CBS News Bay Area 10am 5/14/24

[Music] I'm R mamoto this is the men of the bay area's WNBA franchise has a name the team will be called the Golden State Valkyries they are now the 13th team in the WNBA marking the first expansion in the league since 2008 the inaugural season begins next year at Chase Center the nhtsa is investigating weo due to crashes involving their self-driving Vehicles Federal investigators received 22 reports of crashing or violating traffic safety laws weo told us they're confident in the safety of their vehicles and are committed to transparency a new campus encampment at San Jose State joining a growing number of them all across the country they're calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for the school to cut any Financial ties with Israel they join others in the Bay Area like UC Berkeley Stanford SF State and Sonoma State I'm Ry Yamoto this is the minute [Music] May gray is all around us especially in those early morning hours but into the afternoon of course we see a lot more sunshine in our Inland areas it still stays cool and cloudy along the coast and we're going to see small day-to-day changes as we head into the next couple days thanks to an area of high pressure directly offshore kind of driving in the similar weather pattern for us as we head into the next couple days so all the way into this afternoon notice how those clouds pull back along our Coastline we're left with sunnier skies in our Inland areas from San Jose stretching up into Richmond and Conquer a little bit cloudy up into the North Bay this afternoon but other than that it's beautiful and it's dry and that's the big weather story for us day by day we're really not seeing too many changes we continue to see dry conditions into the next couple days into this weekend's forecast as well but as we take a look at our daytime highs all of our microclimates are doing something just a little bit different for example you now know that we're dealing with those Coastal clouds that are going to stick around into the afternoon hours just like yesterday's forecast but it clears up fast into our Inland areas into this afternoon 80s in the forecast for us near Livermore all the way up into Antioch and then we have upper 70s topping off our daytime highs down into the Santa Clara Valley with low 70s along 101 Into the Heart of Redwood City like I said all of us are doing something just a little bit different but on average as we head into the next couple days the daytime highs aren't changing too much more I mean we're still staying in the 70s and 80s as we head into the rest of this week's forecast in our Inland areas cooling down just a little bit more as we get closer to the weekend forecast but if you live closer to the Bay Oakland or San Francisco for example we'll see 60s stick around for us into our Friday forecast a similar Trend into this weekend and by next week no change around the corner so we'll keep you updated on that as we head into the next couple days well since the covid-19 pandemic upended Life As We Knew It cities all across the country have had to get creative and find new ways to get people back into downtown areas and while it does remain a struggle during the daytime here in the Bay Area there's a change to improve things at night throughout this week we're going to show you how San Francisco Oakland and San Jose are experiencing two realities vastly different than one another our Max darl begins with a snapshot of San Francisco the permanence of hybrid work has really been a major challenge for the bay area's major cities especially for San Francisco according to commercial real estate firm CB the q1 office vacancy rate in the city reached nearly 37% while downtown it's not uncommon to hear things like the area is a ghost town but the discussion of office vacancy rates really dominates The Narrative yes it is integral one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle of downtown's recovery but it's not the only one there's about two people here today and that's crowded so perhaps it's just Mary Fitzgerald's bus stop or perhaps it's indicative of the bigger picture in San Francisco hi good morning but her commute across the city to her downtown office is a breeze when she goes to the office that is I'm here 2 days a week my office is open 3 days in the pre-pandemic world Fitzgerald probably would have done this commute every day working and spending a lot of time downtown but the pandemic induced hybrid work model has stuck around and adapting to that continues to be a challenge for downtown San Francisco during the Monday to Friday work hours at least I think the town's still a little quiet a little sleepy it's like not everyone's in office Monday morning I think randomly Wednesday is now the most crowded day to be in office and to go her assessment is spoton the University of Toronto's School of cities has been tracking downtown recovery progress for several years now by utilizing cell phone data not just office vacancy rates to compare recent population patterns to pre-pandemic numbers and of the Cities they track the downtown San Francisco area remains one of the slowest cores to recover during the Monday to Friday working hours of 8:00 a.m. to 6: p.m. it's at about 56% of pre-pandemic activity levels Dr Karen Chapel chalks a lot of it up to hybrid work becoming the norm and not a Band-Aid it's a moving Target which is why we have to keep studying it right because it's not it's still in flux but when the evening rolls around something changes the activity downtown per the cell phone data surges from 56% to 94% of prepandemic activity painting another part of the picture of downtown's recovery like the picture of John constant's experience in Union Square on weekday evenings John's Grill has seen a massive influx of foot traffic locals and tourists alike on this week night welcome people were in and out of his restaurant all night there were walk-ins to the classic San Francisco restaurant we've never left this location we've been at 63 Alis Street for 116 years but also plenty of reservations on the books I see a lot of business meals here jotted down I see a lot of uh couples and some large parties conston says he noticed things beginning to change last year we've actually had one of the best years on record um last year our sales have gone up actually uh here at John's Grill while conston can only speak to his experience I think the bar and restaurant business is uh seeing a major uptick here in the downtown area I talk to people all the time I'm here 6 to 7 days a week and people are asking where do we go next where's the next stop on the list so people are just excited to go out and and experience uh San Francisco and downtown some of them tourists some locals Fitzgerald says on the days she's in the office people stay definitely lingers past you know 5 6:00 at my office just because we don't get together all that often thank you although the workday activity in the downtown area is still slow to recover she says it is slowly but surely trending upwards the streets are definitely a bit more crowded the buses are a bit more crowded in that middle of week kind of point we now have people