Very busy day in Vallejo (unusually so for a Sunday) but before hours of resting by the pool with the dogs, we did the Vallejo Garden Tour and was able to make a pit-stop at the Mare Island dock for this first annual event, a Bay Area Butterfly Festival. It was very well attended and I’m so proud of my friend Shani Simmons for helping to organize this with a team of dedicated nature fans!
Shea Grove and Greg Haretos are shown here with me as we took a bathroom break to stop by and show our support.
Another amazing tour of many Vallejo gardens. It was nice to relax by the pool afterward at my good friends’ house, but I made sure to tackle all ten! So glad Shea and Greg were able to join me for the adventures. It was also wonderful to run into Monique Louvigny, Don Osborne, Kevin Zimmer, Brenda Crawford and her wife Tonya, Ward Stewart, Jim Sotiros, Kristen Hannum-Gregory, power siblings David and Helen Cates, Nancy Bennett, and others while out and about (and I’m sure others I’ll recall later).
Pictures that Shea and Greg took:
Audrey THREE?!? Here in Glen Cove (Vallejo) this family noticed that out of this agave plant, a huge “arm” was extended like a dragon which rested on the branches of the tree in front of it. It first started growing in their front yard in December 2023, and has since bloomed, for the bloom to now rest on another branch. How cool is that?
Genius! The homeowner at this Vallejo Garden Tour location constructed this simple but completely animal-proof raised bed protectors that are like a car hood. Super lightweight and easy to open when one needs to work under the (transparent) hood, yet unreachable by the critters that run about.
The love fest between Bonnie and Snoopy continues indoors and outdoors daily. I’ve never seen a dog remove burs from another dog, but I witnessed Snoopy literally assisting to get them out of Bonnie’s fur after a walk. It makes me wonder if he understand she’s blind and needs the extra assistance, or if it’s just pure love.
Here are my activist colleagues Brian, Nefertiti, and a youth activist from here in Vallejo, Genesis (with whom I did the radio show last year), who showed up to comment on our frustration with the lack of Vallejo’s Tobacco Retail License getting adopted more than a year after we presented at City Council’s request.
My comments were roughly this:
Good evening Mayor and City Council. I’m Joseph Hayden, a Vallejo resident and volunteer Co-Chair of Tobacco Free Solano and LGBTQ Minus Tobacco.
Over twelve months ago our coalition, together with Vallejo youth advocates, presented to City Council a compelling case for why a Tobacco Retail License was needed most desperately in Vallejo. We are pleased that we were able to meet with city staff numerous times to discuss details and that there was an opportunity for tobacco retailers to be educated on this forthcoming ordinance. [Not a single retailer showed up. ]
Despite this bit of progress, there’s frustration that there is still no specific date for it to be on the agenda of the Planning Commission, which is where the ordinance sits before it can be read out to the City Council for the FIRST reading, something City Council was hoping to have by September of last year!
Moreover, we’re now aware, as City staff is, about the deadline for the California State Attorney General looking to assist with funding for jurisdictions that adopt tobacco retail licenses in time. I don’t want to see Vallejo miss out on these very helpful state funds, especially for a REVENUE NEUTRAL ordinance that will save lives. This is about the most preventable cause of death in the United States.
Please help us to hasten the reading of this ordinance, lest we lose momentum. Please keep the outrage alive at what has happened to our families, and continues to happen, when Peddlers of POISON try to Persuade us that they deserve the Privilege of having our youth Purchase their Products.
Keep in mind that since we first presented, other jurisdictions in Massachusetts and at least two cities in California already have stopped the sale of commercial tobacco ALTOGETHER to help save their citizens from this scourge. This is called End Game.
How many lives could have been improved and lengthened if we had already thwarted these Vallejo youth from being addicted to a toxic product that kills when used as intended, the availability of which lets them think that it’s okay to engage in self-destructive behavior? Tobacco is the most unregulated drug in the world that is still readily available to them, especially when we compare Vallejo’s underage youth sale rates to other Bay Area jurisdictions. By design, in food deserts, one only needs to extend one’s arm to find nicotine products in every direction. This is still a health equity issue. So how many shortened life spans and devastated families will know my family’s grief (and that of some of you) because of the lack of outrage at what the tobacco retailers continue to get away with? Unchecked sales and no accountability are why we need a tobacco retail license forthwith.
I ask you to think about what the inherently racist, callous and insidious industry of Big Tobacco is doing to our families. The job of our governments, including local governments, is to protect citizens. That means standing up for us no despite the unlikely threat of litigation from the industry.
Pulmonologists say that NOTHING SHOULD GO INTO OUR LUNGS (or our kids’ lungs) except AIR!
Later in the evening, my colleague Calyn Kelly called in and got the conversation re-triggered and heated, so let’s hope we hear something soon!
In these pictures I’m digging the architecture of the optometrist’s office. There were some frustrating days this week, but when I heard they were making an exception to take back my distance glasses and upgrade them to transition lenses for only $75, the week wasn’t a total loss. Not being able to see distances and read my phone without touching my face/glasses has made traveling, driving, and any excursion out of the house, much more of a challenge these past few months after having to replace the glasses I lost in the fire.
Today I officially adopted my Bon-bon. Bonnie joins Snoopy and me to become a part of my little family. She brings great joy to Snoopy and me and I’m happy I can take her on, give her the 14 eye drops (which aren’t free!) to help her with her limited vision every day for the rest of her life, and rehabilitate her little problem with growling at humans she is startled by when she first encounters them (unless they are right there with a treat, of course).
Months ago I had overheard something about her in an animal shelter board meeting shortly after losing my five beloved dogs in a fire in January. Two of them were also blind, as many of you know. She piqued my interest and when the dust sort of settled, I asked if I could at least foster her.
I must have done something right because she loves me so much. She is very affectionate and is very protective of me (perhaps too much). I cannot imagine life without her. She is almost always perfectly behaved when I take her places. Now I just have to work on her staying calm when we’re snuggled up at the house.
Good friends Greg and Steve made a fabulous Greek Easter party for a number of friends and even opened up their (heated) pool. About four dogs were also in attendance even though I was nervous about Bonnie being close to the pool with her vision impairment/blindness. She had been to their house before and all was fine.
