Davisville

Rachel Cross lives in Davis, works as a registered nurse at a state prison, and previously taught developmental psychology at Sacramento State. For four Thursdays starting Oct. 27, she's teaching a short, free series on gratitude -- not for money or as part of a program, but because she “can’t not" do it. She feels compelled, driven by the demonstrated value of gratitude as a practice -- as something you do. Next month, many people won't be happy with the result of the presidential election, whoever wins. How does gratitude apply there? Does too much gratitude breed complacency ... and who should you be grateful to? We get into all that. Her thoughtful answers draw on her training and experience. 

More people are coming to Davis to study, work, or live, but the supply of housing isn’t keeping pace, especially with UC Davis adding thousands of new students. Today we talk with Davis real estate broker Steve Boschken about current prices, rents, the spillover to Woodland, other trends, and potential options. Boschken has roots in town -- he grew up here, and also studied environmental design and urban planning at UC Davis.

“I don’t think that the way we patchwork new subdivisions in, when they do finally get in, is the best way to plan a community,” he says. “They’re planning it only on what’s here in front of them today, instead of what Davis is going to look like 100 years from now.

Gene Parsons, son of a classical pianist, grew up in the Mojave desert, practicing banjo and guitar in an empty 10,000-gallon water tank on his father’s homesteaded ranch. One day, as a teenager playing banjo in a music shop, he was invited to join a recording session by Gib Guilbeau—a Cajun fiddle player who would later play with Parsons in at least three bands. The experience set Parsons on a path that led to him playing in The Byrds from 1968 to 1972. On Sept. 10 he joins David Hayes, an equally accomplished musician, in concert at the Davis Odd Fellows Hall (that's Hayes on the left in the photo, with Parsons), and today we present the first of a two-part interview with Parsons (here's part 2). The conversation includes memories of fellow Byrd Clarence White, Gram Parsons, and Sneaky Pete Kleinow; his songs Gunga Din and Yesterday's Train; and the “oddball story” about how a kid who had wanted to play fiddle grew up to play drums for one of the top bands of the 1960s, contributing to its revival after most of its original members had left.

Most people in Davis live in rentals, the vacancy rate is well below 1 percent, and enrollment at UC Davis keeps growing, further stoking the demand for places to live. That’s the context for a new rental ordinance Davis is developing this summer, and today we talk with Brett Lee and Lucas Frerichs, City Council members working on this project, about what the new ordinance would do, why it treats apartments differently than rented houses or granny flats, and why they're pursuing this change.