Benicia City Council, Benicia Planning Commission, Crude By Rail, Local elections, Seeno property

LETTER SERIES: David Schulter – Steve Young for City Council

[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]

Steve Young – Successful In Leadership, Experience, and a Vision for the Future

By David Schulter
October 21, 2016

At the Planning Commission meetings, I saw Steve put the health and living interests of city residents and homeowners above those of the Valero oil refinery. Steve transcended normal due diligence and questioned Valero’s attempts to bypass Benicia’s local land use authority for non-rail entities — i.e. Valero.

The Defeat of Crude by Rail: Steve Young was the key Leader in the successful effort to save our City and deny Valero the Crude by Rail Permit. This was a struggle with Valero that took 3 years of diligence to defeat, and happened despite the steadfast support of City Hall for the project. Steve was able to see the long term and unintended consequences of this project on the life, health, and welfare of citizens of our City – especially our children and elderly.

A People’s Candidate: Based on the campaign finance reports on file with the City Clerk’s office Steve Young has the widest base of support when compared to the other candidates running for Benicia City Council: http://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/index.asp?SEC=88C65819-EA7E-497E-8282-90BA17A52E9C&DE=1E8D0CBB-5286-4F0B-A8B8-6DAEC2567D88&Type=B_BASIC. This base of support includes proportionally more people who live in Benicia than his rivals. Steve, unlike some other candidates, is not supported by unions with members who do not live in Benicia. Indeed he has no special interest PAC’s and money from outside of Benicia.

To date, Steve has the largest total contributions and the largest number of contributors, nearly 90 percent of whom are Benicia residents. At the same time, he has the lowest average donation of $148, compared to $531 for Strawbridge and $327 for Largaspaeda.

Steve’s Vision For Creating a Better Future In Benicia: Valero uses about 50 percent of the water in Benicia. Valero and the city need to rethink how to prepare for the future, and perhaps provide a way of reprocessing water, which is becoming our most valuable commodity.

Mr. Young is also concerned with attracting more retail and commercial industries to Benicia. He supports maintaining and upgrading our city parks and waterfront for the benefit of residents and to continue to attract visitors to the many restaurants and shops on First Street.

Having a large developer build housing on the Seeno property in Benicia’s Industrial Park would mean the need for an additional school, additional water for the 900 new houses, and other infrastructure. Steve Young questions whether this project would be “smart growth.”  See Steve’s Website for more information http://steveyoungforcitycouncil.org/.

Experience: Steve Young has over 35 years of experience in Planning, Economic & Community Development. In Sacramento he met the challenge to transform land use to people friendly and economically viable uses following the government shutdown of military facilities at Mather Air Force Base and McClellan Air Force Base.

David Schulter
Benicia Resident

 

Crude By Rail

LETTER SERIES: Susan Street – Elizabeth Patterson’s strong record as Mayor

[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]

Pro-active accomplishments of Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson

By Susan Street
October 21, 2016
Susan Street
Susan Street

At swearing in, council members raise their right hand and affirm that they will uphold their duty to protect the health and welfare of their constituents. During her years as a council member and then as mayor, that has been the first endeavor of Elizabeth Patterson.

She is constantly presenting ideas, investigating possibilities, looking for more information of ways to protect the health and welfare of you and me.

  1. After reading transcripts of the EIR, taking hours of public testimony and reviewing the Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny Valero’s Crude By Rail project, she voted against it.
  2. She has worked tirelessly for every sustainable action possible, including sponsoring the creation of the Community Sustainability Commission and retention of the Climate Action Coordinator.  When elected in 2003, she immediately got $250,000 for “traffic calming” to make our roads safer with bulb out curbs and planted medians. She got $10,000 from Kinder Morgan for our tree fund and  $285,000 for architectural drawings for our community center to be LEED certifiable (thanks to Valero/GNSC grant).  Elizabeth also pursued the $2.8 million for building our Community Center (Also from the Valero/GNSC grant). Sustainable living is core to the health and welfare of the public.
  3. Elizabeth was for protecting the citizens against the coke domes on the waterfront, chaired the General Plan Oversight Committee, fought for a significant Specific Plan that protected Benicians from tacky Seeno urban sprawl and has promoted more and safer bike lanes, traffic calming and infrastructure improvements like solar energy.

We have yet to hear from her opponent on how he will protect the health and safety of Benicians in terms of a cap on refinery emissions at Valero.  His vote on the Crude by Rail was too late in the game.  After hours of testimony, more than 700 pages of documentation, a 6-0 vote to deny by the Planning Commission, why did he need to wait for a ruling from the STB which had nothing to do with local control anyway?

He is a nice man.  He has been deliberate in his decisions as a two term council member.  That is not enough.   I believe he is not mayoral material.  What is his vision for Benicia?  I fear it is more urban sprawl and more free reign for Valero.

I want a mayor who is pro-active in protecting my health and welfare and who will stay ahead of threatening problems for Benicia.  That person is Elizabeth Patterson and I hope you will join me in keeping her as our Mayor for the next four years.

