Davisville

Musician Gene Parsons, who will perform in Davis with the rest of the Mendocino Quartet on Oct. 13, returns to Davisville this week for a discussion that largely has two parts: the quartet, and a few memories about the first LP he recorded with the Byrds -- Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde.

Dr. Byrds followed the popular band's late 1968 country-rock breakthrough record, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Dr. Byrds is not among Parsons’ favorite Byrds records – he prefers Untitled and Ballad of Easy Rider – but he agrees that the playing of Clarence White is one of the attractions of Dr. Byrds. White, a widely admired guitarist, died in 1973 at age 29 after he was struck by a drunk driver. “You hear a lot of Clarence in there [on Dr. Byrds],” Parsons says, “figuring out how he’s going to work with this band.”

Today I welcome back Steve Boschken, an expert in Davis real estate, for a talk about the Davis market, trends, when the next recession might arrive, who’s buying houses in Davis, how the new rental housing in the works might affect demand, the number of houses listed for more than $1 million (1 in 4), and if building small homes would help make housing more affordable in Davis … and whether voters would allow them. He says he knows an architect who has considered it in Davis.

About 16 million Americans served in World War II. Today, 73 years after that war ended, perhaps 3 percent of those veterans are alive. Among the survivors, an even smaller number lived through infantry combat during the war—and today’s guest is one of them. Francis Resta, who lives in Davis and was born in 1925, was a mortar-man and machine gunner in the 102nd Infantry Division, and fought in Europe. Today we talk about his experiences, living through “insane” and “endless” combat, post-traumatic stress disorder, why many combat vets shun the idea they’re heroes, and why he wants to talk about it all now.

*This episode was awarded First Place in "Radio/Audio – Non-Commercial: Public Affairs Program" at the San Francisco Press Club 2019 Awards Dinner.

The civic project to define what downtown Davis should be in 2040 is making progress. Meg Arnold and Michelle Byars, chair and vice chair of the Downtown Davis Plan Advisory Committee, described the effort on Davisville in April, and today they return with an update on what they've heard so far—about the idea that streets downtown feel too much alike, how to design housing so a wide range of people could live there, coming up with plans that people can count on, what neighbors and property owners want, and how all this work will fit with the rest of the city. They've received about 3,000 comments to date--and that doesn't include whatever they'll hear at the next participatory design workshop this week.