG who has the responsibility of distributing our housing share for instance. And make sure that Yolo County is only getting what its fair share is, so that we're not forced to overgrow. It's very very important that we not overgrow because we've been given a greater responsibility than is fair from SACOG.

And another is being able to grow the economy to help take advantage of our strengths here in Yolo, so that we can provide for those people who need our help. Elder Care is a huge issue for me. We are working with Anna's mother who has an illness that challenges her advancing age. There are services that are available that aren't even public services that we can do a better job of facilitating people being aware of and taking advantage of. Yolo Hospice is a terrific example of that. A non-profit organization, wonderful people, who do a good job of helping others and we need to make sure that our citizens are aware of that.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the county?

As I said we are in the middle of two huge growth areas. I think growth is a huge issue and I think resources and revenue are a huge issue. Solano County announced plans to grow from 430,000 to 860,000 people. That’s not for Yolo County. And if we don’t look into the future, and take a broad and creative and long term look, to protecting our open space and agricultural land, and working with the cities in the county, not just from a county perspective, but with all of our partners, the tribe, the university, then solutions will be chosen for us instead of our being proactive and creative and making sure that we protect what we love about Yolo.

How would you have approached the general plan discussion differently from how it was approached by the current board (if at all)?

I think the current board has done a pretty good job. I respect the people on the board, I’ve worked with them. As you know, Supervisor Thomson has endorsed me and I find that really gratifying because I know that she’ll still be there and that means she still wants to work with me as the General Plan process spills over to 2009, which is what the staff has said. And implementation will be a huge issue. I think that even the board has recognized that there needed to be some better communication with the county’s partners on growth around the periphery. Davis, the Dunnigan Hills Agricultural District issue, sometimes people react to bad proposals, but sometimes people react badly to a lack of information and I think that a lot of the issues that have been raised in an emotional way before the board during the general plan process have to do with the fact that as the board recognized they needed to do a better job of communicating with their partners.

Who ought to determine whether the City of Davis needs to grow and develop on its periphery?

That is a joint decision between the city and the board of supervisors. I am a firm believer in collaboration, I am a believer of inter-governmental relations. That’s why I’ll keep going back to our relationships with the tribe, with the university and with our partners in the cities. I love Davis. I wanted to raise my children here. There are people who are born and raised here, people who have moved here, move here for what Davis is and that’s a great town, an intellectual town, with great resources for people and for children and we need to make those decisions collaboratively and I wouldn’t ever be making those decision unilaterally.

Do you support the current pass-through agreement? If so, how would you seek to protect it?

I think that the current pass-through agreement is a great example of how partners can work together as a voluntary agreement and it was an important step at a point in our history, twenty years ago, it’s a great tool to memorialize what our agreements are, that we’re respecting each other’s roles and respecting how Davis and the county are going to interact with each other. That being said, the pass-through agreement is twenty years old. It’s only received minor updates and discussions and I think that the changing relationship between the state and the counties and the state and the cities, with the growth of the university, with other things that have happened in our world that have changed over 20 years, that we really need to take a hard look and make sure that it’s doing what it need to do for the county and for the city.

In the article on you in the Daily Democrat, you regretted that the stem cell facility proposal was dismissed out of hand. You suggested that you did not support the housing, but the plan called for the use of revenue generated from housing to fund the stem cell research facility. Can you explain your thoughts on this and how such a facility could be supported without the housing revenue?

My perspective on that David is simply that as a supervisor, I want to do everything that I can to learn about the opportunities that we might have. One of our strengths, I talked about economy here and Yolo County, one of our strengths in Yolo County is our intellectual capacity, the university is a great participant in that. Doing things that push the envelope on stem cell and health research and alternative fuels will take advantage of huge strengths that we have in Yolo County. I think that we need to have as much conversation as we possibly can with somebody who comes with a proposal like the stem cell research center and find out whether or not it can work for the county. If the only way that it can work for the county is to build 7500 homes in a floodplain, then eventually we would have to say no. But not having the conversation about how otherwise it might be provided for, where revenue might come from, or if there’s another package that could be put together that mutually benefited the cities and the county and the proponents of the project, then why not have the conversation and try to find out the most we can about how we can take advantage of that opportunity and not just dismiss it as some people in our community did.

Do you believe that development is a way to address some of the county revenue problems?

Development as an economic development tool is just a short-term fix. The reason for seeking to provide affordable and workforce housing is not an economic bump. The reason to provide housing is twofold. One, we have a state legal responsibility to provide for the housing that’s distributed through the RHNA process. The other is that we have a human responsibility to provide for a very very basic need for our people. And if we don’t make Yolo a livable place and try our best to make it an affordable place for our workforce to live, it’s going to be all the harder to protect our environment because people that work for us or with us here are going to be traveling greater distances and for our economy because workers will seek to work closer to where they live and if they can’t live in Yolo County that’s going to make it awfully difficult for us to grow our economy.

