Reader advisory: Some accounts of sexual abuse in this story contain explicit details and strong language that some may find upsetting or objectionable.
A
nn West was performing an advanced backbend at a yoga workshop when her teacher came over and stroked her breasts and nipples, she said. He did it, she said, in a way “that could only be described as a caress.”
Her classmates were rolling back and forth -- no one could have seen the alleged groping by the teacher, West said. “I was amazed, shocked," she added. "I came out of the pose. He quickly got up and walked away and then didn't bother me for the rest of the class."
West shared her story in response to a KQED callout for #MeToo accounts in the Bay Area yoga world. An ensuing investigation revealed a range of allegations by seven women against five teachers: from inappropriate massage to a violating touch in class, from drugging to unlawful sex with a minor. KQED found that the yoga community is struggling to rein in this sexual misconduct and abuse in its ranks. Some experts believe the lack of oversight of teachers and schools is adding to the problems of an industry experiencing explosive growth, where touch and trust are a fundamental part of the practice.
The women are telling their stories amid a global outcry and reckoning over sexual misconduct and abuse -- the #MeToo movement -- at the highest levels of political office and in many industries, such as film, media and food. The growing number of accounts has forced many businesses and sectors to examine their codes of conduct, reporting processes and handling of bad actors.
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In yoga, experts and leaders say, that soul-searching is only beginning.
West, 50, said initially she was in denial about the November 2013 incident in San Diego -- she felt “psychologically shackled” to Iyengar yoga and kept attending classes with San Francisco-based Manouso Manos. Later, she was afraid to come forward with the allegation: afraid she’d be shunned by the Iyengar community for accusing a famous instructor and afraid it would hurt her livelihood as a yoga teacher of nearly two decades.
But that changed in 2015, when West alleged she saw Manos verbally abuse two students in class (which he denied through a spokesman). Though it wasn’t sexual abuse, seeing the experience of the other students was a wake-up call for her to finally distance herself from that world, she said. Then, in 2016, she read a 1991 news article that compelled her to go public: It said Manos had groped students in the 1980s.
A Flood of #MeToo Stories in Yoga
"W
e are, I believe, just beginning to see the impact on the yoga community of this #MeToo moment,” said Shannon Roche, chief operating officer of Yoga Alliance, a voluntary registry believed to be the industry’s largest credentialing body. “There is a long history of sexual misconduct and of abuse-of-power situations in the yoga community. We also know that, like many other communities, yoga has many times tried to keep those stories in the family.”
Some of those stories became public in December 2017 when a well-known yoga teacher and activist, Rachel Brathen, also known as Yoga Girl, released more than 300 accounts she received in response to a callout for #MeToo incidents. They included rape, groping, inappropriate touching, assault and harassment.
“Everybody knows that there are all these allegations out there. Why are these men still gracing the covers of yoga magazines? Why are they still headlining festivals? Why are they still out there leading teacher trainings, telling young women how to enter this practice?” Brathen told KQED. “It's very, very infuriating.”
To date, Brathen has received between 500 and 1,000 #MeToo stories worldwide. The most stories she got from the U.S. were about incidents that happened in California, while New York was second.
In nearly half of the accounts, an attacker wasn’t named; but in those that did, some named the same teacher, said Brathen. Following legal advice, she removed details that could ID the accused.
The #MeToo stories “shattered the yoga world,” wrote Yoga Journal. Roche said the accounts were “heartbreaking.”
A thread through many of them was “that teachers would take advantage of the inherent power dynamic in the teacher-student relationship,” she said, leaving students feeling “exploited and taken advantage of.”
Some cases of sexual abuse involving high-profile yoga teachers have gone public, such as that of Bikram Choudhury, founder of the California-based Bikram Yoga empire who was accused by multiple women of rape (he was never charged), according to The Associated Press, and that of the now-deceased Krishna Pattabhi Jois, who popularized Ashtanga yoga and was accused by nine women of sexual assault. Many others remain shrouded in secrecy and so-called whisper networks.
Yoga Alliance, formed in the late 1990s, issued a new sexual misconduct policy and procedures for handling these cases earlier this year, but the group declined to share the number of such complaints it had previously received.
“It's (yoga) been a bit of a hunting ground,” said Matthew Remski, a yoga teacher, trainer and culture critic who has written about sexual abuse in the community. “Because of the dominance hierarchies, the pedagogy, the implied consent -- the general sense that the practitioner is there to have their body perfected or to perfect their body and that they are going to submit or surrender to the instructions so that can be so.
“Those have been dominant themes,” he added. “And you know, sexual assault is about power -- it's not about sex.”
‘Anyone Can Be a Teacher’
T
he yoga industry has experienced dramatic growth in the U.S.: Over 36 million people practiced nationwide in 2016, skyrocketing from 16.5 million in 2004, according to the Yoga in America Study. Yoga was a $16 billion industry in 2016, shooting up from $10 billion in 2012.
Yoga Alliance said as of Aug. 31, it had nearly 92,000 registered yoga teachers -- surging from 9,700 in 2004 -- and 6,355 registered yoga schools, jumping from 280 that same year.
But that growth has not been accompanied by much oversight.
Yoga teachers aren’t licensed in the U.S. (In some states like Oklahoma, instructors of teacher training programs have their qualifications approved as part of a school’s licensure). No state agency, such as a medical board, oversees instructors, disciplines or investigates them, or defines their practice.
Roche said that, to her knowledge, there is no federal regulation of yoga.
“Anyone can be a yoga teacher. Anybody could just open a studio and start teaching yoga. They don't have to have any credentials whatsoever. They could have read a book on yoga,” said Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D. and physical therapist, who has been teaching yoga in the Bay Area since 1972.
“There is no accountability, professional accountability of yoga teachers in the United States,” she added. “All you need to be a yoga teacher in the United States of America is students.”
Laura Camp, owner of Flying Studios in Oakland, said the yoga industry was in its adolescence.
“It's almost like, I'm going to say, snake-oil salesmen -- you know, before medicine was codified in the Old West -- and people could just put a shingle up and say I do this,” Camp said. “The seminal crisis of this industry right now is sexual abuse and that has to stop.”
Oversight does exist in a few states. Minnesota, Oklahoma, Washington and Wisconsin actively regulate yoga teacher training programs, according to Yoga Alliance and a KQED analysis. California typically regulates schools that offer such programs as part of a broader portfolio of study -- currently, that number stands at about 15, according to the state’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education.
Potential harms of government oversight include the burden of fees and rules on the industry’s many small businesses, Yoga Alliance said. And though licensing may serve “as a form of quality assurance,” defining what a yoga teacher must teach would exclude some practices and “stifle creativity,” the group said.
When asked if this stance reflected the position of the new Yoga Alliance leadership, which came onboard in May 2017, the group said it was refining its stance but generally opposed regulation specifically targeting the practice or teaching of yoga.
Leading yoga experts were split on government oversight.
“Regulation and oversight would have consequences for people who have been truly doing not just unethical behavior but what is actually illegal behavior with their student,” said Lasater, whose credentials include C-IAYT (IAYT certified yoga therapist) and E-RYT-500 (experienced registered yoga teacher, 500 hours of training). “A lack of credentialing creates an arena where almost anything goes, from dangerous adjustments, to teachers with little or no training, to the possibility of major boundary crossings -- sexual, physical and emotional.”
Roche said she didn’t think a lack of government oversight had left the door open to sexual misconduct, but thought Yoga Alliance not having a scope of practice and an updated code of conduct in place -- it’s working on both now -- did.
“In its earlier years, Yoga Alliance maybe did fall a little bit short,” she said. “I don't think anybody envisioned that it would become ... in lieu of government regulation, the self-regulating body for the industry.”
Some dispute that it is: Adhering to any Yoga Alliance standards, codes, guidelines for teacher training programs -- even registering with the group -- is voluntary.
“It doesn't matter if you have a certificate to teach yoga if ... you cannot be prevented from teaching,” Lasater said. “You see what a mess it is? It's a mess.”
Many studios and teachers elect to opt out of the Yoga Alliance world, said Gary Kissiah, a lawyer, yoga philosophy teacher and author. “Teachers can certainly open yoga studios and teachers can teach without having any association with Yoga Alliance.”
Kissiah, who in January published a guide for studios on dealing with sexual misconduct, said he was skeptical that government regulation could solve the problem and felt effective change would come from the ground up. A first step: educating students about what is proper conduct by teachers.
"These teachers basically conned them into thinking it’s part of their spiritual development, a part of the spiritual practice, a part of the tradition -- all these sorts of things,” he said.
Kissiah wrote in his guide that yoga could be lost if “we allow it to collapse into ethical and sexual scandals, watered-down physical education classes and commercial exploitation.”
“If this fire just keeps burning out of control, at some point, the states are going to say we need to step in here and do something,” he told KQED.
‘I Wish I Had Come Forward. ... He’s Still Doing This’
C
harlotte Bell attended a yoga workshop for back pain in San Francisco in February 1988 at the Iyengar Yoga Institute. She said it included a who’s who of teachers, Manos among them.
Bell, then 32, was doing a variation of downward dog: In the pose, a practitioner’s chest is parallel to the floor -- with their legs shooting straight down from their hips -- and their hands on the wall.
That’s when, Bell said, Manos groped her.
“He came up to me from behind, put his hands on my collarbone and swept his hands over my whole front body right over my breasts,” she said. “I was stunned at first. It was like, ‘What? Did he really just do that?’ And then immediately -- because I was this starry-eyed newer student and he's this well-known and well-respected teacher -- immediately I started doubting it.”
Manos did not recognize nor was he familiar with Bell, his spokesman said. No complaint was ever filed, he said, and Manos denied that any adjustment he may have made was inappropriate.
Bell said she buried the incident, but in fall 1989 she heard rumors about other sexual misconduct allegations against Manos -- some that became the subject of a 1991 expose in West, a now-defunct magazine then published by the (San Jose) Mercury News.
Allegations had first surfaced against Manos in 1987. He told a representative of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco that it wouldn’t happen again, wrote reporter Bob Frost.
More allegations were reported in 1989 and the institute suspended him from teaching in October of that year, Frost wrote. (Frost said there were no corrections to the article in which he quoted Manos as saying: “Though there are inaccuracies in the statements made in this article I do recognize the gravity of the subject matter.”) No criminal charges were filed against Manos, Frost wrote. KQED didn’t find any civil or criminal charges either.
B.K.S. Iyengar, who is “universally acknowledged as the modern master of yoga,” according to the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States (IYNAUS), asked the community to forgive Manos, Frost wrote. In October 1990, the S.F. institute’s board of directors voted to reinstate him, Frost wrote.
A spokesman for Manos said the West article was inaccurate, saying Manos wasn’t suspended but voluntarily left (he said he didn’t know the reason for his departure) and didn’t seek reinstatement but was invited to return. He also said Manos denied past and current allegations of sexual misconduct. He didn’t know why Manos hadn’t sought a correction to Frost’s article if he believed there were inaccuracies.
Lasater, who said she was on the board of directors at the time, told KQED she resigned from it after the vote. She said she personally knew of up to five allegations against Manos -- and that she was in a room where he admitted to the sexual misconduct.
“I had a board member’s responsibility to keep our students safe,” she said. “I wasn’t convinced ... that this wasn’t going to happen again.”
West filed a police report in March 2018; the San Diego Police Department said it determined the incident to be a misdemeanor. The case was not forwarded to the city attorney for prosecution because it fell outside the statute of limitations, police said.
West also filed a complaint against Manos with IYNAUS, in which she included corroborating statements from four people who she’d told over the years about the alleged incident. When KQED asked Manos for comment about West’s allegations, his representative shared his May 15 statement to IYNAUS.
“I have devoted 42 years of my life to teaching and educating tens of thousands of students in a professional and ethical manner,” he wrote. “I categorically deny Ms. West’s allegations, but still feel horrible that a student of mine has these feelings.”
Manos said West was a student over many years: “It does not make sense to me why she would continue to take my classes if she supposedly felt uncomfortable.”
“I am shocked that any adjustment I may have provided to Ms. West in a classroom filled with 50 students has been characterized by her as an ‘assault’ of a sexual nature,” he said, noting that he asks students if he can touch them before making any hands-on adjustments. “That is a very serious accusation and one I do not take lightly.”
Bell, 63, a yoga teacher and writer/editor who lives in Salt Lake City, said she wrote about the alleged groping in 2013 and 2017. But she never named Manos, thinking he’d taken responsibility and wasn’t doing it anymore, nor did she file a police report or complaint with a yoga body.
“I didn't come forward until now -- until I found out that indeed he was still doing this and the incident was strikingly similar to what happened to me,” she said.
Bell said another person in the yoga community connected her to West.
“Damn, I wish I had come forward” sooner, she said. “When I heard her story, I felt like, wow, he's still doing this, and maybe I could have helped. So I felt bad ... that I didn’t say anything all those years.”
West wasn’t upset with Bell for not saying anything -- but she was upset with the national Iyengar yoga association (IYNAUS).
“They knew that he'd been at this" for decades, West said. “We weren't forewarned that essentially this predator was in our midst and we weren't able to make an informed decision as to whether or not we were even going to walk into his class. ... Why didn't we all know about this?”
A third woman told KQED Manos slipped his hands inside her bra and massaged her breasts while she was in a resting pose during a 1986 class in New York – an account shared in the Frost article. She wrote California Iyengar yoga leaders in 1990 after she learned Manos would attend an upcoming convention in San Diego despite the sexual misconduct allegations.
Bonnie Anthony, chair of the convention’s coordinating committee, replied in a May 7, 1990, letter, saying she was “willing to give him this one more chance.”
“It was our recommendation to Mr. Iyengar (and he agreed) to keep Manouso in a low profile at the Convention,” Anthony wrote. “Manouso has a problem, much like alcoholism. He has openly admitted it to Mr. Iyengar and to others and is in therapy, along with his wife, Rita.”
KQED contacted Anthony, sharing with her the May 7 letter plus one the woman sent in response dated May 27 and an earlier one to Lasater from April 18, 1990. Anthony replied: "The matter re: Manouso was settled many years ago and I have nothing additional to add to the record."
Manos' spokesman denied the 1986 allegation and said he doesn't have anything to say about the letter.
IYNAUS declined to answer KQED’s questions about its current Manos investigation or past allegations involving him, citing confidentiality.
When asked about the San Francisco Iyengar institute’s handling of the previous allegations against Manos, Brian Hogencamp, president of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Northern California, said he did not know or have additional information to make a comment. Manos is not a teacher at the S.F. institute; he plays an unpaid, external, advisory role to the teachers of one program, Hogencamp said.
Donna Farhi, a yoga instructor since 1982 who was on the board of Yoga Journal in the late 1980s, said by email that the publication got letters around that time from several women, unknown to each other and from different states, alleging Manos had “sexually molested” them in class.
“We made the decision not to feature him in the magazine, or to allow his name to appear in any advertising that might be purchased by someone hosting him,” said Farhi, who is helping Yoga Alliance draft a code of conduct for teachers and is an author of five books, including one on ethics for yoga teachers.
Farhi said she knew of West’s and Bell’s allegations, and they showed how students could be abused in class.
“When students are in positions where they can’t even see each other, it’s almost impossible for these women to get substantive evidence from others that these incidents did indeed happen,” she said.
'We’re Not the Yoga Police'
W
hen sexual misconduct or abuse does happen in yoga, people don’t have many ways to report it -- except for going to the police.
In a December 2017 post sharing her #MeToo experience of being sexually assaulted by a teacher, international yoga instructor Kino MacGregor said she reported the attack to Yoga Alliance.
“They replied with a standardized email saying that they could take no action. It made me so mad because it felt like there was no accountability in the yoga world,” she wrote.
Roche said it was awful to see Yoga Alliance being called out in that story, but added, “I'm glad she did.” The group separated policies for handling sexual misconduct from other grievances; Roche said they needed to be treated with more sensitivity and care.
“We are not law enforcement, unfortunately,” she added, echoing a line in a video to the membership in which she said, “We’re not becoming the yoga police.”
“We don't have the same resources that they do, and so we won't be able to take the same kind of action that law enforcement would,” she told KQED.
The national Iyengar yoga association, which formed in 1991, investigates complaints of ethical violations, including sexual misconduct, said Manju Vachher, chair of the group’s ethics committee.
The committee recommends sanctions to the executive council, if necessary, Vachher said. Information is shared with the parties involved and occasionally with the executive council.
“Your interest in exploring how the yoga community is responding to the ‘Me Too Movement’ is important,” Vachher said in an email. “I am not able to do an interview or discuss any cases due to the confidentiality issues. During and after any investigative process, we uphold strict standards of privacy for all parties ...”
Vachher declined to answer questions about the number of complaints made against Manos to IYNAUS since the late 1980s allegations arose and how many teachers the group has sanctioned over sexual misconduct complaints (and what the sanctions are for such violations).
West doesn’t think the committee can be an independent arbiter of Manos, who is on the association’s senior council.
“They're just one arm of an organization -- the same organization giving him these accolades and awards,” she said.
'He Felt That I Needed to Feel More Into My Body’
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fter moving to Oakland from L.A. in 2016, Deisha Smith had left some business problems behind and was looking to make friends in her new home. She thought yoga teacher training would be one way to do that.
At first, Smith said things felt great: Her mentor at Piedmont Yoga in Berkeley and Oakland, Zubin Shroff, dubbed her the “minister of joy” for sharing uplifting news items. After her one-on-one sessions began with Shroff in fall 2016, however, things took a turn: She said he had her meet him at his West Berkeley condo, where they discussed personal things about her life -- rarely yoga. Finding the experience odd, she eventually stopped going.
After a short break, Smith said, Shroff reached out, saying they should restart the sessions. And, she should let him give her a massage.
“He felt that I needed to feel more into my body and that would involve him doing massage. Shiatsu massage. I've never had shiatsu massage,” said Smith, 40, who works in financing and funding for small businesses. “I didn't even look it up -- but that's how trusting I was of the situation.”
Smith said the sessions in February and March 2017 were “all massage that got increasingly uncomfortable,” on a futon mattress. Unlike before, there was no conversation. They were both clothed.
"In the fifth (final) session, he spent the majority of the time massaging my butt and groin,” she said in a June 2017 statement to the Berkeley Police Department. “He literally massaged my butt and innermost part of my groin, as close as he could possibly be without physically touching my actual vagina.”
She thought the shiatsu was “extremely weird and uncomfortable, but just part of the procedure,” she said in her police statement. “He was my instructor so the last thing I expected was for him to do anything inappropriate."
When asked about Smith’s allegation, Shroff said in an email that he did not touch anyone inappropriately. In that same correspondence dated March 1, Shroff said he was no longer the studio’s director and noted it was “the end of a prolonged transition phase” where he had “been stepping back from directing the studio and teaching.” (Piedmont Yoga is a storied Bay Area yoga institution that has a checkered past with one of its founders, Rodney Yee, marrying a student and having sexual relationships with other students, according to various media reports.)
Smith wasn’t the only student getting massage from Shroff: Sarah Shimazaki said she had about 10 shiatsu sessions at Shroff’s condo starting in March 2017, paying about $40 for each one. She said the shiatsu was a “positive” experience that helped her where talk therapy hadn’t, and Shroff never touched her inappropriately.
Another student, who didn’t want to be identified, said Shroff told her during a one-on-one session at his condo in December 2016 that he offered shiatsu “at no cost” to students. She declined and said she later wondered, “ ‘Why is he offering me a free massage?’”
“I thought he was creeping on the people he was attracted to or the people who somehow appeared to be vulnerable,” she said.
Smith reported the massage to two teachers in the program and to the police. One of the teachers, Leslie Howard, told police she didn’t know Shroff was offering massage to students, nor had she heard of him providing massage sessions to any other students.
When she asked him about the massage, Howard said Shroff told her: “I totally get it, I won't do this anymore.”
“My thought, my feeling about Zubin is his heart is in the right place,” Howard said. “He has let so many people who can't afford yoga programs do the program for little to no money.”
Howard also said that when she asked Smith if Shroff had touched her inappropriately, Smith said “no.”
Shroff was a certified ohashiatsu consultant from 2011-13, according to the New York-based Ohashi International Ltd, which also said he graduated from the institute’s six-level curriculum program.
But Shroff didn’t have a license to perform massage in Berkeley, said Matthai Chakko, assistant to the city manager. Nor was he certified with the California Massage Therapy Council (which said such ohashiatsu credentials would not qualify someone to get certification with the organization).
California doesn’t have state licensing for massage, but the vast majority of its cities and counties have massage therapy ordinances. While certification with CAMTC is voluntary, cities are required by state law to accept it.
Berkeley authorities opened a code enforcement case regarding Shroff’s lack of massage and business licenses. In late June, Shroff was sent a notice of violation, which serves as a warning to encourage compliance, Chakko said.
“At the scheduled site inspection this week at his Berkeley condo, Mr. Shroff stated he has relinquished his part-ownership with Piedmont Yoga and no longer conducts any business within the City. Code Enforcement verified that his unit is vacant and actively listed for sale,” Chakko wrote on July 20.
“The case is now closed,” Chakko said. “Should new information arise, or if we find future violations with his involvement, we will pick up where we left off.”
Chakko said Shroff wasn’t penalized over the zoning violation, noting it was the city’s initial contact and the goal is to bring people into voluntary compliance.
Berkeley police forwarded Smith’s case with a charge of misdemeanor sexual battery to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, which declined to prosecute.
Howard recalled Smith as a student who didn’t participate as much in the beginning of the program but got more engaged over time.
“She did a stellar job in her student teaching class. ... I was just like, ‘Wow,’” Howard said. But when Howard went to Shroff to advocate for Smith at one point, she said he told her Smith wasn’t “participating in his class at all.”
Shimazaki said Shroff told her about the police investigation in June 2017; the next month, she said, he spoke with her and others about transferring the business to them. In early August 2018, Shimazaki said Shroff would be transferring the business to her and another student, though it wasn’t yet complete; she said he would assist as an adviser. On Friday, she said she wouldn’t be taking over. Shroff didn’t reply to an inquiry last week about who owned the business.
The transfer had nothing to do with Smith’s allegation, Shroff said.
Smith closes her police statement saying: “I do not want this to happen to anyone else. It was as though he was taking advantage of his role as the instructor to engage in the inappropriate massage.”
‘We Cannot Rely on Karma Alone’
S
ome people become dedicated to yoga “at a time of a lot of disruption in their life,” making it imperative that studios offer a safe space for students to practice, said Sarah Herrington, program administrator for the yoga studies program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
To help do that, Roche said Yoga Alliance was recommending studios set up reporting processes. That’s what Kissiah, the lawyer and yoga philosophy teacher, thinks will make an impact -- but right now is “absolutely lacking.”
Studios should have a code of conduct and a hotline or an email address where students can contact an independent ethics committee, he said. “That recommendation is really nothing other than applying what's very common in corporate America to the world of yoga studios.”
“What most studios have done is either nothing or they have referred to the ethical code in the Yoga Sutras,” which is general and doesn't provide “guidance in the modern context,” he said. “Often what happens is one of these situations arises and there's this huge panic because they simply don't have the structure or the means to deal with it.”
Herrington urged studios to post a code of ethics and have a place to report abuse. “We cannot rely on karma alone,” she wrote in a 2017 New York Times op-ed.
For Smith, such a reporting process didn’t exist -- and it’s part of the reason she wanted to share her story: to push for this kind of change. Her alleged assailant also was the head of the studio, complicating her reporting of his behavior.
Shroff said mediation was offered and he would have attended; Smith said she was initially interested but changed her mind due to her experience in college after she was raped. She said she didn't get anything from mediation then and questioned if the teachers would take on the person paying them.
West had the same concerns.
“I felt if I went against Manos I would be going against a big organization ... against the Iyengar family themselves” because of his close ties to B.K.S. Iyengar, the founder of Iyengar, West said. “There will be a sense of betrayal. ... that I'm betraying Iyengar yoga and I'm betraying the Iyengar family.”
‘It Was a Bloodbath’
S
ome people in the yoga community have taken a hard stand on dealing with sexual misconduct.
Camp, owner of Flying Studios in Oakland, has twice fired teachers over sexual harassment allegations, which almost put her out of business -- both times.
“There was a huge backlash and a huge loss of income and a huge loss of community,” she said after the first dismissal. “Open letter on my Facebook about how I needed to hire this person back or these students would never come back. It was a bloodbath. And then it happened again.”
Lisa Maria, a yoga instructor in the Bay Area who has written about sexual misconduct in the community, said studios have removed teachers from the schedule following complaints.
“In my experience, this seems to be getting better,” Maria said. “People are much more willing to talk about it now, and I think people are seeing responses from studios about it.”
SoulPlay Festivals, which organizes events around yoga, dance, personal growth and more, stresses safety, touch and consent at its gatherings: Presenters offer frequent reminders about it, the group has an online form to report misconduct, and staff are on site to handle allegations, said Romi Elan, founder and CEO of SoulPlay Festivals.
“It's that feeling of safety ... is what allows people to open up, open themselves up to having a very profound and deep experience,” he said.
Other studios and groups haven’t adopted such strategies.
Sometimes studio owners won't do anything about teachers accused of sexual misconduct because they’re a popular instructor, said Lasater. Or if they do fire them, “then the teacher just goes down the road and teaches somewhere else,” she said.
“Yoga teachers can reinvent themselves over and over and over again because of the ability to move from place to place,” Lisa Maria said.
Some students have left their studio -- or even given up the practice of yoga -- after misconduct or abuse. The latter was the case for some of the women who responded to KQED’s callout for #MeToo stories.
Herrington said she stopped attending classes taught by her favorite teacher after he began sending her sexually explicit messages on social media.
“Often what happens is that the student disappears and goes to another community. You lose your community. Because if somebody is running the show, and they're doing the misuse of power, where are you going to go?” she said.
The only thing that can stop a teacher who is sexually abusing students is if the studio owner takes action or if the victim goes the legal route, said Lasater. “They (the victim) have to be the one that shoulders all the burden,” she said.
And yet there’s not much that law enforcement can do: Most sex assault cases don’t make it into the criminal courts, said Kristen Houser, a spokeswoman at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
The challenge for prosecutors in pursuing these cases can be convincing jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime occurred, especially when there aren’t other witnesses -- if it happened one on one, which could trigger a “he said/she said” scenario, said Mary Ashley, an assistant district attorney in San Bernardino County whose work has included sexual battery cases.
“It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” she said. Even if “a jury says, ‘Well, I kind of believe her but I don't totally disbelieve him,’ the law at least criminally will say you have to give favor to the defendant.”
‘This Happened to Me, and I’m a Teacher’
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eaving yoga has been a heartbreaking consideration for Eka Ekong, a yoga teacher in Marin County, over the last year.
It began, she said, with an unwelcome remark.
Ekong, 42, of San Rafael, was taking a class in November 2017 at the studio where she worked. She’d just taken her sweatshirt off when the teacher, Allan Nett looked at her, she recalled, and said: “This is what I get to look at the whole time.” (Nett denied saying that, noting he said, “Now I can see you” -- meaning it would help him give her correct adjustments. He said he had no intention of objectifying her body or being sexual.)
The comment unnerved Ekong, she said, but she continued with the practice -- though later, she said, he adjusted her legs while she was in the lunge pose of Warrior 2.
“He came behind me and put his hands on my legs close to my genitals and he abruptly pulled my legs apart,” she said. “I came out of the pose. I tried to kind of neutralize or equalize because I could feel something was off.” (Nett said given his stature -- 5-foot-3, 120 pounds -- and that at the time he was awaiting an open heart operation, he didn’t have the strength, energy or size to “abruptly” pull her legs apart.)
Something was off: According to medical records, Ekong's doctor found she’d sustained a leg/groin injury, suffering bruising and soft tissue injuries. A week after the alleged assault, her doctor wrote, she had “significant swelling and several very tender areas where the instructor’s hands were placed as well as the surrounding tissues.”
Nett, 72, said he asks permission from students before he touches them, and Ekong said she had given him the OK earlier in the class to make adjustments.
“I put one hand just above the knee on the inner thigh and the other hand above the knee on the outer thigh ... to demonstrate and have the student feel the rotation that the pose requires to bring the hips into alignment,” he said. “So I've got hands above her knee -- one hand on the inside, one hand on the outside -- and I've got a good grip there and I'm starting to roll that thigh backwards.”
He said he “thought that she understood the action that I was asking for in the pose as she came up. There was not any kind of indication that she injured herself or that there was injury going on.”
As of today, Ekong said she still can’t practice yoga. She said she goes weekly to physical and trauma therapies, and sees her doctor every few weeks.
“There are some days my body just hurts,” she said. “And really basic things are not so basic.” Like putting on shoes. Walking. Straightening her legs. It has also been hard to sit, including cross-legged -- one of the most common poses in yoga.
The emotional wounds run deep, too, for Ekong, who began practicing in 1999 and teaching in 2006.
“Every day, my close friends, students and peers, they ask me, how are you healing? I don’t know what to tell them,” she wrote to the national Iyengar yoga association.
“How do I tell them at some moments I’m OK and then I’m in tears. How do I explain that this morning I was so angry that I wanted to scream out loud, that I wonder if I’ll ever be able to practice yoga asana again or feel safe as a student in the yoga studio? That I wonder daily if I still want to be a teacher and part of a larger systemic issue that elevates the teacher and lessens the wisdom of the student,” she continued in the letter.
“I don’t know if it involves teaching, but yoga will always be a part of my life. But I can’t say what that looks like,” she said. “There’s some part of me that has been taken away that I’m still trying to find again.”
Nett, an instructor of more than 25 years who hasn’t been teaching recently due to his surgery, said he was let go from the studio, which KQED isn’t naming due to Ekong’s concern that it’s her place of employment. The studio said it could not comment on specific employee matters.
“All I can say is, 'Gee whiz, I'm sorry that you got injured in my class.’ But I think there's more to this story than anybody's ever going to know,” he said in an hour-long phone call with KQED, adding that he felt there were enough “little inconsistencies” in Ekong’s description of the injuries that “I really question the truth of it all."
“As she has described it, I find it difficult to accept that she was injured. It was possibly a pre-existing weakness, combined with the strong posture of Warrior II that strained,” he said. But he also noted: “There's certainly some truth in it and I'm not saying that she was not injured.”
About five years ago, Nett said one of his students complained about inappropriate touch (not of a sexual nature; she just didn’t want to be touched) to a studio owner in Oakland: “I took it to heart,” he said, and modified his behavior.
Touch is an important part of learning, Nett said: “By moving a muscle manually the body understands it, and you don't have to think about it." But he has decided to stop offering adjustments.
“This has been traumatic. And I'm sure it's traumatic for her,” he said.
Immediately after the incident, Ekong withdrew from her friends and yoga community. She said she felt like she was wearing a scarlet letter “A,” was somehow to blame for what happened, and that her studio was no longer her home.
Then, she knew she had to speak out. She contacted the studio, Central Marin police and the national Iyengar yoga association.
“I think it’s important that you know this is happening, because if this happened to me and I’m a teacher, imagine what’s really happening and people aren’t saying anything,” she recalled telling the studio.
She and Nett said IYNAUS is reviewing her complaint (the group declined to comment about the case, citing confidentiality).
The Central Marin police said in an email that there was no mention of sexual assault when Ekong’s report was made, and since it “was not criminal in nature,” it did not meet the criteria for referral to the DA. The matter, police said, was left to the studio to handle; Ekong said she intends to file a supplemental report to police.
‘Most Victims Don’t Report’
H
oward, one of the teachers in the Piedmont Yoga training program, wanted to know why Deisha Smith hadn’t told her about the alleged inappropriate touch by director Zubin Shroff when she reported the massage and when Howard said she had specifically asked about it.
“I was completely uncomfortable and I was still dealing with the fact that he did not vaginally insert me. He 'just touched me,'” Smith said.
A number of the women who contacted KQED with their stories didn’t report right away to law enforcement or others what happened -- or only partially reported it.
Such behavior isn’t unusual: When sexual misconduct is reported, partial or delayed reporting -- or inconsistencies in such reports -- are “the norm and it should be expected,” said Houser.
“Through our eyes, that bolsters the validity of complaints,” she added. Few people make prompt complaints, include all of the details, and consistently tell it the same way. “That's not how traumatic events are processed and stored in our bodies and in our brains.”
While 81 percent of women and 43 percent of men in the U.S. reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime, only one in 10 women -- and one in 20 men -- filed an official complaint or report to an authority figure, including a police report, according to a January 2018 Stop Street Harassment online survey of 2,000 people.
Most victims don't report, or hold off doing so, for a variety of reasons. But they “all fall under the large umbrella of: They don’t trust the rest of us to respond appropriately,” said Houser.
