Davis Forever!

Town & Frown

Davis is set to mark 100 years of 'Town & Gown', acknowledging the close association between UC Davis and the city of Davis. Celebrations were officially launched at the California State Fair, but the next major stage in the festivities will be a five day event in October. For one day during this event, several blocks of downtown Davis will become an outdoor street festival and will be closed to traffic. It is meant to be symbolic that this event will take place in the area that connects the campus with downtown (on 3rd St). The organizers of the event will be keen to point out the warm and friendly relationship between 'town' and 'gown'. 

However, not everyone appears to share this rosy view of residents and students living side-by-side in peaceful harmony. A small faction of Davis residents will be staging a protest against the university. The group who calls themselves 'What has UC Davis ever done for us?' appear to be in the minority of Davis residents who suffer from 'problem student neighbors'. One group member, who wishes to remain anonymous, said "It's not just about the loud parties. It's not just about shopping carts being left on the driveway, or the frequent acts of public urination. It's more about how these students create a large blotchy stain on the otherwise good-looking, and clean-shaven face of Davis". The group are planning to stage their 'Town & Frown' protest during the October event. They won't say what the nature of this protest will be, but rumors have it that they will be building a large effigy (made out of wicker), dressing it in typical student attire (a UC Davis hoodie top?), and then dowsing it in kerosene before burning it to the ground. Whoa. Can't we all just get along?

Not quite what the judges were looking for

Thursday night saw the final of the Yolo Idol contest to find, well, an idol for Yolo I suppose. I say it was 'the final', it was of course also the preliminary rounds, quarter-finals, semis etc. all rolled into one. That's because there was only 20 contestants, so it's not quite on the same scale as American Idol. I don't imagine that a pool of 20 people is going to produce the likes of another David Cook or Jordin Sparks. But what sort of people would a contest like this attract?

Well, the winner was seventeen year old Brianne Wilson who sang a cover of Norah Jones' 'Don't know why'. While you can imagine that this is a good, easy-going song that is perfectly suitable for a contest like this, you can also imagine why the following song was not such a good choice. Fourteen year old Brian Bulloch (or 'MC Big Bull' as he introduced himself as) from our beloved town of Davis stepped up to the mic and announced that he was going to perform a song that was very dear to him. So far, so good. However, young Brian proceeded to start singing (or rather 'rapping') a gangsta rap classic which, for the sake of decency, I'll just call 'F*** tha police'. This song (by the LA rap group N.W.A.) is high on profanity and was therefore low on suitability for Yolo Idol. Approximately 24 seconds into the song, the backing tape was abruptly stopped and Brian was gently escorted off stage. A judge for the event later commented 'Brian seemed to have plenty of enthusiasm but his choice of song was not quite right for this contest...and frankly I don't have any idea why anyone would want to F*** the police. I find that the officers in Yolo are very nice people'.

Red light or *red* light?

It could only happen in Davis. Local prostitutes who work in the area north of the city center are protesting to Davis City Council over the signs that accompany the red light signal at the junction of F and 8th St (see attached photo). The sign states 'Red Light Violation, $370 fine'.

The complaint about this sign centers on the view that it might confuse drivers into thinking that the 'red light' part of the sign is referring to the prostitutes, and not the stop signal. According to the twisted logic of the party representing the prostitutes, this sign may therefore deter people who were in the area seeking the business of the 'ladies of the night. They therefore feel that the actions of Davis city council in placing this sign might act to reduce earnings that they otherwise might receive.

This does seem to overlook the small fact that prostitution and soliciting in the state of California is illegal. Are there really any drivers out there who might really believe that this sign refers to anything other than a stop sign?!?

Going for gold - Davis locals at the Olympics

With just a couple of days until the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, you might be forgiven for thinking that there is not much to connect Davis to this global sporting event. But did you know that some current Davis residents (including staff at UC Davis) will be involved? They might not be competing in the actual sporting events, but are lending (and have lent) their knowledge and expertise to various aspects of the games. Here is a quick run-down on the contributions of Davisites to the games of the 29th Olympiad:

Dr.Jennifer Costa - will be part of the medical equine group supporting the US team, and will treat any injuries to horses used in the show jumping stage of the modern pentathlon event
Eric Hong - Official part of the group of support staff that will be maintaining the guns that will be used by the US team in the 10m air rifle competitions.
Prof. Susan Charlesworth - Was involved in the redesign of the ball used in field hockey, resulting in a ball that causes less injuries but maintains the same weight and density.
Peter Di Matteo - Assistant masseuse for the American athletics team.
Crystal Li - former UC Davis post-doc who performed extensive road-testing of the handlebar grips which will be used by the American team in the road cycling events

Congratulations to all those involved, let's hope that (indirectly) they will help Team America get some golds!

Did the earth move for you?

The recent southern California earthquake may have seemed a distant event to people living in Davis. However, whille the epicenter of the earthquake was over 400 miles aways in Chino Hills (east of L.A.), tremors spread far and wide and some Davis residents claim that they felt the earth move for them too.

