City Council Saves Downtown Entertainment Program

A last-minute proposal by a Benicia council member appears to have saved a First Street program that paid entertainers to perform on sidewalks during summer weekends.

Councilman Tom Campbell’s motion Feb. 15 to restore $2,000 for the Viva Benicia series came at the end of debate on the City Council's approval of a list of cuts in Benicia Main Street programs necessitated by a 10 percent reduction in funding.

The four other council members agreed with the funding, even though the city has been trimming budgets of many of the programs it sponsors to save money in light of a $1.2 million budget deficit that must be resolved by June 30, the last day of the state fiscal year.

Viva Benicia is one facet of continuing city efforts to attract more visitors to the historic downtown, where many businesses have suffered in the slumping economy.

The program featured a local performers, including musicians, who entertained from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays May through August.

“We would be more than happy to accept that $2,000 to put on more activities on First Street,” Nancy Martinez, the director of Benicia Main Street, told the City Council on Feb. 15.

Benicia is one of the oldest cities in California, incorporated just after California became the 31st state. The city was named California’s third capital in 1853, a distinction it held for 14 months before the Legislature moved permanently to Sacramento.

The city has the distinction of being the home of the only existing pre-Sacramento capital building, which stands on Benicia’s Main Street and became a state historic park in 1958.

Cuts to Benicia Main Street programs that were adopted by the City Council included $9,000 in reduced advertising and less frequent cleaning of First Street sidewalks to save $5,000.

The council also agreed to an arrangement that continues to provide reduced rent to Benicia Main Street's headquarters at the old Southern Pacific train station at the foot of First Street.

The city still maintains a program that promotes downtown Benicia through advertising in regional magazines and radio stations, and through media outreach efforts.