Davis Guarantees Car Deal

Katy Grimes: The city of Davis has made a deal with Zipcar, guaranteeing that the city would pay Zipcar $76,800 per year for four cars.

There is a reason it’s called The People’s Republic of Davis.

This is not a car-purchase deal – the cars remain owned by Zipcar, a car sharing service popular in San Francisco.

For $8 per hour, including gas, drivers can rent a Zipcar. It’s a great idea.

But, the city of Davis is using money from developer-impact fees that are supposed to be earmarked for environmental mitigation projects for the $76,000 guarantee. While this might be classified as an “environmental” project if one really stretches the definition, this is another poor use of public money.

And Davis residents are upset with how the deal with Zipcar went down – or rather how the deal was essentially approved before public presentation, and quickly passed during a very busy city council meeting.

Davis is facing the same problem as nearly every other city in the state – unfunded pension liabilities. And as with nearly every other city in the state, Davis seems to be in denial about what’s ahead. Making stupid decisions like guaranteeing car deals has no place in government, and no place in the free market. Either Zipcar will be a success in Davis, or it won’t. But now, because city officials manipulated the system, they will never know whether bringing in the Zipcar was good idea or not.

SEPT. 24, 2010