As far as the budget and the economy is concerned, like I said, we have tremendous strengths here in Yolo County. Agricultural economy is enormous, it’s great, and the fourth district is the second largest agricultural district in the county. We have crops that we grow that are sometimes unique in their quality like the Clarksburg appellation of grapes. But we don’t have the infrastructure or the processing facilities or the storage facilities and so there are hundreds of tons of grapes sitting on the vine that may never be used in Clarksburg because we don’t have storage or processing facilities. The same is true of other crops. Tomato processing has gone out of the county, there are other crops that we could take advantage of and have the value here in Yolo County and that increases the revenue to the county and allows us to provide the services that we need to provide for the people who need us. Alternative energy is another huge area, again we have an agricultural economy and technology is catching up and providing us with ways to turn agricultural waste to energy in really an environmentally friendly way. If we can help with the research on that and with doing a better job with biomass and landfill gas to take advantage of those energy opportunities, then that is a great way to go for Yolo County to generate resources as well.

How much should Yolo County grow in the next 20 years (annual rate)?

We have 190,000 people, it’s impossible to put a percentage, I think, on how much we’re going to grow. I think that there is no end of proposals for growth, some of them are bad and some of them are good. We need to take a really progressive standpoint and do our research and ask the really important questions about whether we are providing enough affordable housing as part of development proposals, whether we are providing alternative means of transportation so that we’re just not throwing people onto the roads, whether we have jobs-housing balance so that we don’t create more transportation and more gridlock in the county. I can’t tell you what a percentage is and I really don’t think it would be responsible for me to try to guess over 20 years x-percent. But I do want you to know that I am not somebody who thinks that grow for growth’s sake is beneficial to the county or will help us protect what we have in Yolo that we love.

You are endorsed by Supervisor Helen Thomson, in what ways would you support her policies and in what ways would you be different from her?

Supervisor Thomson has an incredible record of public service here in Davis and in Yolo County and actually in the 8th Assembly District. I think that she is a fantastic leader. I think she is the kind of leader that I would like to be. Somebody who seeks to bring people together to resolve any differences we might have, work cooperatively, to finding solutions to the challenges that we have. I think that she, like me, is disappointed in the breakdown of the dialogue in our county and in our nation, I think that we’ve lost some of our ability to communicate productively and to respect each other’s point of view and learn from each other and gain the most information that we can while we’re making our decisions. I can’t think of a specific example of something that she has done or a decision that she has made that I would have opposed, but as a leader, I think that she is a great example of someone that I would like to emulate.

As County Supervisor, who do you believe you represent first, your constituents or the county as a whole?

That’s an interesting question because it seems to come from a perspective, and I’m not accusing you of this, but the question itself seems to come from the perspective that those interests are mutually exclusive or in conflict. I think people are tired of conflict and people are tired of the lack of respect of other people’s views. I am very active in the community as is Anna, we are everywhere around, we talk to the people who would be my constituents all the time and our community is what I would represent on the board and that’s very very important to me, but I think that the goals of Davis and the Davis community and El Macero, WiIllowbank, and the unincorporated areas and all of that ag land in the Yolo basin are consistent with what we need to do in the county as well.

How can you help the city and county work together rather than against each other on future policy decisions?

Again David, I’ve spent 20 years in public service, working in places that fortunately or unfortunately have put me in between various interests, sometimes interests in tremendous conflict, and I think I’ve developed a professional expertise for bringing those people together, facilitating communications, finding solutions, and moving forward. I would hope and I would expect that I will have a good relationship with my colleagues on the city council, and I do, I have two endorsements from the city council, one from Ruth and one from Stephen Souza and my first goal in any relationship is always to work collaboratively and that’s what I want to bring to the board. I want to be reaching out and treating my colleagues on the city level, in the tribe, in the university, in other cities, and on the board as colleagues and work collaboratively with them.

How can the county work better with the University?

The university is part of a constitutional entity. The county and the city have little authority over many of the decisions that are made at the university. This is why it’s absolutely critical that we work well with the University of California. God knows we’re not going to agree with the decisions, all of the decisions that they’ve made or are going to make, but you work much better when you’re collaborating with somebody and you have a productive relationship and open communication then you do when you are at odds. And it’s very very important that the city and the county work closely with the university so that we have that kind of relationship so that the university feels bought into consulting us on decisions they make that affect the county and the city, and that’s absolutely critical.

What do you think about moving the BOS meetings to evenings?

