Category Archives: Local elections

LETTER SERIES: Beverly Edmonds – Follow the money; Steve Young keeps it local

[Editor: Benicians are expressing themselves in letters to the editor of our local print newspaper, the Benicia Herald. But the Herald doesn’t publish letters in its online editions – and many Benician’s don’t subscribe. We are posting certain letters here for wider distribution. (This letter also appeared in the Vallejo Times-Herald print edition on November 6.)  – RS]

Follow the money – Steve Young keeps it local

By Beverly Edmonds
October 23, 2016
Beverly Edmonds
Beverly Edmonds

Do you think it matters, who contributes to the different candidates running for office here in Benicia? If you are like me, you want to know where the money is coming from.

You might find it interesting to know that, according to the latest official filings, while Steve Young has received almost 90 percent of his donations from local, individual Benicians, his opponents, Christina Strawbridge and Lionel Largaspaeda, have received nearly half of their contributions from unions, PACs and/or people who do not live here.

Personally, I want my councilmember representing the grassroots community, not the special interests. If you agree, vote for Steve!

Beverly Edmonds, Benicia

GRANT COOKE: Benicia’s future at stake in local election

Repost from the Benicia Herald
[Editor:  This is an incredibly important look at Benicia’s past and future: “For multiple historic and geographic reasons, the city has basically missed the Bay Area’s burgeoning prosperity. While the town’s leaders pushed back against the insanity of bringing in Bakken crude by 50-car trains, no one has yet confronted the reality that the refinery and its wealth and subsequent tax revenue has peaked.”  Cooke endorses Mayor Elizabeth Patterson and Steve Young for City Council.  – RS]

Benicia’s future at stake in local election

By Grant Cooke, November 4, 2016
Grant Cooke
Grant Cooke

In August, I wrote a column about Benicia’s future, the New Economy and why Elizabeth Patterson, Steve Young, and Tom Campbell were the best choices to led our city as mayor and councilmembers respectively.

At the time, I was disheartened by the majority of council members’ lack of political will to put a halt to Valero’s Crude-By-Rail (CBR) project. Subsequent events in September, when the council majority reconsidered that position and rejected Valero’s CBR permit, did much to rekindle my belief that American small towns offer the best in representative democracy. I tip my hat to Christina Strawbridge in particular for her forthrightness and to Mark Hughes and Alan Schwartzman for their project reassessment.

I believe that Sept. 20 council meeting marked a turning point in Benicia’s history-a small step away from the overwhelming influences that the carbon-intensive industries have had on the city for the last half century.

Such decisive moments can be scary, both in municipal as well as personal life. Make no mistake, the refinery and the carbon-intensive industries have contributed the bulk of the city’s tax revenues for decades. Biting the hand that feeds, while momentarily liberating, invariably comes with consequences.

Heavy carbon and the extraction industries, coat-tailed by speculative developers like the Republican presidential nominee, provided the great bulk of U.S. wealth from about the mid-1800s to the late 1900s, or roughly about a century and a half. This Old Economy created oligarchs like the infamous John D. Rockefeller and powerful empires like Standard Oil. Modern day oil oligarchs like Charles and David Koch still stalk the land, spewing anti-science and pro-carbon, environmentally destructive ideology.

These industries and the folks who are enriched by them, are the ones to blame for the multi-layers of U.S. tax and political policies that have created the chasm in American life between the wealthy and the rest, the very rich over the middle class. That so many members of the middle class feel disenfranchised, and are willing supporters of a tax-dodging billionaire for president is one of the nation’s greatest historic ironies.

However, back to Benicia. After World War II, while most of the nation’s economic engine was relying on the wealth of the carbon and extraction industries, California and the Bay Area were discovering technology and the beginnings of the digital renaissance. Scientists from the declining defense industries mixed with the wizards from UC Berkeley and Stanford University. Sprinkling a few geniuses from the area’s national laboratories into this mix created the most extraordinary cornucopia of science and technological advances since Galileo and Da Vinci.

Now in early 21st century, the Green Industrial Revolution with all its digital age splendors and cutting edge science has taken a hold on the U.S. economy, dislodging the old extraction wealth with the new knowledge-based economy. Except for the Republican presidential nominee, many of the rapacious real estate developers have retired or were crushed by the interest-only, credit-swap craziness of the 2008 Great Recession. McMansions with dual HVAC systems have given way to Zero Net Energy housing and solar panels. Even Texas has become a major supplier of renewable energy-and Valero too, is invested in wind and cellulosic ethanol – something I never thought to see.

So where does that leave Benicia, the little Bay Area town that is heavily dependent on Valero and the carbon-intensive industries for tax revenues? For multiple historic and geographic reasons, the city has basically missed the Bay Area’s burgeoning prosperity. While the town’s leaders pushed back against the insanity of bringing in Bakken crude by 50-car trains, no one has yet confronted the reality that the refinery and its wealth and subsequent tax revenue has peaked.