coming in from like our Marin area or South like South Bay Area Fitzgerald is a fan of the hybrid work model it works well for her however she is aware that it does pose challenges for businesses that once relied on the office crowd but living with that reality she sees this moment as one ripe with opportunity for San Francisco oh it's an incredible place to be I'm happy everyone's getting back and I just can't wait for more people a key ingredient of a comeback a little over a year ago I had a conversation with Dr Chapel about downtown San Francisco's recovery at that point she had said San Francisco seemed to be stuck I asked her if she still thinks that's the case now here's what she said I don't think San Francisco is stuck I think we're seeing the feeds of the of the comeback and we're seeing a hint of what San Francisco will be 10 years from now tomorrow we'll take you to Downtown Oakland where we'll introduce you to a restaurant owner who says opening up for lunch right now just does not make Financial sense but dinner and drinks that's a different ball game well San Francisco is embracing being a nighttime destination it's adding even more events to try to attract more people into the city after hours that includes bangra and beats a lively monthly Night Market featuring South Asian music food and popups the first one this year was held just this past Friday in the financial district you could see it had quite the turnout somewhere in that crowd that's in addition to the Chinatown night markets which happen every second Friday in the historic neighborhood then there's first Thursdays another event on market and Second Street where people can eat drink and dance for free the city is also trying to create more of a party Atmosphere by making part of the financial district a so-called entertainment Zone The Proposal will allow alcoholic drinks to be sold consumed outside on Front Street that's between California and Sacramento it was proposed by mayor London breed last week but it still needs approval from the Board of Supervisors in Half Moon Bay the pressure is on ahead of votes tonight that's putting the city in the spotlight even Governor Gavin new is closely watching what happens with a controversial farmworker housing project the deadly mass shootings at two mushroom Farms last year exposed poor living conditions of the Farm Workers in the coastal city photos show somewhere the hous in storage sheds with no running water since then Half Moon Bay has been under pressure to build more affordable housing and even Governor Nome is threatening the city with legal action for delaying the approval of the housing project the 40 unit project would be built in downtown Halfmoon Bay on Kelly Avenue there have been two Marathon hearings with public comment over whether the project is Right fit is a right fit for downtown our spoke to Residents there about the debate that is now under scrutiny by the state the project to turn this property at 555 Kelly Avenue in Half Moon Bay into a 40 unit housing complex for retired Farm Workers has become a source of frustration for Neighbors like Janette Chang it's just getting railroaded and pass through because of the urgency and because of what happened here a year and a half ago and um what they're proposing on that piece of land there I think is too big disagreements over the size of the project and parking have caused delays in a postponement of a vote to approve the project by the city's Planning Commission I need to spend a little more time thinking through this because but now the political pressure on Half Moon Bay to act just got worse Governor Gavin Nome issued a statement saying quote last year a deadly shooting brought to light the squalid living conditions of Farm Workers in Half Moon Bay rather than do the right thing and approve badly needed housing for the workers who Feed Us a 40 unit complex for low-income seniors is being stalled by local officials Newsome added that the state could take legal steps to hold the city accountable if the project does not move forward state senator Josh Becker who represents the area said this about the need to move forward uh we've all seen now the conditions some Farm Workers have been living in I've worked to secure $3.2 million from the state along with assembly member Mark Burman and uh we need housing bills so I'm really hopeful that the community can come together and find a project that everyone can agree on Pierre batty also lives near the proposed site in Half Moon Bay and says this project is one of many that have faced delays oh there's always been a problem with getting stuff done in this town money politics um some of the locals have told me that they're concerned about parking and traffic and noise and this and that but you know you get that everywhere I don't think it's a problem the city's Planning Commission will once again take up the housing issue at a meeting on Tuesday night well last week Sam Matel County Supervisors approved $6 million for the stone Pine Cove project about a mile from downtown that money will go toward purchasing 47 modular homes for Farm Workers including 19 families displ after the mass shootings the money will go toward purch uh display okay still ahead on CBS News Bay Area it's the first week on the job for Oakland's new police chief and some say there won't be much of a honeymoon the issues the community wants to tackle right away plus a new chapter for driverless cars in the Bay Area weo expands to the peninsula we give the new commute of option a ride and look at the potential obstacles standing in its way and the local Asian-American Community plays an important role in the Bay Area politics we'll take a look at at how they're flexing their muscles at The Ballot [Music] Box I feel lucky to sit with brilliant women every morning who are helping me to level up Body Mind heart and soul there is energy and good mornings and hello how's your day started it's just a really nice Vibe and a really fun way to wake up it's rejuvenating honestly having a team that's excited about news and storytelling it is so fun to laugh and to say there is a lighter side to life they're like my new best friends wake up with a Morning Edition weekdays on kpix [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] taking a look at Future cast that Marine layer pulls its way back along the coast as we head into this afternoon and as we take a look at our daytime high as well we're going to be warming up and only into the 60s near San Francisco with upper 50s along the rest of the coastline near halfon Bay in Pacifica it's a lot warmer though and a lot more clear as that Marine layer starts to dissipate all the way into our Inland areas 80s in the forecast today near Livermore 70s into Fremont and we're seeing a repeat of yesterday with upper 70s down near San Jose well the city of Oakland finally has a permanent police chief for the first time in more than a year Chief Floyd Mitchell comes from Leck Texas where he last served as the top comp a Wilson Walker spoke to an Oakland resident about what they're hoping to see in the new Chief as he gets to work oh oh my goodness gracious you know besides the litter and the robbery