This is the place to list all those annoying things about Davis. Have at it! Also see I Love Davis.

  • So many things on the Davis Wish List that Davis doesn't have.
  • High housing costs
  • Davis Groupies
  • The way students make Davis Groupies feel.
  • The Davis Enterprise - every time I read it I feel as though I've been screwed out of fifty cents.
  • Bikers who do not yield the right-of-way to pedestrians (which is illegal). I don't give a damn if it's the "bike capital" of the United States, it's the law.
  • The majority of drivers.
  • Freshman (and new) bikers. A bike circle does not mean you can ride full speed in front of a bus or even other bikers as you enter. You are supposed to yield to those already in the loop. This also applies to simple crossings, such as the one behind Kleiber Hall. Do not zip across it without even slowing down thinking a car will stop. It's incredibly frustrating for drivers, as well as dangerous for you. There also seem to be large numbers of people who have their seats too low and pedal in too low of a gear, moving down the street at incredibly slow speeds.
  • The idiotic traffic planners who make driving difficult
  • Hippies who hate any kind of housing development unless it's completely solar/compost-powered, recycles urine into drinkable water, built out of recycled wood, and is cheap enough for a minimum-wage earning pot smoker to live in. See also: NIMBY
  • Know-it-all undergraduate students with a nasty attitude.
    • Davis Groupies second this!
    • Students who go unhealthy lengths to get good grades, and think that somehow equates to actual intelligence. Nope. You can be a straight-A student and still be an idiot, especially if your only talent is memorizing loads of information so that you can forget it after it is no longer convenient to you. It angers me that that way of thinking is actually respected by our ignorant society.
  • Davis cops
  • Lack of a local Costco (closest one is Woodland) and other shopping options.
    • For example, prior to Target, there wasn't a decent place to get women's underwear.
    • Ten miles to the nearest Costco is not actually terrible. Back in Campbell, there are like a dozen Costcos nearby and you would need to at travel at least five miles to get to one.
  • "Open Space"
    • Open Space is awesome! I love that you can be out of Davis and in rural farmland in five minutes, because riding a bike-or even driving-around out there is really relaxing and peaceful. I would rather live here than in some huge city where the only thing in the outskirts is endless subdivisions or industrial areas.-JoePomidor
  • People that hate Davis
  • People who lobby madly to keep Wal-Mart and Target and Home Depot out of Davis because of general tackiness and of course the awful effects they have on the sustainable global village thing (sarcasm?) but make fuel-eating trips to Dixon and Woodland to visit these stores of satan.
    • LOL. If there are such people, I join you in your criticism, though I disagree with the intent behind your sarcasm. — ZN
  • People who think that asinine population statistics (such as the higher-than-average percentage of Davis residents with graduate and professional degrees, supposedly 2nd in the nation) are utopian benchmarks.
    • Both State College, PA and Chapel Hill, NC have statistics that show about 4% higher graduate degrees as well as a higher percentage of undergrad degrees. I only checked two, so there may be more. Any small town with a big university is going to have a high percentage of well educated people. Davis is certainly up there, but not number two in the nation.
    • No doubt; my flame originates from an editorial (Davis Enterprise, perhaps?) I read about a year or so ago making such a claim, which by itself is benign, yet was spun into some jingoistic banter about the superiority of Davis residents (when compared to the blue collar denizens of Dixon and Winters). This seems like a recurring theme in the attitutde of a number of Davisites (see other comments below). I wish I could find an archive of the statement, but I found it to be elitist and in poor taste. The El
      • Sounds like Bob Dunning, who often mentions Chapel Hill as #1, but never seriously and often ironically, which can be misinterpreted.
  • Intersections where "cross traffic does not stop."
    • Yes! Especially when you're on foot, and notice that there's a small sign in front of you underneath the stop sign, and you assume naturally that it's a "4-WAY" sign, only to nearly get run over by the cross traffic.
  • The Campus.
  • All of the crazy liberal people who need to grow up and live in the real world!!

- All crazy uber liberal/conservative people that swear that they're right and the other is deranged. Like the person that wrote this up there, or people who condemn you for your beliefs.

- All those elitist literati that have spent years studying one subject and will defend their views almost viciously even when presented with logical evidence. Or people like the guy above this line.

- All the people who get so up in arms about politics, when so little of it affects our day-to-day lives.

      • When the government starts banning stuff that you use or enjoy and drive up the costs of certain items, I think politics does affect our day-to-day lives.
  • TAPS
    • Not just TAPS, but all parking nazis.
  • That Davis drivers feel the need to obey speed limits.