Those reasons, she said, include fear of being disbelieved, blamed or having their privacy violated through gossip. Some people fear repercussions in their home life or their social circles, which often include the assailant.
“People often keep it to themselves, not to mention it's a very confusing thing when somebody that you know and trust violates that trust,” Houser said.
When asked what was holding people back from reporting abuse in yoga, Brathen said: “I think the biggest piece is fear of being alienated from this community that means so much to us.” That community built through yoga, she said, is “sacred” and such an “important part of the practice.”
‘I Trusted Yoga So I Trusted Him’
“A
re you 18 years old? Holy shit.” That was the first message a Bay Area teenager said that her yoga teacher sent to her.
She was then 17, in the summer before her first year in college; he was twice her age. She said she had a crush on him and thought he liked her, too.
Over the next few months, she said her teacher groomed her to have sex with him: In a number of text messages, he said he had something to tell her, but to do that, they had to meet in person and in private. (The teenager, who didn’t want to be identified out of concerns for her privacy and safety, shared the Facebook and text messages with KQED).
“He wanted to meet me alone so he could explain why everything had to be so secretive and he would always say it will all make sense once we get to chat in person,” she said. “I am a kid but I'm not dumb. And I knew the obvious reasons, which were that you don't want people to think that you fuck your students and I'm really young.”
One of his text messages read: “I know I sound like some kind of criminal or something but it would be great if we could hang out in a place that is not so public.” Another one read: “Any place that is low key so we aren’t seen.”
Early on, she expressed reservations about connecting outside the classroom. She’d blossomed in yoga: It helped ease her anxiety and made her feel safe, capable and independent. “I was convinced that I wanted to be a yoga teacher. It was my whole thing,” she said. “I considered it a big defining part of who I was.”
But he assured her, in text messages, that she could keep coming to classes.
Eventually, they did meet outside the studio -- a week before her 18th birthday.
She said he invited her to a bar in a quiet Bay Area community, where he bought her several drinks (she had a fake ID), and then he took her to a hotel, where they smoked hashish. She recalled being “very intoxicated and a little woozy” before they had sex.
In a nearly two-hour interview with KQED, the teacher said he didn’t have sex with her and that he left her with two of his friends in the hotel room whom he declined to identify; the police report said it was clear from the text messages that the pair did have a sexual relationship, “however brief,” and no mention was made of his friends. The teen said he didn’t have friends with him.
The teacher also said the teenager told him she was 18; she said her birthday -- including year -- was listed on Facebook, and though she at one point told him in a SMS that she was 18, she said she thought he knew her real age and they were both “going to pretend” she was 18. The police also noted that she had not told him her real age but said she was 18.
After their encounter, she said he left the hotel a short time later but it took months for her to realize what had happened: “I was basically sexually abused and manipulated.”
“I felt dumb for thinking that because he was my yoga teacher and because he was so much older than me -- because he was my spiritual counselor in some ways -- that he wouldn't take advantage of me,” she said.
“I trusted yoga so I trusted him,” she said. “I shouldn't have made that connection.”
When she came back home from college to the Bay Area, she planned to tell her mom -- only to find out she had gone through her phone and seen the messages.
The teen’s mom said she called some studios where he taught to report the teacher; he said one let him go and he assumed it was because of the mother’s calls. Another studio owner said they let him go because of the allegations.
The teacher said it had been “one really long hard struggle” after the teen -- who he called “just a fuckin’ girl” -- went to the police.
“I’ll just say that her mom tried really hard to make my life extremely hard and she succeeded,” he said. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep over this and been hurt ... I’ve had to ask some people for support.”
The teenager decided to come forward with her story after learning that a second student, Leah Tumerman, 36, had accused the teacher of threatening earlier this year that he and his partner should “Bill Cosby her.” Tumerman told police she understood this to mean “he would drug and rape me.”
Tumerman, a longtime student of the teacher, said she became scared of him and his change in personality. The pair had gotten into a conversation about food over text message, and the discussion somehow took a turn, she said. The teacher denied making the comment but said they did argue about food. Tumerman, an artist from Richmond, filed a police report for documentation purposes only.
The teen’s case was forwarded to the DA’s office, which declined to prosecute.
‘You Have to Face the Shame of Your Complicity’
A
number of women have come forward in recent months to share their accounts of alleged abuse by their yoga teachers -- triggering a growing conversation in the community about sexual misconduct.
In December, Yoga Alliance issued a statement on sexual misconduct in the yoga community. In January, it released Roche’s video and a podcast on the topic, and weeks later published sexual misconduct disciplinary procedures and a policy on its website. In early September, the group said it could “confirm that we have suspended and revoked credentials under our new policy.”
“In this #MeToo moment, we too must act,” Roche, of Yoga Alliance, said in the video. “There’s a deeply troubling pattern of misconduct within our community, a pattern that touches almost every tradition in modern yoga. To definitively turn the page on that history, we must openly acknowledge the issue of sexual misconduct in yoga.”
Remski, the yoga teacher and culture critic, said Roche’s message to the yoga community heralded a “sea change moment.”
“It puts the entire culture on notice that this is a thing. It's not dirty laundry anymore. It's totally out in the open,” he said. “With one sentence, she implicated the entire culture as having enabled this and that's what hasn't been done yet. ... Nobody has looked at it as a systemic problem -- because when you look at it as a systemic problem, you have to face the shame of your complicity.”
Lasater said she was very supportive of Yoga Alliance’s efforts but felt the community still has a long way to go.
“If teachers don't have true consequences, what is going to cause them to change their behavior?” she said. “Nothing.”
Brathen, or Yoga Girl, said she was “torn” over Yoga Alliance’s initial solutions.
“I am still very unclear as to what action will be taken at the end of the day,” she said. “If the worst thing that can happen to you as a perpetrator is that your name gets taken off the website, I don't think that that's going to do a whole lot.”
In early August, Brathen published her second series of #MeToo stories. She wrote how tough it was to expel the alleged sexual harassers and abusers from the community.
A Stone, a Token: The New Conversation on Touch Consent
L
asater and other yoga leaders said they felt students -- particularly women -- were going to be a part of the solution. One sign already? The “touch consent” cards, chips and tokens popping up in studios across the country. Years ago, the first version of those were painted stones, paper clips, even a leaf.
Students would place such an object on top or below their mat to signal if a teacher could touch them, said Remski.
“The yoga room has been a space of implied consent. And that is no longer the case. The politics, the techniques, the methods of consent are now fully part of yoga discourse,” Remski said. “It undoes something profound in the last 100 years of yoga pedagogy, which is the notion that the teachers should decide what the student needs or what they should do.”
The growing use of the tokens has broader implications, too.
“The #MeToo movement also signifies a solidification of the change in leadership in modern yoga from men to women because those tokens ... are the latest generation of what women started using about 10 or 12 years ago in small studios,” he said. “It's a grass-roots idea that has worked its way up.”
Teachers now typically ask students at the beginning of class to let them know if they want adjustments or not, and some instructors are holding workshops on touch and consent.
Bayley Blackney hosted such a gathering at a studio in Capitola in late March.
“Touch is something that I’m so passionate about. It’s love language and I am very, very passionate about creating a safe touch,” she said. “Now is the time to really offer this.”
The women that KQED interviewed experienced all of this and more as they grappled with what they said their teachers did to them.
“Sometimes I'm really angry because I feel like I lost a large chunk of my life living in a cloud that I didn't realize I was in until I got out of it,” Smith said.
She has experienced panic attacks, anxiety and days where she couldn’t get out of bed. Thirty-one percent of women and 20 percent of men felt anxiety or depression after experiencing sexual harassment and assault, according to Stop Street Harassment.
Smith still doesn’t have her teacher certificate, although Shroff said in a July 17 email that she’d met the requirements. Smith said she has an outstanding payment that she can’t bring herself to pay because she'd regret "paying to be abused."
As for the teen, she said it’s been a hard reckoning for her.
“I was fresh out of high school and I slept with someone literally twice my age -- like halfway between me and my parents,” she said. “It took my innocence away.”
Tumerman, who alleged the same teacher involved in the teen’s case had threatened to “Bill Cosby” her, hasn’t returned to yoga. Her last time was in his class, after the threat.
“I was still processing the change, my new understanding of my teacher,” she said in explaining why she attended the class. “I practiced with my eyes closed the entire time. ... I couldn't look at him. The sound of his voice was making me shake.
“I did my practice and I rolled up my mat and left the room. And I haven't seen him since,” she added.
Ekong said: “My life is forever changed.” She has decided to leave the Bay Area.
“It’s not home. I can’t heal here,” she said. "I don't want to worry about running into him or students asking when are you going to come back to teach."
As for West, she said she has removed herself to the “outskirts” of the Iyengar yoga community and attends classes only with the one teacher she can trust.
“Yoga isn't a safe space for me anymore. And it used to be,” she said. “I would take workshops and go to conventions and travel to India. And none of that is happening anymore. I have no interest in it.
“What had been my life is now no longer my life.”
Edited by David Weir and Patricia Yollin
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Major stories she has covered included sexual abuse in the yoga community, the rise of women in local politics post-2016 election, the struggle over LGBTQ inclusion in the Boy Scouts, aftermath of the 2004 and 2011 tsunamis, the Aurora movie theater attack, the Newtown school shooting, Superstorm Sandy and the Boston Marathon bombing.","avatar":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cdd00de7be92aab3b7fd3d915e02033d?s=600&d=blank&r=g","twitter":"mimileitsinger","facebook":null,"instagram":null,"linkedin":null,"sites":[{"site":"arts","roles":["author"]},{"site":"news","roles":["subscriber"]},{"site":"futureofyou","roles":["editor"]},{"site":"stateofhealth","roles":["editor"]}],"headData":{"title":"Miranda Leitsinger | KQED","description":"KQED Contributor","ogImgSrc":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cdd00de7be92aab3b7fd3d915e02033d?s=600&d=blank&r=g","twImgSrc":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cdd00de7be92aab3b7fd3d915e02033d?s=600&d=blank&r=g"},"isLoading":false,"link":"/author/mleitsinger"}},"breakingNewsReducer":{},"campaignFinanceReducer":{},"firebase":{"requesting":{},"requested":{},"timestamps":{},"data":{},"ordered":{},"auth":{"isLoaded":false,"isEmpty":true},"authError":null,"profile":{"isLoaded":false,"isEmpty":true},"listeners":{"byId":{},"allIds":[]},"isInitializing":false,"errors":[]},"navBarReducer":{"navBarId":"news","fullView":true,"showPlayer":false},"navMenuReducer":{"menus":[{"key":"menu1","items":[{"name":"News","link":"/","type":"title"},{"name":"Politics","link":"/politics"},{"name":"Science","link":"/science"},{"name":"Education","link":"/educationnews"},{"name":"Housing","link":"/housing"},{"name":"Immigration","link":"/immigration"},{"name":"Criminal Justice","link":"/criminaljustice"},{"name":"Silicon Valley","link":"/siliconvalley"},{"name":"Forum","link":"/forum"},{"name":"The California Report","link":"/californiareport"}]},{"key":"menu2","items":[{"name":"Arts & Culture","link":"/arts","type":"title"},{"name":"Critics’ Picks","link":"/thedolist"},{"name":"Cultural Commentary","link":"/artscommentary"},{"name":"Food & Drink","link":"/food"},{"name":"Bay Area Hip-Hop","link":"/bayareahiphop"},{"name":"Rebel Girls","link":"/rebelgirls"},{"name":"Arts Video","link":"/artsvideos"}]},{"key":"menu3","items":[{"name":"Podcasts","link":"/podcasts","type":"title"},{"name":"Bay Curious","link":"/podcasts/baycurious"},{"name":"Rightnowish","link":"/podcasts/rightnowish"},{"name":"The Bay","link":"/podcasts/thebay"},{"name":"On Our Watch","link":"/podcasts/onourwatch"},{"name":"Mindshift","link":"/podcasts/mindshift"},{"name":"Consider This","link":"/podcasts/considerthis"},{"name":"Political Breakdown","link":"/podcasts/politicalbreakdown"}]},{"key":"menu4","items":[{"name":"Live Radio","link":"/radio","type":"title"},{"name":"TV","link":"/tv","type":"title"},{"name":"Events","link":"/events","type":"title"},{"name":"For Educators","link":"/education","type":"title"},{"name":"Support KQED","link":"/support","type":"title"},{"name":"About","link":"/about","type":"title"},{"name":"Help Center","link":"https://kqed-helpcenter.kqed.org/s","type":"title"}]}]},"pagesReducer":{},"postsReducer":{"stream_live":{"type":"live","id":"stream_live","audioUrl":"https://streams.kqed.org/kqedradio","title":"Live Stream","excerpt":"Live Stream information currently unavailable.","link":"/radio","featImg":"","label":{"name":"KQED Live","link":"/"}},"stream_kqedNewscast":{"type":"posts","id":"stream_kqedNewscast","audioUrl":"https://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/RDnews/newscast.mp3?_=1","title":"KQED Newscast","featImg":"","label":{"name":"88.5 FM","link":"/"}},"news_11984016":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11984016","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11984016","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"judge-rules-california-split-lot-housing-law-unconstitutional","title":"California Law Letting Property Owners Split Lots to Build New Homes Is 'Unconstitutional,' Judge Rules","publishDate":1714079477,"format":"standard","headTitle":"California Law Letting Property Owners Split Lots to Build New Homes Is ‘Unconstitutional,’ Judge Rules | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11860308/why-just-allowing-fourplexes-wont-solve-californias-housing-affordability-crisis\">controversial 2021 law\u003c/a> that allows property owners in California to split their lots and build up to two new homes is unconstitutional, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/20240422-Los-Angeles-Superior-Court-Judge-ruling-on-SB-9.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The ruling\u003c/a> striking down \u003ca href=\"https://focus.senate.ca.gov/sb9\">Senate Bill 9\u003c/a> only applies to the five Southern California charter cities that were parties to the case: Redondo Beach, Whittier, Carson, Del Mar and Torrance. However, if the case is appealed, the appellate court’s ruling will apply to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cacities.org/UploadedFiles/LeagueInternet/6b/6bbb4ee3-88f9-4d8f-93ad-0075a7b486c4.pdf\">charter cities\u003c/a> statewide, including San Francisco, Oakland and San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision, issued on Monday, is a blow to key state leaders, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/09/16/governor-newsom-signs-historic-legislation-to-boost-californias-housing-supply-and-fight-the-housing-crisis/\">hailed the law\u003c/a> as a way to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11840548/the-racist-history-of-single-family-home-zoning\">open single-family neighborhoods\u003c/a> to desperately needed housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s an endorsement of an opposing idea: that suburban neighborhoods should be reserved for single-family homes, said Chris Elmendorf, a law professor at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an indication of unease or discomfort with housing laws that are trying to transform single-family-home neighborhoods,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for state Attorney General Rob Bonta, the named defendant in the case, said his office is reviewing the case and would “consider all options in defense of SB 9.” The office of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a supporter of the law, did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pam Lee, an attorney with Aleshire & Wynder, who represented the plaintiffs in the case, said the ruling came as a surprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We knew that the stakes were high, but we also knew that it was an uphill battle,” Lee said. “So many of the [housing] laws that have been challenged — in particular, cases against charter cities — have just not been met with a favorable fate.”[aside label=\"more housing coverage\" tag=\"affordable-housing\"]Charter cities have special privileges under the state Constitution, Lee said, including the right to enact their own laws. When the state Legislature wants its laws to apply to those charter cities, Lee said lawmakers have to demonstrate the law addresses a statewide concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his decision, Judge Curtis Kin said the Legislature didn’t do that in this case. Specifically, SB 9 says its purpose is to “ensure access to affordable housing.” Lee and her colleagues argued that “affordable housing” means something very specific: below-market-rate, deed-restricted housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the law doesn’t specifically require property owners to develop that kind of housing, the law is unconstitutional, Kin ruled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elmendorf called that interpretation “kind of silly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By allowing property owners to split their lots and build up to two homes on each new one, the law promotes the construction of homes that are smaller and therefore relatively more affordable, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Legislature is not a house full of idiots,” Elmendorf said, adding the law itself clearly states the Legislature’s intent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, state Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), who authored SB 9, called the judge’s ruling “sadly misguided” and vowed to “remedy any loopholes biased city governments might utilize” to block new housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The assertion by NIMBY city governments that SB 9 is only about subsidized housing is a stretch at best,” said Atkins, who recently stepped down as Senate President Pro Tempore. “The goal of SB 9 has always been to increase equity and accessibility in our neighborhoods while growing our housing supply and production across the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since it went into effect in 2022, however, the law has produced little in the way of new lots or housing. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11980785/these-california-companies-want-to-buy-your-backyard-and-build-a-house\">KQED survey\u003c/a> of 16 cities of varying sizes found that between 2022 and 2023, the cities collectively approved 75 lot-split applications and 112 applications for new units under the law. That’s compared to more than 8,800 accessory dwelling units, or in-law apartments, the cities permitted during the same time frame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Developers have generally supported the bill but have criticized anti-speculation provisions in the law that require a property owner requesting a lot split to agree to live in the house for at least three years. They have also argued that fees and other barriers cities have imposed have prevented the law from working as intended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atkins authored a second bill, SB 450, to address some of those issues, but it is currently on hold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elmendorf said the Legislature’s unwillingness to address those issues demonstrates a certain unease with the law’s intent to open single-family neighborhoods to more housing — even among lawmakers who voted to approve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That unease is reflected in SB 9 itself,” he said. “SB 9 is written with loopholes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state could easily fix those loopholes, Elmendorf said, just as it can easily remedy the error Kin identified in his ruling. How swiftly it does so will demonstrate how serious lawmakers are about dismantling barriers to housing in single-family neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s worth watching the legislative response to this case,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doing so will better answer the question underlying SB 9, Elmendorf added. “Do we really want these traditional single-family home neighborhoods to be transformed into something that’s a little bit different?”\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"A Los Angeles Superior Court judge this week struck down SB 9, a 2021 California law allowing property owners to split their lots and build up to two new homes.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714153584,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":25,"wordCount":896},"headData":{"title":"California Law Letting Property Owners Split Lots to Build New Homes Is 'Unconstitutional,' Judge Rules | KQED","description":"A Los Angeles Superior Court judge this week struck down SB 9, a 2021 California law allowing property owners to split their lots and build up to two new homes.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"California Law Letting Property Owners Split Lots to Build New Homes Is 'Unconstitutional,' Judge Rules","datePublished":"2024-04-25T21:11:17.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-26T17:46:24.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11984016/judge-rules-california-split-lot-housing-law-unconstitutional","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11860308/why-just-allowing-fourplexes-wont-solve-californias-housing-affordability-crisis\">controversial 2021 law\u003c/a> that allows property owners in California to split their lots and build up to two new homes is unconstitutional, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/20240422-Los-Angeles-Superior-Court-Judge-ruling-on-SB-9.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The ruling\u003c/a> striking down \u003ca href=\"https://focus.senate.ca.gov/sb9\">Senate Bill 9\u003c/a> only applies to the five Southern California charter cities that were parties to the case: Redondo Beach, Whittier, Carson, Del Mar and Torrance. However, if the case is appealed, the appellate court’s ruling will apply to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cacities.org/UploadedFiles/LeagueInternet/6b/6bbb4ee3-88f9-4d8f-93ad-0075a7b486c4.pdf\">charter cities\u003c/a> statewide, including San Francisco, Oakland and San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision, issued on Monday, is a blow to key state leaders, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/09/16/governor-newsom-signs-historic-legislation-to-boost-californias-housing-supply-and-fight-the-housing-crisis/\">hailed the law\u003c/a> as a way to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11840548/the-racist-history-of-single-family-home-zoning\">open single-family neighborhoods\u003c/a> to desperately needed housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s an endorsement of an opposing idea: that suburban neighborhoods should be reserved for single-family homes, said Chris Elmendorf, a law professor at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an indication of unease or discomfort with housing laws that are trying to transform single-family-home neighborhoods,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for state Attorney General Rob Bonta, the named defendant in the case, said his office is reviewing the case and would “consider all options in defense of SB 9.” The office of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a supporter of the law, did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pam Lee, an attorney with Aleshire & Wynder, who represented the plaintiffs in the case, said the ruling came as a surprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We knew that the stakes were high, but we also knew that it was an uphill battle,” Lee said. “So many of the [housing] laws that have been challenged — in particular, cases against charter cities — have just not been met with a favorable fate.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"more housing coverage ","tag":"affordable-housing"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Charter cities have special privileges under the state Constitution, Lee said, including the right to enact their own laws. When the state Legislature wants its laws to apply to those charter cities, Lee said lawmakers have to demonstrate the law addresses a statewide concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his decision, Judge Curtis Kin said the Legislature didn’t do that in this case. Specifically, SB 9 says its purpose is to “ensure access to affordable housing.” Lee and her colleagues argued that “affordable housing” means something very specific: below-market-rate, deed-restricted housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the law doesn’t specifically require property owners to develop that kind of housing, the law is unconstitutional, Kin ruled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elmendorf called that interpretation “kind of silly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By allowing property owners to split their lots and build up to two homes on each new one, the law promotes the construction of homes that are smaller and therefore relatively more affordable, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Legislature is not a house full of idiots,” Elmendorf said, adding the law itself clearly states the Legislature’s intent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, state Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), who authored SB 9, called the judge’s ruling “sadly misguided” and vowed to “remedy any loopholes biased city governments might utilize” to block new housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The assertion by NIMBY city governments that SB 9 is only about subsidized housing is a stretch at best,” said Atkins, who recently stepped down as Senate President Pro Tempore. “The goal of SB 9 has always been to increase equity and accessibility in our neighborhoods while growing our housing supply and production across the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since it went into effect in 2022, however, the law has produced little in the way of new lots or housing. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11980785/these-california-companies-want-to-buy-your-backyard-and-build-a-house\">KQED survey\u003c/a> of 16 cities of varying sizes found that between 2022 and 2023, the cities collectively approved 75 lot-split applications and 112 applications for new units under the law. That’s compared to more than 8,800 accessory dwelling units, or in-law apartments, the cities permitted during the same time frame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Developers have generally supported the bill but have criticized anti-speculation provisions in the law that require a property owner requesting a lot split to agree to live in the house for at least three years. They have also argued that fees and other barriers cities have imposed have prevented the law from working as intended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atkins authored a second bill, SB 450, to address some of those issues, but it is currently on hold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elmendorf said the Legislature’s unwillingness to address those issues demonstrates a certain unease with the law’s intent to open single-family neighborhoods to more housing — even among lawmakers who voted to approve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That unease is reflected in SB 9 itself,” he said. “SB 9 is written with loopholes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state could easily fix those loopholes, Elmendorf said, just as it can easily remedy the error Kin identified in his ruling. How swiftly it does so will demonstrate how serious lawmakers are about dismantling barriers to housing in single-family neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s worth watching the legislative response to this case,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doing so will better answer the question underlying SB 9, Elmendorf added. “Do we really want these traditional single-family home neighborhoods to be transformed into something that’s a little bit different?”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11984016/judge-rules-california-split-lot-housing-law-unconstitutional","authors":["11652"],"categories":["news_8"],"tags":["news_3921","news_24805","news_1775","news_22804"],"featImg":"news_11984069","label":"news"},"news_11983858":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11983858","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11983858","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"alameda-the-island-that-almost-wasnt","title":"Alameda: The Island That Almost Wasn’t","publishDate":1714039234,"format":"image","headTitle":"Alameda: The Island That Almost Wasn’t | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city of Alameda has all the sure signs of an island. To get there, you have to use a bridge, a tunnel or a boat. Locals talk about going “on and off island.” And residents, like Nate Puckett, wear Alameda-themed T-shirts that say “Islander.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t leave the island for, like, weeks,” says Puckett, who lives, works and raises two kids in the Bay Area city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But recently, Puckett’s sense of place was thrown off-kilter. He was enjoying an ice cream at a favorite local spot — Tucker’s — when he looked up at a historical map on the wall. It showed Alameda connected to the mainland. That must be wrong, he thought; Alameda is an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the map was not wrong — it was just old. In fact, Alameda is not a natural island. And it almost never became an island at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It kind of felt like we’ve been living a lie,” Puckett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puckett asked Bay Curious to find out more about Alameda’s island origin story. The project took nearly 30 years to complete and had enough twists and turns to make anyone dizzy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>When it all began\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983868\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.org/ohc/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11983868 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Alameda1877-tweaked.jpg\" alt=\"An old map shows what is now Alameda Island as connected to the mainland.\" width=\"999\" height=\"752\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Alameda1877-tweaked.jpg 999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Alameda1877-tweaked-800x602.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Alameda1877-tweaked-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map of Alameda from 1877 shows it as a connected peninsula, not an island. \u003ccite>(Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the 1870s, Alameda was a big peninsula that jutted out from what is now Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood like an outstretched arm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, things were pretty quiet in that part of the East Bay (it wasn’t Oakland until later). The marshy region was not very populated; the landscape was mostly wide open fields and the estates of a few wealthy families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Oakland’s inner harbor was nearby, and it was quickly becoming a bustling center for maritime commerce. Once the Gold Rush started, more and more ships arrived, bringing in all sorts of goods. And Oakland itself was growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But navigation to the budding port was tricky. Boats had to traverse a wild waterway that hadn’t seen much development yet. Sediment on the harbor’s bottom would shift with the tides, causing sandbars to move in unpredictable patterns that caused problems for navigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The sandbars] were there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, [and then] they’d be over here on Tuesday and Thursday,” Alameda historian Dennis Evanosky says. “It impeded the shipping traffic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983870\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11983870\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett.jpg\" alt=\"Older man in blue sweater stands next to a younger one in brown.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1276\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dennis Evanosky (left) with Nate Puckett next to the Alameda canal. The Park Street bridge looms in the background. \u003ccite>(Pauline Bartolone/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland was never going to become the shipping destination it wanted to be if the waterways remained so unpredictable and the port so difficult to reach. And Oakland had big development ambitions, says Richard Walker, a \u003ca href=\"https://geography.berkeley.edu/professor-emeritus-richard-walker\">professor emeritus in geography at UC Berkeley\u003c/a> and author of several books about California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sense of competition with San Francisco [was] intense,” Walker says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1800s, Oakland was coming into its own politically and economically, developing its own banks, businesses and shipping companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That grows and grows so that Oakland, by the early 20th century, is really thumbing its nose at San Francisco,” Walker says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to local lobbying, Congressmen worked to bring in millions of federal dollars to pay the Army Corps of Engineers to improve the harbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since shifting sandbars on the bottom was the biggest problem, \u003ca href=\"https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca2600/ca2606/data/ca2606data.pdf\">the initial plan\u003c/a> was to cut through the marshy area of the Alameda peninsula, where it was connected to the mainland, to create a canal. Engineers thought if they built a dam at one end, they could release powerful torrents of water through the canal to flush out built-up sediment in the harbor. That would clear the way for bigger ships to come and go more easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project got the green light in the early 1870s, but over the next three decades, it hit roadblock after roadblock.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Resistance to the project\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">Eleven families owned land where the government wanted to dredge the canal\u003c/a>. Oakland officials offered families $40,000 at the time, more than $1.2 million today. But one person refused — \u003ca href=\"https://www.cohenbrayhouse.org/about-6\">A.A. Cohen, a railroad industry baron and attorney\u003c/a> who owned an estate with a 70-room mansion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were screwing with his kingdom,” says Patty Donald, Cohen’s great-great-granddaughter and manager of the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cohenbrayhouse.org/history\"> Cohen Bray house\u003c/a>, a historic Victorian building in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood. The Cohen family challenged the canal project more than once.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was one of the most powerful people in Alameda at that time because he had bought a failing rail system,” Donald says. “He built it up in two years and created another one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the canal project progressed despite Cohen’s legal challenge, and by 1889 the excavation was underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The setbacks pile up\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Quickly, the canal project suffered another setback — flooding. The winter of 1889 was one of the wettest on record. More than 45 inches of rain fell that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Disaster struck on a stormy night in January when Sausal Creek overflowed its banks at Fruitvale Avenue and flooded the ditch and equipment,” \u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">wrote historian Woody Minor in the Alameda Museum newslette\u003c/a>r. “It took two months to pump out the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next, the project’s proponents had to deal with public opinion and perhaps the very first complaints from Alamedans about commuting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People complain, ‘Well if you’re gonna have this canal here, how are we going to get home?’” Evanosky says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dredged canal cut across one of the main thoroughfares, leading to the Alameda peninsula, disrupting traffic \u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">for two years\u003c/a>. The Park Street bridge opened in 1891, and Alameda’s two other bridges, at High Street and Fruitvale Avenue, were built the following decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If legal battles, payouts and flooding weren’t enough, there was an economic depression in the 1890s. Funding for the canal project dried up. And then, the project’s long-time champion at the Army Corp of Engineers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.spn.usace.army.mil/Portals/68/docs/History/Engineers%20at%20the%20Golden%20Gate.pdf?ver=2019-10-24-161149-027\">Major George Mendell\u003c/a>, retired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the nail in the coffin for the dam/canal combo plan came from \u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">new research suggesting that dredging deeper in Oakland’s harbor would be more effective for boat passage\u003c/a> than this idea of flushing sediment away using a dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While government officials debated the next steps, a partially dug, unfinished giant trench was left.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘Fetid water awash with dead fish’\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At this point, 20 years after the project began, raw sewage in the area’s waterways had become a real problem. In the late 1800s, people in Oakland and Alameda started installing residential sewer systems, and the waste flowed right into Lake Merritt and the Oakland Harbor. The unfinished canal became a cesspool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fetid water awash with dead fish lapped against the dam and seeped into the ditch, emitting a pervasive stench,” \u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">wrote Minor in his history of the island\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alameda’s health officer at the time, Dr. John T. McClean, became the biggest crusader for completing the canal. In a letter to Washington, published by the Oakland Enquirer in 1897, McLean argued that the stench from the incomplete trench had not only become offensive, but the foul water was killing fish and crabs and posed a health hazard. Better water circulation through the canal would help flush away foul substances, he argued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, government officials soon found the money to put a massive steam shovel to work ripping through the marsh between Alameda and modern-day Oakland. They finished dredging the canal in 1902, nearly 30 years after the plan was first hatched. Alameda was officially an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was no dam. … but residents celebrated anyway — through days of fireworks, carnival acts and a procession of two hundred lighted boats.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>A failed idea? \u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The scale and ambition of the Alameda Island project don’t impress geographer Richard Walker. In the grand scheme of things, he says, the project was actually pretty small. There are very few parts of the San Francisco Bay that humans haven’t somehow altered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is California,” Walker says. “California [is] one of the most monumentally re-engineered landscapes on Earth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than a century after the project was completed, the water in the neatly engineered tidal canal that separates Alameda from Oakland is relatively still, looking like a moat around a castle. People mostly use it for recreation now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nate Puckett says it doesn’t bother him that Alameda isn’t naturally an island. Residents here still bond over bridge and tunnel delays and over a beer at Alameda Island Brewing Company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\nOlivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>One of the best parts about a deep and long-running friendship is you can poke a little fun at each other for your quirks. Like how you’re a diehard fan for a chronically losing sports team or how you put ketchup on everything – gross. For Nate Puckett, his friends rib him about how he never leaves the city of Alameda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> So I work here, I live here, my kids go to school here. I have a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old. So I don’t leave the island for like weeks. And people make fun of me for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>Alameda is an island, in case you didn’t know, and that fact is pretty wrapped up in the identity of some people who live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> I have a T-shirt that says Islander. That’s, like, Alameda themed. There’s Alameda Island Brewing. Like, you talk about whether, you know, you’re on the island or not on the island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>But recently, Nate’s sense of place was thrown off-kilter. He was eating ice cream at a local spot – Tuckers. He glanced up at a historical map hanging on the wall. And there, he saw something that shook him to the core. Alameda was connected to what is now mainland Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> It kind of felt like we’ve been all living a lie. It kind of felt like, no, that’s wrong. Alameda is an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>But no. The map was not wrong. It was just \u003ci>old\u003c/i>. Alameda is not a natural island. And it almost never became an island at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Bay Curious theme music starts\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>On this episode of Bay Curious, we’re going to find out how and \u003ci>why \u003c/i>Alameda was sliced off the mainland. It’s a story with enough twists and turns to make your head spin. I’m Olivia Allen Price. We’ll dive in just after this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sponsor break\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>Making Alameda into an island took nearly 30 years. And in the end, the original idea for the massive excavation, didn’t quite pan out as planned. KQED Producer Pauline Bartolone tells us all about the bumpy journey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Flooding, legal battles, an economic slump and raw sewage. They’re all part of Alameda’s island origin story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Music starts\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all starts back in the 1870s, Alameda was a big peninsula, jutting out like an outstretched arm from what is now Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, things were pretty quiet where Alameda connected with the mainland. Not many people lived in this marshy region. Think open fields and maybe just a few estates of wealthy families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just to the west was a waterway, the Oakland harbor, that opened up to the San Francisco Bay. And it was becoming a bustling center for maritime commerce. More and more ships were arriving since the Gold Rush, bringing all sorts of goods. But navigation in this waterway was tricky. Sediment on its floor would shift — a lot! — causing all sorts of problems for boats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Music ends. We hear the sounds of street traffic and outside noises.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> The trouble is, there were sandbars. And there were all kinds of impediments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Alameda historian Dennis Evanosky took me and our question-asker, Nate Puckett, on a tour along Alameda’s waterfront. He says around what is now the Port of Oakland, the waterway was wild and untouched, with sandbars that would ebb and flow with the tide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> They were there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then they’d be over here on Tuesday and Thursday, this place else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> Oh, yeah, haha.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> And it impeded the shipping traffic!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>The unpredictable nature of the waterway didn’t work for the shipping industry, which wanted to get more boats into the port. Oakland had big development ambitions, says Richard Walker, a professor emeritus in geography at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker: \u003c/b>Then, the sense of competition with San Francisco is intense, even though there’s a lot of San Francisco investment in Oakland. But you start to create Oakland having its own capitalist class, its own leadership who have banks in Oakland, have businesses, you know, have shipping companies, and they actually have a local interest. And that grows and grows so that Oakland, you know, by the early 20th century, is really thumbing its nose at San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Local Congressmen made deals to bring in millions of federal dollars to improve the harbor. Evanosky says the big idea was to dredge a canal all the way across the north side of Alameda, turning the peninsula into an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>We hear sounds of traffic near the canal\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> They planned to build this tidal canal as a scouring channel. What they planned to do was build a dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone:\u003c/b> The dam would be built on the far east side of Alameda. And then during ebb tide, when the water is naturally flowing out to the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> They are going to open that dam, and we’re going to have the water to, I say, “whoosh” through the scouring channel here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone:\u003c/b> Engineers thought this would harness the natural power of tides to flush sediment out of the Oakland estuary and toward the Bay, learning the passage for boats coming in and out of the narrow waterway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> And these aren’t necessarily big, huge ships. These could be smaller ships, but they need a place to navigate and turn around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone:\u003c/b> So, that was the plan. … in the beginning. The project got the green light in the early 1870s but had a slow start. And over the next three decades, it hit roadblock after roadblock. Early on, the government had to buy out 11 families who would lose part of their estates to the canal. They were offered $40,000 at the time, what is more than $1.2 million today. But one family refused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Patty Donald:\u003c/b> They were screwing with his kingdom. If you put it that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Patty Donald is the great-great-granddaughter of A.A. Cohen, a railroad industry baron and attorney who owned an estate with a 70-room mansion on Alameda. A.A. Cohen’s family challenged the canal project more than once.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Patty Donald:\u003c/b> He was one of the most powerful people in Alameda at that time because he had started, he had bought a failing rail system in 1876, I think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>He sued to stop the canal project and lost. And it went forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Music starts\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>By 1889, the excavation was underway. But quickly suffered another setback. A deluge, literally. The winter that started in 1889 was one of the wettest on record. More than 45 inches of rain fell that year. That’s according to a history written by Woody Minor of the Alameda Museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sound effect of typewriter under voice-over\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Voice actor reading:\u003c/i>\u003c/b> Disaster struck on a stormy night in January when Sausal Creek overflowed its banks at Fruitvale Avenue and flooded the ditch and equipment. It took two months to pump out the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Then, they had to deal with public opinion. And perhaps the very first complaints from Alameda residents about commuting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> They are digging this canal. And there’s a problem. People complain, well, if you’re gonna have this canal here, how are we going to get home?