Monthly Archives: July 2018

Meeting notices

PDB media release, July 6, 2018: “Benicia Progressive Democrats Meeting on July 12”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Ralph Dennis, 502-523-2872

Benicia Progressive Democrats Meeting on July 12 at Benicia Library  

Benicia, CA  (July 7, 2018) – The Progressive Democrats of Benicia (PDB) will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, July 12 at 7 p.m. at the Benicia Library’s Dona Benicia Room. The library is located at 150 E L Street, Benicia.  The meeting is open to the public, and the community is invited to attend.

According to Ralph Dennis, PDB Chair, “We will be focusing much of the discussion at this meeting on upcoming elections in Benicia and statewide and what our Club can do to support progressive-minded candidates. Lynette Henley, Region 2 Director for the California Democratic Party, will discuss the recent June Primary results and offer suggestions on how PDB can best marshal its members in support of the November elections.  We will also discuss the Benicia School Board Trustee elections, where three of the five Trustees are up for reelection, as well as California Congressional District 10 (Oakdale, Manteca, Modesto, Tracy),where we hope to help unseat the Republican incumbent.”

Progressive Democrats of Benicia is a local organization founded in 2017 and chartered by the Solano County Democratic Party with membership from Benicia, Vallejo, and Fairfield. Additional information on the meeting is available at PDB’s web site https://progressivedemocratsofbenicia.org/.

California Politics, California's 10th District, Democratic Party, Josh Harder, Progressive Candidates, Swing Left

Swing Left: Can we save our country?

In an email from Swing Left Contra Costa…

What would it take?

Can we save our country?

OK. The news has been pretty bad. But giving up is not the answer.

The midterms are in four months.

With so much in the balance, it would be hard to overstate the importance of this election.

We have some things going for us.

We are closer than ever to our goal of flipping the House. We beat the odds and got a Democrat on the ballot in every California congressional race despite the hazardous top two primary. Volunteers have been working in CA-10 for over a year and are well prepared to spring into action to help candidate Josh Harder unseat incumbent Republican Jeff Denham.  And every day more people are waking up to the extremism of the Trump administration and want to get involved.

What’s next?

CA-10 field operations in Tracy resume July 14th!

  1. Sign up!Voter registration and face to face conversations boost voter turnout.  Swing Left Contra Costa is hosting these upcoming events in Tracy:

Jul 21st:     Door to Door              High Traffic Voter Registration

Aug 18th:  Door to Door             High Traffic Voter Registration

  1. Donate or raise funds for Josh Harder!The campaign needs money. DONATE NOW.To help host a fundraiser or house party, use the CALL TO ACTION LINK or email us at [email protected].

3. Grow the movement! Taking action with others is not only an excellent antidote to despair, but it can also be a lot of fun!  So as you connect with friends, neighbors, and loved ones over the July 4th holiday, please ask them to join you in this fight of a lifetime to save our democracy.  Attending this SWING LEFT TRAINING EVENT (July 21st in Pleasant Hill) might be a way to get started.

Swing Left Contra Costa
[email protected]

Air monitoring, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Benicia City Council, Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO)

Progressive Dems call for Industrial Safety Ordinance, Council votes NO

By Roger Straw

At our membership meeting of June 18, PDB voted unanimously (with one abstention) to ask Benicia City Council to support the issuance of an Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO) for the City of Benicia and approve Mayor Patterson’s request to direct City Staff to review a Draft ISO.  Our recommendation was that staff report findings back to the City Council no more than 90 days from June 19, 2018.

Acting Chairperson Craig Snider drew up a resolution following our meeting expressing our concerns, and presented it at City Council the following evening, June 19.

After much discussion lasting until 1 AM, the City Council voted 3-2 to reject Mayor Patterson’s request and to wait and watch what Valero and regulatory agencies do based on recent new regional and state air monitoring regulations, and to engage Valero and regulatory agencies in discussions.

Two Council members qualified their rejection of the proposed ISO.  Council members Campbell and Schwartzman stated for the record that if Valero does not install certain Air-District-required “fenceline” air monitors within 6 months, they would vote to impose an industrial safety ordinance.  All five Council members also would like to see “community” air monitors.

Draft minutes detailing Council’s 6/19 decision read as follows:

On motion of Council Member Hughes, seconded by Council Member Schwartzman, Council approved Option #2 in the staff report, directing Staff to monitor Solano County’s implementation of Program Four, directing Staff to meet with Valero and the appropriate regulatory agencies to address the few gaps that exist between Contra Costa County’s ISO and Program #4, including more effective and frequent communications with the City, Valero, and the community, fence line monitors installed within 6 months (while that was going on, the community monitoring could be negotiated), an evacuation plan, and having a report back to the City Council the first meeting in November, on a roll call by the following vote:
Ayes: Campbell, Hughes, Schwartzman
Noes: Young, Patterson

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