CONSERVATION FLUSH WITH CONTROVERSY … as many Davisites have noted about conserving water in response to higher rates, we’re talking a double-edged sword … if the reason the rates have been raised is to pay for this fancy new surface water project, then what happens when revenues nosedive due to conservation? …

Well, we got an answer this week from the nearby Carmichael Water District, which had already increased water rates through 2014, but suddenly raised them a whopping 18 percent on top of that due to the conservation practices of ratepayers … according to the story in The Bee, “Water use in the district has fallen below historical averages by an astonishing 25 percent.” … thus the district is in desperate need of funds and needs to raise the rates almost immediately …

The same thing, basically, has also happened in the El Dorado Irrigation District and East Bay MUD due to a drop in water use …message to Davisites certain they can keep their bills in check by drastic conservation measures: conserve at your own risk … if the city doesn’t raise the necessary revenue with the new rates, it will certainly come back for more …

TANK ART INSPIRATION … Curt at aol.com writes to say “Contrary to popular opinion, I find the $75,000 water tank painting to be inspirational.” … glad you like it, Curt … it is, after all, your money they’re spending, so these are essentially your employees doing the work you commissioned …

adds Curt curtly: “It’s inspired me to paint inside of the circle next to the word ‘no’ on the next ballot measure that attempts to raise our local taxes to fill the depleted coffers of the City of Davis.” … you are not alone, my friend …

ZIP-A-DEE-DO-DAH … it appears our esteemed city councilmembers are finally getting the message that Zipcar has taken them — and the taxpayers of our fair city — for a ride … the fact that Zipcar — an out-of-state rental car outfit — insisted on a guaranteed city subsidy, city promotion and city parking spaces for free proves that the program isn’t viable in the open market …

Why the city agreed to a one-sided agreement that no doubt put in jeopardy long-standing locally owned businesses that offer the exact same service is anyone’s guess … but now the city is at least talking about charging Zipcar for those city parking spaces and Mayor Joe Krovoza went so far as to say he wants no city expenditures whatsoever to aid in the implementation of the Zipcar program going forward … not quite a severing of the Zipcar umbilical cord, but at least getting closer …

It may be a day late and a dollar short, but hopefully one day soon Zipcar will have to do business in this city on the same basis as any other rental car agency in town … in other words, on its own …

SPEAKING OF OTHER RENTAL CAR AGENCIES … ironically, on the very day the council was discussing the Zipcar fiasco, I rented a green-as-Kermit-the-Frog Ford Fusion from Avis for exactly half the daily rate of $66 that Zipcar charges … mine was unlimited mileage … plus I didn’t have to pay the $50 annual fee or the $25 application fee that Zipcar charges its “members” …

And, yet another bonus, the car was professionally cleaned and serviced …

ZIPPING AROUND TOWN … I was a bit surprised that Councilman Steve Souza is kicking off his reelection campaign on a bicycle … I thought maybe he’d be driving a Zipcar …as I understand it, he plans to visit various sites around town to show us which “promises” he has kept …

I presume that means his tour will hit the free “Zipcar-only” parking spots where Davisites are not allowed to park, plus that $75,000 boondoggle known as “Tank Art” … should be some tour …

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected]

Comments

comments