Valero contracted with Oakland-based real estate development firm Signature Development Group to create plans for the 900 acres it owns, including its now-idled refinery and surrounding land. Signature submitted preliminary plans to the City of Benicia on Friday. Read Signature’s overview here.
Reposted with permission, The Benicia Bridge Excellent reporting from Benicia’s newest award-winning journalism duo, Monica Vaughan and Laura López González. – Roger Straw Learn more and subscribe to the newsletter here.
I keep a playlist of positive songs that lift me up when my state of mind or the state of the world has me down. The artists range from Jimmy Cliff to the Beatles to Pink to LeAnn Rimes to will.i.am to Sting. Many playlist items are Springsteen songs (“Land of Hope and Dreams,” “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day,” “The Rising”) or Tim McGraw tunes (“Hold On to It,” “Humble and Kind,” “Live Like You Were Dying”).
Lately, partly with Benicia in mind, I’ve played country star Chris Stapleton’s “Starting Over” a lot. More on that that song a minute.
When my wife and I moved to Benicia in 2019, our impetus to start over was the potential fires threatening our Oakland hills home. Decimated by the hills’ deadly 1991 firestorm, the area had rebuilt and regenerated since our moving there in 2001. We were reluctant to leave our sweet life in Oakland, but the danger and disruptions remained: our almost evacuating twice in the middle of the night; frequent PG&E power cuts; many neighbors’ insurance policies canceled; highly flammable eucalyptus and pine groves; narrow streets making evacuation problematic; our worrying about what each fire season might bring.
So, after almost twenty terrific years there, on a lark we began looking for a new home in beautiful Benicia. We never looked back.
Did we get it right in assessing the Oakland fire threat so seriously? For the sake of everyone still in those hills – and in view of rising real estate values and fire mitigation efforts there – I actually hope we were wrong. But even if the move to Benicia was in that sense a mistake, it was the best mistake we ever made.
Our Fellow Benicians Starting Over…
Other folks have moved here in recent years for a range of reasons: job changes; launching a new business; post-Covid opportunities to work from home: living near family members; changed financial circumstances. Some native Benicians have moved back after years away. Many newcomers have come from other spots in the Bay Area. I’ve also met residents originally from New York, Kentucky, Canada and other distant locales.
We all know examples of great additions to the community; on our little block alone, we have three newish, youngish households, including a couple of kids. Two other folks who come to mind are Kenneth and Kevin, who a few years ago started Baxters on First Street. My wife and I ate there recently. We loved every aspect of the experience: a small but roomy dining room, appealing ambiance, a great Old Fashioned drink, delicious Brussels sprouts, a smashing smash burger, succulent scallops and one of the best and cheesiest French onion soups I’ve ever had.*
In addition to replacing a troubled previous establishment with a charming one, what the two have done is add new dimensions to Benicia’s business and community scenes. They’re but one valuable example of new arrivals contributing to our ever-evolving town.
Even if you were born and bred in Benicia, you’ve quite possibly also started over here in some ways. To start with, congratulations to the young families welcoming new arrivals. In a more somber vein, loved ones moving out or passing on can be a seismic shift. Or, if you’ve taken in a rescue dog, a stray cat or any new pet – and bless you for doing so! – that new family member adds new dimensions to your life.
Benicia Starting Over…
Much more broadly, even as life goes on in Benicia, in a sense our town is starting over in the wake of the Valero refinery closing. I won’t relitigate that contentious issue here today; I’ll instead focus on moving forward.
That involves considering the hard work that the city’s elected and appointed officials are doing to close our budget gap, including accessing the tens of millions of dollars of Bay Area Air District funds flowing from Valero fines. It also features various proposals to build a stable, brighter, cleaner future. You can access those ideas in several ways, including by signing up at the city’s website for City Manager Mario Giuliani’s weekly newsletter, reading it here in the Herald and attending or zooming in on City Council meetings.
Also, as lifelong Benician Giuliani has often said, let’s “Believe in Benicia.”
Which brings me back to Chris Stapleton. “Starting Over” is about a couple moving to a new life (as the lyrics go, “out on the coast”…maybe even Benicia?) But it applies to lots of us in our own ways and to Benicia as a whole…
This might not be an easy time
There’s rivers to cross and hills to climb
Some days we might fall apart
And some nights might feel cold and dark
But nobody wins, afraid of losing
And the hard roads are the ones worth choosing
Someday we’ll look back and smile
And know it was worth every mile…
I can be your lucky penny
You can be my four-leaf clover
Starting over
The song’s call to overcome obstacles amply applies to our wonderful town, this place where we’re so lucky to live. Benicia has a lot going for it, not least Benicians believing in ourselves. We’re in good shape to seize the opportunities that come with starting over.
[*Note: Starting later this month, Baxters’ hours expand to include lunch on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It will thus be open Wednesday through Sunday from late morning to mid-evening, except for a 3-4 pm break. Please check the restaurant’s website and OpenTable for reservations and precise hours.]
