The Davis Enterprise Sunday, February 16, 2020

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Upset wins get Devil boys, girls into playoffs — Page B1

Magpies, ducks and bats are all out there — Page B6

Certain things stop being cute after a while — Page A6

enterprise THE DAVIS

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2020

Students raise pressure on UC

Making a splash

Napolitano warns student workers to end strike or risk being fired BY CALEB HAMPTON Enterprise staff writer On Wednesday, students from the UC Davis unit of UAW 2865, the union that represents student employees at the University of California, submitted a letter to Chancellor Gary S. May. Burdened by high living costs and insufficient salaries, the student workers are demanding higher wages and more affordable on-campus housing. Last week, the UAW 2865 Executive Board asked the UC Office of the President to reopen bargaining on a contract between the union and the university that was ratified in 2018 and runs through 2022. The union is asking for a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, that would amount to roughly a 60-percent salary increase. UC teaching assistants, who are only allowed to work slightly more than half-time, earn about $2,400 per month, and often have no income for three months during the summer. Most in-state tuition is waived for graduate students employed by the university, but students living in some of the most expensive housing markets in the country say they are struggling to make ends meet. In a letter to UC Labor Relations director Peter Chester, the union leaders said “skyrocketing rents” coupled with California’s failure to pass rent-control legislation had pushed students to a breaking point. “We believe the circumstances have changed to such a degree as to necessitate immediate bargaining over this important issue,” UAW 2865 president Kavitha Iyengar wrote. The demands were made as hundreds of graduate student employees at UC Santa Cruz began an indefinite strike on Monday, canceling classes for thousands of undergraduate students. Student employees at UC Santa Cruz have demanded a COLA worth $1,412 per month. The general strike began after failed attempts to negotiate with campus

SEE STANDOFF, PAGE A3

VOL. 123, NO. 21

OWEN YANCHER/ENTERPRISE PHOTO

Seven members of the Davis Fire Department got a traditional water dousing Thursday at a ceremony where three celebrated passing their 18-month probationary periods, while the four newest members received their badges. Getting the ceremonial spray are Chad Poulter, Nathan Kushlan, Bryan ten Bosch, Melissa Davis, Matt Elders and Nicholas Silver. Not pictured is new firefighter Darren Foronda.

John O’Brien demonstrates outside the Time Inc. building in New York around 1969. (His placard references the “I am a man” signs carried by black men picketing during the Memphis Sanitation Strike in 1968.) COURTESY ILLUSTRATION

This sample schematic of a Portland Loo at G Street Plaza shows what public restrooms might look like on the city streets of Davis.

COURTESY PHOTO

Relief on its way downtown

Longtime activist shares memories of Stonewall

BY ANNE TERNUS-BELLAMY

BY JEFF HUDSON

Enterprise staff writer New public bathrooms should finally be available in downtown Davis later this spring. In an update to the City Council last week, city engineer Dianna Jensen said the two pre-fabricated public bathrooms the city has ordered will arrive in April and be installed shortly thereafter. The bathrooms — Portland Loos — will be installed in two locations: the G Street Plaza and at the west end of the E Street parking lot. Prior to the arrival of the loos, the city will complete prep work, including water and sewer lines, Jensen said. Funding for the prefabricated restrooms was approved by the City Council in 2017 but disagreement among downtown property and business owners over where they should be

INDEX

Business . . . . . A7 Comics . . . . . . .B4 Op-Ed . . . . . . . . A5 Calendar . . . . . A7 Forum . . . . . . . A4 Sports . . . . . . .B1 Classifieds . . . .B6 Living . . . . . . . . A6 The Wary I . . . . A2

placed stalled the process. With few businesses wanting the restrooms near their properties, council members expressed frustration in January 2018 about the lack of progress and asked city staff to return with recommendations so they could make the decision themselves. Two months later, city staff recommended the G Street Plaza due to its heavy pedestrian traffic and “distinct problem with public urination” as well as the ample space and access to utilities. The ideal second location, staff said at the time, was the E Street Plaza or its parking lot. Having those bathrooms downtown, proponents have said, will eliminate the need for downtown visitors to trek to Central Park or the Davis Depot to use public bathrooms while also serving those experiencing

WEATHER Tod Mostly Today: su sunny and nice. Hi High 66. Low 46.

homelessness downtown. The cost of the two bathrooms was estimated to be about $500,000, including purchase and installation. The bathrooms chosen — the Portland Loos — were favored by most downtown business owners in a survey conducted by the Chamber of Commerce. Meanwhile, city staff reported the restrooms are durable, arrive in one piece, are easy to install and have a line of sight ideal for security. City council members hailed the imminent arrival of the loos. City Councilman Will Arnold said he and his family used a Portland Loo in Emeryville during a recent road trip and “it was fantastic,” he said. “I’m a fan.” — Reach Anne TernusBellamy at aternus@ davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy.

Enterprise staff writer Social activist John O’Brien — who as a young man participated in the Stonewall Uprising after the New York Police Department raided that gay bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood — will visit Davis High School on Tuesday, Feb. 18, meeting students at various campus events during the day, and then giving a free talk (which the public is invited to attend) at 7 p.m. in Davis High’s Brunelle Theater. The NYPD raided the Stonewall Inn during the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, setting off an angry response in the form of spontaneous demonstrations over a period of days, with as many as 1,000 people gathering around the dingy bar to vent angry feelings about the way the NYPD had conducted the raid.

At one point, O’Brien and three other men loosened a parking meter on a metal pole from the sidewalk, and used it as a battering ram on the bar’s entrance, in order to confront the NYPD officers who had taken shelter inside. “When I grew up (in the 1950s), you were (regarded as) immoral, illegal and mentally sick if you were gay ... (and) if anything was heard about gays, it was basically bad. Nothing positive,” O’Brien told The Enterprise. “It took a movement to eventually overcome that, and it is having an effect now worldwide,” O’Brien said. “That’s my main message (to the high school students) ... People can make change by working together.

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