1000 Friends Protecting Historic Benicia is sponsoring a design competition. The vision and ideas of students and community members submitted to the competition will be on view – two classes from Benicia High School are submitting nine concepts. One other entry has been submitted at press time, which was before the deadline of November 15th.
Please join us this Thursday, November 16th for a short presentation by 1000 Friends and Benicia High School entries process discussed by Mr. Kaiser. Opening night program to begin at 6pm.
WHERE: Benicia Public Library Dona Benicia Room, 150 East L Street
WHO: Anyone can come to the Library and vote for the design that you think meets the criteria derived from the adopted Conservation Plan and the Secretary of Interior Standards.
WHEN: Opening night program begins at 6pm November 16. Concepts will be on display November 16, 18 and 19th
Competition Prize – Painting of Lower Arsenal by Linda Grebmeier.
This painting was graciously donated by the artist to support the 1000 friends Design Competition and to raise awareness of the Historic Arsenal and new development that threatens the future historic status of the Jefferson Ridge.
The painting depicts the Lower Arsenal area near the waterfront looking towards Jefferson Ridge. This scene is characterized by development occurring during the WWI and WWII era.
About Linda Grebmeier Linda Grebmeier lived and worked in studio space in the Benicia Arsenal for over 20 years. Linda was raised in California, completed her MA degree at Central Washington University, studied with Cynthia Krieble and George Stillman.
Linda cites the complexity of the Benicia industrial waterfront as a challenge that inspired her painting of urban landscapes. The Arsenal, Cargo Ships and Industrial Prints series evolved from time spent in the Arsenal studio space surrounded by transport vehicles and bridges. Linda also painted a series based on the Yuba Site inspired by the famed 1850s Yuba factory in the Benicia Arsenal which is now demolished.
Students from Robert Semple Elementary School walk from Francesca Terrace Park in support of Ruby Bridges during Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day in California on Tuesday in Benicia. | Chris Riley / Times-Herald.
School system honors Ruby Bridges, the first African American child to attend whites-only school in 1960
In 1960 Ruby Bridges became the first African-American child to attend formerly Whites-only William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis. Today — 63 years later — students in Benicia are making sure nobody forgets.
Students in the Benicia High School Unified School District took part in a day to raise awareness for Bridges after learning about the civil rights activist in school during this year. For students at Robert Semple Elementary School, that meant walking from Francesca Park to the school while carrying signs and wearing T-shirts supporting Bridges.
The third annual event has grown in size every year, thanks to organizers like Kashanna Harmon-Lee, Laura Cohen, Krista Heredia and Rozalind Sinnamon.
“This is something good for Benicia and I’m really proud of the support of what everyone shown,” Harmon-Lee said. “The kids learn about Bridges’ life and these are kids that maybe didn’t know anything about Bridges previously. Each year the parents become more involved. So I’m very proud and very humble about the community effort.”
In early 1960, Bridges was one of six Black children in New Orleans to pass the test that determined whether they could go to the all-White William Frantz Elementary School. While two of the six decided to stay at their old school, Bridges went to Frantz by herself, and three other children (Gail Etienne, Leona Tate and Tessie Prevost) were transferred to the all-White McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School.
U.S. Marshals escorted Bridges to and from school. As soon as Bridges entered the school, White parents pulled their own children out, and most teachers refused to teach while a Black child was enrolled. Only one person agreed to teach Bridges — Barbara Henry, from Boston.
For over a year Henry taught her alone, “as if she were teaching a whole class.”
Students walking on Tuesday morning — along with teachers and family members — wore swag and T-shirts provided by UA Local 342. In total there were approximately 450 purple T-shirts made showing support for Bridges.
“Rich (Patten) reached out to the school and it’s been honor and privilege funding this effort,” UA Local 342 business agent Dave Herwat said. “It’s amazing to be more than just a labor union in this cause and to be an actual prescience in the community. If there is an opportunity to spread the wealth, then this is certainly the way to do it.”
Student supervision aid, Chelsea Bearce, walks with students during Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day in California on Tuesday in Benicia. | Chris Riley / Times-Herald.
One of the students wearing the swag was fourth-grader Gianna Patten, who also made a sign showing support for Bridges.
