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I've been doing some research on the economic potential of the emerging cleantech industry in the Bay Area and I've found some reports that I beg you to read. (I'm just providing links to the reports rather than attached files. The link should open up the report (pdf) and you can either read it online or print it out. If the link doesn't work, let me know and I'll send the file itself or hand deliver it.) After reading these reports I'm convinced that it's imperative, for the healthy economic future of Benicia, that the Seeno project must begin with the industrial zone as Phase I (with a specific cleantech R&D focus), and not with the commercial zone. After a 7-8 year build out of the commercial zone as Phase I, we will have missed out on our golden window of economic opportunityl It's all happening now, not 8 years from now (explosion of University R&D, spin off cleantech businesses, govt. initiatives and grants, venture capital, etc.). And we are perfectly situated, 40 min. from UC Davis and 40 min. from UCB, with acres of vacant land already zoned industrial, and a well matched employment pool, and relatively low cost housing, and good schools. (It might also give us a better shot at getting a ferry stop here.) This could be Benicia's golden egg. But only if we act now.