Steve Young

About Steve...

 

Hi – I’m Steve Young, and I’m running for the office of Benicia Mayor. I will need your vote in November, and I hope you will support me.

 

After four years of serving on the City Council and another four on the Planning Commission, I want to address the tough issues head on with intelligence and an effort to build consensus within our community. 

 

High on my priority list of issues deserving smart leadership are:

• economic development
• providing a consistent plan to repair our roads and streets
• addressing the local impacts of accelerated climate change
• tackling the contentious issues of water rates and continued access to safe drinking water, and
• meeting our pension obligations.

 

Benicia is facing serious challenges, which deserve a serious mayoral candidate willing to discuss detailed plans on how to address them.  While on the Council, I have worked to make practical decisions, which first look toward fiscally responsible solutions to City problems.  I have proven that I’m up for the job and look forward to running a clean, thought-provoking campaign.

 

Promoting the arts throughout Benicia has been a consistent priority for me.  I helped lead the City effort that resulted in the donation and acceptance of the Neptune’s Daughter statue on the waterfront.

 

“Neptune’s Daughter may not have made it to the waterfront without Steve’s hard work, consensus building and tenacity in making it happen.  And those are all the qualities we need in our next mayor.”  - Lisa Reinertson, the artist who designed, sculpted, and donated the statue.

 

During 1999-2008 I worked as Community Development Director of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA). While at SHRA, my responsibilities included the conversion of two closed Air Force bases to civilian uses, managing the development and financing of affordable housing projects, and working with the District Attorney and Sheriff’s office to address problem properties in struggling neighborhoods.

 

I retired from SHRA in 2008 and moved with my family to Costa Rica. Part of our decision was to give my daughter, Cora, the experience of going to school and living in a different culture. When Cora graduated from High School in 2012 and entered college, we returned to the US, settling here in Benicia.

 

I was appointed to Benicia’s Planning Commission in 2012, just as the Crude by Rail (CBR) proposal began working its way through the City approval process. My years working with the SHRA provided the experience I needed to read and understand the thousands of pages of that project’s Environmental Impact Report. Based on my knowledge and research, I asked the probing questions that helped lead to the Planning Commission's unanimous rejection of the project. The Planning Commission decision was ultimately upheld by the City Council.

 

“Steve’s leadership in asking the critical questions during the Crude by Rail hearings was instrumental to our community understanding the impacts of the proposed project, and that we actually had the right to reject the Valero expansion project, which would have brought 100 rail cars of crude oil into our town every day.” - Marilyn Bardet, a founding member of the City of Benicia’s Sustainability Commission

 

I live here in Benicia with my wife Marty, an active volunteer with the Friends of the Library. My daughter, Cora Young, lives in Vallejo and is a staffer for Congressman Mike Thompson.

 

For more information check out my ISSUES page and my NEWS/VIEWS pages.  Please join me in my campaign for Mayor of Benicia!