you know I've had a lot of employees quit everardo Rodriguez has been frustrated for a while when we first spoke he was lamenting the state of his neighborhood and the crime that has surrounded his business his thoughts on the new police chief I think you know uh we've been needing one you know somebody permanent that we needed one a long time ago and maybe we shouldn't have have had the other one removed you know but it is what it is now so normally you know there will be uh So-Cal honeymoon period but unfortunately uh you know so uh our situation is so uh needed of him especially our business community so he has hit the ground running or even flying right away Carl Chan is head of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce he too has been sounding alarm bells on crime in recent years and so but in order for him to be successful I think he needs to build uh a good relationship within his department but also within the entire Community from East to West Oakland uh the hill to the Flatland Chan's top concerns for the incoming police chief political minefields and Oakland's looming budget deficit we are realizing that you know the uh resources uh may not be there for him no one would describe the role of Oakland Police Chief as an easy job but many agree that the budget challenges and the recent surge in robberies could make it as difficult as ever but Rodriguez is still hopeful I say one guy with a proper attitude will always make a difference it always takes that one guy okay changes people's attitudes that's what needs to change here overall crime in Oakland is actually down in 2024 after a huge Spike last year but robberies are still up by 6% we're about to see the next chapter of driverless guard testing right here in the Bay Area Google's autonomous car company weo is about to start testing autonomous rides on the peninsula for the past few months people have been calling driverless weo rides around San Francisco with a weo app but now the company has the green light to expand down to the South Bay at first though it will just be way more employees that can ride as far south as San Matel with plans to expand to Sunnyvale but the company is running into some resistance or Kenny chore reports some critics say the expansion is happening too fast [Music] when a driverless car struts by and catches eyes people stop and stare Rick gelano has noticed too he's always looking for the next best mode of transportation whatever makes it easier is critical when that commute is every day I work two jobs I'm able to rest in between riding the bus he rides the bus uses an e scooter and a ride hailing service if the weather gets nasty lately the San Francisco native has been using wh Mo occasionally for more reasons than just one I don't have to deal with drivers that are that have bad attitude cuz it's driverless you know with weo expanding to the peninsula for the first time Rick believes it could become part of his regular commute to San Bruno if the ride Fair makes economic sense I jumped into one to take it for a ride hello from and see what the hype is all about a few minutes in by chance on our way to to the destination I punched in we approached a construction zone he's giving the slow sign it slowed down navigated the cones and came out the other end without a hitch Ahmed BFA is a professor of engineering at San Jose State the future is driverless all of us knows that it's a matter of when and also a matter of who who will gain dominance in a driverless world it's a very tight robe that they are walking gain the trust gain the the market share before Tesla comes into play before crws come back thanks but it's not full throttle forward for weo just yet as lawmakers unions and First Responders have been critical questioning its safety among other concerns Sano County Supervisor David canipa opposes wh's expansion he wants more data and transparency related to any safety issues near crashes and more we need to put guard rails and that means weo has to communicate uh with police Chiefs Fire Chiefs um they have to Comm unicate with Department of Public Works once once you gain this trust and people are used to it and not afraid of seeing it on their you know on their roads on their streets then it's going to the the human driver will disappear in that case it's going to be really an autonomous driverless cars that's part of the conundrum for Rick galano what could make his commute easier and cheaper one day could come at a cost I can see like Uber drivers and lift drivers losing their jobs because you have automated cars that are moving out there and just like that the driver is out of sight when we asked the company for a timeline weo didn't give us an answer but simply said that the expansion will take time the company told us they will work closely with cities and First Responders to ensure they're offering rides that are safe and accessible San Francisco's Asian-American Community has been often overlooked in City politics up next we introduce you to the community members forcing local leaders to well pay attention and a reminder you stream CBS News Bay Area Wherever Whenever catch all of our live newscast plus news and weather updates throughout the day find us on the free CBS News app on Pluto TV [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] every microclimate is doing something just a little bit different as we head into this afternoon we all did wake up with that may gray but into the afternoon hours we go it clears up fast into our Inland areas with 80s and 70s in sight for us from Santa Rosa over into conquer and Walnut Creek and more 70s down into the Santa Clara Valley but if you live along the coast it's still cool and it's cloudy as we head into this afternoon daytime highs there mostly sitting in the 50s and 60s we're going to see Breezy conditions into the evening hours tonight but notice how there's little day-to-day change heading into the rest of this week's forecast we have an area of high pressure sitting just offshore kind of driving in the stagnant weather pattern so we'll continue to see 70s slowly cool down into the low 70s at least as we head into our weekend forecast in our Inland areas but still partly cloudy skies and no big changes around the corner at least now that may gray is going to stick around though and you'll notice it a lot more if you live along the peninsula or along our Coastline if you live close to the Bay we're topping off in the upper 7 60s this afternoon and throughout the rest of this week and we'll continue to see that as we head into early next week as well [Music] well in San Francisco asian-americans make up 33.7% of the population and despite representing one-third of the city the group has never been considered an important part of the political landscape but that all changed in 2022 when the Asian-American voting block woke up and decided to flex their muscle at The Ballot Box and today we're looking at the two issues that spark this Awakening and how well politicians s have taken notice when Lily hoe walks through San Francisco's Chinatown she sees power in numbers the API Community is 38% of the population of San Francisco so if it's not important it