Planning Commissioner Steve Young will be running for City Council. Among the biggest issues in his campaign are opposing Valero’s Crude-By-Rail Project, diversifying the city’s economic base, modernizing the water and sewer system, improving the roads and maintaining the parks. (Courtesy photo)
Steve Young, a current member of Benicia’s Planning Commission, is looking to make the leap to the City Council.
Young’s decision to run was partly influenced by the Council’s decision to delay Valero’s Crude-By-Rail Project rather than deny the refinery a permit to have its crude oil delivered by railroad rather than by boat.
The project was announced in 2013 and drew concerns from residents over its environmental impacts. On Feb. 11, the Planning Commission unanimously rejected a permit from Valero, but the company sent a letter of appeal to the city. The City Council held hearings in April, and in a 3-2 decision, the hearings were delayed until September as Valero asks the Surface Transportation Board for a decision on the issue of federal pre-emption.
That was the final straw for Young, who had been considering a bid for the City Council.
“I had a lot of people approaching me after the Planning Commission meetings, urging me to run,” he said. “I put off making a decision until I knew which way the Council was leaning, and once it became obvious which way was the Council was leaning, I felt it was important for me to throw my hat in the ring and give people who were anxious about this project an alternative way to express their opposition.”
Young does not feel the project is necessary and proposes that the refinery just keep its delivery operation as is.
“Tankers, to me, are much safer, much less polluting and doesn’t require massive potential traffic problems that we already see happening down in the Industrial Park,” he said.
Young acknowledges the economic benefits of the project but feels the environmental risks are far greater.
“It increases their profits, but I think the tradeoff is too great to justify,” he said.
Young has a long history with politics, dating back to his tenure as student body president at his high school in Burbank. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkeley in 1973 and a master’s in urban policy and administration from San Francisco State. He served in various government management positions in California and Virginia and was also the community development director for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency from 1999 to 2008. After his retirement from that position, he and his wife Marty moved to Costa Rica so that their daughter Cora could attend high school in a different culture. After Cora graduated in 2012, the Youngs moved to Benicia where Steve was appointed to the Planning Commission that year. He says that being retired gave him a lot more time to research documents for the Crude-By-Rail Project.
“I had the time to dig through all those documents and do three years of research on it,” he said. “When the Planning Commission started on the Final Environmental Impact Report, I was well-prepared and I had three years’ worth of questions to ask.”
Young also proposes examining the Seeno project, which would construct a 528-acre business park development by East Second Street and Lake Herman Road.
“The idea of straight suburban-type development on that property is problematic for a lot of reasons,” he said. “I’d like to give that a close look.”
Young also supports transparency regarding the recent water and sewer rate increases, diversifying the Industrial Park and turning the Majestic Theatre on First Street into a live music venue to generate revenue for the city.
“Overall there is a challenge that the city is a full-service city, but it doesn’t have a lot of different ways to raise revenue,” he said. “They’re trying to serve a lot of functions with a limited source of money, and I think that’s something that’s going to have to be looked at going forward. Either raise your money or limit your cost, because it’s not sustainable the way it’s going.”
More information on Young’s campaign can be found at SteveYoungForCityCouncil.org. There will also be a campaign kickoff event from 5:50 to 9:30 p.m., Saturday, May 27 at Ruszel Woodworks, located at 2980 Bayshore Road. Food, drinks and live music will be provided. If you go, please RSVP to SteveYoungForCityCouncil@gmail.com.
