Category Archives: Uncategorized

Join Us for We the People: Jan 6th Day of Remembrance & Action

January 6th Day of Remembrance and Action

Join us on Thursday evening, January 6th at 6:00 pm at the Benicia City Park Gazebo for a Day of Remembrance of the attack on Congress and the American democratic process. We are holding this candlelight Vigil both as a day of remembrance and to say that in our country, the voters decide the outcome of elections.

It’s been a year since a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, leaving five people dead, scores injured, and an untold number of legislators, staffers, journalists, and others there for the certification of Joe Biden’s victory traumatized.

Our Vigil will be one of hundreds of events across the county remembering the January 6 attack. More than 100 activist groups are banding together with vigils and voter registration events. We urgently need to support federal legislation to protect and expand voting rights. The future of our democracy is in our hands.

During our Vigil at the Gazebo, Mary Susan Gast will read from a collection of poems by local poets on the events of January 6, 2021.

Please join us at the Gazebo on Thursday, January 6 at 6:00 pm to support democracy, the rule of law, and actions to fight the suppression of voting rights.

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

Meeting of June 11, 2019 – “Silent Spring in Benicia?”

June 11, Tues 7:00 pm
Benicia Library
Dona Benicia room

Our main program was “Silent Spring in Benicia?”  Let’s talk about herbicides and pesticides.

  • Who – if anyone – is still using Roundup in Benicia?
  • What can be done to stop it?

We had brief reports by a representative from the City of Benicia and a representative from Benicia Unified School District, with lots of Q&A.

Expert speakers included:

We also heard from Maggie Kolk of Sustainable Solano about alternatives to glyphosate products.