I am willing to consider something like that, especially if there are issues that have a lot of community interest. My concern would be there is in a county where we don’t have a lot of resources and where we want to make sure that we guard them jealously, what the impact would be on the county budget opening at night and having county employees on call that really should be serving our constituents during the daytime. So I would have to balance evening meetings against those concerns.

Do you plan to use blog and other technology during your campaign or as a Supervisor?

I’ll have a website up soon. I’m not a blogger. Actually, and I don’t want to seem like I’m pandering to you, David, but you’re doing a fine job at the Vanguard, I think, objective and thoughtful research and reporting on issues that people may not have the time to research on their own, God knows, it’s hard enough for the average people to keep up with the city council and the board meetings, let alone all of the commissions and committees that they have and all of the input that they get on that level. I would commit myself to learning as much as I can, to being fully briefed on what we’re facing on the board, and leave the blogging to folks like you.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Supervisor Candidate Jim Provenza Talks About the Issues Facing Yolo County and the City of Davis

I sat down last night with School Board President Jim Provenza who is a candidate for the Fourth District Yolo County Board of Supervisors for a Vanguard exclusive interview about the issues facing Yolo County and the City of Davis. This is the first in a series of interviews with candidates and public and elected officials over the course of the next few weeks.

Why are you running for County Supervisor?

I’m running for County Supervisor because I feel it is essential that we protect Yolo County’s agricultural heritage, preserve farmland and assure the rights of cities to control their own destiny in terms of development is protected. I believe it is also important to bring economic development to Yolo County in a way that is consistent with protecting our environment and protecting our agricultural heritage. I’m also very concerned with the support that the county has been able to provide for mental health, services for senior citizens, as well as law enforcement services. I believe that Yolo County needs to do a much better job of bringing state funds and federal funds into our communities to support social services and law enforcement.

What accomplishment on the school board do you feel most proud of?

I think I’m most proud about changing the emphasis from one that focused solely on the high academic achievers to one that focuses on improving achievement for all students, emphasizing addressing the achievement gap and problems with English learners a high priority or one of the highest priorities in the district while maintaining the quality of educational services for all students.

What is your biggest regret about your time on the school board?

The biggest regret is that I’m going to have to go off the board in December. I love working for the schools and have wonderful colleagues on the board and wish that I could be in both jobs but unfortunately that’s not possible. So I will be moving on, if the voters decide that’s the best thing, to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors.

What are the biggest challenges facing the county?

The biggest challenges facing the county are really threefold. First, there are fairly significant budget problems in that Yolo County is being pressed on several sides. For one thing it gets a lower share of state funds back to the county than most other counties in the state. At the same time, the Williamson Act is being threatened. That is the act that is the act that provides for special compensation to farmers who continue to farm and that act is now being threatened at the federal level. The other is the pressure from other counties for sprawl type development. If you look at Placer County they just approved a huge, a huge development on agricultural land. Many of the counties surrounding us are growing so fast that it creates pressure here. We have some of the best agricultural land in the nation and there is going to be a tremendous amount of pressure on our county to become like someone else. It will be my job to ensure that Yolo County remains unique and that it develops in a smart and economically viable way, but that we preserve the land and we make sure that whatever we do that we keep in mind protecting the environment for our citizens.

What are your primary goals on the board of supervisors if elected?

One of my primary goals would be to do the same thing that I did on the school board which is to promote transparency in government. To show respect for the voters and the citizens by making sure that every decision sees the light of day. That when I make a decision that it is not the result of a backroom conversation. That is not the result of a backroom deal. That if there is a meeting, that the meeting be in public. That we consider the Brown Act to be the minimum standard not the maximum. In other words, that the Brown Act that prohibits secret meetings, that’s just the minimum standard, we should hold everything possible in public unless there is a very good reason not to do so. That’s the standard that we’ve had on the school board. If you have to have a personnel matter or making an offer in litigation of course that’s private. But aside from those very narrow exceptions everything should see the light of day and be done in public. Even though it is harder as a public official to do it, in the long run it gains a greater respect of the people and then when decisions are made, the public will supports those decisions.

How would you have approached the general plan discussion differently from how it was approached by the current board (if at all)?

I think really what needs to happen is that there to be much more communication. There were several public meetings, the public was pulled into the process, and this isn’t a direct criticism, but I think there is not nearly enough communication between the city and the county staff in terms of the direction of the general plan. The city had no idea what the county was planning. The city staff had no idea what the county was planning. And the city and county officials in many ways were talking past each other rather than to each other. If we are to have rational development in the city and the county, we need to have a rational discussion between public officials who share the same constituents. County supervisors, city councilmembers, school board members, we all share the same constituents. It’s essential that we work together, that we work in the open, and that we work in the common benefit for everybody. If we plan in that way, it’s a lot more work, but in the end we will have plan that will have the support of both the city and the county and the citizens who live in those areas.

