ONE SIMPLE ANSWER … “City looks to UCD to lead Picnic Day response” said the front-page headline in Thursday’s Enterprise … and so begins yet another year of hand-wringing and disaster-awareness and prepare-for-the-worst planning as we await what is certain to be another debacle next April … it’s interesting that people have been patting themselves on the back and claiming that this year was better than last despite the fact that Picnic Day 2011 produced 54 arrests — including 9 DUIs — and 207 citations in the city of Davis, compared to 38 arrests and 60 citations in 2010 … yes, there was less violence this year, but that was largely because of a massive police presence that included 14 separate law enforcement agencies between the city and UC Davis … so we need to ask ourselves, is this the kind of event we want? … an event where several hundred citations and four or five dozen arrests and way too many drunk drivers are now deemed to be an “acceptable” level of misbehavior … is this how the Second Most Educated City in America solves problems? … for many of us, especially those with young children, Picnic Day has always been a much anticipated and cherished event … it’s now at the point where some folks tolerate it, others outright despise it and many simply leave town … UC Davis has managed to keep its part of the event largely under control with a ban on alcohol on campus, something the city of Davis can’t do due to ABC regulations … the city is powerless to tell bars and restaurants and liquor and grocery stores not to sell alcohol, but there is nothing stopping individual merchants from doing so on their own … until that happens, this once blessed day will continue to decline until it’s too late to save it …

JOE KRO LOWERS THE BOOM … in an email sent my way shortly after Picnic Day, Mayor Joe Krovoza pointed out the principled stand taken by the folks at Uncle Vito’s, which continued to serve pizza on Picnic Day, but not alcohol … wrote the mayor: “Manager Travis was turning away patron after patron and pointed to the sign saying they’d be open on Sunday.” … the mayor pointed out that it could have been a profitable day for Uncle Vito’s, but the folks running the place decided they wanted to be part of the solution … “Way to go for them,” wrote Krovoza … “They got it.” … indeed … in fact, I’m going to head down there this weekend and have some of their pizza for myself … and if I run into the folks in charge, I’ll thank them for their efforts and hope they’ll help lead the charge to institute a voluntary ban on alcohol next year … added the mayor: “Picnic Day should go dry. Period. Alcohol on Picnic Day is a genie that should stay in the bottle. Given the greatness of the day and the potential to spoil the city and the joy and lives, the cost of doing business in Davis should be that you don’t sell alcohol for a day.” … one lousy day out of 365 on the calendar … is that too much to ask to preserve a hallowed tradition? …

THE READERS ALWAYS WRITE … Royce on Oeste (rhymes with “toasty”) has come up with a simple solution for all our economic woes … “It is time to start selling,” he notes … “We could easily get 4 to 5 trillion for Hawaii. Alaska would probably fetch 8 to 9 trillion. Russia has always regretted that sale.” … fair enough … but if we sell both of those to foreign entities, does that mean neither Barack or Sister Sarah can run for president? … “The national park system would be a huge money maker. The last time I was at Yosemite, no one spoke English anyway, and if we got the Swiss involved, the parks would be a lot cleaner.” … you make a lot of sense, Royce … just imagine in Davis if we sold City Hall and all our greenbelts, we probably wouldn’t have to vote for a tax increase every other month to keep things running … and if we sold the East Area Water Tank, someone else would have to pay $75,000 to get the whole thing painted …

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected]

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