Questions by Stephen Golub… “Above and beyond the city’s post-Valero budget gap…”

By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” column in the Benicia Herald, August 2, 2026

Recently, City Council Member Terry Scott kindly took the time for an interview regarding his background, Benicia’s challenges/opportunities and (having first been elected in 2022) his recently launched campaign for reelection this November. Here are my questions and his thoughts for Part Two of the interview. (Part One was published last Sunday.)

1. Above and beyond the city’s post-Valero budget gap, which we discussed last week, the cessation of its refinery’s operations presents great challenges and opportunities for Benicia. Valero has contracted with the Signature Development Group to plan the redevelopment of the property – presumably as a mixed-use site featuring residential, commercial, and light industrial areas. What directions, in terms of both community input and the eventual results, would you like to see such redevelopment take? 

Above all, this must be a collaboration between the City, community, Signature Development Group, and the landowner, Valero Energy Corp. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape roughly 900 acres, and the right result only comes if all four are genuinely at the table together engaged and active. Won’t work if the community is simply reacting to a plan built without it. That starts with real community committees representing the full breadth of Benicia and by identifying our own needs and wants to maintain our small-town values as this moves forward.

Additionally, input should guide a careful balance: enough housing including a dedicated senior housing component, designed as mixed-use with single-floor units, alongside the affordable housing components and market priced homes.

Retail should serve the neighborhood, including addressing the grocery desert that affects the East 2^nd corridor, without competing with our downtown.

On the industrial side, community and Signature collaboration should focus on jobs and economic development as the top priority, while making sure whatever is built there doesn’t exacerbate the long-term environmental hazards already present and isn’t endangered by those hazards.

And underlying all of it: we still need the EIRs [Environmental Impact Reports], test drills, and a public remediation timeline before any of this can be built.

2. While Valero has decided to cease operations (except temporarily as a fuel storage depot, aka a marine terminal or “tank farm”) and sell the property, the timing and nature of the site’s remediation and redevelopment may hinge on California state government decisions. These include the state influencing how long the site will remain a fuel depot, since full redevelopment could be delayed as long as the depot is in place. What do you feel the state should do? Could Benicia affect this?

The first thing we need is clarity on whether the state has worked out an arrangement with  Valero to maintain the marine terminal and for how long. My guesstimate is that it will take the state roughly two years to stabilize its refined gasoline supply. The state should put a firm mandate in place: within a two-year window, Valero should stop importing refined gasoline through Benicia.

Could Benicia affect this? To a degree. We’re putting pressure on our state senator and assemblymember and met with state agencies to make our views known. But to be clear: Right now, we don’t have a firm answer on how long the state intends to keep this as a marine terminal, and that’s a real disadvantage for us — it’s outside our control.

There is good news. This isn’t lost time. Realistically, it will take Signature a year and a half to two years to put together a development plan that’s plausible, meets community standards, and genuinely incorporates community input. So if the state does mandate the marine terminal  for around two years, we should be arriving at that point right as the planning and permitting groundwork is finally ready — putting us in position to talk about a first shovel in the ground, rather than losing ground.

3. The eventual redevelopment of the Valero property as well as other major projects (including state-mandated new housing in other Benicia locations) could cause considerable population growth and other changes in Benicia. How should we handle the resulting challenges and opportunities?

Valero property will be redeveloped, and that’s necessary. Housing, industrial and technology development is coming. Accept the fact we either change or we die. New growth means more stable revenue through property taxes, jobs, development fees, and then downstream business activity that generate sales tax. It also means real increases in Benicia Unified School District enrollment. And yes, as new housing draws families, there will be huge traffic pressure. We need to study it now particularly around Lake Herman  and Rose roads, and the 780 access point into the industrial park.

History is important to remember here. Each phase of Southampton’s build-out ending with Waters End, was met with the same response: “enough, we don’t want any more.” By around 2000, building came to a screeching halt. The truth is, Benicia absorbed roughly 2,000 homes in Waters End without really changing the makeup of our community; it added residents in an area that’s remained somewhat detached from the rest of town.

That’s the real challenge ahead. It’s not whether we can absorb this growth, since we’ve shown,  we can but whether we can make these new developments genuinely part of the community, not just connected through the school district and the occasional event. We must grow, but grow in a way that ties people in, not off to the side

4. One aspect of your City Council work involves Benicia’s roles and integration in regional planning, projects and policies. Could you address how this might be important for our city?

Much of this comes down to relationships. If the House flips Democratic in November, our Congressman, John Garamendi, is expected to land a major committee seat — putting him in a strong position to help fund Benicia priorities like the Bay Conservation and Development Commission marina cleanup and infrastructure repairs. He’s already been a good listener to Council voices on these issues.