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>The canal dredging was disrupting traffic to one of Alameda’s main entrances, Evanosky says. So, the Park Street Bridge was built first, and then two other bridges came.. in the decade that followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Music starts\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>As if legal battles, payouts and flooding weren’t enough, the canal project suffered more roadblocks in the 1890s. According to the Alameda Museum’s Woody Minor, funding dried up during an economic depression. Then, the project’s long-time champion at the Army Corps of Engineers retired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then — this one’s big — new research suggested that dredging deeper in Oakland’s harbor would be more effective for boat passage than this idea of flushing sediment out using a dam. While government officials debated next steps, a partially dug unfinished canal was left. A big giant trench.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> So they had to stop. And this is all done, and they had to stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Now, this is where the raw sewage comes into the picture. Right around this time, people in Oakland and Alameda started installing residential sewer systems. And the waste was flowing right into Lake Merritt and the Oakland Harbor. By the Alameda Museum’s account, the waterway became a cesspool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sound effect of typewriter under voice-over\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice Actor:\u003c/b> Fetid water awash with dead fish lapped against the dam and seeped into the ditch, emitting a pervasive stench.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Alameda’s health officer became the biggest crusader for completing the canal. In 1897, he argued that the stench from the incomplete trench had not only become offensive, but the foul water was killing fish and crabs and posing a health hazard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So government officials soon found the money to put a massive steam shovel to work and finish that canal excavation once and for good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sound of a big machine starting up\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>In case you’re wondering if, during this era, anyone ever chimed in about the ecological impacts of ripping through this marshy area?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker:\u003c/b> No, no, no, no, no, it’s nothing like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Richard Walker says there wasn’t really an environmental movement at this time. Maybe an oysterman was concerned about declining catches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker:\u003c/b> The conservationists at that time would be, I think, entirely obsessed with creating the first state parks. Saving the redwoods. They’re worried about mine debris in the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>By 1902, the dredging was done. And 30 years after the plan was first hatched, the canal filled with water. Alameda was officially an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in the city of Alameda were ready to celebrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sounds of a marching band, crowd noise and fireworks\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>In September of 1902, there were days of fireworks, parades, brass bands, carnival acts, fancy diving and a procession of two hundred lighted boats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Things were different from what was originally envisioned, of course. For one, there was no dam to help flush water out of the estuary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> In my view, they didn’t build the dam because they were just tired of this whole thing, and a lot of people didn’t think the dam was going to work anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Now, more than a century later, as I walk along the canal with Alameda historian Dennis Evanosky near the Park Street Bridge, the canal water is relatively still. A few boats are docked, but none sail by. This neatly engineered waterway looks like a moat around a castle. It’s mostly used for recreation now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> This wasn’t natural. It looks very not natural.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> Right? Right? Right, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Our question asker, Nate Puckett, has been walking with us, listening to Evanosky this whole time. He looks slightly unsettled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> So it sounds like the reason it’s an island was a failed idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I would say, “The island city, sort of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> Yeah, yeah, the island city by accident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> Right, right. Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Nate clarified later that he found Alameda’s island origin story “surprising.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> You kind of always assume big projects like this are for a very clear and thought-out purpose. And to find that it was kind of an accident or the plan changed so many times is definitely surprising. Especially just, you know, because Alameda is so into being an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>The fact that Alameda isn’t naturally an island doesn’t bother Nate Puckett too much now. After all, it’s been that way for a while, and residents here still bond over bridge and tunnel delays. And over a beer at Alameda Island Brewing Co.\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003ci>Island-themed music starts\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>That story was produced by Pauline Bartolone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Big shout out and thanks to Liam O’Donoghue of the \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayyesterday.com/\">East Bay Yesterday podcast \u003c/a>and UC Davis geographer Javier Arbona for their help on this story. Facts in this story came from Woody Minor of the Alameda Museum and historical documents from the Army Corp of Engineers and the National Park Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s still time to vote in our April voting round. Here are your choices:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice 1:\u003c/b> I was recently at the Morcom Rose Garden in Oakland and saw three different official Oakland signs that read, “No glitter.” I would love to know what happened at the rose garden to warrant so many signs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice 2:\u003c/b> Yesterday, I walked with a fellow science teacher on the Great Hwy. We commented on the blackish sand, made of iron filings. Where does the iron come from?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice 3:\u003c/b> Who are the de Youngs? I think they have some crazy stories!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>Vote for which question you think we should tackle next at baycurious.org. While you’re there, sign up for our monthly newsletter, ask your own question or get lost listening through the Bay Curious archive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>Our show is made by:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>Katrina Schwartz\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Christopher Beale: \u003c/b>Christopher Beale\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katherine Monahan:\u003c/b> Katherine Monahan\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>and me, Olivia Allen Price. Additional support from:\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Jen Chien: \u003c/b>Jen Chien\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katie Springer: \u003c/b>Katie Springer\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Cesar Saldana: \u003c/b>Cesar Saldana\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Maha Sanad: \u003c/b>Maha Sanad\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Holly Kernan:\u003c/b> Holly Kernan\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Crowd:\u003c/b> And the whole KQED family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. We’ll be back next week.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Alameda residents fully own their island identity, but many don't know that it used to be connected to mainland Oakland.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714062860,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":true,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":136,"wordCount":3910},"headData":{"title":"Alameda: The Island That Almost Wasn’t | KQED","description":"Alameda residents fully own their island identity, but many don't know that it used to be connected to mainland Oakland.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Alameda: The Island That Almost Wasn’t","datePublished":"2024-04-25T10:00:34.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-25T16:34:20.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"source":"Bay Curious","sourceUrl":"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/baycurious/","audioUrl":"https://dcs.megaphone.fm/KQINC3081122282.mp3?key=fc075dc0e32f001c439745b9697d7766&request_event_id=3ff129a1-c582-463c-8902-bc37d989ad55","sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11983858/alameda-the-island-that-almost-wasnt","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city of Alameda has all the sure signs of an island. To get there, you have to use a bridge, a tunnel or a boat. Locals talk about going “on and off island.” And residents, like Nate Puckett, wear Alameda-themed T-shirts that say “Islander.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t leave the island for, like, weeks,” says Puckett, who lives, works and raises two kids in the Bay Area city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But recently, Puckett’s sense of place was thrown off-kilter. He was enjoying an ice cream at a favorite local spot — Tucker’s — when he looked up at a historical map on the wall. It showed Alameda connected to the mainland. That must be wrong, he thought; Alameda is an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the map was not wrong — it was just old. In fact, Alameda is not a natural island. And it almost never became an island at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It kind of felt like we’ve been living a lie,” Puckett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puckett asked Bay Curious to find out more about Alameda’s island origin story. The project took nearly 30 years to complete and had enough twists and turns to make anyone dizzy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>When it all began\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983868\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.org/ohc/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11983868 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Alameda1877-tweaked.jpg\" alt=\"An old map shows what is now Alameda Island as connected to the mainland.\" width=\"999\" height=\"752\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Alameda1877-tweaked.jpg 999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Alameda1877-tweaked-800x602.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Alameda1877-tweaked-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map of Alameda from 1877 shows it as a connected peninsula, not an island. \u003ccite>(Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the 1870s, Alameda was a big peninsula that jutted out from what is now Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood like an outstretched arm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, things were pretty quiet in that part of the East Bay (it wasn’t Oakland until later). The marshy region was not very populated; the landscape was mostly wide open fields and the estates of a few wealthy families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Oakland’s inner harbor was nearby, and it was quickly becoming a bustling center for maritime commerce. Once the Gold Rush started, more and more ships arrived, bringing in all sorts of goods. And Oakland itself was growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But navigation to the budding port was tricky. Boats had to traverse a wild waterway that hadn’t seen much development yet. Sediment on the harbor’s bottom would shift with the tides, causing sandbars to move in unpredictable patterns that caused problems for navigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The sandbars] were there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, [and then] they’d be over here on Tuesday and Thursday,” Alameda historian Dennis Evanosky says. “It impeded the shipping traffic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983870\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11983870\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett.jpg\" alt=\"Older man in blue sweater stands next to a younger one in brown.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1276\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/Evanosky-Puckett-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dennis Evanosky (left) with Nate Puckett next to the Alameda canal. The Park Street bridge looms in the background. \u003ccite>(Pauline Bartolone/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland was never going to become the shipping destination it wanted to be if the waterways remained so unpredictable and the port so difficult to reach. And Oakland had big development ambitions, says Richard Walker, a \u003ca href=\"https://geography.berkeley.edu/professor-emeritus-richard-walker\">professor emeritus in geography at UC Berkeley\u003c/a> and author of several books about California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sense of competition with San Francisco [was] intense,” Walker says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1800s, Oakland was coming into its own politically and economically, developing its own banks, businesses and shipping companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That grows and grows so that Oakland, by the early 20th century, is really thumbing its nose at San Francisco,” Walker says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to local lobbying, Congressmen worked to bring in millions of federal dollars to pay the Army Corps of Engineers to improve the harbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since shifting sandbars on the bottom was the biggest problem, \u003ca href=\"https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca2600/ca2606/data/ca2606data.pdf\">the initial plan\u003c/a> was to cut through the marshy area of the Alameda peninsula, where it was connected to the mainland, to create a canal. Engineers thought if they built a dam at one end, they could release powerful torrents of water through the canal to flush out built-up sediment in the harbor. That would clear the way for bigger ships to come and go more easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project got the green light in the early 1870s, but over the next three decades, it hit roadblock after roadblock.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Resistance to the project\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">Eleven families owned land where the government wanted to dredge the canal\u003c/a>. Oakland officials offered families $40,000 at the time, more than $1.2 million today. But one person refused — \u003ca href=\"https://www.cohenbrayhouse.org/about-6\">A.A. Cohen, a railroad industry baron and attorney\u003c/a> who owned an estate with a 70-room mansion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were screwing with his kingdom,” says Patty Donald, Cohen’s great-great-granddaughter and manager of the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cohenbrayhouse.org/history\"> Cohen Bray house\u003c/a>, a historic Victorian building in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood. The Cohen family challenged the canal project more than once.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was one of the most powerful people in Alameda at that time because he had bought a failing rail system,” Donald says. “He built it up in two years and created another one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the canal project progressed despite Cohen’s legal challenge, and by 1889 the excavation was underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The setbacks pile up\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Quickly, the canal project suffered another setback — flooding. The winter of 1889 was one of the wettest on record. More than 45 inches of rain fell that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Disaster struck on a stormy night in January when Sausal Creek overflowed its banks at Fruitvale Avenue and flooded the ditch and equipment,” \u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">wrote historian Woody Minor in the Alameda Museum newslette\u003c/a>r. “It took two months to pump out the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next, the project’s proponents had to deal with public opinion and perhaps the very first complaints from Alamedans about commuting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People complain, ‘Well if you’re gonna have this canal here, how are we going to get home?’” Evanosky says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dredged canal cut across one of the main thoroughfares, leading to the Alameda peninsula, disrupting traffic \u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">for two years\u003c/a>. The Park Street bridge opened in 1891, and Alameda’s two other bridges, at High Street and Fruitvale Avenue, were built the following decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If legal battles, payouts and flooding weren’t enough, there was an economic depression in the 1890s. Funding for the canal project dried up. And then, the project’s long-time champion at the Army Corp of Engineers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.spn.usace.army.mil/Portals/68/docs/History/Engineers%20at%20the%20Golden%20Gate.pdf?ver=2019-10-24-161149-027\">Major George Mendell\u003c/a>, retired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the nail in the coffin for the dam/canal combo plan came from \u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">new research suggesting that dredging deeper in Oakland’s harbor would be more effective for boat passage\u003c/a> than this idea of flushing sediment away using a dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While government officials debated the next steps, a partially dug, unfinished giant trench was left.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘Fetid water awash with dead fish’\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At this point, 20 years after the project began, raw sewage in the area’s waterways had become a real problem. In the late 1800s, people in Oakland and Alameda started installing residential sewer systems, and the waste flowed right into Lake Merritt and the Oakland Harbor. The unfinished canal became a cesspool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fetid water awash with dead fish lapped against the dam and seeped into the ditch, emitting a pervasive stench,” \u003ca href=\"https://alamedamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AMQ_MAR_2019.pdf\">wrote Minor in his history of the island\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alameda’s health officer at the time, Dr. John T. McClean, became the biggest crusader for completing the canal. In a letter to Washington, published by the Oakland Enquirer in 1897, McLean argued that the stench from the incomplete trench had not only become offensive, but the foul water was killing fish and crabs and posed a health hazard. Better water circulation through the canal would help flush away foul substances, he argued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, government officials soon found the money to put a massive steam shovel to work ripping through the marsh between Alameda and modern-day Oakland. They finished dredging the canal in 1902, nearly 30 years after the plan was first hatched. Alameda was officially an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was no dam. … but residents celebrated anyway — through days of fireworks, carnival acts and a procession of two hundred lighted boats.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>A failed idea? \u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The scale and ambition of the Alameda Island project don’t impress geographer Richard Walker. In the grand scheme of things, he says, the project was actually pretty small. There are very few parts of the San Francisco Bay that humans haven’t somehow altered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is California,” Walker says. “California [is] one of the most monumentally re-engineered landscapes on Earth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than a century after the project was completed, the water in the neatly engineered tidal canal that separates Alameda from Oakland is relatively still, looking like a moat around a castle. People mostly use it for recreation now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nate Puckett says it doesn’t bother him that Alameda isn’t naturally an island. Residents here still bond over bridge and tunnel delays and over a beer at Alameda Island Brewing Company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"baycuriousquestion","attributes":{"named":{"label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\nOlivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>One of the best parts about a deep and long-running friendship is you can poke a little fun at each other for your quirks. Like how you’re a diehard fan for a chronically losing sports team or how you put ketchup on everything – gross. For Nate Puckett, his friends rib him about how he never leaves the city of Alameda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> So I work here, I live here, my kids go to school here. I have a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old. So I don’t leave the island for like weeks. And people make fun of me for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>Alameda is an island, in case you didn’t know, and that fact is pretty wrapped up in the identity of some people who live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> I have a T-shirt that says Islander. That’s, like, Alameda themed. There’s Alameda Island Brewing. Like, you talk about whether, you know, you’re on the island or not on the island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>But recently, Nate’s sense of place was thrown off-kilter. He was eating ice cream at a local spot – Tuckers. He glanced up at a historical map hanging on the wall. And there, he saw something that shook him to the core. Alameda was connected to what is now mainland Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> It kind of felt like we’ve been all living a lie. It kind of felt like, no, that’s wrong. Alameda is an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>But no. The map was not wrong. It was just \u003ci>old\u003c/i>. Alameda is not a natural island. And it almost never became an island at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Bay Curious theme music starts\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>On this episode of Bay Curious, we’re going to find out how and \u003ci>why \u003c/i>Alameda was sliced off the mainland. It’s a story with enough twists and turns to make your head spin. I’m Olivia Allen Price. We’ll dive in just after this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sponsor break\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>Making Alameda into an island took nearly 30 years. And in the end, the original idea for the massive excavation, didn’t quite pan out as planned. KQED Producer Pauline Bartolone tells us all about the bumpy journey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Flooding, legal battles, an economic slump and raw sewage. They’re all part of Alameda’s island origin story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Music starts\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all starts back in the 1870s, Alameda was a big peninsula, jutting out like an outstretched arm from what is now Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, things were pretty quiet where Alameda connected with the mainland. Not many people lived in this marshy region. Think open fields and maybe just a few estates of wealthy families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just to the west was a waterway, the Oakland harbor, that opened up to the San Francisco Bay. And it was becoming a bustling center for maritime commerce. More and more ships were arriving since the Gold Rush, bringing all sorts of goods. But navigation in this waterway was tricky. Sediment on its floor would shift — a lot! — causing all sorts of problems for boats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Music ends. We hear the sounds of street traffic and outside noises.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> The trouble is, there were sandbars. And there were all kinds of impediments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Alameda historian Dennis Evanosky took me and our question-asker, Nate Puckett, on a tour along Alameda’s waterfront. He says around what is now the Port of Oakland, the waterway was wild and untouched, with sandbars that would ebb and flow with the tide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> They were there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then they’d be over here on Tuesday and Thursday, this place else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> Oh, yeah, haha.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> And it impeded the shipping traffic!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>The unpredictable nature of the waterway didn’t work for the shipping industry, which wanted to get more boats into the port. Oakland had big development ambitions, says Richard Walker, a professor emeritus in geography at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker: \u003c/b>Then, the sense of competition with San Francisco is intense, even though there’s a lot of San Francisco investment in Oakland. But you start to create Oakland having its own capitalist class, its own leadership who have banks in Oakland, have businesses, you know, have shipping companies, and they actually have a local interest. And that grows and grows so that Oakland, you know, by the early 20th century, is really thumbing its nose at San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Local Congressmen made deals to bring in millions of federal dollars to improve the harbor. Evanosky says the big idea was to dredge a canal all the way across the north side of Alameda, turning the peninsula into an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>We hear sounds of traffic near the canal\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> They planned to build this tidal canal as a scouring channel. What they planned to do was build a dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone:\u003c/b> The dam would be built on the far east side of Alameda. And then during ebb tide, when the water is naturally flowing out to the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> They are going to open that dam, and we’re going to have the water to, I say, “whoosh” through the scouring channel here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone:\u003c/b> Engineers thought this would harness the natural power of tides to flush sediment out of the Oakland estuary and toward the Bay, learning the passage for boats coming in and out of the narrow waterway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> And these aren’t necessarily big, huge ships. These could be smaller ships, but they need a place to navigate and turn around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone:\u003c/b> So, that was the plan. … in the beginning. The project got the green light in the early 1870s but had a slow start. And over the next three decades, it hit roadblock after roadblock. Early on, the government had to buy out 11 families who would lose part of their estates to the canal. They were offered $40,000 at the time, what is more than $1.2 million today. But one family refused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Patty Donald:\u003c/b> They were screwing with his kingdom. If you put it that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Patty Donald is the great-great-granddaughter of A.A. Cohen, a railroad industry baron and attorney who owned an estate with a 70-room mansion on Alameda. A.A. Cohen’s family challenged the canal project more than once.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Patty Donald:\u003c/b> He was one of the most powerful people in Alameda at that time because he had started, he had bought a failing rail system in 1876, I think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>He sued to stop the canal project and lost. And it went forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Music starts\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>By 1889, the excavation was underway. But quickly suffered another setback. A deluge, literally. The winter that started in 1889 was one of the wettest on record. More than 45 inches of rain fell that year. That’s according to a history written by Woody Minor of the Alameda Museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sound effect of typewriter under voice-over\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Voice actor reading:\u003c/i>\u003c/b> Disaster struck on a stormy night in January when Sausal Creek overflowed its banks at Fruitvale Avenue and flooded the ditch and equipment. It took two months to pump out the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Then, they had to deal with public opinion. And perhaps the very first complaints from Alameda residents about commuting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> They are digging this canal. And there’s a problem. People complain, well, if you’re gonna have this canal here, how are we going to get home?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>The canal dredging was disrupting traffic to one of Alameda’s main entrances, Evanosky says. So, the Park Street Bridge was built first, and then two other bridges came.. in the decade that followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Music starts\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>As if legal battles, payouts and flooding weren’t enough, the canal project suffered more roadblocks in the 1890s. According to the Alameda Museum’s Woody Minor, funding dried up during an economic depression. Then, the project’s long-time champion at the Army Corps of Engineers retired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then — this one’s big — new research suggested that dredging deeper in Oakland’s harbor would be more effective for boat passage than this idea of flushing sediment out using a dam. While government officials debated next steps, a partially dug unfinished canal was left. A big giant trench.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> So they had to stop. And this is all done, and they had to stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Now, this is where the raw sewage comes into the picture. Right around this time, people in Oakland and Alameda started installing residential sewer systems. And the waste was flowing right into Lake Merritt and the Oakland Harbor. By the Alameda Museum’s account, the waterway became a cesspool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sound effect of typewriter under voice-over\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice Actor:\u003c/b> Fetid water awash with dead fish lapped against the dam and seeped into the ditch, emitting a pervasive stench.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Alameda’s health officer became the biggest crusader for completing the canal. In 1897, he argued that the stench from the incomplete trench had not only become offensive, but the foul water was killing fish and crabs and posing a health hazard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So government officials soon found the money to put a massive steam shovel to work and finish that canal excavation once and for good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sound of a big machine starting up\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>In case you’re wondering if, during this era, anyone ever chimed in about the ecological impacts of ripping through this marshy area?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker:\u003c/b> No, no, no, no, no, it’s nothing like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Richard Walker says there wasn’t really an environmental movement at this time. Maybe an oysterman was concerned about declining catches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker:\u003c/b> The conservationists at that time would be, I think, entirely obsessed with creating the first state parks. Saving the redwoods. They’re worried about mine debris in the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>By 1902, the dredging was done. And 30 years after the plan was first hatched, the canal filled with water. Alameda was officially an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in the city of Alameda were ready to celebrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sounds of a marching band, crowd noise and fireworks\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>In September of 1902, there were days of fireworks, parades, brass bands, carnival acts, fancy diving and a procession of two hundred lighted boats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Things were different from what was originally envisioned, of course. For one, there was no dam to help flush water out of the estuary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> In my view, they didn’t build the dam because they were just tired of this whole thing, and a lot of people didn’t think the dam was going to work anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Now, more than a century later, as I walk along the canal with Alameda historian Dennis Evanosky near the Park Street Bridge, the canal water is relatively still. A few boats are docked, but none sail by. This neatly engineered waterway looks like a moat around a castle. It’s mostly used for recreation now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> This wasn’t natural. It looks very not natural.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> Right? Right? Right, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Our question asker, Nate Puckett, has been walking with us, listening to Evanosky this whole time. He looks slightly unsettled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> So it sounds like the reason it’s an island was a failed idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I would say, “The island city, sort of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> Yeah, yeah, the island city by accident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky:\u003c/b> Right, right. Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>Nate clarified later that he found Alameda’s island origin story “surprising.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nate Puckett:\u003c/b> You kind of always assume big projects like this are for a very clear and thought-out purpose. And to find that it was kind of an accident or the plan changed so many times is definitely surprising. Especially just, you know, because Alameda is so into being an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pauline Bartolone: \u003c/b>The fact that Alameda isn’t naturally an island doesn’t bother Nate Puckett too much now. After all, it’s been that way for a while, and residents here still bond over bridge and tunnel delays. And over a beer at Alameda Island Brewing Co.\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003ci>Island-themed music starts\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>That story was produced by Pauline Bartolone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Big shout out and thanks to Liam O’Donoghue of the \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayyesterday.com/\">East Bay Yesterday podcast \u003c/a>and UC Davis geographer Javier Arbona for their help on this story. Facts in this story came from Woody Minor of the Alameda Museum and historical documents from the Army Corp of Engineers and the National Park Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s still time to vote in our April voting round. Here are your choices:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice 1:\u003c/b> I was recently at the Morcom Rose Garden in Oakland and saw three different official Oakland signs that read, “No glitter.” I would love to know what happened at the rose garden to warrant so many signs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice 2:\u003c/b> Yesterday, I walked with a fellow science teacher on the Great Hwy. We commented on the blackish sand, made of iron filings. Where does the iron come from?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice 3:\u003c/b> Who are the de Youngs? I think they have some crazy stories!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>Vote for which question you think we should tackle next at baycurious.org. While you’re there, sign up for our monthly newsletter, ask your own question or get lost listening through the Bay Curious archive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>Our show is made by:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>Katrina Schwartz\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Christopher Beale: \u003c/b>Christopher Beale\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katherine Monahan:\u003c/b> Katherine Monahan\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>and me, Olivia Allen Price. Additional support from:\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Jen Chien: \u003c/b>Jen Chien\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katie Springer: \u003c/b>Katie Springer\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Cesar Saldana: \u003c/b>Cesar Saldana\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Maha Sanad: \u003c/b>Maha Sanad\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Holly Kernan:\u003c/b> Holly Kernan\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Crowd:\u003c/b> And the whole KQED family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. We’ll be back next week.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11983858/alameda-the-island-that-almost-wasnt","authors":["11879"],"programs":["news_33523"],"series":["news_17986"],"categories":["news_31795","news_28250","news_8"],"tags":["news_3631","news_32459","news_28262","news_22761"],"featImg":"news_11983865","label":"source_news_11983858"},"news_11976218":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11976218","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11976218","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"california-will-help-fund-the-down-payment-for-your-first-house-heres-how-to-apply","title":"Just Days Left to Apply for California Program That Helps Pay for Your First House","publishDate":1714071347,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Just Days Left to Apply for California Program That Helps Pay for Your First House | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11981458/ayuda-a-comprar-su-primera-casa-california-2023\">\u003cem>Leer en español\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it rolled out last year, the California Dream for All program — a loan application for first-time home buyers — exhausted its approximately $300 million of funding within 11 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That prompted some changes this year for when the down payment assistance program opened again to California residents on April 3. The state has about $250 million on the table, which is expected to assist between 1,600–2,000 new applicants, said Eric Johnson, a spokesperson for the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">The program — officially called the California Dream for All Shared Appreciation Loan\u003c/a> — is designed to have the state step into the role of a parent or grandparent in assisting their offspring buy a home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The program is designed to help those who may not have had the benefit of generational wealth in buying their first home,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re hoping to \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">apply for the California Dream for All program\u003c/a> in 2024, keep reading to see who is eligible, how the program has changed this year, and what you need to do. But hurry: \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">Applications for the program\u003c/a> officially close at 5 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, April 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#californiadream\">How does the California Dream for All program work?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#eligible\">Who is eligible to apply in 2024?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Who got the money in 2023?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While wildly popular, the California Dream for All program didn’t have the geographic reach its designers had hoped for — nor did it reach its intended demographic target, said Adam Briones, the CEO of California Community Builders, a nonprofit housing research and advocacy organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Briones and his team did the research that helped design the program to close the racial homeownership gap in the state. In California, nearly 37% of Black households own their homes compared to 63% of white households, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-housing-divide/\">according to the Public Policy Institute of California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The original hope of the program had been that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952984/reparations-commentary\">formerly redlined communities\u003c/a>, low-wealth communities … [would] be disproportionately supported by this program,” Briones said, “because they’ve been disproportionately held back by inequalities, both in terms of public policy and the way that our economic system works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Eric Johnson, California Housing Finance Agency\"]‘The program is designed to help those who may not have had the benefit of generational wealth in buying their first home.’[/pullquote]“And we didn’t see that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first round of California Dream For All funding helped nearly 2,200 new homeowners purchase homes. But of those, only 3% of the grantees were Black, \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/images/dfa-phase-I-outcomes.png\">according to CalHFA\u003c/a>. That’s compared to 35% of white recipients, 33% Latino and 19% Asian American and Pacific Islander.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nor were the California Dream for All funds distributed equally on a geographic basis, Briones said. A disproportionate share went to Sacramento residents, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of that had to do with informal knowledge access and understanding of a large program that was going to be rolled out,” Briones said. But he cautioned, “If Californians throughout the state don’t benefit from the program, it’s going to be really hard to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11917267/california-legislators-propose-helping-people-buy-homes-in-exchange-for-partial-ownership\">make the argument to voters that they should continue investing in these types of things\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, changes to the 2024 California Dream for All program are meant to address those disparities, Johnson said. Here’s what you need to know to apply.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"californiadream\">\u003c/a>What is the California Dream For All program, and how does it work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Under the California Dream For All program, the state will put down up to 20% of the cost of the home, or up to $150,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money does have to be repaid, just not right away. It gets repaid — without interest — when you sell the home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, there’s a catch. You also have to pay back 20% of any appreciation on the home’s value (which is why the program is called a Shared Appreciation Loan). So, if you buy a $600,000 home and then sell it 10 years later for $700,000, you would have to pay back the initial $120,000 down payment, along with an additional $20,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11917267,news_11946353 label='California Dream for All']In December, the median price of homes in California was nearly $820,000, \u003ca href=\"https://www.car.org/en/marketdata/data/countysalesactivity\">according to the California Association of Realtors\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Basically, in return for an investment from the state into your down payment, when you sell the home, you should share that appreciation with the state,” Briones said, adding that the money homebuyers repay will go toward funding future California Dream for All loans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As an organization working to close the racial wealth gap we thought that trade-off is fair, to ensure that we can support families now and in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applicants can \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">apply for the California Dream for All program before it closes at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 29 at calhfa.ca.gov/dream\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003c/h2>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"eligible\">\u003c/a>Who is eligible to apply for California Dream for All?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Who’s eligible” is where some of the program’s changes this year come into play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like last year, California Dream for All applicants must be California residents — who are either citizens, permanent residents or \u003ca href=\"https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:8%20section:1641%20edition:prelim)\">otherwise defined as a “Qualified Alien”\u003c/a> — and first-time home buyers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But unlike last year, at least one person on the application must also be a first-generation home buyer — meaning their parents do not currently own a home in the United States. Applicants who have ever been in foster care also qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Briones said he was skeptical at first about this requirement that applicants be first-generation home buyers. But, given how quickly the money flew out the door last year, he’s now in favor of the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do think that this is probably a needed additional step to make sure that this program truly is targeted to people that really do need the funds,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, residents making up to 150% of the area’s median income could apply. But this year, that threshold has been reduced to 120% of the area median income. Those income limits now range from $287,000 in Santa Clara County to $132,000 in some of the more rural or agricultural parts of the state, such as Humboldt and Fresno counties. \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homeownership/limits/income/income-cadfa.pdf\">Check out the full list of county income limits here (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson said that CalHFA (California Housing Finance Agency) relies on \u003ca href=\"https://ami-lookup-tool.fanniemae.com/\">the income the lender uses to qualify the homebuyers\u003c/a>. So, if, for example, a married couple applies, then the lender uses their combined income. If a single person applies to the program, the lender only uses one income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applicants must also have a credit score of 680 and a debt-to-income ratio of no more than 45%. \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homeownership/programs/loans-cadfa.pdf\">Read the full list of eligibility requirements for California Dream for All (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>I think I qualify for the California Dream for All program. What’s next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Don’t start picking out your dream home just yet. Johnson said the first thing to do is to find \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homebuyer/lenders.htm\">a CalHFA-approved lender\u003c/a> who is offering the California Dream for All program and can get you pre-approved. This is because you’ll need that \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homeownership/forms/pre-approval-letter-cadfa.pdf\">pre-approval letter (PDF)\u003c/a> from them to register for the program in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Figure out how much home you can qualify for,” Johnson said. “Then work with a loan officer to make sure your application is ready.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">online California Dream for All application \u003c/a>portal will open at 8 a.m. on April 3 and will remain open until 5 p.m. on April 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After that, you’ll need to take a five- to six-hour home-buyer education course and a second one-hour course about how a shared appreciation mortgage works. You can register at \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfadreamforall.com/\">calhfadreamforall.com\u003c/a>, and the classes are online and free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you do end up getting selected for a loan under the program, then you have 90 days to find that dream house, enter into a contract to purchase a home and have the lender reserve the loan through CalHFA’s Mortgage Access System.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you aren’t quite ready to talk to a loan officer yet, Johnson said you can also \u003ca href=\"https://www.hud.gov/states/california/homeownership/hsgcounseling\">talk to a free HUD-approved housing counselor\u003c/a>, who can dig into your finances and figure out what you need to do to get ready to buy a home.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What happens after I apply for California Dream for All?