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Meeting notices, Meeting reflections, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Meeting of February 12, 2020 – Presidential Candidate Panel & Endorsement

Presidential Candidates’ Forum
& Endorsement Vote
Wednesday, February 12, 6:30pm, Dona Benicia Room, Benicia Library

In advance of the March 3 California Primary Election, we took an internal poll of our Progressive Democrats of Benicia in order to offer Benicians a PDB endorsement for a Democratic presidential candidate.  So we held a candidates’ forum at our February 12 meeting.

These are campaigns which were represented on the panel and the person speaking on behalf of their candidate:

    • Pete Buttigieg, Nick Fletcher (or representative), CA Campaign Political Director
    • Mike Bloomberg, Patty Mitchell, Regional Campaign Director, Contra Costa Co.
    • Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Constance Beutel, Benicia supporter/local activist
    • Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mark Van Landuyt, (2016 Sanders delegate/campaign organizer Contra Costa Co.
    • Tom Steyer, Luis Sanchez, (CA Deputy Political Director)
    • Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Anthony Galace, Oakland campaign office
    • (NOTE: Invitations were sent to the other campaigns but no responses were received.)

After the presentations by the candidates’ representatives, everyone present participated in a Q&A, and then PDB members voted to endorse the candidate of their choice.

Members not present had a week to vote online via the website.  The online Membership Poll went up on the website on 2/12/20 after the meeting.

Endorsement results were posted here on the website after online voting closed on 2/19/20.

Benicia City Council, Climate action, Climate Emergency Declaration, Uncategorized

Benicia City Council to consider Climate Emergency Resolution Tuesday, Feb 4, 4pm

Quarterly Study Session to discuss five requests made by Council members

From the Benicia Independent

You may want to attend!  Benicia’s City Council will meet with staff and the public on Wednesday, to consider five action items requested previously, in context of overall Council priorities.  See complete list with links more below.

Of particular interest will be item 4, “Two-Step Request from Mayor Patterson on adopting a Climate Emergency Resolution“.  Mayor Patterson submitted this request last summer, with a requested Initial Council Meeting date of July 16, 2019.  The “Emergency” request was not brought for Council’s First Step consideration until September 3, 2019.  At that meeting, after hearing support from residents Constance Beutel, Marilyn Bardet, Gretchen Burgess, Steve Goetz, Pat Toth-Smith and Kathy Kerridge, Council discussed the request and recommended that it be brought forward for further study “at a future workshop”.  (see item 14.B in the 9/3/19 minutes).  So that next step is this Tuesday.

(Editor’s note: I am not sure, but my review of the Staff Report and Rules of Procedure seem to suggest that Tuesday’s Study Workshop is NOT to be considered the Second Step in our Two-Step procedure.  A Council member’s request for DISCUSSION and action on a City “policy matter” requires two yes votes at Council.)

For more on Climate Emergency, including background on Benicia’s consideration, see Benicia Independent on climate emergency.   Also see Mayor Patterson’s highly informative E-Alert from September 4, 2019.

From the 1/4/2020 agenda on the City website:

10.A – QUARTERLY POLICY ISSUES STUDY SESSION (City Manager) 

The City Council has agreed to discuss various “Two-Step” requests made by individual members of the City Council at the Quarterly Policy Issues Study Session described in the City Council Rules of Procedure (Attachment 1).

To assist with Council deliberations, staff has included an updated copy of the Council’s priorities for the current fiscal year as summarized in the Work Plan 2019-20 (Attachment 2).

Five topics have been approved by the Council for further discussion and are presented in this report (Attachments 3-7); they follow:

    1. Penalties for Excessive Residential Water Use;
    2. Adoption of a Climate Emergency Resolution;
    3. Preparation of an Advisory Measure related to Cannabis Dispensaries for the November 2020 ballot;
    4. Installation of Rainbow Crosswalks; and
    5. A request to Repurpose and Update the Traffic, Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety Committee. 

Recommendation: Review the two-step process and the updated Work Plan 2019-20, and then discuss each of the five topics described (Attachments 3-7) and provide direction to staff. 

Staff Report – Quarterly Policy Issues Study Session 

  1. City Council Rules of Procedure 
  2. Updated Council Work Plan 2019-20 
  3. Two-Step Request from Councilmember Campbell on Penalties for Excessive Residential Water Use 
  4. Two-Step Request from Mayor Patterson on adopting a Climate Emergency Resolution 
  5. Two-Step Request from Councilmember Campbell on drafting an advisory measure related to cannabis dispensaries for the November 2020 ballot 
  6. Two-Step Request from Councilmember Campbell to install Rainbow Crosswalks 
  7. Two-Step Request from Mayor Patterson to repurpose and update the Traffic, Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety Committee
Membership, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Members and Friends – January is the time!

Annual dues are due in January – please pay online here…

THANKS!! …to all who have supported Progressive Democrats of Benicia since our founding in 2017!  Your interest, involvement and contributions helped carry the weight, and we accomplished a lot!

Annual dues are paid in January of each year.  Renewing your membership or joining for the first time is now soooooooo easy!  You can now PAY ONLINE using ActBlue.  Check out our Renew page or the Join  page today. Or just click here to go directly to our ActBlue page.  Pay right now if you can!

Why is your membership important? The $20.00 annual membership dues are the Club’s primary source of money to pay for room rentals, handouts, annual reporting fees required by the state of California, etc. (Note that additional donations are also welcome!)

What do you get for your membership? In addition to the camaraderie and conversation with fellow Progressive Democrats on political concerns and current issues, as a member you are also eligible to vote – to endorse candidates for public office and on resolutions for action on local issues.  And as a member you will help decide what issues the PDB should address and what actions we want to take.

What do you have to do as a member? No commitments are necessary. Membership itself is a tremendous support. Those who have time are welcome to join in planning programs, responding to action alerts, etc.  If that’s not your cup of tea, but you still wish to support PDB’s efforts, a membership is just the ticket.

We need your help in fighting negative forces in Benicia and beyond who oppose progressive values, and who want non-progressive candidates appointed and elected to local offices and beyond.  Don’t forget – in 2020 Benicia has three seats open for election: Mayor plus two Council seats. Big outside money may be meddling again, and we will likely have a fight on our hands to achieve a majority Progressive City Council for 2020.

So, please take a moment now and …

Click ActBlue to pay your $20 dues.