“I knew about her before this event but I like her (Bridges) because she never gave up,” Gianna said. “Even when people were yelling at her she never gave up.”
Sinnamon was also thrilled to be part of the third annual event.
“This is something I got behind three years ago and it’s grown a lot ever since,” Sinnamon said. “It celebrates diversity, it a teaching lesson to kids and adults and there is just so much forgotten and overlooked in history that we have to remember. We have to remember that it’s, ‘we the people and we still have power.’”
Benicia City Councilmember Kari Birdseye was happy to be involved with the event.
“I’m so proud of the parents that have been involved and this all started on the shoulders of a few people and it has evolved into something much bigger,” Birdseye said. “This is not just a walk. There is so much education around this. It promotes freedom, love and it is a great thing for the country and community.”
Robert Semple Principal Christina Moore said she let her teachers decide the role of how Bridges would be educated in classrooms.
“The pride I have is unmeasurable. I cannot express the gratitude and honor for being apart of something so meaningful in our community that was brought along by our parent group,” Moore said. “I love the beautiful posters, the writings about Ruby Bridges, the solidarity with all of us wearing all the shirts together. It’s all beautiful.”
Solano County Supervisors (left to right) Mitch Mashburn, John Vasquez, Monica Brown, and Erin Hannigan voted to dissolve the Historical Records Commission and have effectively eliminated the Alcohol & Drug Advisory Board (ADAB). Supervisor Wanda Williams, not pictured, voted to save the Historical Records Commission. | Aaron Rosenblatt / Daily Republic.
By Stephen Hallett, November 13, 2023
The Solano County Supervisors voted to eliminate our Historical Records Commission (HRC) . The lone dissenting vote was Supervisor Wanda Williams. Benicia’s Supervisor (Monica Brown) and Vallejo’s two Supervisors (Monica Brown and Erin Hannigan) decided the voice of the community should be silenced. This was a devastating blow to community involvement and a particularly spiteful one after community groups requested the county not eliminate this commission.
Without the HRC, there will be no community involvement in protecting our history. The county has already mismanaged our historical records and lost so many important records.
In addition to the elimination of the HRC, the Alcohol & Drug Advisory Board (ADAB) was effectively eliminated as the county refuses to process appointments to the Board. The county is suffering a serious opioid crisis that our government leaders are ignoring. Monica Brown and John Vasquez are the Supervisors behind eliminating ADAB. Without ADAB, the county staff will continue to do their best to ignore the problem.
The supervisors told the community that our voices are not important. Please contact your supervisors and tell them they made a mistake.
If you live in District 1 (the north side of Georgia St. In Vallejo and everything north of that), your supervisor is Erin Hannigan and her email is ehannigan@solanocounty.com. If you live in Benicia, Mare Island, the south side of Georgia St., or anywhere south of that in Vallejo, Monica Brown is your supervisor. She can be reached at mebrown@solanocounty.com or at 707-784-3031.
Please call and email them and let them know you want community involvement restored. Our voice matters and we must make sure it is heard.
There is a petition to reinstate the Historical Records Commission on change.org. You can sign the petition here.
Smoke from the Valero Benicia refinery during a 2017 incident. | Bay Area Air Quality Management District.Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub
By Stephen Golub, first published in the Benicia Herald on November 10, 2023
At 4 a.m. on June 21, 2019, a series of massive fires and explosions at a Philadelphia refinery sent both large amounts of toxic chemicals and huge chunks of debris into the air. One 19-ton fragment landed across the Schuylkill River, 2,000 feet away.
The cause of all this? According to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, a corroded ruptured pipe. Apparently, it had been poorly maintained.
The Philadelphia debacle is but one of many refinery and similar disasters that have occurred across the country in recent years. Many of us recall the Chevron fire in Richmond, just over a decade ago.
And just this week, a chemical plant explosion in east Texas triggered large fires, a shelter-in-place order for a five-mile radius around the facility and, even after that order was lifted, official caution “that residents should still avoid spending unnecessary time outdoors, and young children or people with respiratory illnesses and other health issues should stay inside.”
