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| Bay Window : Home Front: Press Release |
Melting Pot or Pressure Cooker? KQED's BAY WINDOW Looks at the Influx of New Wealth Into the Bay Area and Its Effect on Diverse Communities Grappling With Change
New Documentary "Home Front" Examines How Gentrification Is Altering the Fabric of the Entire Bay Area
San Francisco, CA, August 21, 2001—The San Francisco Bay Area has always drawn its strength, its character and much of its success from the region's phenomenal diversity. A wide array of people with innovative ideas, creativity and backgrounds has fueled incredible economic growth and created countless opportunities for the region. However, with this success have come many new challenges.
The modern-day land rush brought on by an unprecedented economic boom threatens to divide the region along racial, cultural and class lines, and to squeeze out many of the communities which contribute to the area’s diversity. The lack of affordable housing affects everyone—particularly working and middle-class people, communities of color and immigrants. Even some of the most vulnerable residents, such as seniors, children and people with disabilities, face displacement. Many non-profit organizations and artist spaces have already been forced to relocate to more affordable areas, or leave altogether.
Bay Window "Home Front"—premiering Friday, September 7 at 10 p.m. (repeats Sunday, September 9 at 6 p.m.) on KQED Public Television 9—looks at the complicated issues brought on by our prosperity and at the promises and perils affecting the diverse cultural landscape of the Bay Area. The program will focus on two specific Bay Area communities. One is San Francisco's Mission District, a predominantly Latino working-class community that in the last three years has undergone tremendous change in the wake of the city's burgeoning internet economy. The resulting upheaval sparked massive grassroots activism and community coalition building. The second half of the documentary examines the situation in Richmond, California, an industrial city north of Berkeley with significant African-American, Latino and Southeast-Asian communities. Here, change is happening, but at a much more measured pace than in the Mission District, and local government and community leaders are searching for ways to harness growth for the benefit of their citizens.
Reflecting the diversity of the area itself, "Home Front" will speak to a wide range of local residents, community activists and city officials in discussing their views and possible solutions for addressing the threat of unmanaged growth.
Following the Sunday evening broadcast, KQED will host a live chat on the show's engaging, interactive Web site at kqed.org/baywindow. The discussion will give participants the opportunity to ask questions of the documentary maker and weigh in on the dot-com bust with special guest Paulina Borsook, author of Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High-Tech. The Web site also features an interactive "Smart Growth" game testing people's understanding of what makes a livable neighborhood and a "Living Portrait" activity for families to use to create a portrait of their own special neighborhood.
"As a resident of the Mission myself district for many years, I have witnessed an incredible amount of change in my neighborhood and throughout the Bay Area, especially during the frenzy of the economic boom of the past few years," said filmmaker Jennifer Maytorena Taylor. "I am excited about working with KQED to explore these issues which are having a huge impact on the whole region, and to especially look at how these developments are affecting people and communities whose voices often go unheard—particularly low-income residents and people of color."
In addition to the broadcast and live online chat, KQED is hosting a screening and discussion at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond on Wednesday, September 5 at 6 p.m. The event will be preceded by economic development and civic planning workshops and a post-screening panel discussion and reception. The workshops, which begin at 4:30 p.m., will be facilitated by PolicyLink, a national advocacy, research, capacity building, and communications organization. All of the pre-broadcast events are open to the public, but due to limited space, RSVP is required. More information can be obtained by calling (415) 553-2843.
Bay Window, hosted by Scott Shafer, is an award-winning, monthly series exploring issues that affect our lives in the Bay Area and reflect civic life nationwide. Through television, print, the Web and outreach programs, Bay Window engages people in dialogue, convenes critical stakeholders and builds new connections within our communities. Bay Window airs the first Friday of the month.
Bay Window "Home Front" is a co-production of KQED and Specific Pictures. Producer and director is Jennifer Maytorena Taylor. Sophia Constantinou is director of photography; Shirley Gutierrez is editor; Robin Epstein is associate producer. Bay Window executive producer is Sue Ellen McCann. Public engagement for Bay Window "Home Front" is provided by the Active Voice/Television Race Initiative (TRI), a non-profit team that helps groups use social issue television programs and films as tools for community building, citizen engagement and partnership development. KQED Education Network, which inspires learning through innovative understanding, use and creation of media, is providing companion curriculum materials for use in junior and senior high schools to help create classroom dialogue around the issue of gentrification and urban redevelopment.
Bay Window is underwritten by The KQED Campaign for the Future and The James Irvine Foundation, with additional support from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.
KQED operates KQED Public Television 9, the nation's most-watched public television station, and Digital Television 30, Northern California's only public television digital signal; KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM, the most listened-to public radio station in the nation; the KQED Education Network, which brings the impact of KQED to thousands of teachers, students, parents and media professionals through workshops, seminars and resources; and kqed.org, which harnesses the power of the Internet to bring KQED to communities across the Web.
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