Who ought to determine whether the City of Davis needs to grow and develop on its periphery?

The periphery, what is known as Davis’ area of influence, is set forth in the pass-through agreement between the city and the county. It is very clear in that agreement and I support the principal that each city should control its own growth.

You already answered the first part of the next question, which was “Do you support the current pass-through agreement?” The next part is, if so, how would seek to protect it?

I think every agreement, and that agreement has been around for a long long time, needs to be reexamined every so often. To the extent that changes need to be made. To the extent that the city has issues or the county has issues, we should always be able to sit down and negotiate and discussion how we should meet our mutual concerns. The county gets over $2 million in revenue each year from the pass-through agreement, if the revenue needs to change, if the revenue to be updated, that’s something that can always be talked about. If there’s ways to coordinate development ideas or planning ideas through the city and the county that’s always something that can be discussed. In fact, the agreement really has several options for the city and the county to talk to each other about development within a city’s sphere of influence. But ultimately the bottom line is that the county cannot run roughshod over Davis, over Woodland, over West Sacramento. Ultimately each city must be in control over its own sphere of influence. And working in a cooperative way, I don’t think that there needs to be conflict between the city and the county because I think if they can work in a cooperative way, everybody’s interest can be met in a win-win relationship.

What is the best way to address county revenue problems?

There several ways to address the county revenue problems. As I’ve stated, I think we need to go to the state and insist upon a more equitable sharing of revenues not just vis-à-vis Yolo County, although that’s important, but I think we need to get together with other counties and work toward a relationship with the state which recognizes the fact that the counties are the funders of last resort for mental health, for welfare services, for medical services for the elderly. And neither the state nor the federal government provides enough money to pay for these things. And over the years the amount of tax revenues that stays in the county has gone down. Every time the state has a budget crisis they figure out a way to take more money from the counties. I think ultimately all counties face the same fiscal concerns from the largest to the smallest. Ours may be more severe than others but I think it is a very similar concern. I think we need to work very hard with other counties to change that relationship.

Locally I think we need to look at how we are spending the money, make sure that we are using economies of scale, make sure that we are where we can obtain services at a better economic cost, for example using community non-profit agencies, we should do so. And then thirdly we do need to look at economic development. We need to look at programs that could be jobs and taxes into the community, and I don’t think that’s inconsistent with controlling sprawl or controlling growth, it’s just making sure that decisions that we do make are consistent with protecting the environment and protecting the land. I think we need to look at not just one thing, you can’t just look at bringing business, you can’t just look at bringing in housing, you can’t just look at changing the relationship in terms of taxes, you have to look at a multifaceted approach to budget issues. You also have to be willing to make cuts when you see inefficiencies. You can’t just keep spending, you have to look at if we are not getting our bang for the buck in a certain area, you have to be willing to address that and consider whether or not that money could be spent differently.

How do you differ from your potential opponents on the key issues facing Yolo County and the City of Davis?

I haven’t heard any positions from any potential opponents at this point so it would be difficult to answer that. However, I’ll say this, I’ve been an elected official in this county. I’ve represented this entire district on the school board for the last four years. I’ve been actively involved in the Davis community for the last ten years. I have a record not only on school issues but on city issues and many other issues of local concern. I would hope that any potential opponent would be able to point to similar accomplishments and similar activity in the community.

As County Supervisor, who do you think you represent first, your constituents or the county as a whole?

Constituents always come first. Your constituents sent you to the county to represent them. You work with four other individuals who are representing their constituents on the board of supervisors. So that is not an either/ or, it is not a conflict. When you are sitting on the board of supervisors, you are representing your constituents and working with four other people who represent theirs for the good of the entire county. In addition to that, and I think that this has to be true of member of the board of supervisors, you have a responsibility to make sure that those people with the least influence, the least wealth, and the least ability to influence government are taken care of. That is one thing that I have consistently done on the school board. If there is someone without a voice, whether it be a low income person, whether it be a farm worker, whether it be a victim of domestic violence, in addition to representing my constituents, whether that person is a constituent or not, it will be my responsibility to see that that person’s voice is heard.

You were endorsed by Supervisor Yamada, in what ways would continue her policies and in what ways would you be different from her?

Well we’re two different people. And when she endorsed me, interestingly, she didn’t ask any of my positions on issues, she was aware of my work on the school board, and the type of elected representative I am and said based on what she sees in me, I would be the right person to replace her. I’d very much like to continue her advocacy on behalf of elderly people and disabled people and people without a voice in government. She has been a stalwart in terms of advocating for people who really need the help of government in order to survive. I would very much continue that effort.

I think that we agree more than we disagree on development and environmental issues. I happened to disagree on the general plan issue of including the study areas. But I continue to support her for State Assembly and she continues to support me for County Supervisor, although there will be areas that we differ.

