From jflofland at ucdavis.edu Fri Nov 5 10:29:38 2004 From: jflofland at ucdavis.edu (John Lofland) Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 10:29:38 -0800 Subject: [OldNorth] New Davis History Book Message-ID: Old North Neighbors, Immodestly, I want to draw your attention to the reading and signing of the first book to treat the entire history of Davis. This reading and signing will be Friday, November 12, 7:30-8:30 PM at the Avid Reader on Second Street in Davis. Details are given below (quoted from the Avid Reader newsletter). I might also report that the reading will feature a display of a twelve foot long time-line of Davis history showing the nine periods into which one can divide its 137 years. Hope you see you there. John Lofland ______________________ Friday, November 12, 7:30-8:30. Local author John Lofland presents his book Davis: Radical Changes, Deep Constants. Placed on the map by the California Pacific Railroad in 1868, Davis has been radically different things over its thirteen-some decades: wheat-growing village, almond cultivation center, university farm locale, urbanizing town, exploding suburb, progressive community, and university city. Yet throughout these changes Davis remained the same in many ways, among them its efforts to retain a small town character and a vital downtown. Author and historian John Lofland, professor emeritus at UC Davis, specializes in the sociology of local history and historic preservation. In this volume he examines Davis history as the story of several different communities, each a reinvention of its old self in response to a changing nation and world, but with enduring themes that made each undeniably Davis. Lofland also wrote Davis, California: 1910's - 1940's with Phyllis Haig. Another of his books, Demolishing a Historic Hotel, is only available through The Avid Reader. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From valerie at vanngroup.com Fri Nov 5 10:39:50 2004 From: valerie at vanngroup.com (Valerie Vann) Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 10:39:50 -0800 Subject: [OldNorth] Re: [Davishistorymembers] Antonen Reply to DHS Message-ID: <418BC8F6.9BDC17F6@vanngroup.com> I think we're being patronized and told we've become too uppity. Getting kicked off the Calendar feels like perhaps just the initial shot across the bow. (There has not yet been an answer on that.) I'm all for city staff furthering their career development and improving their skills, but it seems to me, as one of their employers, that a higher priority should always be the needs and interests of the citizenry, especially as those citizens are assembled in democratic organizations. Long term planning is all very well, and we've done a lot of that here in Davis. But presently we seem to be having considerable difficulty interpreting those plans and implementing them. We're in something of a crisis mode right now, with several urgent and complex issues confronting us. We have new members on the Council, Planning Commission, and some other key commissions who are still getting up to speed on those issues, as well as becoming familiar with (and in some cases, aware of the existence of) our particular issues, and the tools already in place to address them, such as the Neighborhood Guidelines. We need the help of staff who've been there in the process and know the territory. So it is not a good time to be starting all over from scratch getting someone up to speed when we're faced with opposing views well supported with full time people, lots of money and deep experience at getting their way with local government. At the very least, we should have had the bare courtesy of prior notice and an opportunity to comment on the proposed change. It would also have been helpful to have had at least a transition or break-in period with both the experienced staff and the "new hire" instead of this ill-timed October Surprise. Valerie Vann valerie at vanngroup.com