would be a really big problem and when hate became part of the problem for the aapi community it was Lily and other community members who became part of the solution especially during the rise of attacks on elderly Asian seniors it was anger it was frustration hopelessness it was shock like how can this even happen at the time the community felt their concerns were being ignored by then district attorney chasa Budin nobody's representing the victims they believe was not doing enough to protect them it was outrageous that we were seeing it and then allowing it to happen and in 2022 the power of the Asian vote led the charge to recall the former da and that was just the beginning because during the same year that same voting block of asian-americans frustrated with the direction of San Francisco's education system actually insulted the entire Chinese Community sent a clear message by recalling three members of the school board education and Public Safety were two things that that the API Community rallied behind what happened was we succeeded in winning historical recalls against four elected officials Han Lee covers both the aapi community and now politics for the SF standard he says the school board and district attorney recalls changed the political landscape forcing City Hall to take notice this community has become increasingly outspoken and also influential politically candidates from mayor London breed to those looking to win her seat at City Hall you can easily spot them at Asian-American functions courting the Asian American vote and behind the scenes their campaign teams have become more diverse very intentional that they will look for Chinese speaking staffers who who are familiar with the community to do the community outreach other candidates are taking it even one step further for example like Danny sa who's running for district 3 supervisor which includes Chinatown right he's learning cantones for years and now in some of the campaign events or political debate he's showing off his cantones speaking skill as for Lily helping to organize the aapi vote may be an Awakening of her own this past March she recently won an elected position on the Democratic County Central Committee there's still a lot of Voters in the API community that aren't engaged that aren't voting uh that aren't registered to vote inspired to step into the political arena with more work to do to highlight the power of the Asian-American vote the community recognized that elections are extremely important to those things that they cared about but also to amplify the power of representation and we do say the power of the Asian-American vote we should knowe that considerable power lies within the Chinese Community they represent 180,000 of the nearly 300 ,000 residents in the City's aapi community and that power was on display earlier this year we might remember back in February during the Lunar New Year mayor London Bri proposed putting a home center in Chinatown near the North Beach border well the mayor received severe backlash from the Chinese community and considering it was before the Lun year year and it was an election year Well back down in San Jose a new monument is in the works at the city's Vietnamese Heritage Garden and San Jose has the largest Vietnamese community of any City outside of Vietnam take a look at this this was the brown breaking ceremony for the new thank you America monument at the Garden it will be a life-sized statue of Two Soldiers one American One South Vietnamese all in honor the soldiers who fought side by side in the Vietnam War yesterday's groundbreaking was a long time coming the project was funded back in 2019 but was put on hold during the pandemic San Jose is yours and you deserve a place just for you you somewhere with reminders of where you've been and where you have yet to go well the statue is just the start of big plans for the garden the space once completed though will host performances educational programs and other community events coming up in our next half hour in CBS News Bay Area an East Bay Man convicted of murdering his fiance how the suspect gained national attention years before the killing and after a long career in business then a leap into what should have been peaceful retirement a South Bay man ended up starting a new chapter in law enforcement in his 60s we call them to start a new life behind the badge [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm right R Moto this is a minute Pro Palestinian protesters demonstrating outside Google's developer conference in Mountain View this is outside the Shoreline Amphitheater they're calling on the company to cut their project nimbus cloud project which they say has ties to the Israeli military abom Bay City leaders voting today on a propos affordable housing project for Farm Workers or working conditions were brought to light after the deadly mushroom farm shootings Governor Gavin Nome has threatened legal action for delaying the approval of the housing project and San Jose four people have been displaced after a fire at a Buddhist temple broke out around 5:45 last night at Foss Avenue near Interstate 680 in alumrock area no injuries have been reported the cause of that fire is still under investigation I'm Ryan Yamoto and this is the minute [Music] May gray is all around us especially in those early morning hours but into the afternoon of course we see a lot more sunshine in our Inland areas it still stays cool and cloudy along the coast and we're going to see small day-to-day changes as we head into the next couple days thanks to an area of high pressure directly offshore kind of driving in the similar weather pattern for us as we head into the next couple days so all the way into this afternoon notice how those clouds pull back along our Coastline we're left with sunnier skies in our Inland areas from San Jose stretching up into Richmond and conquered a little bit cloudy up into the North Bay this afternoon but other than that it's beautiful and it's dry and that's the big weather story for us day by day we're really not seeing too many changes we continue to see dry conditions into the next couple days into this weekend's forecast as well but as we take a look at our daytime highs all of our microclimates are doing something just a little bit different for example you now know that we're dealing with those Coastal clouds that are going to stick around into the afternoon hours just like yesterday's forecast but it clears up fast into our Inland areas into this afternoon 80s in the forecast for us near Livermore all the way up into Antioch and then we have upper 70s topping off our daytime highs down into the Santa Clara Valley with low 70s along 101 Into the Heart of Redwood City like I said all of us are doing something just a little bit different but on average as we head into the next couple days the daytime highs aren't changing too much more I mean we're still staying in the 70s and 80s as we head into the rest of this week's forecast in our Inland areas cooling down just a little bit more as we get closer to the weekend forecast but if you live closer to the Bay Oak or San Francisco for example we'll see 60s stick around for us into