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This is another way the 2024 application differs from last year’s: Unlike 2023’s first round of funding, when loans were given on a first-come, first-served basis, this year, there will be a lottery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This means you don’t need to worry about getting your application in right when the program opens up. Johnson confirmed that you will have until the end of April to submit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\"]How to apply\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Find \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homebuyer/lenders.htm\">an approved loan officer\u003c/a> or talk with \u003ca href=\"https://www.hud.gov/states/california/homeownership/hsgcounseling\">a HUD-approved housing counselor\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Get a pre-approval letter\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Register before \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">the program lottery deadline on April 29\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[/pullquote]After that, Johnson said CalHFA has separated the state into nine geographic zones. The number of applicants selected for the California Dream for All loans will be based on the number of households in each zone. “We really wanted to make sure these funds were distributed equitably,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some people didn’t have time to get their paperwork together [last year],” Johnson said. “We wanted to make sure we had done everything we possibly could and for people to get their finances in order, to make sure they could be successful this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson said it’s OK if the applicant makes an honest mistake or there’s an error on the application: They won’t be rejected outright. CalHFA will work with the applicant to correct any mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a very robust customer service platform in place,” he said. “We help people get through the process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he also said starting early to prepare for the application process is important. So, if you haven’t already, \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homebuyer/lenders.htm\">find a loan officer\u003c/a> who can help assist you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, if it doesn’t happen this year, Johnson said you might also qualify for some of the state’s other home-buyer-assistance programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2024. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID-19\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger and help us decide what to cover here on our site and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[hearken id=\"10483\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The original version of this story published on Feb. 19, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Applications for the state’s high-demand loan program for first-time home buyers will close on Monday, April 29 at 5 p.m.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714071452,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":true,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":51,"wordCount":1939},"headData":{"title":"Just Days Left to Apply for California Program That Helps Pay for Your First House | KQED","description":"Applications for the state’s high-demand loan program for first-time home buyers will close on Monday, April 29 at 5 p.m.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Just Days Left to Apply for California Program That Helps Pay for Your First House","datePublished":"2024-04-25T18:55:47.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-25T18:57:32.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11976218/california-will-help-fund-the-down-payment-for-your-first-house-heres-how-to-apply","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11981458/ayuda-a-comprar-su-primera-casa-california-2023\">\u003cem>Leer en español\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it rolled out last year, the California Dream for All program — a loan application for first-time home buyers — exhausted its approximately $300 million of funding within 11 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That prompted some changes this year for when the down payment assistance program opened again to California residents on April 3. The state has about $250 million on the table, which is expected to assist between 1,600–2,000 new applicants, said Eric Johnson, a spokesperson for the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">The program — officially called the California Dream for All Shared Appreciation Loan\u003c/a> — is designed to have the state step into the role of a parent or grandparent in assisting their offspring buy a home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The program is designed to help those who may not have had the benefit of generational wealth in buying their first home,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re hoping to \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">apply for the California Dream for All program\u003c/a> in 2024, keep reading to see who is eligible, how the program has changed this year, and what you need to do. But hurry: \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">Applications for the program\u003c/a> officially close at 5 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, April 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#californiadream\">How does the California Dream for All program work?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#eligible\">Who is eligible to apply in 2024?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Who got the money in 2023?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While wildly popular, the California Dream for All program didn’t have the geographic reach its designers had hoped for — nor did it reach its intended demographic target, said Adam Briones, the CEO of California Community Builders, a nonprofit housing research and advocacy organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Briones and his team did the research that helped design the program to close the racial homeownership gap in the state. In California, nearly 37% of Black households own their homes compared to 63% of white households, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-housing-divide/\">according to the Public Policy Institute of California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The original hope of the program had been that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952984/reparations-commentary\">formerly redlined communities\u003c/a>, low-wealth communities … [would] be disproportionately supported by this program,” Briones said, “because they’ve been disproportionately held back by inequalities, both in terms of public policy and the way that our economic system works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘The program is designed to help those who may not have had the benefit of generational wealth in buying their first home.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","citation":"Eric Johnson, California Housing Finance Agency","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“And we didn’t see that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first round of California Dream For All funding helped nearly 2,200 new homeowners purchase homes. But of those, only 3% of the grantees were Black, \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/images/dfa-phase-I-outcomes.png\">according to CalHFA\u003c/a>. That’s compared to 35% of white recipients, 33% Latino and 19% Asian American and Pacific Islander.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nor were the California Dream for All funds distributed equally on a geographic basis, Briones said. A disproportionate share went to Sacramento residents, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of that had to do with informal knowledge access and understanding of a large program that was going to be rolled out,” Briones said. But he cautioned, “If Californians throughout the state don’t benefit from the program, it’s going to be really hard to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11917267/california-legislators-propose-helping-people-buy-homes-in-exchange-for-partial-ownership\">make the argument to voters that they should continue investing in these types of things\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, changes to the 2024 California Dream for All program are meant to address those disparities, Johnson said. Here’s what you need to know to apply.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"californiadream\">\u003c/a>What is the California Dream For All program, and how does it work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Under the California Dream For All program, the state will put down up to 20% of the cost of the home, or up to $150,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money does have to be repaid, just not right away. It gets repaid — without interest — when you sell the home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, there’s a catch. You also have to pay back 20% of any appreciation on the home’s value (which is why the program is called a Shared Appreciation Loan). So, if you buy a $600,000 home and then sell it 10 years later for $700,000, you would have to pay back the initial $120,000 down payment, along with an additional $20,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"postid":"news_11917267,news_11946353","label":"California Dream for All "},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In December, the median price of homes in California was nearly $820,000, \u003ca href=\"https://www.car.org/en/marketdata/data/countysalesactivity\">according to the California Association of Realtors\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Basically, in return for an investment from the state into your down payment, when you sell the home, you should share that appreciation with the state,” Briones said, adding that the money homebuyers repay will go toward funding future California Dream for All loans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As an organization working to close the racial wealth gap we thought that trade-off is fair, to ensure that we can support families now and in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applicants can \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">apply for the California Dream for All program before it closes at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 29 at calhfa.ca.gov/dream\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003c/h2>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"eligible\">\u003c/a>Who is eligible to apply for California Dream for All?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Who’s eligible” is where some of the program’s changes this year come into play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like last year, California Dream for All applicants must be California residents — who are either citizens, permanent residents or \u003ca href=\"https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:8%20section:1641%20edition:prelim)\">otherwise defined as a “Qualified Alien”\u003c/a> — and first-time home buyers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But unlike last year, at least one person on the application must also be a first-generation home buyer — meaning their parents do not currently own a home in the United States. Applicants who have ever been in foster care also qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Briones said he was skeptical at first about this requirement that applicants be first-generation home buyers. But, given how quickly the money flew out the door last year, he’s now in favor of the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do think that this is probably a needed additional step to make sure that this program truly is targeted to people that really do need the funds,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, residents making up to 150% of the area’s median income could apply. But this year, that threshold has been reduced to 120% of the area median income. Those income limits now range from $287,000 in Santa Clara County to $132,000 in some of the more rural or agricultural parts of the state, such as Humboldt and Fresno counties. \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homeownership/limits/income/income-cadfa.pdf\">Check out the full list of county income limits here (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson said that CalHFA (California Housing Finance Agency) relies on \u003ca href=\"https://ami-lookup-tool.fanniemae.com/\">the income the lender uses to qualify the homebuyers\u003c/a>. So, if, for example, a married couple applies, then the lender uses their combined income. If a single person applies to the program, the lender only uses one income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applicants must also have a credit score of 680 and a debt-to-income ratio of no more than 45%. \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homeownership/programs/loans-cadfa.pdf\">Read the full list of eligibility requirements for California Dream for All (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>I think I qualify for the California Dream for All program. What’s next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Don’t start picking out your dream home just yet. Johnson said the first thing to do is to find \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homebuyer/lenders.htm\">a CalHFA-approved lender\u003c/a> who is offering the California Dream for All program and can get you pre-approved. This is because you’ll need that \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homeownership/forms/pre-approval-letter-cadfa.pdf\">pre-approval letter (PDF)\u003c/a> from them to register for the program in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Figure out how much home you can qualify for,” Johnson said. “Then work with a loan officer to make sure your application is ready.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">online California Dream for All application \u003c/a>portal will open at 8 a.m. on April 3 and will remain open until 5 p.m. on April 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After that, you’ll need to take a five- to six-hour home-buyer education course and a second one-hour course about how a shared appreciation mortgage works. You can register at \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfadreamforall.com/\">calhfadreamforall.com\u003c/a>, and the classes are online and free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you do end up getting selected for a loan under the program, then you have 90 days to find that dream house, enter into a contract to purchase a home and have the lender reserve the loan through CalHFA’s Mortgage Access System.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you aren’t quite ready to talk to a loan officer yet, Johnson said you can also \u003ca href=\"https://www.hud.gov/states/california/homeownership/hsgcounseling\">talk to a free HUD-approved housing counselor\u003c/a>, who can dig into your finances and figure out what you need to do to get ready to buy a home.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What happens after I apply for California Dream for All?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This is another way the 2024 application differs from last year’s: Unlike 2023’s first round of funding, when loans were given on a first-come, first-served basis, this year, there will be a lottery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This means you don’t need to worry about getting your application in right when the program opens up. Johnson confirmed that you will have until the end of April to submit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"How to apply\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Find \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homebuyer/lenders.htm\">an approved loan officer\u003c/a> or talk with \u003ca href=\"https://www.hud.gov/states/california/homeownership/hsgcounseling\">a HUD-approved housing counselor\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Get a pre-approval letter\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Register before \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/\">the program lottery deadline on April 29\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After that, Johnson said CalHFA has separated the state into nine geographic zones. The number of applicants selected for the California Dream for All loans will be based on the number of households in each zone. “We really wanted to make sure these funds were distributed equitably,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some people didn’t have time to get their paperwork together [last year],” Johnson said. “We wanted to make sure we had done everything we possibly could and for people to get their finances in order, to make sure they could be successful this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson said it’s OK if the applicant makes an honest mistake or there’s an error on the application: They won’t be rejected outright. CalHFA will work with the applicant to correct any mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a very robust customer service platform in place,” he said. “We help people get through the process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he also said starting early to prepare for the application process is important. So, if you haven’t already, \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homebuyer/lenders.htm\">find a loan officer\u003c/a> who can help assist you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, if it doesn’t happen this year, Johnson said you might also qualify for some of the state’s other home-buyer-assistance programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2024. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID-19\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger and help us decide what to cover here on our site and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"hearken","attributes":{"named":{"id":"10483","src":"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The original version of this story published on Feb. 19, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11976218/california-will-help-fund-the-down-payment-for-your-first-house-heres-how-to-apply","authors":["11652"],"categories":["news_6266","news_8"],"tags":["news_32707","news_27626","news_31235","news_1775"],"featImg":"news_11976223","label":"news"},"news_11983907":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11983907","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11983907","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"in-fresnos-chinatown-high-speed-rail-sparks-hope-and-debate-within-residents","title":"In Fresno’s Chinatown, High-Speed Rail Sparks Hope and Debate Within Residents","publishDate":1714042842,"format":"image","headTitle":"In Fresno’s Chinatown, High-Speed Rail Sparks Hope and Debate Within Residents | KQED","labelTerm":{"term":72,"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>On a recent weekday in Fresno’s Chinatown, a steady stream of customers flow into the Central Fish Company. The Japanese grocery store doubles as a modest restaurant, where owner Morgan Doizaki serves up catfish nuggets and fish and chips.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This business is bustling, but around the shop, there’s not a lot of activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When my great uncle opened the store, this was the downtown for communities of color,” Doizaki said. “Then, it became a ghost town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because, in the 1960s, Fresno’s Chinatown was hit hard by \u003ca href=\"https://www.urbandisplacement.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Fresno.pdf\">urban renewal\u003c/a>. A major highway cut through the once-vibrant neighborhood, resulting in demolished buildings and shuttered stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the California High-Speed Rail Authority promises to bring economic prosperity back to this area by constructing a new station — one of the first to be built along the line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while some Chinatown residents said this station will be a boon to the local economy, others worry it will be a catalyst for gentrification, ultimately pushing out the very people and businesses the new station aims to benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Margaret Cederoth, the director of planning and sustainability at the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said that after decades of segregation, she hopes the new station — with entrances on both the Chinatown and downtown sides of the tracks — will be a bridge to reknit the two neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s actually a fantastic opportunity for reconnecting downtown and Chinatown,” Cederoth said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983935\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11983935\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A 2024 rendering of the high-speed rail station in Fresno. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California High-Speed Rail Authority)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To jumpstart economic activity, the authority secured a \u003ca href=\"https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/RAISE-2023-Factsheet-Revised-A11Y.pdf\">$20 million grant\u003c/a> from the federal government to build a plaza in front of the new station that will host food trucks and street vendors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaza, which will sit on the downtown side of the tracks, is slated to open in 2026, a full four years before trains are expected to start running. On the Chinatown side, the authority plans to build an electric vehicle charging station for residents. The funding will also help restore the historic train depot, which will be incorporated into the new station’s design and is believed to be one of Fresno’s oldest buildings, according to the High-Speed Rail Authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Fresno] was a city that was really born out of the railway, and having that historic station next to the future high-speed rail station creates this real chemistry between old and new,” Cederoth said. “We want these to be places that are enjoyed by the public, even in advance of high-speed rail service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The history of Fresno’s Chinatown\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Chinese immigrants were among the first to settle in Fresno after they helped build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s. When white landlords in the city agreed not to sell or lease homes east of the railroad to Chinese residents, they were forced to relocate to the west side of the tracks, where Chinatown is now, separating downtown Fresno from Chinese residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These residents created a bustling neighborhood filled with shops, restaurants and civic organizations. But, Jan Minami, director of the Chinatown Fresno Foundation Project, said it was also a locus of illicit activity, which took place inside a warren of underground tunnels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At one point, Chinatown was a red light district,” Minami said. “Many of the underground tunnels and basements were created to escape the heat, but they were also used to essentially hide gambling and prostitution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chinese immigrants continued to move to the neighborhood and began working at nearby farms, picking figs, grapes, cotton and wheat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in the 1880s, the Chinese Exclusion Act diminished the Chinese workforce. Japanese immigrants, including Doizaki’s family, moved in with many replacing Chinese workers in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983937\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11983937\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"769\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut-800x601.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut-1020x766.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Morgan Doizaki stands outside his family business, Central Fish Company, in Fresno’s Chinatown on March 26, 2024. Doizaki’s family has run the shop since 1950. \u003ccite>(Madi Bolanos/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Doizaki’s great-grandpa first moved from Japan to Fowler, a small rural town south of Fresno, in 1898. He and his family relocated to Fresno’s Chinatown years later and began creating a life there — until World War II when Japanese immigrants were forced into internment camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doizaki’s family was one of the few that was able to rebuild and maintain a business in the area. Over time, Fresno’s Chinatown would become home to 11 different cultures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re starting to see improvements,” Doizaki said of his neighborhood. ” High-speed rail definitely has helped put a lot of focus into Chinatown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chinatown revitalization\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The High-Speed Rail Authority estimates it will spend more than \u003ca href=\"https://hsr.ca.gov/2023/06/28/news-release-high-speed-rail-authority-receives-20-million-from-federal-government-to-revitalize-historic-fresno-train-depot/#:~:text=NEWS%20RELEASE%3A%E2%80%8B%20High%2DSpeed,Revitalize%20Historic%20Fresno%20Train%20Depot&text=FRESNO%2C%20Calif.\">$33 million\u003c/a> on the plaza and other early work near the new station — an investment that’s also prompting city officials to get in on the revitalization effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fresno City Council members recently approved a $10 million contract, with funding from the \u003ca href=\"https://sgc.ca.gov/grant-programs/tcc/\">Transforming Climate Communities Program\u003c/a>, to construct median islands with greenery and new sidewalks, as well as install street lights with Chinese lanterns to honor the neighborhood’s culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11983940\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A 2024 rendering of the high-speed rail station in Fresno. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California High-Speed Rail Authority)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the last year, the city has opened an apartment building with \u003ca href=\"https://fresnohousing.org/properties/the-monarch-chinatown/\">57 affordable units\u003c/a> just three blocks from the Chinatown station. Councilmember Miguel Arias, who represents the district, said the city has also acquired old motels and historic buildings that will eventually be converted into market-rate and affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a responsibility to these communities to not allow the next modern transit system to continue that historical redlining because the freeway system, the train system fundamentally killed Chinatown,” Arias said. “Our goal is to have about half a dozen housing projects be opened or in the final stages of construction by 2026.” [aside label='Related Coverage' tag='central-valley']But housing advocates said building more is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Marisa Moraza, a campaign director with Power California, said the city needs to ensure that all this new development does not price out tenants and business owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For that, she’s advocating for the city to impose a rent cap, increase tenant protections and institute a new oversight board to oversee these efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s Department of Housing and Community Development has mandated that Fresno build nearly \u003ca href=\"https://fresnocog.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/FCOG_RHNP_Public_Review_Final_November_2022_Compiled.pdf\">37,000 new homes and apartments\u003c/a> by 2031 as part of California’s broader goal to construct \u003ca href=\"https://statewide-housing-plan-cahcd.hub.arcgis.com/\">2.5 million homes\u003c/a> in that time. And in a \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eZOB6B6RPRgSnWfKu27p8iYwbPij2vaU/view?usp=sharing\">letter to the city\u003c/a> (PDF), the department recommended it listen and incorporate comments from community groups, such as Power California, as it plans for its share of that new housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to continue to see the city of Fresno grow,” Moraza said. “However, we want to ensure that we are not increasing displacement in downtown and in southwest Fresno as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Doizaki, whose family business has been in Chinatown since 1950, he hopes the city and businesses can work together to provide enough housing for residents with a healthy range of incomes and backgrounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the plans that I’m seeing right now is to fill Chinatown with affordable housing. That’s not how you build a thriving community,” he said. “It’s 2024; we should be able to foresee that this is not how you treat a cultural minority district that was born through racism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"California High-Speed Rail Authorities are promising to revitalize Fresno’s Chinatown years before the first trains leave the station, intending to spur economic growth for the struggling neighborhood.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714148558,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":30,"wordCount":1296},"headData":{"title":"In Fresno’s Chinatown, High-Speed Rail Sparks Hope and Debate Within Residents | KQED","description":"California High-Speed Rail Authorities are promising to revitalize Fresno’s Chinatown years before the first trains leave the station, intending to spur economic growth for the struggling neighborhood.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"In Fresno’s Chinatown, High-Speed Rail Sparks Hope and Debate Within Residents","datePublished":"2024-04-25T11:00:42.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-26T16:22:38.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"audioUrl":"https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/5fe27eaf-26a1-4ef5-bdf2-b15c00f545df/audio.mp3","sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11983907/in-fresnos-chinatown-high-speed-rail-sparks-hope-and-debate-within-residents","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On a recent weekday in Fresno’s Chinatown, a steady stream of customers flow into the Central Fish Company. The Japanese grocery store doubles as a modest restaurant, where owner Morgan Doizaki serves up catfish nuggets and fish and chips.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This business is bustling, but around the shop, there’s not a lot of activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When my great uncle opened the store, this was the downtown for communities of color,” Doizaki said. “Then, it became a ghost town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because, in the 1960s, Fresno’s Chinatown was hit hard by \u003ca href=\"https://www.urbandisplacement.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Fresno.pdf\">urban renewal\u003c/a>. A major highway cut through the once-vibrant neighborhood, resulting in demolished buildings and shuttered stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the California High-Speed Rail Authority promises to bring economic prosperity back to this area by constructing a new station — one of the first to be built along the line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while some Chinatown residents said this station will be a boon to the local economy, others worry it will be a catalyst for gentrification, ultimately pushing out the very people and businesses the new station aims to benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Margaret Cederoth, the director of planning and sustainability at the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said that after decades of segregation, she hopes the new station — with entrances on both the Chinatown and downtown sides of the tracks — will be a bridge to reknit the two neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s actually a fantastic opportunity for reconnecting downtown and Chinatown,” Cederoth said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983935\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11983935\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-Crossing-Path.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A 2024 rendering of the high-speed rail station in Fresno. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California High-Speed Rail Authority)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To jumpstart economic activity, the authority secured a \u003ca href=\"https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/RAISE-2023-Factsheet-Revised-A11Y.pdf\">$20 million grant\u003c/a> from the federal government to build a plaza in front of the new station that will host food trucks and street vendors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaza, which will sit on the downtown side of the tracks, is slated to open in 2026, a full four years before trains are expected to start running. On the Chinatown side, the authority plans to build an electric vehicle charging station for residents. The funding will also help restore the historic train depot, which will be incorporated into the new station’s design and is believed to be one of Fresno’s oldest buildings, according to the High-Speed Rail Authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Fresno] was a city that was really born out of the railway, and having that historic station next to the future high-speed rail station creates this real chemistry between old and new,” Cederoth said. “We want these to be places that are enjoyed by the public, even in advance of high-speed rail service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The history of Fresno’s Chinatown\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Chinese immigrants were among the first to settle in Fresno after they helped build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s. When white landlords in the city agreed not to sell or lease homes east of the railroad to Chinese residents, they were forced to relocate to the west side of the tracks, where Chinatown is now, separating downtown Fresno from Chinese residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These residents created a bustling neighborhood filled with shops, restaurants and civic organizations. But, Jan Minami, director of the Chinatown Fresno Foundation Project, said it was also a locus of illicit activity, which took place inside a warren of underground tunnels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At one point, Chinatown was a red light district,” Minami said. “Many of the underground tunnels and basements were created to escape the heat, but they were also used to essentially hide gambling and prostitution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chinese immigrants continued to move to the neighborhood and began working at nearby farms, picking figs, grapes, cotton and wheat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in the 1880s, the Chinese Exclusion Act diminished the Chinese workforce. Japanese immigrants, including Doizaki’s family, moved in with many replacing Chinese workers in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983937\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11983937\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"769\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut-800x601.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut-1020x766.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/8A450199-F2F2-4509-AAE8-C6ED1F7A34D1_1_105_c_qut-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Morgan Doizaki stands outside his family business, Central Fish Company, in Fresno’s Chinatown on March 26, 2024. Doizaki’s family has run the shop since 1950. \u003ccite>(Madi Bolanos/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Doizaki’s great-grandpa first moved from Japan to Fowler, a small rural town south of Fresno, in 1898. He and his family relocated to Fresno’s Chinatown years later and began creating a life there — until World War II when Japanese immigrants were forced into internment camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doizaki’s family was one of the few that was able to rebuild and maintain a business in the area. Over time, Fresno’s Chinatown would become home to 11 different cultures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re starting to see improvements,” Doizaki said of his neighborhood. ” High-speed rail definitely has helped put a lot of focus into Chinatown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chinatown revitalization\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The High-Speed Rail Authority estimates it will spend more than \u003ca href=\"https://hsr.ca.gov/2023/06/28/news-release-high-speed-rail-authority-receives-20-million-from-federal-government-to-revitalize-historic-fresno-train-depot/#:~:text=NEWS%20RELEASE%3A%E2%80%8B%20High%2DSpeed,Revitalize%20Historic%20Fresno%20Train%20Depot&text=FRESNO%2C%20Calif.\">$33 million\u003c/a> on the plaza and other early work near the new station — an investment that’s also prompting city officials to get in on the revitalization effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fresno City Council members recently approved a $10 million contract, with funding from the \u003ca href=\"https://sgc.ca.gov/grant-programs/tcc/\">Transforming Climate Communities Program\u003c/a>, to construct median islands with greenery and new sidewalks, as well as install street lights with Chinese lanterns to honor the neighborhood’s culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11983940\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/2024_01-Fresno.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A 2024 rendering of the high-speed rail station in Fresno. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California High-Speed Rail Authority)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the last year, the city has opened an apartment building with \u003ca href=\"https://fresnohousing.org/properties/the-monarch-chinatown/\">57 affordable units\u003c/a> just three blocks from the Chinatown station. Councilmember Miguel Arias, who represents the district, said the city has also acquired old motels and historic buildings that will eventually be converted into market-rate and affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a responsibility to these communities to not allow the next modern transit system to continue that historical redlining because the freeway system, the train system fundamentally killed Chinatown,” Arias said. “Our goal is to have about half a dozen housing projects be opened or in the final stages of construction by 2026.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"Related Coverage ","tag":"central-valley"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But housing advocates said building more is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Marisa Moraza, a campaign director with Power California, said the city needs to ensure that all this new development does not price out tenants and business owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For that, she’s advocating for the city to impose a rent cap, increase tenant protections and institute a new oversight board to oversee these efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s Department of Housing and Community Development has mandated that Fresno build nearly \u003ca href=\"https://fresnocog.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/FCOG_RHNP_Public_Review_Final_November_2022_Compiled.pdf\">37,000 new homes and apartments\u003c/a> by 2031 as part of California’s broader goal to construct \u003ca href=\"https://statewide-housing-plan-cahcd.hub.arcgis.com/\">2.5 million homes\u003c/a> in that time. And in a \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eZOB6B6RPRgSnWfKu27p8iYwbPij2vaU/view?usp=sharing\">letter to the city\u003c/a> (PDF), the department recommended it listen and incorporate comments from community groups, such as Power California, as it plans for its share of that new housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to continue to see the city of Fresno grow,” Moraza said. “However, we want to ensure that we are not increasing displacement in downtown and in southwest Fresno as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Doizaki, whose family business has been in Chinatown since 1950, he hopes the city and businesses can work together to provide enough housing for residents with a healthy range of incomes and backgrounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the plans that I’m seeing right now is to fill Chinatown with affordable housing. That’s not how you build a thriving community,” he said. “It’s 2024; we should be able to foresee that this is not how you treat a cultural minority district that was born through racism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11983907/in-fresnos-chinatown-high-speed-rail-sparks-hope-and-debate-within-residents","authors":["11895"],"programs":["news_72"],"categories":["news_1169","news_8"],"tags":["news_307","news_20290","news_311","news_23152","news_27626","news_37","news_309","news_1775","news_20202","news_20517"],"featImg":"news_11983945","label":"news_72"},"forum_2010101905521":{"type":"posts","id":"forum_2010101905521","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"forum","id":"2010101905521","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"nprs-sarah-mccammon-on-leaving-the-evangelical-church","title":"NPR's Sarah McCammon on Leaving the Evangelical Church","publishDate":1714073701,"format":"audio","headTitle":"NPR’s Sarah McCammon on Leaving the Evangelical Church | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"forum"},"content":"\u003cp>While covering Trump’s 2016 campaign, NPR political correspondent Sarah McCammon understood the white evangelical movement behind his political rise, because she grew up in that world. McCammon left the church troubled by the misogyny, homophobia and racism she witnessed. That experience is at the center of her book “The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church.” We speak to McCammon and hear from you: Have you left organized religion? Why?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"We speak to McCammon and hear from you: Have you left organized religion? Why?","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714159546,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":3,"wordCount":78},"headData":{"title":"NPR's Sarah McCammon on Leaving the Evangelical Church | KQED","description":"We speak to McCammon and hear from you: Have you left organized religion? Why?","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"NPR's Sarah McCammon on Leaving the Evangelical Church","datePublished":"2024-04-25T19:35:01.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-26T19:25:46.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"audioUrl":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/chrt.fm/track/G6C7C3/traffic.megaphone.fm/KQINC3039160805.mp3?updated=1714157139","airdate":1714150800,"forumGuests":[{"name":"Sarah McCammon","bio":"National Political Correspondent, NPR; co-host, NPR Politics Podcast; author, \"The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church\""}],"sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/forum/2010101905521/nprs-sarah-mccammon-on-leaving-the-evangelical-church","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>While covering Trump’s 2016 campaign, NPR political correspondent Sarah McCammon understood the white evangelical movement behind his political rise, because she grew up in that world. McCammon left the church troubled by the misogyny, homophobia and racism she witnessed. That experience is at the center of her book “The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church.” We speak to McCammon and hear from you: Have you left organized religion? Why?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/forum/2010101905521/nprs-sarah-mccammon-on-leaving-the-evangelical-church","authors":["11685"],"categories":["forum_165"],"featImg":"forum_2010101905523","label":"forum"},"news_11984087":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11984087","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11984087","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"uc-regent-john-perez-on-the-gaza-protests-roiling-college-campuses","title":"UC Regent John Pérez on the Gaza Protests Roiling College Campuses","publishDate":1714091440,"format":"audio","headTitle":"UC Regent John Pérez on the Gaza Protests Roiling College Campuses | KQED","labelTerm":{"term":33544,"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As protests over the war in Gaza roil college campuses from New York to California, Marisa and Scott sit down with UC Regent John Pérez, who has served on the board overseeing the University of California system since 2014 and was recently appointed to another 12 year term.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Pérez was also Speaker of the State Assembly from 2010 to 2014.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":null,"status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714089053,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":3,"wordCount":66},"headData":{"title":"UC Regent John Pérez on the Gaza Protests Roiling College Campuses | KQED","description":"As protests over the war in Gaza roil college campuses from New York to California, Marisa and Scott sit down with UC Regent John Pérez, who has served on the board overseeing the University of California system since 2014 and was recently appointed to another 12 year term. Pérez was also Speaker of the State","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"UC Regent John Pérez on the Gaza Protests Roiling College Campuses","datePublished":"2024-04-26T00:30:40.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-25T23:50:53.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"audioUrl":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chrt.fm/track/G6C7C3/traffic.megaphone.fm/KQINC4556762915.mp3?updated=1714089273","sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11984087/uc-regent-john-perez-on-the-gaza-protests-roiling-college-campuses","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As protests over the war in Gaza roil college campuses from New York to California, Marisa and Scott sit down with UC Regent John Pérez, who has served on the board overseeing the University of California system since 2014 and was recently appointed to another 12 year term.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Pérez was also Speaker of the State Assembly from 2010 to 2014.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11984087/uc-regent-john-perez-on-the-gaza-protests-roiling-college-campuses","authors":["255","3239"],"programs":["news_33544"],"categories":["news_8"],"tags":["news_32839","news_22235"],"featImg":"news_11984095","label":"news_33544"},"news_11983995":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11983995","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11983995","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"is-california-headed-for-another-tax-revolt","title":"Is California Headed For Another Tax Revolt?","publishDate":1714054687,"format":"audio","headTitle":"Is California Headed For Another Tax Revolt? | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Tax Fight A Battle In Sacramento\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Battle lines are being drawn in what could be a huge fight over taxes in California this November. Those fights are playing out on the ballot and in court. The state could be headed for another “tax revolt” like the one that ushered in Proposition 13.\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Bill Would Give Striking Workers Unemployment Benefits\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California lawmakers have reintroduced a bill that would make workers on strike for more than two weeks eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. \u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":null,"status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714054687,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":4,"wordCount":97},"headData":{"title":"Is California Headed For Another Tax Revolt? | KQED","description":"Tax Fight A Battle In Sacramento Battle lines are being drawn in what could be a huge fight over taxes in California this November. Those fights are playing out on the ballot and in court. The state could be headed for another “tax revolt” like the one that ushered in Proposition 13. Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio Bill Would Give Striking Workers Unemployment Benefits California lawmakers have reintroduced a bill that would make workers on strike for more than two weeks eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED ","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Is California Headed For Another Tax Revolt?","datePublished":"2024-04-25T14:18:07.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-25T14:18:07.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"source":"Morning Report","sourceUrl":"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/tcrarchive/","audioUrl":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chrt.fm/track/G6C7C3/traffic.megaphone.fm/KQINC7738356060.mp3?updated=1714054753","sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11983995/is-california-headed-for-another-tax-revolt","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Tax Fight A Battle In Sacramento\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Battle lines are being drawn in what could be a huge fight over taxes in California this November. Those fights are playing out on the ballot and in court. The state could be headed for another “tax revolt” like the one that ushered in Proposition 13.\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Bill Would Give Striking Workers Unemployment Benefits\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California lawmakers have reintroduced a bill that would make workers on strike for more than two weeks eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. \u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11983995/is-california-headed-for-another-tax-revolt","authors":["236"],"programs":["news_72"],"categories":["news_21291"],"tags":["news_21998","news_21268"],"featImg":"news_11983996","label":"source_news_11983995"},"forum_2010101905515":{"type":"posts","id":"forum_2010101905515","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"forum","id":"2010101905515","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"kqed-youth-takeover-were-getting-a-wnba-team","title":"KQED Youth Takeover: We’re Getting a WNBA Team","publishDate":1714072777,"format":"audio","headTitle":"KQED Youth Takeover: We’re Getting a WNBA Team | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"forum"},"content":"\u003cp>The WNBA is coming to the Bay Area! Fans will have a new women’s team to cheer for, at a moment when female superstars like Caitlin Clark have captivated basketball lovers of all ages. As part of KQED’s Youth Takeover week, high school athletes Mahi Jariwala, Jessie Lin and Olivia Ma bring together a sports journalist, a basketball coach and a Title IX attorney to talk about the impact of women’s basketball in the Bay Area – and the arrival of a new professional team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"As part of KQED’s Youth Takeover week, high school athletes Mahi Jariwala, Jessie Lin and Olivia Ma bring together a sports journalist, a basketball coach and a former Title IX attorney to talk about the impact of women’s basketball in the Bay Area – and the arrival of a new professional team.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714159520,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":3,"wordCount":93},"headData":{"title":"KQED Youth Takeover: We’re Getting a WNBA Team | KQED","description":"As part of KQED’s Youth Takeover week, high school athletes Mahi Jariwala, Jessie Lin and Olivia Ma bring together a sports journalist, a basketball coach and a former Title IX attorney to talk about the impact of women’s basketball in the Bay Area – and the arrival of a new professional team.