Future city budgets face a hard slog. Safety personnel are jockeying for substantial raises, city employees want raises also, PERS retirement liabilities increase, and service costs continue to go up. At the same time, the residential population ages, capping incomes and reducing their willingness to support new taxes.

Time is ticking on the city’s economic model, and what to do about it is the pressing question. Benicia badly needs to reexamine its tax revenue and business development models. Serious thought and deep consideration need to apply, unvarnished assessments need to happen, and intelligent far-reaching planning needs to take place.

The last is probably the most important. How does a city plan to replace a declining carbon-intensive revenue stream? How can Benicia join the rest of the Bay Area’s Green Industrial Revolution and share in its prosperity? If the city fails to attend these issues, the eventual results will be regionalism and the city gives up its independence and self-determination.

I respect our current councilmembers. They all seem decent, honest and pleasant. Goodness knows I thank them for the time and work they have done on our behalf, and I wish them well in their endeavors. It’s just clear to me that some currently on the council lack the foresight and clarity of vision that Benicia so desperately requires to transition to a new future.

On the other hand, Elizabeth Patterson and Steve Young have extensive experience in planning and meeting transitional challenges. Further, they have an understanding of current realities, and a vision that encompasses a new economic model. Benicia’s future will be marginalized if it doesn’t join the rest of the Bay Area in the new knowledge-based economy, and we need leaders who can move us toward it. That is why I’m voting to re-elect Elizabeth Patterson for mayor, and elect Steve Young for City Council.

Grant Cooke is a long-time Benicia resident, CEO of Sustainable Energy Associates, and principal of DewH20. He is also an author and has written several books about the Green Industrial Revolution.

LETTER SERIES: Steve Young – Context on my endorsements

[Editor: Benicians are expressing themselves in letters to the editor of our local print newspaper, the Benicia Herald. But the Herald doesn’t publish letters in its online editions – and many Benician’s don’t subscribe. We are posting certain letters here for wider distribution.  (Note that the Benicia Herald editor inserted his own comments midway through Mr. Young’s letter – a rather unorthodox practice.  The version below is the original letter as it appeared on Oct. 28 on Facebook: Steve Young For City Council.  I am printing the Benicia Herald editor’s comments at the conclusion of Mr. Young’s letter.)  – RS]

Context on my endorsements

By Steve Young
November 4, 2016

https://www.facebook.com/SteveYoungforCityCouncil/

It has been said repeatedly in letters to the Editor that I sought out endorsements from Labor and that is mostly true. But some context is needed to understand the background of these endorsements. What is not true is that I was interviewed by either the Police or Fire unions.

As a supporter of labor unions my whole life, and the son of a teachers union President, I did hope to secure an endorsement from labor, which here is represented by the Napa/Solano Labor Council. I had been warned, however, that securing such an endorsement was unlikely. Having never run for office before, I was unclear as to why that would be the case.

I, along with the other candidates, had interviewed with representatives of the Napa/Solano Central Labor Council several months ago. After my interview, I was approached by two representatives of the Benicia Police Officers Association (POA), who said they were impressed by my honesty and directness, and asked if I would be interested in the endorsement of the POA. I answered that I would be interested, and that we should talk more. When I called the POA representative the following week to set up a meeting as they suggested, I was surprised to be told that they had talked with their political consultant and that, since they were told I was supporting Mayor Patterson, they could not consider me for an endorsement.

Putting aside the question of why a 27 member union in a small town like Benicia feels the need to have a political consultant, no other explanation was given for why my support for Mayor Patterson was a disqualifying factor. Perhaps it is because she has consistently supported a policy of “all for one, and one for all” in regards to labor negotiations. This approach means all bargaining groups in the City should be offered the same salary and benefit increases, and that city employees should not be pitted against each other. It is my understanding that the entire Council also supported this approach in past negotiations. It will be interesting to see if the new Council will uphold this, as negotiations on a new contract with the POA is now beginning.

I should stress that NO candidate interviews were ever held with the POA or the Firefighters union. These unions evidently did not need to talk to any of the candidates before making their endorsements and deciding to heavily invest in the outcome of this election.

A similar thing happened with the Benicia Teachers Association. After what seemed like a very positive interview with their group, the President of the union called me and said that, after consulting with the head of the Napa Solano Labor Council, they felt the need to endorse the same candidate slate as the rest of the unions. I wonder if the membership of these unions were ever contacted about these endorsements or expenditures.

