Letter to the Editor: City Using Out of Town Vendor Instead of Local Businesses

Benicia Patch wants your 300 word letter to the editor.  

As a local filmmaker and commercial video producer I was shocked to learn that the city of Benicia has entered into an exclusive contract with a video company from Rochester, NY to produce all the business promotional video on the local Visit Benicia website.

The irony of local business owners looking into the camera and asking viewers to "Shop Local" when the video is actually being purchased from New York - is inescapable.

When I asked Benicia Economic Development Manager, Mario Guiliani, who brokered the backdoor deal with CGI Communications of Rochester, he said, "There is no cost to the City for this service and this product will help advance our Economic Development efforts."

Well, Mario, if you had partnered with a local video production company there would also be "no cost to the city" and it would also "help advance Economic Development efforts." 

But here's the most important question: When the city of Benicia was approached by a video company from New York - did they ever stop to think, "I wonder if I we can find these same services in Benicia?"

This is the exact same question that local businesses are asking local citizens to ask themselves - "Can I buy this in Benicia?"

In 2010, when I contacted Benicia tourism consultant Jack Wolf about producing videos for the Visit Benicia website, I was told there was no need to hire independent producers because "video production is something we've done since Wolf Communications was founded in 1990."

By entering into an exclusive contract with CGI from Rochester, the City of Benicia is forcing local businesses to pay far above industry standard prices if they want their video to appear on Visit Benicia. Example: CGI is charging the owner of a local First Street pilates studio $2,000 to produce a montage of still photos - not video, but a collection of snapshots - something an 8th grader could produce on iMovie in less than an hour.

In a city that prides itself on the motto "Shop Local," this is disgraceful. The citizens and local businesses of Benicia deserve better.

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If there’s something in this

article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor JB Davis at 707-628-0051 or email him at benicia@patch.com.