Supporters of regulated cannabis activity in our town have referenced the convincing victory of Proposition 64 here in November of 2016. The will of the majority, plus science and evidence, is prevailing over incomplete knowledge and emotions. There is no common ground on the cannabis issue. You are either on the side of regulation or not.
We have witnessed nearly a year’s worth of educational discussions ranging from cannabis history to present contemporary regulatory approaches. I am exceedingly optimistic about the positive force the cannabis industry will be in our town. I am grateful that our City Council majority shares this optimism, and is about to bring our ship in, fire boats and all. A few key positive points about integrated and regulated cannabusiness:
-First and foremost, as a former opioid consumer turned Proposition 215 patient, I am extremely grateful my fellow Benicia patients will be able to safely access and/or grow their medicine locally, not to mention save the outrageous 10 percent added tax in Vallejo. Local seniors, veterans, and others that want to push off opioids and substitute cannabis can do so much easier with local access. Remember to turn in your unused prescriptions to the Police Department’s 24 hour drop box in front.
-New and sustained revenue to our General Fund. I am not the only one that has observed the musical chairs at staff level. As the City Manager has indicated, in addition to sales tax leakage to other cities, we have lost talent to other cities that pay more as well. Staff migrations will continue unabated without new revenue to offer competitive compensation. We need to have staff stability at all levels. The City Council will discuss a possible local cannabis tax measure on the November ballot that will generate additional added revenue. Sustained new revenue could lead to reduced water/sewer rates. After cannabis, this is the biggest thing on our collective minds.
-Expanded business activity in the First Street area. Multiple speakers at a recent City Council meeting expressed dismay at the declining retail business inventory along First Street. This area needs foot traffic to be successful, and that will increase when thousands of cannabis consumers descend upon Benicia from up-county, the East Bay, and Napa with pockets full of cash to leave here. I am confident retail cannabis on the far south end of First Street would be a destination that would greatly enhance visitors to the area, especially organized tour groups with an interest in cannabis. This is why I believe it is essential for the City Council to submit to the voters a ballot measure to amend the Downtown Mixed Use Master Plan in order to permit cannabis activity and infuse the downtown businesses with leisure spending by cannabis connoisseurs that will visit our town from both domestic and international origins. Some of our city’s officials want to put this huge stream of cash-bearing visitors as far from the town core as possible. Others don’t want cash-bearing visitors at all. That just isn’t good for business, on First Street or anywhere else. Many notable tourist destination cities in California have welcomed cannabis sales in order to harvest some the millions of dollars of tourist spending driven by legal cannabis. In the meantime, I am confident First Street businesses will still see residual spending by visiting cannabis consumers beginning this Spring.
-Jobs! This industry will be here for the rest of our lives. If you are a young person in Benicia, you can get in on the ground floor of an industry that will give you the tools to work and prosper in California’s new economy, already the sixth largest in the world. This is primarily a younger person’s domain. There are a few seniors employed in it but you’ll find most on the customer side of sales counters. Speaking of seniors and cannabis, there are over five hundred members of a cannabis club at Rossmoor in Walnut Creek that would love to bring their shuttle buses to our town for cannabis, then lunch or dinner.
-Expanded grants opportunities. One of the new taxation categories for the sales of cannabis in our state is the fifteen percent excise tax on all cannabis sales, medicinal or adult use. This goes into a special tax account the state will use to fund continuing studies and public education programs throughout California. Cities with regulated cannabis activity will receive grants from this special account, for various public safety, health, and education programs. Cities that ban cannabis are not eligible for grants.
-Restoration of funding for services formerly provided the city but cut due to budget constraints; such as annual contributions to the Benicia Community Action Council, maintenance of the Commandant’s Residence, and school crossing guards, a program that would have been without funds if not for Phil Joy’s recycling efforts and regular check writing. I don’t think anyone ever meant for this be a permanent tasking for Phil, but when the city is able to once again fund the program, they should. We would still have a valuable community service to rid ourselves of excess metals. Credit to former City Councilmember Mike Ioakimedes as well for getting the program going a few years ago.
-Reduced dependence on the petroleum industry. We are a refinery town, despite all the history, charming amenities, arts, high-performance schools, and festive civic functions that draw visitors here. The people of California have legalized and instituted a regulatory framework for our most prominent agricultural product, projected to generate billions of dollars for state, county, and local coffers. I am confident Benicia’s integration of the cannabis industry from cultivation to sales will eventually lead to revenues that will equal or exceed the contribution to the General Fund from the petroleum industry. I am looking ten or twenty years down the road when the cannabis industry will still be here while there is no certainty of a petroleum industry presence. I believe more business would have an interest in a Benicia Industrial Park address if there was no refinery next door.
-Minimized popularity of new housing development. I like Benicia just the size it is, without adding infrastructure and extending services to new housing development. I am in support of extending Measure K as well when it comes up, with a modification to allow industrial hemp cultivation on our properties north of Lake Herman Road. I want to hand off a robust Benicia economy to the generations that follow us, driven by a clean, quiet, environmentally-friendly industry that will be remembered as the smartest thing we ever did, back in 2018.
Stan Golovich is a 32-year Benicia resident, senior, veteran, artist, and cannabis advocate-educator. He is an alumnus of Oaksterdam University in Oakland, America’s first cannabis college. He is the husband of former Benicia City Councilmember Jan Cox-Golovich, and is often seen riding his bike on First Street, said to be the only bicycle in the world with a stained glass window in the frame, a product of his work in stained glass.
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I normally do not read fiction. But I did read your article and as you see I am commenting. Fiction at the highest level.