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It is very clear Mr. Young is new to Benicia. He should know all about the Majestic, he does not.. He also has shown his biased against the Seeno project with a polite no which means all his studies will develop into a 4 hour dissertation and personal views on this much needed project. Discussing and compromising are what is needed not life long public sector views. With his four hour long grandstanding and keeping others from making public comments is not good and should not be his claim to fame. He has not made City staff his hero. He is what I call a Rock Star. Yes that is my name for him. Rock Stars fade fast. Everything he mentions has been on going with some very great progress. He offers nothing new except an outsiders view backed by a small group of Enviro Greenies. He is not open minded on what’s good for the residents.. He does not understand the finances of the city and has no new ideas to bring econ development to the city. Just a mess of words that mean nothing.. He will not bring new thinking to the council Just out of town ego ideals that are not needed. So I assume you understand that I am not in favor of him on the City Council or even the Planning Commission. I have no fear in stating my opinion. Others can state their own. Thank you.
Let’s see … Mr. Young doesn’t want Valero to be more profitable (thus lowering the city’s tax revenue), he doesn’t want the industrial park to expand (thus lowering the city’s tax revenue), but he wants to “diversify the city’s economic base”?
How does he diversify the economy? Tourism? Geez.
And he wants to fix the roads, maintain the parks, and refurbish and update the sewer and water system. Doing all this by limiting the tax revenue base of Valero and Seeno.
Does the term “Smoke and mirrors” mean anything?
It takes revenue to spend money. Pretty simple. But apparently he is selling “you can get something for nothing.”
Geez ……
Ask him about Bernie Sanders. That will give you his political views on money. Other peoples money.
I think he means he will pick and choose the businesses he wants. Didn’t Mayor Patterson pick a green company a year ago … Some sort of e-car supply company … And it proceeded to close shortly after? Can we say Solyndra?
Typical statist type thinking … The economy is something to be controlled and regulated … Not free to expand and generate revenue.
So short sighted.
CODA. Never really got started. I was the only one that stated if would fail. Remember the Mayor said it would run that production of 70,000 cars a year. Had a huge photo op and we have never heard from the mayor on that failed project which produced maybe under a 100 cars. Very bad model all based on agenda driven ideals.. Enviro Greenies showing they know nothing. I do believe it could be possible that the PC is a Bernie Backer and as I said before
that’s your answer. Bad news. This city does not need a fake Rock Star on the council. .
When people, government, think they are smarter than the free market ……
Arrogance …. On a path to failure.
They pulled the announcement about his campaign kickoff from Next Door. The pro Rock Sta5r fans all 20 of them tried to make Next Door a campaign section for the Rock Star. I wonder how many showed up for the free food. It will be interesting to see how much in campaign donations he received from that event. Benicia folks are famous for the lack of giving money to campaigns.
I understand that the kick off campaign backed up traffic in the Industrial Park clear back to the freeway. Causing major delays on the freeway and a real hazard for all traffic in the Industrial Park. I will take CBR any day over the Rock Star.
We have to reverse global warming urgently, if we still can. — Stephen Hawking
The world is dangerous not because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything. — Albert Einstein.
Beyond the status quo…
From the above article:
“Young does not feel the project is necessary and proposes that the refinery just keep its delivery operation as is.
Reply: This kind of thinking i.e. maintaining the status quo may be fine for the immediate term (?) but will pose a disaster in the long term
Please read the article posted below for a wake-up call. An excerpt for you to ponder.
“2 C Coming On Faster Than We Feared — Atmospheric Methane Spikes to Record 3096 Parts Per Billion”
“It’s essential that policymakers begin to seriously consider the possibility of a substantial permafrost carbon feedback to global warming. If they don’t, I suspect that down the road we’ll all be looking at the 2°C threshold in our rear-view mirror.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/02/26/2-c-coming-on-faster-than-we-feared-atmospheric-methane-spikes-to-record-3000-parts-per-billion/
“Tankers, to me, are much safer, much less polluting and doesn’t require massive potential traffic problems that we already see happening down in the Industrial Park,” he said.
Young acknowledges the economic benefits of the project but feels the environmental risks are far greater.”
