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volume 132, number 11
Thursday, january 24, 2013
Davis Flea Market celebrates ‘Sample This’: The Sound of one-year anniversary Hip-Hop
Fledgling Flea lives to see first birthday By NAOMI NISHIHARA Aggie Features Writer
You might not think the marriage of the subprime mortgage crisis in Ireland and the mass exodus of writers and artists from Davis to humanities-friendly locations could have a brain-child, but it has, and she is celebrating her first birthday. This Sunday, the Davis Flea Market will celebrate its one-year anniversary. It was inspired by the bloom of DIY culture in Ireland after the subprime mortgage crisis, and encouraged by the determination to entice UC Davis students to start businesses and stay in town after graduation. The Davis Flea Market is a self-sustaining pop-up market of local art, performance and vintage gear. In its year of existence, it has faced many challenges in finding a place for itself within Downtown Davis’ community. But Lauren Norton, director of the Davis Flea Market, is hopeful for its future expansion. “We dream of having a brick-andmortar building where we can have a cooperative retail space, a café and a performance venue,” Norton wrote in an email interview. “Considering the level of enthusiasm for the Flea right now, this could be a reality sooner than I ever anticipated.” Searching for a place has been a theme in the founding and trials of the Flea Market. In 2011, when Norton finished up her Master’s degree in creative writing, she watched as her communi-
ty of fellow artists and writers dispersed for different and more promising cities. “Everyone seemed to be moving to the Bay Area or Portland — cities with more opportunities and also lower rents than Davis,” Norton said. “I thought an accessible and experimental market venue would be a good way to entice a new generation of UC Davis students downtown where they could think about the possibility of laying down roots.” Even if enticed, however, Norton said it hasn’t been so easy to lay those roots down. “The biggest challenge was finding a location, and then securing the necessary permission to use [it]. The E Street Plaza seemed like a terrific spot — it’s in the heart of downtown and it has a covered stage for our bands,” Norton said. “[But] the local business association (Davis Downtown Business Association) initially blocked us from putting on the Flea market because they were concerned about our vendors and customers taking up too many parking spaces and also competing with their stores.” Norton personally met with many of the local business owners and spoke to them about the flea market’s goals to make downtown a more vibrant place to shop, and create a mutually beneficial relationship between Davis Flea and downtown Davis. Eventually, enough business owners signed her petition, and in January of last year, the flea market got the green light. Since then, the Davis Flea has used
the marketplace to serve many causes. It recycles material goods by practicing sustainable commerce, and fosters entrepreneurship in students and community members alongside well-versed business owners. Julie Cross of the Davis Food Co-op, who has participated in the Flea Market as a vendor and promotional partner, became aware of the Flea at its very first event. She then reached out to it for several reasons. “They certainly support our belief in wise use and reuse of resources, and help to keep shopping dollars local. We think that having events like this one in our downtown helps keep things lively and attract business,” Cross said in an email interview. As a vendor, she described the market as a chance to get some things out of the house. “I spent a month going through my kitchen and clearing out things that [weren’t] getting much use. I spiffed everything up — ‘used’ doesn’t mean ‘trashy,’ and the Flea really attracts shoppers who are looking for quality merchandise,” Cross said. The morning of the market, after drinking her coffee, praying for sun and driving her stuff to the E Street Plaza, Cross said it was nothing but four hours of dancing to good music and talking to nice people while she sold a great pile of stuff. The Flea Market also pays musicians
See MARKET, page 6
Bicycle traffic school becomes popular choice for bike violations Program aimed to create safer biking environment
Documentary tells story of iconic hip-hop song By MARIA MARCELINA CRYSTAL VEGA Aggie Features Writer
ASUCD’s Entertainment Council will be hosting a special free screening of the documentary “Sample This” on Saturday with a Q&A with both the director Dan Forrer and writer/producer Bob Burris after the screening. “The story fascinated me from the very beginning not just because it’s an amazing music story, but because it is an incredibly interesting story about pop culture and politics,” Burris said in an email interview. It is no easy task summing up the immensity of influence a song can make nor the influences surrounding it that generated its inception. Four decades, a blog post by a music historian and an article in The New York Times probably only broke the surface of the song that “Sample This” revolves