our Friday forecast a similar Trend into this weekend and by next week no change around the corner so we'll keep you updated on that as we head into the next couple days well the family of a law school graduate from Pleasanton has some closure after a conviction in her murdered case The Man Behind Bars is her fiance in a warning some of the details of this case are disturbing police say 27-year-old Rachel Buckner was killed and then dismembered it found her body on the alamina shoreline line last July but the manner in which um Miss Rachel Buckner lost her life was was horrific prosecutors say DNA evidence linked 42-year-old Joseph Roberts to the case police say they were called to their apartment multiple times for welfare checks and domestic violence calls Roberts actually gained national attention in an ABC News Nightline interview back in 2018 he claimed was falsely accused of sexual harassment denied due process and kicked off the campus of Savannah State University in Georgia back in 2013 you're hereby sarily suspended a couple minutes later there was a campus wide email alert with a my picture is almost like a mug shot Robert's Lobby for rollbacks to Obama era Title 9 reforms and in 2020 he was elected to the San Francisco Republican Central Committee now he sits behind bars of waiting his sentencing the sheriff's department Santa Clair County has a new batch of recruits including a retired Tech marketing [Music] executive on most days you'll find this man on the Move working on something even though he retired four years ago I was a marketing executive for uh over 35 years in high-tech but Bob ye is about to come out of retirement and do something quite different from his previous career Reserve deputy sheriff Santa Clara County finishing my business career I felt a different calling Bob says it wasn't an overnight decision he first volunteered as a safety Ambassador in Oakland Chinatown after hearing of attacks on Asian seniors during the pandemic he then organized a workshop to train people on how to use pepper spray to defend themselves he also attended events to support Crime Victims and this journey with um helping the community out advocating for victims of violent crimes has been much more fulfilling for me and I want to continue this journey in law enforcement at 66 years old Bob was the oldest in his Police Academy his youngest colleague was 23 years old since he exercises routinely he says it's good shape and physical health helped them get through the academy rest control techniques we learned about um vehicle operations we learned about shooting after Monday he'll begin months of field training and chances Bob will not be doing felony search warrants or sprinting full speed to chase after bad guys he says he would like to do more community policing where he can use his life experience to engage with the community and businesses he also wants to incorporate more technology to prevent and solve crime so it involves taking a lot of the business skills that I've already have in my prior career and applying them towards law enforcement his wife Joe Etta says she's seen Bob's transformation and that he's much happier in this this new career I actually thought he would have uh a retirement career hobby that was building things I didn't think he would be like building community so I was very pleased to hear that I think it's a a noble thing to be doing well the sheriff's department swore in 66y Old Bob y yesterday he's now a resered sheriff's deputy he told us he wanted to take a more active role in public safety Bob turns 67 next month and get this he wasn't even the oldest well okay let's move on up NEX has started as a way of fighting exclusion now 125 years later San Francisco's Chinese hospital is serving an important role in the community while fighting for every dollar how a boost from the state will help its Mission we need to do whatever we can to uh make sure the hospital uh uh surviv and thrive [Music] [Applause] [Music] taking a look at Future cast that Marine layer pulls its way back along the coast as we head into this afternoon and as we take a look at our daytime high as well we're going to be warming up only into the 60s near San Francisco with upper 50s along the rest the coastline near halfon Bay in Pacifica it's a lot warmer though and a lot more clear as that Marine layer starts to dissipate all the way into our Inland areas 80s in the forecast today near Livermore 70s into Fremont and we're seeing a repeat of yesterday with upper 70s down near San [Music] Jose well Bay Area Hospital is getting a much needed Boost from the state budget Chinese Hospital in San Francisco San Francisco's only independent Hospital is located in the heart of Chinatown they've been they even celebrated their 125th anniversary last week our Kelsey Thor looks back at its importance to the community and its fighting and its fight to keep serving patience and challenging Financial [Music] Times okay this week Marks San Francisco's Chinese Hospital's 25th anniversary it's a milestone CEO Jen Zen says is almost two month Monumental to fully grasp to me Chinese hospital is not just a hospital it's very much so part of our history the hospital was first built back in 1899 Zang says at the time those in the Chinese Community were turned away from other hospitals so that's why that this hospital was built back then and it it was called the Tona dispensary right after it was built and buan it like hit San Francisco Zen says the Chinese were blamed for the spread of Bubonic plague she says the government went so far as to build walls around San Francisco Chinatown trapping the community inside Chinese hospital was the only place they could get treatment Chinese Hospital took care of the sick patients PR you know did the public health work and prevented a huge outbreak sadly just a few years later the hospital was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake the community uh at that time got together and and did fundraising and uh build a real Hospital the new hospital opened in 1925 it served the community for the next 90 years when I talk about Chinese Hospital there's someone in the audience was say oh I was born at Chinese hospital or my dad was born at Chinese Hospital even celebrities were born at the hospital most notably Bruce Lee so he was born here in November 27 1940 as the years have gone by the hospital has only grown in 2012 the 1925 building was demolished to make way for a brand new state-of-the-art building which opened its doors in 2016 you can see the Bay Bridge the the America building and then you can see the koi Tower this new tower was Ground Zero for treating patients during the covid pandemic years where Zang says the community sadly saw themselves again blamed for the spread of disease this time though the hospital had the resources and support to help everyone in the community provide education uh testing contact tracing quarantine linkage of care and a lot of vaccinations but even with all of these successes Zang says keeping the hospital going this long hasn't been easy Chinese Hospital we're serving more than 80% of Medicare and medical patients Zang says since the pandemic the cost of