Susan Street
Benicia
Local elections, Monica Brown, Solano County Board of Supervisors

LETTER SERIES: Alexis Davenport – Monica Brown for Solano County Supervisor

[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 Monica Brown for Solano County Supervisor

By Alexis Davenport
October 20, 2016

I am voting for retired teacher Monica Brown for Supervisor, and I encourage everyone to do the same. Brown dedicated her life to her students and her community. As a teacher for 39 years, she helped to create bright futures for decades of students and families.

Brown’s commitment to serving others continues as she has promised to donate her $97,000 a year Supervisor salary to support local public schools and families. Brown will also work to eliminate longevity pay. The longer the Supervisors serve, the more money they receive. Brown believes that being elected by the voters is more than enough reward.

Brown was the first candidate for Supervisor to oppose the dangerous crude-by-rail project and is the only candidate opposing the proposed toxic cement factory in Vallejo.

Whether supporting our children, making sure our tax dollars are spent wisely or fighting for our environment, Brown is the right candidate.  Please vote for Monica Brown for Supervisor on Tuesday, Nov. 8 or earlier by mail.

Alexis Davenport
Benicia
Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Benicia Vice Mayor Steve Young, Crude By Rail, Local elections, Seeno property

LETTER SERIES: Roger Straw – Leaders for the future of Benicia

[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]

Why NOT to vote for Hughes and Largaespada, and WHY TO VOTE for Elizabeth Patterson and Steve Young

By Roger Straw
October 19, 2016
Roger Straw, Editor, The Benicia Independent
Roger Straw, Editor, The Benicia Independent

Here in Benicia, we have a seriously important choice as we vote for our next mayor.  Everyone agrees that Mark Hughes is a nice guy, and I have had cordial relations with him.  But Mark is a Republican, worked for years as an executive in a major corporation, PG&E, and has not joined with the progressive majority on a number of important Council votes.

On Seeno, for instance, Hughes voted on Aug. 7, 2007 to approve the Seeno DEIR.  On June 3, 2008 he voted to accept Seeno’s request for an extension, have a comprehensive traffic study submitted to Council, and limit the public hearing to the traffic study.  Most importantly, on October 7, 2008 Hughes voted to approve the Seeno project when the Council narrowly defeated it on a 2-3 vote.

Unlike her opponent, Elizabeth Patterson embraces climate change science, is a longtime protector of the environment, lives and promotes progressive values.  With Elizabeth as Mayor, Benicia has strengthened the arts, won awards for environmental stewardship, brought in numerous grants and weathered the great recession.  She is responsive to residents, offering open office hours and regular email communications on issues of importance to us all.  Napa and Solano County political action committees (PACs) have endorsed Mr. Hughes and are spending huge sums of money to support him.  It is not at all guaranteed that Elizabeth will win this race – it’s incredibly important that you vote.  Don’t stay home!  Vote for Mayor Elizabeth Patterson. More at ElizabethForMayor.com.

Equally important is the Benicia City Council race.  Five candidates, including two incumbents, are running for the two open seats.  All but Lionel Largaespada are on record opposing Valero Crude By Rail.  Largaespada is another PAC-backed Republican. In 2011-12, he was paid $40,833 as a campaign consultant for NO ON 29. Proposition 29 was a tobacco tax for cancer research, and narrowly lost, under heavily funded attacks by big tobacco companies, law enforcement & labor.  (Sources: California Secretary of State, Cal-Access and Ballotpedia.)  According to his Linked In page, Largaespada operated an online advertising business, Civis Media Group, “specializing in issue advocacy and voter outreach for political candidates and issue-based non-profits and trade associations.”  Largaespada is surely another very nice man, but someone who would likely take Benicia on a rather permissive developmental joy ride.  Vote for anyone but Largaespada.

So the choice comes down to the other four candidates: incumbents Tom Campbell and Christina Strawbridge, and two Planning Commission challengers, Steve Young and George Oakes.  The top two vote-getters will win a seat on Council.

I was highly impressed with Christina’s and Tom’s actions in leading a unanimous vote on Council to deny Valero Crude by Rail.  But it was Elizabeth Patterson’s steady presence as an environmental advocate and the Planning Commission’s unanimous vote that led the way.

Planning Commissioners Don Dean, George Oakes, Elizabeth Radtke, Suzanne Sprague and Susan Cohen Grossman were all admirably outspoken in opposition to Valero’s proposal. But it was Steve Young’s persistent and challenging voice on the Planning Commission that was particularly effective in making the case against oil trains, and served as a wake-up call to everyone, including current Council members.

Against the formidable pressures of Benicia City staff, the City’s paid consultants and contract attorneys, and Valero’s executives and attorney, Steve proved himself to be a fearless champion of independent thinking, a leader with an eye for detail and a public servant with an unshakable concern for the health and safety of our residents and businesses.  Perhaps most importantly, Steve’s work helped shape and preserve Benicia’s reputation as a forward-thinking community.  I will vote for Steve Young.  Please vote for Steve.  More on Steve Young at SteveYoungForCityCouncil.org.

Roger Straw
Benicia resident and editor of the Benicia Independent

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