Davisville, March 31, 2025: Tales of vanished Yolo County from 19th century painters

If you go this spring to the Gibson House, a 19th century mansion-turned-museum in Woodland, you can see portraits of people who lived in Yolo County in the 19th century. There are a lot of stories in those paintings, and in...

Davisville, March 17, 2025: Clean, cheaper than PG&E, resilient -- microgrid proposes big change in energy for new parts of Davis

Advances in technology, say today’s guests on Davisville, make it possible to create a community microgrid in new parts of Davis that would deliver clean, resilient, solar-powered energy to its customers for less than Pacific Gas & Electric charges. To accomplish...

Davisville, March 3, 2025: Yolo nonprofits feel first wallop of Trump spending freeze

The Trump administration is hammering away at the federal government by eliminating jobs, cancelling programs, freezing spending and generally creating confusion. Today on Davisville we look at one part of the fallout in Yolo County -- the effect of the spending...

Davisville, Feb. 17, 2025: Recreating downtown

Several changes are pending in downtown Davis. To counter problems with public safety, the district is adding volunteer ambassadors and hopes to gain a police officer assigned to patrol the area on foot or bike; it plans a “rediscover” event for...

Davisville, Feb. 3, 2025: ‘NextGen Talks’ host Jazmin Garcia brims with enthusiasm

You’ll hear a lot of enthusiasm from today’s guest on Davisville — also love for Yolo County, curiosity for the world around her, the importance of “bringing youth perspectives to the table,” talking up civic engagement, appreciation for friendly neighbors, what...

Davisville, Jan. 20, 2025: How to create realistic climate plans

So — climate change. How do you come up with a plan that actually makes a significant difference, and that people will follow? Maybe even want to follow? For Davis and Yolo County, but really, for any city, any county.

Our...

Davisville, Jan. 6, 2025: Checking in with Weitzel and Dunning, half a year after they exited the Enterprise

This week on Davisville we hear from Wendy Weitzel and Bob Dunning (in photo at the new KDRT studio), colleagues who exited the Davis Enterprise in mid-2024 and recreated their work on Substack. We talk about their readership and fast success,...

Davisville, Dec. 23, 2024: A long-ago play and the empathetic power of teaching ‘or maybe’

The December holidays are the weekend of the year, when normal routines loosen up. Today’s Davisville arrives in that spirit — no civic issues today. Instead I reconnect with a friend I hadn’t talked with in decades, Teresa Ozoa. She and...

Davisville, Dec. 9, 2024: What would make transit genuinely attractive? The search is underway

Today we talk about a post-pandemic effort to figure out, seriously, what would make public transit more attractive to more Californians, so that more of us actually use it.

Our guest is Kari Watkins, co-director of the Transit Research Center and...

Davisville, Nov. 25, 2024: For this year’s movie show, 2024 Derrick quotes 1974 Derrick

This fall’s annual movie show with Derrick Bang arrives with a few extras. To note his 50 years as a movie critic, he reads — and critiques! — the first paragraph of the first movie review he wrote, in 1974 for...

Gather goodies and wrap them up

The Davis Farmers Market’s Gift Basket Central is back, offering free baskets and wrapping of market items on Saturdays. On Saturdays, Dec. 7, 14 and 21, shoppers can compile items for custom gift baskets, and have them wrapped for free at the market’s Gift Basket Central station. There are red, green and blue tissue options,...

Market plans extended Pre-Thanksgiving event

The day before Thanksgiving, the Davis Farmers Market extends its hours. This year’s annual Pre-Thanksgiving Market will be from noon to 5 p.m. in Central Park, 301 C St., Davis. On Wednesday, Nov. 27, the market will have a bounty of seasonal produce, flowers and table décor, olive oil, nuts, honey and wine from two...

Davisville, Nov. 11, 2024: Deciding what Davis citizen commissions should talk about

This week’s subject is narrow, but contains a question worth considering. It involves one of the ways that ideas emerge and ultimately shape public life in Davis. This specific path involves the Davis citizen commissions that advise the City Council on...

Davisville, Oct. 28, 2024: Founder of Davis nonprofit Sahaya believes in local knowledge, trust and ripples

Sahaya International, a Davis nonprofit, took shape after a chance meeting when founder Dr. Koen Van Rompay (pictured), a researcher at UC Davis, was in India for an AIDS conference. Since then Sahaya has grown into a group of friends and...

Davisville, Oct. 14, 2024: The Davis Night Market, offering free food every weeknight, turns 5

Each weeknight at 9, people gather in Central Park near 4th and C streets, some to receive surplus food, some to hand it out. This is the Davis Night Market (pictured), a small-budget volunteer venture created in 2019 to feed people...