“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
After the shock and awe of January 20 and it’s continuing aftermath, life goes on. Strolling down First St. Saturday it appeared to be business as usual. Yet in some towns people are being rounded up and deported with only the clothes on their backs, prisoners who attacked police officers are back on the streets, and ethics and the rule of law are taking a beating. It’s difficult to take it all in and heartbreaking.
“All politics is local” according to former speaker Tip O’Neill. Locally is where I’ll focus my attention. So much that is positive is happening here. Volunteers, the bedrock of our town, work tirelessly and without fanfare. They make a difference and provide hope for many. Simple kindness surrounds us.
Beauty is everywhere. The first blossoms have appeared on the pear trees on First St. Acid yellow oxalis — those are the ones with the five leaf clovers — are popping. Spied a perfect lavender-hued bearded iris in a pot on D Street. Lettuce has been planted in Avant Garden. People sip lattes, carry “take out” boxes, and check their phones.
Ran into landscape architect and tree maven Alison Fleck walking up First recently. She is President of the Benicia Tree Foundation. Its mission — to strengthen community by promoting and supporting tree planting, maintenance, and education.
Unfortunately for Benicia, after years of gratifying but hard work all three board members will be retiring shortly. They are: Alison Fleck, President, and owner of Simply Perfect Gardens, a Bay Area based landscape design company; Steve Goetz, Secretary, who Alison says, “does all of the heavy lifting,” a planner and landscape architect; and Barbara Wood, Treasurer, a CPA and bicycle aficianado.
In order to maintain BTF’s tax exempt status and raise funds to continue their programs, they are looking for three people to take over these jobs in the next few months. They are also looking for volunteer help in other ways — like maintaining the website. beniciatrees.org. Go to “Contact.”
Building community through partnerships while reducing our CO2 footprint — what’s not to like? Can you imagine City Park or any of our parks without the trees? Many of them will need replacing soon due to age. BTF would normally replace them, releasing the City from that expense. The BTF has close partnerships with the City, including parks, scouts, non profits, school districts, PG&E, and other entities. They offer monthly pruning clinics, and hold Arbor Day events.
“Some of our high school teachers offer extra credit for students volunteering to plant and maintain trees, as do the key clubs,” Alison said. The Benicia Tree Keeper Program advises on how to plant and sustain a tree in your yard or your community. Check out the map on their website to see where trees have been planted and their sponsors.
“Our original goal when we began in 2009 was to plant 1000 trees in Benicia. We have exceeded that goal and see the need to continue,” she said. “The requests for help keep coming.”
According to their website, “If every family in the United States planted one tree, we would reduce the CO2 of the atmosphere by one billion pounds annually. This is almost 5% of the amount that human activity annually contributes to the atmosphere.”
Walking to the Post Office I ran into Gerry Forcier, founding member of the Carquinez Village and Treasurer extraordinaire. The Carquinez Village is another organization that builds community by supporting seniors to stay in their homes, and much more. carquinezvillage.org.
Gerry, retired executive director of Arc/Solano and board member of numerous nonprofits confessed that he made a boo boo. “I was stupid,” he declared. “I wanted to buy an electric car but the Toyotas and Hyundai’s were so expensive,” he told me.
“So I bought a hydrogen car.” “OMG!” I said. “What about the Lusitania?” He looked blank. I meant to say the ‘Hindenburg’ but couldn’t remember the name, confusing my blimps with my boats.
“I got a fabulous price for it and couldn’t believe it was so cheap. It gets over 375 mpg and upkeep is almost nil without an engine. I love it!” “I’m happy for your Gerry,” I said. “The only problem is that the closest fuel station is in Concord,” he whispered. I hoped he meant Concord, CA and not Massachusetts.
“My son says to sell it immediately before it’s worthless,” he said. Evidently there are only 59 such stations in the US and although most are in California, seven have recently been closed down and many pumps are inoperable.
When I got home I looked up hydrogen cars, otherwise known as hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and saw how Gerry could be helpless against the siren call of an HFCV salesperson. Dealers offering huge discounts up to $30,000 off with $15,000 in free hydrogen were all over the internet. And it appears that the cars are quite luxurious.
This is what Car and Driver said about HFCVs — “Sleep-inducing acceleration, unintuitive infotainment interface, nearly nonexistent hydrogen-fueling infrastructure. Lacking hydrogen fuel, an HFCV is no more than a large, pricey doorstop.”
Sorry Ger. We feel your pain. Thanks for trying to do the right thing for the climate.
All politics is local and so is your car.
Letters From Benicia 