May 21 2020

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

4 | THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2020

YOLO COUNTY EXTENDS SHELTER-IN-PLACE ORDER UNTIL MAY 31, BUSINESSES FEAR ECONOMIC EFFECTS

AGGIE FILES

Downtown Davis businesses, public entities face further economic uncertainty

Neighborhood streets in Davis continue to remain quiet as the Yolo County shelter-in-place order continues. (Photo by Quinn Spooner / Aggie)

BY J EL E N A L A P U Z city@theaggie.org On April 30, Yolo County extended its shelter-in-place order from May 1 to May 31. The shelter-in-place order was originally supposed to last until April 7. It was later extended to May 1, and it has now been extended again until the end of May, according to a public press release.

“The health order is intended to continue to slow the spread of novel coronavirus,” the press release stated. “While the State Order to stay at home is still in effect, counties may only permit activities to resume that are not prohibited by the State Order.”

Derar Zawaydeh, the co-owner of Crepeville and Burgers & Brew, said this extension was disappointing for his businesses but necessary for public health.

“The idea is just to stay afloat until this thing blows over,” Zawaydeh said. “I just hope that people will comply with the regulations so that we can put this on the back burner and move on.”

Zawaydeh further emphasized the importance of community involvement in helping struggling businesses and expressed gratitude for those who are still working during this critical time.

“All these businesses really need your support,” Zawaydeh said. “You’re an asset toward

expediting the normalcy of it all — of going back to a normal routine.”

Jennifer Schmidt, the owner of Davis Creamery, said small businesses struggle even without a public health crisis.

“It’s hard for small businesses just in general when things are really good in Davis,” Schmidt said. “We’re not even able to break even right now. I think we’re just trying to survive and get through this so that we can keep our doors open.”

Schmidt commended the Davis community for following safety protocol guidelines and supporting local businesses.

“I appreciate the support that we’re getting from the community and the people who are trying to help the downtown businesses,” Schmidt said. “I think the community is rallying behind us businesses, so we’re really lucky to live in a town like Davis.”

Lee Pflugrath, the owner of YoloBerry Yogurt, also commented on the challenges facing local businesses.

“The students are gone, and they bring a lot of business to downtown,” Pflugrath said. “But we have a lot of support from locals now, too.

Everybody’s just trying to help the best they can.”

Pflugrath urged people to be more aware of their surroundings and to be conscious of practicing public health measures.

“There’s just so much unknown with this virus,” Pflugrath said. “No one was prepared for it because it totally came out of nowhere. Anything

CLASS, SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE PANDEMIC ERA

How are students adjusting, managing the challenge?

can happen these days to people. I think you just got to be aware.”

Yelena Ivashchenko, the owner of Bohème Used Clothing & Gifts, explained via email how retail businesses are still suffering, despite the recent implementation of curbside pick-up.

“Curbside pickup only doesn’t help our sales much at all as people would like to come in and see what we have and of course want to try things on before purchasing,” Ivashchenko said via email. “We’re hoping that we can open our doors for customers (with safe guidelines and regulations) no later than June 1st. But we don’t control that. We also hope to launch our online store within a month.”

Ivashchenko is a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Davis Downtown Business Association (DDBA). She addressed the financial dilemma faced by the City of Davis during these challenging times.

“I believe that the City of Davis is capable of doing more to help businesses during this situation, but I know they are also financially strapped and they have to be careful in their use of public funds,” Ivashchenko said via email. “The future is very unclear and frankly scary especially for the businesses geared towards students, as we don’t know when in-class sessions will resume. It is pretty safe to say that not all businesses will be coming back, but I hope most do.”

Businesses are not the only ones facing uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Davis City Councilmember Dan Carson explained that if this situation continues for an extended period of time it will pose difficult financial challenges to public schools, the city government and the state government.

“There are all these uncertainties in terms of how this will play out, but we’re hopeful in the City of Davis,” Carson said. “I think all of us will change the way we behave to some degree. We’ve seen our Davis community come together to help each other.”

Carson further assured that locals should have confidence in their city government, which has been hard at work looking out for the needs of the Davis community.

“We’re listening to our county public health experts and following their directions on how to implement shelter-in-place orders,” Carson said.

“We’re doing everything we can to ensure the continuity of basic public services.”

You still have to social distance when riding roller skis!

May 7 “Male walking down the middle of the roadway carrying a marijuana plant.”

“Male approaching people in close proximity while exercising with roller skis.”

“Loud miscellaneous beeping sound daily in the afternoons.”

May 8 “Riding on motorized skateboard in the roadway.”

“Bees swarming in a tree.”

“Noise complaint. Loud laughing.”

May 11 “Awoke to find her bathroom door locked.”

“Respondent’s stolen Macbook Pro just went online and is currently mapping to Woodland.”

May 12 “Chicken screeching all day long.”

May 13 “Subjects soliciting in the area and not wearing masks.”

“Loud music. Possibly all minors, all are playing drinking games.”

WEST DAVIS POND’S ISLANDDWELLING BEAR WAS SIGHTED, NICK-NAMED GILLIGAN

A young black bear recently sighted in West Pond area met an untimely end after being struck by a car

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

BY T IM LALO NDE city@theaggie.org A student reads The New York Times on their computer. (Photo by Zoë Reinhardt / Aggie)

BY JOSH M A D RI D arts@theaggie.org In-person classes and campus buildings have been closed for more than half of spring quarter. Some students stayed in Davis while others packed up and headed home — either way students’ lifestyles have drastically changed — and they’re trying to adjust to modified social networks and classroom experiences.

Sally Ellberg, a fourth-year biology major, shared her frustrations of trying to stay focused and find motivation to work while at home.