How do you get along with the Davis City Council (as individual members)?

I get along fine with the city council. One of the things that has changed I think from my first two years on the board to my second two years, has been that we have worked very closely with the city council on issues of mutual interest. For example the Grande Property. We are working with the city on an agreement that will allow us to sell the property in a way that the property can be developed consistently with the desires of the neighborhood as well as the desires of the school district. What we found is that when we look at our mutual interests, we get along very well. In the past there have been turf battles between the school district and the city council, turf battles at the staff level, turf battles at the elected official level. We have none of that. When we have an issue of mutual concern, even when it’s a member of the council that I might disagree with on other issues, I’m always willing to sit down and work things out as are members of the council. We have two former school board members on the council who are very concerned about the school district. I see myself continuing a similar relationship with the city as a member of the board of supervisors.

How can you help the city and county work together rather than against each other on future policy decisions?

I think the discussion has to start early on whatever we are working on. There is a tendency, and I think it’s a human tendency, to just work on things and assume that everyone knows what you are doing. One of things that I found out in being an elected official is that usually people have no idea what you’re doing until the very end when it comes up for public vote unless you seek them out and make them part of the public process. If the county is going to do something that affects the city or the city is going to do something that affects the county, we need to start discussions early on from day one. A lot of disputes aren’t really disputes over policy, they are disputes that arise because people haven’t communicated early and haven’t communicated throughout the process.

How can the county work better with the University?

Again it’s really about communication. Letting people know what you need to do early, bringing them in early. For example if we are going to be talking about stem cell research, and our county wants a facility, we need to bring the chancellor in at a very early date and let the chancellor know what we’re thinking and find out what the chancellor is thinking. And try to work together to make those things happen. And it’s not that hard to do. Where you run into problems is when one person goes in a certain direction for a long period of time before telling the other person what’s happening. That tends to have the opposite result that we’re seeking. I think that by having not only regular meetings but by having regular substantive meetings in detail and making clear to everybody involved—for example if you are going to be doing a project—you not only have the university and the county involved if you are the city, but if there’s neighbors, you bring the neighbors in early, hear what they have to say. If you don’t bring them in early, you’re going to bring them in mad about a year later even if they otherwise might have gone along. You need to bring people along each step. If you come in at the very end and say here’s what I want to do, whether it’s a development or a project, people who otherwise might have been supporters are more likely to be suspicious or opposed.

How much should Yolo County grow in the next 20 years (annual rate)?

I haven’t looked at a growth rate for the county as a whole; I think the one percent Davis growth rate is good for Davis. Other communities may want to grow faster than that and you’d have to look at community by community. But the basic principle is that when you do grow, you don’t take prime agricultural land away because once it’s lost, you never ever get it back. You can correct almost any other mistake, but when you take farmland away, and that’s a state and national problem. Congressman Thompson just wrote an editorial in the Sacramento Bee the other day. He’s talking about how Yolo County is one of the areas that has been really successful at preserving farmland where other areas have not. So that principle must underlie every other decision we make including the speed of growth.

What do you think about moving the BOS meetings to evenings?

It might be difficult as a practical matter because of the size of the staff. I could see occasionally doing it, but on a regular basis because of the number of staff people who have to come to meetings and to be available to the board, and the length of meetings it might be difficult on a regular basis.

If elected, will you continue to work for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office?

It’s possible that I would work part-time. One thing that I would have to do is make sure that there are no conflicts of interest and get a legal opinion on that. I expect that I would work full-time as a county supervisor and also have part-time work for either the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office or private law practice.

How does your experience with the DA’s office help you with regards to law enforcement and public safety?

I’ve been involved in public safety really the last 18 years. 14 years a member of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in the legislative office in Sacramento and four years as counsel to Public Safety and the committee in the Assembly and the Judiciary Committee in the Senate where I handled criminal law legislation. Fundamentally what I learned is that in order to have effective law enforcement you have to have the funding to make that possible. For example, a few years back, the governor was proposing to eliminate money from witness protection, though that was a good way to save money in the state budget. That was money that went from the state to the local communities. That would have been a disaster, I fought tooth and nail against that and got the funding restored. That’s the money that goes to protect witnesses who are threatened basically with execution by gang members when they’ve been a witness on a homicide case. What it taught me is that the state often has no idea what the local government is doing. And no idea how important some of these programs are. The half cent sales tax for law enforcement in the early 90s prevented cuts of up to one-third in the budget of Sheriff and Police. One of the things that would have happened if we had made those cuts, is that we would have lost the ability to control crime because every study shows the more police and Sheriffs you have in particularly crime areas, the less crime gets committed. Instead you get a situation where a lot of crime gets committed and you have to incarcerate people, but you are not doing much prevention. I was able to intercede with the Democratic leadership in the legislature in the early 90s to establish that half cent sales tax that really saved local law enforcement in California. I was able to do that because of my contacts with the Democratic Party and the Democratic leadership at a time when other law enforcement representatives really weren’t being listened to.

