Davis schools continue to deal with declining enrollment. In fact, we have 20% fewer families with children than the average U.S. city – and that also includes comparable college towns. We are lucky to have amazing teachers in our wonderful schools, but for how much longer? Current birthrate and kindergarten enrollment trends show us that we could lose the equivalent population of a middle school without relying on interdistrict transfers. Is this the Davis we want to share? One where only an older generation and University student population thrive?

We love our local shops and businesses. There’s certainly something special about Downtown Davis. But we can all recall a beloved local restaurant or small business that has closed it’s doors in the last two years. This is an alarming trend that has preceded the pandemic, according to data. Also worth noting, there are far fewer family friendly businesses downtown. As we continue to lose families, priced out of Davis to Woodland, Dixon, and Natomas, we will see businesses reflect the demographics of Davis. We’ve all thought to ourselves, “Another coffee shop going there? Another bar in that spot?” Yes, and less retailers that cater to families, so we are forced to drive outside of Davis to shop for basic necessities.

While we’re on the subject of driving in and out of Davis – we have to do a lot of it. This should be unnecessary in a town with the bikeable greenbelt miles that Davis has. Yet commute data tells us that UC Davis, the town’s largest employer, has 60% of faculty and staff living outside of Davis – and that number is rapidly increasing. Car commuters alone are 90.6% of greenhouse gas emission of UC Davis campus travel. If faculty and staff could afford to live and work in Davis, it would make a significant impact on CO2 emissions. Davis falls far behind comparable communities in our region for commuter vehicle miles traveled, sitting at 115-150% and higher than the regional average.

What does this all mean?

It means that if families, if workers, if teachers could afford to live in Davis, many of these problems would disappear or certainly be less worrisome. Davis has fallen behind on building allocations. We have a serious supply issue and if we don’t address it now, it will be too late.