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Mayor Steve Young: The Facts on Benicia’s Measures G & H

Click the image to be redirected to the Reelect Steve Young campaign website.

By Mayor Steve Young, originally published in the Benicia Herald on October 6, 2024

Over the past four years of serving as your Mayor, I’ve been immensely proud of our Council’s achievements.  We’ve made tough decisions, some of them unpopular.

However, these decisions have significantly streamlined and improved our City’s processes, finances, and safety services.

As we continue to build on the progress we’ve made, it’s crucial to address our City’s ongoing needs to ensure a thriving future for Benicia. We have proposed Measures G and H for your consideration, which are designed to enhance  Benicia’s future financial stability and infrastructure.

Together, these measures will empower Benicia to better manage its resources and address the critical needs of our community. By supporting Measures G and H, we can continue to build a stronger, more resilient Benicia for all residents.

However, I’ve become aware that there’s significant misinformation circulating about these measures. Given that, I would like to dispel some of the misleading, falsehoods and rumors surrounding them.

First, the Sept. 22 op-ed by the Committee against G and H included the following statement:

“Measure G will give City Hall the green light to increase permit fees, license taxes, parking fees, usage fees and special assessments beyond the caps.”

This is misleading:

As a General Law City we already have the power and the authority to raise fees such as parking and building permits without a vote of the people.  Switching to a Charter City would not affect this in any way.   Raising Water rates and fees for Lighting and Landscaping Districts requires a vote by ratepayers through a voting process governed by proposition 218. Our proposed Charter City Measure does nothing to change this.

Other concerns I have heard include:

 “Measure H will rob my kids of their inheritance if I pass my house on to them.”

False: The tax only applies if the property is sold.  There is not tax if the property is transferred to family members through inheritance or divorce.

“Measure H will raise taxes for renters.”

False: If an owner of a rental complex sells a property, it is possible the new owner may raise rents. But a current or future owner can already do so within the limits of California law, and it would not be due to this proposed, minimal increase to one-time closing costs.

“If the measures pass, the money will just go into the black hole of the General Fund where it will be spent on salaries for city workers who are backing the measures.”

False: Earlier this year, this City Council passed a policy stating that any surplus funds (including any from Measure H) would be placed into the capital reserve fund. To spend any funds from the capital reserve now requires a super-majority 4/5 vote.

The larger impact of Measure H is being missed. 

While residential sales only average 250-300 houses per year (and are on track to be less than 200 this year), we need to look into the future.

The Seeno property (Northern Gateway) will likely be developed in the next few years. That proposal calls for the construction of 1,100 homes. If sold at the current average Benicia single family sales price of $880,000, these transfers could generate nearly $4 million for Benicia —if tax Measures G and H were approved.

Importantly, the tax would be paid by either the developer or the home buyers, not Benicians.

There is also the possibility that Valero may, at some point, decide to sell the refinery. At its current value of around $2 billion, a sale would generate $16 million for Benicia…paid either by Valero or another oil company, not Benicians.

Additionally, the number of commercial properties listed for sale in Benicia represents another potential revenue source.

For example, the Economic Development Board reported this month that there are 18 active commercial properties in Benicia that are listed for sale which total over $30 million– taxes on those sales would be taxes paid by the commercial buyer– if tax measures G and H were approved.

At $4/6/8 dollars per $1,000 (depending on purchase price), there’s a significant amount of money that would be left on the table that Measures G and H would provide.

All the above represents real money for our future which would dwarf the amount paid by Benicians on the sale of their homes.

I understand that people don’t like paying taxes. I don’t like paying taxes either. But the City has, over the course of months and years of careful planning under City staff and our leadership, developed a comprehensive plan to address our looming infrastructure challenges. A crucial part of the plan rests on the passage of these tax Measures.

Voting against the passage of these Measures is a vote to do nothing.

It is a vote to kick the can down the road yet again, and not face our future with open eyes.

It is a vote to watch as our roads and other facilities continue to fall further into disrepair.

