Early this morning, there was a water main break near the 800 and 900 blocks of East 5th Street. St. Dominic’s School and homes in the area are currently without water (see map of affected area). St. Dominic’s is closed for the day and parents have been notified. Public Works has begun working on the repair to restore water service as soon as possible. The repair is estimated to take several hours depending on the severity of the break. We will update the community when we have more information.
Responding to a request for an update, Public Works Director Kyle Ochenduzsko shared the following:
Crews are still working on the leaking pipe. Unfortunately, I do not have an estimated time to fix. If need be, our crews are prepared and ready to be working throughout the night to restore water as soon as possible.
As someone who has personally seen Mr. Ochenduzsko and his team in action, working tirelessly to fix a water issue that impacted my own home, I have full confidence that this issue will be resolved as swiftly as humanly and safely possible.
Benicia’s Public Works Department has consistently gone above and beyond to ensure essential infrastructure and services are safe and operational for Benicia residents. They deserve our support during trying times like these.
Yesterday morning, a water main line break was detected on East 5th Street. City of Benicia Public Works crews worked around the clock to repair the line and restore water to affected residents this morning. Thank you to our dedicated crews!
Thank you, Benicia Public Works crews and staff!
A separate post announcing this update will be created and shared shortly.
Valero’s Community Advisory Panel (CAP) invites Benicia residents to learn about air monitoring and incident response at Benicia Refinery
The Valero Refinery in Benicia was one of four refineries in the SF Bay Area that did not meet air quality requirements for compliance with the Bay Area Quality Management District. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
Save the date of Tuesday, June 13, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. for a peek behind Valero’s curtain
Benicia residents have received a very special invitation from Valero’s Community Advisory Panel (CAP) to learn about how Valero’s Benicia Refinery monitors air quality and responds to incidents. Please see the image below for the full ad distributed by Valero’s Benicia-based Director of Government Affairs and Community Relations.
Marilyn Bardet, a CAP member representing the Good Neighbor Steering Committee (to name just one of her many community-facing roles), wrote the following regarding this rare opportunity:
The subject will be air monitoring and Valero’s incident reporting as per the current [memorandum of agreement] governing the City’s obligatory relation to Valero vis a vis emergency response, incident reporting, et al. […]
I urge you to attend (via Zoom or in person), especially if you are concerned about air quality in Benicia [and the] transparency and accuracy of Valero’s [monitoring and
reporting].
Of the five San Francisco Bay Area refineries, only the Martinez Refining Company has met the minimum air quality requirement for compliance with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Putting the ‘fine’ in ‘refinery’
In a recent post, Benicia Community Air Monitoring Program Board Member Kathy Kerridge said that after her trip to Valero’s Benicia refinery several months ago, she’s “not surprised” that it and the three other refineries that failed (Richmond’s Chevron and Phillips 66 and Pacheo’s Tesero) were non-compliant with Air District and EPA requirements – despite the ongoing threat of fines.
“Fines are trivial to them,” Kerridge said in the article. Indeed, oil companies like Valero have enjoyed astronomical profits these last few years as they capitalize on the worldwide energy crisis, raking in billions while customers pay more at the pumps.
Please – anyone can report Air Quality issues/events to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District: General Public Information: (415) 749-4900, or Air Quality Complaints: 1-800-334-ODOR (6367)
I’ve lived in Benicia for ten years. Until recently, I was working a demanding job as a school counselor first in Antioch and then in Petaluma, and I had little time to focus on my own community. Benicia was my haven away from the pressure of work where I could stroll downtown on a weekend or a day off, enjoying the cute shops, a glass of wine by the water, and live music.
Last July, I took the big leap and retired from the public school system. Although I am still working part time, I’m based at home, and I can now pay more attention to issues within our local community and get to know our town leaders.
It was just this year that the annual ‘La Migra Game’ that Benicia’s high school students are orchestrating hit my radar.
The title ‘La Migra’ conjures up images of immigration raids […] targeting desperate people who don’t have any resources and are trying to get into this country so that they could have a better life for themselves and their families. It conjures up xenophobia and cruelty.
I heard a vague reference to the game in passing, when one acquaintance laughingly said, “If Benicia’s biggest problem is that a kid every now and then gets dropped off at Lake Herman as part of a game, then we don’t have a problem.” I didn’t completely understand what she was referring to until I read a statement of ALERT in my email from the Benicia Independent on March 30 of this year. The article was brief, but it cited the physical and emotional dangers of the game and how it taps police resources.
ICE’s enforcement practices tear American families apart, undermine community trust in law enforcement and create racist narratives primarily targeting Latino individuals. These issues are echoed in and reinforced by the Game. | Uncredited image.
What is ‘La Migra?’
I started investigating and soon learned that the Game has been going on for decades. What I heard initially was that the junior and senior high school students of the community were tracking down younger students, primarily students of Color, kidnapping them, and releasing them in remote areas on the outskirts of town. As a counselor, as a mother, as a grandmother, and as a human being, I was sickened to learn that this was happening right under my nose.
