Best of Davis
Indulge yourself. Read Sam Wall’s touching column.
Vote for Davis’ best restaurants, entertainment and more at theaggie.org until Jan. 30. Results will be revealed Feb. 16.
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www.theaggie.org
volume 131, number 9
Tuesday, january 24, 2012
News iN Brief
City of Davis to hold job skills workshop
Jasna Hodzic / Aggie
The Domes reopens after necessary repair work following its closure last year due to the inability to meet safety regulations set forth by the university.
Residents move back into the Domes
Solar Community Housing Association takes over leasing responsibilities for next five years By STEPHANIE B. NGUYEN Aggie News Writer
After a five-month hiatus, residents have begun to move back into the Domes. On Dec. 23, a ground lease was signed with UC Davis and the Solar Community Housing Association (SCHA), a non-profit housing association, that enables the Baggins End Domes to have SCHA take responsibility in renovations and maintenance as a third-party manager over a period of five years. The cooperative housing com-
munity was closed in August due to failure to meet the university’s safety regulations. Structural degradation and fire code issues were among those reported. However, after beginning necessary repair work in November, university safety inspectors approved seven of the 14 domes as safe to live in and occupancy permits were issued on Jan. 4. Residents moved in immediately. “SCHA has been working closely with the university in order to address health and safety regulations,” said Margareta Lelea,
a member of the association’s board of directors and formter Domes resident. “Passing a series of inspections was required before students could be offered leases.” According to Lelea, a total of 26 spaces will be available for fulltime UC Davis students to live in by July. Currently, nine students have moved in, while five more have been accepted to fill 14 spots. “Residents have optimism for clear communication with this new administration,” said JayLee Tuil, a Domes resident
and doctoral student in geography. “While there has been an incredible amount of work done by a great many individuals, in many ways, with the signing of this lease, our work really has just begun. In the next five years, we need to establish ties with many and varied departments on campus, we need to propose and solidify projects with research potential on site and we need to identify funding sources for these new and innovative
See DOMES, page 2
The City of Davis will be hosting the sixth annual Recreation Job Fair and Skills Workshop on Feb. 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Veterans’ Memorial Center, located at 203 E. 14th St. The workshop will feature scenarios and skits demonstrating good and bad interview and employee behavior, a presentation about how to secure a position and a customer service video. One hundred participants will also participate in a mock interview with recreation supervisors and will receive feedback on their performance. A sign-up sheet for the mock interviews will be available at the beginning of the workshop. Recreation programs currently hiring teens and young adults for summer positions will be on display at booths set up at the theater. Though the Recreation Job Fair has been held for the past six years, City of Davis community services coordinator Sandra Montgomery said the workshop element was added this year to make the event more educational for those who are not hired. “With the economy the way it is, each year we have more [employees] coming back [for summer positions] and less space for new staff,” Montgomery said. “We want to show you how you can increase your chances of standing out, even if you don’t get the job.” Montgomery encouraged those interested in employment to apply early, as many positions only accept the first 50 applicants. Download applications on the City of Davis website, cityofdavis.org/jobs/parttime.cfm, and submit them to the Community Services Department at 600 A St. Suite C, or by fax to (530) 758-0204, Attn: Community Services Department. — Erin Migdol
Unitrans general Local cold weather shelter houses homeless manager to leave after 16 years of service
Individuals staying for longer periods of time
By CHLOE BREZSNY
Geoff Straw takes new position in San Luis Obispo
Aggie News Writer
The Cold Weather Shelter is one of the many local programs that provide services to the homeless. Founded in 1993 as part of Davis Community Meals, the shelter offers homeless men and women a warm, safe place to sleep during the winter months. Officially opening its doors in mid-November when temperatures begin to drop, the shelter operates daily through the end of March. It has maintained a house at 512 Fifth St. since 2006, a location that is within walking distance of other resources. There is currently room enough to house eight homeless men and two homeless women per night at the shelter. During the 2008 winter season, it provided 66 different individuals with lodging. In more recent years, the number of individuals has gone down, but the activity of the shelter remains the same. “People are staying for a longer time,” said Bill Pride, the executive director for Davis Community Meals. “This means that space fills
Today’s weather Partly cloudy High 56 Low 39
By DANIELLE HUDDLESTUN Geoff Straw became a Unitrans driver in 1985, the general manager in 2004 and is now moving on to become the executive director of regional transit in San Luis Obispo. Beginning on Jan. 30, Straw will be
Kristina Geddert / Aggie
morning. Meals are provided, and those who stay at the shelter sleep on bunk beds. Books, games and a television are available for use. There are usually three volunteers working at the shelter, two of whom spend the night to ensure everything runs smoothly. While participants who use the shelter are not required to be clean or sober at the time of their stay, there are certain
See SHELTER, page 3
Forecast The rain is gone for now folks! Expect fog in the morning, sunshine in the afternoon and a light breeze throughout the day. Raymond Chan, atmospheric science major Aggie Forecasting Team
See UNITRANS, page 2
Aggies spring into action
The Davis Cold Weather shelter provides housing for the homeless from November to March and is located downtown. up pretty quickly.” To obtain a bed at the shelter, individuals must receive a voucher from the Davis Community Meals Resource Center on H Street. Pride also said that it is the policy of the Cold Weather Shelter to allow an individual to stay up to 14 consecutive nights. However, people are able to wait a night and then return to the shelter for 14 more consecutive nights. The shelter’s hours are 6 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. the next
working in San Luis Obsipo, also a college town. He said he feels very confident in the staff he is leaving behind and is ready to take on the new opportunity. Mentoring student employees as
UC Davis gymnastics flies high in win over Air Force By KAITLYN ZUFALL Aggie Sports Writer
New England’s advancement to the Super Bowl was not the only reason that Patriots fan and gymnastics head coach John Lavallee was celebrating on Sunday. While the Patriots and Ravens were battling it out on the gridiron, his team was dominating Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival Air
Wednesday
Thursday
Mostly sunny
Sunny
High 60 Low 40
High 61 Low 40
Force in front of a hometown audience. The UC Davis gymnastics team defeated the Falcons by a score of 191.450 to 185.750 in their first home meet of the season. The meet began with UC Davis on vault while Air Force simultaneously performed on the uneven parallel bars, a style of competition new to the Pavilion. “We tried a new format
at the home meet today and I think it went pretty well,” said Lavallee. “We’re trying to make it a little more head to head.” The Aggies’ score of 48.550 on vault was a season high, with not a single athlete scoring below a 9.6. Davis swept the category with junior Katie Yamamura placing first (9.825), sophomore
See GYMNASTICS, page 2
A new horse fly that was recently discovered in Australia was named Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae, after the famous Beyonce. Why, you ask? For it’s “bootylicious” golden-haired bum. Popular culture and science ftw. Amanda Nguyen