Davis has interesting people, ideas, connections, and events. On Davisville, host Bill Buchanan presents stories that have some connection to Davis. The program has won 13 Excellence in Journalism awards from the San Francisco Press Club since 2018, plus a national Hometown Media Award for excellence from the Alliance for Community Media in 2024. Contact: davisville @ dcn.org
Davisville, Sept. 30, 2024: Two pros size up ‘An Election Like No Other’Mon, 09/30/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill BuchananToday’s show is for people interested in the current election but sick of the usual political noise. The guests are two highly experienced political analysts, Dan Schnur and Richard Zeiger, who will teach an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class at the University of California Davis this fall called “An Election Like No Other.” On Davisville today we talk about why this presidential election is both different and traditional, why many elected offices are uncontested, cynicism as a turnoff and as a way to cope, and young Americans who opt to get involved in their community outside of politics. "Volunteering is noble," Schnur says, "but you can only clean up so many parks. Participating by voting or running for office or getting involved in other ways is equally important." “One of the most important lessons about politics … It leads to a democracy [and] you have to be willing to lose,” says Zeiger, who lives in Davis. "That’s what the whole business is about, somebody’s going to win and somebody’s going to lose. And when you lose, you pull your pants back on and you go back into the fray.” |
Davisville, Sept. 23, 2024: Emese Parker wants to lighten the load of Davis momsMon, 09/23/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill BuchananEmese Parker (pictured), an author and certified nurse practitioner specializing in women's health, began offering Davis Women's Circles this summer. Each has a theme -- one session focused on the perfect mom myth vs. the good-enough mother, and others include the mental load of mothering, rage and guilt, plus "some fun topics coming up this fall." The circles are for mothers, or soon-to-be mothers, of all ages and stages of life. Today on Davisville she explains how they work and why she's offering them in Davis. The U.S. Surgeon General recently warned that parenting today is too hard and stressful because parents face expectations that they should spend ever more time and money educating and enriching their children, driven partly by fears that if they don’t, their kids could fail to achieve a secure, middle-class life. Today we also talk about matrescence, a play on the term adolescence, or the “massive identity shift and transformation that affects all that she is.” “If we understand that it is a becoming process," Parker says, "then we can have real conversations about what parenting and motherhood is like. We don’t have to just smile and say 'oh yeah, everything is just fine.' We can actually have real conversations with each other and talk about what we’re enjoying, and what parts are harder than expected." |
Davisville, Sept. 9, 2024: Watching wildlife in Davis, plus listening to a voice from a previous pandemicMon, 09/09/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill BuchananLate summer offers a few particular attractions in Davis. The heat fades a bit, if only because the days are shorter, and evenings outdoors are mild. It’s an inviting season to look at the full moon if it’s up, and to think about another year passing. And swat some mosquitoes. Here on Davisville, early September is a natural time to talk with someone who has spent a lot of time outdoors: Jean Jackman of Davis. She writes the “At the Pond” column in the Davis Enterprise, has taken some serious bike rides, and a quarter-century ago recorded local people talking about Davis history ("Down Home Tales of Davis"). We talk about a variety of things today, starting with the wildlife and birds she writes about in Davis. Later we hear Jean's recording of Jane Van Sant, who lived in downtown Davis, died 18 years ago at 94, and tells us in her own voice what Davis lived through during the flu epidemic of 1917-18. The photo shows the full moon of August 2022 over north Davis. |
Davisville, Aug. 26, 2024: Got an additional $25 to $49 for the library?Mon, 08/26/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill BuchananDavis has two local tax measures on the ballot this fall and today we talk about the one for the library, Measure T. (We looked at the other one, sales tax increase Measure Q, last month.) Measure T would raise about $1.1 million a year to pay for operations at what will eventually be Davis’ two public libraries — the existing one in north central Davis, and the new one in south Davis due to open in 2026. Measure T would raise an existing property tax by about $49 per house or $24.50 per apartment, to $172 or $86 respectively per year. Today on Davisville we talk with Jim Provenza, a Davis member of the county Board of Supervisors, and Katie Caceres, a student at the University of California at Davis and an intern in Provenza’s office. They’re both part of the campaign. We talk about what the money would buy, how the county calculated the amount needed, libraries as town squares for speech and information, and how people use libraries as print gives way to digital. |
Davisville, Aug. 12, 2024: Through his prolific sketches, Pete Scully is conversing with DavisMon, 08/12/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill BuchananPete Scully, who moved to Davis from London, has been sketching scenes in Davis for most of two decades and counting. He’s not sketching for a salary — his job as chief administrative officer for the Department of Statistics at UC Davis covers that requirement — but as a way of conversing with his surroundings and capturing views that he enjoys and expects might change. He draws for himself but makes his work available on his website and on Instagram, X (ex-Twitter), and Flickr. Today on Davisville we talk about why and what he draws, and where this work might eventually reside. He’s creating a portrait of Davis in the first part of the 21st century. This photo from his X (ex-Twitter) account shows one of his 21 drawings (so far) of the Varsity Theatre. |
