City of Benicia This Week
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In this edition: Shop Benicia BONUS eGift Cards Expiring, COVID Vaccine Update, Take the Hazard Mitigation Survey, Survivability Rate Raised in Benicia Cardiac Arrest Patients, COVID Assistance
Message from the City Manager
February 22, 2021

Hello Everyone,
Last Tuesday City Council passed a series of initiatives designed not only to assist our local businesses to survive the economic impacts of COVID-19, but to actually help our economy launch strongly out of the recovery to new heights. To do this the City is introducing a Fee Waiver Program & Parklet/Streatery Program. This program would waive all City of Benicia fees up to $35,000 for any business that relocates to Benicia or whose expansion will generate new tax revenue or new jobs. Along with this we will be conducting a concerted effort across the Bay Area to publicize this campaign and encourage new businesses to come to Benicia, to “Cross Over to Excellence and Waive Goodbye to Fees”. We will also be promoting a program to help businesses put in quality parklets for outdoor dining in a effort to more permanently lift up the vibrancy of the downtown district. The timing is great with several outstanding projects, including Mare Island Brewing Co. coming to First Street and the Bruehol Brewing location on First Street in partnership with Pacifica Pizza.
 
The City is also helping businesses with nearly $100,000 dollars in assistance with water and wastewater utility bills (at the same meeting the authorized $300,000 in further assistance to community members with proven impacts to their employment from COVID-19 – This assistance will be managed through the Police Department’s Family Resource Center).
 
Finally, the relatively newly formed Benicia Community Foundation (BCF) came forward with a proposal to match $50,000 from the City to assist local businesses with past due rent. The partnership between the City and BCF will invest $100,000 to help struggling businesses. If you are interested in becoming a part of BCF, please click here.

These programs are set to launch in March. Look for details soon.
 
Bottom line: You can be very proud to be a part of a community that is stepping up the help those most severely impacted by COVID-19! Please continue to find ways to support local businesses as we begin the recovery process.

Thank you for your interest in the City of Benicia This Week!

Erik Upson
City Manager
City News
Shop Benicia BONUS eGift Cards Expiring
Were you one of the lucky ones to get a Shop Benicia BONUS eGift Card when you purchased a Shop Benicia eGift Card in early December? If so, here's a friendly reminding that the BONUS eGift cards expire February 28.

Shop Benicia cards are good at more than 50 participating Benicia businesses including Benicia Main Street. If you can't figure where to spend your BONUS card before it expires, consider using it to purchase Downtown Dollars at Benicia Main Street.

Shop Benicia eGift Cards never expire. To buy one or see where they are accepted, visit https://visitbenicia.org/shopbenicia/.
COVID Vaccine Update
If you received your first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Benicia on Tuesday, February 2, you are due for your second dose. Please return to the same location at your same appointment time on Tuesday, March 2.

Find out about vaccinations in Solano County, including eligible phases and tiers at https://www.solanocounty.com/depts/ph/coronavirus_links/covid_19_vaccines.asp. We encourage you to sign up for Solano County’s Vaccine Interest Form to receive first notification when you become eligible. You may call 707.784.8655, if you are unable to sign up online.

Additional vaccine options are available.
Health Care Providers: Kaiser and Sutter are administering vaccines to members only.


Pharmacies: Vaccinations from these providers may not be free of charge.


If you’d like to be removed from the City of Benicia Interest List, please email tdavena@ci.benicia.ca.us.
Take the Hazard Mitigation Survey
We need your help to identify hazard risks in Solano County! Participate in a short survey, and if you choose to share your contact info, you'll automatically be entered to win a $150 Stihl voucher for Stihl tools of your choice.

The information you provide will help us identify and coordinate projects focused on reducing the risk of injury or damage to property from future hazard events like wildfires, floods, earthquakes.

The survey at mitigatehazards.com/solanohmp/get-involved, should take approximately 5 minutes to complete and is anonymous.
Survivability Rate Raised in Benicia Cardiac Arrest Patients
In the United States, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospitals annually. The survival rates are as low as 10% for these out-of-hospital cardiac arrest events.
 
In 2019, the Benicia Fire Department trained its firefighters in a new model of Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), called High Performance CPR (HP CPR). The HP CPR method reduces pauses (hands off the chest time), records data, and shows crews how well CPR was performed. After each cardiac arrest case, crews do an incident review to evaluate how well CPR was performed and to discuss how they could improve in the future.
 
Each cardiac arrest case receives a “compression fraction” score. This score is calculated with data collected by the cardiac monitors. Data about how deep compressions were, how fast compressions were, chest recoil rate, and the length of pauses in compressions are all calculated into a score called the compression fraction score. The American Heart Association standard for compression fraction score is 60%, with 80% being the recommended goal for rescuers. The Benicia Fire Department’s average compression fraction score in 2020 was 81.29%, exceeding the American Heart Association’s recommendation.
 
These small changes in how the Benicia Fire Department performs CPR has shown great success. The Department has seen significant improvements in cardiac arrest survivability. HP CPR has resulted in cardiac arrest patients’ survivability increasing to 31% over the last two years.
 
Fire Chief Josh Chadwick said, “The future of the Benicia Fire Department’s CPR program is very bright, and while 31% is a significant improvement, we believe we can do even better.”
 
According to Firefighter Paramedic Kyle Williams, “When High Performance CPR is combined with bystander CPR, we are experiencing an improved cardiac arrest survival rate of 50%.” Williams is also spearheading efforts to invest in additional new technology that will assist Benicia firefighters in performing CPR. Williams is one of the three Fire Department personnel who brought HP CPR to the department and is responsible for managing the HP CPR program.
 
Once social distancing restrictions allow, the Benicia Fire Department will be providing increased Hands-Only CPR classes to the public in an effort to partner with the community to increase survivability even further.
COVID Assistance
Find resources and information for seniors, local food access, basic needs and rental assistance, mental health, stress and coping, and more courtesy of Solano County Public Health. Benicia residents in need of help during these difficult times may find assistance through these local resources:
Press Releases


Recent City of Benicia Press Releases are available on the City of Benicia website under Main/Announcements.
Save the Date
  • Feb 22 - Art Gallery Sub-committee meeting, 6:30 p.m. via livestream. See the Full Agenda for more information.
  • Feb 25 - Zoning Administrator Hearing, 1 p.m. via livestream. See the Full Agenda for more information.
  • Feb 25 - Historic Preservation Review Commission, 6:30 p.m. via livestream. See the Full Agenda for more information.
Modified service due to COVID-19
City Hall is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you require entrance to City Hall offices outside of these hours, please make arrangements with staff from the department that you will be visiting.

All visitors shall be required to enter City Hall from East L street through the door located on the left (East) side of the building closest to the Post Office. Please check in with the staff person at the designated Welcome Window.

You will be required to wear a face covering over both your nose and mouth for the duration of your visit to City Hall. Please maintain 6 feet of social distancing between other visitors and staff. Do not visit City Hall if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. Appointments can always be rescheduled.
City of Benicia This Week is published each Monday morning. Previous editions are available here. We also communicate on Nextdoor.com and AlertSolano.com. Sign up now!