I think I could continue that type of advocacy—now as a supervisor you are in a little different role—but understanding the state budget and understanding how law enforcement works I would be in a perfect position to argue at the statewide level to argue for local law enforcement including for our own county.

Do you plan to use blog and other technology during your campaign or as a Supervisor?

I’m working on it.

What do you think of the People’s Vanguard of Davis?

I think it’s a great way to get information out to the community. There are many mediums that people follow between the paper and TV and radio. But one of the nice things about a blog is that it allows for information to come out very quickly, in greater detail sometimes than newspapers can provide, and provides a way for people to give immediate feedback. Sometimes there’s views on the blog that I don’t agree with, but I always know that there will be someone expressing the opposite view about ten minutes after the article appears. So I think it’s a very interesting form of communication. I’ve looked at other blogs as well, such as one in Woodland that we all know about, I have enjoyed following that as well.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Commentary: Do not be charging me with NIMBYism When I Oppose Your 600K Housing Development

Recently I was reading an article in Mother Jones of all places that caught my eye. The title, "NIMBY Notebook: Habitat for Hypocrisy."

It is the story of Habit for Humanity in Marin County. "Housing advocates say Marin County's Bill Duane exemplifies a vexing irony: People support affordable housing with their labor, money, and votes—just so long as it's nowhere near them." Now Marin County is one of the most reliably liberal counties in country, but what you might call a "limousine liberal" community. The article tells the story of a man who was a strong supporter of Habit for Humanity, even volunteered for it, until "the group announced plans to build two affordable duplexes just down the street from him."

The article goes on to suggest:

"opposition to affordable housing in the county was so fierce in the 1990s that a Marin chapter of Habitat disbanded"

Furthermore they are not simply picking on Marin, they cite the same problem in other wealthly liberal communities such as Martha's Vineyard and Boulder, Colorado.

The article caught my attention for the date on the publication was July 17, 2007, the same day that Davis successfully fought back county attempts at massive development on the Davis periphery. The same day, that many liberal activists descended on Yolo County in hopes of the creation of a Stem Cell research facility. And indeed, on that day, many of the same Stem Cell research advocates were claiming the same thing about our opposition to development, it was simply about NIMBYism. That the liberals in Davis, like their counterparts elsewhere are a bunch of white elitists trying to keep the minorities and the families out of Davis.

I scoffed at the notion at the time because those making that charge obviously do not know me or why I have become an activist in this community, it was to defend civil rights first. In fact, on most days I would be on their side, leading the fight for Stem Cell research. On most days, I would be leading the fight for affordable housing. Heck, I will tell you this, if Habitat For Humanity had a project in Davis, I would be the one helping to build the houses.

Unlike the Mother Jones article, the charges against Davis was unfair. We were not opposing true affordable housing, we were opposing more McMansions.

The problem with that argument on that day, is that the projects that are being proposed will not bring more diversity to Davis. They will not bring more affordable housing to Davis. They will bring more limousine liberals and suburban Republicans to Davis. Covell Village had a set aside ratio of "affordable houses" but the bulk of the project would be houses in the range of $600,000 per unit. That was not going to help new families move to Davis. It was not going to help the children of Davis families stay in Davis. And it was not going to help people of color come to Davis. The only thing it would do is reinforce existing housing patterns while at the same time causing more congestion on our streets and reduce open space and farm land in our surroundings.

At the end of the day, if I saw a truly modest housing proposal that actually provided affordability to families and people of color, I would likely support it. But I have not seen one yet. All I have seen is more of the same, and if given the choice between protecting agricultural land and open space and building more overpriced homes, I choose the former. And if we want a true stem cell research facility, not built near the causeway, but built in a place that is more appropriate, I am leading the fight. But we have not had one of those and I do not expect to get one of those in the near future.

In the meantime, do not be charging me with NIMBYism when I do not support your 2000 unit proposal chalk-full of $600,000 homes with a small percentage of limited equity affordable housing set aside as chump change. I am not falling for that trick. Give me a real proposal for affordable housing for families and then we can talk.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Commentary: Stem Cell Issue a "Trojan Horse" For Massive Development Along I-80

Perhaps the low point in the proceedings on Tuesday was when Miss Disabled California came to speak before the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, wearing her sash and spoke about how one day, she hoped that she would give up her crown because her condition would be cured.