The title ‘La Migra’ conjures up images of immigration raids on businesses harboring undocumented workers or round-ups near the Mexican border targeting desperate people who don’t have any resources and are trying to get into this country so that they could have a better life for themselves and their families. It conjures up xenophobia and cruelty.
I was starting to wonder if some of the Benicia high schoolers are engaging in their own miniature, gamified version of weeding out those who are different from themselves. If so, this is a problem – and a big one.
The pursuit and disposal of those who are different or vulnerable is hardly a new concept. As recently as 30 years ago, the police in Saskatoon, Canada were picking up individuals from the Cree tribe and dropping them off in the night in remote areas during the winter months, when the temperatures sometimes dropped as low as 10-15 degrees below zero F, leaving them to find their way back or freeze to death. I was starting to wonder if some of the Benicia high schoolers are engaging in their own miniature, gamified version of weeding out those who are different from themselves. If so, this is a problem – and a big one.
I discussed the Game recently with Mario Giuliani, our Interim City Manager. Although he does not in any way condone the Game, he initially responded to my concerns with a reference to the voluntary nature of it.
I did more research, and yes, there are some students who willingly play the role of victim, probably for the excitement and challenge to reach safety before being captured by the ‘ruthless’ upperclassmen. But I still felt uneasy.
Here are the rules of the Game, as I understand them. Those who are playing the game meet at a predetermined area and time. The self-designated targets are given a 10-minute head start, emboldened with the goal of making it across town to a “safe area” before they are captured. The younger students are on foot, while the upperclassmen, posing as ICE officers, roam Benicia in vehicles, trying to track younger students down, in order to . . . what, exactly?
The pursuers are caught up in the excitement of the chase, and anyone young and vulnerable out on that night is just another potential target. Or victim.
The rules, the danger and the victims
On the surface, the rules of the Game seem moderately innocent, with consenting targets who have a good chance at making it through the game safely. But when a target is captured, the punishment can be severe and dangerous. For just one example, I learned that one captured student was dropped in the City of San Francisco with no money and no cell phone. Others have been shot with ice pellets. In some cases, the Game has taken on a racialized aspect, with offensive slurs and abuse flying alongside the ice bullets.
Another unfortunate consequence involves the victimization of young people who are not engaged in the game, and may not even be aware of it. The upperclassmen who are in the role of pursuer do not always know which students are participating and which are not, and sometimes they are not even concerned about the difference. The pursuers are caught up in the excitement of the chase, and anyone young and vulnerable out on that night is just another potential target. Or victim.
‘La Migra’ is slang for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is the name used for this controversial game based on ICE agents deporting undocumented immigrants. This image is from a 2018 video showing footage of the Game starting.
The possible dangers of this game are endless. There’s a lack of attention to traffic and public safety on both sides. There are unwitting victims. There’s the trauma of being captured, assaulted, and/or whisked away to an unknown area alone, whether voluntarily engaged or not. There’s the natural cruelty that arises in many humans when they take on the role of predators (those of you who have read Lord of the Flies know what I mean). And so on.
I need to know more. And I would like for you to know more.
If you would like me to hear and share your perspective on the ‘La Migra Game,’ please contact me through the Benicia Independent.
Starting with this initial editorial, I will be writing and collecting a series of articles reflecting as many perspectives as I can gather and, although I am personally horrified by the Game, I will try to present each perspective as objectively and without judgment as I can.
To that end, I would like to speak with anyone with any experience with the Game, including law enforcement, anyone involved with the school district, parents, witnesses, and students who have willingly participated on either side, as well as anyone who was out in public on a Game night and affected.
We all have buy-in.
These are our children.
This is our community.
As a former school counselor, and an actively engaged mother and grandmother, equity in education and in society have always been a focus of mine. Anyone can become an agent of change towards the betterment of my community and humanity at large, and I consider myself such an agent.
I would ultimately like to see the La Migra Game disbanded forever or at least morphed into something that satisfies the need for healthy competition but is safer, more cooperative, and confidence-building in nature.
If you would like me to hear and share your perspective on the ‘La Migra Game,’ please contact me through theBenicia Independent. Remember that it is your story that is critical for others to hear, not your name, unless you would like to be identified. I promise to honor your story and perspective to the best of my ability, and to work toward a safer and more equitable Benicia.
The same sentiments cross my mind as I reflect on the results of E. Jean Carroll’s case against Donald Trump. In the legal equivalent of a New York minute – less than three hours of deliberations – a Manhattan jury held him liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Perhaps just as important: For the first time in his narcistic, bigotry-promoting, insurrection-igniting existence, Donald Trump has been held accountable.
Women and the justice system, two forces he’s spent his life thumbing his nose at (or worse, far worse) ushered in this accountability.
