Category Archives: Meeting notices

Meeting notices

PDB Meeting – Monday, June 18th, 7:00 pm

Membership meeting Mon. June 18th, 7:00 pm

Dona Benicia Room of the Benicia Library

PRESS RELEASE June 7, 2018:

Benicia Dems to Discuss Local Industries

Two major industry-related projects are up for discussion at the next general membership meeting of the Progressive Democrats of Benicia, who will meet at the Benicia Library in the Dona Benicia Room at 7:00 p.m. on June 18. The meeting is open to the public.

On the agenda for the local group of Democrats is an overview of how the proposed Benicia industrial Safety Ordinance, or ISO, should provide “a seat at the table” for community members, including air monitoring and emergency response.  Since the near catastrophic Valero event May 5, 2017 and several weeks of flaring, a Benicia group of community activists have:

  • convened a panel of state and county experts about public safety,
  • provided information to the public on why Benicia needs an ISO,
  • met with the City Manager and Council members to listen and present the need, and
  • discussed what should be in the ISO.

The group will discuss an upcoming presentation to City Council, scheduled for June 19th, which will request that Council direct staff to consider the working group’s ISO proposal that includes air monitoring and fees to pay for the city staff and experts.

The proposed Orcem cement factory in Vallejo is the second industry item on the Progressive Dem’s program for June 18. According to the revised Project Description, which is still under review by the City of Vallejo, Orcem’s project consists of two main components: the Vallejo Marine Terminal and the Orcem cement factory, on the site of the old General Mills plant. The marine terminal component would reestablish industrial uses on the existing marine terminal site and include construction of wharf improvements and trucking and rail connections. The cement factory would involve construction and operation of an industrial facility for primarily the production of an alternative for traditional Portland cement. According to Orcem, it would import most of the raw materials used in the manufacturing process via ships docking at the marine terminal’s proposed wharf reconstruction and enhancements.

Concerns expressed about the Orcem project include analyses that show the dust produced from the cement factory would blow directly into much of South Vallejo and Mare Island, and that the plant’s proposed site is near multiple apartment complexes, single-family homes, and an elementary school and a college. Opponents also question whether increased truck traffic would result on the roads adjacent to and in and out of the proposed factory and rebuilt marine terminal, thereby increasing local air pollution in the adjoining community.

The Progressive Democrats of Benicia is a local club of Benicians with members also from Vallejo and Fairfield. PDB’s mission includes the election and appointment of public officials who encourage and promote progressive views, and issues and projects that support and protect the Benicia and Solano County communities. For more information on PDB you can visit its web site at https://progressivedemocratsofbenicia.org/ or contact Ralph Dennis at 502-523-2872.

Meeting notices

PDB meeting – Tuesday, May 8, 7pm

PDB Meeting – Tuesday, May 8th, 7:00 pm

Senior Center, 187 East L Street, Benicia, CA

Proposed Candidate Endorsements

Speaker: Amy Hartman, Greenbelt Alliance

The May 8thth meeting focused on the Club’s proposed candidate endorsements in the 2018 Primary election on June 5, which were sent to membership and presented to PDB members for discussion and a vote.  [See results here.]

Here’s the Agenda.  For endorsement recommendations, see our Endorsement page.

The Progressive Democrats of Benicia is a local club of Benicians with members from Vallejo and Fairfield, which during the past several months has featured speakers who are 2018 candidates for public office. PDB’s mission includes the election and appointment of public officials who encourage and promote progressive views, and who work to secure, maintain, and protect these rights and opportunities for all in our communities. For more information on PDB please go to https://progressivedemocratsofbenicia.org/.

Meeting notices

PDM Meeting: April 10

Tuesday, April 10th, 7:00 pm
Benicia Public Library, Dona Benicia Room
150 East L Street, Benicia, CA

U.S. Senate candidate Kevin de León, 2018 candidate for Senator Dianne Feinstein’s U.S. Senate seat, will be the featured speaker at the Progressive Democrats of Benicia (PBD) next public meeting at the Benicia Public Library on April 10th in the Dona Benicia room at 7:00 p.m. All Democrats and the general public are invited to attend the meeting.

Mr. de León was elected to lead the Senate as President pro tem in 2014, making him the first Latino to hold that position in over a century. He was recently replaced with Toni Atkins.  He served four years in the Assembly before his election to the Senate in 2010. He is the first person in California history to serve as the Chair of the Appropriations committees in both the Assembly and Senate.

According to his Senate President biography, de León is the son of an immigrant mother who supported her family in the San Diego barrio of Logan Heights with housekeeping and other pick-up jobs. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school. He attended U.C. Santa Barbara and graduated from Pitzer College at the Claremont Colleges with honors. He is a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California.

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times suggests de León’s legislative agenda has been broad. As far back as 2007, soon after taking office, after a child who was playing near where de León lived was hit by a gang member’s stray bullet and died, he made gun control one of his primary issues, including background checks for ammunition buyers.

Mr. de León has also focused on climate change legislation, pushing hard for less fossil fuel use and more alternative energy. In 2017, he helped negotiate a gas tax increase to raise $5.2 billion annually for road repairs. Also during the 2017 Legislative session, he sponsored a bill to create a state-run single-payer health insurance system. It passed the Senate but failed to get out of committee in the Assembly. But, it earned him the endorsement of the California Nurses Association. He told the LA Times, “You can criticize some of my stuff, but you can’t say it wasn’t big and wasn’t bold. I’ve always been of the strong belief that the time period you have, you use it to the fullest.” Continue reading PDM Meeting: April 10 →