- My Goodness, the Horror! What can be next? Stopping at stop signs!

    • To whoever above, your sarcasm isn't impressive. It's been shown through Speed Zone Surveys that many of the speed limits are outdated and inappropriate for their respective streets. On average, most of the Davis streets need to be raised at least 5 miles per hour (residential and school areas notwithstanding).
  • Allergies - Is this the allergy capital of, well, at least California?
    • Try living around Fresno if you want to see REAL allergies. Comparitively, this is paradise. AE
      • Having been raised in Fresyes, I can attest to this. —SunjeetBaadkar
    • It's because the campus landscapers planted only male trees, there is an excessive amount of pollen —ArianeMetz
      • Sexist bastards... —JMF
        • This is the second funniest comment on the wiki. One of the funniest things I've ever seen. :) —jw
  • Benches that are situated such that if you sit there, you will be staring at a wall five feet in front of you. I want to be able to sit on a bench and view the general area, not stare at First Northern Bank's windows. There are several examples of this annoyance throughout downtown. KW
  • The fact that Davis is only the 2nd most educated city in the US.
  • It's hot, flat, and in the middle of nowhere. And rains too much during winter.
    • Yea right, it's so freakin' cold outside I don't even want to leave my house!

Come back and say that in 8 months. O_o

    • Hey! Davis is not in the middle of nowhere, it's halfway to everywhere!
  • It's dusty from all the agriculture. You have to dust your apartment and replace the air filter so often.
  • It only exists in one place.
  • Taking a walk at night and having a roach flip up into your shoe and squish under your foot. —CovertProfessor
  • All the gnats in the spring and summer. Especially when you are biking and your shirt comes alive with them. —hankim
  • Noisy leaf blowers every damned morning. —JoeFeuerstein
  • The Aggie
  • There is pretty much nothing to do in Davis if you're not connected to UC Davis.
  • Young professionals do not exist in Davis. It's all students, families with kids, and the elderly.
  • It's impossible to keep your car clean here. So much bird poop, sticky tree sap, other stuff falling from trees, no matter where you park. Seriously, you don't even need to park under a tree and you will find all that stuff on your car after a day of leaving it there.

Comments:

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2005-11-21 01:11:05   Did this page turn into a Meassure X sob story? —MichaelGiardina

2005-11-21 01:13:35   Because of one item? —RoyWright

2005-11-21 03:13:35   Lack of trader joe's or target? Lack of economic freedom? What does economic freedom mean, exactly? the ability of the wealthy to push their weight around willy-nilly, the inability of corporations to have unimpeded access? What shortsighted, dangerous consumerism! It's time to start thinking of true values, people—like social well-being, liberty, sustainability—and not false desires, like purchasing power or the irrational yearning for worthless commodities. True values are independent of naive identity complexes, like "hippy," "investor class," "yuppy," etc. I have my qualms with Davis, too, but they have more to do with the even incipience, materialism, and mediocrity of the student population (and people who complain about not having direct access to baubles). —ZN

2005-11-21 07:23:53   You're right, I've been blind my whole life. I plan to give all my worthless commodities and useless baubles away now and focus on true values. —ES

2005-11-21 07:51:45   Good, Edwin. Accept Zachary's views. I mean, having views imposed on you and limitations on your actions dictated by others is the definition of freedom, right? —JabberWokky

