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SUNDAY, MAY 2, 2021
Korematsu Elementary PTO would like to extend a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to all our staff and families who have stepped up to support their students during this unprecedented year. We are so thankful to have you ALL in our community!
Survey: State’s pupils fall behind BY EDWARD BOOTH
UC Davis graduate-student workers rally Saturday in Central Park for housing protections.
Enterprise staff writer
CALEB HAMPTON/ ENTERPRISE PHOTO
Students demand housing protections Unions ask city for lease-renewal ordinance
The May Day rally was organized by student workers from the UC Davis chapters of UAW Local 2865 and UAW Local 5810, the unions representing graduate student workers, postdoctoral students and academic researchers at the University of California. “All workers and renters in Davis have faced an insecure and exploitative housing rental market for far too long,” the unions wrote in an open letter they plan to submit to city and university leaders. Davis has a notoriously
BY CALEB HAMPTON Enterprise staff writer UC Davis graduate-student workers rallied Saturday, marching from the Memorial Union on campus to the Davis Farmers Market in Central Park, where they appealed to the city of Davis for housing protections.
competitive housing market — the vacancy rate has hovered around 1% in recent years — with UC Davis students making up a large share of the city’s renters. The student worker unions are pushing for tenant protections that would bar landlords from locking renters into leases months before they begin. Because demand for housing is so high in Davis, landlords frequently ask tenants to renew their leases, which typically start in September, as early as January or February.
“This practice places an unreasonable burden on renters who must therefore anticipate housing conditions six or more months in advance,” the unions’ letter states. “The COVID-19 pandemic further revealed the gravity of these predatory lease renewal conditions.” When the pandemic hit, students were blindsided. In the early months of 2020, before the pandemic, many renters committed to leases for the 2020-21 academic year, during
SEE HOUSING, PAGE A4
Winters-area resident launches bid for D.A. BY LAUREN KEENE Enterprise staff writer A longtime attorney and Yolo County resident announced last week her intent to challenge District Attorney Jeff Reisig in the 2022 election. Cynthia Rodriguez says she is running for the chief prosecutor’s office, which Reisig has held since 2007, because “Yolo County residents deserve a district attorney that prioritizes public safety and justice for all residents.” “We deserve a district attorney who is looking out for all of us, and unfortunately we have not had that kind of leadership,” says a news release from Rodriguez’s campaign. “Cynthia is running to change that.”
VOL. 124, NO. 53
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Cynthia Rodriguez, a longtime attorney and Yolo County resident, plans to challenge District Attorney Jeff Reisig in the 2022 election. Rodriguez’s website, www. cynthia4yolocountyda.com, outlines a platform addressing
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Council to hold hearing on stormwater fee The Davis City Council will hold a protest hearing on a proposed increase in stormwater fees at its meeting on Tuesday. The proposal would increase fees for the average household from about $6 to $13 per month in order to fund needed capital improvements and upgrades, according to the city. Property owners who oppose the increase must submit a written protest prior to the meeting. However, unless a majority of property owners (approximately 8,240) issue objections, the process will continue with ballots being mailed to all 16,476 parcels in Davis later in May. If a majority of property
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integrity, youth justice, labor, immigration and homelessness. An attorney since 1982, Rodriguez served as general counsel and deputy director of forensic services at the California Department of Mental Health for eight years, managing an office of 200 employees. Rodriguez says she is “no stranger to legal administration or the failings of our prosecutorial system,” citing her prior experience as a public defender in Solano and Orange counties and for the state. With CDMH, she prosecuted misconduct matters involving prison guards and other correctional staff. She lives on a walnut farm just outside of Winters with her
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An overwhelming majority of Californian residents think K-12 students have been falling behind academically during the pandemic, according to a new statewide survey released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonprofit research organization. Key findings of the study also include that 59% of likely voters approve of how Gov. Gavin Newsom is handling the state’s public education system during the pandemic, while 40% disapprove, and that most residents are concerned K-12 schools won’t be open for full-time in-person instruction by the fall. John Bowes, superintendent of the Davis Joint Unified School District, has said on multiple occasions that the district intends to open fully for in-person learning in the fall. District campuses have been open for 5-day in-person learning since April 12, bolstered by a bevy of safety
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