The fact that the Mondavi family and other top tier Napa vintners have legitimized cannabis as a powerful economic engine, including as a component of tourism, should put to rest any lingering concerns about cannabis being a deterrent to tourist interest in the downtown. Opposition to cannabis downtown is a huge economic negative. We will have tourists that are eager to buy it and merchants that are equally eager to make it available. The sooner this issue can be resolved, the better. Wouldn’t it be great if I just shut up about it after a vote of the people on bringing “it” downtown?
https://tinyurl.com/yal79zd9
“…promote Napa Valley cannabis as the best in the world…”
https://www.napacannabisassociation.com/
Sorry Stan it will not happen.
The Solano County Planning Commission rejected a proposed ban in unincorporated areas. Commissioner Johnny Walker knows the score:
“When the Solano County Planning Commission was tasked with recommending to the Board of Supervisors land use policy that would allow some forms of commercial cannabis businesses, our recommendation was broad and exploratory. Given extensive research and experiential tours, it is my opinion that cannabis cultivation is an agricultural use. Excluding Travis Air Force Base, Solano County’s primary economic driver is agriculture.”
Adjacent Napa and Yolo counties are good with cannabis ag proliferation. Will be interesting to see how the Board of Supervisors splits on this one, sure to go 3-2 one way or the other. Yolo started with medicinal cultivation only, then added adult-use. As previously mentioned, the first retail license in Yolo County will be in downtown Davis by mid-September.
Only one candidate is up to speed on the regional economic potential of cannabusiness.
Just who is that candidate. I think I could guess. Stan you are wrong BIP is prime and by the way the city is open for business in that area. All of the candidates I think you will find are on the same street when it comes to both retail and commercial cannabis Get up to date Stan.
Great new web page look for the emerging cannabis economic frontier in our wonderful town. Looking forward to seeing if any other candidate will commit to advancing this immensely lucrative course, and especially how the anxious rejectors will handle the cannabis question at public forums.
https://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/cannabis
“Now that Benicia has engaged a new economic frontier based on cannabusiness, what will you do to advance growth and success of it?”
or
“Do you support the decision by the present city council to regulate cannabusiness activity, and if not, why should people vote for you?”
Stan and Jan the cannabis business in open for applicants. Either as store front retail sales or in BIP for commercial business. By Sept. 10th we shall see how hot a spot Benicia is for this business.
Our grandchildren could be planting hundreds of acres of cannabis to suck up the toxins from petroleum refining that may be in the ground. Here’s an interesting read about cannabis helping to clean up toxic sites in Italy and at Chernobyl. The schools should be teaching future generations that cannabis is immensely beneficial on a broad scale, not that is a dangerous drug. The DARE program meant well, but by the time 5th graders get to 12th grade, they have all but dismissed the dangerous drug identity as prohibitionist hokum. A study in our own district proved that out, the one that said youth can openly buy cannabis on campuses. Do we still have that problem?
https://tinyurl.com/y9x4wsmc
The fate of the 500 acre Seeno property is still simmering on low during this election cycle. We have candidate choices that are known advocates for “a small number” of new homes there, or a commercial project for “something”. In other words, we will have choices for city council that share a view of building something on Seeno property. This means extending utility infrastructure and city services. Close to twenty years ago, Benicia voters approved Measure K, which effectively banned growth-inducing development on city owned parcels north of Lake Herman Road. This was at a time when some local policymakers supported the building of homes there. The voters put a stop to it. Measure K expires at the end of 2023, and will most certainly be reaffirmed by the voters. Most of us do not want any more new homes on undeveloped lands. I believe an equally large number of voters do not want to extend utilities and city services to the Seeno property. We have the right to determine land use in our city, no matter who owns it.
As most community members know by now, I am a staunch advocate for the normalization of the cannabis plant for its many beneficial uses, most predominantly in medicinal applications. The Seeno property would be an ideal location for the cultivation of high-grade medicinal cannabis, in small plots of assorted cultivars. The water needed for irrigation could be tapped from the recycled water supply (“purple pipe”) that will be delivering process water to the refinery from our water treatment plant. Not only would the Seeno family make money in perpetuity, the harvests could be processed and packaged in the Industrial Park, then sold at our local retail sites as well as distributed throughout the region. The highest and best use of the Seeno property would be with cannabis agriculture. Solano County is leaning towards capitalizing our agricultural identity by regulating cannabis ag in unincorporated areas. Yolo County already regulates cannabis ag, and Napa County is working on developing ordinances for same.
This is a tremendous growth industry in the state, with projections indicating cannaculture will eventually outpace viticulture revenues. A view to the future would include permanently rezoning the Seeno parcel for ag uses only. They could cultivate cannabis, corn, cabbage, or kale, but no building allowed unless it is an all-weather kennel for the canine security forces. The best way to protect our preference is with a ballot measure that would permanently rezone Seeno property. If left to council vote, a possible homes-friendly majority of the future could flip it over to residential. We will have enough added demand on water and treatment plant volume with the forthcoming accessory dwelling unit ordinances, plus more infill development guarantees work for our local small contractors and ancillary services.
When was the water treatment plant expanded? Seeno property is in the City Limits. Small home development like a mini Del Webb with no school needed. Police station paid for by the developer and all utilities paid for by the developer. ,It can and will work. Sorry Stan you are talking to the wrong folks. Vice Mayor and mayor know nothing about development and financial needs except to charge the residents/voter. Just remember water rates, still a very sore subject. Voter beware of candidate Birdseye who has a ring in her nose evidence from the photo of her and mayor running hand and hand out and about Benicia. Birds Of A Feather Flock Together. Get it Stan.