Fundraiser for Humane Society of the North Bay.
The Haydens (Shando, Capulet, Polar, and Joe) are featured in this first set of photos:
Other photos from today’s event:
November 2023 Photos with Santa
Category Archives: Activism
Getting Ready for Photos with Santa
Great Thai food dinner with friends of Santa in Vallejo Friday night after setting up for Photos with Santa for Saturday morning.
33 years since Dad died of Nicotine Addiction
Today is a grim 33rd anniversary of my father dying at age fifty from a painful, elongated death from his tobacco/nicotine addiction. I’m planning to write extensively about the gory details at some juncture. Like so many in countless families, my dad was gone too soon. Handed loose cigarettes while growing up in Hawaii at age 12, little did he know that he would grow up to die at the same young age that his mother would.
My dad and me:
At 55 I can safely say that my siblings and I have ensured that the “family tradition” of being addicted to nicotine and dying at 50 does not continue with us, since we remember how he suffered firsthand. Thankfully none of our kids smoke, but that doesn’t mean they were not targeted. They are definitely surrounded by their peers who have now normalized vaping in front of others. I am proud to be working harder than ever with my activism, one which was triggered when Dad died. I could think of no more noble cause at the time I entered law school than to save as many lives as I could, but Big Tobacco is still trying to addict new generations with vapes, even having the audacity to suggest they are smoking cessation devices! If that’s the case, why do some e-cigarettes have the equivalent of 400 cigarettes?
The biggest drug dealers in the world are making profits off of 22% of the WORLD population. Does this CARTEL deserve that? How many needless, preventable early deaths will they be responsible for throughout history? There is no depth to which this one industry will go, and yet it continues to prosper off the blood money of our families and now our youth. Big Tobacco is the enemy. Ask me how you can help.
Can you even tell which of these are vape pens? Neither can parents or teachers when they are consumed IN CLASS.
Friendsgiving 2023
Another fabulous Thanksgiving event at Tom Bilbo and Chris’ house with the Vallejo Gay Network.
Benicia Town Hall on Vaping
After the excellent presentation from youth activists, I joined a subsequent panel discussion, which included:
- A few of the high school students
- Benicia school principals, administrators
- Trustees of the Benicia Unified School District
- Representatives from Solano County of Education (SCOE)
- Tobacco Free Solano (TFS) colleagues with Vibesolano/Solano County Department of Health
We addressed some successes and some warnings of the future with vaping among youth, particularly in Solano County.
We Need Safer Crosswalks for Local Elementary School
This is a meeting with two Vallejo City Council members and two members of the Board of the Vallejo City United School District (VCUSD). Glen Cove’s City Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz, Councilmember J.R. Matulac (who mentioned he used to work at Glen Cove Elementary), GCCA’s own John Fox, is a Board Trustee, and City Manager Mike Malone, were all in attendance, among others.
John Fox had suggested that my speaking as President of GCCA and Ralph, as Safety Director and Vice-President, would be a good idea. Indeed, we were well-received. The equipment recommended includes solar-powered dots and signage to really draw awareness to the traffic, and to avoid further accidents.
Here was my presentation, which I mostly stuck to:
I’m here in my capacity as President of Glen Cove Community Association and as a resident of Vallejo who lives near Glen Cove Elementary. I want to advocate for higher visibility of crosswalks near Glen Cove Elementary School.
There has been a marked increase in traffic on the main artery of Glen Cove which passes right in front of the school. The downhill road sharply turns just as one approaches the school entrance across the street from the intersection of North Regatta.
Because of the line of sight and downhill momentum, there are unfortunately many vehicles that speed on this road and may not understand what causes the traffic to back up when it’s time to dismiss students.
Anything we can do with lighted warnings and crosswalk enhancements to provide more warning of what’s around the corner and the vulnerability of the pedestrians, which includes elementary students, can only help to avoid serious incidents from occurring.
