Category Archives: Benicia City Council

Benicia City Council, ISO Working Group, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Energy Corporation, Valero's Community Advisory Panel (CAP)

CALL TO ACTION: February 4 is Crucial for Benicia Kids’ Health and Safety

Valero’s Benicia Refinery, located near homes, schools, and parks, has placed – and will continue to place – residents at risk during dangerous incidents or regulatory violations. Despite years of accidental spills and emissions as well as many documented violations (some egregious), Valero has maintained its historic hostility to both citizen- and City-led proposals for local oversight. | Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub.

 

By Stephen Golub, January 26, 2025

On Tuesday, February 4, we can help protect Benicia’s kids and grandkids and all the rest of us by attending the 6 pm City Council meeting, in person or via Zoom, to show support for the draft Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO) that the Council will soon vote on. The measure can reduce the risks of toxic emissions, fires and explosions at the Valero Refinery and other covered businesses. You can supplement your attendance by emailing your support to Mayor Steve Young, Vice Mayor Trevor Macenski  and Council Members Kari Birdseye, Lionel Largaespada and Terry Scott, at

Why is this so vital? Well…

Imagine you had a neighbor who had a backyard business that they repeatedly said was safe. But lo and behold, you found out that for many years the business had emitted toxic fumes dangerous to the health of your kids and grandkids and yourself.

What’s more, this was by no means the only such hazardous action by them. And some such actions also pose the risk of fire and explosions.

After all this, the neighbor sends a letter that could be seen as a threat to sue you if you seek firmer guarantees than a supposed safety-enhancing understanding you two had, which in fact had failed to ensure safety from their fumes. And folks affiliated with them reject initial attempts to discuss such guarantees. (But the neighbor does buy your kids little league uniforms as a gesture of goodwill.)

Would you feel safe? Would you want more assurance to protect the kids from toxic fumes, fires and explosions?

That’s pretty much the choice Benicia faces. On February 4, the City Council will start to consider the ISO. The measure requires that the Valero Refinery and other potentially dangerous businesses provide us with more information about their operations and accidents, information that could protect our kids and all of us from dangerous emissions and potential fires and explosions.

This should be a no-brainer. Drafted with great dedication and diligence by Council Members Birdseye and Scott as well as Fire Chief Chadwick and other personnel, the ISO gives Benicia a seat at the table in knowing what’s going on.

This in turn helps prevent dangerous events. If we’d had such a seat for the past 20 years, we might have avoided 15-plus years of Valero spewing toxic emissions hundreds of times the legal limits into our air, as well as some of the numerous other violations it committed.

The need for the ISO has increased greatly recently. With a new administration in DC backed  by fossil fuel industry interests, the federal Environmental Protection Agency will almost certainly reduce its crucial role in protecting our health and safety.

Right now, all we have with Valero is a Memorandum of Understanding that the corporation can walk away from pretty easily.

The ISO  would instead be binding on and paid for by Valero and other covered businesses.

All other refinery-hosting communities in the Bay Area have such ISOs; we’re merely seeking the same sort of prevention and protection for our health and safety.

As I’ve said before, I greatly respect our valued neighbors and friends who work or worked hard at the refinery. But Valero’s Texas headquarters calls the shots. We’re the ones who suffer if something goes wrong, not those San Antonio-based  executives.

The threat of emissions, fires and explosions may seem far away. Many LA residents had similar thoughts before firestorms raced through their communities. Unlike them, we can take a specific step – the ISO – to reduce risks.

By showing up at the February 4 meeting and emailing our City Council members, we can help preserve this wonderful town that we love.

Speaking of the Council, it’s time for these dedicated public servants to stand up together for Benicians’ health and safety.

It’s time for our City leaders to lead. 

Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Benicia City Council Member Kari Birdseye, Benicia City Council Member Trevor Macenski, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Benicia Measure F, Benicia Measure G, Benicia Measure H, Benicia Vice-Mayor Terry Scott, Benicia's Budget Crisis, Local elections, Tom Campbell

Your Vote, Our Future: Benicia City Council, Community Groups Urge YES Votes on Measures F, G and H

Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Vice Mayor Terry Scott, and City Council Members Tom Campbell, Trevor Macenski, and Kari Birdseye have endorsed YES votes on Measures F, G and H for Benicia’s future. They are joined by the Napa-Solano Central Labor Council, Solano County Democratic Party, Benicia Police Officers’ Association, Benicia Dispatchers’ Association, the Fire people, and the Solano Association of Relators. | Images from City of Benicia and organizations’ sites.

November 3, 2024

Dear Benicia Voters,

As your City Council, we are unified in supporting Measures F, G, and H, which represent a lasting investment in Benicia’s future—strengthening our roads, enhancing infrastructure, and preserving essential services that safeguard our quality of life.

These measures weren’t proposed lightly. They reflect thoughtful planning and a vision to secure a stable, vibrant Benicia for generations to come.

While new taxes can be challenging, they’re a pathway to achieving a resilient city that thrives.

The strength of this vision is reflected in the broad support we’ve received from the Benicia Police Officers Association, Benicia Dispatchers Association, Benicia Fire Association, Solano County Association of Realtors, Napa-Solano Labor Council, California Democratic Party, and many other organizations. With these measures, we’re building a legacy of excellence and reliability that our city deserves.

Let’s come together and Believe in Benicia’s bright future.

Here’s what each measure will accomplish:

Measure F –  Street Repair Sales Tax

  • A citizen-initiative 0.5% (half-cent) sales tax
  • Dedicated exclusively to street repair
  • Includes oversight by an independent citizens committee
  • Revenue cannot be used for any other purpose

Measure G – Limited Charter City Status

  • Establishes Benicia as a Limited Charter City
  • Limited and Sole purpose is to enable implementation of the Real Property Transfer Tax (Measure H).

Measure H – Real Property Transfer Tax (RPTT)

  • Applies to residential and commercial property sales
  •  Includes important exemptions:
    • Family transfers (spouse, children, parents, grandparents)
    • Property transfers into trusts
    • Mortgage refinancing
    • Creates a sustainable revenue source as Benicia grows with new housing development.
  • RPTT is a one-time tax (closing cost) only affecting sale of residential and commercial property and can be paid by either party or negotiated.

We strongly believe these Measures will significantly improve Benicia’s future.

While we encourage your support, we most appreciate your thoughtful consideration of both supporting and opposing arguments. Your engagement in this process ensures that the outcome truly reflects our community’s will.

Thank you for your participation in this crucial decision-making process.

Sincerely,

The Benicia City Council

Mayor Steve Young
Vice Mayor Terry Scott
Council Member Trevor Macenski
Council Member Kari Birdseye
Council Member Tom Campbell

Benicia City Council, Benicia elections, Christina Gilpin-Hayes, Kamala Harris, Kamala Harris for President

Gilpin-Hayes for City Council is Crucial. Harris Will Win. And How You Can Help Both

Author Stephen Golub: Christina Gilpin-Hayes and Kamala Harris are remarkable candidates representing real change and progress at both the national and local levels. (Names and images are for identification only and do not imply mutual endorsement or the support of other organizations.) | Images sourced from campaign websites.
Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub, A Promised Land

 

By Stephen Golub, November 2, 2024

Many Benicians haven’t yet voted. So some final thoughts on two impressive candidates:

Christina Gilpin-Hayes for City Council

Democrat Gilpin-Hayes is a breath of fresh air and ideas. This includes extensive community engagement, innovative outreach to Benicians, responsibly backing revenue-enhancing ballot measures so our town won’t topple off the fiscal cliff and supporting a strong industrial safety ordinance (ISO). The ISO becomes all the more vital in view of the Valero refinery’s ongoing issues, as reflected by the $82 million fine just imposed for its sixteen years of egregious toxic emissions.