See SOUND, page 7
News iN Brief
Vanguard Court Watch wants council members Yolo County’s Vanguard Court Watch is looking for members of the community interested in being a part of the new Vanguard Court Watch Council. Vanguard Court Watch is a nonprofit with volunteers focused on monitoring and tracking cases that go through the Yolo County Judicial System every week. It also puts eight to 10 interns from UC Davis and other local colleges into the courtroom to monitor the cases. The Vanguard Court Watch Council will be made up of two members each from Davis, Woodland and West Sacramento. Once a month, a public meeting will be held to hear concerns about upcoming court matters, prosecutions, police matters and other cases in Yolo County. Those interested in participating on the council can send a brief letter stating their interest, background and qualifications to info@ davisvanguard.org. — Claire Tan
Students invited to have Lunch with ASUCD ASUCD will begin the Lunch with ASUCD series tomorrow at the ASUCD Coffee House. Students are invited to have a free lunch with ASUCD officials by registering online before the lunch. The program is intended to provide students with the opportunity to speak with members of ASUCD about the Association and learn ways to become involved in their student government, according to the event registration page. Space is limited. Students can register for the next lunch, Jan. 3, at asucd.ucdavis.edu. — Muna Sadek Lucas Bolster / Aggie
A new citation for bicycle violations was introduced in Fall 2011. The citation will allow students to attend traffic school in lieu of paying a $200 ticket.
By PAAYAL ZAVERI Aggie Staff Writer
A new citation for bicycle tickets has been in place on the UC Davis campus since Fall 2011. Students have the option of taking an online safety class instead of paying the original $200 fine. Statistics show that people are mostly taking the class instead of paying the $200 fine for a ticket. Since last year, 512 tickets were written and 459 of those completed the traffic school. Additionally, 643 people have completed the traffic school just for educational purposes. David Takemoto-Weerts, bicycle program coordinator for UC Davis Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS), said that when he started his job in 1987, the fine for a bike ticket was $20. He has seen it slowly increase over the years and a normal bike ticket is now about $200.
Today’s weather Chance of rain High 60 Low 42
“The University police and the City of Davis police were becoming reluctant to write bike tickets, especially to freshmen,” Takemoto-Weerts said. “There was a corresponding increase in unsafe behavior and bike crashes.” So far the program has just been implemented on campus, and the University police and the City of Davis are discussing implementing it throughout the city. If someone is pulled over for a bicycle infraction, the officer will give them the option of taking the online bike school class instead of paying the fine. People must complete the course within two weeks of the incident and pay a $70 course fee. The class itself takes about 45 to 50 minutes. A 20-minute video is shown and then a quiz on the video is given. In order to pass the course, people need to get 19 out of 25 questions correct. People have the option to take the
$200 ticket and try to contest it in court if they feel that they don’t deserve a ticket. “We have been successful at bringing bicycle education to people who have received bike citations,” said Dave Kemp, the city’s active transportation coordinator. The Bicycle Education and Enforcement Program (BEEP) also provides general bicycle education to those interested. For example, it was used during student orientation last year as a way to educate incoming students about bike safety and rules. “It is possible that many of these students may be at higher risk for a crash due to being first-time or returning bicyclists needing an adjustment period to become comfortable riding safely,” said Jimmy Fong, the city’s active transportation intern, in a statement. PAAYAL ZAVERI can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
Forecast Today we have a chance of rain before 10 am, other than that we’ll have a cloudy Davis day. Through the weekend we should have cloudiness and some intermittent chances of rain. Brian Rico, atmospheric science major Aggie Forecasting Team
Friday
Saturday
Partly sunny
Chance of rain
High 60 Low 42
High 58 Low 40
Women’s Resources & Research Center opens mentoring program The Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Mentoring Program, hosted by the Women’s Resources and Research Center (WRRC), is accepting applications to be both a mentor or a mentee for Winter and Spring Quarter. WISE aims to bridge the gap in gender equality in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math by providing students with a supportive, gender-positive environment. The two-quarter-long program pairs mentees with mentors who help them to achieve their academic and professional goals. To apply for the program, visit wrrc.ucdavis.edu. The center is accepting mentee applications until Monday. — Stephanie B. Nguyen
I hate the rain.
Allison Ferrini