Labor supplies and pharmaceuticals has only increased while the payout from Medicaid and medical has stayed stagnant put it in a simple way that like every dollar we spend we only collect 75 cents that means the hospital Ries significantly on State and private funding one person who has been critical in securing some of that funding is State Assembly member Phil Ting the first 5 million helped with some of the uh upgrades that needed to happen assembly member Ting secured another $5 million in this year state budget that will go towards building a 23 bed Subacute unit in the hospital right now I believe the only Subacute beds that were in San Francisco were at St Luke's uh those have now I think they're have been shut down or in the process of being shut down and so uh right now without Chinese Hospital there are no Subacute beds in San Francisco at a hospital its Investments like this Zang says will help the hospital continue to care for patients long into the future it's really important to the community and so uh we need to do whatever we can to uh make sure the hospital uh uh survive and thrive it's a journey she knows won't always be easy but when Zang says she the hospital and the community are up for this is building well that new unit is set to open in a year Subacute patients usually have an illness or injury that requires more intensive Specialized Care than typical skilled nursing care for example patients may need feeding tubes or ventilators coming up meet a photographer who has his lens locked on a bay area Landmark we're going to show you some of the special moments he's capturing every day on the Golden Gate Bridge [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] every microclimate is doing something just a little bit different as we head into this afternoon we all did wake up with that may gray but into the afternoon hours we go it clears up fast into our Inland areas with 80s and 70s in sight for us from Santa Rosa over into conquer and Walnut Creek and more 70s down into the Santa Clara Valley but if you live along the coast it's still cool and it's cloudy as we head into this afternoon daytime highs there mostly sitting in the 50s and 60s we're going to see Breezy conditions into the evening hours tonight but notice how there's little day-to-day change heading into the rest of this week's forecast we have an area of high pressure sitting just offshore kind of driving in the stagnant weather pattern so we'll continue to see 70s slowly cool down into the low 70s at least as we head into our weekend forecast in our Inland areas but still partly cloudy skies and no big changes around the corner at least now that may gray is going to stick around though you'll notice it a lot more if you live along the peninsula or along our Coastline if you live close to the Bay we're topping off in the upper s 60s this afternoon and throughout the rest of this week and we'll continue to see that as we head into early next week as well well the Golden Gate Bridge is said to be the most photographed bridge in the world but there may be one guy who's taken more pictures of the bridge than anyone else but he told her EAD is not the span itself that he's out to capture it's the stories that unfold on it step onto the Golden Gate Bridge on any given day and you might just become the focus of Jake Ricker's 6- yearlong Obsession November 2017 I came out here one day just by myself just photographing and then I never really left a street photographer or in this case Bridge photographer he's been here every day capturing Life along this iconic Landmark some days it's like a really really sad day and some days it's a really really exciting and positive experience and I think that's what makes it so amazing in the last four years he says he's missed only 20 days snapping an estimated 100,000 photos are there ever days where you don't want to be here yeah I mean all the time I wish I could sleep in I wish I could not be in cold fog and Rain he's here up to 10 hours a day but unlike most people his eye is not on the bridge itself but on what's happening on it you have one second to get it right you can never duplicate that situation again and when you get something out of that I think it's way more magical than anything that can be captured in a studio the bulk of his work is done on film using a compact like a camera over the years he's witnessed everything from car crashes to protests to weddings and something else this span has sadly become famous for there's been days where I've literally stopped or played a role in stopping three or four people from jumping in one day after repeated delays the long awaited Suicide Prevention barrier has finally been completed this month in the last few years Jake estimates he's helped around 90 people either talking them off the ledge or keeping them distracted long enough for a patrol officer to arrive financially speaking however he's barely surviving relying on savings and credit cards to fund his project so far he hasn't been able to monetize it in fact he can't even afford to develop most of his photographs absolutely it's art Kon kronite is an la- based art consultant we asked him to look at some of Jake's photos what he's been able to do is not only capture the activity that's on the bridge but just what happens in our daily lives I think it will touch the emotions of any of anybody that sees it in the meantime Jake says he's not going anywhere if all my financial problems were solved this is still what I would be doing and while he has no idea whether his project will ever see the light of day he'll cross that bridge when he comes to it and there's no shortage of opportunities to capture a snapshot of those stories according to the Golden Gate Bridge District The Landmark attracts more than 10 million visitors each year well thanks for streaming CBS News Bay Area I'm Ryan Yamoto we'll be right back with your first alert forecast and a look at your top stories [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm Roto this is the men of the bay area's WNBA franchise has a name the team will be called the Golden State Valkyries they are now the 13th team in the WNBA marking the first expansion in the league since 2008 the inaugural season begins next year at Chase Center the nhtsa is investigating wh due to crashes involving their self-driving Vehicles Federal investigators received 22 reports of crashing or violating traffic safety laws weo told us they're confident in the safety of their vehicles and are committed to transparency a new campus encampment at San Jose State joining a growing number of them all across the country they're calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for the school to cut any Financial ties with Israel they join others in the Bay Area like UC Berkeley St SF State and Sona state I'm Ryan Yamoto this is the [Music] minute May gray is all around us especially in those early morning hours but into the afternoon of course we see a lot more sunshine in our Inland areas it still stays cool and cloudy along the coast and we're going to see small day-to-day changes as we head into the next couple days thanks to an area of high pressure directly offshore kind