The $5 million fine awarded to Carroll can’t begin to compensate for the lifelong trauma Trump triggered through his sexual abuse. That trauma continued throughout the trial, as his lawyer’s brutish cross-examination featured such wince-worthy questions as asking her why she didn’t scream while being raped.
None of this is to cast Carroll as a victim. She braved the attacks. She showed what she’s made of. And without judging other women for whatever tough choices they make under such trying circumstances, she won simply by standing up to this spoiled brat of a man.
Explicitly supported by other witnesses who are women, implicitly so by countless others (as well as men) across the country and the world, Carroll withstood the waves of insults and threats from Trump and his supporters.
In fact, in the other significant trial outcome, Trump was also held accountable for the first time for his cruel barbs against women, in terms of his being found liable for defaming Carroll.
Analogously insulted, the justice system stood its ground against a man whose porcine personality reflects how accustomed he’s been to having his way with it.
Yet Again
Marcos comes to mind yet again at this moment. Just as Trump has done for decades, he manipulated the law throughout his life. This stretched back to evading a murder rap while still a law student, partly because the court considered him such a promising young man. Throughout his dictatorship, he operated under a veneer of legality, so that his defenders (not least the U.S. government) could argue that whatever he did – rampant corruption, atrocious human rights abuses – was not really his fault, or not so bad, or justified to combat a communist insurgency.
Until this week, Trump had been similarly successful in twisting the justice system to his desires. Through intimidation, delay, drowning opponents in litigation costs and many other tricks, he’d ruined lives, drained savings and scammed a variety of victims. He consistently got away with figurative murder.
True, he’d paid some prices at the margins. For instance, a court forced him to dismantle the Trump Foundation, one of his countless con jobs through which he helped himself rather than others. He was impeached twice, though never convicted. Thus, he never was brought to account in any fundamental sense.
Until now.
In addition to whining about his supposed victimization, Trump will brag that he wasn’t found liable for rape. He’ll seek to paper over the reality that sexual abuse constitutes forcible sexual contact without the victim’s consent.
So, rape or not, that reality is repugnant. Sexual Abuser is now his own scarlet letter.
Does This Make Any Difference?
As my old law school Torts professor used to ask, Is this a difference that makes a difference?
When applied to the verdict, the question makes sense for all sorts of reasons. After all…
There was the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump boasted that he could get away with grabbing women by their private parts against their will, employing (be forewarned) some very lewd language:
A month after the tape’s October 2016 release, he won the presidency, making many wonder whether he could get away with anything without paying a price. In addition…
The Republican Party’s leadership will likely continue to kowtow to him. The Republican base will probably continue to speak, see and hear no evil about its Feckless Leader. And…
A week is a short time in politics. Eighteen months until the 2024 presidential election is immeasurably longer. Other trials, scandals and events could make the Carroll case seem like a distant memory. Plus…
Those other, potentially more salient events could include the state of the economy, overseas crises, whether Joe Biden comes across as feeble or forceful on the campaign trail and matters we can’t even start to foresee.
What This Is All About
So why is this trial and verdict such a big deal? Especially if Republicans continue to rally around this flagrant abuser of women and all civilized norms?
Because it’s not about Trump’s lackeys and cultists.
It’s about us – that is, folks who value democracy over demagoguery and the rule of law over mob rule.
Seeing this scoundrel brought to some semblance of justice reminds us that he can be beaten, and not just in an election he refuses to concede. And though other issues could loom larger in next year’s presidential campaign, don’t underestimate the reality that the contest may well be won at the margins, by a relatively small swing of votes. Which in turn means that its outcome could be swayed by the lingering stink of this – say it again – proven sexual abuser.
His 2016 electoral success, despite the Access Hollywood video, may suggest otherwise. But a potential array of prosecutions of Trump could add to the weight of the Carroll verdict. And sometimes a specific, verified instance of abuse, as in Carroll’s case, can move the public – or at least the small slice that can determine even a presidential election’s outcome – more than a justified flood of trials or the Access Hollywood video’s more generalized misogyny.
Picking apart the particular is an art that Trump himself has mastered. He singles out an opponent’s alleged violation (as in the Hillary Clinton email “scandal”) such that it matters to the media and public more than his hundreds of misdeeds.
All of this brings us to Trump’s biggest trick. It’s not simply to convince his cultists of his appeal. It’s to demoralize his opponents. To cast doubt on the very viability of our institutions, our democracy, our justice system. To make us despair over the rot he’s promoted and revealed in our country.
A victory like the Carroll trial reaffirms that the rot is not irredeemable. That the rat can’t always wriggle through legal loopholes. That he can’t buy or bulldoze his way out of all accountability.
The impact of this trial, then, is not mainly about how it might affect Trump’s chances of securing the Republican nomination. It’s about what the verdict achieves against injustice, for women and for all of us battling this would-be despot’s desperate attempt to drown our democracy.
Because, for the first time, in the broadest sense of who we are…
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