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Roy not your typical Davis candidate
By ALDRICH TAN/Democrat Correspondent

April 18, 2006

Rob Roy is not your typical Davis City Council candidate. He wears bright red rainboots with his pinstriped suit as he rides a green 10-speed bike to the eclectic local caf Delta of Venus.

Roy said he reflects a growing demographic in the Davis community. He said he is 25, the median age of a Davis citizen.

"I happen to be the John Q of Davis," he said.

Roy, a UC Davis student and manager of the local Ben & Jerry's franchise, said he stands also out as a City Council candidate because he vocally supports the opening of Target in Davis, which would cause competition for the store in Woodland.

"People in Davis are driving out of Davis and wasting valuable gas to go o Woodland's Target," he said. "Locals are spending their money in Woodland but we could keep the money here if Target opens. There is a war on Highway 113 and I have obviously chosen my side."

Roy said Target is just one of the few commercial developments that experienced criticism before coming to the city.

"Not everyone wanted Borders, Starbucks or Cost Plus to open in Davis," he said, "but the vocal opponents still ended up going to those stores after they opened. It's not the City Council's job to legislate moral consumerism."

The Target issue is important in understanding city growth, another key issue in this year's election, Roy said. Declining enrollment at local elementary schools reflect current trends.

"We need to increase Davis' population," he said. "We can't ignore growth and watch the schools crumble."

Raised in Sacramento, Roy said politics is in his blood. His mother is the director of the Arcade Creek Recreation and Park District in Sacramento. Roy's father is the president of the San Juan School District's chapter of the California School Employees Association.

After dropping out from American River College in 2000, Roy said he re-evaluated his life while managing a Ben & Jerry's ice cream store in Berkeley.

"Engineers and prestigious university people at UC Berkeley came into my store and they couldn't even order ice cream correctly," he said. "I decided to go back to college."

In 2002, Roy got accepted UC Davis, where he is finishing his degree in English. While at UC Davis, Roy also became the notorious "Party King of Davis." His partying led to various noise violations and evictions from various houses.

"I was mainly filling a void here," he said. "There were so few venues in the area and students just want to spend the weekends here, watch live music, and kick back with a couple of beers."

But Roy said he has moved on from that reputation. Last winter, Roy was elected senator of the Associated Students of UCD.

"I've learned the burden of responsibility of being an elected official," he said. "It's truly challenging to figure out the best services and actions to benefit everyone. Ultimately, I've learned how to best represent the community."

Roy said he is calling on his own experiences in Davis to help benefit the community. One of Roy's goals in City Council is to develop a venue for young adults to hold live events in the evenings.

"The Davis residents are complaining but they haven't done anything to fix the problem" he said. "They should vote for the former party king in Davis because I don't want the parties here either."

Roy said he wants to make sure that the City Council and Davis residents recognize that the students are part of the community.

"Mayor Ruth Asmundson once said that young people sometimes have better ideas than the older people," Roy said. "I'm a young person with better ideas."