of driving in this similar weather pattern for us as we head into the next couple days so all the way into this afternoon notice how those clouds pull back along our Coastline we're left with sunnier skies in our Inland areas from San Jose stretching up into Richmond and Conquer a little bit cloudy up into the North Bay this afternoon but other than that it's beautiful and it's dry and that's the big weather story for us day by day we're really not seeing too many changes we continue to see dry conditions into the next couple days into this weekend's forecast as well but as we take a look at our day time highs all of our microclimates are doing something just a little bit different for example you now know that we're dealing with those Coastal clouds that are going to stick around into the afternoon hours just like yesterday's forecast but it clears up fast into our Inland areas into this afternoon 80s in the forecast for us near Livermore all the way up into Antioch and then we have upper 70s topping off our daytime highs down into the Santa Clara Valley with low 70s along 101 Into the Heart of Redwood City like I said all of us are doing something just a little bit different but on average aage as we head into the next couple days the daytime highs aren't changing too much more I mean we're still staying in the 70s and 80s as we head into the rest of this week's forecast in our Inland areas cooling down just a little bit more as we get closer to the weekend forecast but if you live closer to the Bay Oakland or San Francisco for example we'll see 60 stick around for us into our Friday forecast a similar Trend into this weekend and by next week no change around the corner so we'll keep you updated on that as we head into the next couple days well since the covid-19 pandemic upended Life As We Knew It City's across the country have had to get creative and find new ways to get people back into downtown areas and while it does remain a struggle during the daytime here in the Bay Area there's a change to improve things at night throughout this week we're going to show you how San Francisco Oakland and San Jose are experiencing two realities vastly different than one another our Max Daryl begins with a snapshot of San Francisco the permanence of hybrid work has really been a major challenge for the bay area's major cities especially for San Francisco according to commercial real estate firm CB the q1 office vacancy rate in the city reached nearly 37% while downtown it's not uncommon to hear things like the area is a ghost town but the discussion of office vacancy rates really dominates The Narrative yes it is integral one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle of downtown's recovery but it's not the only one there's about two people here today and that's crowded so perhaps it's just Mary Fitzgerald's bus stop or perhaps it's indicative of the bigger picture in San Francisco hi good morning but her commute across the city to her downtown office is a breeze when she goes to the office that is I'm here two days a week my office is open 3 days in the pre-pandemic world Fitzgerald probably would have done this commute every day working and spending a lot of time downtown but the pandemic induced hybrid work model has stuck around and adapting to that continues to be a challenge for downtown San Francisco during the Monday to Friday work hours at least I think the town's still a little quiet a little sleepy it's like not everyone's in office Monday morning I think randomly Wednesday is now the most crowded day to be in office and to go her assessment is spot on the University of Toronto's School of cities has been tracking downtown recovery progress for several years now by utilizing cell phone data not just office vacancy rates to compare recent population patterns to pre-pandemic numbers and of the Cities they track the downtown San Francisco area remains one of the slowest cores to recover during the Monday to Friday working hours of 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. it's at about 56% of pre-pandemic activity levels Dr Karen Chapel chalks a lot of it up to hybrid work becoming the norm and not a Band-Aid it's a moving Target which is why we have to keep studying it right because it's not it's still in flocks but when the evening rolls around something changes the activity downtown per the cell phone data surges from 56% to 94% of prepandemic activity painting another part of the picture of downtown's recovery like the picture of John constant's experience in Union Square on weekday evenings John's Grill has seen a massive influx of foot traffic locals and tourists alike on this week night please welcome people were in and out of his restaurant all night there were walk-ins to the classic San Francisco restaurant we've never left this location we've been at 63 Alis Street for 116 years but also plenty of reservations on the books I see a lot of business meals here jotted down I see a lot of uh couples and some large parties constant says he noticed things beginning to change last year we actually had one of the best years on record um last year our sales have gone up actually uh here at John's Grill while conston can only speak to his experience I think the bar and restaurant business is uh seeing a major uptick here in the downtown area I talk to people all the time I'm here six to seven days a week and people are asking where do we go next where's the next stop on the list so people are just excited to go out and and experience uh San Francisco and downtown some of them tourists some locals Fitzgerald says on the days she's in the office people stay definitely lingers past you know 5 six at my office just because we don't get together all that often thank you although the workday activity in the downtown area is still slow to recover she says it is slowly but surely trending upwards the streets are definitely a bit more crowded the buses are a bit more crowded in that middle of week kind of point we now have people coming in from like our Marin area or South like South Bay Area Fitzgerald is a fan of the hybrid work model it works well for her however she is aware that it does pose challenges for businesses that once relied on the office crowd but living with that reality she sees this moment as one ripe with opportunity for San Francisco oh it's an incredible place to be I'm happy everyone's getting back and I just can't wait for more people a key ingredient of a comeback a little over a year ago I had a conversation with Dr Chapel about downtown San Francisco's recovery at that point she had said San Francisco seemed to be stuck I asked her if she still thinks that's the case now here's what she said I don't think San Francisco is stuck I think we're seeing the feeds of the of the comeback and we're seeing a hint of what San Francisco will be 10 years from now tomorrow we'll take you to Downtown Oakland where we'll introduce you to a restaurant owner who says opening up for lunch right now just does not make Financial sense but dinner and drinks that's a different ball game well San Francisco is embracing being a nighttime destination it's adding even more events to try to attract more people