Reply: About those environmental risks… read what is happening in Texas ( home of our ” good neighbor” ); continue reading to see what is happening in California this coming week—
“In this week’s most recent iteration of flaring, climate change induced, storms, a region north of Houston and south of Dallas saw flood after flood after flood. Now, hundreds of people have been forced to abandon inundated homes, thousands of cars have been submerged, and seven people are dead. Rainfall totals for the region over the past seven days have averaged between 7 and 10 inches. But local amounts in the most intense bombification zones have come in at 16, 19, and even as high as 30 inches in Washington County. All time record rainfall totals that might be associated with a powerful hurricane. Floods that would typically happen only once every 500 years. But in the new moisture-laden atmosphere of a record warm world, a garden variety thunderstorm now has enough atmospheric oomph to frequently set off what were once multi-century floods.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/05/31/new-extreme-climate-to-hurl-more-rain-bombs-at-texas-light-off-another-record-west-coast-heatwave/
Will all this global warming/climate change stuff will take care of itself. All industries and big business including all the refineries are all over this. Look at what Valero did, try the scrubber first. Maybe the most effective one in the USA. We must remember that fracking is now done much cleaner and safer than ever before. Will, your blanket statement means nothing. Just creates a false situation to what is actually happening. We all know our air quality is getting cleaner everyday and will get cleaner as we move forward. Another good example is PG&E. By 2020 by law must be at 33% renewable. Guess what Will 2015 they are at 30% renewable and will meet and exceed the 33% by 2016. More than likely will be at 50% by 2020. Very big Will. The situation is in good hands and the Enviro Greenies still complain. So as you see the Enviro Greenies are using scare tactics and the Rock Star is one of them. He is not even close to the answer. Big oil and PG&E will do it and get no credit.. .The Rock Star is not the one to be on this fine city council.
The thing that must be corrected in future articles is Steve never lived in Benicia before 2012. So the return to Benicia is a not so true statement. Yes he did buy a condo here in 2008 but never lived in Benicia before 2012. So the return to Benicia is not correct and must be corrected in future articles and comments. That is the danger in running for office all comments and past issues will be looked at. Better to get it correct the first time.
As you know, Robert, your information came directly from an email exchange we had as shown below.
You:: When you say returned to Benicia does that mean you lived in Benicia prior to going to Costa Rico? What were those years you lived in Benicia and then returned to Benicia.
Me: We purchased a condo in Benicia in 2008 prior to moving to Costa Rica, returning in 2012. We did not live in Benicia prior to 2012.
Hope you are doing well.
Steve Young
So I now understand you want me to use another verb rather than “return” in describing this.
Upon moving from Costa Rica,. we flew directly to San Francisco in 2012, rented a car, and drove to the condo we owned in Benicia.
What other verb would you prefer I use rather than “return” for this description?
No need to defend yourself Steve. It is what people think was meant by the comment. It appeared you lived here before and you did not. You can buy property anywhere you please but at the same time it does not mean you lived there. Just wanted a simple explanation and now ,you are upset. Not a good move Steve. Voters will take note of this response.
I am not upset in the least.
Nor did I ever say I lived here prior to 2012.
I believe the statement implied you had lived in Benicia before 2012.. Yes you did explain that you did not live in Benicia before 2016 after I made the request. If you are not upset then why reply to my comment. Please explain what retuned meant.. I think you will find that voters think you lived her before and you did not. Very sensitive comment from someone who wants to a Councilmember. You will not get my vote.
2012 not 2016, to be, here not her. Sorry my typo Should do a better job of reviewing but even I do make a mistake now and then and will own up to it.
Steve I cannot believe you are suggesting campaigning at the 4th of July parade. Cheer the Planning Commission Also saying the City Council might hear calls to have a vote on project already. Very low class. This is not what the City of Benicia and their very fine residents want. You are asking your supporters to do campaigning on the 4th of July. Show some respect Steve and do your low class campaigning at the right places. without trying to use a 4th of July parade to pat yourself on the back. This shows the public just who you are and it is not good.. I do hope Steve you put a stop to this tactic.