It is a vote for a future of higher costs and diminished quality of life for Benicia.

Please join me and the rest of City Council, labor and citizens groups and vote for Measures F, G and H.

Let’s stop kicking the can down the road.  Let’s work together to make hard decisions today that will provide for a stronger, vibrant, more fiscally sound Benicia tomorrow.

Steve Young
Mayor, City of Benicia
ReelectYoungForBenicia.com

Stephen Golub: For City Council, Back Democrat Gilpin-Hayes Over Republican Largaespada

A Breath of Fresh Air: For City Council, Back Democrat Gilpin-Hayes Over Republican Largaespada

Christina Gilpin-Hayes, Benicia City Council Candidate. | Campaign photo.
Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub, A Promised Land

By Stephen Golub, originally published in the Benicia Herald on October 7, 2024

Images added by BenIndy.

While four candidates are vying for two Benicia City Council slots this November, the key race (for reasons I’ll explain in a subsequent column) is really between Democrat Christina Gilpin-Hayes and Republican Lionel Largaespada. They’re both good, smart people, with backgrounds in business and public service. They both love Benicia.

But they differ in crucial ways, which is why Gilpin-Hayes is by far the better choice.

Energy and Perspective

Gilpin-Hayes is a breath of fresh air with creative ideas on everything from addressing the budgetary crisis that threatens our city services to better community outreach that will keep us updated about vital government deliberations and decisions.

In contrast, Largaespada is on his fourth run for City Council in eight years. The one time he won, in 2018 (before losing again in 2022), he wore the mantle of supposed fiscal responsibility – yet sat on the Council during a crucial period when our budget crisis intensified and went unaddressed.

Endorsements

Moderate Democrat Gilpin-Hayes has endorsements stretching across much of Benicia’s and Solano County’s political spectrums. They include Mayor Steve Young, Vice Mayor Terry Scott, Council Members Kari Birdseye and Tom Campbell, former Mayors Jerry Hayes and Elizabeth Patterson, Solano County Supervisors Monica Brown and Wanda Williams, Supervisor-elect Cassandra James, State Senate candidate Christopher Cabaldon and, last but not least, the Solano County Democratic Party.

To his credit, conservative Republican Largaespada has secured labor endorsements, including from our police and fire unions – though that does not mean those groups or individual members necessarily oppose Gilpin-Hayes. On the other hand, the largest though indirect backing he’s received over the years has come from Texas-based Valero Energy, through political action committees (PACs) that have spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting him and/or attacking his opponents in misleading and mean ways.

Our Budget Crisis and Credibility

Along with Mayor Young, other Council members and other leading Benicians across the political spectrum who have made courageous decisions to back steps to balance our budget, Gilpin-Hayes supports Ballot Measures F, G and H, which will help repair our decaying roads and more generally shore up the City’s finances.

She also favors revenue-enhancing initiatives that will increase Benicia’s appeal as a place to visit and spend money and to make it easier to do business here, without sacrificing our community’s charming, small-town character.

Former Benicia City Council Member Lionel Largaespada grimaces as he considers his position.
Former Benicia City Council Member Lionel Largaespada, pictured at a 2022 candidate forum in Benicia, CA. | Vallejo Sun / Scott Morris.

Largaespada agrees that Benicia needs to be more business-friendly. But he opposes the three tax-oriented measures without proposing effective alternatives for maintaining our police, fire, parks, public works and other services. Instead, he promises apparently illusory savings: e.g., from the $9 million of spending that the City currently contracts out annually. In doing so, he overlooks the fact that such contracted-out expenditures could be even more burdensome if they instead involved hiring additional City personnel, in view of City employees’ benefits, pensions and other accompanying costs. In this and other instances, he seems to juggle budget categories without providing sound solutions.

What’s more, such services are by and large for crucial public works and public safety needs, ranging from protecting our water supply to employing the license plate readers that have helped keep Benicia safe. We can’t simply cut them.

