Let’s roll For those who may not be aware, in November the Benicia City Council gave the community an early Christmas present when they voted to approve the contract for the construction of two additional bocce courts next to the existing courts behind the City Library. _On behalf of the Benicia Bocce Board, I extend […]
Matt Talbot: Yet more about the 2016 election
In this series, I’m attempting to analyze the source of the decline of the Democratic Party — and not just Hillary Clinton’s defeat last month, but the broader and more comprehensive decline experienced by the Democratic Party that began in 2010 and that has gotten steadily worse since then – and lay out a roadmap […]
Nick Sestanovich: Five unconventionally classic holiday tunes
I can’t help it. As much as I like to think I’m one of those people who’s nauseated by the very thought of Christmas music, I actually like a fair amount of it, enough to make my own Spotify playlist out of it. Songs that I tend to shun the other 11 months of the […]
Matt Talbot: More thoughts on the 2016 election
In last week’s column, I said that the Democratic Party has been losing elections because it is not doing enough for working class voters: “Notice I didn’t say, white working class. I said working class, period – of every ethnicity. Let me define what I mean by working class: ‘people living the usual situation of […]
James Garrett: Veterans deserve a ‘Welcome home’
Simply sharing because things are on my mind, and I feel the need to write. Maybe it is editorializing, but here it is for whatever it is worth to anyone. A few years ago, Roberta and I went Christmas shopping. At one of our stops she needed to enter a store alone, and I needed […]
Matt Talbot: Some thoughts on the 2016 election
Before I get to this week’s column, dear readers, I’d like to apologize for my absence the last few weeks. I had several urgent life events that needed my full attention (John Lennon once famously quipped that “life is what happens while you’re making your plans”), but I am now back and ready for further […]
George Oakes: Enforcing building codes in Benicia is especially important
After the shock of the “Ghostship” warehouse fire in Oakland and some time to reflect has passed it occurred to me that Benicia is facing many of these same issues. Our artist community, like those in Oakland, face economic hardships, escalating rents and a strong desire to be an artist. The recent Great Recession impacted […]
Letters: Are live work areas safe?
Are live work areas safe? Tragic news coming out of Oakland this weekend. My heart goes out to those that lost family members in this fire. We in Benicia have a large live work area, and I was wondering: are they held to the same city codes as any other dwelling or business? I don’t […]
Letters: The Electoral College and Dennis Lund
Electoral College debate I am not a Trump supporter, but I do believe in reason. According to most news accounts, Clinton won the popular vote by about 2 million votes, and many believe we should change the system so she wins. However, she won California by about 3.4 million votes (source: www.cnn.com/election). That means Trump […]
Dennis Lund: Trump victory resulted from failures at many levels
In the opening week of November, the nation was stunned by the remarkable and unexpected victory of President-elect Donald Trump. On election night, my wife and I left what was to be a celebration for a Trump victory with the full expectation that Hillary Clinton was on the verge of becoming president. We should have […]