Davisville

Every summer, thousands of people depart UC Davis. Most are graduating students, but summer is a common season for retirements too, and this year that group includes Jan Conroy. He spent nearly 40 years at UC Davis, first as a student (class of 1977, bachelor’s degree in design) and then as an employee. His final job was executive director for University Communications. He saw countless changes and presided over some, particularly in publications and especially in the UC Davis Magazine. He helped design the first issue in 1983 and has contributed to every issue since. It reaches more than 230,000 people, making it easily the largest publication to come out of Davis. On Davisville today we talk about the changes during his long career as an Aggie, at the campus, in media, and in Davis itself, where he lived for several years before enrolling at UC Davis.

The Davis School Board eventually chose a smaller number, but for several weeks board member Richard Harris galvanized the town—at least, the part that pays attention to Davis schools and taxes—with his proposal to place a parcel tax of up to $642 per year on the local ballot this November. That’s at least two times larger than any schools tax previously approved in Davis, including the one voters endorsed just a few months ago. The board opted instead for a November tax measure of up to $446. But the issues that drove Harris to suggest the higher figure still apply, and on today's Davisville he explains how he came up with $642; what it would pay for; why he thinks it’s necessary; and how it connects to the statewide tax initiative also appearing on the fall ballot (if it passes, this tax shrinks). He’s not seeking re-election, and the discussion wraps up with his advice to whoever succeeds him. And yes, he really believes that in Davis, a $642 tax could have passed.

Among social media, Twitter has less impact than Facebook, but is much more than just another online flavor of the month. A recent Pew Internet/American Life Project study says 8 percent of Americans use Twitter daily. If that ratio holds true for Davis, then we’ve got more than 5,000 daily tweeters in our town. The guests for today’s show, Danielle DeBow (who works for Nugget Market) and Blake Cooper (employed at UC Davis), have started Davis TweetUp, which “connects Davis professionals in support of local businesses and our community.” On Davisville they explain what that means, the different ways they use Twitter themselves, and how it all ties in to Davis.

Today’s Davisville looks at spiders in Davis and Yolo County, with a focus on the Explorit Science Center’s “Spiders in Your World” community science project for 2012. Explorit board President Lars Anderson—pictured here with a properly capped black widow display jar—explains why they chose this project and what they want to accomplish. Of course, we talk about the little carnivores too. Spiders are never far away. Nor have we discovered more than a fraction of the types that exist in the world. Explorit hopes to conduct solid research on spiders in Yolo County by enlisting the public, all while acquainting us with the roles spiders play beyond lurking in the corners of garages. The project includes attitude surveys, home experiments, and a website for posting spider sightings.