As Solano Country Transit (SolTrans) board chair, I’ve focused on stretching our transit dollars further. Our Benicia Lyft rideshare program has grown from under $40,000 to roughly $300,000 in Solano Transit Authority(STA)/Transportation Development Act paid support over four years, driven by rising demand and helped by Mayor Young and myself as the two advocates at the table.

SolTrans and STA have also delivered real value through Safe Routes to School and Youth Ride-Free programs, which help address rising truancy and curb and sidewalk infrastructure.

More broadly, every regional board I serve on — SolTrans, STA’s committees, and the county’s senior housing plan, is a chance to make sure Benicia’s voice is heard wherever regional decisions get made.

5. As Benicians may or may not realize, serving on the City Council involves a lot of work with very little compensation. Why do you want to run again?

It’s never been about the money — it’s about commitment, and the ability to make a difference. I’m downtown, in the parks, at ballgames, at three or four ribbon-cuttings a month for new business owners excited to be part of this community. I serve food. I deliver food. I was raised in a family that believed giving back is a responsibility and not an option.

There’s also the incalculable part of the job like being in the grocery store, a restaurant, at Lucca, wherever, and having a resident come up with an issue. Working with them and with city staff to solve those problems is real work, too. Council members represent the community, and you can’t do that well without being out there every day, feeling the pulse of the community.

The time commitment is real with some weeks highly time consuming with committees, Council meetings, roundtables and more. Preparation for Council meetings can be several hours a week. SolTrans is another major commitment. But it serves City residents in many ways.

This isn’t a regular job. You either have the passion, or you don’t.

I believe I’ve built the toolbox consisting of four years of experience with my council colleagues, countless hours with residents, business owners and the Chamber of Commerce, the Benicia Industrial Park Association, and have a real understanding of this community’s needs. In short, I want to run again because the job isn’t done.

6. What do you hope Benicia will look like in 20 years?

My hope is that, in the ways that matter most, Benicia won’t have changed all that much. There will obviously be development and retail especially along the East 2^nd Street corridor. But I believe the historic, quirky feel of our downtown and neighborhoods will remain intact. I hope we’re still saving seats on First Street for the Torchlight Parade. What makes Benicia special is our small town feel and values, our welcoming downtown, our engaged community. I don’t think this is going to change. The key is integrating the new with the existing.

Growth is necessary. We must change to work through the demands of the post-Valero era. Yup more housing, retail, more parks, more recreation. Maybe a light rail on East 2^nd Street. Can you say Trader Joe’s? A ferry to SF at the renovated Marina. A destination pier. But, growth here has real limits, by design, because the major parcels will be built out.

More than anything, I hope Benicia becomes the “new Benicia” that its residents want. It should be a reflection of a younger generation taking the torch from those who led this community in the past. I believe it will be a place where people can raise their families, keep those families close, work near where they live, shop near where they work, and feel genuinely welcomed.

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Stephen Golub writes about democracy and politics, both in America and abroad, at A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country.

…and… here’s more Golub on the Benicia Independent

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Questions by Stephen Golub… beginning with, “If reelected to the Benicia Council…”

By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” column in the Benicia Herald, July 26, 2026

This past week, City Council Member Terry Scott kindly took the time for an interview regarding his background, Benicia’s challenges / opportunities and (having first been elected in 2022) his recently launched campaign for reelection this November. Here are my questions and his thoughts for Part One of the interview. Part Two will appear next Sunday.

1. If reelected to the Council, what will your priorities be?

My priorities will continue to stay the same that have guided my first term: fiscal responsibility, smart economic development and housing, environmental protection, caring for all our residents, transparent government, and regional leadership. I would add, we must manage three massive priorities in parallel: managing Benicia’s future by reimaging of the Valero site, Rose Estates, Yuba and other housing developments, while building revenue streams to maintain the quality of life that we all expect while enhancing our Business Industrial Park to face forward.

2. Where did you grow up?

Cleveland, Ohio. Went off to college. Then said goodbye to Cleveland and moved to Florida to play soccer and, in an interesting twist of irony, my first job was as a reporter covering West Palm Beach City Hall for the Palm Beach Post & Times. Bored with City Hall intrigue, I founded my own City Magazine, sold it, headed back to Cleveland to write the Great American novel. Met my wife Randi on a forced blind date. Started writing and marketing for a bunch of ad agencies. Did a futurist project for M&M Mars which lead me to a toy company which was bought by Hasbro and they transferred me to Napa to manage lots of toy divisions. Then from Napa to Pawtucket, RI to head up the whole shebang of Hasbro’s internationally based Creative Services teams. Whew! I’m exhausted talking through that.