One has to wonder, again, where was fiscal conservative Largaespada when he served on the Council in 2018-22 as our current fiscal crisis overtook the City, and why his return to the Council would prove more effective this time around.

Public Safety and Health

Gilpin-Hayes takes a responsible position in backing full funding and support for Benicia’s Police and Fire Departments. She favors a strong industrial safety ordinance (ISO), while also taking account of Valero’s financial and other contributions to the community and what she feels are at least a couple of legitimate concerns it raises about a draft ISO prepared by a Council subcommittee.

Valero’s Benicia Refinery during a flaring event. | Pat Toth-Smith.

I do not trust Valero and I feel that Vice Mayor Scott and Council Member Birdseye have done a fine job in spearheading that draft, which among other things could prevent Valero from again pouring tremendous toxic emissions into our air for at least 15 years without informing us – as it finally was forced to do in 2022. But I also respect Gilpin-Hayes’ position in staking out (along with Mayor Young and Council Member Trevor Macenski) a moderate middle ground that hopefully will still yield a strong ordinance.

Contrast this with Valero’s indirect but massive and often misleading campaign backing for Largaespada over the years, and what this might portend for future industrial safety-and-health challenges. Consider too his unfounded suggestion that the proposed ISO would duplicate the work of a rather toothless Solano County agency.

I’m not questioning his integrity at all here; but I am wondering about why the Texas-based oil giant has chosen to make such a political investment in him. Maybe it has something to do with his supporting its extremely dangerous but fortunately unsuccessful crude-by-rail project several years ago or potentially aligning with the corporation on other hazardous initiatives down the line.

I’m also concerned about whether our Police and Fire Departments, which consume a large chunk of Benicia’s budget, could continue to function well despite the inevitable City cutbacks that Largaespada’s opposition to additional revenues entails. I’ll equally admit to uneasiness about his stance opposing a mask mandate back when Covid raged, as well as his apparently solicitous stance toward the Solano County public health director, whose questionable advice at the time starkly contrasted with that of most other public health authorities, including throughout the Bay Area.

Finally, let’s note Gilpin-Hayes’ dedicated, longstanding involvement with rescue services for endangered and abandoned dogs. That won’t necessarily make her a City Council star. But as a fellow dog lover, to me it marks her as someone with a big heart.

Christina Gilpin-Hayes has my vote for Benicia City Council.

[Note: I have donated to the Gilpin-Hayes campaign.]


The BenIndy has also endorsed Christina Gilpin-Hayes for City Council. Learn more about her campaign by clicking the image below and visiting her website.

  

Video – Liz Cheney & Kamala Harris appear together

October 4, 2024 – In a truly inspiring and seriously historic event yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared with former Republican U.S. Representative Liz Cheney at a rally in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party. Together, they called upon us all to vote for the presidential candidate of hope, honesty and opportunity, Kamala Harris. Cheney’s speech was incredibly good. Be sure to watch… – BenIndy

Solano County Orderly Growth Committee and Sierra Club Endorse Young, Gilpin-Hayes, and Other Local Candidates

Solano County Orderly Growth Committee and Sierra Club Endorse Local Candidates

Steve Young, Incumbent Mayoral Candidate
Christina Gilpin-Hayes, Benicia City Council Candidate

 

 

 

 

 

Submitted by Marilyn Farley and and Princess Washington for the Solano County Orderly Growth Committee and Solano Group of the Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club, on October 2, 2024

The Solano County Orderly Growth Committee (SCOGC) and the Solano Group of the Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club recently completed a joint endorsement process and are now recommending candidates for Mayor and Council positions in Solano’s Cities.

For Mayor, we endorse Steve Young, running for re-election as Mayor of Benicia and Steve Bird, running for re-election as Mayor of Dixon. We also endorse for Edwin Okamura, a sitting council member, for Mayor of Rio Vista, and Andrea Sorce, a newcomer to electoral politics, for Mayor of Vallejo.