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"KQED Youth Takeover: We’re Getting a WNBA Team","datePublished":"2024-04-25T19:19:37.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-26T19:25:20.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"audioUrl":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/chrt.fm/track/G6C7C3/traffic.megaphone.fm/KQINC8641099486.mp3?updated=1714159650","airdate":1714147200,"forumGuests":[{"name":"Mahi Jariwala","bio":"senior, Monte Vista High School"},{"name":"Jessie Lin","bio":"senior, Woodside High School"},{"name":"Olivia Ma","bio":"junior, BASIS Independent Fremont"},{"name":"Marisa Ingemi","bio":"women's sports reporter, San Francisco Chronicle"},{"name":"Kim Turner","bio":"co-CEO of the nonprofit Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative; Title IX attorney"},{"name":"Jeff Addiego","bio":"vice president, Warriors Basketball Academy"}],"sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/forum/2010101905515/kqed-youth-takeover-were-getting-a-wnba-team","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The WNBA is coming to the Bay Area! Fans will have a new women’s team to cheer for, at a moment when female superstars like Caitlin Clark have captivated basketball lovers of all ages. As part of KQED’s Youth Takeover week, high school athletes Mahi Jariwala, Jessie Lin and Olivia Ma bring together a sports journalist, a basketball coach and a Title IX attorney to talk about the impact of women’s basketball in the Bay Area – and the arrival of a new professional team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/forum/2010101905515/kqed-youth-takeover-were-getting-a-wnba-team","authors":["11757"],"categories":["forum_165"],"tags":["forum_640"],"featImg":"forum_2010101905520","label":"forum"},"news_11983813":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11983813","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11983813","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"san-jose-adding-hundreds-of-license-plate-readers-amid-privacy-and-efficacy-concerns","title":"San José Adding Hundreds of License Plate Readers Amid Privacy and Efficacy Concerns","publishDate":1714141802,"format":"standard","headTitle":"San José Adding Hundreds of License Plate Readers Amid Privacy and Efficacy Concerns | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>In an effort to address crime, San José is rapidly blanketing the city with hundreds of automated license plate readers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Matt Mahan helped install the city’s 235th device this week and said San José aims to have 500 up and running by the summer. Leaders say the ALPRs from Atlanta-based Flock Safety are a critical support for investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has already proven an incredible tool for our thinly staffed police department,” Mahan said Tuesday during a press conference in East San José where a new ALPR was being installed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the network of cameras in 2023 alone helped recover $2 million worth of stolen vehicles and led to the arrests of nearly 200 people suspected of crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Acting Police Chief Paul Joseph said the ALPRs have been invaluable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These cameras make a difference by helping to identify and apprehend suspects, curbing criminal activity and providing crime victims with a feeling of closure and justice,” Joseph said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, some privacy advocates and residents say the cameras aren’t actually effective at reducing crime and instead create massive logs about the movements of locals and visitors. They worry about the amount of data police are keeping, the length of time it’s retained, and how it is shared across law enforcement agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Complicated issues like safety deserve really well thought out and focused solutions,” said Nick Hidalgo, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Installing hundreds of expensive devices that effectively turn San José into a surveillance city is like using a bazooka instead of a fly swatter. It’s expensive, unnecessary, ineffective and does a lot more harm than good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Flock devices capture not only license plates but also a car’s make and model and other characteristics like customizations or bumper stickers. Flock’s software pings police when a car matching a “hotlist” crosses the path of the cameras, and police can also search the data logs for specific cars and plates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials say the cameras do not have facial recognition features, nor do they photograph inside a car. City officials said they are proud of the data privacy protections San José follows and noted that the data, under state law requirements, is only shared with other California law enforcement agencies and is prohibited from being used for immigration enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danny Garza, a 65-year resident of East San José’s Plata Arroyo neighborhood, trusted the police to handle the information securely and said he and others have requested cameras be put up in the area for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re asking that these license plate readers help protect layer upon layer of community gains,” Garza said. “All we’re interested in is community safety. We’ve had shootings in the past, and they’ve gotten away. Nobody knows where they went.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though police leaders say the technology is effective and has helped capture people suspected of car theft, rape, and homicide, among other crimes, the department declined to use a specific metric to measure the success of the program over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11984099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11984099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08.jpg\" alt=\"A white middle aged man speaks into microphones wearing a blue suit and a white collared shirt with no tie.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan during a press conference in East San José where a new ALPR was being installed on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We like to measure our success in terms of usefulness in our pursuit of public safety by solving and reducing crime,” Sgt. Jorge Garibay, a department spokesperson, told KQED in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Crime trends fluctuate, as do crime types. What most of these have in common is a mode of transportation to and from the scene of crime. When that mode is a vehicle, ALPR success is achieved when a hit has been broadcasted and officers have a tangible lead to follow up on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cameras installed to date — 241 of them as of this writing — are already amassing huge troves of data about the cars driving in San José. The current camera network has detected nearly 3 million unique cars per month, according to the city’s Flock portal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In just an 18-day period in December 2022, the city’s cameras captured nearly 16 million total scans, which can include multiple scans of the same vehicle in different locations, according to police. The total scans will only increase as the city’s arsenal of cameras more than doubles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It casts a net over the entire community, tracking where drivers go and allowing law enforcement to, if they chose, create maps of where drivers work, live, worship, seek medical care, and travel,” said Hidalgo of ACLU Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His research into San José’s ALPR program from 2022 showed that more than 99.99% of the plates scanned do not match any hotlists for police. If the car or plate is not implicated in an investigation, the SJPD then keeps every plate scanned for a year before purging it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many law enforcement agencies using similar Flock systems purge license plate data every 30 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hidalgo said it’s not just invasive that police track that much data on people who aren’t suspected of any crimes, but by keeping it for a year, the city puts the data at further risk for misuse or to be inadvertently disclosed in a data breach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph, the police chief, said the department keeps the data for one year based on the recommendation of the city attorney’s office, indicating the law requires it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11983106,news_11983119,news_11966615\"]Albert Gehami, San José’s privacy officer, said the city is aware other agencies do not keep similar data for as long as San José does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it has nothing to do with an investigation, a year is excessive,” Gehami said of the data. “Police departments up and down, everyone that we speak to, [say] there is no need for that information. It is strictly what our attorney’s office has decided is the current interpretation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Attorney Nora Frimann said the retention period has been in place for more than a decade, going back to when the police department trialed other license plate reader technology and before the state required cities to have formal ALPR policies in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just made sense to keep it for a year,” Frimann said. However, she noted the retention time is a policy question that the city council can change if it sees fit. “As a city, we can revisit the time frame,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extra time San José police choose to keep the data also costs the city more money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José police could not immediately provide total cost estimates for the program but noted that each camera costs the city about $2,500 per year to lease from Flock, along with a $350 one-time fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock’s head of policy and communication, Josh Thomas, said San José pays an extra $300 per camera each year for the longer data retention periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"The city’s cameras scan millions of license plates per month and helped recover $2 million in stolen vehicles last year. However, privacy advocates say they don’t help reduce crime.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714093166,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":32,"wordCount":1220},"headData":{"title":"San José Adding Hundreds of License Plate Readers Amid Privacy and Efficacy Concerns | KQED","description":"The city’s cameras scan millions of license plates per month and helped recover $2 million in stolen vehicles last year. However, privacy advocates say they don’t help reduce crime.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"San José Adding Hundreds of License Plate Readers Amid Privacy and Efficacy Concerns","datePublished":"2024-04-26T14:30:02.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-26T00:59:26.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11983813/san-jose-adding-hundreds-of-license-plate-readers-amid-privacy-and-efficacy-concerns","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In an effort to address crime, San José is rapidly blanketing the city with hundreds of automated license plate readers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Matt Mahan helped install the city’s 235th device this week and said San José aims to have 500 up and running by the summer. Leaders say the ALPRs from Atlanta-based Flock Safety are a critical support for investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has already proven an incredible tool for our thinly staffed police department,” Mahan said Tuesday during a press conference in East San José where a new ALPR was being installed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the network of cameras in 2023 alone helped recover $2 million worth of stolen vehicles and led to the arrests of nearly 200 people suspected of crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Acting Police Chief Paul Joseph said the ALPRs have been invaluable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These cameras make a difference by helping to identify and apprehend suspects, curbing criminal activity and providing crime victims with a feeling of closure and justice,” Joseph said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, some privacy advocates and residents say the cameras aren’t actually effective at reducing crime and instead create massive logs about the movements of locals and visitors. They worry about the amount of data police are keeping, the length of time it’s retained, and how it is shared across law enforcement agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Complicated issues like safety deserve really well thought out and focused solutions,” said Nick Hidalgo, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Installing hundreds of expensive devices that effectively turn San José into a surveillance city is like using a bazooka instead of a fly swatter. It’s expensive, unnecessary, ineffective and does a lot more harm than good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Flock devices capture not only license plates but also a car’s make and model and other characteristics like customizations or bumper stickers. Flock’s software pings police when a car matching a “hotlist” crosses the path of the cameras, and police can also search the data logs for specific cars and plates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials say the cameras do not have facial recognition features, nor do they photograph inside a car. City officials said they are proud of the data privacy protections San José follows and noted that the data, under state law requirements, is only shared with other California law enforcement agencies and is prohibited from being used for immigration enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danny Garza, a 65-year resident of East San José’s Plata Arroyo neighborhood, trusted the police to handle the information securely and said he and others have requested cameras be put up in the area for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re asking that these license plate readers help protect layer upon layer of community gains,” Garza said. “All we’re interested in is community safety. We’ve had shootings in the past, and they’ve gotten away. Nobody knows where they went.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though police leaders say the technology is effective and has helped capture people suspected of car theft, rape, and homicide, among other crimes, the department declined to use a specific metric to measure the success of the program over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11984099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11984099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08.jpg\" alt=\"A white middle aged man speaks into microphones wearing a blue suit and a white collared shirt with no tie.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/San-Jose-License-Plate-Readers-08-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan during a press conference in East San José where a new ALPR was being installed on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We like to measure our success in terms of usefulness in our pursuit of public safety by solving and reducing crime,” Sgt. Jorge Garibay, a department spokesperson, told KQED in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Crime trends fluctuate, as do crime types. What most of these have in common is a mode of transportation to and from the scene of crime. When that mode is a vehicle, ALPR success is achieved when a hit has been broadcasted and officers have a tangible lead to follow up on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cameras installed to date — 241 of them as of this writing — are already amassing huge troves of data about the cars driving in San José. The current camera network has detected nearly 3 million unique cars per month, according to the city’s Flock portal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In just an 18-day period in December 2022, the city’s cameras captured nearly 16 million total scans, which can include multiple scans of the same vehicle in different locations, according to police. The total scans will only increase as the city’s arsenal of cameras more than doubles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It casts a net over the entire community, tracking where drivers go and allowing law enforcement to, if they chose, create maps of where drivers work, live, worship, seek medical care, and travel,” said Hidalgo of ACLU Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His research into San José’s ALPR program from 2022 showed that more than 99.99% of the plates scanned do not match any hotlists for police. If the car or plate is not implicated in an investigation, the SJPD then keeps every plate scanned for a year before purging it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many law enforcement agencies using similar Flock systems purge license plate data every 30 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hidalgo said it’s not just invasive that police track that much data on people who aren’t suspected of any crimes, but by keeping it for a year, the city puts the data at further risk for misuse or to be inadvertently disclosed in a data breach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph, the police chief, said the department keeps the data for one year based on the recommendation of the city attorney’s office, indicating the law requires it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"Related Stories ","postid":"news_11983106,news_11983119,news_11966615"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Albert Gehami, San José’s privacy officer, said the city is aware other agencies do not keep similar data for as long as San José does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it has nothing to do with an investigation, a year is excessive,” Gehami said of the data. “Police departments up and down, everyone that we speak to, [say] there is no need for that information. It is strictly what our attorney’s office has decided is the current interpretation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Attorney Nora Frimann said the retention period has been in place for more than a decade, going back to when the police department trialed other license plate reader technology and before the state required cities to have formal ALPR policies in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just made sense to keep it for a year,” Frimann said. However, she noted the retention time is a policy question that the city council can change if it sees fit. “As a city, we can revisit the time frame,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extra time San José police choose to keep the data also costs the city more money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José police could not immediately provide total cost estimates for the program but noted that each camera costs the city about $2,500 per year to lease from Flock, along with a $350 one-time fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flock’s head of policy and communication, Josh Thomas, said San José pays an extra $300 per camera each year for the longer data retention periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11983813/san-jose-adding-hundreds-of-license-plate-readers-amid-privacy-and-efficacy-concerns","authors":["11906"],"categories":["news_31795","news_8"],"tags":["news_18538","news_27626","news_16","news_4287","news_31197","news_18541","news_667"],"featImg":"news_11984097","label":"news"},"news_11984094":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11984094","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11984094","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"usc-cancels-main-graduation-ceremony-amid-ongoing-gaza-protests","title":"USC Cancels Main Graduation Ceremony Amid Ongoing Gaza Protests","publishDate":1714087963,"format":"standard","headTitle":"USC Cancels Main Graduation Ceremony Amid Ongoing Gaza Protests | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony on Thursday amid ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/gaza-war-campus-protests-966eb531279f8e4381883fc5d79d5466\">protests against the Israel-Hamas war\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School officials announced the cancellation of the May 10 ceremony a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus. The university said it will still host dozens of smaller commencement events, including all the traditional individual school ceremonies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tensions were already high after USC \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/university-of-southern-california-commencement-speech-canceled-125cb8db93f2247ca3e45f782b7fcb2a\">canceled a planned commencement speech\u003c/a> by the school’s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that this is disappointing; however, we are adding many new activities and celebrations to make this commencement academically meaningful, memorable, and uniquely USC,” the university said in a statement on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Los Angeles Police Department said 93 people were arrested Wednesday night during a campus protest for allegedly trespassing. One person was arrested on allegations of assault with a deadly weapon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cancellation announcement comes as college officials across the U.S. grow increasingly worried that ongoing protests on their campuses could disrupt plans for \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/college-graduation-israel-gaza-protest-3b363f57cbe915e95b68eeed04ca342d\">commencement ceremonies\u003c/a> next month. Some universities called in police to break up the demonstrations, resulting in ugly scuffles and hundreds of arrests of students nationwide, while others appeared content to wait out student protests as the final days of the semester ticked down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some schools continue negotiating with demonstrators, others are rewriting their rules to ban encampments and moving final exams to new locations.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"gaza\"]Students protesting the war are demanding \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/college-protests-israel-divestment-palestinians-3f37f96f7be8e1124f266842d9caa627\">schools cut financial ties\u003c/a> to Israel and divest from companies enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Encampments and protests continued to spring up on Thursday. A tent encampment popped up at Indiana University Bloomington before police with shields and batons shoved into a line of protesters, arresting an unknown number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the City College of New York, hundreds of students who were gathered on the lawn beneath the Harlem campus’ famed gothic buildings erupted in cheers after a small contingent of police officers retreated from the scene. In one corner of the quad, a “security training” was held among students who said they expected to be arrested in the coming hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Emerson College in Boston, 108 people were arrested overnight at an alleyway encampment. Video shows police first warning students there to leave. Students link arms to resist officers, who move forcefully through the crowd and throw some protesters to the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boston police said four officers suffered injuries that were not life-threatening during the confrontation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the night progressed, it got tenser and tenser. There were just more cops on all sides. It felt like we were being slowly pushed in and crushed,” said Ocean Muir, a sophomore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, the scariest moment was holding these umbrellas out in case we were tear-gassed, and hearing them come, and hearing their boots on the ground, just pounding into the ground louder than we could chant, and not being able to see a single person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muir said police lifted her by her arms and legs and carried her away. Along with other students, Muir was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emerson College leaders warned students that the alley was a public right-of-way and that city authorities had threatened to take action if the protesters didn’t leave. The school canceled classes on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The University of Texas at Austin campus was much calmer Thursday after 57 people were jailed and charged with criminal trespass a day earlier. University officials pulled back barricades and allowed demonstrators onto the main square beneath the school’s iconic clock tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, students and some faculty protested both the war and Wednesday’s arrests, when state troopers in riot gear and on horseback plowed into protesters, forcing hundreds of students off the school’s main lawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Emory University in Atlanta, local and state police swept in to dismantle a camp, although the university said the protesters weren’t students but rather outside activists. Some officers carried semiautomatic weapons, and video shows officers using a stun gun on one protester who they had pinned to the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jail records showed 22 people arrested by university police were charged with disorderly conduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protesters at Emory chanted slogans supporting Palestinians and opposing a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/cop-city-atlanta-police-training-center-cost-d4f5073d4372d7b327127e193fce30f2\">public safety training center\u003c/a> being built in Atlanta. The two movements are closely entwined in Atlanta, where activists have for years waged a “Stop Cop City” campaign against the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many colleges, including Harvard University, chose not to take immediate action against protesters who had set up tents, even though they were openly defying campus rules. And some colleges were making new rules, like Northwestern University, which hastily changed its student code of conduct on Thursday morning to bar tents on its suburban Chicago campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George Washington University said it would move its law school finals from a building next to the protest encampment to a new location because of the noise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current wave of protests was \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/inside-columbia-protest-movement-0b35ff55f18d0bf4b2c8c0a27b1dbe04\">inspired by events at Columbia University\u003c/a> in New York, where police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 100 people last week, only for students to defiantly put up tents again in an area where many are set to graduate in front of families in a few weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said the ability to embrace student voices and different perspectives was a hallmark of the nation’s growth but warned that authorities wouldn’t tolerate hate, discrimination or threats of violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war\">Israel-Hamas war\u003c/a> began more than six months ago, the U.S. Education Department has launched civil rights investigations into dozens of universities and schools in response to complaints of antisemitism or Islamophobia. Among those under investigation are many colleges facing protests, including Harvard and Columbia.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"The cancellation announcement comes as college officials across the U.S. grow increasingly worried that ongoing protests and arrests on their campuses could disrupt plans for commencement ceremonies next month.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1714089416,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":27,"wordCount":1007},"headData":{"title":"USC Cancels Main Graduation Ceremony Amid Ongoing Gaza Protests | KQED","description":"The cancellation announcement comes as college officials across the U.S. grow increasingly worried that ongoing protests and arrests on their campuses could disrupt plans for commencement ceremonies next month.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"USC Cancels Main Graduation Ceremony Amid Ongoing Gaza Protests","datePublished":"2024-04-25T23:32:43.000Z","dateModified":"2024-04-25T23:56:56.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"sticky":false,"nprByline":"Steve LeBlanc and Nick Perry\u003cbr>Associated Press","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11984094/usc-cancels-main-graduation-ceremony-amid-ongoing-gaza-protests","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony on Thursday amid ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/gaza-war-campus-protests-966eb531279f8e4381883fc5d79d5466\">protests against the Israel-Hamas war\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School officials announced the cancellation of the May 10 ceremony a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus. The university said it will still host dozens of smaller commencement events, including all the traditional individual school ceremonies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tensions were already high after USC \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/university-of-southern-california-commencement-speech-canceled-125cb8db93f2247ca3e45f782b7fcb2a\">canceled a planned commencement speech\u003c/a> by the school’s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that this is disappointing; however, we are adding many new activities and celebrations to make this commencement academically meaningful, memorable, and uniquely USC,” the university said in a statement on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Los Angeles Police Department said 93 people were arrested Wednesday night during a campus protest for allegedly trespassing. One person was arrested on allegations of assault with a deadly weapon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cancellation announcement comes as college officials across the U.S. grow increasingly worried that ongoing protests on their campuses could disrupt plans for \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/college-graduation-israel-gaza-protest-3b363f57cbe915e95b68eeed04ca342d\">commencement ceremonies\u003c/a> next month. Some universities called in police to break up the demonstrations, resulting in ugly scuffles and hundreds of arrests of students nationwide, while others appeared content to wait out student protests as the final days of the semester ticked down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some schools continue negotiating with demonstrators, others are rewriting their rules to ban encampments and moving final exams to new locations.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"related coverage ","tag":"gaza"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Students protesting the war are demanding \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/college-protests-israel-divestment-palestinians-3f37f96f7be8e1124f266842d9caa627\">schools cut financial ties\u003c/a> to Israel and divest from companies enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Encampments and protests continued to spring up on Thursday. A tent encampment popped up at Indiana University Bloomington before police with shields and batons shoved into a line of protesters, arresting an unknown number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the City College of New York, hundreds of students who were gathered on the lawn beneath the Harlem campus’ famed gothic buildings erupted in cheers after a small contingent of police officers retreated from the scene. In one corner of the quad, a “security training” was held among students who said they expected to be arrested in the coming hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Emerson College in Boston, 108 people were arrested overnight at an alleyway encampment. Video shows police first warning students there to leave. Students link arms to resist officers, who move forcefully through the crowd and throw some protesters to the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boston police said four officers suffered injuries that were not life-threatening during the confrontation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the night progressed, it got tenser and tenser. There were just more cops on all sides. It felt like we were being slowly pushed in and crushed,” said Ocean Muir, a sophomore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, the scariest moment was holding these umbrellas out in case we were tear-gassed, and hearing them come, and hearing their boots on the ground, just pounding into the ground louder than we could chant, and not being able to see a single person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muir said police lifted her by her arms and legs and carried her away. Along with other students, Muir was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emerson College leaders warned students that the alley was a public right-of-way and that city authorities had threatened to take action if the protesters didn’t leave. The school canceled classes on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The University of Texas at Austin campus was much calmer Thursday after 57 people were jailed and charged with criminal trespass a day earlier. University officials pulled back barricades and allowed demonstrators onto the main square beneath the school’s iconic clock tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, students and some faculty protested both the war and Wednesday’s arrests, when state troopers in riot gear and on horseback plowed into protesters, forcing hundreds of students off the school’s main lawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Emory University in Atlanta, local and state police swept in to dismantle a camp, although the university said the protesters weren’t students but rather outside activists. Some officers carried semiautomatic weapons, and video shows officers using a stun gun on one protester who they had pinned to the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jail records showed 22 people arrested by university police were charged with disorderly conduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protesters at Emory chanted slogans supporting Palestinians and opposing a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/cop-city-atlanta-police-training-center-cost-d4f5073d4372d7b327127e193fce30f2\">public safety training center\u003c/a> being built in Atlanta. The two movements are closely entwined in Atlanta, where activists have for years waged a “Stop Cop City” campaign against the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many colleges, including Harvard University, chose not to take immediate action against protesters who had set up tents, even though they were openly defying campus rules. And some colleges were making new rules, like Northwestern University, which hastily changed its student code of conduct on Thursday morning to bar tents on its suburban Chicago campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George Washington University said it would move its law school finals from a building next to the protest encampment to a new location because of the noise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current wave of protests was \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/inside-columbia-protest-movement-0b35ff55f18d0bf4b2c8c0a27b1dbe04\">inspired by events at Columbia University\u003c/a> in New York, where police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 100 people last week, only for students to defiantly put up tents again in an area where many are set to graduate in front of families in a few weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said the ability to embrace student voices and different perspectives was a hallmark of the nation’s growth but warned that authorities wouldn’t tolerate hate, discrimination or threats of violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war\">Israel-Hamas war\u003c/a> began more than six months ago, the U.S. Education Department has launched civil rights investigations into dozens of universities and schools in response to complaints of antisemitism or Islamophobia. Among those under investigation are many colleges facing protests, including Harvard and Columbia.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11984094/usc-cancels-main-graduation-ceremony-amid-ongoing-gaza-protests","authors":["byline_news_11984094"],"categories":["news_8"],"tags":["news_6631","news_33333","news_33647"],"featImg":"news_11984107","label":"news"},"news_11690316":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11690316","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11690316","found":true},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"metoo-unmasks-the-open-secret-of-sexual-abuse-in-yoga","title":"#MeToo Unmasks the Open Secret of Sexual Abuse in Yoga","publishDate":1536351199,"format":"image","headTitle":"The California Report | KQED News","labelTerm":{"term":72,"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>\u003cem>Reader advisory: Some accounts of sexual abuse in this story contain explicit details and strong language that some may find upsetting or objectionable.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap]nn West was performing an advanced backbend at a yoga workshop when her teacher came over and stroked her breasts and nipples, she said. He did it, she said, in a way “that could only be described as a caress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'We are, I believe, just beginning to see the impact on the yoga community of this #MeToo moment. \u003c/strong>There is a long history of sexual misconduct and of abuse-of-power situations in the yoga community.'\u003ccite> Shannon Roche, chief operating officer of Yoga Alliance\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Her classmates were rolling back and forth -- no one could have seen the alleged groping by the teacher, West said. “I was amazed, shocked,\" she added. \"I came out of the pose. He quickly got up and walked away and then didn't bother me for the rest of the class.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West shared her story in response to a KQED callout for #MeToo accounts in the Bay Area yoga world. An ensuing investigation revealed a range of allegations by seven women against five teachers: from inappropriate massage to a violating touch in class, from drugging to unlawful sex with a minor. KQED found that the yoga community is struggling to rein in this sexual misconduct and abuse in its ranks. Some experts believe the lack of oversight of teachers and schools is adding to the problems of an industry experiencing explosive growth, where touch and trust are a fundamental part of the practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women are telling their stories amid a global outcry and reckoning over sexual misconduct and abuse -- the #MeToo movement -- at the highest levels of political office and in many industries, such as film, media and food. The growing number of accounts has forced many businesses and sectors to examine their codes of conduct, reporting processes and handling of bad actors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In yoga, experts and leaders say, that soul-searching is only beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11634433/i-dont-feel-safe-at-work-your-metoo-stories\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">'I Don't Feel Safe At Work': Your #MeToo Stories\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>West, 50, said initially she was in denial about the November 2013 incident in San Diego -- she felt “psychologically shackled” to Iyengar yoga and kept attending classes with San Francisco-based Manouso Manos. Later, she was afraid to come forward with the allegation: afraid she’d be shunned by the Iyengar community for accusing a famous instructor and afraid it would hurt her livelihood as a yoga teacher of nearly two decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that changed in 2015, when West alleged she saw Manos verbally abuse two students in class (which he denied through a spokesman). Though it wasn’t sexual abuse, seeing the experience of the other students was a wake-up call for her to finally distance herself from that world, she said. Then, in 2016, she read a 1991 news article that compelled her to go public: It said Manos had groped students in the 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Flood of #MeToo Stories in Yoga\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]\"W[/dropcap]e are, I believe, just beginning to see the impact on the yoga community of this #MeToo moment,” said Shannon Roche, chief operating officer of Yoga Alliance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Us/Our_History\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a voluntary registry\u003c/a> believed to be the industry’s largest credentialing body. “There is a long history of sexual misconduct and of abuse-of-power situations in the yoga community. We also know that, like many other communities, yoga has many times tried to keep those stories in the family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/search/projectid:40564-Yoga-and-MeToo\">Read More Documents in KQED's Investigation\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Some of those stories became public in December 2017 when a well-known yoga teacher and activist, Rachel Brathen, also known as Yoga Girl, released \u003ca href=\"http://rachelbrathen.com/metoo-yoga-stories/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more than 300 accounts\u003c/a> she received in response to a callout for #MeToo incidents. They included rape, groping, inappropriate touching, assault and harassment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody knows that there are all these allegations out there. Why are these men still gracing the covers of yoga magazines? Why are they still headlining festivals? Why are they still out there leading teacher trainings, telling young women how to enter this practice?” Brathen told KQED. “It's very, very infuriating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To date, Brathen has received between 500 and 1,000 #MeToo stories worldwide. The most stories she got from the U.S. were about incidents that happened in California, while New York was second.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In nearly half of the accounts, an attacker wasn’t named; but in those that did, some named the same teacher, said Brathen. Following legal advice, she removed details that could ID the accused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/BcXH1GXFrfr/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The #MeToo stories “shattered the yoga world,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/yoga-girl-rachel-brathen-collects-more-than-300-metoo-yoga-stories-the-community-responds?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=story1&utm_campaign=myyj_12192017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote\u003c/a> Yoga Journal. Roche said the accounts were “heartbreaking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A thread through many of them was “that teachers would take advantage of the inherent power dynamic in the teacher-student relationship,” she said, leaving students feeling “exploited and taken advantage of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some cases of sexual abuse involving high-profile yoga teachers have gone public, such as that of \u003ca href=\"https://30for30podcasts.com/bikram/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bikram Choudhury\u003c/a>, founder of the California-based Bikram Yoga empire who was accused by multiple women of rape (he was never charged), according to \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bikram-yoga-warrant-20170524-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Associated Press\u003c/a>, and that of the now-deceased \u003ca href=\"https://thewalrus.ca/yogas-culture-of-sexual-abuse-nine-women-tell-their-stories/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Krishna Pattabhi Jois\u003c/a>, who popularized Ashtanga yoga and was accused by nine women of sexual assault. Many others remain shrouded in secrecy and so-called whisper networks.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'[Yoga's] been a bit\u003c/strong> of a hunting ground.'\u003ccite> Matthew Remski, a yoga teacher, trainer and culture critic\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Yoga Alliance, formed in the late 1990s, issued a new sexual misconduct policy and procedures for handling these cases earlier this year, but the group declined to share the number of such complaints it had previously received.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's (yoga) been a bit of a hunting ground,” said Matthew Remski, a yoga teacher, trainer and culture critic who has written about sexual abuse in the community. “Because of the dominance hierarchies, the pedagogy, the implied consent -- the general sense that the practitioner is there to have their body perfected or to perfect their body and that they are going to submit or surrender to the instructions so that can be so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those have been dominant themes,” he added. “And you know, sexual assault is about power -- it's not about sex.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Anyone Can Be a Teacher’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he yoga industry has experienced dramatic growth in the U.S.: Over 36 million people practiced nationwide in 2016, skyrocketing from 16.5 million in 2004, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Portals/0/2016%20Yoga%20in%20America%20Study%20RESULTS.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Yoga in America Study\u003c/a>. Yoga was a $16 billion industry in 2016, shooting up from $10 billion in 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoga Alliance said as of Aug. 31, it had nearly 92,000 registered yoga teachers -- surging from 9,700 in 2004 -- and 6,355 registered yoga schools, jumping from 280 that same year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690327\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 597px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11690327\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"597\" height=\"441\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut.jpg 597w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut-160x118.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut-240x177.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut-375x277.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut-520x384.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 597px) 100vw, 597px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from Yoga Alliance’s social credentialing web page. \u003ccite>(Yoga Alliance)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But that growth has not been accompanied by much oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoga teachers aren’t licensed in the U.S. (In some states like Oklahoma, instructors of teacher training programs have their qualifications approved as part of a school’s licensure). No state agency, such as a \u003ca href=\"http://www.mbc.ca.gov/CONSUMERS/COMPLAINTS/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">medical board\u003c/a>, oversees instructors, disciplines or investigates them, or defines their practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roche said that, to her knowledge, there is no federal regulation of yoga.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anyone can be a yoga teacher. Anybody could just open a studio and start teaching yoga. They don't have to have any credentials whatsoever. They could have read a book on yoga,” said Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D. and physical therapist, who has been teaching yoga in the Bay Area since 1972.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no accountability, professional accountability of yoga teachers in the United States,” she added. “All you need to be a yoga teacher in the United States of America is students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690328\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 350px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690328\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"257\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut.jpg 594w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut-160x118.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut-240x177.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut-375x276.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut-520x383.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from Yoga Alliance’s social credentialing web page. Yoga teacher training programs help studios turn a profit, said Gary Kissiah, a lawyer, yoga philosophy teacher and author. “Many studios have teacher training programs now and it's almost essential for their economic survival. A lot of studios break even and it's the yoga teacher training programs that really put them over the line into profitability so that's hugely important,” he said. \u003ccite>(Yoga Alliance)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Laura Camp, owner of Flying Studios in Oakland, said the yoga industry was in its adolescence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's almost like, I'm going to say, snake-oil salesmen -- you know, before medicine was codified in the Old West -- and people could just put a shingle up and say I do this,” Camp said. “The seminal crisis of this industry right now is sexual abuse and that has to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oversight does exist in a few states. Minnesota, Oklahoma, Washington and Wisconsin actively regulate yoga teacher training programs, according to Yoga Alliance and a KQED analysis. California typically regulates schools that offer such programs as part of a broader portfolio of study -- currently, that number stands at about 15, according to the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://app.dca.ca.gov/bppe/view-voc-names.asp?program_keyword=yoga+&city=&Submit=Search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier Yoga Alliance leadership \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Learn/Article_Archive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fought state regulatory efforts\u003c/a>, persevering in at least 11 states. The group said in 2016 that it \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Portals/0/YA%20Position%20Paper%20on%20Govt%20Regulation_Board%20Approved%20June%203%202016.