Gilpin-Hayes’s long list of endorsers includes Mayor Young, Vice Mayor Scott, Council Members Birdseye and Campbell, former Mayors Hayes and Patterson, the Solano County Democratic Party and numerous County Democratic officials and candidates.

Her main competition for the slot, Republican Lionel Largaespada, shares his opponent’s community engagement. But he has tight associations with Texas-based Valero, including backing its dangerous plan to bring potentially explosive “bomb trains” through town and its political action committees’ massive backing for him in previous races. He may well oppose an ISO and otherwise accommodate the oil giant.

He was the Council Member most resistant to the potentially life-saving mask mandate back when Covid raged. His opposition to the ballot’s revenue measures and his current dubious budget math, which could cut City services, have been rightly criticized by Council Member Campbell and other fiscally responsible Benicians.

So what can you do? Reach out to the Gilpin-Hayes campaign at its website (https://www.christinaforbenicia.com/) in case it needs last-minute help. Spread the word to neighbors and friends who may be undecided or lacking information.

Kamala Harris for President

You’ve doubtless been bombarded with presidential election information, so I’ll keep this selective. Over 800 Republicans, conservatives, retired generals and admirals and former national security officials and top Trump aides have endorsed Harris and denounced Trump. The nonpartisan CATO Institute just released a report revealing that supposedly “tough on immigration” Trump was far softer than Obama and Biden on thousands of violent criminals who’d illegally entered the country.

Here’s why Harris will win:

Women far outnumber men in early voting, by a 10 percent margin, unnerving even leading Trump supporters. This could prove crucial, given the gender gap in candidate support, with females tending to back Harris and males favoring Trump.

A recent Gallup poll found that more Democrats (77 percent) are enthusiastic about voting than Republicans (67 percent) are.

Harris has a more proven and organized get-out-the-vote (GOTV) operation than Trump does, a phenomenon I witnessed during my recent canvassing in Pennsylvania.

Harris may benefit from an independent political action committee pouring up to $700 million into ads and messages in these closing weeks, based on its unprecedented (but admittedly unproven) rigorous testing process.

A comedian slamming Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s recent New York rally is infuriating Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania (which has almost 300,000) and elsewhere.

On the other hand, Trump’s own tactics could prove effective. His anger-inducing blame game could outweigh Harris’s GOTV ground game. But I’m betting on Kamala.

So what can you do? These final days are vital. Go to the Harris campaign’s volunteer site, https://go.kamalaharris.com/, particularly to sign up to call swing state voters. I just made such calls; it’s far easier than the site makes it look. Even one persuaded or mobilized pro-Harris voter per two-hour shift can prove crucial when multiplied by volunteers’ millions of calls.

Finally: Please also vote for Mayor Young, Council Member Macenski and revenue Measures F, G and H. And let’s hope that Election Day and the following days prove peaceful.

Arts Benicia, Benicia, Benicia City Council, Benicia's Budget Crisis, Vice-Mayor Terry Scott

Vallejo Sun: Benicia City Council saves Arts and Culture Commission in reorganization of advisory bodies

Artist Josie Grant’s Jungle piano showcases a lush rainforest teeming with colorful animals. After months of uncertainty, the Benicia City Council voted unanimously to keep the Arts and Culture Commission independent, rather than merging it with unrelated boards and commissions. | Will Stockton. (Photo not original to the Vallejo Sun article.)

Vallejo Sun, by Ryan Geller, October 30, 2024

BENICIA – The Benicia City Council voted unanimously to keep the city’s Arts and Culture Commission in its current form at a meeting on Tuesday,  leaving it out of a budget-driven reorganization effort that combines commissions and reduces commission duties.

The council also preserved a key oversight power held by the Open Government Commission.

Community comment primarily focused on impacts to the Arts and Culture commission. Gallery owners, musicians and even the tuner of Benicia’s street pianos spoke passionately about the value of the Arts Commission at the council meeting.

>> Read more at the Vallejo Sun (there is no paywall)

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