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In the News
Levy will run for council
State water board attorney and frequent volunteer outlines ideas
By Claire St. John
Davis Enterprise staff writer
February 5, 2006
Mike Levy has been devoted to Davis since he co-founded a fraternity while getting a political science degree, through the brief hiatus when he lived in San Francisco and continuing now that he and his family have moved back to Davis.
Now he’s going for the meat and potatoes of community service — a chair on the City Council.
Levy serves on the city’s Natural Resources Commission, was chairman of the Governance Task Force, sits on the Cal Aggie Alumni Association board of directors and is past president of the Cal Aggie Marching Band Alumni Association.
A senior staff attorney with the State Water Resources Control Board, he also volunteers as a mediator for the First District court of appeal.
In Central Park Friday under the spreading limbs of the big oak tree, Levy, 39, announced his candidacy for City Council among friends, family, professionals, toddlers and one lap-happy dog bounding around.
“My professional, volunteer and family experience has taught me the values of cooperation, moderation and inclusiveness,” Levy said. “As a court mediator, I am trained to listen to others’ concerns and work to craft solutions that address them. Public participation is the cornerstone to effective representation. Our elected officials must seek and respect input from the community and respect its citizen’s ideals.”
In an interview earlier in the week, however, Levy said allowing council meetings to run into the wee hours of the night is not the most effective method of listening to the public.
“If you hold meetings until midnight or one in the morning, you say it’s to honor the community, but it’s not,” he said. “It’s not fair.”
Levy has ideas to get more public input without forcing people to stay up all hours, speak when they’re groggy and return home disgruntled. Encouraging people to get on record at commission meetings and having commissioners tell the council what points were raised at the meeting would save time and get the message where it needs to go more efficiently, Levy said.
Besides his ideas for streamlining and enriching meetings, Levy said he brings an environmental attorney’s viewpoint to the council, a young parent’s perspective — his daughter, Sarah, is 2 and a second daughter will be born in March — and a vision of growth that wouldn’t be accomplished strictly through infill.
“His professional background has trained him to consider very carefully every decision,” said Councilman Don Saylor, who attended Levy’s announcement event.
Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors President Jeff Adamski agreed.
“I like his calmness and civility,” he said.
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