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opposed\u003c/a> licensing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potential harms of government oversight include the burden of fees and rules on the industry’s many small businesses, Yoga Alliance said. And though licensing may serve “as a form of quality assurance,” defining what a yoga teacher must teach would exclude some practices and “stifle creativity,” the group said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked if this stance reflected the position of the new Yoga Alliance leadership, which came onboard in May 2017, the group said it was refining its stance but generally opposed regulation specifically targeting the practice or teaching of yoga.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading yoga experts were split on government oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regulation and oversight would have consequences for people who have been truly doing not just unethical behavior but what is actually illegal behavior with their student,” said Lasater, whose credentials include C-IAYT (IAYT certified yoga therapist) and E-RYT-500 (experienced registered yoga teacher, 500 hours of training). “A lack of credentialing creates an arena where almost anything goes, from dangerous adjustments, to teachers with little or no training, to the possibility of major boundary crossings -- sexual, physical and emotional.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'It doesn't matter\u003c/strong> if you have a certificate to teach yoga if ... you cannot be prevented from teaching.'\u003ccite> Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., physical therapist and yoga teacher\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Roche said she didn’t think a lack of government oversight had left the door open to sexual misconduct, but thought Yoga Alliance not having a scope of practice and an updated code of conduct in place -- it’s working on both now -- did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In its earlier years, Yoga Alliance maybe did fall a little bit short,” she said. “I don't think anybody envisioned that it would become ... in lieu of government regulation, the self-regulating body for the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some dispute that it is: Adhering to any Yoga Alliance standards, codes, \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Become_a_Member/Member_Overview/Standards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guidelines\u003c/a> for teacher training programs -- even registering with the group -- is voluntary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn't matter if you have a certificate to teach yoga if ... you cannot be prevented from teaching,” Lasater said. “You see what a mess it is? It's a mess.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many studios and teachers elect to opt out of the Yoga Alliance world, said \u003ca href=\"http://garykissiah.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gary Kissiah\u003c/a>, a lawyer, yoga philosophy teacher and author. “Teachers can certainly open yoga studios and teachers can teach without having any association with Yoga Alliance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kissiah, who in January \u003ca href=\"http://garykissiah.com/general/lets-clean-up-our-yoga-community-now-take-a-stand-stop-the-crap/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published a guide\u003c/a> for studios on dealing with sexual misconduct, said he was skeptical that government regulation could solve the problem and felt effective change would come from the ground up. A first step: educating students about what is proper conduct by teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"These teachers basically conned them into thinking it’s part of their spiritual development, a part of the spiritual practice, a part of the tradition -- all these sorts of things,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kissiah wrote in his guide that yoga could be lost if “we allow it to collapse into ethical and sexual scandals, watered-down physical education classes and commercial exploitation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If this fire just keeps burning out of control, at some point, the states are going to say we need to step in here and do something,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘I Wish I Had Come Forward. ... He’s Still Doing This’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]C[/dropcap]harlotte Bell attended a yoga workshop for back pain in San Francisco in February 1988 at the Iyengar Yoga Institute. She said it included a who’s who of teachers, Manos among them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bell, then 32, was doing a variation of downward dog: In the pose, a practitioner’s chest is parallel to the floor -- with their legs shooting straight down from their hips -- and their hands on the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when, Bell said, Manos groped her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He came up to me from behind, put his hands on my collarbone and swept his hands over my whole front body right over my breasts,” she said. “I was stunned at first. It was like, ‘What? Did he really just do that?’ And then immediately -- because I was this starry-eyed newer student and he's this well-known and well-respected teacher -- immediately I started doubting it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manos did not recognize nor was he familiar with Bell, his spokesman said. No complaint was ever filed, he said, and Manos denied that any adjustment he may have made was inappropriate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690359\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11690359\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-800x531.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-1180x784.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-960x638.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-240x159.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-375x249.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-520x345.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut.jpg 1429w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charlotte Bell demonstrating downward dog pose at the wall. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Charlotte Bell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bell said she buried the incident, but in fall 1989 she heard rumors about other sexual misconduct allegations against Manos -- some that became the subject of a 1991 \u003ca href=\"https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/ad65794f-8422-4f28-9a69-2259a6f5ad3c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expose in West\u003c/a>, a now-defunct magazine then published by the (San Jose) Mercury News.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allegations had first surfaced against Manos in 1987. He told a representative of the \u003ca href=\"https://iyisf.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco\u003c/a> that it wouldn’t happen again, wrote reporter Bob Frost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More allegations were reported in 1989 and the institute suspended him from teaching in October of that year, Frost wrote. (Frost said there were no corrections to the article in which he quoted Manos as saying: “Though there are inaccuracies in the statements made in this article I do recognize the gravity of the subject matter.”) No criminal charges were filed against Manos, Frost wrote. KQED didn’t find any civil or criminal charges either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>B.K.S. Iyengar, who is “universally acknowledged as the modern master of yoga,” according to the \u003ca href=\"https://iynaus.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States\u003c/a> (IYNAUS), asked the community to forgive Manos, Frost wrote. In October 1990, the S.F. institute’s board of directors voted to reinstate him, Frost wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesman for Manos said the West article was inaccurate, saying Manos wasn’t suspended but voluntarily left (he said he didn’t know the reason for his departure) and didn’t seek reinstatement but was invited to return. He also said Manos denied past and current allegations of sexual misconduct. He didn’t know why Manos hadn’t sought a correction to Frost’s article if he believed there were inaccuracies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lasater, who said she was on the board of directors at the time, told KQED she resigned from it after the vote. She said she personally knew of up to five allegations against Manos -- and that she was in a room where he admitted to the sexual misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had a board member’s responsibility to keep our students safe,” she said. “I wasn’t convinced ... that this wasn’t going to happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11667323/in-california-trying-to-end-the-silence-in-the-wake-of-metoo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In California, Trying to End the Silence in the Wake of #MeToo\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>West filed a police report in March 2018; the San Diego Police Department said it determined the incident to be a misdemeanor. The case was not forwarded to the city attorney for prosecution because it fell outside the statute of limitations, police said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West also filed a complaint against Manos with IYNAUS, in which she included corroborating statements from four people who she’d told over the years about the alleged incident. When KQED asked Manos for comment about West’s allegations, his representative shared his May 15 statement to IYNAUS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have devoted 42 years of my life to teaching and educating tens of thousands of students in a professional and ethical manner,” he wrote. “I categorically deny Ms. West’s allegations, but still feel horrible that a student of mine has these feelings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manos said West was a student over many years: “It does not make sense to me why she would continue to take my classes if she supposedly felt uncomfortable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am shocked that any adjustment I may have provided to Ms. West in a classroom filled with 50 students has been characterized by her as an ‘assault’ of a sexual nature,” he said, noting that he asks students if he can touch them before making any hands-on adjustments. “That is a very serious accusation and one I do not take lightly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'I am shocked \u003c/strong>that any adjustment I may have provided...in a classroom filled with 50 students has been characterized by her as an ‘assault’ of a sexual nature.'\u003ccite> Manouso Manos, yoga teacher accused of assault\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Bell, 63, a yoga teacher and writer/editor who lives in Salt Lake City, said she wrote about the alleged groping in \u003ca href=\"https://www.huggermugger.com/blog/2013/teacher-student-relationship-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2013\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://catalystmagazine.net/yoga-teacher-student-relationship/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2017\u003c/a>. But she never named Manos, thinking he’d taken responsibility and wasn’t doing it anymore, nor did she file a police report or complaint with a yoga body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn't come forward until now -- until I found out that indeed he was still doing this and the incident was strikingly similar to what happened to me,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bell said another person in the yoga community connected her to West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Damn, I wish I had come forward” sooner, she said. “When I heard her story, I felt like, wow, he's still doing this, and maybe I could have helped. So I felt bad ... that I didn’t say anything all those years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West wasn’t upset with Bell for not saying anything -- but she was upset with the national Iyengar yoga association (IYNAUS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They knew that he'd been at this\" for decades, West said. “We weren't forewarned that essentially this predator was in our midst and we weren't able to make an informed decision as to whether or not we were even going to walk into his class. ... Why didn't we all know about this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A third woman told KQED Manos slipped his hands inside her bra and massaged her breasts while she was in a resting pose during a 1986 class in New York – an account shared in the Frost article. She wrote California Iyengar yoga leaders in 1990 after she learned Manos would attend an upcoming convention in San Diego despite the sexual misconduct allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonnie Anthony, chair of the convention’s coordinating committee, replied in a \u003ca href=\"https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/263a106c-e0f6-404d-8e41-ba0862ec07be\">May 7, 1990, letter\u003c/a>, saying she was “willing to give him this one more chance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was our recommendation to Mr. Iyengar (and he agreed) to keep Manouso in a low profile at the Convention,” Anthony wrote. “Manouso has a problem, much like alcoholism. He has openly admitted it to Mr. Iyengar and to others and is in therapy, along with his wife, Rita.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED contacted Anthony, sharing with her the May 7 letter plus one the woman sent in response dated May 27 and an earlier one to Lasater from April 18, 1990. Anthony replied: \"The matter re: Manouso was settled many years ago and I have nothing additional to add to the record.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manos' spokesman denied the 1986 allegation and said he doesn't have anything to say about the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>IYNAUS declined to answer KQED’s questions about its current Manos investigation or past allegations involving him, citing confidentiality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the San Francisco Iyengar institute’s handling of the previous allegations against Manos, Brian Hogencamp, president of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Northern California, said he did not know or have additional information to make a comment. Manos is not a teacher at the S.F. institute; he plays an unpaid, external, advisory role to the teachers of one program, Hogencamp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donna Farhi, a yoga instructor since 1982 who was on the board of Yoga Journal in the late 1980s, said by email that the publication got letters around that time from several women, unknown to each other and from different states, alleging Manos had “sexually molested” them in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We made the decision not to feature him in the magazine, or to allow his name to appear in any advertising that might be purchased by someone hosting him,” said Farhi, who is helping Yoga Alliance draft a code of conduct for teachers and is an author of five books, including one on ethics for yoga teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farhi said she knew of West’s and Bell’s allegations, and they showed how students could be abused in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When students are in positions where they can’t even see each other, it’s almost impossible for these women to get substantive evidence from others that these incidents did indeed happen,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>'We’re Not the Yoga Police'\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen sexual misconduct or abuse does happen in yoga, people don’t have many ways to report it -- except for going to the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kinoyoga.com/metoo/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In a December 2017 post\u003c/a> sharing her #MeToo experience of being sexually assaulted by a teacher, international yoga instructor Kino MacGregor said she reported the attack to Yoga Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They replied with a standardized email saying that they could take no action. It made me so mad because it felt like there was no accountability in the yoga world,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'We’re not\u003c/strong> becoming the yoga police.'\u003ccite> Shannon Roche, chief operating officer of Yoga Alliance\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Roche said it was awful to see Yoga Alliance being called out in that story, but added, “I'm glad she did.” The group separated policies for handling sexual misconduct from other grievances; Roche said they needed to be treated with more sensitivity and care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not law enforcement, unfortunately,” she added, echoing a line in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Yoga/Article_Archive/Shannon_Roche_Addresses_Sexual_Misconduct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video\u003c/a> to the membership in which she said, “We’re not becoming the yoga police.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don't have the same resources that they do, and so we won't be able to take the same kind of action that law enforcement would,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The national Iyengar yoga association, which formed in 1991, investigates complaints of ethical violations, including sexual misconduct, said Manju Vachher, chair of the group’s ethics committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee recommends sanctions to the executive council, if necessary, Vachher said. Information is shared with the parties involved and occasionally with the executive council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your interest in exploring how the yoga community is responding to the ‘Me Too Movement’ is important,” Vachher said in an email. “I am not able to do an interview or discuss any cases due to the confidentiality issues. During and after any investigative process, we uphold strict standards of privacy for all parties ...”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vachher declined to answer questions about the number of complaints made against Manos to IYNAUS since the late 1980s allegations arose and how many teachers the group has sanctioned over sexual misconduct complaints (and what the sanctions are for such violations).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West doesn’t think the committee can be an independent arbiter of Manos, who is on the association’s senior council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They're just one arm of an organization -- the same organization giving him these accolades and awards,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>'He Felt That I Needed to Feel More Into My Body’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter moving to Oakland from L.A. in 2016, Deisha Smith had left some business problems behind and was looking to make friends in her new home. She thought yoga teacher training would be one way to do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Smith said things felt great: Her mentor at \u003ca href=\"http://www.piedmontyoga.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Piedmont Yoga\u003c/a> in Berkeley and Oakland, Zubin Shroff, dubbed her the “minister of joy” for sharing uplifting news items. After her one-on-one sessions began with Shroff in fall 2016, however, things took a turn: She said he had her meet him at his West Berkeley condo, where they discussed personal things about her life -- rarely yoga. Finding the experience odd, she eventually stopped going.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/438664/what-happens-when-metoo-stories-reignite-old-trauma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What Happens When #MeToo Stories Reignite Old Trauma\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>After a short break, Smith said, Shroff reached out, saying they should restart the sessions. And, she should let him give her a massage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He felt that I needed to feel more into my body and that would involve him doing massage. Shiatsu massage. I've never had shiatsu massage,” said Smith, 40, who works in financing and funding for small businesses. “I didn't even look it up -- but that's how trusting I was of the situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith said the sessions in February and March 2017 were “all massage that got increasingly uncomfortable,” on a futon mattress. Unlike before, there was no conversation. They were both clothed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"In the fifth (final) session, he spent the majority of the time massaging my butt and groin,” she said in a June 2017 statement to the Berkeley Police Department. “He literally massaged my butt and innermost part of my groin, as close as he could possibly be without physically touching my actual vagina.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She thought the shiatsu was “extremely weird and uncomfortable, but just part of the procedure,” she said in her police statement. “He was my instructor so the last thing I expected was for him to do anything inappropriate.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about Smith’s allegation, Shroff said in an email that he did not touch anyone inappropriately. In that same correspondence dated March 1, Shroff said he was no longer the studio’s director and noted it was “the end of a prolonged transition phase” where he had “been stepping back from directing the studio and teaching.” (Piedmont Yoga is a storied Bay Area yoga institution that has a checkered past with one of its founders, Rodney Yee, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/fashion/weddings/07Vows.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">marrying\u003c/a> a \u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/12023/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">student\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.self.com/story/yoga-sex-scandals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">having sexual relationships\u003c/a> with \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Yoga-guru-in-compromising-position-Celebrity-2836809.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">other students\u003c/a>, according to various media reports.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith wasn’t the only student getting massage from Shroff: Sarah Shimazaki said she had about 10 shiatsu sessions at Shroff’s condo starting in March 2017, paying about $40 for each one. She said the shiatsu was a “positive” experience that helped her where talk therapy hadn’t, and Shroff never touched her inappropriately.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11642818/sexual-abuse-in-the-yoga-community-share-your-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sexual Abuse in the Yoga Community: Share Your Story\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Another student, who didn’t want to be identified, said Shroff told her during a one-on-one session at his condo in December 2016 that he offered shiatsu “at no cost” to students. She declined and said she later wondered, “ ‘Why is he offering me a free massage?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought he was creeping on the people he was attracted to or the people who somehow appeared to be vulnerable,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith reported the massage to two teachers in the program and to the police. One of the teachers, Leslie Howard, told police she didn’t know Shroff was offering massage to students, nor had she heard of him providing massage sessions to any other students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she asked him about the massage, Howard said Shroff told her: “I totally get it, I won't do this anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My thought, my feeling about Zubin is his heart is in the right place,” Howard said. “He has let so many people who can't afford yoga programs do the program for little to no money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard also said that when she asked Smith if Shroff had touched her inappropriately, Smith said “no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shroff was a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ohashiatsu.org/us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">certified ohashiatsu consultant\u003c/a> from 2011-13, according to the New York-based Ohashi International Ltd, which also said he graduated from the institute’s six-level curriculum program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Shroff didn’t have a license to perform massage in Berkeley, said Matthai Chakko, assistant to the city manager. Nor was he certified with the California Massage Therapy Council (which said such ohashiatsu credentials would not qualify someone to get certification with the organization).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California doesn’t have state licensing for massage, but the vast majority of its cities and counties have massage therapy ordinances. While certification with CAMTC is voluntary, cities are required by state law to accept it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley authorities opened a code enforcement case regarding Shroff’s lack of massage and business licenses. In late June, Shroff was sent a notice of violation, which serves as a warning to encourage compliance, Chakko said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the scheduled site inspection this week at his Berkeley condo, Mr. Shroff stated he has relinquished his part-ownership with Piedmont Yoga and no longer conducts any business within the City. Code Enforcement verified that his unit is vacant and actively listed for sale,” Chakko wrote on July 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The case is now closed,” Chakko said. “Should new information arise, or if we find future violations with his involvement, we will pick up where we left off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakko said Shroff wasn’t penalized over the zoning violation, noting it was the city’s initial contact and the goal is to bring people into voluntary compliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11691888/yoga-and-metoo-i-trusted-yoga-so-i-trusted-him\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Learn more about this investigation on The Bay\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101867191/reports-of-sexual-misconduct-expose-lack-of-oversight-in-yoga-industry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum discusses KQED’s findings about sexual abuse in the yoga community.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Berkeley police forwarded Smith’s case with a charge of misdemeanor sexual battery to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, which declined to prosecute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard recalled Smith as a student who didn’t participate as much in the beginning of the program but got more engaged over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She did a stellar job in her student teaching class. ... I was just like, ‘Wow,’” Howard said. But when Howard went to Shroff to advocate for Smith at one point, she said he told her Smith wasn’t “participating in his class at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shimazaki said Shroff told her about the police investigation in June 2017; the next month, she said, he spoke with her and others about transferring the business to them. In early August 2018, Shimazaki said Shroff would be transferring the business to her and another student, though it wasn’t yet complete; she said he would assist as an adviser. On Friday, she said she wouldn’t be taking over. Shroff didn’t reply to an inquiry last week about who owned the business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transfer had nothing to do with Smith’s allegation, Shroff said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith closes her police statement saying: “I do not want this to happen to anyone else. It was as though he was taking advantage of his role as the instructor to engage in the inappropriate massage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘We Cannot Rely on Karma Alone’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ome people become dedicated to yoga “at a time of a lot of disruption in their life,” making it imperative that studios offer a safe space for students to practice, said Sarah Herrington, program administrator for \u003ca href=\"https://bellarmine.lmu.edu/yoga/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the yoga studies program\u003c/a> at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help do that, Roche said Yoga Alliance was recommending studios \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/timesup-metoo-ending-sexual-abuse-in-the-yoga-community\">set up reporting processes\u003c/a>. That’s what Kissiah, the lawyer and yoga philosophy teacher, thinks will make an impact -- but right now is “absolutely lacking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studios should have a code of conduct and a hotline or an email address where students can contact an independent ethics committee, he said. “That recommendation is really nothing other than applying what's very common in corporate America to the world of yoga studios.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What most studios have done is either nothing or they have referred to the ethical code in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/5-reasons-know-patanjalis-yoga-sutra\">Yoga Sutras\u003c/a>,” which is general and doesn't provide “guidance in the modern context,” he said. “Often what happens is one of these situations arises and there's this huge panic because they simply don't have the structure or the means to deal with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrington urged studios to post a code of ethics and have a place to report abuse. “We cannot rely on karma alone,” she \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/opinion/yoga-code-of-ethics-bikram-choudhury.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote in a 2017 New York Times op-ed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690335\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11690335\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deisha Smith alleges her yoga mentor groped her during a teacher training program in the East Bay. \u003ccite>(Samantha Shanahan/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Smith, such a reporting process didn’t exist -- and it’s part of the reason she wanted to share her story: to push for this kind of change. Her alleged assailant also was the head of the studio, complicating her reporting of his behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shroff said mediation was offered and he would have attended; Smith said she was initially interested but changed her mind due to her experience in college after she was raped. She said she didn't get anything from mediation then and questioned if the teachers would take on the person paying them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West had the same concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt if I went against Manos I would be going against a big organization ... against the Iyengar family themselves” because of his close ties to B.K.S. Iyengar, the founder of Iyengar, West said. “There will be a sense of betrayal. ... that I'm betraying Iyengar yoga and I'm betraying the Iyengar family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘It Was a Bloodbath’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ome people in the yoga community have taken a hard stand on dealing with sexual misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Camp, owner of Flying Studios in Oakland, has twice fired teachers over sexual harassment allegations, which almost put her out of business -- both times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a huge backlash and a huge loss of income and a huge loss of community,” she said after the first dismissal. “Open letter on my Facebook about how I needed to hire this person back or these students would never come back. It was a bloodbath. And then it happened again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Maria, a yoga instructor in the Bay Area who has written about sexual misconduct in the community, said studios have removed teachers from the schedule following complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In my experience, this seems to be getting better,” Maria said. “People are much more willing to talk about it now, and I think people are seeing responses from studios about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SoulPlay Festivals, which organizes events around yoga, dance, personal growth and more, stresses \u003ca href=\"http://soulplay.co/festival/safety\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">safety, touch and consent\u003c/a> at its gatherings: Presenters offer frequent reminders about it, the group has an online form to report misconduct, and staff are on site to handle allegations, said Romi Elan, founder and CEO of SoulPlay Festivals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's that feeling of safety ... is what allows people to open up, open themselves up to having a very profound and deep experience,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690329\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 480px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690329 size-complete_open_graph\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-480x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-480x1200.jpg 480w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-160x400.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-800x2000.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-1020x2550.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-1180x2950.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-960x2400.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-240x600.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-375x938.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-520x1300.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SoulPlay, which organizes events around yoga, dance, personal growth and more, stresses safety and consent at its gatherings. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SoulPlay)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other studios and groups haven’t adopted such strategies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes studio owners won't do anything about teachers accused of sexual misconduct because they’re a popular instructor, said Lasater. Or if they do fire them, “then the teacher just goes down the road and teaches somewhere else,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yoga teachers can reinvent themselves over and over and over again because of the ability to move from place to place,” Lisa Maria said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students have left their studio -- or even given up the practice of yoga -- after misconduct or abuse. The latter was the case for some of the women who responded to KQED’s callout for #MeToo stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrington said she stopped attending classes taught by her favorite teacher after he began sending her sexually explicit messages on social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often what happens is that the student disappears and goes to another community. You lose your community. Because if somebody is running the show, and they're doing the misuse of power, where are you going to go?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only thing that can stop a teacher who is sexually abusing students is if the studio owner takes action or if the victim goes the legal route, said Lasater. “They (the victim) have to be the one that shoulders all the burden,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet there’s not much that law enforcement can do: Most sex assault cases don’t make it into the criminal courts, said Kristen Houser, a spokeswoman at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge for prosecutors in pursuing these cases can be convincing jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime occurred, especially when there aren’t other witnesses -- if it happened one on one, which could trigger a “he said/she said” scenario, said Mary Ashley, an assistant district attorney in San Bernardino County whose work has included sexual battery cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” she said. Even if “a jury says, ‘Well, I kind of believe her but I don't totally disbelieve him,’ the law at least criminally will say you have to give favor to the defendant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘This Happened to Me, and I’m a Teacher’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]L[/dropcap]eaving yoga has been a heartbreaking consideration for Eka Ekong, a yoga teacher in Marin County, over the last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It began, she said, with an unwelcome remark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ekong, 42, of San Rafael, was taking a class in November 2017 at the studio where she worked. She’d just taken her sweatshirt off when the teacher, Allan Nett looked at her, she recalled, and said: “This is what I get to look at the whole time.” (Nett denied saying that, noting he said, “Now I can see you” -- meaning it would help him give her correct adjustments. He said he had no intention of objectifying her body or being sexual.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The comment unnerved Ekong, she said, but she continued with the practice -- though later, she said, he adjusted her legs while she was in the lunge pose of Warrior 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He came behind me and put his hands on my legs close to my genitals and he abruptly pulled my legs apart,” she said. “I came out of the pose. I tried to kind of neutralize or equalize because I could feel something was off.” (Nett said given his stature -- 5-foot-3, 120 pounds -- and that at the time he was awaiting an open heart operation, he didn’t have the strength, energy or size to “abruptly” pull her legs apart.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Something was off: According to medical records, Ekong's doctor found she’d sustained a leg/groin injury, suffering bruising and soft tissue injuries. A week after the alleged assault, her doctor wrote, she had “significant swelling and several very tender areas where the instructor’s hands were placed as well as the surrounding tissues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nett, 72, said he asks permission from students before he touches them, and Ekong said she had given him the OK earlier in the class to make adjustments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I put one hand just above the knee on the inner thigh and the other hand above the knee on the outer thigh ... to demonstrate and have the student feel the rotation that the pose requires to bring the hips into alignment,” he said. “So I've got hands above her knee -- one hand on the inside, one hand on the outside -- and I've got a good grip there and I'm starting to roll that thigh backwards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he “thought that she understood the action that I was asking for in the pose as she came up. There was not any kind of indication that she injured herself or that there was injury going on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/series/beyondmetoo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KQED's Series: Beyond #MeToo\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>As of today, Ekong said she still can’t practice yoga. She said she goes weekly to physical and trauma therapies, and sees her doctor every few weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some days my body just hurts,” she said. “And really basic things are not so basic.” Like putting on shoes. Walking. Straightening her legs. It has also been hard to sit, including cross-legged -- one of the most common poses in yoga.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The emotional wounds run deep, too, for Ekong, who began practicing in 1999 and teaching in 2006.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every day, my close friends, students and peers, they ask me, how are you healing? I don’t know what to tell them,” she wrote to the national Iyengar yoga association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do I tell them at some moments I’m OK and then I’m in tears. How do I explain that this morning I was so angry that I wanted to scream out loud, that I wonder if I’ll ever be able to practice yoga asana again or feel safe as a student in the yoga studio? That I wonder daily if I still want to be a teacher and part of a larger systemic issue that elevates the teacher and lessens the wisdom of the student,” she continued in the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know if it involves teaching, but yoga will always be a part of my life. But I can’t say what that looks like,” she said. “There’s some part of me that has been taken away that I’m still trying to find again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nett, an instructor of more than 25 years who hasn’t been teaching recently due to his surgery, said he was let go from the studio, which KQED isn’t naming due to Ekong’s concern that it’s her place of employment. The studio said it could not comment on specific employee matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All I can say is, 'Gee whiz, I'm sorry that you got injured in my class.’ But I think there's more to this story than anybody's ever going to know,” he said in an hour-long phone call with KQED, adding that he felt there were enough “little inconsistencies” in Ekong’s description of the injuries that “I really question the truth of it all.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As she has described it, I find it difficult to accept that she was injured. It was possibly a pre-existing weakness, combined with the strong posture of Warrior II that strained,” he said. But he also noted: “There's certainly some truth in it and I'm not saying that she was not injured.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About five years ago, Nett said one of his students complained about inappropriate touch (not of a sexual nature; she just didn’t want to be touched) to a studio owner in Oakland: “I took it to heart,” he said, and modified his behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Touch is an important part of learning, Nett said: “By moving a muscle manually the body understands it, and you don't have to think about it.\" But he has decided to stop offering adjustments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has been traumatic. And I'm sure it's traumatic for her,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immediately after the incident, Ekong withdrew from her friends and yoga community. She said she felt like she was wearing a scarlet letter “A,” was somehow to blame for what happened, and that her studio was no longer her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fekaette.ekong.5%2Fposts%2F10155956900267272&width=500\" width=\"600\" height=\"290\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, she knew she had to speak out. She contacted the studio, Central Marin police and the national Iyengar yoga association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s important that you know this is happening, because if this happened to me and I’m a teacher, imagine what’s really happening and people aren’t saying anything,” she recalled telling the studio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and Nett said IYNAUS is reviewing her complaint (the group declined to comment about the case, citing confidentiality).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Central Marin police said in an email that there was no mention of sexual assault when Ekong’s report was made, and since it “was not criminal in nature,” it did not meet the criteria for referral to the DA. The matter, police said, was left to the studio to handle; Ekong said she intends to file a supplemental report to police.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Most Victims Don’t Report’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]H[/dropcap]oward, one of the teachers in the Piedmont Yoga training program, wanted to know why Deisha Smith hadn’t told her about the alleged inappropriate touch by director Zubin Shroff when she reported the massage and when Howard said she had specifically asked about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was completely uncomfortable and I was still dealing with the fact that he did not vaginally insert me. He 'just touched me,'” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of the women who contacted KQED with their stories didn’t report right away to law enforcement or others what happened -- or only partially reported it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such behavior isn’t unusual: When sexual misconduct is reported, partial or delayed reporting -- or inconsistencies in such reports -- are “the norm and it should be expected,” said Houser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Through our eyes, that bolsters the validity of complaints,” she added. Few people make prompt complaints, include all of the details, and consistently tell it the same way. “That's not how traumatic events are processed and stored in our bodies and in our brains.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While 81 percent of women and 43 percent of men in the U.S. reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime, only one in 10 women -- and one in 20 men -- filed an official complaint or report to an authority figure, including a police report, according to a January 2018 \u003ca href=\"http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Full-Report-2018-National-Study-on-Sexual-Harassment-and-Assault.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stop Street Harassment online survey\u003c/a> of 2,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most victims don't report, or hold off doing so, for a variety of reasons. But they “all fall under the large umbrella of: They don’t trust the rest of us to respond appropriately,” said Houser.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'I trusted yoga so I trusted him.\u003c/strong> I shouldn't have made that connection.'\u003ccite> a teenager, who says her yoga teacher had sex with her\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Those reasons, she said, include fear of being disbelieved, blamed or having their privacy violated through gossip. Some people fear repercussions in their home life or their social circles, which often include the assailant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People often keep it to themselves, not to mention it's a very confusing thing when somebody that you know and trust violates that trust,” Houser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked what was holding people back from reporting abuse in yoga, Brathen said: “I think the biggest piece is fear of being alienated from this community that means so much to us.” That community built through yoga, she said, is “sacred” and such an “important part of the practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘I Trusted Yoga So I Trusted Him’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]“A[/dropcap]re you 18 years old? Holy shit.” That was the first message a Bay Area teenager said that her yoga teacher sent to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was then 17, in the summer before her first year in college; he was twice her age. She said she had a crush on him and thought he liked her, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next few months, she said her teacher groomed her to have sex with him: In a number of text messages, he said he had something to tell her, but to do that, they had to meet in person and in private. (The teenager, who didn’t want to be identified out of concerns for her privacy and safety, shared the Facebook and text messages with KQED).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690342\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 424px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11690342\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"424\" height=\"278\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut.jpg 424w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut-160x105.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut-240x157.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut-375x246.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He wanted to meet me alone so he could explain why everything had to be so secretive and he would always say it will all make sense once we get to chat in person,” she said. “I am a kid but I'm not dumb. And I knew the obvious reasons, which were that you don't want people to think that you fuck your students and I'm really young.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of his text messages read: “I know I sound like some kind of criminal or something but it would be great if we could hang out in a place that is not so public.” Another one read: “Any place that is low key so we aren’t seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690343\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 601px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11690343\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut.jpg 601w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut-160x133.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut-240x199.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut-375x311.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut-520x431.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 601px) 100vw, 601px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Early on, she expressed reservations about connecting outside the classroom. She’d blossomed in yoga: It helped ease her anxiety and made her feel safe, capable and independent. “I was convinced that I wanted to be a yoga teacher. It was my whole thing,” she said. “I considered it a big defining part of who I was.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he assured her, in text messages, that she could keep coming to classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690355\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11690355\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-800x714.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"714\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-800x714.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-160x143.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-1020x910.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-1200x1071.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-1180x1053.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-960x856.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-240x214.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-375x335.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-520x464.