  • Isaiah Berlin talks a great deal of the potential paradox you're driving at, in Two Concepts of Liberty, but I doubt your sarcasm was meant to have such depth. One thing you must understand is that there are different types of freedom, some of which are at odds. As an example, consider the difference between the freedom to reap the reward of cheap pleasure from consumerism, such as the freedom to buy an iPod for its renewable entertainment value, on the one hand, and the freedom to make rational decisions, to act as a subject, not an object, to be moved by conscious purposes of your own, and "not by causes which affect [you], as it were, from the outside." It is my, and other's, belief that these freedoms, both particular in type and augmented by things more general, such as economics and education, are oftentimes at odds; in this case, one is simply a distraction, an illusion of freedom, while the other is real and practical. It is true that sometimes they overlap in positive ways, but I believe more often than not, this is not the case today. —ZN
    • Not the case today? Horrible illusions of freedom! Isn't it a bit premature to lay down this stuff and declare other peoples wants needless, worthless, illusions, what have you...before you even know what they are? Let's not go up in flames over loss of freedom and liberty and do the counter-propoganda routine. But I digress.. A 12 pack of poptarts from Target costs the same as a sixpack from Safeway. Liberty. It never tasted so fresh before. The end. -ES
      • No, it's not premature. My line of argument and the reality it corresponds to have been around a long while. Fromm wrote a whole book on the subject, To Have or to Be, many years ago, and he's but a modern example of a tradition that spans intellectual history (earliest I've found is in BCE Chinese philosophy). Another thing you should know: I'm not anti-capitalist, I'm anti-irrational-consumerist, which is a distinction you appear not to make. As for your other comments, I'm not sure what they mean, but I'm sure they're self-gratifying. — ZN
        • How is it not premature if all that was named was the name of the store? You automatically are assuming it will fall under 'irrational-consumerist', which seems a bit unfair.
          • I have mentioned much more than the names of stores. I have offered propositions in support of a particular stance, and yet you have only offered sloppy assertions and guesses as to what I'm thinking. Perhaps you should put a bit more care into your responses, since this exchange went nowhere fast as soon as you got into it. There is no automatic assumption underlying the charge that the desire to have a local Target and Trader Joe's is petty and consumerist in origin. All that these stores offer is already available, locally, and saying "but things are cheaper at Target" does not ipso facto justify their promotion. I can buy items from Wal-Mart at lower prices than at the Farmer's Market, but does that ultimately save me money, and is money the sole variable to factor into the freedom equation? If you read a bit more on economics, I believe you would be surprised with the answers to these questions. Check out the work of Amartya Sen, for example. — ZN
            • I had a long, actually serious, response but nevermind. The only reference to prices at Target was the poptart joke, no one else said anything about prices, nor what they want to buy, which is why I said you were a bit premature in your judgements. All that the other people did was name the store before you (my first impression) denounced it and mentioned worthless baubles and irrational consumerism and so on. Again, I said it was premature because absolutely nothing was said about any goods or prices by anyone else. And I'd say it's not true that everything in those stores are available locally, though that argument is on a different page and probably dated. But I'd appreciate it if someone could please direct me to where I can buy some car stereo equipment in Davis. -ES

2005-11-21 08:09:14   Actually, I think he referred to it as "liberty". —RoyWright

2005-11-21 15:59:08   I don't like the name of this page. There are a few things that I do not like about Davis, but that doesn't make me hate Davis. —JanelleAlvstadMattson

2005-11-21 16:31:52   Can we add traffic circles to this list? They are not stop signs! —MyaBrn

2005-11-22 20:57:33   I think one has to reconsider the anti-consumerism response when it (inadvertently?) seems to defend those who drive long distances to shop at those stores. (See above.) —JaimeRaba

  • Perhaps—but what is gained from driving long distance to those stores, exactly? That's not a rhetorical question. I'd really like to know. — ZN

2005-11-22 23:51:57   I actually love Davis, but one thing I dislike about it is the privileged yuppie attitude that seems to be the starting point of any discussion of city policy. Despite the town's reputation for being "liberal" there seems to be a widespread NIMBY attitude towards poor people and more generally anything that doesn't jive well with suburban white culture. I actually once heard brought up as a negative about something (I forget what it was) the possibility that it would cause an influx of lower-income residents. Just imagine to yourself how any randomly-selected Davis homeowner would feel at the prospect of a black family making $20k/yr. moving in next door to them. —KenjiYamada

2005-12-13 20:08:15   What I hate about Davis is all the people in Davis who don't realize how good they've got it and whine about not having "authentic" food, wish for chain mega-stores like Target or Walmart, and blame their own inept driving skills on city planners. Yup yup. —SummerSong

This debate is boring. No originality. I'm gonna put a spin on things though. I say up with "The Man" and down with the rest of us. And also stop comparing our wants and needs to those of a third world country. You're comparing apples to oranges. Don't get your undies in a bunch — I recognize we're all people and we deserve access to the bare essentials. But to compare a thriving economy to anything other than is reckless and quite frankly pretty arrogant. Instead of perpectuating the problem of too much talk and no action...do something about it. Donate your money. Don't have money? Drop out of college and join the peace corps. Actually it's pretty difficult to get accepted to the Peace Corps without at least a bachelor's degree. - KenjiYamada Can't afford to do that? Stop buying corporate items...clothes...shoes...books...cars...houses and make sure to buy organic. Afterall, supply and demand are what dictate the success of these corporations, right? Too much talk people... And please...stop the wishlist of "green" technology. If it's economically feasible, we'll soon attain a desired position. The idea is presented, and those with the courage enough to take on the challenge will do so. No more solar panels, no more synthetic wood houses, etc. Besides the technology presented, including the hydrogen concept car and similars, will pollute more than what we're working with today at the present moment. It's no mystery where we're headed. Holster those tired arguements and concentrate on something of consequence. And one last thing — stop hating on hippies. Of all people, they are the least threatening. They love peace, smiling, dancing, rainbows, advocate against the concept of war, and can often be too stoned to do anything of consequence which will affect the rest of us — who can disagree with that? So I say, throw a peace sign in a hippies direction. Ahh—no more for tonight. I have to get some rest...tomorrow I worship "The Man"...

