Category Archives: Seeno property

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
Benicia City Council, Benicia Fire Department, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Benicia Police Department, Benicia Vice Mayor Steve Young, Crude By Rail, Seeno property

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.
Benicia City Council, Benicia Vice Mayor Steve Young, Local elections, Northern Gateway Project, Seeno property

LETTER SERIES: Steve Young on Seeno land use

[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]

Development of the Seeno Property

By Steve Young, Benicia Planning Commission
October 6, 2016

Recently, a land use application has been submitted for development of the Seeno property, the 526 acre site located at East 2nd Street and Lake Herman Road.

The latest version of this development proposal, now called the Northern Gateway, also has a new lead developer (Schwartz Development) who has done projects with the Seeno family before.

This proposal, as described to me by the developer, calls for the construction of up to 900 single family homes along with some limited commercial and industrial parcels.

There are several problems that I see with this proposal.

First, although they insist there is adequate water for 900 homes, the City is in the middle of an extended drought and we are being asked to save water wherever we can.

Second, the developer has no intention of building either a school or a firehouse. If they don’t build these facilities, the obligation would fall upon the rest of us for those necessary amenities. Students would have to be transported to either Robert Semple elementary school (which is among the oldest properties in the District and is lacking in many amenities) or Benicia Middle School or Benicia High School, both of which are overcrowded.

Finally, the developer bragged that the homes would sell very fast, as they would be priced between $400-415,000. This price range is well below the Benicia median home price, and the addition of that many homes at that price level would not improve the property values of the rest of Benicia homes.

By contrast, at a recent candidates forum, Mark Hughes and Lionel Largaspaeda spoke in very positive tones about the possibility of the growth this project would bring.

I am not reflexively anti-growth, but object to this reactive form of planning.

This parcel will eventually be developed. But it is the City which should decide what type of development will ultimately go there, rather than simply reacting to a developer’s proposal, which is more focused on maximizing profit than in developing the last significant parcel in the City in a way that best serves the community.