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut.jpg 1224w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eventually, they did meet outside the studio -- a week before her 18th birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690348\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690348\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-800x218.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"136\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-800x218.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-160x44.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-240x65.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-375x102.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-520x142.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut.jpg 902w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690349\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690349\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-800x232.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"145\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-800x232.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-160x46.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-240x70.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-375x109.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-520x151.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut.jpg 904w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said he invited her to a bar in a quiet Bay Area community, where he bought her several drinks (she had a fake ID), and then he took her to a hotel, where they smoked hashish. She recalled being “very intoxicated and a little woozy” before they had sex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a nearly two-hour interview with KQED, the teacher said he didn’t have sex with her and that he left her with two of his friends in the hotel room whom he declined to identify; the police report said it was clear from the text messages that the pair did have a sexual relationship, “however brief,” and no mention was made of his friends. The teen said he didn’t have friends with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690356\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690356\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut.jpg 605w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut-240x159.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut-375x249.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut-520x345.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The teacher also said the teenager told him she was 18; she said her birthday -- including year -- was listed on Facebook, and though she at one point told him in a SMS that she was 18, she said she thought he knew her real age and they were both “going to pretend” she was 18. The police also noted that she had not told him her real age but said she was 18.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690364\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690364\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut.jpg 617w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut-160x87.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut-240x131.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut-375x205.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut-520x284.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After their encounter, she said he left the hotel a short time later but it took months for her to realize what had happened: “I was basically sexually abused and manipulated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt dumb for thinking that because he was my yoga teacher and because he was so much older than me -- because he was my spiritual counselor in some ways -- that he wouldn't take advantage of me,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I trusted yoga so I trusted him,” she said. “I shouldn't have made that connection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she came back home from college to the Bay Area, she planned to tell her mom -- only to find out she had gone through her phone and seen the messages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teen’s mom said she called some studios where he taught to report the teacher; he said one let him go and he assumed it was because of the mother’s calls. Another studio owner said they let him go because of the allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teacher said it had been “one really long hard struggle” after the teen -- who he called “just a fuckin’ girl” -- went to the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll just say that her mom tried really hard to make my life extremely hard and she succeeded,” he said. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep over this and been hurt ... I’ve had to ask some people for support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>Have a tip or information to share? You can contact reporter Miranda Leitsinger on the encrypted communications app Signal (650-888-2765) or by email: mleitsinger@kqed.org\u003c/h3>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The teenager decided to come forward with her story after learning that a second student, Leah Tumerman, 36, had accused the teacher of threatening earlier this year that he and his partner should “Bill Cosby her.” Tumerman told police she understood this to mean “he would drug and rape me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tumerman, a longtime student of the teacher, said she became scared of him and his change in personality. The pair had gotten into a conversation about food over text message, and the discussion somehow took a turn, she said. The teacher denied making the comment but said they did argue about food. Tumerman, an artist from Richmond, filed a police report for documentation purposes only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teen’s case was forwarded to the DA’s office, which declined to prosecute.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘You Have to Face the Shame of Your Complicity’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap] number of women have come forward in recent months to share their accounts of alleged abuse by their yoga teachers -- triggering a growing conversation in the community about sexual misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, Yoga Alliance issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Yoga/Article_Archive/Yoga_Alliance_Statement_on_Sexual_Misconduct_in_Our_Community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement\u003c/a> on sexual misconduct in the yoga community. In January, it released Roche’s video and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Sexual_Misconduct_Resources/Unity_in_Yoga_with_RAINN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">podcast\u003c/a> on the topic, and weeks later published \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Us/Policies/Sexual_Misconduct_Disciplinary_Procedure\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sexual misconduct disciplinary procedures\u003c/a> and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Us/Policies/Policy_Prohibiting_Sexual_Misconduct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">policy\u003c/a> on its website. In early September, the group said it could “confirm that we have suspended and revoked credentials under our new policy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In this #MeToo moment, we too must act,” Roche, of Yoga Alliance, said in the video. “There’s a deeply troubling pattern of misconduct within our community, a pattern that touches almost every tradition in modern yoga. To definitively turn the page on that history, we must openly acknowledge the issue of sexual misconduct in yoga.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remski, the yoga teacher and culture critic, said Roche’s message to the yoga community heralded a “sea change moment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/BmCL66zlrlz/?hl=en&taken-by=yoga_girl\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It puts the entire culture on notice that this is a thing. It's not dirty laundry anymore. It's totally out in the open,” he said. “With one sentence, she implicated the entire culture as having enabled this and that's what hasn't been done yet. ... Nobody has looked at it as a systemic problem -- because when you look at it as a systemic problem, you have to face the shame of your complicity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lasater said she was very supportive of Yoga Alliance’s efforts but felt the community still has a long way to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If teachers don't have true consequences, what is going to cause them to change their behavior?” she said. “Nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brathen, or Yoga Girl, said she was “torn” over Yoga Alliance’s initial solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am still very unclear as to what action will be taken at the end of the day,” she said. “If the worst thing that can happen to you as a perpetrator is that your name gets taken off the website, I don't think that that's going to do a whole lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In early August, Brathen published her second series of #MeToo stories. She wrote how tough it was to expel the alleged sexual harassers and abusers from the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Stone, a Token: The New Conversation on Touch Consent\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690330\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11690330\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Touch consent tokens at Yoga Tree near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Miranda Leitsinger/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]L[/dropcap]asater and other yoga leaders said they felt students -- particularly women -- were going to be a part of the solution. One sign already? The “touch consent” cards, chips and tokens popping up in studios across the country. Years ago, the first version of those were painted stones, paper clips, even a leaf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students would place such an object on top or below their mat to signal if a teacher could touch them, said Remski.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690326\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690326\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-1180x1573.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-960x1280.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-240x320.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-375x500.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-520x693.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yoga teacher Bayley Blackney leads a workshop on touch in Capitola on March 24, 2018. \u003ccite>(Miranda Leitsinger/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The yoga room has been a space of implied consent. And that is no longer the case. The politics, the techniques, the methods of consent are now fully part of yoga discourse,” Remski said. “It undoes something profound in the last 100 years of yoga pedagogy, which is the notion that the teachers should decide what the student needs or what they should do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growing use of the tokens has broader implications, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://video.kqed.org/show/metoo-now-what/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#MeToo, Now What?\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“The #MeToo movement also signifies a solidification of the change in leadership in modern yoga from men to women because those tokens ... are the latest generation of what women started using about 10 or 12 years ago in small studios,” he said. “It's a grass-roots idea that has worked its way up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers now typically ask students at the beginning of class to let them know if they want adjustments or not, and some instructors are holding workshops on touch and consent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bayley Blackney hosted such a gathering at a studio in Capitola in late March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Touch is something that I’m so passionate about. It’s love language and I am very, very passionate about creating a safe touch,” she said. “Now is the time to really offer this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘I Lost a Large Chunk of My Life’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap]nger. Anxiety. Depression. Discomfort. Distrust. Empowerment. Exhaustion. Fear. Guilt. Frustration. Insomnia. Isolation. Self-doubt. Tears. Triggering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women that KQED interviewed experienced all of this and more as they grappled with what they said their teachers did to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I'm really angry because I feel like I lost a large chunk of my life living in a cloud that I didn't realize I was in until I got out of it,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has experienced panic attacks, anxiety and days where she couldn’t get out of bed. Thirty-one percent of women and 20 percent of men felt anxiety or depression after experiencing sexual harassment and assault, according to Stop Street Harassment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith still doesn’t have her teacher certificate, although Shroff said in a July 17 email that she’d met the requirements. Smith said she has an outstanding payment that she can’t bring herself to pay because she'd regret \"paying to be abused.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the teen, she said it’s been a hard reckoning for her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was fresh out of high school and I slept with someone literally twice my age -- like halfway between me and my parents,” she said. “It took my innocence away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tumerman, who alleged the same teacher involved in the teen’s case had threatened to “Bill Cosby” her, hasn’t returned to yoga. Her last time was in his class, after the threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'Yoga isn't a safe space\u003c/strong> for me anymore. And it used to be ... What had been my life is now no longer my life.'\u003ccite> Ann West\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“I was still processing the change, my new understanding of my teacher,” she said in explaining why she attended the class. “I practiced with my eyes closed the entire time. ... I couldn't look at him. The sound of his voice was making me shake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did my practice and I rolled up my mat and left the room. And I haven't seen him since,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ekong said: “My life is forever changed.” She has decided to leave the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not home. I can’t heal here,” she said. \"I don't want to worry about running into him or students asking when are you going to come back to teach.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for West, she said she has removed herself to the “outskirts” of the Iyengar yoga community and attends classes only with the one teacher she can trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yoga isn't a safe space for me anymore. And it used to be,” she said. “I would take workshops and go to conventions and travel to India. And none of that is happening anymore. I have no interest in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What had been my life is now no longer my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Edited by David Weir and Patricia Yollin\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"A KQED investigation found that the yoga community is struggling to rein in sexual misconduct and abuse in its ranks.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1539282847,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":237,"wordCount":10600},"headData":{"title":"#MeToo Unmasks the Open Secret of Sexual Abuse in Yoga | KQED","description":"A KQED investigation found that the yoga community is struggling to rein in sexual misconduct and abuse in its ranks.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"#MeToo Unmasks the Open Secret of Sexual Abuse in Yoga","datePublished":"2018-09-07T20:13:19.000Z","dateModified":"2018-10-11T18:34:07.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"authorsData":[{"type":"authors","id":"11310","meta":{"index":"authors_1591205172","id":"11310","found":true},"name":"Miranda Leitsinger","firstName":"Miranda","lastName":"Leitsinger","slug":"mleitsinger","email":"mleitsinger@KQED.org","display_author_email":false,"staff_mastheads":["news"],"title":"KQED Contributor","bio":"Miranda Leitsinger has worked in journalism as a reporter and editor since 2000, including seven years at The Associated Press in locales such as Cambodia and Puerto Rico, four years at NBC News Digital in New York and 2.5 years at CNN.com International in Hong Kong. Major stories she has covered included sexual abuse in the yoga community, the rise of women in local politics post-2016 election, the struggle over LGBTQ inclusion in the Boy Scouts, aftermath of the 2004 and 2011 tsunamis, the Aurora movie theater attack, the Newtown school shooting, Superstorm Sandy and the Boston Marathon bombing.","avatar":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cdd00de7be92aab3b7fd3d915e02033d?s=600&d=blank&r=g","twitter":"mimileitsinger","facebook":null,"instagram":null,"linkedin":null,"sites":[{"site":"arts","roles":["author"]},{"site":"news","roles":["subscriber"]},{"site":"futureofyou","roles":["editor"]},{"site":"stateofhealth","roles":["editor"]}],"headData":{"title":"Miranda Leitsinger | KQED","description":"KQED Contributor","ogImgSrc":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cdd00de7be92aab3b7fd3d915e02033d?s=600&d=blank&r=g","twImgSrc":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cdd00de7be92aab3b7fd3d915e02033d?s=600&d=blank&r=g"},"isLoading":false,"link":"/author/mleitsinger"}],"imageData":{"ogImageSize":{"file":"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/yogaharassment_final001-qut-1020x546.jpg","width":1020,"height":546,"mimeType":"image/jpeg"},"twImageSize":{"file":"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/yogaharassment_final001-qut-1020x546.jpg","width":1020,"height":546,"mimeType":"image/jpeg"},"twitterCard":"summary_large_image"},"tagData":{"tags":["enterprise","featured","Iyengar","MeToo","sexual abuse","sexual misconduct","the-california-report-featured","yoga"]}},"disqusIdentifier":"11690316 https://ww2.kqed.org/news/?p=11690316","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2018/09/07/metoo-unmasks-the-open-secret-of-sexual-abuse-in-yoga/","disqusTitle":"#MeToo Unmasks the Open Secret of Sexual Abuse in Yoga","audioUrl":"https://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/tcrmag/2018/09/YogaInvestigationTCRMAG.mp3","audioTrackLength":873,"path":"/news/11690316/metoo-unmasks-the-open-secret-of-sexual-abuse-in-yoga","audioDuration":887000,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Reader advisory: Some accounts of sexual abuse in this story contain explicit details and strong language that some may find upsetting or objectionable.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>nn West was performing an advanced backbend at a yoga workshop when her teacher came over and stroked her breasts and nipples, she said. He did it, she said, in a way “that could only be described as a caress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'We are, I believe, just beginning to see the impact on the yoga community of this #MeToo moment. \u003c/strong>There is a long history of sexual misconduct and of abuse-of-power situations in the yoga community.'\u003ccite> Shannon Roche, chief operating officer of Yoga Alliance\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Her classmates were rolling back and forth -- no one could have seen the alleged groping by the teacher, West said. “I was amazed, shocked,\" she added. \"I came out of the pose. He quickly got up and walked away and then didn't bother me for the rest of the class.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West shared her story in response to a KQED callout for #MeToo accounts in the Bay Area yoga world. An ensuing investigation revealed a range of allegations by seven women against five teachers: from inappropriate massage to a violating touch in class, from drugging to unlawful sex with a minor. KQED found that the yoga community is struggling to rein in this sexual misconduct and abuse in its ranks. Some experts believe the lack of oversight of teachers and schools is adding to the problems of an industry experiencing explosive growth, where touch and trust are a fundamental part of the practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women are telling their stories amid a global outcry and reckoning over sexual misconduct and abuse -- the #MeToo movement -- at the highest levels of political office and in many industries, such as film, media and food. The growing number of accounts has forced many businesses and sectors to examine their codes of conduct, reporting processes and handling of bad actors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In yoga, experts and leaders say, that soul-searching is only beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11634433/i-dont-feel-safe-at-work-your-metoo-stories\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">'I Don't Feel Safe At Work': Your #MeToo Stories\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>West, 50, said initially she was in denial about the November 2013 incident in San Diego -- she felt “psychologically shackled” to Iyengar yoga and kept attending classes with San Francisco-based Manouso Manos. Later, she was afraid to come forward with the allegation: afraid she’d be shunned by the Iyengar community for accusing a famous instructor and afraid it would hurt her livelihood as a yoga teacher of nearly two decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that changed in 2015, when West alleged she saw Manos verbally abuse two students in class (which he denied through a spokesman). Though it wasn’t sexual abuse, seeing the experience of the other students was a wake-up call for her to finally distance herself from that world, she said. Then, in 2016, she read a 1991 news article that compelled her to go public: It said Manos had groped students in the 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Flood of #MeToo Stories in Yoga\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">\"W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>e are, I believe, just beginning to see the impact on the yoga community of this #MeToo moment,” said Shannon Roche, chief operating officer of Yoga Alliance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Us/Our_History\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a voluntary registry\u003c/a> believed to be the industry’s largest credentialing body. “There is a long history of sexual misconduct and of abuse-of-power situations in the yoga community. We also know that, like many other communities, yoga has many times tried to keep those stories in the family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/search/projectid:40564-Yoga-and-MeToo\">Read More Documents in KQED's Investigation\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Some of those stories became public in December 2017 when a well-known yoga teacher and activist, Rachel Brathen, also known as Yoga Girl, released \u003ca href=\"http://rachelbrathen.com/metoo-yoga-stories/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more than 300 accounts\u003c/a> she received in response to a callout for #MeToo incidents. They included rape, groping, inappropriate touching, assault and harassment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody knows that there are all these allegations out there. Why are these men still gracing the covers of yoga magazines? Why are they still headlining festivals? Why are they still out there leading teacher trainings, telling young women how to enter this practice?” Brathen told KQED. “It's very, very infuriating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To date, Brathen has received between 500 and 1,000 #MeToo stories worldwide. The most stories she got from the U.S. were about incidents that happened in California, while New York was second.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In nearly half of the accounts, an attacker wasn’t named; but in those that did, some named the same teacher, said Brathen. Following legal advice, she removed details that could ID the accused.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"instagramLink","attributes":{"named":{"instagramId":"BcXH1GXFrfr"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The #MeToo stories “shattered the yoga world,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/yoga-girl-rachel-brathen-collects-more-than-300-metoo-yoga-stories-the-community-responds?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=story1&utm_campaign=myyj_12192017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote\u003c/a> Yoga Journal. Roche said the accounts were “heartbreaking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A thread through many of them was “that teachers would take advantage of the inherent power dynamic in the teacher-student relationship,” she said, leaving students feeling “exploited and taken advantage of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some cases of sexual abuse involving high-profile yoga teachers have gone public, such as that of \u003ca href=\"https://30for30podcasts.com/bikram/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bikram Choudhury\u003c/a>, founder of the California-based Bikram Yoga empire who was accused by multiple women of rape (he was never charged), according to \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bikram-yoga-warrant-20170524-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Associated Press\u003c/a>, and that of the now-deceased \u003ca href=\"https://thewalrus.ca/yogas-culture-of-sexual-abuse-nine-women-tell-their-stories/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Krishna Pattabhi Jois\u003c/a>, who popularized Ashtanga yoga and was accused by nine women of sexual assault. Many others remain shrouded in secrecy and so-called whisper networks.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'[Yoga's] been a bit\u003c/strong> of a hunting ground.'\u003ccite> Matthew Remski, a yoga teacher, trainer and culture critic\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Yoga Alliance, formed in the late 1990s, issued a new sexual misconduct policy and procedures for handling these cases earlier this year, but the group declined to share the number of such complaints it had previously received.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's (yoga) been a bit of a hunting ground,” said Matthew Remski, a yoga teacher, trainer and culture critic who has written about sexual abuse in the community. “Because of the dominance hierarchies, the pedagogy, the implied consent -- the general sense that the practitioner is there to have their body perfected or to perfect their body and that they are going to submit or surrender to the instructions so that can be so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those have been dominant themes,” he added. “And you know, sexual assault is about power -- it's not about sex.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Anyone Can Be a Teacher’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>he yoga industry has experienced dramatic growth in the U.S.: Over 36 million people practiced nationwide in 2016, skyrocketing from 16.5 million in 2004, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Portals/0/2016%20Yoga%20in%20America%20Study%20RESULTS.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Yoga in America Study\u003c/a>. Yoga was a $16 billion industry in 2016, shooting up from $10 billion in 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoga Alliance said as of Aug. 31, it had nearly 92,000 registered yoga teachers -- surging from 9,700 in 2004 -- and 6,355 registered yoga schools, jumping from 280 that same year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690327\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 597px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11690327\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"597\" height=\"441\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut.jpg 597w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut-160x118.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut-240x177.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut-375x277.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.29-AM-qut-520x384.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 597px) 100vw, 597px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from Yoga Alliance’s social credentialing web page. \u003ccite>(Yoga Alliance)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But that growth has not been accompanied by much oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoga teachers aren’t licensed in the U.S. (In some states like Oklahoma, instructors of teacher training programs have their qualifications approved as part of a school’s licensure). No state agency, such as a \u003ca href=\"http://www.mbc.ca.gov/CONSUMERS/COMPLAINTS/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">medical board\u003c/a>, oversees instructors, disciplines or investigates them, or defines their practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roche said that, to her knowledge, there is no federal regulation of yoga.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anyone can be a yoga teacher. Anybody could just open a studio and start teaching yoga. They don't have to have any credentials whatsoever. They could have read a book on yoga,” said Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D. and physical therapist, who has been teaching yoga in the Bay Area since 1972.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no accountability, professional accountability of yoga teachers in the United States,” she added. “All you need to be a yoga teacher in the United States of America is students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690328\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 350px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690328\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"257\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut.jpg 594w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut-160x118.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut-240x177.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut-375x276.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-11.15.38-AM-qut-520x383.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from Yoga Alliance’s social credentialing web page. Yoga teacher training programs help studios turn a profit, said Gary Kissiah, a lawyer, yoga philosophy teacher and author. “Many studios have teacher training programs now and it's almost essential for their economic survival. A lot of studios break even and it's the yoga teacher training programs that really put them over the line into profitability so that's hugely important,” he said. \u003ccite>(Yoga Alliance)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Laura Camp, owner of Flying Studios in Oakland, said the yoga industry was in its adolescence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's almost like, I'm going to say, snake-oil salesmen -- you know, before medicine was codified in the Old West -- and people could just put a shingle up and say I do this,” Camp said. “The seminal crisis of this industry right now is sexual abuse and that has to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oversight does exist in a few states. Minnesota, Oklahoma, Washington and Wisconsin actively regulate yoga teacher training programs, according to Yoga Alliance and a KQED analysis. California typically regulates schools that offer such programs as part of a broader portfolio of study -- currently, that number stands at about 15, according to the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://app.dca.ca.gov/bppe/view-voc-names.asp?program_keyword=yoga+&city=&Submit=Search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier Yoga Alliance leadership \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Learn/Article_Archive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fought state regulatory efforts\u003c/a>, persevering in at least 11 states. The group said in 2016 that it \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Portals/0/YA%20Position%20Paper%20on%20Govt%20Regulation_Board%20Approved%20June%203%202016.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opposed\u003c/a> licensing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potential harms of government oversight include the burden of fees and rules on the industry’s many small businesses, Yoga Alliance said. And though licensing may serve “as a form of quality assurance,” defining what a yoga teacher must teach would exclude some practices and “stifle creativity,” the group said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked if this stance reflected the position of the new Yoga Alliance leadership, which came onboard in May 2017, the group said it was refining its stance but generally opposed regulation specifically targeting the practice or teaching of yoga.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading yoga experts were split on government oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regulation and oversight would have consequences for people who have been truly doing not just unethical behavior but what is actually illegal behavior with their student,” said Lasater, whose credentials include C-IAYT (IAYT certified yoga therapist) and E-RYT-500 (experienced registered yoga teacher, 500 hours of training). “A lack of credentialing creates an arena where almost anything goes, from dangerous adjustments, to teachers with little or no training, to the possibility of major boundary crossings -- sexual, physical and emotional.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'It doesn't matter\u003c/strong> if you have a certificate to teach yoga if ... you cannot be prevented from teaching.'\u003ccite> Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., physical therapist and yoga teacher\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Roche said she didn’t think a lack of government oversight had left the door open to sexual misconduct, but thought Yoga Alliance not having a scope of practice and an updated code of conduct in place -- it’s working on both now -- did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In its earlier years, Yoga Alliance maybe did fall a little bit short,” she said. “I don't think anybody envisioned that it would become ... in lieu of government regulation, the self-regulating body for the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some dispute that it is: Adhering to any Yoga Alliance standards, codes, \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Become_a_Member/Member_Overview/Standards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guidelines\u003c/a> for teacher training programs -- even registering with the group -- is voluntary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn't matter if you have a certificate to teach yoga if ... you cannot be prevented from teaching,” Lasater said. “You see what a mess it is? It's a mess.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many studios and teachers elect to opt out of the Yoga Alliance world, said \u003ca href=\"http://garykissiah.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gary Kissiah\u003c/a>, a lawyer, yoga philosophy teacher and author. “Teachers can certainly open yoga studios and teachers can teach without having any association with Yoga Alliance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kissiah, who in January \u003ca href=\"http://garykissiah.com/general/lets-clean-up-our-yoga-community-now-take-a-stand-stop-the-crap/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published a guide\u003c/a> for studios on dealing with sexual misconduct, said he was skeptical that government regulation could solve the problem and felt effective change would come from the ground up. A first step: educating students about what is proper conduct by teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"These teachers basically conned them into thinking it’s part of their spiritual development, a part of the spiritual practice, a part of the tradition -- all these sorts of things,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kissiah wrote in his guide that yoga could be lost if “we allow it to collapse into ethical and sexual scandals, watered-down physical education classes and commercial exploitation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If this fire just keeps burning out of control, at some point, the states are going to say we need to step in here and do something,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘I Wish I Had Come Forward. ... He’s Still Doing This’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">C\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>harlotte Bell attended a yoga workshop for back pain in San Francisco in February 1988 at the Iyengar Yoga Institute. She said it included a who’s who of teachers, Manos among them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bell, then 32, was doing a variation of downward dog: In the pose, a practitioner’s chest is parallel to the floor -- with their legs shooting straight down from their hips -- and their hands on the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when, Bell said, Manos groped her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He came up to me from behind, put his hands on my collarbone and swept his hands over my whole front body right over my breasts,” she said. “I was stunned at first. It was like, ‘What? Did he really just do that?’ And then immediately -- because I was this starry-eyed newer student and he's this well-known and well-respected teacher -- immediately I started doubting it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manos did not recognize nor was he familiar with Bell, his spokesman said. No complaint was ever filed, he said, and Manos denied that any adjustment he may have made was inappropriate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690359\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11690359\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-800x531.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-1180x784.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-960x638.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-240x159.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-375x249.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut-520x345.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/bell-qut.jpg 1429w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charlotte Bell demonstrating downward dog pose at the wall. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Charlotte Bell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bell said she buried the incident, but in fall 1989 she heard rumors about other sexual misconduct allegations against Manos -- some that became the subject of a 1991 \u003ca href=\"https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/ad65794f-8422-4f28-9a69-2259a6f5ad3c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expose in West\u003c/a>, a now-defunct magazine then published by the (San Jose) Mercury News.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allegations had first surfaced against Manos in 1987. He told a representative of the \u003ca href=\"https://iyisf.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco\u003c/a> that it wouldn’t happen again, wrote reporter Bob Frost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More allegations were reported in 1989 and the institute suspended him from teaching in October of that year, Frost wrote. (Frost said there were no corrections to the article in which he quoted Manos as saying: “Though there are inaccuracies in the statements made in this article I do recognize the gravity of the subject matter.”) No criminal charges were filed against Manos, Frost wrote. KQED didn’t find any civil or criminal charges either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>B.K.S. Iyengar, who is “universally acknowledged as the modern master of yoga,” according to the \u003ca href=\"https://iynaus.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States\u003c/a> (IYNAUS), asked the community to forgive Manos, Frost wrote. In October 1990, the S.F. institute’s board of directors voted to reinstate him, Frost wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesman for Manos said the West article was inaccurate, saying Manos wasn’t suspended but voluntarily left (he said he didn’t know the reason for his departure) and didn’t seek reinstatement but was invited to return. He also said Manos denied past and current allegations of sexual misconduct. He didn’t know why Manos hadn’t sought a correction to Frost’s article if he believed there were inaccuracies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lasater, who said she was on the board of directors at the time, told KQED she resigned from it after the vote. She said she personally knew of up to five allegations against Manos -- and that she was in a room where he admitted to the sexual misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had a board member’s responsibility to keep our students safe,” she said. “I wasn’t convinced ... that this wasn’t going to happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11667323/in-california-trying-to-end-the-silence-in-the-wake-of-metoo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In California, Trying to End the Silence in the Wake of #MeToo\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>West filed a police report in March 2018; the San Diego Police Department said it determined the incident to be a misdemeanor. The case was not forwarded to the city attorney for prosecution because it fell outside the statute of limitations, police said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West also filed a complaint against Manos with IYNAUS, in which she included corroborating statements from four people who she’d told over the years about the alleged incident. When KQED asked Manos for comment about West’s allegations, his representative shared his May 15 statement to IYNAUS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have devoted 42 years of my life to teaching and educating tens of thousands of students in a professional and ethical manner,” he wrote. “I categorically deny Ms. West’s allegations, but still feel horrible that a student of mine has these feelings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manos said West was a student over many years: “It does not make sense to me why she would continue to take my classes if she supposedly felt uncomfortable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am shocked that any adjustment I may have provided to Ms. West in a classroom filled with 50 students has been characterized by her as an ‘assault’ of a sexual nature,” he said, noting that he asks students if he can touch them before making any hands-on adjustments. “That is a very serious accusation and one I do not take lightly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'I am shocked \u003c/strong>that any adjustment I may have provided...in a classroom filled with 50 students has been characterized by her as an ‘assault’ of a sexual nature.'\u003ccite> Manouso Manos, yoga teacher accused of assault\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Bell, 63, a yoga teacher and writer/editor who lives in Salt Lake City, said she wrote about the alleged groping in \u003ca href=\"https://www.huggermugger.com/blog/2013/teacher-student-relationship-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2013\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://catalystmagazine.net/yoga-teacher-student-relationship/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2017\u003c/a>. But she never named Manos, thinking he’d taken responsibility and wasn’t doing it anymore, nor did she file a police report or complaint with a yoga body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn't come forward until now -- until I found out that indeed he was still doing this and the incident was strikingly similar to what happened to me,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bell said another person in the yoga community connected her to West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Damn, I wish I had come forward” sooner, she said. “When I heard her story, I felt like, wow, he's still doing this, and maybe I could have helped. So I felt bad ... that I didn’t say anything all those years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West wasn’t upset with Bell for not saying anything -- but she was upset with the national Iyengar yoga association (IYNAUS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They knew that he'd been at this\" for decades, West said. “We weren't forewarned that essentially this predator was in our midst and we weren't able to make an informed decision as to whether or not we were even going to walk into his class. ... Why didn't we all know about this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A third woman told KQED Manos slipped his hands inside her bra and massaged her breasts while she was in a resting pose during a 1986 class in New York – an account shared in the Frost article. She wrote California Iyengar yoga leaders in 1990 after she learned Manos would attend an upcoming convention in San Diego despite the sexual misconduct allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonnie Anthony, chair of the convention’s coordinating committee, replied in a \u003ca href=\"https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/263a106c-e0f6-404d-8e41-ba0862ec07be\">May 7, 1990, letter\u003c/a>, saying she was “willing to give him this one more chance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was our recommendation to Mr. Iyengar (and he agreed) to keep Manouso in a low profile at the Convention,” Anthony wrote. “Manouso has a problem, much like alcoholism. He has openly admitted it to Mr. Iyengar and to others and is in therapy, along with his wife, Rita.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED contacted Anthony, sharing with her the May 7 letter plus one the woman sent in response dated May 27 and an earlier one to Lasater from April 18, 1990. Anthony replied: \"The matter re: Manouso was settled many years ago and I have nothing additional to add to the record.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manos' spokesman denied the 1986 allegation and said he doesn't have anything to say about the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>IYNAUS declined to answer KQED’s questions about its current Manos investigation or past allegations involving him, citing confidentiality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the San Francisco Iyengar institute’s handling of the previous allegations against Manos, Brian Hogencamp, president of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Northern California, said he did not know or have additional information to make a comment. Manos is not a teacher at the S.F. institute; he plays an unpaid, external, advisory role to the teachers of one program, Hogencamp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donna Farhi, a yoga instructor since 1982 who was on the board of Yoga Journal in the late 1980s, said by email that the publication got letters around that time from several women, unknown to each other and from different states, alleging Manos had “sexually molested” them in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We made the decision not to feature him in the magazine, or to allow his name to appear in any advertising that might be purchased by someone hosting him,” said Farhi, who is helping Yoga Alliance draft a code of conduct for teachers and is an author of five books, including one on ethics for yoga teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farhi said she knew of West’s and Bell’s allegations, and they showed how students could be abused in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When students are in positions where they can’t even see each other, it’s almost impossible for these women to get substantive evidence from others that these incidents did indeed happen,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>'We’re Not the Yoga Police'\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen sexual misconduct or abuse does happen in yoga, people don’t have many ways to report it -- except for going to the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kinoyoga.com/metoo/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In a December 2017 post\u003c/a> sharing her #MeToo experience of being sexually assaulted by a teacher, international yoga instructor Kino MacGregor said she reported the attack to Yoga Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They replied with a standardized email saying that they could take no action. It made me so mad because it felt like there was no accountability in the yoga world,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'We’re not\u003c/strong> becoming the yoga police.'\u003ccite> Shannon Roche, chief operating officer of Yoga Alliance\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Roche said it was awful to see Yoga Alliance being called out in that story, but added, “I'm glad she did.” The group separated policies for handling sexual misconduct from other grievances; Roche said they needed to be treated with more sensitivity and care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not law enforcement, unfortunately,” she added, echoing a line in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Yoga/Article_Archive/Shannon_Roche_Addresses_Sexual_Misconduct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video\u003c/a> to the membership in which she said, “We’re not becoming the yoga police.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don't have the same resources that they do, and so we won't be able to take the same kind of action that law enforcement would,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The national Iyengar yoga association, which formed in 1991, investigates complaints of ethical violations, including sexual misconduct, said Manju Vachher, chair of the group’s ethics committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee recommends sanctions to the executive council, if necessary, Vachher said. Information is shared with the parties involved and occasionally with the executive council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your interest in exploring how the yoga community is responding to the ‘Me Too Movement’ is important,” Vachher said in an email. “I am not able to do an interview or discuss any cases due to the confidentiality issues. During and after any investigative process, we uphold strict standards of privacy for all parties ...”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vachher declined to answer questions about the number of complaints made against Manos to IYNAUS since the late 1980s allegations arose and how many teachers the group has sanctioned over sexual misconduct complaints (and what the sanctions are for such violations).