…loving Benicia isn’t the same as pretending everything is fine
I just love this wee hamlet, with its aging pipes and complicated budget decisions. I really do. I love the hills. The water. The historic buildings. The art. The gardens. The neighbors who can turn a quick walk alone downtown into a spontaneous street party.
I also love Benicia enough to know that loving it isn’t the same as pretending everything is fine.
It’s not.
The closure of the Valero refinery has put some very large questions on the table. How do we pay our bills without selling off our future? What do we owe the workers whose livelihoods have depended on the refinery, and the land and water that have borne the costs of its operation? Who gets to decide what comes next, and who gets stuck living with the consequences?
These are not questions that can be answered with slick slogans, shiny yard signs, or a few reassuring words from someone who won’t have to live with the long-term impacts of what we decide today.
I really don’t trust easy answers, especially to complex questions.
But I do trust Kari Birdseye and Terry Scott.
I know them both personally. They are genuine, caring people who were showing up for Benicia long before their names appeared on ballots. And they have stamina. They have endured years of meetings, commissions, and volunteer commitments. And they keep showing up!
And they have vision as well as experience.
They care about the arts. Not as decoration, but as part of the life of this city. Terry spent years chairing Benicia’s Arts and Culture Commission, and I know Kari’s commitment to the arts personally. She supports local artists and is married to a musician. A town without artists might have a balanced budget, but it won’t have much soul.
In addition, Kari has spent years advocating for environmental protections and for the apparently controversial proposition that prosperity shouldn’t require poisoning the place you live. And Terry brings a background in business, finance, and community development.
And then there is the matter of paying for the place we love. Not particularly romantic, I know, but neither are broken water mains, deteriorating streets, or a city budget held together by optimism and bubblegum.
This November, Benicia voters will consider three measures addressing how the city raises revenue. Measure X would modernize the business license tax, exempting businesses with $100,000 or less in annual gross receipts, setting rates by business type, and establishing a separate tax on marine terminal activity. Measure Y would establish a limited city charter, allowing the property transfer tax proposed in Measure Z to take effect only if voters approve both measures. Measure Z would impose a one-time tax on certain property transfers, including commercial sales, newly constructed homes, and higher-value residential sales. Homes built before January 1, 2027, and sold for $2 million or less would be exempt, along with certain family transfers and deed-restricted affordable housing.
These measures raise questions worth asking. Who pays? How much? Where does the money go? What will it mean for the people who live and work here? We need to pay our bills, certainly. And we ought to be thoughtful about how we do it, and who carries the weight.
By local standards, I am a newbie to Benicia. I moved here ten and a half years ago. I am also an artist and an educator. I hope to be able to stay here. I hope Benicia will be a place where artists can make art, where teachers can teach, where small businesses can thrive, where families can put down roots, and where the hills and the water aren’t merely scenery for the next lucrative business venture.
In Benicia we live with the consequences of decisions made before us, and where people we will never meet will live with ours. Let’s be mindful neighbors now and even better ancestors to those who will come after us.
Carrie Rehak, Ph.D
Benicia Resident
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