By Ken Paulk IT’S ALMOST TIME FOR THE first-ever Benicia Main Street “Great Bowls of Chili” competition at the Clock Tower on Feb. 18. Yours Truly is the Official Emcee and I promise a great time for everyone. We have lined up live music, dancing, spirits, pretty people and a whole lot of chili. Speaking […]
Search Results for: cooke
Thursday energy symposium launches series
By Constance Beutel The first of four symposia will be launched Thursday from 6-8:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 East L St., and I’m hoping you will make time to attend or watch it live on cable channel 27. Dominican University of California and the Community Sustainability Commission have scoured Northern […]
A Different Drummer: Eat more kale
By Steve Gibbs WHERE THE HALE IS ALL THE KALE? I went to Raley’s yesterday to get my juice ingredients and they were all out of organic curly kale. I was taking a leek next to the organic vegetables when the produce manager came by and spotted me. He asked if he could help. I […]
Community Gardens go CSA
By Donna Beth Weilenman Staff Reporter Benicia Community Gardens has been encouraging residents to start planting and harvesting their own produce. Now the group behind the city’s public growing spaces is experimenting with a pilot program that brings fresh, organic fruits and vegetables to those who have no space, time or skill for home gardening, […]
A fine wine tour on the train
Review by Elizabeth Warnimont Special to The Herald There are plenty of things that make Benicia a great place to live. What has stood out for me most over the decades is the community of people here, but it’s even more than that: We have a special and fascinating history; a beautiful and unique setting […]
Green retrofitting in new construction ‘encouraged,’ not required
By Donna Beth Weilenman Staff Reporter If a Benicia homeowner decides to add 600 square feet to a house or remodel it in a project valued at more than $20,000, he or she will be “encouraged” — not required — to spend 2 percent of the project’s cost in making additional improvements to cut down […]
Council endorses website contractor, CAP coordinator post
❒ Community Sustainability Commission initiatives get nod By Donna Beth Weilenman Staff Reporter The Benicia Community Sustainability Commission won unanimous City Council approval Tuesday both for a contractor to overhaul its website and for funds to hire a Climate Action Plan coordinator. Money for both items will come from the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement […]
Benicia needs green jobs
By Grant Cooke IN JANUARY, THE STATE PASSED THE California Green Building Standards Code, which would require simple energy efficiency upgrades to be included in residential remodels. While a step in the right direction, the state’s standards were neither rigorous nor prescriptive. The code barely scratched the surface of what is possible to achieve in […]
America needs the politics of ‘can do’
By Grant Cooke SOUTH SUDAN’S INDEPENDENCE AND THE WONDERS of the “Arab Spring” are remarkable current events. Both are testaments to the human struggle for freedom and participatory democracy, as well as the power of optimism and accomplishment — qualities sadly lacking today in America’s social and political consciousness. Once the nation of “can do,” […]
‘Voluntary’ green building ordinance clears first reading
By Donna Beth Weilenman Staff Reporter Benicia City Council reached a compromise Tuesday night that salvaged an ordinance that would encourage greater energy saving and water conserving steps during the expansion or renovation of local homes. With Council Member Mark Hughes absent, the panel was facing a 2-2 tie vote that would have dropped the […]