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West doesn’t think the committee can be an independent arbiter of Manos, who is on the association’s senior council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They're just one arm of an organization -- the same organization giving him these accolades and awards,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>'He Felt That I Needed to Feel More Into My Body’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>fter moving to Oakland from L.A. in 2016, Deisha Smith had left some business problems behind and was looking to make friends in her new home. She thought yoga teacher training would be one way to do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Smith said things felt great: Her mentor at \u003ca href=\"http://www.piedmontyoga.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Piedmont Yoga\u003c/a> in Berkeley and Oakland, Zubin Shroff, dubbed her the “minister of joy” for sharing uplifting news items. After her one-on-one sessions began with Shroff in fall 2016, however, things took a turn: She said he had her meet him at his West Berkeley condo, where they discussed personal things about her life -- rarely yoga. Finding the experience odd, she eventually stopped going.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/438664/what-happens-when-metoo-stories-reignite-old-trauma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What Happens When #MeToo Stories Reignite Old Trauma\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>After a short break, Smith said, Shroff reached out, saying they should restart the sessions. And, she should let him give her a massage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He felt that I needed to feel more into my body and that would involve him doing massage. Shiatsu massage. I've never had shiatsu massage,” said Smith, 40, who works in financing and funding for small businesses. “I didn't even look it up -- but that's how trusting I was of the situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith said the sessions in February and March 2017 were “all massage that got increasingly uncomfortable,” on a futon mattress. Unlike before, there was no conversation. They were both clothed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"In the fifth (final) session, he spent the majority of the time massaging my butt and groin,” she said in a June 2017 statement to the Berkeley Police Department. “He literally massaged my butt and innermost part of my groin, as close as he could possibly be without physically touching my actual vagina.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She thought the shiatsu was “extremely weird and uncomfortable, but just part of the procedure,” she said in her police statement. “He was my instructor so the last thing I expected was for him to do anything inappropriate.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about Smith’s allegation, Shroff said in an email that he did not touch anyone inappropriately. In that same correspondence dated March 1, Shroff said he was no longer the studio’s director and noted it was “the end of a prolonged transition phase” where he had “been stepping back from directing the studio and teaching.” (Piedmont Yoga is a storied Bay Area yoga institution that has a checkered past with one of its founders, Rodney Yee, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/fashion/weddings/07Vows.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">marrying\u003c/a> a \u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/12023/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">student\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.self.com/story/yoga-sex-scandals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">having sexual relationships\u003c/a> with \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Yoga-guru-in-compromising-position-Celebrity-2836809.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">other students\u003c/a>, according to various media reports.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith wasn’t the only student getting massage from Shroff: Sarah Shimazaki said she had about 10 shiatsu sessions at Shroff’s condo starting in March 2017, paying about $40 for each one. She said the shiatsu was a “positive” experience that helped her where talk therapy hadn’t, and Shroff never touched her inappropriately.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11642818/sexual-abuse-in-the-yoga-community-share-your-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sexual Abuse in the Yoga Community: Share Your Story\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Another student, who didn’t want to be identified, said Shroff told her during a one-on-one session at his condo in December 2016 that he offered shiatsu “at no cost” to students. She declined and said she later wondered, “ ‘Why is he offering me a free massage?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought he was creeping on the people he was attracted to or the people who somehow appeared to be vulnerable,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith reported the massage to two teachers in the program and to the police. One of the teachers, Leslie Howard, told police she didn’t know Shroff was offering massage to students, nor had she heard of him providing massage sessions to any other students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she asked him about the massage, Howard said Shroff told her: “I totally get it, I won't do this anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My thought, my feeling about Zubin is his heart is in the right place,” Howard said. “He has let so many people who can't afford yoga programs do the program for little to no money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard also said that when she asked Smith if Shroff had touched her inappropriately, Smith said “no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shroff was a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ohashiatsu.org/us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">certified ohashiatsu consultant\u003c/a> from 2011-13, according to the New York-based Ohashi International Ltd, which also said he graduated from the institute’s six-level curriculum program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Shroff didn’t have a license to perform massage in Berkeley, said Matthai Chakko, assistant to the city manager. Nor was he certified with the California Massage Therapy Council (which said such ohashiatsu credentials would not qualify someone to get certification with the organization).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California doesn’t have state licensing for massage, but the vast majority of its cities and counties have massage therapy ordinances. While certification with CAMTC is voluntary, cities are required by state law to accept it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley authorities opened a code enforcement case regarding Shroff’s lack of massage and business licenses. In late June, Shroff was sent a notice of violation, which serves as a warning to encourage compliance, Chakko said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the scheduled site inspection this week at his Berkeley condo, Mr. Shroff stated he has relinquished his part-ownership with Piedmont Yoga and no longer conducts any business within the City. Code Enforcement verified that his unit is vacant and actively listed for sale,” Chakko wrote on July 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The case is now closed,” Chakko said. “Should new information arise, or if we find future violations with his involvement, we will pick up where we left off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakko said Shroff wasn’t penalized over the zoning violation, noting it was the city’s initial contact and the goal is to bring people into voluntary compliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11691888/yoga-and-metoo-i-trusted-yoga-so-i-trusted-him\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Learn more about this investigation on The Bay\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101867191/reports-of-sexual-misconduct-expose-lack-of-oversight-in-yoga-industry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum discusses KQED’s findings about sexual abuse in the yoga community.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Berkeley police forwarded Smith’s case with a charge of misdemeanor sexual battery to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, which declined to prosecute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard recalled Smith as a student who didn’t participate as much in the beginning of the program but got more engaged over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She did a stellar job in her student teaching class. ... I was just like, ‘Wow,’” Howard said. But when Howard went to Shroff to advocate for Smith at one point, she said he told her Smith wasn’t “participating in his class at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shimazaki said Shroff told her about the police investigation in June 2017; the next month, she said, he spoke with her and others about transferring the business to them. In early August 2018, Shimazaki said Shroff would be transferring the business to her and another student, though it wasn’t yet complete; she said he would assist as an adviser. On Friday, she said she wouldn’t be taking over. Shroff didn’t reply to an inquiry last week about who owned the business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transfer had nothing to do with Smith’s allegation, Shroff said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith closes her police statement saying: “I do not want this to happen to anyone else. It was as though he was taking advantage of his role as the instructor to engage in the inappropriate massage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘We Cannot Rely on Karma Alone’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">S\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>ome people become dedicated to yoga “at a time of a lot of disruption in their life,” making it imperative that studios offer a safe space for students to practice, said Sarah Herrington, program administrator for \u003ca href=\"https://bellarmine.lmu.edu/yoga/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the yoga studies program\u003c/a> at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help do that, Roche said Yoga Alliance was recommending studios \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/timesup-metoo-ending-sexual-abuse-in-the-yoga-community\">set up reporting processes\u003c/a>. That’s what Kissiah, the lawyer and yoga philosophy teacher, thinks will make an impact -- but right now is “absolutely lacking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studios should have a code of conduct and a hotline or an email address where students can contact an independent ethics committee, he said. “That recommendation is really nothing other than applying what's very common in corporate America to the world of yoga studios.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What most studios have done is either nothing or they have referred to the ethical code in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/5-reasons-know-patanjalis-yoga-sutra\">Yoga Sutras\u003c/a>,” which is general and doesn't provide “guidance in the modern context,” he said. “Often what happens is one of these situations arises and there's this huge panic because they simply don't have the structure or the means to deal with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrington urged studios to post a code of ethics and have a place to report abuse. “We cannot rely on karma alone,” she \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/opinion/yoga-code-of-ethics-bikram-choudhury.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote in a 2017 New York Times op-ed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690335\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11690335\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/deisha-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deisha Smith alleges her yoga mentor groped her during a teacher training program in the East Bay. \u003ccite>(Samantha Shanahan/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Smith, such a reporting process didn’t exist -- and it’s part of the reason she wanted to share her story: to push for this kind of change. Her alleged assailant also was the head of the studio, complicating her reporting of his behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shroff said mediation was offered and he would have attended; Smith said she was initially interested but changed her mind due to her experience in college after she was raped. She said she didn't get anything from mediation then and questioned if the teachers would take on the person paying them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West had the same concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt if I went against Manos I would be going against a big organization ... against the Iyengar family themselves” because of his close ties to B.K.S. Iyengar, the founder of Iyengar, West said. “There will be a sense of betrayal. ... that I'm betraying Iyengar yoga and I'm betraying the Iyengar family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘It Was a Bloodbath’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">S\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>ome people in the yoga community have taken a hard stand on dealing with sexual misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Camp, owner of Flying Studios in Oakland, has twice fired teachers over sexual harassment allegations, which almost put her out of business -- both times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a huge backlash and a huge loss of income and a huge loss of community,” she said after the first dismissal. “Open letter on my Facebook about how I needed to hire this person back or these students would never come back. It was a bloodbath. And then it happened again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Maria, a yoga instructor in the Bay Area who has written about sexual misconduct in the community, said studios have removed teachers from the schedule following complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In my experience, this seems to be getting better,” Maria said. “People are much more willing to talk about it now, and I think people are seeing responses from studios about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SoulPlay Festivals, which organizes events around yoga, dance, personal growth and more, stresses \u003ca href=\"http://soulplay.co/festival/safety\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">safety, touch and consent\u003c/a> at its gatherings: Presenters offer frequent reminders about it, the group has an online form to report misconduct, and staff are on site to handle allegations, said Romi Elan, founder and CEO of SoulPlay Festivals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's that feeling of safety ... is what allows people to open up, open themselves up to having a very profound and deep experience,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690329\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 480px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690329 size-complete_open_graph\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-480x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-480x1200.jpg 480w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-160x400.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-800x2000.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-1020x2550.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-1180x2950.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-960x2400.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-240x600.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-375x938.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut-520x1300.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SoulPlay-Infographic_1-14-18-qut.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SoulPlay, which organizes events around yoga, dance, personal growth and more, stresses safety and consent at its gatherings. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SoulPlay)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other studios and groups haven’t adopted such strategies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes studio owners won't do anything about teachers accused of sexual misconduct because they’re a popular instructor, said Lasater. Or if they do fire them, “then the teacher just goes down the road and teaches somewhere else,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yoga teachers can reinvent themselves over and over and over again because of the ability to move from place to place,” Lisa Maria said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students have left their studio -- or even given up the practice of yoga -- after misconduct or abuse. The latter was the case for some of the women who responded to KQED’s callout for #MeToo stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrington said she stopped attending classes taught by her favorite teacher after he began sending her sexually explicit messages on social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often what happens is that the student disappears and goes to another community. You lose your community. Because if somebody is running the show, and they're doing the misuse of power, where are you going to go?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only thing that can stop a teacher who is sexually abusing students is if the studio owner takes action or if the victim goes the legal route, said Lasater. “They (the victim) have to be the one that shoulders all the burden,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet there’s not much that law enforcement can do: Most sex assault cases don’t make it into the criminal courts, said Kristen Houser, a spokeswoman at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge for prosecutors in pursuing these cases can be convincing jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime occurred, especially when there aren’t other witnesses -- if it happened one on one, which could trigger a “he said/she said” scenario, said Mary Ashley, an assistant district attorney in San Bernardino County whose work has included sexual battery cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” she said. Even if “a jury says, ‘Well, I kind of believe her but I don't totally disbelieve him,’ the law at least criminally will say you have to give favor to the defendant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘This Happened to Me, and I’m a Teacher’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">L\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>eaving yoga has been a heartbreaking consideration for Eka Ekong, a yoga teacher in Marin County, over the last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It began, she said, with an unwelcome remark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ekong, 42, of San Rafael, was taking a class in November 2017 at the studio where she worked. She’d just taken her sweatshirt off when the teacher, Allan Nett looked at her, she recalled, and said: “This is what I get to look at the whole time.” (Nett denied saying that, noting he said, “Now I can see you” -- meaning it would help him give her correct adjustments. He said he had no intention of objectifying her body or being sexual.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The comment unnerved Ekong, she said, but she continued with the practice -- though later, she said, he adjusted her legs while she was in the lunge pose of Warrior 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He came behind me and put his hands on my legs close to my genitals and he abruptly pulled my legs apart,” she said. “I came out of the pose. I tried to kind of neutralize or equalize because I could feel something was off.” (Nett said given his stature -- 5-foot-3, 120 pounds -- and that at the time he was awaiting an open heart operation, he didn’t have the strength, energy or size to “abruptly” pull her legs apart.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Something was off: According to medical records, Ekong's doctor found she’d sustained a leg/groin injury, suffering bruising and soft tissue injuries. A week after the alleged assault, her doctor wrote, she had “significant swelling and several very tender areas where the instructor’s hands were placed as well as the surrounding tissues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nett, 72, said he asks permission from students before he touches them, and Ekong said she had given him the OK earlier in the class to make adjustments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I put one hand just above the knee on the inner thigh and the other hand above the knee on the outer thigh ... to demonstrate and have the student feel the rotation that the pose requires to bring the hips into alignment,” he said. “So I've got hands above her knee -- one hand on the inside, one hand on the outside -- and I've got a good grip there and I'm starting to roll that thigh backwards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he “thought that she understood the action that I was asking for in the pose as she came up. There was not any kind of indication that she injured herself or that there was injury going on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/series/beyondmetoo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KQED's Series: Beyond #MeToo\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>As of today, Ekong said she still can’t practice yoga. She said she goes weekly to physical and trauma therapies, and sees her doctor every few weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some days my body just hurts,” she said. “And really basic things are not so basic.” Like putting on shoes. Walking. Straightening her legs. It has also been hard to sit, including cross-legged -- one of the most common poses in yoga.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The emotional wounds run deep, too, for Ekong, who began practicing in 1999 and teaching in 2006.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every day, my close friends, students and peers, they ask me, how are you healing? I don’t know what to tell them,” she wrote to the national Iyengar yoga association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do I tell them at some moments I’m OK and then I’m in tears. How do I explain that this morning I was so angry that I wanted to scream out loud, that I wonder if I’ll ever be able to practice yoga asana again or feel safe as a student in the yoga studio? That I wonder daily if I still want to be a teacher and part of a larger systemic issue that elevates the teacher and lessens the wisdom of the student,” she continued in the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know if it involves teaching, but yoga will always be a part of my life. But I can’t say what that looks like,” she said. “There’s some part of me that has been taken away that I’m still trying to find again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nett, an instructor of more than 25 years who hasn’t been teaching recently due to his surgery, said he was let go from the studio, which KQED isn’t naming due to Ekong’s concern that it’s her place of employment. The studio said it could not comment on specific employee matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All I can say is, 'Gee whiz, I'm sorry that you got injured in my class.’ But I think there's more to this story than anybody's ever going to know,” he said in an hour-long phone call with KQED, adding that he felt there were enough “little inconsistencies” in Ekong’s description of the injuries that “I really question the truth of it all.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As she has described it, I find it difficult to accept that she was injured. It was possibly a pre-existing weakness, combined with the strong posture of Warrior II that strained,” he said. But he also noted: “There's certainly some truth in it and I'm not saying that she was not injured.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About five years ago, Nett said one of his students complained about inappropriate touch (not of a sexual nature; she just didn’t want to be touched) to a studio owner in Oakland: “I took it to heart,” he said, and modified his behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Touch is an important part of learning, Nett said: “By moving a muscle manually the body understands it, and you don't have to think about it.\" But he has decided to stop offering adjustments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has been traumatic. And I'm sure it's traumatic for her,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immediately after the incident, Ekong withdrew from her friends and yoga community. She said she felt like she was wearing a scarlet letter “A,” was somehow to blame for what happened, and that her studio was no longer her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fekaette.ekong.5%2Fposts%2F10155956900267272&width=500\" width=\"600\" height=\"290\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, she knew she had to speak out. She contacted the studio, Central Marin police and the national Iyengar yoga association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s important that you know this is happening, because if this happened to me and I’m a teacher, imagine what’s really happening and people aren’t saying anything,” she recalled telling the studio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and Nett said IYNAUS is reviewing her complaint (the group declined to comment about the case, citing confidentiality).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Central Marin police said in an email that there was no mention of sexual assault when Ekong’s report was made, and since it “was not criminal in nature,” it did not meet the criteria for referral to the DA. The matter, police said, was left to the studio to handle; Ekong said she intends to file a supplemental report to police.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Most Victims Don’t Report’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">H\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>oward, one of the teachers in the Piedmont Yoga training program, wanted to know why Deisha Smith hadn’t told her about the alleged inappropriate touch by director Zubin Shroff when she reported the massage and when Howard said she had specifically asked about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was completely uncomfortable and I was still dealing with the fact that he did not vaginally insert me. He 'just touched me,'” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of the women who contacted KQED with their stories didn’t report right away to law enforcement or others what happened -- or only partially reported it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such behavior isn’t unusual: When sexual misconduct is reported, partial or delayed reporting -- or inconsistencies in such reports -- are “the norm and it should be expected,” said Houser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Through our eyes, that bolsters the validity of complaints,” she added. Few people make prompt complaints, include all of the details, and consistently tell it the same way. “That's not how traumatic events are processed and stored in our bodies and in our brains.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While 81 percent of women and 43 percent of men in the U.S. reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime, only one in 10 women -- and one in 20 men -- filed an official complaint or report to an authority figure, including a police report, according to a January 2018 \u003ca href=\"http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Full-Report-2018-National-Study-on-Sexual-Harassment-and-Assault.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stop Street Harassment online survey\u003c/a> of 2,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most victims don't report, or hold off doing so, for a variety of reasons. But they “all fall under the large umbrella of: They don’t trust the rest of us to respond appropriately,” said Houser.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'I trusted yoga so I trusted him.\u003c/strong> I shouldn't have made that connection.'\u003ccite> a teenager, who says her yoga teacher had sex with her\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Those reasons, she said, include fear of being disbelieved, blamed or having their privacy violated through gossip. Some people fear repercussions in their home life or their social circles, which often include the assailant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People often keep it to themselves, not to mention it's a very confusing thing when somebody that you know and trust violates that trust,” Houser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked what was holding people back from reporting abuse in yoga, Brathen said: “I think the biggest piece is fear of being alienated from this community that means so much to us.” That community built through yoga, she said, is “sacred” and such an “important part of the practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘I Trusted Yoga So I Trusted Him’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">“A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>re you 18 years old? Holy shit.” That was the first message a Bay Area teenager said that her yoga teacher sent to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was then 17, in the summer before her first year in college; he was twice her age. She said she had a crush on him and thought he liked her, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next few months, she said her teacher groomed her to have sex with him: In a number of text messages, he said he had something to tell her, but to do that, they had to meet in person and in private. (The teenager, who didn’t want to be identified out of concerns for her privacy and safety, shared the Facebook and text messages with KQED).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690342\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 424px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11690342\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"424\" height=\"278\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut.jpg 424w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut-160x105.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut-240x157.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_Bother_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.15.15-PM-qut-375x246.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He wanted to meet me alone so he could explain why everything had to be so secretive and he would always say it will all make sense once we get to chat in person,” she said. “I am a kid but I'm not dumb. And I knew the obvious reasons, which were that you don't want people to think that you fuck your students and I'm really young.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of his text messages read: “I know I sound like some kind of criminal or something but it would be great if we could hang out in a place that is not so public.” Another one read: “Any place that is low key so we aren’t seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690343\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 601px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11690343\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut.jpg 601w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut-160x133.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut-240x199.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut-375x311.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_secretbar_Screen-Shot-2018-08-22-at-5.10.44-PM-qut-520x431.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 601px) 100vw, 601px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Early on, she expressed reservations about connecting outside the classroom. She’d blossomed in yoga: It helped ease her anxiety and made her feel safe, capable and independent. “I was convinced that I wanted to be a yoga teacher. It was my whole thing,” she said. “I considered it a big defining part of who I was.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he assured her, in text messages, that she could keep coming to classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690355\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11690355\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-800x714.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"714\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-800x714.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-160x143.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-1020x910.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-1200x1071.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-1180x1053.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-960x856.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-240x214.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-375x335.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut-520x464.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_class2__Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-4.36.55-PM-qut.jpg 1224w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eventually, they did meet outside the studio -- a week before her 18th birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690348\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690348\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-800x218.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"136\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-800x218.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-160x44.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-240x65.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-375x102.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut-520x142.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_drink_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.04.47-PM-qut.jpg 902w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690349\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690349\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-800x232.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"145\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-800x232.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-160x46.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-240x70.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-375x109.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut-520x151.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_pajamaparty_Screen-Shot-2018-08-26-at-5.05.50-PM-qut.jpg 904w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said he invited her to a bar in a quiet Bay Area community, where he bought her several drinks (she had a fake ID), and then he took her to a hotel, where they smoked hashish. She recalled being “very intoxicated and a little woozy” before they had sex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a nearly two-hour interview with KQED, the teacher said he didn’t have sex with her and that he left her with two of his friends in the hotel room whom he declined to identify; the police report said it was clear from the text messages that the pair did have a sexual relationship, “however brief,” and no mention was made of his friends. The teen said he didn’t have friends with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690356\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690356\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut.jpg 605w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut-240x159.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut-375x249.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_police_Screen-Shot-2018-08-30-at-2.08.17-PM-qut-520x345.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The teacher also said the teenager told him she was 18; she said her birthday -- including year -- was listed on Facebook, and though she at one point told him in a SMS that she was 18, she said she thought he knew her real age and they were both “going to pretend” she was 18. The police also noted that she had not told him her real age but said she was 18.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690364\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690364\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut.jpg 617w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut-160x87.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut-240x131.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut-375x205.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/SMS_18_Screen-Shot-2018-09-04-at-12.23.59-PM-qut-520x284.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Text messages that a Bay Area teen says were exchanged between her and her yoga teacher. Her comments are in green; his in gray. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After their encounter, she said he left the hotel a short time later but it took months for her to realize what had happened: “I was basically sexually abused and manipulated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt dumb for thinking that because he was my yoga teacher and because he was so much older than me -- because he was my spiritual counselor in some ways -- that he wouldn't take advantage of me,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I trusted yoga so I trusted him,” she said. “I shouldn't have made that connection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she came back home from college to the Bay Area, she planned to tell her mom -- only to find out she had gone through her phone and seen the messages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teen’s mom said she called some studios where he taught to report the teacher; he said one let him go and he assumed it was because of the mother’s calls. Another studio owner said they let him go because of the allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teacher said it had been “one really long hard struggle” after the teen -- who he called “just a fuckin’ girl” -- went to the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll just say that her mom tried really hard to make my life extremely hard and she succeeded,” he said. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep over this and been hurt ... I’ve had to ask some people for support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>Have a tip or information to share? You can contact reporter Miranda Leitsinger on the encrypted communications app Signal (650-888-2765) or by email: mleitsinger@kqed.org\u003c/h3>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The teenager decided to come forward with her story after learning that a second student, Leah Tumerman, 36, had accused the teacher of threatening earlier this year that he and his partner should “Bill Cosby her.” Tumerman told police she understood this to mean “he would drug and rape me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tumerman, a longtime student of the teacher, said she became scared of him and his change in personality. The pair had gotten into a conversation about food over text message, and the discussion somehow took a turn, she said. The teacher denied making the comment but said they did argue about food. Tumerman, an artist from Richmond, filed a police report for documentation purposes only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teen’s case was forwarded to the DA’s office, which declined to prosecute.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘You Have to Face the Shame of Your Complicity’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp> number of women have come forward in recent months to share their accounts of alleged abuse by their yoga teachers -- triggering a growing conversation in the community about sexual misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, Yoga Alliance issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Yoga/Article_Archive/Yoga_Alliance_Statement_on_Sexual_Misconduct_in_Our_Community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement\u003c/a> on sexual misconduct in the yoga community. In January, it released Roche’s video and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/Sexual_Misconduct_Resources/Unity_in_Yoga_with_RAINN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">podcast\u003c/a> on the topic, and weeks later published \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Us/Policies/Sexual_Misconduct_Disciplinary_Procedure\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sexual misconduct disciplinary procedures\u003c/a> and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Us/Policies/Policy_Prohibiting_Sexual_Misconduct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">policy\u003c/a> on its website. In early September, the group said it could “confirm that we have suspended and revoked credentials under our new policy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In this #MeToo moment, we too must act,” Roche, of Yoga Alliance, said in the video. “There’s a deeply troubling pattern of misconduct within our community, a pattern that touches almost every tradition in modern yoga. To definitively turn the page on that history, we must openly acknowledge the issue of sexual misconduct in yoga.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remski, the yoga teacher and culture critic, said Roche’s message to the yoga community heralded a “sea change moment.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"instagramLink","attributes":{"named":{"instagramId":"BmCL66zlrlz"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>“It puts the entire culture on notice that this is a thing. It's not dirty laundry anymore. It's totally out in the open,” he said. “With one sentence, she implicated the entire culture as having enabled this and that's what hasn't been done yet. ... Nobody has looked at it as a systemic problem -- because when you look at it as a systemic problem, you have to face the shame of your complicity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lasater said she was very supportive of Yoga Alliance’s efforts but felt the community still has a long way to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If teachers don't have true consequences, what is going to cause them to change their behavior?” she said. “Nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brathen, or Yoga Girl, said she was “torn” over Yoga Alliance’s initial solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am still very unclear as to what action will be taken at the end of the day,” she said. “If the worst thing that can happen to you as a perpetrator is that your name gets taken off the website, I don't think that that's going to do a whole lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In early August, Brathen published her second series of #MeToo stories. She wrote how tough it was to expel the alleged sexual harassers and abusers from the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Stone, a Token: The New Conversation on Touch Consent\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690330\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11690330\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/Tokens_yoga-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Touch consent tokens at Yoga Tree near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Miranda Leitsinger/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">L\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>asater and other yoga leaders said they felt students -- particularly women -- were going to be a part of the solution. One sign already? The “touch consent” cards, chips and tokens popping up in studios across the country. Years ago, the first version of those were painted stones, paper clips, even a leaf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students would place such an object on top or below their mat to signal if a teacher could touch them, said Remski.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11690326\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11690326\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-1180x1573.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-960x1280.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-240x320.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-375x500.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut-520x693.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/BB-qut.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yoga teacher Bayley Blackney leads a workshop on touch in Capitola on March 24, 2018. \u003ccite>(Miranda Leitsinger/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The yoga room has been a space of implied consent. And that is no longer the case. The politics, the techniques, the methods of consent are now fully part of yoga discourse,” Remski said. “It undoes something profound in the last 100 years of yoga pedagogy, which is the notion that the teachers should decide what the student needs or what they should do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growing use of the tokens has broader implications, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003ca href=\"https://video.kqed.org/show/metoo-now-what/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#MeToo, Now What?\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“The #MeToo movement also signifies a solidification of the change in leadership in modern yoga from men to women because those tokens ... are the latest generation of what women started using about 10 or 12 years ago in small studios,” he said. “It's a grass-roots idea that has worked its way up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers now typically ask students at the beginning of class to let them know if they want adjustments or not, and some instructors are holding workshops on touch and consent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bayley Blackney hosted such a gathering at a studio in Capitola in late March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Touch is something that I’m so passionate about. It’s love language and I am very, very passionate about creating a safe touch,” she said. “Now is the time to really offer this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘I Lost a Large Chunk of My Life’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>nger. Anxiety. Depression. Discomfort. Distrust. Empowerment. Exhaustion. Fear. Guilt. Frustration. Insomnia. Isolation. Self-doubt. Tears. Triggering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women that KQED interviewed experienced all of this and more as they grappled with what they said their teachers did to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I'm really angry because I feel like I lost a large chunk of my life living in a cloud that I didn't realize I was in until I got out of it,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has experienced panic attacks, anxiety and days where she couldn’t get out of bed. Thirty-one percent of women and 20 percent of men felt anxiety or depression after experiencing sexual harassment and assault, according to Stop Street Harassment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith still doesn’t have her teacher certificate, although Shroff said in a July 17 email that she’d met the requirements. Smith said she has an outstanding payment that she can’t bring herself to pay because she'd regret \"paying to be abused.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the teen, she said it’s been a hard reckoning for her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was fresh out of high school and I slept with someone literally twice my age -- like halfway between me and my parents,” she said. “It took my innocence away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tumerman, who alleged the same teacher involved in the teen’s case had threatened to “Bill Cosby” her, hasn’t returned to yoga. Her last time was in his class, after the threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003cstrong>'Yoga isn't a safe space\u003c/strong> for me anymore. And it used to be ... What had been my life is now no longer my life.'\u003ccite> Ann West\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“I was still processing the change, my new understanding of my teacher,” she said in explaining why she attended the class. “I practiced with my eyes closed the entire time. ... I couldn't look at him. The sound of his voice was making me shake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did my practice and I rolled up my mat and left the room. And I haven't seen him since,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ekong said: “My life is forever changed.” She has decided to leave the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not home. I can’t heal here,” she said. \"I don't want to worry about running into him or students asking when are you going to come back to teach.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for West, she said she has removed herself to the “outskirts” of the Iyengar yoga community and attends classes only with the one teacher she can trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yoga isn't a safe space for me anymore. And it used to be,” she said. “I would take workshops and go to conventions and travel to India. And none of that is happening anymore. I have no interest in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What had been my life is now no longer my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Edited by David Weir and Patricia Yollin\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11690316/metoo-unmasks-the-open-secret-of-sexual-abuse-in-yoga","authors":["11310"],"programs":["news_72"],"categories":["news_457","news_6188","news_8"],"tags":["news_24284","news_19542","news_24067","news_21804","news_2700","news_20618","news_17041","news_21362"],"featImg":"news_11690331","label":"news_72","isLoading":false,"hasAllInfo":true}},"programsReducer":{"possible":{"id":"possible","title":"Possible","info":"Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. 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Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />","airtime":"SUN 9pm-10pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Code-Switch-Life-Kit-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","meta":{"site":"radio","source":"npr"},"link":"/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/1112190608?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/3bExJ9JQpkwNhoHvaIIuyV","rss":"https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"}},"commonwealth-club":{"id":"commonwealth-club","title":"Commonwealth Club of California Podcast","info":"The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. 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You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg","imageAlt":"KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn","officialWebsiteLink":"/mindshift/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"kqed","order":"2"},"link":"/podcasts/mindshift","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5","npr":"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast","stitcher":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"}},"morning-edition":{"id":"morning-edition","title":"Morning Edition","info":"\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. 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