Against this backdrop, and in view of ongoing toxic pollution hazards presented by the presence of Texas-based Valero’s Benicia refinery, a proposal by Vice Mayor Terry Scott and City Council Member Kari Birdseye comes as a breath of fresh air. In a June 10 letter published in the Benicia Herald and through other outlets, the two describe reasons for Benicia adopting a new law that would make our wonderful city safer and healthier for our kids, our older adults and all of us.
Among other things, the ordinance would improve the monitoring of the refinery’s operations and the flow of information from Valero when documented or apparent emissions and violations occur. In these and other regards, it would improve on the rather toothless Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the City currently has with the giant Texas corporation. It would similarly improve on the MOU’s associated community advisory panel that rarely meets publicly, that most of us have never heard of and, most importantly, that Valero substantially controls.
Now, does Valero’s track record indicate that Benicia needs a strong ordinance rather than the weak MOU?
Consider what a top official of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) said about the fact that for well over a decade the refinery released into Benicia’s air 138 tons of toxic contaminants hundreds of times the legal limits without informing BAAQMD, the City or any of us – something we only learned of last year:
“We have a situation here where you’ve got a facility who’s [sic] taking samples of emissions from this vent to control and verify refinery processes. They’re doing that from 2003 onwards. And they knew or should have known that those emissions should have been reported. It’s that simple…”
Or consider these realities:
Despite the Memorandum of Understanding, we did not learn of other serious, longstanding Valero violations, which triggered a federal Environmental Protection Agency investigation, until the EPA announced major fines earlier this year.
Despite the MOU, Valero has committed hundreds of other violations over the past several years.
Despite the MOU, Valero did not report or adequately address the 2022 event in which approximately 200 Benicia households were impacted by an oily, airborne residue that fell onto yards, children’s play equipment, solar panels and other neighborhood facilities.
Despite the MOU, earlier this month air monitoring devices in the vicinity of the refinery detected the presence of the dangerous neurotoxin hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the air, quite possibly emanating from the facility, even as Benicians reported smelling something like rotten eggs – the odor of H2S – in several parts of town.
In addition, let’s be realistic about where the ultimate responsibility for the Benicia refinery’s safety, health and other decisions rests: at the company’s Texas headquarters. Its track record compares unfavorably even with other petrochemical corporations, as indicated by a leading Texas environmental activist’s assessment and a lawsuit filed against the corporation by the Texas Attorney General (normally an ally of the oil industry) over a Valero Texas refinery’s continuing “poor operational, maintenance and design practices.” That same refinery’s 2017 fire poured nearly a million pounds of potentially dangerous pollutants into the air, “including carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds,” according to Valero’s own estimates.
Finally, consider the fact that the Valero facility is the only refinery in the North Bay that is not governed by an industrial safety ordinance (ISO).
None of this is to criticize the hard work and efforts of our fine Fire Department, which does its best to monitor actual and potential Valero hazards under the MOU, despite financial and technical constraints. As always, we should all appreciate its service. But we need more than that.
Also, I’m sure we value the jobs, economic impact and other benefits that the company brings to the area, as well as the wonderful current and former Valero employees who are our friends and neighbors. But if Valero itself wants to be a good neighbor, it needs to cooperate with the City as we move on from the MOU, which expires in 2025. In fact, one great feature of the Scott-Birdseye proposal is that it aims for a cooperative, consultative process.
So what’s next? As per the proposal, at its December 19 meeting the Council will vote on whether to instruct city government staff to examine what the next steps are, including a possible ordinance.
To be clear: This will not be a vote on an ordinance itself; it merely authorizes careful examination of options, in cooperation with Valero, the broader business community and of course all of us.
To read the Scott-Birdseye letter or show support for this initiative, please go to https://www.bisho.org/. You could also weigh in by emailing the Council members with your thoughts. You can access their emails by going to this page at the City website.
In addition, you could attend the December 19 Council meeting, whether in person or via Zoom. The link for the latter will be shared by the City Manager (whom you also should feel free to contact about this) down the line.
This process is well worth getting involved with. The safety, health and lives we save could be our own.
There is a group of concerned citizens of Benicia who also support the adoption of a Benicia Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance (BISHO). To learn more about the effort and add your support, visit www.bisho.org.
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