Former Elk Grove Mayor Davis slammed for calling Stonelake residents childish, dishonest


Elk Grove resident Gary Sibner said as a Vietnam era veteran and state investigator who pursued
consumer fraud, he was insulted by former mayor Gary Davis.   


As if to throw gasoline on the fire of a growing controversy, former Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis stoked things this week on social media calling opponents of a proposed hospital in the city's Stonelakes neighborhood childish and dishonest.

In reaction, residents from the Stonelake neighborhood appeared at last night's Elk Grove City Council and uniformly pushed back on the Davis' comments. Davis posted his remarks (see below) on Facebook following a demonstration held by Elk Grove residents and members of Neighbors Ensuring Stonelake Transparency - NEST - at an event attended by current Elk Grove Mayor Steve Ly.

NEST, who opposes the 400-bed hospital proposed in the Stonelake neighborhood by the for-profit California Northstate University, has been bird-dogging Ly. Along with the protest at Monday's event, they demonstrated at an event Ly held at CNU in late February and promised to continue their protest efforts.

Among the speakers was Stonelake resident Gary Sibner who said he did not appreciate Davis' social media comments. Sidner reminded the city council and the audience that Davis, though his Civic Innovations Public Affairs company, was representing CNU called NEST supporters childish, dishonest, low-level and an embarrassment.

"By extension, since Davis is their image person, this is CNU's opinion of us," Sidner said. "How dare they insult us, we are citizens who have legitimate concerns about a project which will be detrimental to our community and to the west side of Elk Grove."

Sidner added, "for the former mayor of Elk Grove to call our constitutional right to protest childish and embarrassing speaks volumes of the integrity of that organization and their lack of credibility."

In response to an email inquiry last night, Davis said the comment on Facebook, which has been removed, was his own. He added, "I posted my personal opinion on my personal Facebook page because I believe our community is capable of a higher level of dialogue and discussion around such an important community project."

Another speaker at the meeting was Amrit Sandhu who said described an unproductive meeting she and other NEST members had with Davis. In that meeting, Sandhu claimed that Davis said unless Stonelake residents were willing to mitigate their concerns, talks were not likely.

"There is a lot of disrespect towards citizens and their concerns," Sandhu noted. "I was told that [by Davis], 'unless you guys are willing to mitigate, we are putting our hospital there, and if you are not going to mitigate, there is no reason to talk.'"

Matthew Weaver, the owner of the Results Transformation business located at the Stonelake Landing shopping center, which is owned by CNU and will be demolished, should their project be approved by the city, said Davis and others at CNU have not been responsive. Weaver added that he and other business owners had revived the shopping center on the city's far west side after years of languishing vacancies.

"Mr. Davis, Mr. Wagstaffe, Mr. Rosenberg and the entire staff at CNU have played games, postured, put false information in front of me," Weaver said. "When city council, city mayor and private sector decide to steamroll others in the private sector and claim the greater good, enough is enough."











Post a Comment Default Comments

2 comments

D.J. Blutarsky said...

Leave it to Gary 'Non-Profit' Davis to not understand the dynamics of pursuing the American dream through hard work, risking capital, and yes, sometimes protesting to protect the value of your biggest investment you will likely ever make--your home and/or business.

Mr. Non-Profit is also the opportunistic hired hand behind the Wilton Rancheria casino, and the face behind the tax exempt non-profits Elk Grove Youth Sports Program and Elk Grove Community Connection, both of which were awarded city grant money last night. When he is not busy with those ventures, he is also employed by yes, you guessed it, a non-profit group which lobbies for charter schools.

As auctioneers so skillfully say, "sold to the highest bidder".

Connie said...

D.J. I have to make one correction to your comment above.

Gary Davis started the Elk Grove Community Council, not the Elk Grove Community Connection. However, I can see how the two can be mixed up. Davis also uses the same abbreviation of EGCC for his latest non-profit. The Elk Grove Community Connection (EGCC) was formed in 2006.

Follow Us

Popular

Archives

Elk Grove News Minute






All previous Elk Grove News Minutes, interviews, and Dan Schmitt's Ya' Gotta be Schmittin' Me podcasts are now available on iTunes

Elk Grove News Podcast




item