A clear choice for health
I moved to Benicia 15years ago, knowing it to be a small, safe, friendly community. My daughter and three grandchildren followed. I am responsible for their presence in this town. I am deeply committed to their health and safety.
Valero’s power failure in May 2017 engulfed Benicia with black smoke and left my lungs aching. What did it do to young developing lungs?
Council candidate Lionel Largaespada supported Valero’s request to bring crude oil by rail to Benicia. He is distancing himself from this issue now, a few weeks before the election, but he did support it in the past. Meanwhile, Kari Birdseye voted against crude by rail while on the Planning Commission.
Kari Birdseye has a passion for environmental issues, including clean air and water. She spent her career being involved in issues of health and safety in our community as a chair of our Planning Commission and in city planning.
Mr. L is employed by a consulting firm, one of whose clients is Valero.
My grandchildren’s health is a priority. I choose Kari Birdseye.
Nikki Basch-Davis,
Benicia
Support Measure E
Taxing the gross sales of cannabis at 6 percent, along with the commercial cannabis cultivation space at $10 per canopy square foot is a well-thought out source of revenue for the city of Benicia. This cannabis business tax law is well-written, and the taxation rates are reasonable compared to the Suisun City proposed tax rate of 15 percent of gross receipts and $25 per square foot of commercial space. The commerce tax revenues should receive the same treatment as all other general taxes and be used for unrestricted purposes. However, the tax revenue generated from the cannabis businesses could be put into a designated account to be spent on the expenses incurred by law enforcement activities related to the marijuana businesses in Benicia.
Barbara Wright,
Suisun City
Matching grant received
The Solano County Library Foundation Board of Directors is proud to announce that
Board member, Dr. Ash Varma has offered the Foundation a $15,000 Matching Grant in support of literacy. Matching this generous grant means $30,000 would be used to strengthen literacy in Solano County through Solano County Library Literacy programs.
The qualifying period for donations began in July 2018 and continues through Dec. 31, 2018. Individual donors are encouraged to contribute to this generous matching grant.
All donations support the LEARN (Literacy in Education Access Resources Network) programs that include Reach Out & Read (pediatric literacy), Adult Literacy, Tutor.Com and Solano kids Read.
Readers may visit our website at www.solanolibraryfoundation.org, email solanolibraryfoundation@gmail.com, or call 421-8075 for more information.
Yours for a more literate Solano County,
Frances L. McCullough, Ed. D. ; president, Solano County Library Foundation
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Nikki I think you knew the refinery was in Benicia before you moved to Benicia. It did not suddenly appear just as you arrived. Just because you moved to Benicia is this city just supposed to stop and attend to your personal needs. There is nothing wrong with being part of health and safety. But that is what all four candidates are campaigning on.. Do you want the refinery to pack up and leave just for you? Then what about the four in Contra Costa County you also want them to pack up and leave also. It appears you do not care about the City of Benicia and the fine r4sidence and what makes it run. Valero is a friend and makes your life better. You have no idea how Mr. L would have voted if he was on the City Council or the Planning Commission. Your candidate Birdseye has no financial plans to keep this city alive and well. You like the Parks, Library, Swimming Pool? Well if this city follows your plan and your candidates views there could be a toll booth at the park and a charge just to take out a book at the Library. Try huge increase at the swimming pool. This city does not generate revenue but the way it is going and with the help of your candidate if elected this city will cut services and increase fees. As the city manager says we must recover those costs. Although the only fees that apply at present are in the permit department. You know that department that makes Benicia a better place to live with recovery costs. If that is the case it should apply to all departments. I know that is not the answer. Economic development is and your candidate is not the one to do ,this. Mr. L is.
It seems money trumps health and quality of life in Benicia.
Speaking of life quality, Benicia came in 75th out of 100 Bay Area cities because it tanked in health.
https://shar.es/a1Ig9I
I choose Mr. L because he understands that the future of Benicia, the “safe and healthy” environment is based on economic conditions and finances.