  • This is so original. —ZN

2006-01-08 20:32:53   As a long-time (30 years) East Bay resident, my biggest gripe is the general rudeness of random strangers. In the East Bay, drivers know and obey the rules of rightaway. In Davis, they ignore them. Most Davis driver seem to feel that they have the God given right to proceed through an intersection solely because they have waited 5 seconds. College kids walking downtown are likewise rude. —GrumpyoldGeek

  • Whoa I've grown up in the Easy Bay and haha Bay Area drivers, hahaha follow the rules of the road? you MUST be kidding —JR
    • Right. How old are you JoAnna? 20 or so? Got many accurate memories of actually driving in the east bay? I lived there for almost 30 years of my *adult* life. I commuted on a motorcycle for 2 years. Davis drivers *are* more rude. Either that or they simply can't understand the rules of the road. —GrumpyoldGeek
      • Just because you're older doesn't mean you're right. Keep that in mind. Also, if JoAnna has lived more recently in an area and it's changed, then she has a more updated view of the area that she is describing despite you living in the same area, just a different era/time.
  • I actually find that many drivers are TOO considerate, which slows things down at stop signs because everyone's too timid to go. — GiladGurantz

2006-02-28 22:32:47   Isn't there anyone who just really hates Davis? Everyone seems to be interested in picking out single items to hate. Can't there be a generalized hate? —MeghanSkaer

2006-03-01 10:40:40   Well, hatred without specific reasons is pretty silly. Sometimes, though, I feel like I hate enough things about Davis to say that I hate the whole town. Not today, though. —RoyWright

2006-03-06 00:25:03   Davis is a great place! I love it! Screw you all! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! —BarnabasTruman

2006-09-28 22:02:42   You know, I have to agree with a lot of stuff on here. Parking enforcement at all colleges is B.S. The enterprise is like a text version of an abortion(but check the winters paper, damn). Davis police are so bad I do believed they are being sued. Finally, the traffic planning the past years has been nuts. They put up speed bumps and dividers with flowers in them all over the place. It looks horrible. —SteveBlais

2006-10-03 11:05:19   These inexperienced cyclists having their saddles too low and riding in a ridiculously low gear are indeed painful to watch. But at least they *are* cycling. —JoFeuerstein

2007-05-24 11:31:57   I wish Davis would stop priding itself on being a quintessential liberal, social justice town. Just admit it. Davis (at its present state) is a wanna be social-justice community with a right-wing agenda. Davis is conservative and something must be done about the covert racism that exists here. In addition, what's really going on behind all of those smiles? Get real Davis! The only logical way to remedy covert racism in Davis is to confront it head on. Brushing it under a rug and smiling all of the time does not fix the problem...get active! Then once we get active to remedy the covert racism that exists here, then Davis can pride itself on being a social-progressive community, but until that day comes it's just a place to get educated. I do not hate Davis, I want to help Davis be a better place for everyone of all races, nationalities and cultures. However, if I see a dangerous, fermenting element in any town I live in, I will motivate myself and encourage others to critically think how we can fix matters, hatred only clouds ones perception to remedial steps to rectify matters—cnealucd

2007-06-20 08:53:42   So many reasons to hate Davis but I work on campus so I put up with it. I hate the severe lack of affordable housing for the people who actually work here. I hate the landlord community here as they really rake everyone over the coals, students and staff alike. And I really hate rich parents who come here and buy their baby freshman a house to live in while they are in school and then inflate the sale price to cover 4 yrs of tuition. Most people I know on campus are retiring and leaving Davis or trying to relocate to a different univ (NC is the top of the wish list it seems). If Duke or UNC offered me even a secretarial job, I'd have my car packed tomorrow so I can't say I blame them. —Renngrrl

  • My observation is that retiring university people often move to another small university town. At the church we go to there are a number of retired university people from all over the country, who moved here to get out of the town they were in, but still live in a small university town. — rocksanddirt
  • Demand inflates housing prices; not the "rich parents of undergrads". It's a rational decision of those parents to for 4 years pay into the equity of a house rather than have that money simply go to rent. —JimEvans

2007-08-23 11:35:40   While it is a bit ridiculous that the City of Davis refuses to have any large commercial business like a Target or Walmart, such stores are easily accessible through yolo bus. Why is it bad that Davis wants to retain their 'close-knit community' feel? The cost of living is high, but it's like that around any UC campus.