On the other hand, all four of the Democrats running for City Council (Strawbridge, Campbell, Oakes and myself) DID interview for the endorsement of the California/Solano Democratic Party. (Since he is a Republican, Lionel Largaspaeda understandably did not seek this endorsement). I am proud to say that I was the only one of the four remaining Council candidates to receive the party’s endorsement, even though there are two seats being contested. None of the other candidates received the necessary 50% plus one vote. Mayor Patterson also received the endorsement of the Democratic party- which was a mere formality given that her opponent Mark Hughes is a Republican.

It used to be that labor unions were reliable supporters of Democrats. That evidently is no longer the case in regards to labor unions in Benicia, as they endorsed the only two Republicans running, along with Councilwoman Strawbridge.

It remains to be seen if the unions’ investment in our election will pay dividends.


Benicia Herald editor Nick Sestanovich added the following comments in the body of Mr. Young’s letter.

“The police and fire unions have said that the Napa Solano Central Labor Council interviews were conducted on behalf of all the unions, and representatives from the police and fire unions were present during the interviewing process.”

“BTA President Carleen Maselli has claimed that although some input from the CLC was taken into consideration, the decision was based more on who they felt would best support labor and teachers.”

LETTER SERIES: Marilyn Bardet – Vote for Elizabeth and Steve!

[Editor: Benicians are expressing themselves in letters to the editor of our local print newspaper, the Benicia Herald. But the Herald doesn’t publish letters in its online editions – and many Benician’s don’t subscribe. We are posting certain letters here for wider distribution. – RS]

Vote for Elizabeth and Steve!

By Marilyn Bardet
November 3, 2016
Marilyn Bardet
Marilyn Bardet

If you haven’t already voted, I hope you’ll join me on Oct. 8th to help re-elect Elizabeth Patterson for mayor.

I’m especially appreciative of Elizabeth’s ethical, open approach to governance and her tireless efforts to champion the Benicia General Plan’s forward-looking vision for community sustainability.

I know that Elizabeth is motivated to serve from a deeply rooted, life-long conviction that’s been proven true: that acting on what’s possible to do, each one of us can make a difference to create a more livable, thriving, healthy community and environment. Proof: the public’s eager participation in creating the Climate Action Plan adopted under her mayorship.

As mayor, Elizabeth has squarely faced development proposals. Discussing the Crude-by-Rail Project and those formerly posed by Seeno, she has reminded us how such challenges illumine, by contrast, our shared values for sustainability and the interconnectedness of economic, social and environmental goals that must play into any responsible development decision.

Concerned about climate change, Elizabeth will continue to ensure that the General Plan’s goals and policies and the recommendations of our Climate Action Plan – each expressive of community ideals and values – will guide planning to help us adapt and reduce our carbon footprint.

Regarding Elizabeth’s lasting contributions to our city, I can say that I know Elizabeth’s leadership style very well. In 1995, Elizabeth was tasked as a professional planner to guide and facilitate meetings of a 17-member council-appointed “General Plan Oversight Committee” (GPOC), on which I served, to draft from scratch a brand new general plan, the one we have today. For over three years under her direction, following a consensus approach for arriving at agreement, the committee carved and poured over details, line by line, for accurate wording. Tiring as it could be, every decision involved a wide spectrum of community and business interests and very often competing opinions that had to be reckoned.

By Elizabeth’s able guidance – through serious, often contentious give-and-take collaboration – GPOC successfully produced a praiseworthy document, adopted in 1999, as our city’s living constitution. (Really? a refinery town with sustainability as its planning goal? Astonishing at that time!) It was Elizabeth’s calm, fair and objective approach that created trust and brought a very diverse group together, so that by the end each of us had “skin in the game” and could have reason and pride to be invested in the plan’s highest aims.

From those early days, Elizabeth has kept our faith that open, collaborative engagement by government with the public is not only possible, but remains the healthiest way to enact democracy for the betterment of all.

In a time of shrinking resources, Elizabeth doesn’t waffle in her sense of moral responsibility. Whether advocating for safe, attractive streets with bike lanes, or for a green, clean-tech development of the Seeno property to diversify our local economy, she doesn’t sit back, but expresses enthusiasm for such initiatives, bringing the latest research and evidence to bear on decision-making.

It’s very rare to have the kind of leadership Elizabeth provides. After over 20 years in reviewing controversial development proposals and environmental cleanups, I know what that privilege is worth. Whenever we devolve into pettiness, I believe we must keep Elizabeth’s inspiration for contributing to the public good. For all these reasons, I hope you’ll join me in my support of her re-election.

In concluding, I’m also casting my vote for Steve Young for council. As a planning commissioner, Steve has clearly demonstrated his commitment to principled development in his questioning of crude-by-rail. From his years of professional experience with city governments, he will lend new energy and insight to council with a fresh voice.

Here’s to the next four years with high hopes for Benicia! Please vote for Elizabeth and Steve!