For City Council, we endorse: Christina Gilpin-Hayes, Benicia; Mike Silva, a Vacaville incumbent from District 3; and Vallejo candidates incumbent Christina Arriola (District 6), Alexander Matias (District 1), and Tonia Lediju (District 3, no opposition).

Since 1984, SCOGC has advocated for protecting our farmlands and open spaces in Solano County. Sierra Club is one of the pre-eminent environmental groups in America and has many Solano members. Both were leaders in the fight against the California Forever aka East Solano Plan.

We support candidates who we believe will act positively to protect the environment and best represent their constituents.

Benicia Mayor Steve Young brings strong environmental credentials to his re-election bid. As a planning commissioner, he led the review of Valero’s Crude by Rail project. He opposed the California Forever project citing the deceptive tactics used and their reliance on groundwater. He supports growth in our cities, not on farmland and open space. He will continue his efforts to improve air quality in Benicia. He supports passage of Measures F, G and H to ensure Benicia’s financial well-being.

In terms of environmental issues, Dixon Mayor Steve Bird told us he will protect Dixon’s water and open space. He said he believes in keeping northeastern Solano County from blending into neighboring cities by protecting agriculture and farmland. He also supports more parks and outdoor recreation spaces within his community and region.

Rio Vista Mayor candidate Edwin Okamura became Vice Mayor earlier this year and serves on the Solano Land Trust Climate Committee. Regarding California Forever, he told us, “A new city in unincorporated areas would be economically devastating to surrounding cities and would have significant environmental impacts.”

Vallejo Mayor candidate Andrea Sorce will bring new insights and energy to Vallejo. While her key campaign issues are fiscal responsibility, public safety, economic development, housing justice and open government, we believe she will approach them through an environmental lens. For example, she opposes California Forever and told us she has a strong preference to see investment and development in our existing cities.

Benicia Council candidate Christina Gilpin-Hayes has an impressive resume, endorsements, and record of community service to bring to her campaign. It addresses Benicia’s budget crisis, growth that preserves Benicia’s character, support for local businesses and encouraging transparency and community involvement. We liked her overall philosophy and approach to avoiding sprawl and her support for Benicia’s Industrial Safety Ordinance.

Vacaville incumbent Councilmember Mike Silva deserves our continued support. His Council votes have supported clean energy, water conservation, and infill development. He told us, “I plan to provide the leadership to ensure we continue to focus on sustainable growth.” We also applaud is untiring advocacy for his low-income neighborhood and a new neighborhood park.

In Vallejo, likewise, incumbent Tina (Christinia) Arriola has done a yeowoman job of representing her low-income district 6. She opposes proposed tolls on highway 37, the commute for many of her low-income constituents. She also wants a long-term solution to the Mare Island Preserve and opposes “…dictates from the Mare Island Co. which hasn’t provided any good faith efforts to show their commitment to open space, recreation and local participation.”

Vallejo district 1 candidate Alex Matias has a long record of community service as the Chair of the Vallejo Economic Vitality Commission and is on the board of Fresh Air Vallejo. We liked his advocacy on issues important to Vallejoans, including the hiring of police officers and public safety, solving homelessness, creating jobs, and supporting transparent and inclusive government.

Last, but not least, we endorse powerhouse Tonia Lediju for district 3. A 15-year Vallejo resident, she was the City of San Francisco’s chief auditor and brought in by Mayor London Breed to clean up a failing housing authority. For the past five years, she has been the Chief Executive Officer of the S.F. Housing Authority. As a council member, she plans to focus on safety issues for Vallejoans, affordable, equitable and inclusive housing, a bustling downtown, and economic opportunity for residents. We were impressed by her commitment to sustainable development and her support for city-centered growth. Like many other endorsed candidates, she opposes the California Forever project.

Princess Washington, Chair, Solano Group, Sierra Club, Suisun City
Marilyn Farley, Political Director, SCOGC, Fairfield

Images and emphasis added by BenIndy.