Category Archives: Benicia City Council

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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Air monitoring, Benicia City Council, Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO)

Breaking news about the proposed Benicia Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO)

Council will meet on Tuesday, June 19.  Be there if you can!  Lots of info from the Benicia Independent below. Background and documentation at beniciaindependent.com/iso/

CALL TO ACTION: BENICIA CITY COUNCIL AGENDA & IMPORTANT ISO DOCUMENTS – JUNE 19, 2018

JUNE 15, 2018 by Roger Straw
Staff for the City of Benicia posted an agenda and multiple important attachments for the June 19 City Council meeting yesterday – see links far below on this page. Most important are a 32-page Draft Industrial Safety Ordinance prepared and submitted by a local citizens’ ISO Working Group under the sure hand of … Continue reading →

MAYOR PATTERSON’S REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION ON ISO

JUNE 15, 2018, Excerpt from Mayor Patterson’s E-Alert
I believe we need to have a seat at the table, the public’s right to know and air monitors to restore the public trust that we are putting health, safety and welfare at the top. I am asking the … Continue reading→

MAKING SENSE OF AIR MONITORING (PART 1)

JUNE 15, 2018, Repost from the Benicia Herald, by the Benicia ISO Working Group
Most of the time, you cannot see dirty air – for example you can’t see particulates.  We know that particulates increase the age-specific mortality risk, particularly from cardiovascular causes. In fact, epidemiological studies suggest public … Continue reading →

BENICIA HERALD: SECOND STEP OF INDUSTRIAL SAFETY ORDINANCE PROCESS ON COUNCIL AGENDA

JUNE 15, 2018 Repost from the Benicia Herald by Nick Sestanovich
More than a year after the Benicia City Council approved the first step in a two-step process to consider bringing an Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO) to Benicia, the council will resume its discussion Tuesday … Continue reading→

BENICIA ISO IN A NUTSHELL

MAY 14, 2018 By Roger Straw
Benicia needs an Industrial Safety Ordinance – 3 important points to be made: 1.  We don’t know what is in the air, and we have asthma rates three times the state average. We need air monitors NOW, and state/regional regulations will be slow in coming. 2. ISO is budget neutral for the City. … Continue reading →

Benicia City Council, Kari Birdseye

Kari Birdseye announces run for Benicia City Council

From a press release…
[NOTE: The Progressive Democrats of Benicia have not yet endorsed any candidate for Benicia City Council.  Posting of this article does not constitute endorsement.]

Planning Commission Chair Kari Birdseye announces run for Benicia City Council

BENICIA, CA, June 7, 2018 — Benicia Planning Commission Chair Kari Birdseye today announced that she is running for a seat on the Benicia City Council in the November 2018 election. A resident of Benicia for nearly two decades, Birdseye has served in various volunteer capacities in the community, including Parent Teacher Association President, a 3-year member of the Planning Commission before becoming Chair, and a current member of the Solano County Fair Association Board of Directors.

“The Benicia City Council is the natural next step in my service to the City of Benicia. I plan to make continuing, sustainable economic development in Benicia a key priority while protecting its clean air and water and its historic, small-town charm. My husband James and I chose to raise our family here nearly two decades ago, and that spirit and feel is what I will work to pass along to our children and generations to come,” Birdseye said.

In addition to her numerous volunteer activities, Birdseye is also a full-time working mother. She’s currently the Strategic Communications Manager for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a leading international environmental non-profit organization, and has worked for several other environmental groups, as well as four years as Communications Director for the Wine Institute in San Francisco. She was also an Executive Producer for CNN based in Atlanta, where she led a team that won an Emmy for their coverage of the Atlanta Olympic bombing in 1996.

Of all the capacities in which Birdseye has served the Benicia community, she is most proud of her vote against the Crude by Rail decision as a Planning Commissioner in 2015. “Along with my fellow commissioners, I placed the health and safety of the people of Benicia first, by denying the dangerous crude by rail proposal,” Birdseye said.

Birdseye lives in Benicia with her husband James, a director for KRON News, and her two children Julia (a freshman at San Francisco State) and son Joseph, a sophomore at Benicia High School. “Benicia is a community of neighbors, and I look forward to being your neighbor at City Hall,” she said.

Questions can be directed to [email protected].