“Moving home has been hard for me because not only do I miss my friends, but also it is challenging for me to do school work when I am not in that academic environment at school,” Ellberg said. “Oftentimes when I finally get in the zone, one of my parents will come into my bedroom and distract me.”

Few students have participated in fully-online classes at UC Davis in the past, and most still had in-person discussion sessions to seek help.

“With classes online, I feel like I am always missing something,” Ellberg said. “Even if I stay organized and on top of things, it can feel like there are assignments hiding in certain tabs on canvas you weren’t aware about.”

Cynthia Adkisson, a fourth-year animal science major, and Marina Fernandez-Fretzel, a fourth-year neurology, physiology and behavior major, have both remained in Davis for the duration of the shelter-in-place orders and shared how even a familiar environment has its challenges.

“It’s been super hard for me because I did all of my studying in the library and went seven days a week, so now I have to figure out how to focus at home,” Adkisson said.

Adkisson and Fernadez-Fretzel explained that the human interaction and study mindset are hindering their ability to focus. The inability to study around other students has made it difficult to focus.

“I miss being in the classroom,” Ferna-

dez-Fretzel said. “I feel like I actually pay attention better in class now since online lectures are often at the student’s own pace, but I miss getting ready and putting on normal clothes and asking another human being ‘is anyone sitting there?’”

Collaborative environments are also becoming more difficult to work in with online-only communication.

“Group work has also been somewhat of a struggle,” Fernandez-Fretzel said. “I think it’s harder to feel a sense of accountability with a group of people whose faces you’ve never seen or spoken with in person.”

Friends are the people who students look to for support during midterm season and personal conflict has also been forced behind a screen. Stil, it’s something to look forward to.

“Not being able to carry out all the spring quarter plans I had with my friends is tough, but we’ve been finding other ways to keep in touch,” Fernandez-Fretzel said. “I’ve done social-distancing arboretum workouts with friends and even went for sprints on the track, which is shocking because I don’t run.”

Of course, sometimes a bit nostalgia sets in for a year that ended much earlier than expected, especially for graduating seniors that are missing graduation.

“Some days I bike through campus to get to work and that’s when a little wave of sadness will come over me,” Fernandez-Frentzel said. “Seeing the bike circles empty and no lines at the food trucks kind of feels like an old western film where the tumbleweeds blow through a ghost town.”

Graduating seniors can participate in the spring 2020 virtual celebration on Friday, June 12 to get a bit of closure before they take their first steps into a socially distant society.

“I feel like I am lacking closure because I did not realize my last lecture was my last, or my last time walking on campus as a student was my last,” Ellberg said. “It is all just very anticlimactic as a senior during this time.”

A two-year-old black bear sighted in Davis — who earned the nickname “Gilligan” after taking up residence on an island in West Pond — was discovered to have been struck by a car and killed on May 2, after eluding capture by city officials for several days.

Police first sounded the alert of a bear sighting in Davis on social media early morning on April 29 around 8:30 a.m. Included was a short clip from a home security camera, showing a small brown bear wandering down a residential driveway.

“The Davis Police Department has received reports of a small brown bear last seen at about 7 AM near the West Davis pond (Near Arlington Blvd/Shasta Dr - west of SR 113),” the post read.

“If seen please use caution, do not approach, and call 911 immediately. Animal Control Officers are in the area.”

John McNerney, the wildlife resource specialist for the city of Davis, said that the bear had traveled to West Area Pond — about a half mile from the area of the initial sighting — by the time he was notified of its presence. Yolo County Animal Control and the Davis PD had been searching for the animal that morning without luck, he said, though another reported sighting had placed the bear in the stormwater basin of the pond.

While he and other officials spent the day looking for the bear, McNerney said that he remained in contact with biologists from the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) to discuss the best course for safely capturing and removing it from the area.

“The best-case scenario [is] that [the bear] wanders back out of town and goes on its merry way to find a better habitat,” McNerney said.

“But even then, we understood that it was in the middle of agriculture and urban development.

That’s not a really good spot for the bear.”

Wildlife officials planned to tranquilize the animal and transport it to a suitable habitat, McNerney said. The bear’s chosen spot made this

strategy challenging, however — dense foliage and water presented a risk for both wildlife personnel and the bear itself.

“While the bear was down there inside the basin, it was unsafe to do any kind of chemical immobilization,” McNerney said. “Largely that’s because of the water down there, and there’s a lot of vegetation, trip hazards — the bear could drown [or] the researchers and biologists could drown.”

The next day, the bear was seen again inside the pond. That evening, pedestrian access to that part of the Greenbelt was closed. With humans gone, CDFW officials hoped that the bear would leave the pond, either continuing out of town or moving to a location where it could be safely captured, McNerney said.

“That didn’t work out,” McNerney said. “It stayed in the pond the rest of that afternoon, through the evening, apparently.”

The next morning, McNerney said officials saw the bear again on the island in West Pond. At that point, it seemed it was beginning to set up a more permanent residence.

“It looked like maybe it was setting up a little bit of a territory, going out on a foraging mission at night, and coming back to the safety of the pond during the day, “ McNerney said.

CDFW officials set a trap in the basin on May 1, but McNerney said that the bear didn’t take the bait. There were no more sightings until about 1 p.m. the next day when a resident near County Road 29 reported that she and her family had seen a bear on their property earlier in the day.

It was that evening a dead bear was reported next to Highway 113 near County Road 27.

Unique color markings on the bear’s head confirmed it was the same bear that officials had been tracking in Davis, McNerney said.

CDFW officials conducted a necropsy on the bear’s carcass, determining its age and health, as well as how it died. McNerney said that the bear was a two-year-old male of about 170 pounds.

Its injuries were all consistent with its apparent death by a vehicle collision.

BEARDEATH on 17