History, or at least precedence, was made Tuesday evening when the Benicia City Council denied Valero a land use permit to bring in volatile Bakken and Tar Sands crude oil from North Dakota and Canada by train. In what appeared to observers to be a stunning change of heart, the council unanimously agreed with the […]
James Garrett: The Benicia of yesteryear
We miss our hometown. We miss Benicia, the Benicia we knew. Roberta, my wife and I, have called this small city our home for over 70 years and do not want to live anywhere else. We walk on some of the same sidewalks and see some of the same trees though they are obviously older. […]
Roger Straw: City staff appears to favor Valero, ignore opponents in agenda attachments
On Thursday last week, city of Benicia staff released the agenda for the crucial and perhaps decisive Sept. 20 meeting of the Benicia City Council. A staff report accompanying the agenda stands by the staff’s previous positions on Valero’s oil train proposal, recommending on Page 10 that Council approve Valero’s appeal, reject Benicia’s Planning Commission […]
Matt Talbot: Catastrophe and community; Reflections on the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm
Almost exactly 25 years ago, in October of 1991, I was living in a small apartment in the Rockridge district of Oakland, right at the base of the hills. I had just started a new job, and had rented an apartment on the third floor of a building that was about a 25 minute walk […]
Think Dream Play: Will Rogers never met this guy
Not sure if it was Machiavelli or Michael Corleone who originated the phrase, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” but it’s been on my mind. The concept came in handy in – of all places – public school! When I was working as a high school principal, I needed to have my ear […]
Notes from 30,000 Feet: The ongoing search for the perfect cooked ribs
The search for the best combination of: method, rub, glazing sauce and mop sauce used to achieve baby back perfection has been an arduous, but enjoyable task. I think I may have found it this past Labor Day weekend with a new twist on a tried and true formula. Over the years I have used […]
Bruce Robinson: Ella’s story
(This article was originally published in the Contra Costa Times on Dec. 4, 1999) It has been 36 years since Dr. Martin Luther King captured the hearts and minds of America with his “I have a dream” speech. Judging by the angry response to the passage of Proposition 209 in California not long ago, it […]
Matt Talbot: Reflections on two long wars
This coming Sunday will be the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It is hard to believe that 15 years have come and gone since that terrible morning in September of 2001. I awoke that morning to a world that seemed unmoored from any reference point of understanding, any prior experience in my life. The […]
Dennis Lund: Preparing for the upcoming election fight; Theft Prevention 101
Politics has never been a game for the lighthearted or thin-skinned. It can be, and always will be a matter of not what one can do, but what one can get away with. Today standards of integrity have been carried to the lowest levels by the Democratic nominee. Hillary, along with her husband, represent one […]
Matt Talbot: The task before the Republican Party
Given the chaos consuming the Republican Party in the wake of Donald Trump’s nomination this year, I think future historians will write about the 2016 presidential election as the year the Republican Party’s internal contradictions finally came to the surface and consumed the party from the inside, leaving it an all-but-empty shell. The Republican Party […]