Category Archives: 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

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

LETTER SERIES: Craig Snider – Questionable endorsement in Benicia politics

[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]

Concerns about endorsements by Benicia police and fire fighters associations

[Editor: note that although both Police and Fire associations appear on campaign signs, the $740 contributions mentioned below were reported ONLY by the Benicia Police Officers Association as of Sept 29.  UPDATE: The Benicia Herald published a similar correction on Oct. 26, adding,  “According to the Firefighters’ Association, contributions from that organization were less than $99 per person and thus have not been publicly reported, per California Fair Political Practices Commission runes.”  – RS]

Craig Snider
Craig Snider

My hat is off to the full slate of capable and qualified people vying for positions on our City Council. Anyone who follows the workings of this body knows well the time and commitment required in what’s too often a thankless job. Being a 13-year resident of Benicia, I’ve been drawn to the issues most likely to have a bearing on the safety, health and welfare of our community. But, as the election grows nigh, I’ve noticed various groups and individuals taking sides for or against the various candidates.

Two groups, the Benicia police and fire fighters associations, caught my attention right away. Their many yard signs promote a slate of candidates including Lionel Largaespada, Mark Hughes and Christina Strawbridge. In turn these same candidates tout the police and firefighter endorsements in their campaigns. When I learned that most of the police and firefighters don’t live in Benicia and that they each contributed $740 apiece to raise $20,000 to support their slate, that bothered me. From what I can tell, all the candidates want to promote public safety and support a strong police and fire department. So I was puzzled why they would endorse these particular candidates.

From my 35 years working in the federal government, I’m well aware of the Hatch Act, a law intended to protect federal employees from political coercion at work. The law is a safeguard to the merit system by ensuring that career advancement for federal employees is based on merit and not political affiliation. One of the other goals, which is tied to the two previous ones, is that it fosters public trust by requiring that federal programs, federal institutions be administered in a non-partisan fashion.

I know, city employees aren’t federal employees, and so long as Benicia doesn’t accept federal funding, city employees can use their positions to promote their political agendas. But I don’t have to like it. $740 apiece is a big chunk of change for most of us, so the police and firefighters must hope to gain something from these endorsements. To wit, unions typically support candidates that support higher pay and benefits and our police and fire fighters contract negotiations begin next year. Hmmm.

The only other reason I could see for the police and fire endorsement is their perception of “growth.” Like the construction trades that operate on the “more is better” premise, the police and firefighters may hope that unbridled growth will result in more jobs and city revenue in support of future pay and benefits. If that’s the case, it’s clear why they are supporting Largaespada, who openly supported Valero’s Crude-By-Rail Project and amending the General Plan to allow construction of 900-plus homes on the Seeno property. Hughes and Strawbridge similarly voted to consider dropping the approved business park plan in lieu of residential development on the Seeno property. Elizabeth Patterson and Tom Campbell voted against adding residential as that would limit our ability to attract businesses there.

Oddly, the council candidate most knowledgeable about community development, Steve Young, was passed over by the police and fire fighters. Young was director of community development for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency from 1999 to 2008 where he oversaw a $20 million budget managing the development of large business and industrial parks at Mather and McClellan Air Force bases after they were closed. Steve knows what it takes to attract business and undertake planning and development. According to Steve, “good planning requires a Master Plan with input from the community to assure the end result satisfies both community and economic benefits.”

So why wouldn’t the police and firefighters endorse Young?

A likely reason is Young’s in-depth analysis of Valero’s Crude-By-Rail Project while serving on Benicia’s Planning Commission. Young, like Mayor Patterson, is very detail oriented and his in-depth analysis highlighted reasons for rejecting Valero’s proposal that was later unanimously rejected by the Planning Commission and City Council. Yet, despite an abundance of evidence and hours of testimony, including findings by the state attorney general, both Hughes and Strawbridge were unable to reject the Crude-By-Rail Project initially, opting to delay the decision to get “more information.” Meanwhile, Patterson, Campbell and Young read the analysis, studied the regulations and rejected the proposal outright – without delay.

Which candidates will do the best analysis of the pay and benefits package for the police and firefighters next year? Which candidates are best prepared to oversee development of the Seeno property in a way that benefits all Benicians? In my view, it’s clearly Steve Young and Elizabeth Patterson.

Craig Snider is a Benicia resident who retired from the US Forest Service in 2014 where he fought forest fires among other things.

LETTER SERIES: Pat Toth-Smith – Vote for the Environment (Sierra Club endorsements)

[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]

A Vote for the Environment, Sierra Club endorses Elizabeth Patterson for Mayor, Steve Young & Tom Campbell for City Council

By Pat Toth-Smith
October 16, 2016

The election is upon us and it’s been a complete disappointment where global climate change is concerned. After having signed three petitions to have a question about climate change specifically put to the presidential and vice presidential candidates during their debates, it sadly did not happen. To my disappointment in researching the candidates’ positions on climate change I discovered that Donald Trump doesn’t believe in the science of climate change and went so far as to say, “that it is a hoax put out by the Chinese Government”, in one of his tweets. Mike Pence, as I understand, won’t accept climate change as real. I feel it is important if you’re a believer in the science of climate change and want to move the United States to a clean energy future, to be aware of which candidates are most committed to that.

Thankfully, the Sierra Club has completed a list of environmental endorsements, which I want to share, starting with our local city government election.

The Sierra Club endorses:

• Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson,
• Benicia City Council Steve Young and Tom Campbell
• District 2 Supervisor Mike Ioakimedes
• Assembly District 14 Mae Torlakson
• Fairfield City Council Pam Bertani
• Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan
• Vallejo City Council Liat Metzenheimer
• President Hillary Clinton
• Senator Kamala Harris
• Congressman Mike Thompson

The state propositions that the Sierra club endorses are as follows:

• Prop 56, cigarette tax: YES
• Prop 58, multilingual education: YES
• Prop 59, oppose Citizens United: YES
• Prop 67, plastic bag ban: YES

As a Benicia resident, I’ve had the unique opportunity of seeing Mayor Elizabeth Patterson in action. She was tireless in her effort to keep the public informed about the Valero Crude By Rail permit process as it progressed, whereas her opponent, publically attacked her for it. She is also a big proponent of the Community Sustainability Commission which promoted Marin Clean Energy (MCE) and gave a grant to study any risk to our city. My family and I are grateful because we now pay to power our home with 100% renewable energy from MCE. MCE also gave a check for over $100,000 to the city this year for net energy from the city’s solar panels.

During my three year process of participating to stop the Valero crude by rail project, I was able to observe Planning Commissioner Steve Young’s outstanding commitment to doing his due diligence in researching all aspects for the permit request. He did a very thorough job of questioning all concerned and it made me content in his abilities to protect Benicia from all future dangerous projects. I am also grateful to Mayor Patterson and council member Campbell for publicly stating their rejection of this dangerous project the day the city council was supposed to vote on it. In my estimation, they were putting our community’s safety first, regardless of the Surface Transportation Boards ruling.

Pat Toth-Smith
Benicia
Sierra Club link:
http://content.sierraclub.org/voterguide/endorsements
Local Sierra Club Chapter link: https://www.facebook.com/SierraClubRedwoodChapter/