Foot traffic is annoying, but you need to yield to pedestrians anyway...and why is obeying the speed limit so bad?? I'm a davis driver and I take offense to those claims of annoyance.

One thing I dont like is how people from Davis come to Woodland, where I work, and then complain to us about OUR stores, which they don't have in Davis because they choose to, and then yell at the innocent employees because they had to drive all the way from Davis and we didn't have what they were looking for. sheesh give me a break. —ArianeMetz

2007-09-30 19:56:58   The part about the hot goes with the campus section. You can bike somewhere, but in 90 degree weather. I know its a lot worse in other places, but still I don't even THINK about walking more than a couple blocks when its hot out. —omnipotentdude

2007-10-10 21:33:00   Why didn't anyone mention it? Cell phones don't work in Davis (esp, in campus) !! —JanetAu

I would guess because most work fine throughout Davis. I have never had a problem with my phone in Davis and it is over 4 years old now. To be fair I don't get reception in the basement of Lower Freeborn but I am pretty sure it would take a super powered gps phone to penetrate that bunker regardless of city.—craigfergus

2007-11-12 18:24:30   mmm I agree, I have T-Mobile and I have a hell of a time getting reception anywhere near the M.U...

or within the shadow of any lecture hall. —ArianeMetz

Davis has limits on how tall buildings and antennae can be... Also on how high cell repeaters can be as well. Thus the signal doesn't blanket as well as it does when it's up higher. Cell technicians have a fancy term for it Daubert

2008-02-28 20:54:29   Um, if you hate Davis then why live here? Many of these comments indicate that this town is not suitable for most of you. Move to Woodland then.... —Dr.Lindsay

I agree, don't live in Davis if you hate it that much, but why send them to Woodland?? We don't want Davis-haters either...it's slowly but surely becoming Davis-ized.—AmLin

  • Why do we live here? Because our significant other goes to school/does research here, or some other reason that has nothing to do with us wanting to live here, of course. Don't worry, I'll be leaving ASAP. —KellyM

2009-04-12 09:27:55   I would love to have a target or something within the city. A lot of freshman that live in the dorms are limited to buying things straight from campus or something like Rite-Aid. All of these locations are expensive and they over charge. If there was a good all-purpose shopping center in the heart of the city, that would be so much for convenient. Especially for students that cannot drive or do not have cars. —ThUn

2010-10-14 11:08:08   Davis sucks. One of the worst places I've ever lived. It's full of snobby, rude, inconsiderate, elitist people who have no connection to the real world. Only in Davis would people be dumb enough to actually spend money on a toad tunnel that doesn't even work. Or dim street lights so people can see the stars. Or talk about banning fires in fireplaces because of people with asthma. Only in Davis.... This town is full of the kind of people who are yapping on their cell phones as they get rung up in the grocery market then complain about the customer service. Or the kind of people who stop in their cars, get out and proceed to yell at someone for not picking up their dog's crap. It's full of stuck up liberals who think because they have a college degree that they can treat anyone who doesn't as scum. You know what I hate most about Davis, though? It has it's own effing wiki. As if this town and what goes on in it is soooo important that it needs a wiki to properly explain everything. Except that most of the people who use this site are long time Davisites who merely use it as a way of congratulating each other on their incredibly lame town or to whine about the poor customer service they got at so-and-so store. Bottom line, Davis, especially the people in it, sucks. —RooseBolton

Yeesh, I know what you mean! It gets even worse, though. Did you know that there are people who use the wiki to whine about people using the wiki to whine about things? —TomGarberson

2012-07-05 13:12:15   If you hate Davis so much you don't have to stay. Pretty simple really. —JJasonGraff

2013-04-03 14:07:59   I hate the students who graduate from davis. they are real dickheads. screw you UC davis graduates. —jasonj

  • Pretty harsh generalization. I'll refer you to the statement directly above your post. —PeteB

2013-09-13 23:45:20   Second the idiot liberal motion —steventaste

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