Davisville, July 29, 2024: Davis asks its voters to increase the city's sales taxMon, 07/29/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill BuchananIf you vote in Davis, this November you’ll be asked to decide Measure Q, a proposal to raise the sales tax in the city to 9.25 percent, up 1 point from now or an extra $1 for every taxable $100 you spend. The increase requires a simple majority to pass. The money would go to general city expenses, broadly defined. On today’s Davisville, Davis City Council members Will Arnold and Donna Neville talk about the proposal, priorities, and other areas where the city is trying to boost economic development that would bring in more tax revenue. And this is unusual — every Yolo city this fall is asking its voters to increase their sales taxes by 1 point. Winters, the smallest city in the county, would raise $1.2 million from its increase. Woodland would receive $16.5 million, West Sacramento $20 million, and Davis, the largest city, would collect $11 million. The numbers illustrate the relative sizes of the county's retail markets. |
Davisville, July 15, 2024: The other real estate in DavisMon, 07/15/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill BuchananPeople talk more often about housing, but the commercial side of Davis real estate is just as important. That includes the buildings we work in, hang out in, meet in — in other words, offices, stores, restaurants, industrial space, apartments, churches, and your favorite place for coffee. The kinds and amounts of commercial property available, what it costs, the condition it’s in, how people use it, all of that shapes life in our town. Today we talk about Davis commercial real estate with two people who often appear on Davisville when we talk about local housing — Steve and James Boschken, father and son real estate professionals in Davis. Topics include the demand for “second-generation” restaurant space, office vacancies, rent trends, and properties ranging from the large new biotech/manufacturing building opening on Faraday to what might happen to the now fenced-off former Carl’s Jr. in northeast Davis. |
Davisville, July 1, 2024: Guaraldi time is here, 2nd editionMon, 07/01/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill Buchanan“Vince is always pulling splinters from his fingers, driven in when he claws at the wooden baseboard, behind the keys,” wrote Bay Area music critic Ralph Gleason, as quoted in Davis author Derrick Bang’s newly revised book Vince Guaraldi at the Piano. The splinters came from Guaraldi’s intense playing, Bang says, nearly nonstop performing, and the worn quality of the pianos he played in clubs. Guaraldi, the Bay Area jazz musician known most for his Peanuts soundtracks and the song “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” died in 1976 but is arguably more popular than ever, Bang says. Two recent signs: This month's latest archival release of music from a Peanuts special, It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, and Bang’s updated book, which he will talk about 6:30 p.m. July 11 at the Avid Reader in Davis. On today’s Davisville we learn more about the music, new stories Bang heard while updating his book, and the baffling review Guaraldi received from the California Aggie the last time he played in Davis. |
Davisville, June 17, 2024: Bob Dunning’s reborn column, one month laterMon, 06/17/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill BuchananSeveral weeks have passed since the Davis Enterprise laid off its best-known writer, Bob Dunning, who quickly moved his Wary 1 column to the online blog platform Substack and more than replaced his former salary through subscriptions. Today we talk about how his new venture is doing, how he’s doing, and his fast change from lifetime employment as Davis newspaper community columnist to a Davis star of Substack. “I’ve never traveled at the speed of light before,” he says, “but it’s kind of interesting.” |
Davisville, June 3, 2024: He helped ex-Enterprise writers Dunning and Weitzel land at SubstackMon, 06/03/2024 - 5:30pm | Bill BuchananDavis has just gone through a local news media earthquake. We’re talking about the Davis Enterprise’s decision to lay off Wary I columnist Bob Dunning (left, in photo), which shocked and/or angered thousands of people in town. In less than a week, Dunning had restarted his column and sports writing on Substack, with enough paid subscriptions to more than replace his salary at the Enterprise. Within days, Comings & Goings local business columnist Wendy Weitzel left the paper voluntarily to also move her work to Substack. The evolving Davis news and information story has many parts. Today on Davisville we talk with local small business tech entrepreneur Brian Bolz (on right in photo), who helped Dunning and Weitzel get started on Substack, where they quickly found audiences. Bolz discusses how he became involved, plus his goals, what he’s doing, and how he sees the larger picture. |
Comments
You're a Davis icon, Bill. Keep up the good work of providing local, informative, and quality programming.
Bill, listen to the first 10 minutes of my show dated 7/7/2010. I hope you approve.
Paul Sheeran
Just wanted to say thanks for an outstanding interview with Freedom From Hunger's president, Chris Dunford.
Keep up the good work!
Sam Citron
thanks, Sam!
This is the program in question; it aired Jan. 25:
http://www.kdrt.org/node/2689
Bill
Post new comment