3. How did you end up in Benicia?

Star Wars, Transformers, Indiana Jones brought me here.  Believe it or not. I was working at Hasbro and spending a lot of time at Industrial Light & Magic, working on George Lucas films, which meant weeks at a time up at Skywalker Ranch. In another twist of irony, my oldest son ended up staying in California and renting an apartment above Iron Horse Furniture on First St. which used to be in what is now Lucca’s. So we were in this area a lot to visit him, and we got to know Benicia well. We liked Benicia so much we bought a condo and stayed there instead of a hotel during my trips out west. When I retired from Hasbro we simply landed here, and never looked back.

4. How have you spent most of your professional career?

Most of my career was in the toy industry, mentoring and bringing out the best in others. When I retired I learned my staff called me ‘Johnny Appleseed’: I’d plant ideas and let my teams run with them. I think toys kept me from ever aging past seven — that childlike wonderment, that sense there’s nothing you can’t do, has stayed with me. I addition I’ve live by the mantra: Did you make a difference today? It was scribbled on my office walls in every job I’ve held. At the end of the day, my career has been about managing lots of people; managing real, significant budgets; and delivering on the promise of getting the job done right.

5. How did you first become interested in running for the Benicia City Council?

I was appointed to the city’s Arts and Culture Commission in 2015 , thinking it would be fun to work on developing public art, put up murals and be part of projects like Neptune’s Daughter. And I did. But I quickly learned that the real decisions, you know, the ones that shaped the city were happening up a few levels  at the planning level and at City Council. Around the same time, I looked at my own toolkit: years as a futurist, a marketer, someone who’d run a major division at Hasbro — and thought, that’s useful here. I ran in 2020 against Tom Campbell, which, if you know Tom, you know is no small task. I lost that one. I ran again and became a council member in 2022. Honestly, it was as much my neighbors and friends nudging me saying: “you should be doing this” as it was my own ambition.

6. What accomplishments are you proudest of regarding your time on the Council?

That’s a hard one to narrow down, because a lot of what I’m proudest of isn’t a single vote — it’s being the person on the other end of the phone, email or whatever when someone in this community has a problem. But you want specifics: I’m proud of how we exhibited great fiscal responsibility and balanced the city’s budget for the first time in six years. That’s no small feat. And, we’re moving towards more fiscal responsibility by employing Priority Based Budgeting methods. I’m proud of passing Measures A, B, and F. And honestly, I’m proud that people keep asking me, “Are you running again?” — because it tells me this council hasn’t been kicking the can down the road, and people have noticed.

7. Are there any particular lessons you’ve learned from your City Council experience, and/or aspects of the work you more fully appreciate now as opposed to when you first started?

First, city government moves at glacial speed. Coming from a business I’m used to moving fast and deciding fast. Coming into city government felt like hitting a wall. By design, the gears of government turn slowly and that was a hard adjustment.

Second, council is a policy-making body, not an operations team. We set direction by telling staff what outcomes we desire. We let the professionals build the solution. It’s a jigsaw puzzle, and our job is to guide the process, not assemble every piece.

Finally, I appreciate now just how much the city is interwoven into the fabric of our lives: public safety, water, sewer, parks, roads, every facet of daily life for residents, businesses, and visitors. It’s a bigger responsibility than I understood when I started, and honestly, it can be overwhelming.

8. Benicia faces a considerable budget gap due to the Valero Refinery ceasing operations (except as a temporary fuel storage depot) and the resulting loss of city revenue. What do you see as the most promising current and potential steps to close that gap?

We must look at it as a Rubik’s Cube: many sides. Many colors. Turn one side and everything changes.

We’re pursuing several strategies at once. We’re working with the Air District on a Catalyst Grant for roughly $40 million, easing pressure on staff capacity for planning work. We’re working with the state for compensation of the site’s use as a marine fuel terminal. We’re asking voters to pass Measure X, which includes a tax on refined gasoline stored and passed through Valero infrastructure.

We’ve consolidated departments, looked at staffing levels, and we must streamline planning and permitting to make the city easier to build in.

We must capture the ensuing labor and economic activity from the Valero dismantling and remediation. Typically, 100’s of temporary workers are on-site for years during dismantling and remediation. Benicia must plan to benefit from that activity.

Concurrently, we must stimulate growth in the industrial park, create a downtown district plan designed for more retail instead of commercial space, add parking, support more destination events. We should reinvent our pier/ spit for retail use. Welcome new restaurants and understand our generational shift from older residents to younger residents who are steadily growing our property tax base.

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Stephen Golub writes about democracy and politics, both in America and abroad, at A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country.

…and… here’s more Golub on the Benicia Independent

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