Some of the reasons why there are exponentially more vehicles traversing Glen Cove Parkway are:
1. the consolidation of Beverly Hills school students that now attend Glen Cove Elementary.
2. several businesses now situated in the Glen Cove Landing commercial buildings, which includes North Bay Pediatrics and other medical offices.
3, The shift changes for staff for the Glen Cove Lodge, not to mention all visitors to the senior memory living facility.
4. Glen Cove Marina itself yields a lot of traffic due to the residents and boat owners, not to mention the Lighthouse meeting space, Marina club members and marina visitors such as the Solano Rowing Club, which I’m personally a part of myself.
5. Pickleball courts at Glen Cove Park are also very popular.
Due to regulations that began during Covid that are still in place, there have also been some dismissal protocols that have caused traffic to back up onto Glen Cove Parkway on the bend as one goes downhill, and which has likely caused accidents on Glen Cove Parkway. These could be mitigated. Fortunately, no one has been killed, but cars speeding down the parkway have now run into and destroyed a fire hydrant right outside of the gates of Glen Cove Elementary at least five times that we’re aware of.
Other schools have staggered dismissal policies that help in mitigating the traffic and allowing for teachers and staff to be curbside with the students during pickup. We’re confident that there are ways that the school can implement better policies to avoid vehicles of parents standing in no-parking areas, such as in front of the bus stop, along Glen Cove parkway and North Regatta Drive.
Enhanced lighting of the crosswalks would make the roads and heightened risk of this congested area during that time of day far safer. Thank you for your time.
Vallejo Tobacco Retail License presentation at Citizens Air Monitoring Network meeting
I’m actually pleased with how it turned out even though I always get emotional talking about my dad when I start these things.
My friend and colleague Amaya’s slideshow from LGBTQ Minus Tobacco was extremely helpful for this presentation. The previous speaker had talked about second and third-hand smoke, so it was a great segue to go into all kinds of passive smoke, including fourth-hand.
This organization I spoke at is about clean air both indoors and outdoors, so it was a really good fit and the timing was right with a room full of activists, which coincidentally had my activist friend Adjoa in attedance. With her I did store surveys in January.
The genesis for the invitation was when I realized my kayak club buddy was a long-time Vallejo activist. Ken Szutu is highly honored for his environmental work and very graciously extended the invitation.
Kudos to my husband for taking the video too!
Autumn Neighborhood Association Meeting
We had a great Autumn Meeting with our Glen Cove Community Association with representatives from Vallejo Police and Fire departments, Solano County Resource Development and the Food Cooperative that Shando and I recently joined as owners.
Tabling at the Third Annual Bearrison Street Fair
Shando and I volunteered all day at the Bearrison Street Fair in San Francisco for LGBTQ Minus Tobacco. It was wonderful to see so many of our friends and let them know about my activism of this kind throughout the Bay Area, particularly in Vallejo. Plenty of Vallejoans were present as well!
Vallejo’s Vision of the Wild event honors Local Environmentalist Friends
During our routine visit to Vallejo’s Art Walk this month, I was pleased to see the anime depictions of at least four of the local environmentalists recognized by the Vision of the Wild event.
Ken Szutu is our friend from kayaking, but was happy to know that he was recognized for his outdoor air monitoring and other endeavors.
Liat Meitzenheimmer is a leader with Fresh Air Vallejo and wrote a wonderful letter in support of the Tobacco Retail License we’re trying to get passed in Vallejo.
Adjoa McDonald is a teacher, was on the Board of the Greater Vallejo Recreation District, a fellow activist against Big Tobacco, and founder of the Vallejo Project.
Doug Darling is the founder of the Vallejo Watershed Alliance. I originally met him while doing shoreline cleanups in Glen Cove, but he also was instrumental in getting the fireworks from Six Flags from shooting their debris over Lake Chabot in Dan Foley Park, where I regularly kayak and pick up trash that floats on the surface. Who knows what kind of damage has been done to the lake at the bottom over the decades.