Indeed, there was a full parade of individuals, many of whom either suffered from horrendous maladies or who had family members who had, that came up to speak about the need for stem cell research and specifically for the Tsakapoulos project that proposed developing 1500 acres of housing development and using the proceeds to fund a stem cell research facility in the area along the I-80 corridor.

The worst part about watching this, is that during breaks, I got to meet a number of people who had come here for the promise of the possibility of a world-class research facility promised by Mr. Tsakapoulos. 364 days out of the year, I would have been on the side of these people, fighting for funding for this new technology that promises to make for a better life for so many people.

Unfortunately, on this day, I was on the other side from them. For in my view, Supervisor Matt Rexroad was correct, "This was not a stem cell issue. It is a land use issue."

I would stop somewhat short however of requesting that their testimony be ruled out of order--"The testimony from these people should have been ruled out of order. It had no bearing on the issue at hand."

Had I been chair, I would have ruled that they could speak, but would probably direct them to tie back to the land use question, even if it was a mechanical statement at the end, "for that reason, please allow the joint study area to go forward" or something like that...

Supervisor Rexroad also complained about the use of official UC Davis letterhead for the purpose of political lobbying which implied that these positions represented the position of the university.

"The one remaining procedural issue I had from the meeting involves all the letters being passed around on UC Davis letterhead. Several went around the room yesterday. They were written on official looking letterhead by people with important titles that worked for UCD."

Supervisor Rexroad is sending a letter to Chancellor Vanderhoef asking for a clarification of the University's position on this issue.

In the meantime, last night, Elisabeth Sherwin of the Davis Enterprise reported that Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef had in fact released a statement.

“On behalf of the university, I support the research and the development of the kind of research park that would house such research,” he said through spokesman Mitchel Benson.

“As to where such a research park might be located, there would be obvious advantages to having it in proximity to the university, but communities in which the siting is proposed to occur would have to first deal with its pros and cons,” Vanderhoef said. “The decision, then, rests most appropriately with those communities and their elected officials.”

For me, this was a land-use issue, not a stem cell issue. Supervisor Helen Thomson suggested that she would "like to see Yolo County have a stem-cell research center somewhere." Supervisor Rexroad suggested that UC Davis would be a better location for such a research facility.

In the end, I would suggest that the Board of Supervisors work with the city of Davis and UC Davis to help bring a stem-cell research facility to this county, however, it needs to be in an appropriate location.

As I suggested 364 out of 365 days in the year, I support stem-cell research and would have been fighting right next to these people. But this was not the location to put it. Moreover, as I suggested to one of the advocates sitting next to me, why was there no discussion with the City of Davis about this? This went completely through the county. That was inappropriate.

Jim Provenza who is running for the Board of Supervisors to replace Supervisor Yamada was exactly right with several of his points. He called the Stem-Cell Research center a Trojan horse that is being used to sneak development in a location along Interstate 80 that is inappropriate for a number of reasons.

First, it would represent tremendous sprawl out to the east of Davis. It would abut the levy, which would place it into a flood zone and also a sensitive wild life area.

Moreover, it would bring in thousands of new residents onto a highway that is already congested to capacity. His description of it as the "congestion corridor" was very accurate.

We need to be clear on this point--the county in my opinion, ceded land use authority on the Davis periphery when it signed the pass-through agreement and took the city's money. But regardless of who controls land-use authority, this location is inappropriate for development.

When the point was raised that this location was inappropriate, one of the individuals there to lobby for stem cell research mentioned that without the capital investment, the research facility was not feasible. They also described in what ways the Proposition 71 was insufficient--one example was that state money could not be bundled with foreign investment.

These are all serious concerns. However, at the end of the day, I think it is inappropriate for people to come into this community and start demanding that we have huge developments in order for them to get their research facility. They do not live here and have to deal with many of the consequences. I would not go into someone else's community with such demands and then mock and dismiss the concerns of the community.

At the end of the day, I still firmly believe that there is not an inherent conflict between good land-use policy and good social policy. It is easy to dismiss such concerns---as many have--as being part and parcel to NIMBYism. NIMBYism implies that it is okay for other communities to take up these projects or other neighborhoods, but not ours. In fact, I do not believe that it is. What I believe, is no community should have sprawl forced upon it. That all communities need to look at their growth policies. That all communities need to value the environment, open space, and prime agricultural land. If we continue to pave ag land, how are we expecting to eat? I would question our reliance on constructing cheap tract homes that all look the same while constructing big-box retail that makes all cities look and taste the same. We need to retain our local flavor, our uniqueness, and our pride. These are not just values for Davis, they are values for all communities across the state and the country.