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Whilst L.A. escaped with only minor damage, Alan Price (a resident of Cowell Blvd) claims that he and his family have suffered heartbreak. When Alan returned home from work he found that their beloved cat ('Mr. Cat') was missing and also noticed that an ant poison capsule that had been sitting above their fireplace was now on the floor. Mr. Cat has yet to return and Alan believes that tremors from the earthquake dislodged the capsule, causing it to fall to the floor. He then imagines that Mr. Cat tried eating some of the poison and then left the house but was too sick to return. He fears the worst, and this tragic story reveals another side to the power of one of the planet's most destructive forces.

Vote on vote vote

Davis is a city that is committed to democracy, we get the chance to vote on many local issues that might affect us (remember the Target vote). Some members of the city council would like to extend the use of referenda for local issues, and of course any decision would itself be decided by a referendum (planned for early December). This is being referred to as the 'vote vote'. The final twist comes from news that certain councillors have changed their minds, and now feel that the current level of involvement from Davis residents is sufficient. However, due to complex procedural issues, the December vote must still go ahead. The only way out of this is if the council holds an earlier referendum in November which would vote to cancel the scheduled December election. In effect, this would become a 'vote vote' vote. Aaahhhh, don't you just love democracy in action?

Yogurt madness!

First it was Yogurt Shack, then we had Swirl, and some of you will also know about Yolo Berry Yogurt which is due to open in Davis later this summer. Well it seems that we are in the middle of a yogurt stampede as a further three yogurt stores have all announced their intentions to open in Davis. This would make Davis the 'Yogurt Capital of California' based on frozen yogurt vendors per 1,000 of the population.

In September, the fourth store that will open will be 'World of Yogurt' (taking over from where Togo's was until recently). Then we will see the confusingly named 'Yogurt World' open later the same month (as a mini-shop within the Nugget store on Covell). Finally, 'Yogurt Universe' aims to open in Davis before the year is out (though end of the year would hardly seem an ideal time for any yogurt business). The owner of this store (P. Noone) is already trying to trash-talk the competition and is on record as saying "unlike our competitors, we will be providing a 'total' yogurt experience". Presumably this is not to be confused with the Total brand of Greek yogurt!

So if you ever wanted to venture into the yogurt business, now might be a good time to join the gold rush, though you will have to milk it for all it is worth (ho ho) as it doesn't seem likely that Davis will be capable of supporting six different yogurt outlets. Stand by for the Davis Yogurt Wars!

*Don't* have a nice day

The latest bout of political correctness hit Davis this week when Davis City Council debated whether signs like the one shown here could be considered offensive. The part of the sign that might be construed as offensive seems to be the "Have a great summer!" part. Some councillors seem to think that this makes the arrogant assumption that people want to have a great summer, and could therefore offend people who don't want to have a great summer. This bizarre logic suggests that shop and restaurant staff who tell their customers to "have a nice day!", might also fall foul of the law should it be approved. One wonders whether Davis City Council will only be happy when people are told to "Have a nice day, if that is what you want, but if not, then please don't have a nice day".

Nobama for Davis

Barack Obama seems to have the wind in his sails at the moment as he draws huge crowds from his tour of Europe. Back here in the US, many towns and smaller cities are wondering if they too will get a piece of Obama action before polling day arrives. For residents of Davis at least, the answer seems to me 'no'. A request has been made by Davis Democrats For Obama, inviting the junior senator to give a stump speech here in our own fair city. An Obama spokesperson has responded in the negative, dashing the hopes of many. The rejection seems to stem partly from the suggested venue. Unlike President Clinton, who last year spoke on behalf of his wife's campaign in the grand (and spacious) venue of the UC Davis Pavillion, the choice for Obama was the conference room at the back of Bistro 33. The publicity officer for Davis Democrats For Obama conceded that this was all they could afford at the moment. So whilst it is 'Nobama for Davis' this time, maybe Davis Republicans will have an easier time persuading Senator McCain to visit.

Going the whole 109 yards

An embarrassing mistake has come to light regarding the dimensions of the football pitch at Aggie Stadium. The pitch markings were marked out shortly before the stadium opened in April 2007 and it seems that this job was entrusted to a more junior member of the ground staff. The problem was simple, but has potentially far-reaching consequences...the pitch was measured in meters not yards! This unfortunate oversight means that the playing surface of Aggie Stadium is 109.4 yards long.

This of course means that every statistic you may have seen for any Aggies home game in the 2007 season now needs a little revision. According to the statistics, running back Joe Trombetta, notched up 189 rushing yards in the opening game at Aggie Stadium. But we now know that he actually made 207 rushing yards. It shouldn't prove too much trouble to get the football statisticians to add 9% to all the yardage numbers. What might be more bothersome is the fact that other teams that played UC Davis might now have some (justifiable) grievances over the results (especially if they lost). There is no word yet as to whether the results might be challenged or whether UC Davis might face any penalty from the Great West Football Conference over this error.

Assurances have been made that the gridiron will be a regulation 100 yards in time for the forthcoming 2008 season! However, this makes me wonder...should they now check other distances at other UC Davis sporting venues...what if the 400 meter track at Toomey Field is actually 400 yards???