BenIndy Editor: Dear friends – As you are no doubt aware, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida are enacting blatantly racist and illegal laws. They are not only rewriting maps. They’re rewriting history. Or rather re-rewriting history. It’s a re-do of the blatant backsliding after the multi-racial reforms that followed our Civil War. This is NOT just a Southern problem. The South is OUR South, and historic racism in the US is OUR legacy, OURS to reform once again. I received the following invitation to all who are like me, a black-lives-matter white person, engaged in the struggle and threatened with burnout. Consider tuning in on Wednesday, May 20. Sign up here (or below). – Roger Straw
The email: White people and not giving up– a SURJ mass call
It’s rough out there. The onslaught of political bad news, senseless violence, misogyny, and racism is enough to make even the most seasoned organizers want to throw up their hands. These are the exact times– when we’re tired and feeling hopeless– that we can get curious and be intentional about how we sustain ourselves in this work.
On the other side of guilt, shame or feeling like we need to make martyrs of ourselves is a joyful, steady commitment. We’re working to get there together.
See you Wednesday–
SURJ
Showing Up for Racial Justice
2870 Peachtree Rd NW
Suite 915-2117
Atlanta, GA 30305
Another Great Benicia Story – Tyler Street Collective
By Sheri Leigh, May 6, 2026
Tyler Street Collective – Quinn Bert, Elias Zuniga, Joe Farrell, and Oliver Vazquez
Remember the Tyler Street Collective? In case you don’t, it is an enthusiastic group of local young men who have teamed up to produce and sell quality applesauce. Like the chefs, the apples are organic and locally sourced. The applesauce is made with great care and love, and it is a pure and healthy ambrosia. Elias Zuniga is one of the members of the Collective who created this delicious product.
Born in nearby Fairfield, Elias has been a Benicia resident for over ten years, attending Benicia Middle School and the high school. He is now 20years old and a proud graduate of Benicia High School, class of 2025. Elias is the youngest of three from a very close family. He lives with his parents, his sister and his parakeets. His older brother Gabriel, although no longer living at home, is his biggest ally and advocate. Elias likes to play video games. He is athletic. As a valued member of the high school track team for shot put and sprints, Elias and his relay team qualified for State finals when he ran anchor in a critical 4×100 meter race. He also enjoys playing basketball, swimming, and weight lifting. Elias is energetic, charismatic, and fiercely independent. He eventually wants a career working with children at an elementary or preschool. Elias also lives with Down Syndrome, which is agenetic condition caused by an extra chromosome, resulting in intellectual disability and developmental delays.
Having Down Syndrome has not stopped Elias from living his best life and making and accomplishing challenging goals. Right now, he is attending the College of Adaptive Arts (CAA) on the West Valley College Campus in Saratoga. He is taking guitar, Hip Hop dance, and coding. Elias is very social, and he makes new friends with every class he takes. He independently attends every school social event possible. And through CAA, he has found a joy in baking.
Elias met Joe Farrell, who was then a special education teacher, while in elementary school. He connected with Joe again through the high school track team, where Joe was coaching. Joe is now his independent living specialist and friend. Last summer, Joe and Elias’ friend Quinn Berg invited Elias to become a member of the Tyler Street Collective where the members learned to make applesauce with the assistance of a professional chef, Matt Beard, and the originator of the recipe, Evelyn Farrell. Elias’ enthusiastic response was, “Put me in, Coach!”
Since they began, the Collective has bottled over 400 jars of applesauce and has already sold nearly all of them to delighted customers. The Collective sampled and offered their products at Drift Coffee Shop and Fiestas Primavera, and is hoping to do something similar at the Cafe at the Inn before the end of the calendar year. The Collective is aiming to open a casual restaurant in town when they can sell their applesauce and make tasty comfort food for their customers. And The Tyler Street Collective is a recent and proud recipient of an Honoree Award for Innovation and Service to the Community from the Solano County SELPA (Special Education Local Plan Area) Community Advisory Committee. Quite an honor!
Elias is hard working, infectiously enthusiastic and natural for sales. He is the point person whenever anyone enquires about the applesauce. Using his natural charm, beautiful smile and persuasive manner, Elias never needs a script. He simply smiles and asks, “Would you like one or two (jars of applesauce)?” And when you hear that question, buy two! It’s worth it!
Since they began, the Collective has bottled over 400 jars of applesauce and has already sold nearly all of them to delighted customers. The Collective sampled and offered their products at Drift Coffee Shop and Fiestas Primavera, and is hoping to do something similar at the Cafe at the Inn before the end of the calendar year. The Collective is aiming to open a casual restaurant in town when they can sell their applesauce and make tasty comfort food for their customers. And The Tyler Street Collective is a recent and proud recipient of an Honoree Award for Innovation and Service to the Community from the Solano County SELPA (Special Education Local Plan Area) Community Advisory Committee. Quite an honor!
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