into the city after hours that includes bangra and beats a lively monthly Night Market featuring South Asian music food and popups the first one this year was held just this past Friday in the financial district you could see it had quite the turnout somewhere in that crowd that's in addition to the Chinatown night markets which happen every second Friday in the historic neighborhood then there's first Thursdays another event on market and Second Street where people can eat drink and dance for free the city is also trying to create more of a party Atmosphere by making part of the financial district of so-called entertainment Zone The Proposal will allow alcoholic drinks to be sold consumed outside on Front Street that's between California and Sacramento it was proposed by mayor lendon breed last week but it still needs approval from the Board of Supervisors in Half Moon Bay the pressure is on ahead of votes tonight that's putting the city in the spotlight even Governor Gavin news is closely watching what happens with a controversial Farm worker housing project the deadly mass shootings at two mushroom Farms last year exposed poor living conditions of the Farm Workers in the coastal city photos show somewhere are the housed in storage sheds but no running water since then Half Moon Bay has been under pressure to build more affordable housing and even Governor Newsome is threatening the city with legal action for delaying the approval of the housing project the 40 unit project would be built in downtown hapon Bay on Kelly Avenue there have been two Marathon hearings with public comment over whether the project is Right fit is a right fit for downtown AR L spoke to Residents there about the debate is now under scrutiny by the state the project to turn this property at 555 Kelly Avenue in Half Moon Bay into a 40 unit housing complex for retired Farm Workers has become a source of frustration for Neighbors like Janette Chang it's just getting railroaded and passed through because of the urgency and because of what happened here year and a half ago and um what they're proposing on that piece of land there I think is too big disagreements over the size of the project and parking have caused delays in a postponement of a vote to approve the project by the city's Planning Commission here I need to spend a little more time thinking through this because but now the political pressure on Half Moon Bay to act just got worse Governor Gavin Nome issued a statement saying quote last year a deadly shooting brought to light the squalid living conditions of Farm Workers in Half Moon Bay rather than do the right thing and approve badly needed housing for the workers who feed us a 40 unit complex for low-income seniors is being stalled by local officials Newsome added that the state could take legal steps to hold the city accountable if the project does not move forward state senator Josh Becker who represents the area said this about the need to move forward uh we've all seen now the conditions some Farm Workers have been living in I've worked to secure $3.2 million from the state along with assembly member Mark Burman and uh we need housing build so I'm really hopeful that the community can come together and find a project that everyone can agree on Pierre batty also lives near the proposed site in Half Moon Bay and says this project is one of many that have faced delays oh there's always been a problem with getting stuff done in this town money politics um some of the locals have told me that they're concerned about parking and traffic and noise and this and that but you know you get that everywhere I don't think it's a problem the city's Planning Commission will once again take up the housing issue at a meeting on Tuesday night last week Sano County Supervisors approved $6 million for the stone Pine Cove project about a mile from downtown that money will go toward purchasing 47 modular homes for Farm Workers including 19 families displaced after the masch shooting and still ahead on CBS News Bay Area is the first week on the job for Oakland's new police chief and some say there won't be much of a honeymoon the issues the community wants him to tackle right away l a new chapter for driverless cars in the Bay Area as wayo expands to the peninsula we give the new commute option a ride and look at the potential obstacles standing in its way and local Asian-American Community while they play an important role in Bay Area politics we're going to take a look at how they're flexing their money musles at The Ballot [Music] [Music] Box I feel lucky to sit with brilliant women every morning who are helping me to level up Body Mind heart and soul there is energy and good mornings and hello how's your day started it's just a really nice Vibe and a really fun way to wake up it's rejuvenating honestly having a team that's excited about news and storytelling it is so fun to laugh and to say look there is a lighter side to life they're like my new best friends wake up with a Morning Edition weekdays on kpix [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] taking a look at Future cast that Marine layer pulls its way back along the coast as we head into this afternoon and as we take a look at our daytime highs well we're going to be warming up only into the 60s near San Francisco with upper 50s along the rest of the coastline near Half Moon Bay in Pacifica it's a lot warmer though and a lot more clear as that Marine layer starts to dissipate all the way into our Inland areas 80s in the forecast today near Livermore 70s into Fremont and we're seeing a repeat of yesterday with upper 70s down near San Jose well the city of Oakland finally has a permanent police chief for the first time in more than a year Chief Floyd Mitchell comes from LEC Texas where he last served as the top comp Wilson Walker spoke to an Oakland resident about what they're hoping to see in the new Chief as he gets to work oh oh my goodness gracious you know besides uh the litter and the robbery you know I've had a lot of employees quit everardo Rodriguez has been frustrated for a while when we first spoke he was lamenting the state of his neighborhood and the crime that has surrounded his business his thoughts on the new police chief I think you know uh we've been needing one you know somebody permanent that we needed one a long time ago and maybe we shouldn't have have had the other one moved you know but it is what it is now so normally you know there will be uh So-Cal hone one period but unfortunately uh you know so uh our situation is so uh needed of him especially our business community so he has hit the ground running or even flying right away Carl Chan is head of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce he too has been sounding alarm bells on crime in recent years and so but in order for him to be successful I think he needs to build uh a good relationship within his department but also within the entire Community from East to West Oakland uh the hill to the Flatland Chan's top concerns

Channel: KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA

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Length: 77min 40sec (4660 seconds)

Published: Wed May 15 2024