Ms. Nikki, please ask yourself “what would happen if Valero closed down?”
Yes, the environmental threat would be relieved. Yes. But would we have enough city funds to pay for police and fire to keep us safe? Would the libraries and CAC be funded? Would our quality of life diminish?
We can keep Valero open and thriving and keep us environmentally safe. We can do both. That is what Mr. L supports.
Ms. Birdseye and the mayor both support shutting down petroleum business in CA. They are on record. And they have no plans to replace the revenue lost. Please consider all the above.
San Francisco Magazine’s 2018 ranking of life quality in the bay area puts Benicia at #75 out of 100 cities.
It seems it bombed in health, public safety, and diversity (no surprise there).
https://shar.es/a1Ig9I
Correction: Not public safety, but health
71. Benicia
(North Bay, Medium)
Education: 54
Diversity: 61
Health: 82
Transit: 93
Affordability: 5
Public Safety: 23
Culture: 44
Editors’ Rank: 53
How We Calculated the Numbers
What makes a city good to live in? It’s a surprisingly hard question to answer, even before you start looking for ways to quantify it. We spent hours batting the topic back and forth. Good schools? Sure. Accessible mass transit? Of course. Low crime? Naturally. But that’s just the start. Racial and economic diversity matter. So does a flourishing cultural scene. In the end, we graded the cities in each of eight categories: education, diversity, public health, transit, affordability, public safety, culture, and our own highly subjective impression of the place. For Education, we combined the cities’ high school pass rate on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress test and the percent of adults over 25 with bachelor’s degrees. Diversity: The portion of the population who are nonwhite, the city’s median age, and its score on the GINI index, which measures income inequality. Health: Physicians per capita, air quality scores, and the percent of residents without health insurance. Transit: Average commute time, walkability score, and the percent of commuters who drive to work. Affordability: Poverty rates, median home prices, and median rents. Public safety: Crime rate and full-time police per capita. Culture: Artistic venues per capita, the number of residents who list their full-time occupation as artist, and liquor licenses per capita. After adding in our editors’ subjective scores, we ranked all 101 cities within each category, then averaged those figures to create a final list. (Some cities tied.) Is it a perfect measure? Of course not. Good enough to start a conversation? You bet.
Well, we are #5 in affordability. And 23 in Public Safety (maybe we have too many cops or not enough crime? (joking). Below half for everything else. Hard to believe we’re so bad in transit considering Sonoma made the top 10. I also thought education ought to have been scored better for us…but maybe everywhere in Bay Area has good schools and well educated adults…
The score for education seems right. It’s the school
district’s administration that has fooled you into
believing Benicia schools are better than they are.
It’s not a subjective thing…HS pass rate on the achievement test (on which Benicia does well) and #of adults over 25 with bachelor’s degrees. Given our median income in our town, I thought we had a lot of BS and BA in this town.
just a lot of BS
I stand by my statement, and it has nothing to do with the poor rating on Benicia schools. It has everything to do with two and a half decades of working for the district and witnessing first hand how the administration was fond of bending the truth about their accomplishments in attempts to jack up the town’s real estate prices. It looks like that didn’t work either. The truth always comes out in the end.
How can you be so prejudiced? Do you think the district reached out to the SF Chronicle to sway them? Idiot.
Your response shows you missed the point. But your anger tells me that any further explanation would be a waste of time.
It’s about time the truth sees the light of day! Thanks to a friend’s keen eye, we get to see this interesting review about Mary Farmar Elementary. You can count on the guilty parties wrangling their innocence, because that’s what the guilty do when their charade is revealed and their complacency is disrupted.
Don’t bother replying to my post, since this is my final visit to this stellar newspaper’s website. My work here is done.
But hey, aren’t there other people you should be complaining to instead?
My guess is all will be swept under the rug, because it always has been and it’s the way of a Trumpian society.
Good luck!
Zelda
https://yelp.to/qTKq/MKVwTtlpvT