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Here's a bit of fun from my Kiwanis Club. Break out our chalk and put a bit of fall color on your sidewalk and/or driveway. Take some photos and send in to our email. What's the prize? Some lovely, safe, quality outdoor time and perhaps a special treat on Halloween. What more could you want? No tricks involved.

National Night Out is coming up on August 2nd from 6-8pm. Here's a photo from West Manor's 2009 celebration. This is a great time to show your neighborhood pride and unity. There's no better way to make your neighborhood and home more secure than an active neighborhood watch program and this is a great way to celebrate and/or start one. Call Patty Baron at Benicia P.D. if you want more information.

I don't know about you, but I can use all the Good News I can lay my hands on these days. So this just in from the Washington Post, good things that are happening to fight a very bad virus: https://www.washingtonpost.com//need-some-good-news-about/

So I reached out earlier about gathering intel on local Black Owned Businesses and got a few insights, and I even found a link to the Solano Black Chamber of Commerce. Most of what I found were professional service providers and a few restaurants. I don't know about you, but I was really looking for places I could shop, something I do more often than I buy a home, goto court (thankfully) and these days, go out to eat. Then surprise, surprise, out of Texas came this email from Magnolia. A Virtual Business Fair centered around business owned Black Owned Businesses. Take a look at the diverse and beautiful products that they've collected. It's time to go Virtual SHOPPING: https://magnolia.com/a-virtual-vendor-fair-celebrating:-b/

You all knew it was coming... The first Red Flag Fire warnings are being released for the North Bay. Yesterday we had a 12 acre fire out along 680 that our Benicia Fire Department, along with help from Vallejo, Fairfield & Cal Fire attended to quickly along Lopes Road. Let's all be careful out there and keep our community safe. https://www.fire.ca.gov//red-flag-warnings-fire-weather-w/

For all of our Dog Lovers who use the Benicia Dog Park, this just in from the City Manager: The Dog Park will be reopened Monday afternoon. Remember to keep 6 feet of separation and wear your masks while there, so that we don't have to worry about it being closed again. Stay safe. Under last week's order, Benicia residents can expect the Civic Center Park tennis courts, the Phenix Dog Park and the Skate Park to reopen Monday afternoon. The restrooms at Civic Center Park and the restrooms located in the center of Benicia Community Park will be opened. The restrooms at Community Park located by the playground and picnic area will remain closed as will the playground and picnic area.

This just in from Solano County: As Solano County reopens, it is important to continue to protect those at high-risk of contracting severe COVID-19 illness, including individuals 65 years of age or older, those with compromised immune systems and people with certain underlying health conditions, particularly, heart disease, lung disease or diabetes, to continue to self-isolate at home and practice the following recommendations: Avoid crowds, mass gatherings, large events, pub...lic transit, and stay home as much as possible. Clean and disinfect your home; practice routine cleaning of frequently touched surfaces. Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or a sleeve. Review and update your personal emergency plan.

Here is the link to the stats on COVID in Solano County. Unfortunately we had another death this week and cases are continuing to climb. I wish that we were out from under this, but not quite yet: https://doitgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html

Now I see that the city's 3rd & 4th of July festivities have been cancelled! I understand the caution, but I still am saddened at this year's loss of our long standing traditions: In accordance with the requirement to follow orders issued by Solano County, City of Benicia offices, building and facilities will remain closed in compliance with the extension of the order at least through May 17. In addition, Benicia Parks and Community Services Department has canceled all classe...s, programs, activities and indoor and outdoor rentals for the month of May. The annual Citywide Yard Waste and Weed Abatement Clean-up event, which occurs in early May, has been rescheduled to June. A date will be announced as soon as plans are finalized. Due to the need to keep crowds to a minimum and enforce social distancing, Benicia’s Torchlight Parade and 4th of July events, co-sponsored by Benicia Main Street and the City of Benicia, have been canceled. Additional events that draw crowds are under review. For up-to-date information about the City of Benicia’s response to COVID-19, please go to https://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/coronavirus. See more

For those of you who haven't seen this yet, the city Manager is announcing the extension of the shelter-at-home order: Hello Everyone, Late last Friday, Solano County announced that it was extending the shelter-at-home order to May 17, 2020. We will be extending the closure of City facilities to comply and issuing a press release about the City's impacts later today.... While not mandated, we have been trying to encourage the wearing of face coverings by everyone when outside of their home, especially when inside a building like a grocery store. Even if face coverings don't provide full protection to the wearer, masks and face coverings can protect others nearby by removing contaminated droplets from the air released by asymptomatic people when breathing or talking. Research has found that homemade cloth masks significantly reduced the amount of potentially infectious droplets expelled by the wearer. In short, wearing face coverings now when you're outside shows you care about other Benicians and we are a caring community. On a recent videoconferencing call, City staff and I modeled a variety of face coverings. Please join us when you are out and about!