For my Halloween show, I thought it’d be fun to talk with the people behind Cool Patch Pumpkins at the north edge of Dixon, just southwest of Davis. Guinness World Records says the farm has the world’s largest temporary corn maze (53 acres this year, with a path 2.5 miles long). Cool Patch co-owner Matt Cooley obliged, and told me things about the farm I hadn’t read or heard before. For example: They end up with a lot of shoes. Some pumpkin hunters amass so much gummy clay on their soles after a trek through the patch, they abandon their footwear next to their cars when they leave. Other facts: The Cooleys (Matt and his brother Mark) thought about adding a mud pit, to go with the hay bales, scarecrows and corn bath; they might move the maze south of Interstate 80, and/or offer two mazes, one harder than the other; and Matt gets calls in the middle of the night about or from people lost in the maze. People ask him if the maze is haunted, and he says no, except if you’re out there alone in the night amid the rustling stalks, and a bird suddenly takes off skyward near you … yeah, it can be scary.
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 Today’s subject, water, could not be more basic. Everyone who uses water in Davis is going to pay more for it, probably significantly more, in the next few years. The reasons why, and how this might all play out, are among the points we cover in today’s discussion with Joe Krovoza, the mayor of Davis and vice chair of the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency. This complex subject goes back years. It involves issues of where Davis gets its water, potential partnerships with Woodland or West Sacramento, conservation, a great deal of analysis by the citizen’s Water Advisory Committee, and more. Tune in for a rundown on how we got here, and what might happen next.
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 Fraud, online and otherwise, exists in Davis as it does anywhere. But the local experience isn’t always the same as it is in other places--for one thing, two years ago our town was visited by the ”Crying Girl.” Low-crime Davis also views itself as a positive, can-do town, which can have a lulling effect. Today's guest is Elaine Roberts Musser, shown here, a Davis attorney who specializes in consumer protection and law concerning the elderly.
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This is the Sept. 3rd show, repeated. (I haven't deleted it because there might be some links out there to this copy of the show, instead to of the Sept. 3 original.) |
Most people would probably agree that one of the key public problems this fall—for the last several years, really—is the scarcity of jobs. To size up the local prognosis, today’s show interviews Rick Reed. He has surveyed area employers several times a year since 1992 for what is now a quarterly employment forecast, the Pacific Staffing Employment Trends Survey. He last appeared on Davisville a year ago, when he correctly forecast job growth for the region. According to the California Employment Development Department, the Davis unemployment rate was 6.7% in July, down from 7.6% in summer 2011; Yolo’s rate was 10.5%, down from 11.8%; and regional unemployment was 10.7%, down from 12.3%. Of course, those numbers are still much worse than they were in 2006. On today’s show we discuss why the job market has improved since 2011, plus the most promising sectors for growth. Reed also looks ahead. ... “There is an optimism among employers that there wasn’t, even a year ago. |
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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.
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   Summers are busy for Acme Theatre Co., the Davis nonprofit run by high school students that promotes “serious theater, for the fun of it.” In August the 31-year-old troupe is staging Treasure Island, plus its annual By The Seat of Our Pants, the set of short plays they write, stage and present in 36 hours. You can detect the “serious fun” DNA in this interview with four members of Acme: Jake Kelly and Margaret Starbuck, center, who talk about the play, Acme itself, and related topics: and Eden Tomich, far left, and Emmett Barnes, who read a scene from Treasure Island for Davisville. Tomich plays lead character Jim Hawkins. Barnes plays Ben Gunn, a marooned pirate unhinged by years of isolation. Tomich and Barnes recorded the scene in one take; you can hear it about halfway in. You might think you're hearing more than two voices, but you're not.
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 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.
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