I am very saddened by what I saw on Tuesday, where I think people with legitimate issues, legitimate concerns, and who are committed to improving the lives of many individuals in a good and true manner, were used by developers in order change our land use policies. To me that was just not right and not fair. And so I say that the developers need to step up and find a way to fund this facility using good and smart land use policies that the citizens of Davis and Yolo County can tolerate.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Commentary: Who is left to defend Yolo County Farmland?

As reported yesterday in the local press, Sacramento developer Angelo Tskaopoulos is proposing developing a 2,800 acre parcel of prime agricultural land along the I-80 between Davis and the Yolo Causeway.

Unfortunately the people who were supposed to be protecting Davis and Yolo County from exactly this sort of development are making statements that should make every single resident very nervous.

Supervisor Mike McGowan, who represents West Sacramento, in both the Sacramento Bee and Davis Enterprise was non-committal but sympathetic.

Supervisor McGowan told the Bee:

"It's still very much at the conceptual level, and I need to get much more information about it before I can form any serious conclusions."

"The idea of this region being at the forefront of stem cell research is certainly an exciting one, but the rest of it has yet to be fleshed out."

Meanwhile he told the Davis Enterprise:

“I'm very intrigued with the idea of a research park... We need to look constructively at the Interstate 80 corridor between West Sacramento and Davis. Does it make sense for the county, Davis, UC Davis and West Sacramento to place something of legitimate scientific endeavor out there? If the answer is ‘maybe,' then we should look at it at least in the broad concept.”

However, given his record on growth this is not a surprising position by Supervisor McGowan.

The surprising position is that of Supervisor Mariko Yamada--who up until this calendar year was widely regarded as a slow-growther. However, it appears that has begun to change sharply this year just as she announced a bid for the Assembly.

Earlier this year she alarmed supporters and Davis Progressives with a proposal to look into joint study-areas on the periphery of Davis as possible locations for future development and zoning changes to allow for that future development. The city of Davis has adamantly been opposed to any changes in the pass-through agreement and believes that the city has land-use authority on the periphery. Moreover, she seemed at times amenable to revising the pass-through agreement between the city of Davis and Yolo County.

Now, she appears open to this proposal.

Supervisor Yamada:

"We are in the 21st century, and we need to keep an open mind about how we are going to approach land use and the I-80 corridor from the Bay Area to Sacramento."

I have long been a supporter of Mariko Yamada and have known her personally since 1998 when she was the office manager at the Democratic Headquarters in Davis where I worked as a field director for Mark Desio who was running for State Senate. It pains me very much to say this, but her position is unacceptable.

She added in Enterprise:

“It's part of the new direction the county is going in."

This unfortunately dovetails with her position on a 2,000-unit senior development on Oeste Ranch in the Northwest Quadrant and her view on the pass-through agreement itself.

Yamada at that time was claiming that the county needed to find new ways to generate revenue sources. I cannot disagree with that nor can I disagree with her goal for increasing and improving social services including those to seniors. Counties are at the lowest end of the totem pole when it comes to revenue sources. However, tearing up the pass-through agreement will not solve the problem. The city gives the county far more in the pass-through agreement in order to not develop, than they would get by developing.

The issue here is not about a stem-cell research center. If Mr. Tsakopoulos wants to build a research center, I would be greatly be supportive of it on the UC Davis campus. However, this is basically a means by which to build homes and other development projects on prime agricultural land and that, I cannot support.

In contrast to both McGowan and Yamada, Matt Rexroad expresses my viewpoint:

"The place where the Tsakopoulos family owns land is pretty good farmland... Would it be great to have a research center like this in Yolo County? Yes. Does it have to be located on that parcel? No."

Mr. Rexroad is a Republican. Guess what? So is Duane Chamberlain. I challenge anyone to find a stronger advocate of protecting farmland on this Board of Supervisors than Mr. Chamberlain. Matt Rexroad may be a right-wing Republican, but he's far closer in his viewpoint of this issue to me, than I am to the three Democrats on this board.

It seems that the only protectors of land at the county level are Republicans. While the track record of McGowan and Thomson on development is consistent with this type of proposal, the shocker here has been the move by Supervisor Yamada. Prior to January of this year, Yamada along with Chamberlain had been strong defenders against development. Why the quick and huge turn? Is it a matter of running for the Assembly? It is a matter of lack of funding for social services?

At the end of the day, it probably does not matter why. Nevertheless, Yamada has basically cut herself off from her previous base of support and has left herself without a political base as she seeks election against West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon.

Prior to writing this article, I gave Supervisor Yamada a heads-up that this was coming and offered her a chance to respond on the record. She did not take me up on that offer.

At this point, I cannot in good conscience defend the actions of someone who I strongly admired last year for being the only publicly elected official to publicly support and champion civilian police oversight, the Buzayans, and the Human Relations Commission. While she remains strong on civil rights and social services, her evolving positions on land-use are indefensible.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting