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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco will become the first Bay Area city to allow Amsterdam-style \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/cannabis\">cannabis\u003c/a> cafés, after the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to let licensed cannabis retailers serve food and nonalcoholic drinks alongside on-site consumption.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The measure implements \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12076584/san-francisco-leaders-hope-to-spark-citys-cannabis-scene\">AB 1775\u003c/a>, a 2024 state law that allows cities to issue licenses to cannabis cafés. Supporters framed it as a lifeline for a legal industry squeezed by high taxes, falling prices and a stubborn illicit market that, by the state’s estimate, still accounts for roughly 60% of cannabis sold in California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under the ordinance, cafés may sell cannabis only for consumption on the premises — nothing may leave the building — and no alcohol or tobacco is allowed. Operators must carry a Department of Public Health consumption permit alongside their Office of Cannabis permit, meet the same food safety standards as any restaurant, and verify every customer’s age electronically at the door.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ordinance, authored by Board President Rafael Mandelman, was approved in a 7-4 vote, with Supervisors Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, Alan Wong and Myrna Melgar opposing it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1971\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/marijuana070811_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12046766\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/marijuana070811_qed.jpg 1971w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/marijuana070811_qed-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/marijuana070811_qed-1536x1039.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1971px) 100vw, 1971px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A bowl of medicinal marijuana is displayed in a booth at The International Cannabis and Hemp Expo on April 18, 2010, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“San Francisco just gave our legal cannabis industry a real tool to compete and grow,” Mandelman said in a statement, situating the cafés alongside entertainment zones and free concerts as part of the city’s economic recovery. “There’s no reason our operators shouldn’t have the same tools to compete and help bring people back into our neighborhoods.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation establishes the cannabis café within its own permit category, separate from a standard cannabis retailer — the code is amended explicitly so that a “cannabis retailer” no longer includes a café. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This distinction ensures that a café will not sell anything to go, and, as a brand-new license, eventually creates a new entrance into the market rather than simply expanding what current shops can do. For the first year, only existing storefront retailers and their equity partners can apply. After that, new operators may apply.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The city has issued 79 cannabis retailer permits, 66 of which were active as of earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Will Dolan, CEO of the Sunset District’s HYRBA Dispensary, said the change lets the industry “create a full-service cannabis hospitality experience” and “provide our customers with safe, highly regulated spaces.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“No worker should have to choose between earning a paycheck and protecting their health,” wrote Kesa Bruce, the Lung Association’s advocacy director, who noted that the ordinance carves an exception into rules the state has built up since it banned smoking in restaurants in 1995. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ventilation, she added in the letter, “cannot eliminate the health risks associated with secondhand smoke.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the ordinance drew written opposition from different directions. Public health groups warned it would puncture the city’s smoke-free workplace protections. The American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network each sent letters urging a “no” vote, arguing that cannabis cafés would expose workers and patrons to secondhand smoke for hours at a time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The other objection came from within the industry. Some veteran operators wrote that the city was expanding a market that it hasn’t yet stabilized — a concern turned largely on that new license type. Kevin Reed, founder of The Green Cross and a two-decade veteran of the city’s cannabis politics, urged the board in a letter to permanently limit eligibility to existing retailers or delay new entrants until the market recovers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is the first time in my career that I have felt compelled to ask the City to slow the expansion of cannabis businesses,” Reed wrote, pointing to operators who have “closed” or “struggle every day under excessive taxation, burdensome regulation, declining sales.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>David Goldman, president of the Brownie Mary club’s San Francisco chapter, wrote that he supported allowing current retailers to add food and entertainment, but opposed creating a wholly new license type in an oversaturated market. 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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But the ordinance drew written opposition from different directions. Public health groups warned it would puncture the city’s smoke-free workplace protections. The American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network each sent letters urging a “no” vote, arguing that cannabis cafés would expose workers and patrons to secondhand smoke for hours at a time.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But the ordinance drew written opposition from different directions. Public health groups warned it would puncture the city’s smoke-free workplace protections. The American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network each sent letters urging a “no” vote, arguing that cannabis cafés would expose workers and patrons to secondhand smoke for hours at a time.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The other objection came from within the industry. Some veteran operators wrote that the city was expanding a market that it hasn’t yet stabilized — a concern turned largely on that new license type. Kevin Reed, founder of The Green Cross and a two-decade veteran of the city’s cannabis politics, urged the board in a letter to permanently limit eligibility to existing retailers or delay new entrants until the market recovers.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The other objection came from within the industry. Some veteran operators wrote that the city was expanding a market that it hasn’t yet stabilized — a concern turned largely on that new license type. Kevin Reed, founder of The Green Cross and a two-decade veteran of the city’s cannabis politics, urged the board in a letter to permanently limit eligibility to existing retailers or delay new entrants until the market recovers.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This is the first time in my career that I have felt compelled to ask the City to slow the expansion of cannabis businesses,” Reed wrote, pointing to operators who have “closed” or “struggle every day under excessive taxation, burdensome regulation, declining sales.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“This is the first time in my career that I have felt compelled to ask the City to slow the expansion of cannabis businesses,” Reed wrote, pointing to operators who have “closed” or “struggle every day under excessive taxation, burdensome regulation, declining sales.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>David Goldman, president of the Brownie Mary club’s San Francisco chapter, wrote that he supported allowing current retailers to add food and entertainment, but opposed creating a wholly new license type in an oversaturated market. He noted in his letter that 23 cannabis retail storefronts and 21 delivery services have already closed since the city allowed those permits.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He asked the board to wait for the city to release an economic impact report on the industry, due by mid-2027, before letting new operators in. The one-year head start was the ordinance’s answer to those concerns.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>He asked the board to wait for the city to release an economic impact report on the industry, due by mid-2027, before letting new operators in. The one-year head start was the ordinance’s answer to those concerns.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The measure is now headed to Mayor Daniel Lurie’s desk for his signature. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If Lurie signs it, the ordinance takes effect 31 days later, at which point the Office of Cannabis will begin accepting café applications.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The ordinance lets licensed retailers serve food and drinks alongside on-site cannabis use.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco will become the first Bay Area city to allow Amsterdam-style \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/cannabis\">cannabis\u003c/a> cafés, after the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to let licensed cannabis retailers serve food and nonalcoholic drinks alongside on-site consumption.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The measure implements \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12076584/san-francisco-leaders-hope-to-spark-citys-cannabis-scene\">AB 1775\u003c/a>, a 2024 state law that allows cities to issue licenses to cannabis cafés. Supporters framed it as a lifeline for a legal industry squeezed by high taxes, falling prices and a stubborn illicit market that, by the state’s estimate, still accounts for roughly 60% of cannabis sold in California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under the ordinance, cafés may sell cannabis only for consumption on the premises — nothing may leave the building — and no alcohol or tobacco is allowed. Operators must carry a Department of Public Health consumption permit alongside their Office of Cannabis permit, meet the same food safety standards as any restaurant, and verify every customer’s age electronically at the door.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ordinance, authored by Board President Rafael Mandelman, was approved in a 7-4 vote, with Supervisors Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, Alan Wong and Myrna Melgar opposing it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1971\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/marijuana070811_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12046766\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/marijuana070811_qed.jpg 1971w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/marijuana070811_qed-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/marijuana070811_qed-1536x1039.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1971px) 100vw, 1971px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A bowl of medicinal marijuana is displayed in a booth at The International Cannabis and Hemp Expo on April 18, 2010, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“San Francisco just gave our legal cannabis industry a real tool to compete and grow,” Mandelman said in a statement, situating the cafés alongside entertainment zones and free concerts as part of the city’s economic recovery. “There’s no reason our operators shouldn’t have the same tools to compete and help bring people back into our neighborhoods.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation establishes the cannabis café within its own permit category, separate from a standard cannabis retailer — the code is amended explicitly so that a “cannabis retailer” no longer includes a café. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This distinction ensures that a café will not sell anything to go, and, as a brand-new license, eventually creates a new entrance into the market rather than simply expanding what current shops can do. For the first year, only existing storefront retailers and their equity partners can apply. After that, new operators may apply.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The city has issued 79 cannabis retailer permits, 66 of which were active as of earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Will Dolan, CEO of the Sunset District’s HYRBA Dispensary, said the change lets the industry “create a full-service cannabis hospitality experience” and “provide our customers with safe, highly regulated spaces.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“No worker should have to choose between earning a paycheck and protecting their health,” wrote Kesa Bruce, the Lung Association’s advocacy director, who noted that the ordinance carves an exception into rules the state has built up since it banned smoking in restaurants in 1995. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ventilation, she added in the letter, “cannot eliminate the health risks associated with secondhand smoke.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the ordinance drew written opposition from different directions. Public health groups warned it would puncture the city’s smoke-free workplace protections. The American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network each sent letters urging a “no” vote, arguing that cannabis cafés would expose workers and patrons to secondhand smoke for hours at a time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The other objection came from within the industry. Some veteran operators wrote that the city was expanding a market that it hasn’t yet stabilized — a concern turned largely on that new license type. Kevin Reed, founder of The Green Cross and a two-decade veteran of the city’s cannabis politics, urged the board in a letter to permanently limit eligibility to existing retailers or delay new entrants until the market recovers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is the first time in my career that I have felt compelled to ask the City to slow the expansion of cannabis businesses,” Reed wrote, pointing to operators who have “closed” or “struggle every day under excessive taxation, burdensome regulation, declining sales.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>David Goldman, president of the Brownie Mary club’s San Francisco chapter, wrote that he supported allowing current retailers to add food and entertainment, but opposed creating a wholly new license type in an oversaturated market. He noted in his letter that 23 cannabis retail storefronts and 21 delivery services have already closed since the city allowed those permits.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He asked the board to wait for the city to release an economic impact report on the industry, due by mid-2027, before letting new operators in. The one-year head start was the ordinance’s answer to those concerns.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The measure is now headed to Mayor Daniel Lurie’s desk for his signature. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Lurie signs it, the ordinance takes effect 31 days later, at which point the Office of Cannabis will begin accepting café applications.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "total-chaos-bay-area-sailors-recall-rescue-of-boat-passengers-near-alcatraz",
"title": "‘Total Chaos’: Bay Area Sailors Recall Rescue of Boat Passengers Near Alcatraz",
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"content": "\u003cp>Captain Aaron Anfinson was driving his fishing boat, Bass Tub, up the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-bay\">San Francisco\u003c/a> waterfront toward the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday afternoon when a halibut fisherman flagged him down, pointing to what looked like a plume of dark smoke in the center of the bay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Oh, there’s a fire on that boat,” Anfinson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anfinson was in the middle of a chartered 32-passenger cruise, but the trip quickly turned into a rescue mission. He radioed the U.S. Coast Guard to let them know what was happening. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I had my crew member grab the fire hose and put all the passengers inside, and we raced out there,” Anfinson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He was among the first to arrive at the site of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091098/search-continues-for-3-missing-people-after-boat-sinks-near-alcatraz-1-dead\">disaster in the San Francisco Bay\u003c/a> that claimed one life and left three missing. He saw the Volare, a 49-foot cabin cruiser based out of Stockton, that was sinking rapidly, sending its 20 passengers into the choppy, frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091145\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A San Francisco Fire Department boat pictured in the waters near Alcatraz on July 15, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There were a bunch of people hanging onto the boat as it was sinking,” Anfinson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other privately owned boats, a kiteboarder, and a Red and White Fleet ferry also joined in on the efforts, Anfinson said. Emergency first responders had yet to arrive. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Four or five more people were hanging onto the kiteboarders’ board, Anfinson said. Boats from the San Francisco Police Department’s Marine Unit and U.S. Coast Guard arrived soon after and started rescuing people, he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anfinson said he noticed that some passengers weren’t wearing life jackets, and there was no liferaft in sight — crucial safety gear that Coast Guard-certified vessels like his are required to carry. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ I pulled the boat up to them, and my crew member threw them lifejackets. After yelling several times, they finally put them on. I think they were probably in shock,” Anfinson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anfinson noticed a woman he guessed was in her 40s hanging onto the kiteboard and bleeding from the head.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My crewmember threw a throw ring at her, told her to hold on, and we pulled her onto the boat,” Anfinson said. “Meanwhile, the halibut fisherman was busy grabbing the rest of them and putting them on his boat,” Anfinson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anfinson transported the woman to Gas House Cove in the Marina District, where emergency first responders were waiting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ She was very upset,” Anfinson said. “It was a very scary situation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner identified the man who died as Clifford Joseph Boisa, 79. A family member confirmed to KQED that the boat was captained by John Boisa, 62, who is the deceased’s younger brother. The family member said John was an experienced sailor and formerly in the Navy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Search and rescue teams worked through the night to locate the missing boat passengers. At a Wednesday press conference, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jarod Toczko took time to thank the civilians who aided in Tuesday’s rescue. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Those good samaritans called this distress case in, initially made us aware of it and then rescued people from the water. Your actions saved lives.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The passengers were mostly family members and were holding a memorial service when the boat was hit by a wave and capsized 600 yards — about five football fields — from shore.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Commercial fisherman Shawn Chen Flading said the boat looked like a vessel more suited to calmer waters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ Those boats normally stick to the Delta, rivers and lakes. It’s not a seaworthy boat,” Flading said, adding that 20 people likely pushed the limit for a safe number of passengers on board. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-07-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091148\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-07-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-07-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-07-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter is pictured over the waters near Alcatraz on July 15, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Flading said conditions were so windy on Tuesday afternoon that he decided not to take his 79-foot fishing boat out. He said on days like that, the wind can add 2 to 3 feet to the height of waves. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ One moment the bay can look very peaceful and calm, and within a blink of an eye, the wind can pick up, and the swells come, and it’s a totally different, more dangerous scenario,” Flading said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>James Smith, captain of the charter fishing boat California Dawn, based in Berkeley, was returning from a Salmon fishing trip when he heard a Coast Guard report that there was a vessel on fire a quarter mile from Alcatraz. He sped towards the scene.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was total chaos. There were people clinging to a board; there were people on the boat, which we didn’t know if it was going to sink on the spot. It was a big, terrifying mess,” Smith said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Smith doubted that winds and waves could be responsible for capsizing a boat so large. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ I think something catastrophic happened,” Smith said. “There was probably no fire when the officials got on the scene, but there was definitely a fire there, because we could see the plumes of smoke coming from the boat.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said witnessing something like that “hit close to home” for him and his crew. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ It’s just tough to see people going out for an enjoyable outing or a memorial, however enjoyable that is, and not expecting a boat to sink and take people down with it,” Smith said. “That’s a lot, man. That’s a lot to chew on.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kdebenedetti\">\u003cem>Katie DeBenedetti\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Other privately owned boats, a kiteboarder, and a Red and White Fleet ferry also joined in on the efforts, Anfinson said. Emergency first responders had yet to arrive. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Four or five more people were hanging onto the kiteboarders’ board, Anfinson said. Boats from the San Francisco Police Department’s Marine Unit and U.S. Coast Guard arrived soon after and started rescuing people, he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Anfinson said he noticed that some passengers weren’t wearing life jackets, and there was no liferaft in sight — crucial safety gear that Coast Guard-certified vessels like his are required to carry. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ I pulled the boat up to them, and my crew member threw them lifejackets. After yelling several times, they finally put them on. I think they were probably in shock,” Anfinson said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Anfinson noticed a woman he guessed was in her 40s hanging onto the kiteboard and bleeding from the head.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“My crewmember threw a throw ring at her, told her to hold on, and we pulled her onto the boat,” Anfinson said. “Meanwhile, the halibut fisherman was busy grabbing the rest of them and putting them on his boat,” Anfinson said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Anfinson transported the woman to Gas House Cove in the Marina District, where emergency first responders were waiting. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ She was very upset,” Anfinson said. “It was a very scary situation.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner identified the man who died as Clifford Joseph Boisa, 79. A family member confirmed to KQED that the boat was captained by John Boisa, 62, who is the deceased’s younger brother. The family member said John was an experienced sailor and formerly in the Navy. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Search and rescue teams worked through the night to locate the missing boat passengers. At a Wednesday press conference, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jarod Toczko took time to thank the civilians who aided in Tuesday’s rescue. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Search and rescue teams worked through the night to locate the missing boat passengers. At a Wednesday press conference, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jarod Toczko took time to thank the civilians who aided in Tuesday’s rescue. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Those good samaritans called this distress case in, initially made us aware of it and then rescued people from the water. Your actions saved lives.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The passengers were mostly family members and were holding a memorial service when the boat was hit by a wave and capsized 600 yards — about five football fields — from shore.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Commercial fisherman Shawn Chen Flading said the boat looked like a vessel more suited to calmer waters. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ Those boats normally stick to the Delta, rivers and lakes. It’s not a seaworthy boat,” Flading said, adding that 20 people likely pushed the limit for a safe number of passengers on board. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“ Those boats normally stick to the Delta, rivers and lakes. It’s not a seaworthy boat,” Flading said, adding that 20 people likely pushed the limit for a safe number of passengers on board. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Flading said conditions were so windy on Tuesday afternoon that he decided not to take his 79-foot fishing boat out. He said on days like that, the wind can add 2 to 3 feet to the height of waves. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Flading said conditions were so windy on Tuesday afternoon that he decided not to take his 79-foot fishing boat out. He said on days like that, the wind can add 2 to 3 feet to the height of waves. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ One moment the bay can look very peaceful and calm, and within a blink of an eye, the wind can pick up, and the swells come, and it’s a totally different, more dangerous scenario,” Flading said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>James Smith, captain of the charter fishing boat California Dawn, based in Berkeley, was returning from a Salmon fishing trip when he heard a Coast Guard report that there was a vessel on fire a quarter mile from Alcatraz. He sped towards the scene.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>James Smith, captain of the charter fishing boat California Dawn, based in Berkeley, was returning from a Salmon fishing trip when he heard a Coast Guard report that there was a vessel on fire a quarter mile from Alcatraz. He sped towards the scene.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It was total chaos. There were people clinging to a board; there were people on the boat, which we didn’t know if it was going to sink on the spot. It was a big, terrifying mess,” Smith said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ I think something catastrophic happened,” Smith said. “There was probably no fire when the officials got on the scene, but there was definitely a fire there, because we could see the plumes of smoke coming from the boat.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“ I think something catastrophic happened,” Smith said. “There was probably no fire when the officials got on the scene, but there was definitely a fire there, because we could see the plumes of smoke coming from the boat.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said witnessing something like that “hit close to home” for him and his crew. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ It’s just tough to see people going out for an enjoyable outing or a memorial, however enjoyable that is, and not expecting a boat to sink and take people down with it,” Smith said. “That’s a lot, man. That’s a lot to chew on.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kdebenedetti\">\u003cem>Katie DeBenedetti\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After a 49-foot vessel carrying 20 passengers began sinking near Alcatraz Island on Tuesday afternoon, San Francisco locals were among the first to arrive on the scene and took part in the lifesaving search and rescue mission.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Captain Aaron Anfinson was driving his fishing boat, Bass Tub, up the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-bay\">San Francisco\u003c/a> waterfront toward the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday afternoon when a halibut fisherman flagged him down, pointing to what looked like a plume of dark smoke in the center of the bay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Oh, there’s a fire on that boat,” Anfinson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anfinson was in the middle of a chartered 32-passenger cruise, but the trip quickly turned into a rescue mission. He radioed the U.S. Coast Guard to let them know what was happening. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I had my crew member grab the fire hose and put all the passengers inside, and we raced out there,” Anfinson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He was among the first to arrive at the site of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091098/search-continues-for-3-missing-people-after-boat-sinks-near-alcatraz-1-dead\">disaster in the San Francisco Bay\u003c/a> that claimed one life and left three missing. He saw the Volare, a 49-foot cabin cruiser based out of Stockton, that was sinking rapidly, sending its 20 passengers into the choppy, frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091145\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A San Francisco Fire Department boat pictured in the waters near Alcatraz on July 15, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There were a bunch of people hanging onto the boat as it was sinking,” Anfinson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other privately owned boats, a kiteboarder, and a Red and White Fleet ferry also joined in on the efforts, Anfinson said. Emergency first responders had yet to arrive. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Four or five more people were hanging onto the kiteboarders’ board, Anfinson said. Boats from the San Francisco Police Department’s Marine Unit and U.S. Coast Guard arrived soon after and started rescuing people, he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anfinson said he noticed that some passengers weren’t wearing life jackets, and there was no liferaft in sight — crucial safety gear that Coast Guard-certified vessels like his are required to carry. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ I pulled the boat up to them, and my crew member threw them lifejackets. After yelling several times, they finally put them on. I think they were probably in shock,” Anfinson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anfinson noticed a woman he guessed was in her 40s hanging onto the kiteboard and bleeding from the head.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My crewmember threw a throw ring at her, told her to hold on, and we pulled her onto the boat,” Anfinson said. “Meanwhile, the halibut fisherman was busy grabbing the rest of them and putting them on his boat,” Anfinson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anfinson transported the woman to Gas House Cove in the Marina District, where emergency first responders were waiting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ She was very upset,” Anfinson said. “It was a very scary situation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner identified the man who died as Clifford Joseph Boisa, 79. A family member confirmed to KQED that the boat was captained by John Boisa, 62, who is the deceased’s younger brother. The family member said John was an experienced sailor and formerly in the Navy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Search and rescue teams worked through the night to locate the missing boat passengers. At a Wednesday press conference, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jarod Toczko took time to thank the civilians who aided in Tuesday’s rescue. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Those good samaritans called this distress case in, initially made us aware of it and then rescued people from the water. Your actions saved lives.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The passengers were mostly family members and were holding a memorial service when the boat was hit by a wave and capsized 600 yards — about five football fields — from shore.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Commercial fisherman Shawn Chen Flading said the boat looked like a vessel more suited to calmer waters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ Those boats normally stick to the Delta, rivers and lakes. It’s not a seaworthy boat,” Flading said, adding that 20 people likely pushed the limit for a safe number of passengers on board. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-07-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091148\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-07-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-07-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260715-AlcatrazSearchUpdate-07-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter is pictured over the waters near Alcatraz on July 15, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Flading said conditions were so windy on Tuesday afternoon that he decided not to take his 79-foot fishing boat out. He said on days like that, the wind can add 2 to 3 feet to the height of waves. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ One moment the bay can look very peaceful and calm, and within a blink of an eye, the wind can pick up, and the swells come, and it’s a totally different, more dangerous scenario,” Flading said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>James Smith, captain of the charter fishing boat California Dawn, based in Berkeley, was returning from a Salmon fishing trip when he heard a Coast Guard report that there was a vessel on fire a quarter mile from Alcatraz. He sped towards the scene.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was total chaos. There were people clinging to a board; there were people on the boat, which we didn’t know if it was going to sink on the spot. It was a big, terrifying mess,” Smith said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Smith doubted that winds and waves could be responsible for capsizing a boat so large. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ I think something catastrophic happened,” Smith said. “There was probably no fire when the officials got on the scene, but there was definitely a fire there, because we could see the plumes of smoke coming from the boat.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said witnessing something like that “hit close to home” for him and his crew. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ It’s just tough to see people going out for an enjoyable outing or a memorial, however enjoyable that is, and not expecting a boat to sink and take people down with it,” Smith said. “That’s a lot, man. That’s a lot to chew on.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kdebenedetti\">\u003cem>Katie DeBenedetti\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "In a 2-0 Victory, Spain Defeats France During SF Bastille Day Celebrations",
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"content": "\u003cp>Packed into North Beach bars, France fans wrapped themselves in flags, painted their cheeks and cheered on their national team as it faced off against Spain in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/world-cup\">World Cup\u003c/a> semifinals.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This year’s match coincided with Bastille Day – a national holiday commemorating the beginning of the French Revolution – which made it an extra special occasion for Bay Area “Frenchies.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We must win because it’s also a special day for France,” said Emma Cachot, a French national who came to watch the match with her friends. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260714-FranceBastille-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091024\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260714-FranceBastille-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260714-FranceBastille-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260714-FranceBastille-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fans of France watch the FIFA World Cup game between France and Spain at Paname bar in San Francisco on July 14, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Despite the excitement, Spain defeated France 2-0. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Theo Piel, a San Francisco native, came prepared for the occasion, wielding a baguette and donning a beret. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was born and raised in San Francisco to French parents, so I speak fluent French and I’m fortunate enough to have the French culture with the San Francisco living,” Piel said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said he would still celebrate Bastille Day, win or lose. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Piel’s friend, Charles Dela Roca, voiced his support for Spain — because he’s planning to move there next year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I never watched soccer, ever, and then the fact that they brought FIFA to America opened my eyes to the culture,” Dela Roca said. “Everyone else is super nice, super sweet, and it bridges a lot of gaps that I didn’t even know existed.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Liam Halliche, who owns Paris 75 and Paname — the bar and nightclub hosting Tuesday’s event — talked about how wonderful the World Cup has been for his businesses.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since the start of the World Cup, Halliche’s establishments have regularly hosted watch parties for France, as well as other countries. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s been really great to discover all the different countries and different cultures and their way to celebrate,” Halliche said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The French community still has plenty to look forward to. This Saturday, San Francisco will host its seventh annual Bastille Day \u003ca href=\"https://celebratebastilledaysf.org/\">festival\u003c/a> at Embarcadero Plaza.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I never watched soccer, ever, and then the fact that they brought FIFA to America opened my eyes to the culture,” Dela Roca said. “Everyone else is super nice, super sweet, and it bridges a lot of gaps that I didn’t even know existed.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The French community still has plenty to look forward to. This Saturday, San Francisco will host its seventh annual Bastille Day \u003ca href=\"https://celebratebastilledaysf.org/\">festival\u003c/a> at Embarcadero Plaza.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Although San Francisco's France fans may not be able to celebrate the outcome of the match, this weekend will be the city's seventh annual Bastille Day festival.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was born and raised in San Francisco to French parents, so I speak fluent French and I’m fortunate enough to have the French culture with the San Francisco living,” Piel said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said he would still celebrate Bastille Day, win or lose. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Piel’s friend, Charles Dela Roca, voiced his support for Spain — because he’s planning to move there next year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I never watched soccer, ever, and then the fact that they brought FIFA to America opened my eyes to the culture,” Dela Roca said. “Everyone else is super nice, super sweet, and it bridges a lot of gaps that I didn’t even know existed.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Liam Halliche, who owns Paris 75 and Paname — the bar and nightclub hosting Tuesday’s event — talked about how wonderful the World Cup has been for his businesses.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since the start of the World Cup, Halliche’s establishments have regularly hosted watch parties for France, as well as other countries. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s been really great to discover all the different countries and different cultures and their way to celebrate,” Halliche said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The French community still has plenty to look forward to. This Saturday, San Francisco will host its seventh annual Bastille Day \u003ca href=\"https://celebratebastilledaysf.org/\">festival\u003c/a> at Embarcadero Plaza.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>If proponents of reopening the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sunset-dunes\">Sunset Dunes Park\u003c/a> to cars get their way, it’ll come with a cost — over $10 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A peek at the bill shows that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the Recreation and Parks Department estimate that transitioning a chunk of the Great Highway back to car traffic on weekdays would total at least $10.75 million, according to records reviewed by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The yearslong battle between the pro-park and pro-road sides continued into this year when a petition circulated to bring the issue back to voters this November, two years after voters turned the segment into a park. The proposal would open the road up to traffic on weekdays, but hasn’t officially qualified for the ballot yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucas Lux, president of Friends of Sunset Dunes, said it’s the “opposite of what we should be doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let me put it this way: If you want to spend $14 million of taxpayer money to rip out a park, you have to ask yourself why. What do you get out of it?” Lux said, referring to additional costs from city departments to another publication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFMTA would see the highest cost in the proposal. Around $10 million would include costs for restoring signals from Judah Street and Sloat Boulevard and replacing signals at Lincoln and the Great Highway, according to emails that KQED reviewed between Supervisor Myrna Melgar and a Recreation and Parks Department official.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260409-SunsetDunesAnniversary-06-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260409-SunsetDunesAnniversary-06-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260409-SunsetDunesAnniversary-06-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260409-SunsetDunesAnniversary-06-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bicyclist rides through Sunset Dunes, a park on the former Great Highway roadway, in San Francisco’s Sunset neighborhood on April 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Recreation and Parks would foot a cost of $750,000 to remove park elements and repave streets, according to spokesperson Tamara Barak Aparton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mission Local, which \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2026/07/great-highway-compromise-cost/\">originally reported\u003c/a> on the cost, said it could be even greater. SFMTA would carry additional costs that would bring the price tag to $13.75 million, according to that publication.[aside postID=news_12079238 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260409-SunsetDunesAnniversary-13-BL_qed.jpg']Michael Roccaforte, a spokesperson for SFMTA, did not confirm or deny any figures, but referred KQED to the Controller’s office, which will prepare a financial analysis for the ballot if the measure qualifies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’ll be the most detailed and accurate look at the situation,” Roccaforte wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of the proposed measure announced this month that it had collected enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 3 election, but election officials have to verify the signatures before it’s officially placed on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some in favor of the road’s reopening have contended that it would help residents get to and from places they go and that traffic would be eased.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lux said that data doesn’t support road supporters’ main concern about traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no traffic issue,” Lux said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, SFMTA presented a mixed bag of traffic trends in \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/blog/new-data-great-highway-road-closure-how-were-supporting-your-trips\">a report \u003c/a>following the stretch’s closure. “Some roadways are busier and more congested,” the agency said in July 2025. Lower Great Highway and Chain of Lakes Drive saw hundreds more daily drivers, according to data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the traffic on the Upper Great Highway between Lincoln and Fulton decreased by 30%. Other analyses — \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2025/sf-great-highway-traffic-data/\">one \u003c/a>in 2025, \u003ca href=\"https://thefrisc.com/perception-vs-reality-the-great-highway-closure-and-sunset-district-traffic/\">another \u003c/a>this year — also showed a little bit of each. During rush hour, the Chronicle found that there had been more congestion, while The Frisc reported that a handful of streets saw less congestion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friends of Sunset Dunes has legally challenged the ballot petition, saying it has “materially misled” voters about statements related to traffic of emergency vehicles and having safer transit. Also named in the lawsuit is John Arntz, the director of elections for San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If proponents of reopening the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sunset-dunes\">Sunset Dunes Park\u003c/a> to cars get their way, it’ll come with a cost — over $10 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A peek at the bill shows that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the Recreation and Parks Department estimate that transitioning a chunk of the Great Highway back to car traffic on weekdays would total at least $10.75 million, according to records reviewed by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The yearslong battle between the pro-park and pro-road sides continued into this year when a petition circulated to bring the issue back to voters this November, two years after voters turned the segment into a park. The proposal would open the road up to traffic on weekdays, but hasn’t officially qualified for the ballot yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucas Lux, president of Friends of Sunset Dunes, said it’s the “opposite of what we should be doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let me put it this way: If you want to spend $14 million of taxpayer money to rip out a park, you have to ask yourself why. What do you get out of it?” Lux said, referring to additional costs from city departments to another publication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFMTA would see the highest cost in the proposal. Around $10 million would include costs for restoring signals from Judah Street and Sloat Boulevard and replacing signals at Lincoln and the Great Highway, according to emails that KQED reviewed between Supervisor Myrna Melgar and a Recreation and Parks Department official.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260409-SunsetDunesAnniversary-06-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260409-SunsetDunesAnniversary-06-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260409-SunsetDunesAnniversary-06-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260409-SunsetDunesAnniversary-06-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bicyclist rides through Sunset Dunes, a park on the former Great Highway roadway, in San Francisco’s Sunset neighborhood on April 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Recreation and Parks would foot a cost of $750,000 to remove park elements and repave streets, according to spokesperson Tamara Barak Aparton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mission Local, which \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2026/07/great-highway-compromise-cost/\">originally reported\u003c/a> on the cost, said it could be even greater. SFMTA would carry additional costs that would bring the price tag to $13.75 million, according to that publication.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Michael Roccaforte, a spokesperson for SFMTA, did not confirm or deny any figures, but referred KQED to the Controller’s office, which will prepare a financial analysis for the ballot if the measure qualifies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’ll be the most detailed and accurate look at the situation,” Roccaforte wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of the proposed measure announced this month that it had collected enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 3 election, but election officials have to verify the signatures before it’s officially placed on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some in favor of the road’s reopening have contended that it would help residents get to and from places they go and that traffic would be eased.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lux said that data doesn’t support road supporters’ main concern about traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no traffic issue,” Lux said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, SFMTA presented a mixed bag of traffic trends in \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/blog/new-data-great-highway-road-closure-how-were-supporting-your-trips\">a report \u003c/a>following the stretch’s closure. “Some roadways are busier and more congested,” the agency said in July 2025. Lower Great Highway and Chain of Lakes Drive saw hundreds more daily drivers, according to data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the traffic on the Upper Great Highway between Lincoln and Fulton decreased by 30%. Other analyses — \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2025/sf-great-highway-traffic-data/\">one \u003c/a>in 2025, \u003ca href=\"https://thefrisc.com/perception-vs-reality-the-great-highway-closure-and-sunset-district-traffic/\">another \u003c/a>this year — also showed a little bit of each. During rush hour, the Chronicle found that there had been more congestion, while The Frisc reported that a handful of streets saw less congestion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friends of Sunset Dunes has legally challenged the ballot petition, saying it has “materially misled” voters about statements related to traffic of emergency vehicles and having safer transit. Also named in the lawsuit is John Arntz, the director of elections for San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco took a step forward in its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081882/san-francisco-has-been-trying-to-leave-pge-for-100-years-will-this-time-be-different\">quest for public power\u003c/a> on Thursday after the city’s planning commission unanimously approved an Environmental Impact Report needed for the proposed acquisition of PG&E’s electric grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ron Flynn, deputy general manager and chief operating officer of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, called the decision an important milestone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is more work ahead, and there are future decisions to be made, but the final Environmental Impact Report is a key step to expand public power,” Flynn said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Robelo, a communications and digital organizer with Reclaim Our Power, a campaign fighting for a community- and worker-owned energy system in California, said “a victory in San Francisco” would be a positive sign for the state’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Energy is a public good,” Robelo said. “Ultimately, the whole state, not just San Francisco, needs to break up with PG&E and build a new utility that puts people and the planet over corporate profits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E is the state’s largest investor-owned utility and has faced years of criticism over its role in deadly wildfires and aging infrastructure. Calls for the city to separate from the utility intensified after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083011/humidity-at-pge-substation-likely-cause-of-massive-december-san-francisco-blackout\">a fire at a PG&E substation\u003c/a> in the Mission District sparked a major outage in December.[aside postID=news_12081882 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260608-PGEBREAKUPPRICING-06-BL-KQED.jpg']The city has \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfpuc.gov/about-us/news/its-high-time-san-francisco-buy-pges-grid-city\">said\u003c/a> leaving the utility will save residents millions — savings that will come from San Francisco having access to cheaper loans for infrastructure and not having to pay shareholder dividends, corporate taxes or executive bonuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, PG&E spokesperson Lynsey Paulo said its electric grid assets are not for sale, and a takeover “would be so expensive that it would raise San Franciscans’ electric rates for decades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paulo also called the report “deficient” and said that “the project that the City described in the [report] appears to be inconsistent with the project that it described” to the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s utility regulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If San Francisco did purchase the city’s local electric grid from PG&E, it would need to physically separate the wires and substations that serve the city from the ones serving the rest of PG&E’s territory. This construction would largely take place along the San Francisco-San Mateo border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://citypln-m-extnl.sfgov.org/SharedLinks.aspx?accesskey=8a0619004c3d8c263a45dc229e3d14cf9892ff5498e8865e1c5bf3da182f5240&VaultGUID=A4A7DACD-B0DC-4322-BD29-F6F07103C6E0\">56-page\u003c/a> environmental review includes measures to reduce emissions and noise pollution during construction and plans to avoid disturbing historic, archeological and paleontological sites. It also details protections for the northwestern pond turtle, butterflies, nesting birds, roosting bats and emerging wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco said it has asked the CPUC to determine the fair market value of PG&E’s electric assets, after the city provided its valuation of $3.4 billion in April. PG&E is due to respond in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/lklivans\">\u003cem>Laura Klivans\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Robelo, a communications and digital organizer with Reclaim Our Power, a campaign fighting for a community- and worker-owned energy system in California, said “a victory in San Francisco” would be a positive sign for the state’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Energy is a public good,” Robelo said. “Ultimately, the whole state, not just San Francisco, needs to break up with PG&E and build a new utility that puts people and the planet over corporate profits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E is the state’s largest investor-owned utility and has faced years of criticism over its role in deadly wildfires and aging infrastructure. Calls for the city to separate from the utility intensified after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083011/humidity-at-pge-substation-likely-cause-of-massive-december-san-francisco-blackout\">a fire at a PG&E substation\u003c/a> in the Mission District sparked a major outage in December.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The city has \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfpuc.gov/about-us/news/its-high-time-san-francisco-buy-pges-grid-city\">said\u003c/a> leaving the utility will save residents millions — savings that will come from San Francisco having access to cheaper loans for infrastructure and not having to pay shareholder dividends, corporate taxes or executive bonuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, PG&E spokesperson Lynsey Paulo said its electric grid assets are not for sale, and a takeover “would be so expensive that it would raise San Franciscans’ electric rates for decades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paulo also called the report “deficient” and said that “the project that the City described in the [report] appears to be inconsistent with the project that it described” to the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s utility regulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If San Francisco did purchase the city’s local electric grid from PG&E, it would need to physically separate the wires and substations that serve the city from the ones serving the rest of PG&E’s territory. This construction would largely take place along the San Francisco-San Mateo border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://citypln-m-extnl.sfgov.org/SharedLinks.aspx?accesskey=8a0619004c3d8c263a45dc229e3d14cf9892ff5498e8865e1c5bf3da182f5240&VaultGUID=A4A7DACD-B0DC-4322-BD29-F6F07103C6E0\">56-page\u003c/a> environmental review includes measures to reduce emissions and noise pollution during construction and plans to avoid disturbing historic, archeological and paleontological sites. It also details protections for the northwestern pond turtle, butterflies, nesting birds, roosting bats and emerging wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco said it has asked the CPUC to determine the fair market value of PG&E’s electric assets, after the city provided its valuation of $3.4 billion in April. PG&E is due to respond in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/lklivans\">\u003cem>Laura Klivans\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Too Much Traffic, Not Enough Toilets: SF City Officials Revisit Fourth of July Mishaps",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the days since the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089915/sf-supe-to-launch-inquiry-on-waymos-july-fourth-traffic-meltdown\">traffic meltdown\u003c/a> that followed San Francisco’s special Fourth of July fireworks display, city leaders have pledged to analyze what went wrong and learn from their mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some government departments and city residents have pointed to another one of the event’s major planning oversights: a severe lack of toilets to serve the over 100,000 people that the city estimated went to its northeastern end for the fireworks spectacle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ The restrooms just did not seem well-planned. It was so disorganized,” said Declan Galli, a resident of the city’s Ingleside neighborhood. Galli said he waited in line for two hours at the city’s Little Marina Green Picnic Area to use a bathroom on Saturday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galli was one of many who decided to take their chances on San Francisco’s notoriously foggy Fourth of July to see what he hoped would be a fun show: the city planned to launch fireworks from the Golden Gate Bridge instead of its usual location on Fisherman’s Wharf in honor of America’s 250th anniversary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But upon arriving at the Marina Green, he was met with a different kind of spectacle. Galli described long bathroom lines snaking down Marina Boulevard and law enforcement officials attempting to control the significant queue of people waiting to use the facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galli said he saw children and adults in significant discomfort because of how long they had been waiting to use the restroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090531\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12090531 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GettyImages-2284156727.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GettyImages-2284156727.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GettyImages-2284156727-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GettyImages-2284156727-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People gather and cook food at Torpedo Wharf on Saturday, July 4, 2026, in San Francisco. For the third time in history, San Francisco will fire fireworks off the Golden Gate Bridge in celebration of America’s 250th birthday. \u003ccite>(Florence Shen/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ My one friend was basically doing the potty dance because they were like, ‘I have to pee so bad, like so, so bad,’” Galli said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I definitely saw a few kids that said they needed to pee bad, and people were nice enough to let them in, but it would be really hard if you had kids at that event because there were very few bathrooms,” he continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galli estimated there were between five and 10 portable restrooms available for public use where he waited at Little Marina Green. Eventually, he said, Recreation and Parks Department staff opened up the permanent bathrooms there, in an attempt to ease the significant lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite arriving two hours before the show began, he said he spent so long waiting in line that he missed the first five minutes of the 15-minute show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we started missing the fireworks, that was disappointing for sure,” Galli said.[aside postID=news_12089915 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0075-1.jpg']He said that the experience left him feeling like there was no unified communication or planning for the major city event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When questioned about how many temporary toilets were made available for the event, Charles Lutvak, spokesperson for Mayor Daniel Lurie, referred inquiries to the city’s Recreation and Parks Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Providing restrooms along the waterfront was a citywide effort, including properties under the jurisdiction of Rec and Parks, the Port of San Francisco and the National Park Service, according to Daniel Montes, communications manager for Rec and Parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Montes said Rec and Parks provided 30 portable toilets and 12 permanent ones at the Marina Green, based on previous large-scale events such as Fleet Week, but said, “demand at this citywide event clearly exceeded available restroom capacity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that long restroom lines are frustrating, and this experience will help inform our planning when coordinating future events of this scale,” Montes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Port of San Francisco did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In total, there were 127 toilets made available for public use for the Fourth of July show, according to Joshua Winchell, chief of communications and special park uses for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winchell said the park arranged for 60 portable toilets to complement its 27 permanent ones, and the city provided an additional 40 portable toilets. He also said the park saw “unprecedented visitation driven by the city’s historic fireworks display.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090569\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090569\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spectators save their spot to watch fireworks displayed from the Golden Gate Bridge on July 4, 2026, in Sausalito, California. \u003ccite>(Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He said that the 127 toilets were “far short” of what was needed to support the attendees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will work with the City of San Francisco and our other partners to ensure that enough bathrooms and other resources required for enjoyable park visits will be in place for future large-scale events, such as Fleet Week,” Winchell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of restrooms provided falls drastically short of industry standards for events, according to Vivienne Errington-Barnes, CEO and founder of the San Francisco-headquartered event planning company Shift + Alt Events — which she said has organized events with as many as 300,000 attendees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a simple, hard and fast rule for bathrooms. It’s industry-wide and global. One bathroom per 65 people, and one bathroom per 50 people if they’re drinking alcohol,” Errington-Barnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on the GGNRA’s estimate of toilets provided for the event and the city’s estimate for total attendance, there was one restroom for every 787 people in attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090571\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090571\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fireworks are displayed from the Golden Gate Bridge on July 4, 2026, in Sausalito, California. This year’s fireworks were displayed from the Golden Gate Bridge for the third time in the bridge’s history to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States. \u003ccite>(Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Errington-Barnes said that not having an appropriate number of restrooms can force people to publicly urinate and put pregnant and elderly people, as well as children and their parents, in difficult, embarrassing situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s almost like it wasn’t planned,” Errington-Barnes said. “ Either they didn’t know how many people were coming, or they had somebody produce it that just didn’t understand that there is a very hard and fast rule.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galli said large events in San Francisco like the Fourth of July can be “really fun,” but said he’d like to see better planning and communication, like a map of where bathrooms will be, for future city events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, whose district includes the Marina, is calling for a hearing in September to ensure that this year’s annual Fleet Week celebration, set to take place in the same area in October, has a “robust operational plan to ensure success.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hearing will include planning for bathroom access, according to Jack Hebb, Sherrill’s communications director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the days since the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089915/sf-supe-to-launch-inquiry-on-waymos-july-fourth-traffic-meltdown\">traffic meltdown\u003c/a> that followed San Francisco’s special Fourth of July fireworks display, city leaders have pledged to analyze what went wrong and learn from their mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some government departments and city residents have pointed to another one of the event’s major planning oversights: a severe lack of toilets to serve the over 100,000 people that the city estimated went to its northeastern end for the fireworks spectacle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ The restrooms just did not seem well-planned. It was so disorganized,” said Declan Galli, a resident of the city’s Ingleside neighborhood. Galli said he waited in line for two hours at the city’s Little Marina Green Picnic Area to use a bathroom on Saturday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galli was one of many who decided to take their chances on San Francisco’s notoriously foggy Fourth of July to see what he hoped would be a fun show: the city planned to launch fireworks from the Golden Gate Bridge instead of its usual location on Fisherman’s Wharf in honor of America’s 250th anniversary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But upon arriving at the Marina Green, he was met with a different kind of spectacle. Galli described long bathroom lines snaking down Marina Boulevard and law enforcement officials attempting to control the significant queue of people waiting to use the facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galli said he saw children and adults in significant discomfort because of how long they had been waiting to use the restroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090531\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12090531 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GettyImages-2284156727.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GettyImages-2284156727.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GettyImages-2284156727-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GettyImages-2284156727-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People gather and cook food at Torpedo Wharf on Saturday, July 4, 2026, in San Francisco. For the third time in history, San Francisco will fire fireworks off the Golden Gate Bridge in celebration of America’s 250th birthday. \u003ccite>(Florence Shen/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ My one friend was basically doing the potty dance because they were like, ‘I have to pee so bad, like so, so bad,’” Galli said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I definitely saw a few kids that said they needed to pee bad, and people were nice enough to let them in, but it would be really hard if you had kids at that event because there were very few bathrooms,” he continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galli estimated there were between five and 10 portable restrooms available for public use where he waited at Little Marina Green. Eventually, he said, Recreation and Parks Department staff opened up the permanent bathrooms there, in an attempt to ease the significant lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite arriving two hours before the show began, he said he spent so long waiting in line that he missed the first five minutes of the 15-minute show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we started missing the fireworks, that was disappointing for sure,” Galli said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He said that the experience left him feeling like there was no unified communication or planning for the major city event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When questioned about how many temporary toilets were made available for the event, Charles Lutvak, spokesperson for Mayor Daniel Lurie, referred inquiries to the city’s Recreation and Parks Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Providing restrooms along the waterfront was a citywide effort, including properties under the jurisdiction of Rec and Parks, the Port of San Francisco and the National Park Service, according to Daniel Montes, communications manager for Rec and Parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Montes said Rec and Parks provided 30 portable toilets and 12 permanent ones at the Marina Green, based on previous large-scale events such as Fleet Week, but said, “demand at this citywide event clearly exceeded available restroom capacity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that long restroom lines are frustrating, and this experience will help inform our planning when coordinating future events of this scale,” Montes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Port of San Francisco did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In total, there were 127 toilets made available for public use for the Fourth of July show, according to Joshua Winchell, chief of communications and special park uses for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winchell said the park arranged for 60 portable toilets to complement its 27 permanent ones, and the city provided an additional 40 portable toilets. He also said the park saw “unprecedented visitation driven by the city’s historic fireworks display.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090569\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090569\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spectators save their spot to watch fireworks displayed from the Golden Gate Bridge on July 4, 2026, in Sausalito, California. \u003ccite>(Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He said that the 127 toilets were “far short” of what was needed to support the attendees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will work with the City of San Francisco and our other partners to ensure that enough bathrooms and other resources required for enjoyable park visits will be in place for future large-scale events, such as Fleet Week,” Winchell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of restrooms provided falls drastically short of industry standards for events, according to Vivienne Errington-Barnes, CEO and founder of the San Francisco-headquartered event planning company Shift + Alt Events — which she said has organized events with as many as 300,000 attendees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a simple, hard and fast rule for bathrooms. It’s industry-wide and global. One bathroom per 65 people, and one bathroom per 50 people if they’re drinking alcohol,” Errington-Barnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on the GGNRA’s estimate of toilets provided for the event and the city’s estimate for total attendance, there was one restroom for every 787 people in attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090571\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090571\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/FourthofJulySFGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fireworks are displayed from the Golden Gate Bridge on July 4, 2026, in Sausalito, California. This year’s fireworks were displayed from the Golden Gate Bridge for the third time in the bridge’s history to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States. \u003ccite>(Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Errington-Barnes said that not having an appropriate number of restrooms can force people to publicly urinate and put pregnant and elderly people, as well as children and their parents, in difficult, embarrassing situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s almost like it wasn’t planned,” Errington-Barnes said. “ Either they didn’t know how many people were coming, or they had somebody produce it that just didn’t understand that there is a very hard and fast rule.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galli said large events in San Francisco like the Fourth of July can be “really fun,” but said he’d like to see better planning and communication, like a map of where bathrooms will be, for future city events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, whose district includes the Marina, is calling for a hearing in September to ensure that this year’s annual Fleet Week celebration, set to take place in the same area in October, has a “robust operational plan to ensure success.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hearing will include planning for bathroom access, according to Jack Hebb, Sherrill’s communications director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "When Chinese Flower Growers Helped the Bay Area Bloom",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford University\u003c/a> archaeologist Laura Jones wasn’t looking for flower farms — at least not at first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was researching the school’s early land-leasing practices when a retiring colleague gave her some maps of Stanford from the 1950s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Jones looked closer, she noticed familiar areas — where Stanford Shopping Center, the school’s research park and graduate student housing are today — shaded in with what seemed like colored pencil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re coded for what flower is being grown,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones cross-checked the map with aerial photographs from the time. What emerged were patterns — clear outlines of fields in bloom. The layouts of the plots were similar, recognizable in terms of shape and size. Plus, Jones said, there was usually a small greenhouse on each field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Jones, the parcels were notable for another reason, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Next to the colors, in … dark black pencil, are the names of the farmers, and they’re all Chinese and Japanese,” Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flower fields. Asian American growers. She wanted to know more.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Flowers in Santa Clara Valley\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For much of the 20th century, this stretch of the Peninsula was home to seas of chrysanthemums, asters and irises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a 1948 issue of the University of California’s \u003cem>California Agriculture\u003c/em> journal, about 200 acres of chrysanthemums — imagine roughly 150 football fields — were grown in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties at the time. The total valuation of the crop amounted to roughly $2 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089258\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089258\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The corsage-making workshop was held at the O’Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm. The event was put on in collaboration with the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association, the Chinatown History and Culture Association, the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, and the Asian American Research Center at Stanford. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Diego Bustamante)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The industry was shaped in large part by Japanese, Italian and Chinese farmers. Some of these flowers were grown on Stanford lands between the 1890s and 1960s, in plots leased to Asian American farmers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her research, Jones has uncovered more about the contributions of Chinese American growers in particular. Many got their start on Stanford lands, establishing a model of farming that spread throughout the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of this history was never formally documented, something Jones is hoping to change with her \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/01/forgotten-flowers-project-asian-american-flower-growers-history-bay-area\">Forgotten Flowers\u003c/a> research project. She’s collaborating with community organizations, including the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association, to help clarify the history.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A business intertwined with immigrant history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At a time when discriminatory laws made land ownership a challenge, leasing land was a common option for many immigrants. Leland and Jane Stanford, Jones said, were willing landlords.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jim Mok was one such lessee. He spent much of his American life in the Stanfords’ orbit, carving out a path that many Chinese immigrants on the Peninsula would later follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hailing from Guangdong Province, Mok worked as a foreman on the Stanfords’ land, leading a team of Chinese workers in planting the \u003ca href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2022/05/31/from-the-community-stanfords-history-is-inextricably-linked-with-asian-american-history/\">emblematic 166 palms\u003c/a> lining the approach to the university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089254\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089254\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">George Chin, head of San Francisco’s Chinatown History & Culture Association, looks over a display of family photographs, newspaper clippings and historical materials documenting the Chinese American flower-growing industry in the Santa Clara Valley at his home in Cupertino on June 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Founding Director of San Francisco’s Chinatown History & Culture Association George Chin said Mok was also a leader in the local Chinese community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because he’s a foreman,” Chin said, “he employed some of his fellow clansmen, relatives and whatnot.” In the end, Chin said, most of the Stanfords’ Chinese workers ended up coming from Guangdong as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin believes that Mok initially learned the business of commercial flower growing from Japanese immigrants. After modeling the practice in his own community, Chin said other Chinese immigrants followed suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When he started growing commercially,” Chin said, “he recruited his fellow relatives, villagers and people that he knew from the same region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_003-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_003-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_003-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_003-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">George Chin with his brother and sister at their family nursery, c. 1960s, in Baron Park of Palo Alto, part of a working flower-growing environment. The photograph is displayed at Chin’s home in Cupertino on June 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chinese growers were an important part of the shift towards flower cultivation, but they were not alone. \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2023/07/22/japanese-flower-market-history/\">Japanese\u003c/a> and Italian immigrant farmers had been building flower operations across the Bay Area too, creating a patchwork industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a gradual transition, taking shape around the early 1900s, as the demand for cut flowers started to accelerate. “They discovered that they can sell flowers in San Francisco and make much more profit compared to vegetables,” Chin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For researchers like Jones, talking with the families of growers has proved one of the best ways to better understand this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Growing up on the flower farm\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Chin, of the Chinatown History & Culture Association, grew up on a Palo Alto flower farm in the 1960s and ‘70s. His dad, Arthur Y. Chin, came to the U.S. in 1923 and quickly found his way into the flower business, following in Mok’s footsteps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Looking back, Chin said the farm was the center of family life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His mother was the backbone of it all — working the fields, preparing cut flowers for sale, cooking meals for the crew and raising three children who chipped in too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089256\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_009-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_009-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_009-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_009-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">George Chin sits on his backyard patio beside chrysanthemums at his home in Cupertino on June 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When I was a teenager, there was a little bit of resentment,” Chin said. “I cannot join the sports club or after-school activities because I have to be home working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wanda Ching remembers her childhood similarly. She grew up on an East Palo Alto flower farm on land her parents owned from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, where she spent her childhood summers working alongside her brothers. It was precision work, where nimble children’s fingers proved a big help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So to get the big chrysanthemum, you had to use the thumbs and pick off what they call the little suckers, so that there was only one big flower,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the summer, her nails were packed with dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While her parents worked late into the evening, Ching and her brothers slept nearby. “I never knew a babysitter,” she said. “They put bedding into the barn area so that when we got tired, we’d just sleep on the bedded area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089260\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1056px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089260\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1056\" height=\"869\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_03-KQED.jpg 1056w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_03-KQED-160x132.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1056px) 100vw, 1056px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wanda Ching stands with her mother, Toi Lonnie Yee Young, in front of their family flower shop in East Palo Alto, circa 1952. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Wanda Ching and the Young Family )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At harvest time, Ching remembers her parents gathering the cut chrysanthemums into bundles to prepare for shipping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They would tie it at the end and then put it on the newspaper and roll it, so they protected the flower and were able to make deliveries,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ching said many of the flowers were shipped across the country. About 75% of cut blooms from San Mateo and Santa Clara counties were shipped east, according to \u003cem>California Agriculture\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest were sold locally, and Ching said her family sold their flowers at their own store and at the San Francisco Flower Market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My father would have to leave at 3 o’clock in the morning [to head to market],” Ching said. She only occasionally made the trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin said he remembers his dad packing up their family truck with fresh-cut flowers to sell at the wholesaler. He’d also collect some other farmer’s flowers to take with him. It was just one of many ways this group of Chinese American growers looked out for each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to protect each other and fight against the competition, the Chinese growers … formed a Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association,” Chin said. The Association, founded in 1956, offered a sense of support and community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the late 1970s, one report shows that the Association had grown to nearly 140 Chinese growers. Italian and Japanese growers formed their own associations. Jones’ project, focusing on Stanford lands, highlights the contributions of Asian American growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These growers had essentially self-organized into cooperatives,” Jones said, “so that they could, in fact, afford mass shipping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A boom, then bust\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At its peak, California’s flower industry was massive. In 1947, commercial cut flower production in the state’s largest flower-growing counties was valued at more than $25,000,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small plots of land Jones saw on her map are part of that story and speak to that demand. But why flowers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In large part for corsages, which is a tradition we don’t really follow as much anymore,” Jones said. “It’s really rare, but it was huge between 1920 and about 1960.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089259\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089259\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants at a corsage-making event at Stanford University revive a historic tradition. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Diego Bustamante)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Old photographs of Cal vs. Stanford football games serve as evidence of this flower-mania. Spectators often wore elaborate corsages. Stanford fans chose white chrysanthemums with red pipe cleaners shaped into an “S.” Cal fans opted for similar designs in blue and yellow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At every step, Chinese growers worked together to tackle new business opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that’s interesting about flower growing and also true about vegetable farms is that you can make a living with a fairly small acreage,” Jones said. “That’s a real opportunity for immigrants to come in and start something for their families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Chin and Ching, flower farming offered their families a chance at upward mobility. “They actually want[ed] us to go get a better education,” Ching said, “so that we wouldn’t have to be farming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the latter half of the 20th century, the flower industry began to decline. By the 1980s, it became more economical to ship cut flowers from South America. At the same time, Bay Area real estate was starting to boom alongside the technology industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089261\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Stanford-themed corsage made during the workshop. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Diego Bustamante)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Flower growers were starting to sell their land,” Ching said. “They closed down the farms, and cashed in and they made the money and invested it elsewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The farm Ching grew up on is now home to a 7-11, among other buildings. Chin’s childhood stomping ground is now a condo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Chin, it’s all the more reason to keep this history alive, and Jones’ Forgotten Flowers Project is working to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Jones and Chin helped organize a \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/11/vintage-big-game-fashion-makes-a-comeback\">corsage-making event on Stanford’s campus\u003c/a>. They brought in corsage kits from San Francisco’s Chinatown, and about 200 participants showed up to take part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was kind of exciting because you are seeing people really intensely learning from the past,” Chin said. “That history is still alive, the tradition is still alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford University\u003c/a> archaeologist Laura Jones wasn’t looking for flower farms — at least not at first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was researching the school’s early land-leasing practices when a retiring colleague gave her some maps of Stanford from the 1950s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Jones looked closer, she noticed familiar areas — where Stanford Shopping Center, the school’s research park and graduate student housing are today — shaded in with what seemed like colored pencil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re coded for what flower is being grown,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones cross-checked the map with aerial photographs from the time. What emerged were patterns — clear outlines of fields in bloom. The layouts of the plots were similar, recognizable in terms of shape and size. Plus, Jones said, there was usually a small greenhouse on each field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Jones, the parcels were notable for another reason, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Next to the colors, in … dark black pencil, are the names of the farmers, and they’re all Chinese and Japanese,” Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flower fields. Asian American growers. She wanted to know more.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Flowers in Santa Clara Valley\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For much of the 20th century, this stretch of the Peninsula was home to seas of chrysanthemums, asters and irises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a 1948 issue of the University of California’s \u003cem>California Agriculture\u003c/em> journal, about 200 acres of chrysanthemums — imagine roughly 150 football fields — were grown in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties at the time. The total valuation of the crop amounted to roughly $2 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089258\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089258\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The corsage-making workshop was held at the O’Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm. The event was put on in collaboration with the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association, the Chinatown History and Culture Association, the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, and the Asian American Research Center at Stanford. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Diego Bustamante)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The industry was shaped in large part by Japanese, Italian and Chinese farmers. Some of these flowers were grown on Stanford lands between the 1890s and 1960s, in plots leased to Asian American farmers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her research, Jones has uncovered more about the contributions of Chinese American growers in particular. Many got their start on Stanford lands, establishing a model of farming that spread throughout the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of this history was never formally documented, something Jones is hoping to change with her \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/01/forgotten-flowers-project-asian-american-flower-growers-history-bay-area\">Forgotten Flowers\u003c/a> research project. She’s collaborating with community organizations, including the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association, to help clarify the history.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A business intertwined with immigrant history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At a time when discriminatory laws made land ownership a challenge, leasing land was a common option for many immigrants. Leland and Jane Stanford, Jones said, were willing landlords.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jim Mok was one such lessee. He spent much of his American life in the Stanfords’ orbit, carving out a path that many Chinese immigrants on the Peninsula would later follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hailing from Guangdong Province, Mok worked as a foreman on the Stanfords’ land, leading a team of Chinese workers in planting the \u003ca href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2022/05/31/from-the-community-stanfords-history-is-inextricably-linked-with-asian-american-history/\">emblematic 166 palms\u003c/a> lining the approach to the university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089254\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089254\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">George Chin, head of San Francisco’s Chinatown History & Culture Association, looks over a display of family photographs, newspaper clippings and historical materials documenting the Chinese American flower-growing industry in the Santa Clara Valley at his home in Cupertino on June 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Founding Director of San Francisco’s Chinatown History & Culture Association George Chin said Mok was also a leader in the local Chinese community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because he’s a foreman,” Chin said, “he employed some of his fellow clansmen, relatives and whatnot.” In the end, Chin said, most of the Stanfords’ Chinese workers ended up coming from Guangdong as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin believes that Mok initially learned the business of commercial flower growing from Japanese immigrants. After modeling the practice in his own community, Chin said other Chinese immigrants followed suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When he started growing commercially,” Chin said, “he recruited his fellow relatives, villagers and people that he knew from the same region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_003-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_003-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_003-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_003-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">George Chin with his brother and sister at their family nursery, c. 1960s, in Baron Park of Palo Alto, part of a working flower-growing environment. The photograph is displayed at Chin’s home in Cupertino on June 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chinese growers were an important part of the shift towards flower cultivation, but they were not alone. \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2023/07/22/japanese-flower-market-history/\">Japanese\u003c/a> and Italian immigrant farmers had been building flower operations across the Bay Area too, creating a patchwork industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a gradual transition, taking shape around the early 1900s, as the demand for cut flowers started to accelerate. “They discovered that they can sell flowers in San Francisco and make much more profit compared to vegetables,” Chin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For researchers like Jones, talking with the families of growers has proved one of the best ways to better understand this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Growing up on the flower farm\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Chin, of the Chinatown History & Culture Association, grew up on a Palo Alto flower farm in the 1960s and ‘70s. His dad, Arthur Y. Chin, came to the U.S. in 1923 and quickly found his way into the flower business, following in Mok’s footsteps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Looking back, Chin said the farm was the center of family life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His mother was the backbone of it all — working the fields, preparing cut flowers for sale, cooking meals for the crew and raising three children who chipped in too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089256\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_009-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_009-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_009-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/062426TCR-Mag-Forgotten-Flowers_GH_009-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">George Chin sits on his backyard patio beside chrysanthemums at his home in Cupertino on June 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When I was a teenager, there was a little bit of resentment,” Chin said. “I cannot join the sports club or after-school activities because I have to be home working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wanda Ching remembers her childhood similarly. She grew up on an East Palo Alto flower farm on land her parents owned from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, where she spent her childhood summers working alongside her brothers. It was precision work, where nimble children’s fingers proved a big help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So to get the big chrysanthemum, you had to use the thumbs and pick off what they call the little suckers, so that there was only one big flower,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the summer, her nails were packed with dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While her parents worked late into the evening, Ching and her brothers slept nearby. “I never knew a babysitter,” she said. “They put bedding into the barn area so that when we got tired, we’d just sleep on the bedded area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089260\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1056px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089260\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1056\" height=\"869\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_03-KQED.jpg 1056w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_03-KQED-160x132.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1056px) 100vw, 1056px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wanda Ching stands with her mother, Toi Lonnie Yee Young, in front of their family flower shop in East Palo Alto, circa 1952. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Wanda Ching and the Young Family )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At harvest time, Ching remembers her parents gathering the cut chrysanthemums into bundles to prepare for shipping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They would tie it at the end and then put it on the newspaper and roll it, so they protected the flower and were able to make deliveries,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ching said many of the flowers were shipped across the country. About 75% of cut blooms from San Mateo and Santa Clara counties were shipped east, according to \u003cem>California Agriculture\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest were sold locally, and Ching said her family sold their flowers at their own store and at the San Francisco Flower Market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My father would have to leave at 3 o’clock in the morning [to head to market],” Ching said. She only occasionally made the trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin said he remembers his dad packing up their family truck with fresh-cut flowers to sell at the wholesaler. He’d also collect some other farmer’s flowers to take with him. It was just one of many ways this group of Chinese American growers looked out for each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to protect each other and fight against the competition, the Chinese growers … formed a Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association,” Chin said. The Association, founded in 1956, offered a sense of support and community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the late 1970s, one report shows that the Association had grown to nearly 140 Chinese growers. Italian and Japanese growers formed their own associations. Jones’ project, focusing on Stanford lands, highlights the contributions of Asian American growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These growers had essentially self-organized into cooperatives,” Jones said, “so that they could, in fact, afford mass shipping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A boom, then bust\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At its peak, California’s flower industry was massive. In 1947, commercial cut flower production in the state’s largest flower-growing counties was valued at more than $25,000,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small plots of land Jones saw on her map are part of that story and speak to that demand. But why flowers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In large part for corsages, which is a tradition we don’t really follow as much anymore,” Jones said. “It’s really rare, but it was huge between 1920 and about 1960.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089259\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089259\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants at a corsage-making event at Stanford University revive a historic tradition. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Diego Bustamante)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Old photographs of Cal vs. Stanford football games serve as evidence of this flower-mania. Spectators often wore elaborate corsages. Stanford fans chose white chrysanthemums with red pipe cleaners shaped into an “S.” Cal fans opted for similar designs in blue and yellow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At every step, Chinese growers worked together to tackle new business opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that’s interesting about flower growing and also true about vegetable farms is that you can make a living with a fairly small acreage,” Jones said. “That’s a real opportunity for immigrants to come in and start something for their families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Chin and Ching, flower farming offered their families a chance at upward mobility. “They actually want[ed] us to go get a better education,” Ching said, “so that we wouldn’t have to be farming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the latter half of the 20th century, the flower industry began to decline. By the 1980s, it became more economical to ship cut flowers from South America. At the same time, Bay Area real estate was starting to boom alongside the technology industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089261\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260629_ForgottenFlowers_05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Stanford-themed corsage made during the workshop. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Diego Bustamante)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Flower growers were starting to sell their land,” Ching said. “They closed down the farms, and cashed in and they made the money and invested it elsewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The farm Ching grew up on is now home to a 7-11, among other buildings. Chin’s childhood stomping ground is now a condo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Chin, it’s all the more reason to keep this history alive, and Jones’ Forgotten Flowers Project is working to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Jones and Chin helped organize a \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/11/vintage-big-game-fashion-makes-a-comeback\">corsage-making event on Stanford’s campus\u003c/a>. They brought in corsage kits from San Francisco’s Chinatown, and about 200 participants showed up to take part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was kind of exciting because you are seeing people really intensely learning from the past,” Chin said. “That history is still alive, the tradition is still alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "opposition-group-says-bay-area-transit-doesnt-deserve-more-money-this-november",
"title": "Opposition Group Says Bay Area Transit Doesn't Deserve More Money This November",
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"headTitle": "Opposition Group Says Bay Area Transit Doesn’t Deserve More Money This November | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Transit leaders have warned voters in five \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> counties for months that if they fail to pass a regional sales tax measure on November’s ballot, BART, Muni and other agencies will have to dramatically cut service, spiking the cost of living and commute times for many in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://transitaccountability.com/index.html\">campaign\u003c/a> launched by the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association on Wednesday wants voters to reject that proposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ There are a lot of other alternatives that should be looked at first, rather than just continually coming back and asking the voters to approve more taxes,” said Tom Rubin, a member of the governing board for the campaign called the Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opposition committee pointed to the over $6 billion in taxes, tolls and government grants that they said major Bay Area transit agencies received in fiscal year 2024-25 and said the agencies should instead reallocate existing funding rather than asking taxpayers for more. By pausing funding for major capital projects, including BART Silicon Valley Phase II, California High Speed Rail and Caltrain’s downtown San Francisco expansion, the committee said transit agencies could fully fund operations in the near term and put a slimmed-down tax proposal to fund transit in front of voters in the 2028 election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Let’s stop spending huge amounts of money on planning and constructing very stupid mega projects without a purpose and use that money for other purposes, such as operating what we have now,” Rubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12034008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1989px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12034008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1989\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed.jpg 1989w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-800x536.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-1020x684.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-1536x1029.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-1920x1287.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1989px) 100vw, 1989px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bay Area Rapid Transit commuters stand on the platform as a train pulls into the Powell Street station in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Proponents of the sales tax measure, known as the Connect Bay Area Act, have pushed back and questioned the feasibility of the committee’s plan. Jeff Cretan, spokesperson for the campaign, said the committee’s arguments were “not grounded in reality.” Most of the money for those capital projects is from either federal or state sources that “simply can’t be used for operating costs,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s nice to pretend transit funding works like that, but it doesn’t,” Cretan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan Elkind, the director of the climate program at UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, who is not involved in the campaign, called the committee’s proposal “incredibly misleading.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ In some cases, there are matching funds provided from the state and local level for these federal dollars, but it’s not clear where the matching funds are coming from, and in many cases, those have restrictions as well,” Elkind said.[aside postID=news_12084841 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260123-signaturekickoff00181_TV_qed.jpg']If approved by voters, the Connect Bay Area Act would generate around $1 billion annually for 14 years to support BART, AC Transit, Muni and Caltrain, along with other agencies. It would impose a half-cent sales tax in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and a one-cent sales tax in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those agencies are facing critical budget deficits due to pandemic-related drops in revenue and ridership, and all have warned of immense cuts to service unless the Connect Bay Area Act passes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a false alarm. If we do not hit a sustainable funding source by this election, stations will close, lines will shut down, and the Bay Area will become less affordable for workers, families, and seniors,” Cretan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Rubin and supporters of the Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit also said the agencies should look inward to their own expenses, and suggested they could save money by reducing overtime pay, evaluating contracts with labor unions and automating BART.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee’s website lists the highest-paid transit employees in 2024, namely, a BART Senior Police Officer who took home more than $661,000 in total pay and benefits, including over $272,500 in overtime pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ These are just people who know how to use the system and get an incredible amount of overtime and other special pay,” Rubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087115\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087115\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502613.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1268\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502613.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502613-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502613-1536x984.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Oakland Airport Connector train pulls into the Coliseum BART station in Oakland, California, on Friday, March 18, 2016. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While there are real negative examples of what some might consider to be excessively paid employees at transit agencies, Elkind said, “We’re talking about pennies compared to the scale of the need here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART’s budget deficit for fiscal year 2027 is $376 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ You’re not going to fully fund BART by making sure a police officer is docked a few hundred thousand dollars in pay,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubin said the committee is currently self-funded by its own members. He acknowledged that they are heavily outspent by the Connect Bay Area campaign, whose top funders include the company Salesforce and tech CEO Chris Larsen. The Connect Bay Area campaign is also endorsed by a broad coalition of local labor unions, business groups and elected officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit says transit agencies should reallocate funding from other projects before seeking additional money from taxpayers. ",
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"title": "Opposition Group Says Bay Area Transit Doesn't Deserve More Money This November | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Transit leaders have warned voters in five \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> counties for months that if they fail to pass a regional sales tax measure on November’s ballot, BART, Muni and other agencies will have to dramatically cut service, spiking the cost of living and commute times for many in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://transitaccountability.com/index.html\">campaign\u003c/a> launched by the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association on Wednesday wants voters to reject that proposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ There are a lot of other alternatives that should be looked at first, rather than just continually coming back and asking the voters to approve more taxes,” said Tom Rubin, a member of the governing board for the campaign called the Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opposition committee pointed to the over $6 billion in taxes, tolls and government grants that they said major Bay Area transit agencies received in fiscal year 2024-25 and said the agencies should instead reallocate existing funding rather than asking taxpayers for more. By pausing funding for major capital projects, including BART Silicon Valley Phase II, California High Speed Rail and Caltrain’s downtown San Francisco expansion, the committee said transit agencies could fully fund operations in the near term and put a slimmed-down tax proposal to fund transit in front of voters in the 2028 election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Let’s stop spending huge amounts of money on planning and constructing very stupid mega projects without a purpose and use that money for other purposes, such as operating what we have now,” Rubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12034008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1989px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12034008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1989\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed.jpg 1989w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-800x536.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-1020x684.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-1536x1029.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/bartnostrike20130804_qed-1920x1287.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1989px) 100vw, 1989px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bay Area Rapid Transit commuters stand on the platform as a train pulls into the Powell Street station in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Proponents of the sales tax measure, known as the Connect Bay Area Act, have pushed back and questioned the feasibility of the committee’s plan. Jeff Cretan, spokesperson for the campaign, said the committee’s arguments were “not grounded in reality.” Most of the money for those capital projects is from either federal or state sources that “simply can’t be used for operating costs,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s nice to pretend transit funding works like that, but it doesn’t,” Cretan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan Elkind, the director of the climate program at UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, who is not involved in the campaign, called the committee’s proposal “incredibly misleading.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ In some cases, there are matching funds provided from the state and local level for these federal dollars, but it’s not clear where the matching funds are coming from, and in many cases, those have restrictions as well,” Elkind said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>If approved by voters, the Connect Bay Area Act would generate around $1 billion annually for 14 years to support BART, AC Transit, Muni and Caltrain, along with other agencies. It would impose a half-cent sales tax in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and a one-cent sales tax in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those agencies are facing critical budget deficits due to pandemic-related drops in revenue and ridership, and all have warned of immense cuts to service unless the Connect Bay Area Act passes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a false alarm. If we do not hit a sustainable funding source by this election, stations will close, lines will shut down, and the Bay Area will become less affordable for workers, families, and seniors,” Cretan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Rubin and supporters of the Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit also said the agencies should look inward to their own expenses, and suggested they could save money by reducing overtime pay, evaluating contracts with labor unions and automating BART.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee’s website lists the highest-paid transit employees in 2024, namely, a BART Senior Police Officer who took home more than $661,000 in total pay and benefits, including over $272,500 in overtime pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ These are just people who know how to use the system and get an incredible amount of overtime and other special pay,” Rubin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087115\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087115\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502613.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1268\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502613.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502613-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502613-1536x984.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Oakland Airport Connector train pulls into the Coliseum BART station in Oakland, California, on Friday, March 18, 2016. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While there are real negative examples of what some might consider to be excessively paid employees at transit agencies, Elkind said, “We’re talking about pennies compared to the scale of the need here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART’s budget deficit for fiscal year 2027 is $376 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ You’re not going to fully fund BART by making sure a police officer is docked a few hundred thousand dollars in pay,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubin said the committee is currently self-funded by its own members. He acknowledged that they are heavily outspent by the Connect Bay Area campaign, whose top funders include the company Salesforce and tech CEO Chris Larsen. The Connect Bay Area campaign is also endorsed by a broad coalition of local labor unions, business groups and elected officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "sexual-assault-allegations-against-manny-yekutiel-roil-san-francisco-democrats",
"title": "Sexual Assault Allegations Against Manny Yekutiel Roil San Francisco Democrats",
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"headTitle": "Sexual Assault Allegations Against Manny Yekutiel Roil San Francisco Democrats | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Supporters of prominent San Francisco politico and supervisor candidate \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12045209/san-francisco-city-leaders-call-out-disturbing-string-of-antisemitic-incidents\">Manny Yekutiel\u003c/a> are weighing how to respond as recent sexual assault allegations against the well-known local business owner roil the city’s Democratic circles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Accusations against Yekutiel, \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/30/sf-political-activist-accuses-supervisor-candidate-manny-yekutiel-2020-sexual-assault/\">first reported\u003c/a> in the \u003cem>San Francisco Standard \u003c/em>last week, come amid a backdrop of sexual assault cases against Democrats, including former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079911/the-rise-and-fall-of-eric-swalwell\">East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell\u003c/a> and former Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, and as tensions in a San Francisco district election that could swing the balance of power in the city ramp up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yekutiel, the 36-year-old owner of Manny’s Cafe, a longtime community hub and event space for high-profile Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris, has been accused of sexually assaulting a man at a party six years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yekutiel, who is gay, has denied the allegations. But they have prompted some one-time allies to abandon their endorsements and others to say they are waiting to learn more before making a decision about whether to back him or rescind support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, this situation is, what are they willing to accept?” said local political consultant Jim Ross, regarding Yekutiel’s backers who have continued to stand with him. “The big question is, what if more comes out?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already some elected Democrats, like Supervisor Myrna Melgar and Attorney General Rob Bonta, have withdrawn support for Yekutiel, and some speakers for events at his cafe in the Mission District have dropped out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1984px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090122\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-3_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1984\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-3_qed.jpg 1984w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-3_qed-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-3_qed-1536x1032.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1984px) 100vw, 1984px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From center left, Francesca Gonzalez, Summer Phillips and Raissa Madamba gather during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But there was little mention of the allegations at a rally on Tuesday on the steps of City Hall in support of sexual assault survivors. And many of Yekutiel’s supporters, which currently include the majority of the Board of Supervisors, say they are waiting for more evidence before they change their positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because there are allegations on him, and frankly other people that I’ve already heard running for office, I’m waiting for that investigation to be completed before making a decision,” said Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who spoke at the rally on Tuesday and is currently endorsing Yekutiel’s campaign to represent District 8, which includes the Castro and Noe Valley.[aside postID=news_12089959 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260511-YickWoCommemoration-JY-14_qed.jpg']City gardener and community organizer Brad Chapin accused Yekutiel, who interned in the Obama White House and worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for president, of sexual assault at a party in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chapin said Yekutiel grasped him aggressively and stuck his hand down his pants, groped his genitals and pulled hard as Chapin tried to push away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the incident, Chapin said, Yekutiel lifted up Chapin’s shirt, grabbed his belly and said “ew,” humiliating him during an unwelcome sexual advance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember being very scared,” Chapin told KQED. “Every time I tried to get away, he would literally pull me back and squeeze harder, and the entire time he was staring at me in the eyes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the rally this week, organizers said they decided to avoid addressing specific cases in part to draw attention to the broader issue of sexual assault that happens across all industries, not just in politics. But for many in attendance, the recent allegations were top of mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Supervisor Mabel Teng was the sole speaker to address them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As someone who knows the recent publicized survivors and victims, I am free to call out their names, Judy and Brad,” Teng said, also referring to Judy Lee, who \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/30/sf-chinese-chamber-commerce-lawsuits-donald-luu-resignation/\">recently accused\u003c/a> the Chinese Chamber of Commerce board president Donald Luu of harassment and retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090123\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090123\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-6_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-6_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-6_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-6_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supporters and community advocates gather during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The chamber organizes the city’s Chinese New Year parade. Luu has since resigned and filed a defamation lawsuit against Lee, the chamber’s program director. “You are not alone. And to all of the survivors and victims, we see you, we hear you, we feel you, and we believe in you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yekutiel categorically denied the allegations and called them politically motivated. Chapin is a former vice president of the progressive Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, which has endorsed Yekutiel’s opponent, Gary McCoy, in the District 8 race. Chapin denied that coming forward was politically driven.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t do what these accusations suggest, and I do think it’s because I am here and I’m running for office that this is coming out now,” Yekutiel told KQED. “The San Francisco Police Department looked into it, and there was nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPD didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chapin, who is also gay, said the personal fallout has been traumatic. On social media, people have scrutinized his character and questioned his motives for coming forward after so many years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has completely stepped away from political activism, saying it was detrimental to his mental health to be in those spaces after his experience with Yekutiel and other high-profile sexual assaults in politics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1928px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-8_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1928\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-8_qed.jpg 1928w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-8_qed-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-8_qed-1536x1062.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1928px) 100vw, 1928px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Connie Chan speaks during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People really don’t understand how scary it is to come forward when there’s not a lot of evidence,” Chapin said. “In some ways, I think if someone is involved in politics, it does make it even less likely for [survivors] to come forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told friends about the incident shortly after it happened, text messages show, but Chapin said he waited years to publicly come forward out of fear and because Yekutiel was not running for public office at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was scared to tell another soul,” Chapin said. He eventually filed a police report in April and came forward. “I was so anxious about this person being in power and what would happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before his accusations became public, Chapin said he reached out to several political figures he knows, including termed-out current District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who is still listed as endorsing Yekutiel, and for whom Chapin said he formerly helped organize and volunteered. But the supervisor isn’t convinced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t felt a reason to particularly doubt Manny’s account. It was an event that was six years ago, and it hasn’t caused me to reevaluate my endorsement,” Mandelman told KQED. “I think how long ago something supposedly happened matters. I think numbers and believability of accusations matter. Sometimes there’s a flood that follows an initial accusation. I hope that’s not the case here. But I do think this is very different from a situation where there’s rumors from multiple people, and then someone comes forward, and then the dam breaks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090132\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090132\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-25_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-25_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-25_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-25_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sticky notes with messages are posted on a white paper during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eric Jaye, a political consultant who has donated to Yekutiel’s campaign, said even serious accusations like Chapin’s are processed politically in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“American politics right now is so partisan and so divisive that you care about these accusations when they’re leveled against somebody you oppose and you excuse or disbelieve them when they are directed to someone you support,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The District 8 seat is crucial to moderates trying to keep their majority on the board. Yekutiel is facing off against McCoy, who most recently served as campaign manager for Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s Save Our Healthcare initiative, and patent attorney Michael Nguyen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Politicians are going to take a watch-and-wait approach to this. If it’s a one-off, I don’t think it will have much impact on the race. If it emerges that there was a pattern, then that will be a different situation,” Jaye said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that prediction plays out, the case will stand in stark contrast to those of other politicians whose campaigns have swiftly collapsed in recent months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, after multiple women accused Swalwell of drugging and raping them, he quickly lost support and exited the race for California governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090130\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090130\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-22_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-22_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-22_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-22_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supporters and community advocates gather during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Usually with politicians, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. So the question is, is there something else? And I don’t know that. But I think that’s what a lot of [Yekutiel’s] endorsers are waiting to see,” Ross said. “If another person comes forward or another issue comes up, then it becomes much more fraught for his supporters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Yekutiel, some of the fallout could be economic. He has become a widely recognized Democratic pillar in San Francisco, where his cafe regularly hosts talks with government leaders and activists. He’s amassed powerful allies in the city’s Democratic sphere, including Mayor Daniel Lurie, with whom he started the Civic Joy Fund nonprofit. Lurie has so far not endorsed anyone in the District 8 race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My supporters are going to make their own choices. The overwhelming majority of my supporters are standing strong with me,” Yekutiel said. “And the few people that did rescind their endorsement, I’m looking forward to working with them as a supervisor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood, the supervisor, is on a committee focused on addressing sexual assault complaints within the San Francisco Democratic Party, which was formed following a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033207/sf-latinx-club-leaves-local-democratic-party\">series of allegations\u003c/a> in local Democratic clubs. The party adopted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016733/sf-democrats-adopt-new-sexual-assault-reporting-policies\">new set of reporting policies\u003c/a> for sexual assault and harassment in December 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But critics say there are flaws in the process. Chapin said he filed a complaint to the organization’s ombudsperson and never received a response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090127\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090127\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-12_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-12_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-12_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-12_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Bilal Mahmood speaks during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chair Nancy Tung declined to publicly comment on the reporting process or current allegations in the District 8 race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Democrats who made a big issue around sexual assault a few years ago, it was moderates attacking the progressives over that issue. And now they created a system and a process that was supposed to protect people and that pretty much failed,” Ross, the political consultant, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chapin received a response from the party’s ombudsperson after reporting about his allegations went public. The inquiry is ongoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been absolute hell, but I just couldn’t not do it,” Chapin said on his decision to come forward. “That’s not a thing for me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The supervisor candidate has denied the allegations and called them politically motivated.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Supporters of prominent San Francisco politico and supervisor candidate \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12045209/san-francisco-city-leaders-call-out-disturbing-string-of-antisemitic-incidents\">Manny Yekutiel\u003c/a> are weighing how to respond as recent sexual assault allegations against the well-known local business owner roil the city’s Democratic circles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Accusations against Yekutiel, \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/30/sf-political-activist-accuses-supervisor-candidate-manny-yekutiel-2020-sexual-assault/\">first reported\u003c/a> in the \u003cem>San Francisco Standard \u003c/em>last week, come amid a backdrop of sexual assault cases against Democrats, including former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079911/the-rise-and-fall-of-eric-swalwell\">East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell\u003c/a> and former Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, and as tensions in a San Francisco district election that could swing the balance of power in the city ramp up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yekutiel, the 36-year-old owner of Manny’s Cafe, a longtime community hub and event space for high-profile Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris, has been accused of sexually assaulting a man at a party six years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yekutiel, who is gay, has denied the allegations. But they have prompted some one-time allies to abandon their endorsements and others to say they are waiting to learn more before making a decision about whether to back him or rescind support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, this situation is, what are they willing to accept?” said local political consultant Jim Ross, regarding Yekutiel’s backers who have continued to stand with him. “The big question is, what if more comes out?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already some elected Democrats, like Supervisor Myrna Melgar and Attorney General Rob Bonta, have withdrawn support for Yekutiel, and some speakers for events at his cafe in the Mission District have dropped out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1984px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090122\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-3_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1984\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-3_qed.jpg 1984w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-3_qed-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-3_qed-1536x1032.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1984px) 100vw, 1984px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From center left, Francesca Gonzalez, Summer Phillips and Raissa Madamba gather during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But there was little mention of the allegations at a rally on Tuesday on the steps of City Hall in support of sexual assault survivors. And many of Yekutiel’s supporters, which currently include the majority of the Board of Supervisors, say they are waiting for more evidence before they change their positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because there are allegations on him, and frankly other people that I’ve already heard running for office, I’m waiting for that investigation to be completed before making a decision,” said Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who spoke at the rally on Tuesday and is currently endorsing Yekutiel’s campaign to represent District 8, which includes the Castro and Noe Valley.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>City gardener and community organizer Brad Chapin accused Yekutiel, who interned in the Obama White House and worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for president, of sexual assault at a party in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chapin said Yekutiel grasped him aggressively and stuck his hand down his pants, groped his genitals and pulled hard as Chapin tried to push away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the incident, Chapin said, Yekutiel lifted up Chapin’s shirt, grabbed his belly and said “ew,” humiliating him during an unwelcome sexual advance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember being very scared,” Chapin told KQED. “Every time I tried to get away, he would literally pull me back and squeeze harder, and the entire time he was staring at me in the eyes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the rally this week, organizers said they decided to avoid addressing specific cases in part to draw attention to the broader issue of sexual assault that happens across all industries, not just in politics. But for many in attendance, the recent allegations were top of mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Supervisor Mabel Teng was the sole speaker to address them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As someone who knows the recent publicized survivors and victims, I am free to call out their names, Judy and Brad,” Teng said, also referring to Judy Lee, who \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/30/sf-chinese-chamber-commerce-lawsuits-donald-luu-resignation/\">recently accused\u003c/a> the Chinese Chamber of Commerce board president Donald Luu of harassment and retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090123\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090123\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-6_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-6_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-6_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-6_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supporters and community advocates gather during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The chamber organizes the city’s Chinese New Year parade. Luu has since resigned and filed a defamation lawsuit against Lee, the chamber’s program director. “You are not alone. And to all of the survivors and victims, we see you, we hear you, we feel you, and we believe in you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yekutiel categorically denied the allegations and called them politically motivated. Chapin is a former vice president of the progressive Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, which has endorsed Yekutiel’s opponent, Gary McCoy, in the District 8 race. Chapin denied that coming forward was politically driven.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t do what these accusations suggest, and I do think it’s because I am here and I’m running for office that this is coming out now,” Yekutiel told KQED. “The San Francisco Police Department looked into it, and there was nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPD didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chapin, who is also gay, said the personal fallout has been traumatic. On social media, people have scrutinized his character and questioned his motives for coming forward after so many years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has completely stepped away from political activism, saying it was detrimental to his mental health to be in those spaces after his experience with Yekutiel and other high-profile sexual assaults in politics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1928px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-8_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1928\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-8_qed.jpg 1928w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-8_qed-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-8_qed-1536x1062.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1928px) 100vw, 1928px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Connie Chan speaks during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People really don’t understand how scary it is to come forward when there’s not a lot of evidence,” Chapin said. “In some ways, I think if someone is involved in politics, it does make it even less likely for [survivors] to come forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told friends about the incident shortly after it happened, text messages show, but Chapin said he waited years to publicly come forward out of fear and because Yekutiel was not running for public office at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was scared to tell another soul,” Chapin said. He eventually filed a police report in April and came forward. “I was so anxious about this person being in power and what would happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before his accusations became public, Chapin said he reached out to several political figures he knows, including termed-out current District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who is still listed as endorsing Yekutiel, and for whom Chapin said he formerly helped organize and volunteered. But the supervisor isn’t convinced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t felt a reason to particularly doubt Manny’s account. It was an event that was six years ago, and it hasn’t caused me to reevaluate my endorsement,” Mandelman told KQED. “I think how long ago something supposedly happened matters. I think numbers and believability of accusations matter. Sometimes there’s a flood that follows an initial accusation. I hope that’s not the case here. But I do think this is very different from a situation where there’s rumors from multiple people, and then someone comes forward, and then the dam breaks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090132\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090132\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-25_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-25_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-25_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-25_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sticky notes with messages are posted on a white paper during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eric Jaye, a political consultant who has donated to Yekutiel’s campaign, said even serious accusations like Chapin’s are processed politically in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“American politics right now is so partisan and so divisive that you care about these accusations when they’re leveled against somebody you oppose and you excuse or disbelieve them when they are directed to someone you support,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The District 8 seat is crucial to moderates trying to keep their majority on the board. Yekutiel is facing off against McCoy, who most recently served as campaign manager for Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s Save Our Healthcare initiative, and patent attorney Michael Nguyen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Politicians are going to take a watch-and-wait approach to this. If it’s a one-off, I don’t think it will have much impact on the race. If it emerges that there was a pattern, then that will be a different situation,” Jaye said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that prediction plays out, the case will stand in stark contrast to those of other politicians whose campaigns have swiftly collapsed in recent months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, after multiple women accused Swalwell of drugging and raping them, he quickly lost support and exited the race for California governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090130\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090130\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-22_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-22_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-22_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-22_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supporters and community advocates gather during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Usually with politicians, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. So the question is, is there something else? And I don’t know that. But I think that’s what a lot of [Yekutiel’s] endorsers are waiting to see,” Ross said. “If another person comes forward or another issue comes up, then it becomes much more fraught for his supporters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Yekutiel, some of the fallout could be economic. He has become a widely recognized Democratic pillar in San Francisco, where his cafe regularly hosts talks with government leaders and activists. He’s amassed powerful allies in the city’s Democratic sphere, including Mayor Daniel Lurie, with whom he started the Civic Joy Fund nonprofit. Lurie has so far not endorsed anyone in the District 8 race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My supporters are going to make their own choices. The overwhelming majority of my supporters are standing strong with me,” Yekutiel said. “And the few people that did rescind their endorsement, I’m looking forward to working with them as a supervisor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood, the supervisor, is on a committee focused on addressing sexual assault complaints within the San Francisco Democratic Party, which was formed following a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033207/sf-latinx-club-leaves-local-democratic-party\">series of allegations\u003c/a> in local Democratic clubs. The party adopted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016733/sf-democrats-adopt-new-sexual-assault-reporting-policies\">new set of reporting policies\u003c/a> for sexual assault and harassment in December 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But critics say there are flaws in the process. Chapin said he filed a complaint to the organization’s ombudsperson and never received a response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090127\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090127\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-12_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-12_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-12_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260707_SFRally_GC-12_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Bilal Mahmood speaks during a rally for survivors of sexual assault and harassment at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco on July 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chair Nancy Tung declined to publicly comment on the reporting process or current allegations in the District 8 race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Democrats who made a big issue around sexual assault a few years ago, it was moderates attacking the progressives over that issue. And now they created a system and a process that was supposed to protect people and that pretty much failed,” Ross, the political consultant, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chapin received a response from the party’s ombudsperson after reporting about his allegations went public. The inquiry is ongoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been absolute hell, but I just couldn’t not do it,” Chapin said on his decision to come forward. “That’s not a thing for me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "why-specialized-mariners-are-required-on-every-ship-sailing-into-san-francisco-bay",
"title": "Why Specialized Mariners Are Required on Every Ship Sailing Into San Francisco Bay",
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"headTitle": "Why Specialized Mariners Are Required on Every Ship Sailing Into San Francisco Bay | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a sunny day, the beauty of San Francisco Bay rivals almost any place in the world. The stately bridges boldly cross its watery expanse, dreamy islands call out for exploration, green or golden hills rise up on all sides and the twinkling lights of the city sparkle in the distance. But on a foggy, windy day, that same paradise can be treacherous for ships coming in and out of the Golden Gate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why all ships over 750 gross tons — about 150 feet or longer — are required to use a special mariner who knows the local conditions when they enter or exit the bay. Known as bar pilots, these local guides board vessels about 11 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge, take charge of the ship and guide it safely under the bridges and through the bay to its anchorage spot or port berth. They also help move vessels within the bay, like from anchorage to port, for example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erik Udd often sees the bar pilot speedboat depart from Pier 9, where the bar pilots are headquartered, as he cycles his pedicab along the Embarcadero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve seen the boats, and I’ve seen them heading out towards the Golden Gate, but I never thought about the process,” Udd said. So he asked Bay Curious: “What do they do? How does it work? Do they get hazard pay when they’re out there in a storm?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How the bar pilots came to be\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are a lot of reasons San Francisco Bay is a tricky port to enter. First, there’s a large sandbar outside the mouth of the Golden Gate with only a narrow channel through it that’s deep enough for ships to navigate. Then there’s the weather — dense fog, strong winds and winter storms. Lastly, the currents can be deadly and pull ships off course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For all these reasons, many Gold Rush-era ships foundered and sank on their way into the bay. And sunken ships are bad for the flow of commerce. They create additional maritime hazards and gum up the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089870\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12089870 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-22-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-22-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-22-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-22-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pilot boat operator navigates a pilot boat in the San Francisco Bay. The pilots guide large ships along California’s coast to ports in San Francisco Bay and beyond. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089871\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089871\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-28-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-28-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-28-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-28-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ships sit at anchor in the San Francisco Bay in areas known as ‘anchor buckets,’ where commercial vessels can remain for extended periods. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The San Francisco Bar Pilots have been around a long time,” said Anne McIntyre, business director for the San Francisco Bar Pilots. “We were founded in 1850. The first thing the California legislature did was pass the Pilotage Act, and that’s what founded the San Francisco Bar Pilots.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evidence of this long history lines the walls of bar pilot headquarters at Pier 9. The first ships they served were sailing ships, but soon steam-powered vessels came on the scene, and eventually, diesel engines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Capt. Cevan LeSieur points to historic photos of early bar pilot boats at the San Francisco Bar Pilots headquarters in San Francisco. The San Francisco Bar Pilot Association was founded in 1850 and is one of the oldest maritime organizations on the Pacific Coast. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the early days, “the pilot would get on a little dinghy, and they’d row to the side of the ship, and then climb up the ladder,” said Captain Cevan Lesieur, a bar pilot with more than 10 years of experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has piloted hundreds of ships through the bay’s waters and shook his head at the idea of one man braving the fog and wind alone in a boat powered only by his own strength.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know when I look at the type of weather and conditions we deal with, these people were just tougher than we are nowadays,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s it like being a bar pilot today?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That’s not to say being a bar pilot today is easy. They have to navigate many types of waterways – including through the open ocean, up and down the Stockton and Sacramento rivers, under several bridges and through a congested central bay. They also pilot all kinds of vessels from massive cargo ships to cruise ships, tankers to bulkers, yachts to car ships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most harrowing part of a bar pilot’s job is open water boarding. Here’s how it works: when a ship approaches San Francisco from the open ocean, it meets up with a station boat that’s always waiting 11 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge. The crew on that boat rotates weekly, but the bar pilots work 365 days a year in all weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-34-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-34-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-34-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-34-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Capt. Cevan LeSieur (left) prepares to board the Pasha Hawaii ship George III at the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089879\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089879\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"847\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-2000x662.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-1536x508.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-2048x678.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A bar pilot boat pulls up next to the Pasha Hawaii ship George III at the Port of Oakland. Right: Capt. Cevan LeSieur boards the Pasha Hawaii ship George III. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the ship approaches, it slows down to 9 knots — about 12 miles per hour — and the pilot boat comes alongside at the same speed. Then, timing the jump carefully, the bar pilot leaps across and grabs onto a ladder hanging on the side of the ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are not tied into anything when they make this jump. When a ship leaves for sea, this process is reversed, with the bar pilot jumping from the ladder to the moving deck of the pilot boat.[aside postID=news_12088210 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260521-YEMENICOFFEE-11-BL-KQED.jpg']“Getting on can be tricky, and people have gone in the water,” said John Carlier, the president of the bar pilots association and a man with more than 30 years on the job. “But getting off and trying to get that small landing area on that deck while that boat’s surfing past you can be a bit sketchy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a pilot does go in the water, he’s wearing a “float coat,” which turns into a lifejacket when it hits the water, complete with lights and a safety whistle. Pilots make the jump in all kinds of weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it’s not safe, you don’t do it, but a lot of people would look at the conditions and not think it’s safe, but we have our own definition of it,” Lesieur said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He estimated that it’s only about once a year that the weather is so bad that the pilot can’t make the jump. If that happens, the pilot has to stay on the ship until the next port of call and then fly home, and no one wants that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our question asker, Erik Udd, was interested in knowing if bar pilots receive hazard pay during bad weather, and the answer is no. But they are paid well — in the mid-six figures on average. They are paid by the shipping companies that use their services. There’s a \u003ca href=\"https://sfbarpilots.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Pilotage-Rates.pdf\">rate structure\u003c/a> based on the tonnage of the ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Becoming a bar pilot\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To become a bar pilot, a person must be a mid-career captain with decades of experience already. There’s a written test and a simulator test. Based on those scores, candidates are ranked on a list from which the bar pilots pull when apprenticeships open up. Once in the training program, most people spend close to two years shadowing more experienced pilots and learning all the different routes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The area starts with the Gulf of the Farallones, works its way through the main bay, down the Redwood City, and all the way up to Stockton and Sacramento,” Carlier said. “There’s eight different sections. You’re going to do in the neighborhood of at least 600 jobs under the tutelage of existing pilots.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089872\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-57-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-57-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-57-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-57-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bar pilot Capt. Cevan LeSieur stands on the bridge of the Pasha Hawaii ship George III while docked at the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They also have to learn by heart over 670 aids to navigation — the lights and buoys — as well as the depth charts for the entire 5,000-square-mile area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the expertise and local knowledge of the bar pilots, there have been instances when they made mistakes with devastating consequences. In 2007, a ship with a bar pilot in charge \u003ca href=\"https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/remembering-cosco-busan-overview-2007-oil-spill\">clipped one of the Bay Bridge towers\u003c/a> and 58,000 gallons of fuel oil spilled into the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were some communication problems between the pilot and the crew as to where the center of the bridge was on their electronic [navigation] equipment, which definitely added to the sideswiping of the Delta Tower of the Bay Bridge,” Carlier said. “We actually bring our own electronic navigation equipment with us on board now. We also bring our GPS antennas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bar pilots at work\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The container ships that dock at the Port of Oakland to load and unload cargo are massive. The largest ones are as long as the Salesforce Tower is tall, but even more modestly sized ones are huge. The bar pilots have had to adapt as the ships have gotten bigger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pashahawaii.com/services/vessels/george-iii\">George III is a container ship\u003c/a> operated by Pasha Hawaii that brings supplies to the Hawaiian Islands. It runs the same route every two weeks, leaving Honolulu mostly empty save for a few commodities like macadamia nuts and rum, stops in Oakland to take on cargo and then heads down to Long Beach for more, before returning to Hawaii.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089946\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089946\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GraphBarPilots.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1079\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GraphBarPilots.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GraphBarPilots-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GraphBarPilots-1536x1036.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many of the ships operating in the bay are as long as a skyscraper is tall. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the San Francisco Bar Pilots)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The state of Hawaii has about three to five days of food availability if shipping stopped,” said Ed Washburn, senior vice president of fleet operations. “So it’s very sensitive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crew of the ship signs on for long stints, 10 to 14 weeks, but then gets just as much time off on land. When they’re on board, they work as a team to keep ship operations running smoothly, the loads balanced, and the engines purring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George III is a unique vessel because it runs on both diesel fuel and \u003ca href=\"https://www.pashahawaii.com/news-media/news/571/pasha-hawaii-marks-historic-milestone-mv-george-iii-first-lng-powered\">natural gas\u003c/a>, making it a cleaner vessel, but also one with more specific engineering needs. The crew eats, sleeps and works in shifts, building a strong sense of camaraderie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089873\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089873\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-60-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-60-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-60-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-60-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crew member on the Pasha Hawaii ship George III works on the bridge while docked at the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089878\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"846\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-2000x661.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-2048x676.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Mark Bancroft, a second assistant engineer, works in the engine room of the Pasha Hawaii ship George III while docked at the Port of Oakland. Right: Crew members eat dinner on the George III before departing the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When it’s time to push off for sea, the bar pilot boards the ship and heads towards the ship’s bridge, at the top of the vessel. From there, he checks in with the captain, makes sure the equipment has all been tested and communicates with tugboats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kinda anticlimactic when you have 90-ton boats and no wind,” said Christian Barron, the bar pilot on duty as George III slowly inched away from the dock. “We’ll start casting off tugs once we get about half a mile from here and start bringing her up to speed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089875\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089875\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-83-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-83-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-83-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-83-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco bar pilot Christian Barron works on the Pasha Hawaii ship George III before departing the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089874\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089874\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-72-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-72-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-72-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-72-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bar pilot boat is docked at the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089876\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089876\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-101-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-101-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-101-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-101-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Views of the San Francisco skyline from a bar pilot boat. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once the ship was safely out of San Francisco Bay, Christian climbed down the ladder and jumped onto the station boat, where he waited for the next ship needing his services to arrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the bar pilots are doing their jobs well, we landlubbers might not even know they exist. We only see the stocked grocery shelves, fuel at the gas pump and cruise ships awaiting passengers at the pier. But to make all of that happen, a bar pilot is working day or night, rain or shine, fog or no, to bring ships safely to port.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> If you ask mariners, they’ll tell you, navigating a boat from the open ocean into the San Francisco Bay is notoriously treacherous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s the dense fog that can make it hard to see. Strong currents constantly rearrange the sea floor, and can quickly throw a vessel off course. And finally – our bridges! If a boat were to strike a pillar it could be\u003cem> catastrophic. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why captains of big ships aren’t allowed to navigate into port on their own. A specially trained mariner called a \u003cem>bar pilot\u003c/em> – hops aboard every ship that comes into San Francisco Bay, and takes over command.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We got a question about those bar pilots, so we sent Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz to the Embarcadero to meet the man who asked it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Erik Udd said he’d meet me at the Embarcadero BART station. When I emerged on the escalator he was waiting for me, sitting at the helm of a pedicab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>It’s a great retirement job, I get exercise, it is perfect for me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>While we talk, he’s giving me a ride in his pedicab over to Pier 9…near the Exploratorium…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>Oh, there goes a boat right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>While Erik pedals along the Embarcadero, he often notices the orange and white boats with the word “PILOT” painted on the side in giant, all caps letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>I’ve seen the boats and I’ve seen them heading out towards the golden gate, but I never thought about the process. What do they do? How does it work?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Erik wants to know everything about the bar pilots. Like, how does the pilot get onto one of those big container ships?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>How big of a boat needs a pilot to come into the bay?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>What kind of training do the pilots go through?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>Has anyone ever gone in the water? I’m sure someone has gone in the water. Maybe a better question is how many times?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>What happens when there’s a storm?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>Do they get hazard pay when they’re out there in a storm?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>After all, some of the ships coming into the bay are truly massive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>It’s like a building is moving along across the water. Those things are huge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>It’s quite a lot of questions, but I’m up to the task. Erik drops me off at Pier 9, where the Bar Pilots are headquartered. It’s the last office out at the end of the pier and sits behind a chain link fence. But once I’m inside, it looks like a fairly typical office building except the views of the bay are stunning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>Anne’s office has the best views in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Captains Cevan Lesieur and Anne McIntyre are showing me around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cevan has been a pilot here for 12 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>This is the best and most interesting waterway to work on from my experience and most challenging. So I always said if I was gonna become a pilot, it’d be in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Challenging because of the currents, the weather, the varied types of waterways and a congested central bay. Bar pilots can be called upon to move cruise ships, oil tankers, cargo ships, even really big yachts. And they have to be able to skillfully maneuver each type of vessel through narrowly dredged channels up the Sacramento and Stockton rivers and around smaller vessels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anne McIntyre: \u003c/strong>We service all nine Bay Area ports. So we take ships all the way up to West Sacramento, to Stockton, down to Redwood City, even down to Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Here’s how it works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every ship over about 150 feet is required by law to use a bar pilot to enter and exit the bay, as well as to move from anchor to port within the bay. The pilots serve about 75-hundred vessels a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most dramatic moment for a bar pilot happens out in the open ocean beyond the Golden Gate Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>We have what we call our station boat or ocean boats. And one is off shore at all times, about 11 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge. And so we have crews out there that rotate every week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>When a large vessel is heading into San Francisco Bay, it meets up with the bar pilot boat out on the ocean and the bar pilot leaps from one to the other — you heard that right — and they are not tied into anything when they do it. Then they climb up a ladder on the outside of the ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>Timing is critical, and especially the worse the weather, the more important timing is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The ships are side-by-side going about 12-miles per hour when the pilot makes his jump. Cevan says there are some weather conditions that make the transfer too dangerous, but it doesn’t happen often…maybe once a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>If it’s not safe you don’t do it, but a lot of people would look at the conditions and not think it’s safe, but we have our own definition of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Once the pilot is on board, he or she communicates with the captain and crew to bring the vessel safely under the Golden Gate Bridge, through the Bay and to its anchorage spot or port berth. The same happens in reverse, except the pilot has to jump off the ladder and onto the pilot boat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every bar pilot I talked to had a harrowing story about open water boarding, but Cevan’s is the funniest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>I was boarding a car ship and the conditions were really bad and the ship and the pilot boat were going up and down and up and down. The wind was so bad, I took like 3 attempts. Finally we came alongside and I was on the platform and I jumped and landed on the deck and was laying there. And the mate looked down, and said you’re f**ing crazy!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Over their long history, pilots \u003cem>have\u003c/em> died and many have gone in the water, but it’s not common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>In the modern era, we have not lost a pilot here. And the last time a pilot went into the water has been several years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>If a pilot does miss the jump, he’s wearing a “float coat” that becomes a life jacket when he hits the water, complete with lights and whistles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And to answer our question asker, no, they don’t get hazard pay. But they are paid well… on average about 500,000 a year — all of that paid by the companies operating the boats they serve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> We’re going to take a quick break, but when we come back we’ll learn how the bar pilots came to be and Katrina gets to shadow a pilot on a real job. Will she make the jump? All that coming up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sponsor message\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>We were on a tour of bar pilot headquarters at Pier 9. Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz found the halls are lined with evidence of the organization’s very \u003cstrong>long\u003c/strong> history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Captains Cevan Lesieur and Anne McIntyre are showing me cool photos and artifacts from bar pilot history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anne McIntyre: \u003c/strong>We have to stop at this one here. This is the original charter from the first California legislative session.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Anne points to an old looking document on the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anne McIntyre: \u003c/strong>The San Francisco Bar Pilots have been around a long time. We were founded in 1850. We’re the second oldest business in San Francisco behind Boudin Bread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The bar pilots are as old as the state of California. Even back in 1850, state legislators understood the future of San Francisco — California even — depended on the safe flow of ships in and out of the Bay. We couldn’t have all these shipwrecks gumming up the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anne McIntyre: \u003c/strong>We were the first act of the first California Legislature. So the first thing the California legislature did was pass the pilotage act happened and that’s what founded the San Francisco Bar Pilots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Back then, the ships coming to San Francisco were mostly sailing vessels. By the end of the century coal-fired steam engines would come on the scene and later diesel engines. Each era required something different from the bar pilots, Cevan tells me. Boarding sailing ships might have been the most physically demanding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>The pilot would get on a little dinghy, and they’d row to the side of the ship, and then you’d climb up the ladder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>He shakes his head at the idea of rowing a dingy through dense fog and huge wake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>You know when I look at the type of weather and conditions we deal with…These people were just tougher than we are nowadays. \u003cem>(Laughs, fade under)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>To become a bar pilot, you have to be a mid-career captain with many years of experience. There’s a written test and a simulator test. Candidates are ranked based on their scores and are then eligible for an apprenticeship with the bar pilots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Carlier: \u003c/strong>You’re going to probably do in the neighborhood of at least 600 jobs under the tutelage of existing pilots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>John Carlier is the President of the Bar Pilots Association. He says there are eight sections in the Bay, each with their own challenges, and the pilots have to learn all of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Carlier: \u003c/strong>And the area starts with the Gulf of the Farallones, works its way through the main bay, down the Redwood City, and all the way up to Stockton and Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Piloting up the rivers here can be especially challenging. The ships are within two feet of the bottom in narrow channels with little room for error. And it takes a long time, about 9 hours from the open ocean to Stockton or Sacramento, so they usually change bar pilots half way to avoid fatigue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite all this training, there have been incidents when ships captained by bar pilots have run into trouble in the Bay. Like in 2007 when an oil tanker clipped one of the Bay Bridge towers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Carlier: \u003c/strong>Yes, that was a bar pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>News clip: \u003c/strong>A 900 foot container ship hit the Bay Bridge tower east of the main anchorage. 58,000 gallons of fuel oil. Countless fragile ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Carlier: \u003c/strong>There was some communication problems between the pilot and the crew as to where the center of the bridge was on their electronic nav equipment which definitely added to you know the the sideswiping of the Delta Tower of the Bay Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Because of that incident, the bar pilots now bring their own GPS navigational equipment on board with them so they don’t have to rely on the vessel’s equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m going to get to see that in action soon, so we start heading towards a boat with the word “pilot” boldly written on its side tied up out back. We clamor aboard. It looks like a fancy speedboat, and head towards Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pilot: \u003c/strong>Where do you want to head to?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>Port of Oakland, George III\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>It takes about 20 minutes to cross the bay and soon our small boat is pulling up alongside a massive containership. This boat is considered “small” by shipping standards and it’s still as tall as a 15 story building from the water up to the top. I now have to step from the bobbing deck of the pilot boat onto a rope ladder dangling from the first deck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sounds of ladder clanking against the ship\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>I had hoped to do the open ocean leap I’d heard so much about. Climbing about 15 feet up this ladder felt pretty tame by comparison. The water in the Oakland estuary was very calm, kinda the training wheels version of this climb. No heroics for me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ship, George the III, brings supplies to the Hawaiian Islands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ed Washburn: \u003c/strong>Everything from medicine to groceries to fertilizer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Ed Washburn is senior vice president of fleet operations with Pasha, Hawaii, the company that owns this vessel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ship runs the same two-week route on repeat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ed Washburn: \u003c/strong>The state of Hawaii has about three to five days of food availability, of shipping stopped. So it’s very sensitive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>It leaves Honolulu mostly empty, carrying a few commodities like rum and macadamia nuts to the mainland. Then it stops in Oakland to pick up cargo, down to Long Beach for more and back to Honolulu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ed Washburn: \u003c/strong>The value of that is about $50 million in cargo each time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ok, should we go up to the bridge?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The bridge is at the top of the ship and it’s where the bar pilot does their work. We walk up A LOT of steps to get there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(sounds of steps under this)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>From up here we have incredible views of the sun setting over the bay and the internal workings of the port.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>This is Christian Barron. He’s also a Cal Maritime graduate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Today, Christian Barron is the bar pilot in charge. But Cevan is hanging out with me, explaining what’s happening so I don’t bug Christian at crucial moments, like when he’s checking in with the captain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>Once the tugs have been made fast and the engine’s been tested we can get rolling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Captain Eric Veloni: \u003c/strong>The engine has been tested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>These massive ships are hard to maneuver, so pilots use tugboats to pull the ship off the dock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Radio sounds: \u003c/strong>Captain, this is the chief engineer. Show of power. Cables secured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Captain Eric Veloni: \u003c/strong>Roger, Dave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Christian checks in with Vessel Traffic Services, basically air traffic control for boats, to let them know his plan and find out if there are other vessels in the shipping lanes he needs to be aware of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Traffic, good evening, 4-5. Preparing to depart Oakland 55 starboard side two bound for sea. Deep draft 32 feet two inches. Tend to Delta-Echo span and deep water traffic lane Working my tugs on 20 Alpha.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>VTS Operator:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Roger, copy that, 4-5. George the third preparing to get underway from Oakland…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Nothing to worry about. There’s a fair amount of waiting as the crew gets in position and the port workers untie the boat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>All clear forward\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>And then we get going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron:\u003c/strong> All clear fore and aft, stand clear of your tuglines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Artemis and Apollo are the names of the tugboats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>Ok, ready to go. Artemis stop and stretch. Apollo stop and stretch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>As Christian gives orders, the massive container ship starts to slowly move away from the dock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>It’s kinda anticlimactic when you have 90 ton boats and no wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Once the tugboats are secured and ready to go, the whole procedure only takes about ten minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz (in scene): \u003c/strong>It is a little anticlimactic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Captain Eric Veloni: \u003c/strong>We love boring when it comes to this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz (in scene):\u003c/strong> I didn’t even realize we were moving at first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Port sounds\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz (in scene): \u003c/strong>You pushed off, what’s the next thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>I’ll give a command for dead slow ahead. We’ll confirm the engines come up to rpm and then we’ll put the tugs in position so they can follow along so they’re not impeding us, but can still affect the boat if we have an engine or steering failure they can still maneuver the vessel if need be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Then he’ll check in with traffic again to let them know he’s underway and get any updates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>And then we’ll start casting off tugs once we get about half a mile from here and start bringing her up to speed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz (in scene): \u003c/strong>Anything you’re particularly concerned about tonight?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>Tonight, no. We have a little bit of current at the bar, so I just need to make sure I time my turns correctly, use enough rudder, engine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Unfortunately, the bar pilots were not keen on me following Christian all the way out into the open ocean to disembark at 9 knots onto the pilot boat. Instead, we’ll be going back down the ladder in the Oakland estuary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Thanks, nice to meet you all. Safe voyage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Captain Eric Veloni: \u003c/strong>Be safe on the ladder!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>We tramp down many flights of stairs, back to the lowest deck and our ladder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>It should be easier going down, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sounds of clanking\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pilot boat crew: \u003c/strong>You’re two from the bottom…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>As we head back towards the Ferry Building, the sun’s last glow seeping from the sky, I’m struck by the vastness of the Bay as the darkness encroaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m heading home to my warm bed. But a crew of bar pilots is waiting 11 miles offshore rain or shine. At their best, their work is invisible to us. We only notice the stocked shelves, cruise ships at their berths and fuel at the gas station. Our entire city works because they do. Guiding ship after ship through the fog and to safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sound of the pilot boat motoring back to the Embarcadero\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>That was Bay Curious editor and producer, Katrina Schwartz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thanks to the KQED Members whose support made this episode possible! If you’d like to become a member, visit donate.kqed.org/podcasts to get started. It only takes a minute and comes with some nice perks. We’ll drop the link in our show notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen-Price. With extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "San Francisco Bay is notorious in the shipping world for its tricky waters. That’s why bar pilots — specially trained mariners — board every ship entering or exiting the bay and guide it to safety.",
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"title": "Why Specialized Mariners Are Required on Every Ship Sailing Into San Francisco Bay | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a sunny day, the beauty of San Francisco Bay rivals almost any place in the world. The stately bridges boldly cross its watery expanse, dreamy islands call out for exploration, green or golden hills rise up on all sides and the twinkling lights of the city sparkle in the distance. But on a foggy, windy day, that same paradise can be treacherous for ships coming in and out of the Golden Gate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why all ships over 750 gross tons — about 150 feet or longer — are required to use a special mariner who knows the local conditions when they enter or exit the bay. Known as bar pilots, these local guides board vessels about 11 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge, take charge of the ship and guide it safely under the bridges and through the bay to its anchorage spot or port berth. They also help move vessels within the bay, like from anchorage to port, for example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erik Udd often sees the bar pilot speedboat depart from Pier 9, where the bar pilots are headquartered, as he cycles his pedicab along the Embarcadero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve seen the boats, and I’ve seen them heading out towards the Golden Gate, but I never thought about the process,” Udd said. So he asked Bay Curious: “What do they do? How does it work? Do they get hazard pay when they’re out there in a storm?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How the bar pilots came to be\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are a lot of reasons San Francisco Bay is a tricky port to enter. First, there’s a large sandbar outside the mouth of the Golden Gate with only a narrow channel through it that’s deep enough for ships to navigate. Then there’s the weather — dense fog, strong winds and winter storms. Lastly, the currents can be deadly and pull ships off course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For all these reasons, many Gold Rush-era ships foundered and sank on their way into the bay. And sunken ships are bad for the flow of commerce. They create additional maritime hazards and gum up the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089870\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12089870 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-22-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-22-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-22-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-22-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pilot boat operator navigates a pilot boat in the San Francisco Bay. The pilots guide large ships along California’s coast to ports in San Francisco Bay and beyond. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089871\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089871\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-28-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-28-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-28-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-28-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ships sit at anchor in the San Francisco Bay in areas known as ‘anchor buckets,’ where commercial vessels can remain for extended periods. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The San Francisco Bar Pilots have been around a long time,” said Anne McIntyre, business director for the San Francisco Bar Pilots. “We were founded in 1850. The first thing the California legislature did was pass the Pilotage Act, and that’s what founded the San Francisco Bar Pilots.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evidence of this long history lines the walls of bar pilot headquarters at Pier 9. The first ships they served were sailing ships, but soon steam-powered vessels came on the scene, and eventually, diesel engines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Capt. Cevan LeSieur points to historic photos of early bar pilot boats at the San Francisco Bar Pilots headquarters in San Francisco. The San Francisco Bar Pilot Association was founded in 1850 and is one of the oldest maritime organizations on the Pacific Coast. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the early days, “the pilot would get on a little dinghy, and they’d row to the side of the ship, and then climb up the ladder,” said Captain Cevan Lesieur, a bar pilot with more than 10 years of experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has piloted hundreds of ships through the bay’s waters and shook his head at the idea of one man braving the fog and wind alone in a boat powered only by his own strength.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know when I look at the type of weather and conditions we deal with, these people were just tougher than we are nowadays,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s it like being a bar pilot today?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That’s not to say being a bar pilot today is easy. They have to navigate many types of waterways – including through the open ocean, up and down the Stockton and Sacramento rivers, under several bridges and through a congested central bay. They also pilot all kinds of vessels from massive cargo ships to cruise ships, tankers to bulkers, yachts to car ships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most harrowing part of a bar pilot’s job is open water boarding. Here’s how it works: when a ship approaches San Francisco from the open ocean, it meets up with a station boat that’s always waiting 11 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge. The crew on that boat rotates weekly, but the bar pilots work 365 days a year in all weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-34-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-34-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-34-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-34-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Capt. Cevan LeSieur (left) prepares to board the Pasha Hawaii ship George III at the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089879\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089879\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"847\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-2000x662.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-1536x508.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych4-2048x678.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A bar pilot boat pulls up next to the Pasha Hawaii ship George III at the Port of Oakland. Right: Capt. Cevan LeSieur boards the Pasha Hawaii ship George III. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the ship approaches, it slows down to 9 knots — about 12 miles per hour — and the pilot boat comes alongside at the same speed. Then, timing the jump carefully, the bar pilot leaps across and grabs onto a ladder hanging on the side of the ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are not tied into anything when they make this jump. When a ship leaves for sea, this process is reversed, with the bar pilot jumping from the ladder to the moving deck of the pilot boat.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Getting on can be tricky, and people have gone in the water,” said John Carlier, the president of the bar pilots association and a man with more than 30 years on the job. “But getting off and trying to get that small landing area on that deck while that boat’s surfing past you can be a bit sketchy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a pilot does go in the water, he’s wearing a “float coat,” which turns into a lifejacket when it hits the water, complete with lights and a safety whistle. Pilots make the jump in all kinds of weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it’s not safe, you don’t do it, but a lot of people would look at the conditions and not think it’s safe, but we have our own definition of it,” Lesieur said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He estimated that it’s only about once a year that the weather is so bad that the pilot can’t make the jump. If that happens, the pilot has to stay on the ship until the next port of call and then fly home, and no one wants that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our question asker, Erik Udd, was interested in knowing if bar pilots receive hazard pay during bad weather, and the answer is no. But they are paid well — in the mid-six figures on average. They are paid by the shipping companies that use their services. There’s a \u003ca href=\"https://sfbarpilots.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Pilotage-Rates.pdf\">rate structure\u003c/a> based on the tonnage of the ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Becoming a bar pilot\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To become a bar pilot, a person must be a mid-career captain with decades of experience already. There’s a written test and a simulator test. Based on those scores, candidates are ranked on a list from which the bar pilots pull when apprenticeships open up. Once in the training program, most people spend close to two years shadowing more experienced pilots and learning all the different routes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The area starts with the Gulf of the Farallones, works its way through the main bay, down the Redwood City, and all the way up to Stockton and Sacramento,” Carlier said. “There’s eight different sections. You’re going to do in the neighborhood of at least 600 jobs under the tutelage of existing pilots.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089872\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-57-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-57-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-57-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-57-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bar pilot Capt. Cevan LeSieur stands on the bridge of the Pasha Hawaii ship George III while docked at the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They also have to learn by heart over 670 aids to navigation — the lights and buoys — as well as the depth charts for the entire 5,000-square-mile area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the expertise and local knowledge of the bar pilots, there have been instances when they made mistakes with devastating consequences. In 2007, a ship with a bar pilot in charge \u003ca href=\"https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/remembering-cosco-busan-overview-2007-oil-spill\">clipped one of the Bay Bridge towers\u003c/a> and 58,000 gallons of fuel oil spilled into the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were some communication problems between the pilot and the crew as to where the center of the bridge was on their electronic [navigation] equipment, which definitely added to the sideswiping of the Delta Tower of the Bay Bridge,” Carlier said. “We actually bring our own electronic navigation equipment with us on board now. We also bring our GPS antennas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bar pilots at work\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The container ships that dock at the Port of Oakland to load and unload cargo are massive. The largest ones are as long as the Salesforce Tower is tall, but even more modestly sized ones are huge. The bar pilots have had to adapt as the ships have gotten bigger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pashahawaii.com/services/vessels/george-iii\">George III is a container ship\u003c/a> operated by Pasha Hawaii that brings supplies to the Hawaiian Islands. It runs the same route every two weeks, leaving Honolulu mostly empty save for a few commodities like macadamia nuts and rum, stops in Oakland to take on cargo and then heads down to Long Beach for more, before returning to Hawaii.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089946\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089946\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GraphBarPilots.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1079\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GraphBarPilots.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GraphBarPilots-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/GraphBarPilots-1536x1036.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many of the ships operating in the bay are as long as a skyscraper is tall. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the San Francisco Bar Pilots)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The state of Hawaii has about three to five days of food availability if shipping stopped,” said Ed Washburn, senior vice president of fleet operations. “So it’s very sensitive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crew of the ship signs on for long stints, 10 to 14 weeks, but then gets just as much time off on land. When they’re on board, they work as a team to keep ship operations running smoothly, the loads balanced, and the engines purring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George III is a unique vessel because it runs on both diesel fuel and \u003ca href=\"https://www.pashahawaii.com/news-media/news/571/pasha-hawaii-marks-historic-milestone-mv-george-iii-first-lng-powered\">natural gas\u003c/a>, making it a cleaner vessel, but also one with more specific engineering needs. The crew eats, sleeps and works in shifts, building a strong sense of camaraderie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089873\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089873\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-60-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-60-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-60-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-60-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crew member on the Pasha Hawaii ship George III works on the bridge while docked at the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089878\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"846\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-2000x661.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-Diptych03-BL-2048x676.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Mark Bancroft, a second assistant engineer, works in the engine room of the Pasha Hawaii ship George III while docked at the Port of Oakland. Right: Crew members eat dinner on the George III before departing the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When it’s time to push off for sea, the bar pilot boards the ship and heads towards the ship’s bridge, at the top of the vessel. From there, he checks in with the captain, makes sure the equipment has all been tested and communicates with tugboats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kinda anticlimactic when you have 90-ton boats and no wind,” said Christian Barron, the bar pilot on duty as George III slowly inched away from the dock. “We’ll start casting off tugs once we get about half a mile from here and start bringing her up to speed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089875\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089875\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-83-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-83-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-83-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-83-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco bar pilot Christian Barron works on the Pasha Hawaii ship George III before departing the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089874\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089874\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-72-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-72-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-72-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-72-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bar pilot boat is docked at the Port of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089876\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089876\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-101-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-101-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-101-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260114-BarPilots-101-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Views of the San Francisco skyline from a bar pilot boat. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once the ship was safely out of San Francisco Bay, Christian climbed down the ladder and jumped onto the station boat, where he waited for the next ship needing his services to arrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the bar pilots are doing their jobs well, we landlubbers might not even know they exist. We only see the stocked grocery shelves, fuel at the gas pump and cruise ships awaiting passengers at the pier. But to make all of that happen, a bar pilot is working day or night, rain or shine, fog or no, to bring ships safely to port.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> If you ask mariners, they’ll tell you, navigating a boat from the open ocean into the San Francisco Bay is notoriously treacherous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s the dense fog that can make it hard to see. Strong currents constantly rearrange the sea floor, and can quickly throw a vessel off course. And finally – our bridges! If a boat were to strike a pillar it could be\u003cem> catastrophic. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why captains of big ships aren’t allowed to navigate into port on their own. A specially trained mariner called a \u003cem>bar pilot\u003c/em> – hops aboard every ship that comes into San Francisco Bay, and takes over command.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We got a question about those bar pilots, so we sent Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz to the Embarcadero to meet the man who asked it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Erik Udd said he’d meet me at the Embarcadero BART station. When I emerged on the escalator he was waiting for me, sitting at the helm of a pedicab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>It’s a great retirement job, I get exercise, it is perfect for me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>While we talk, he’s giving me a ride in his pedicab over to Pier 9…near the Exploratorium…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>Oh, there goes a boat right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>While Erik pedals along the Embarcadero, he often notices the orange and white boats with the word “PILOT” painted on the side in giant, all caps letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>I’ve seen the boats and I’ve seen them heading out towards the golden gate, but I never thought about the process. What do they do? How does it work?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Erik wants to know everything about the bar pilots. Like, how does the pilot get onto one of those big container ships?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>How big of a boat needs a pilot to come into the bay?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>What kind of training do the pilots go through?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>Has anyone ever gone in the water? I’m sure someone has gone in the water. Maybe a better question is how many times?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>What happens when there’s a storm?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>Do they get hazard pay when they’re out there in a storm?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>After all, some of the ships coming into the bay are truly massive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erik Udd: \u003c/strong>It’s like a building is moving along across the water. Those things are huge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>It’s quite a lot of questions, but I’m up to the task. Erik drops me off at Pier 9, where the Bar Pilots are headquartered. It’s the last office out at the end of the pier and sits behind a chain link fence. But once I’m inside, it looks like a fairly typical office building except the views of the bay are stunning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>Anne’s office has the best views in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Captains Cevan Lesieur and Anne McIntyre are showing me around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cevan has been a pilot here for 12 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>This is the best and most interesting waterway to work on from my experience and most challenging. So I always said if I was gonna become a pilot, it’d be in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Challenging because of the currents, the weather, the varied types of waterways and a congested central bay. Bar pilots can be called upon to move cruise ships, oil tankers, cargo ships, even really big yachts. And they have to be able to skillfully maneuver each type of vessel through narrowly dredged channels up the Sacramento and Stockton rivers and around smaller vessels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anne McIntyre: \u003c/strong>We service all nine Bay Area ports. So we take ships all the way up to West Sacramento, to Stockton, down to Redwood City, even down to Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Here’s how it works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every ship over about 150 feet is required by law to use a bar pilot to enter and exit the bay, as well as to move from anchor to port within the bay. The pilots serve about 75-hundred vessels a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most dramatic moment for a bar pilot happens out in the open ocean beyond the Golden Gate Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>We have what we call our station boat or ocean boats. And one is off shore at all times, about 11 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge. And so we have crews out there that rotate every week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>When a large vessel is heading into San Francisco Bay, it meets up with the bar pilot boat out on the ocean and the bar pilot leaps from one to the other — you heard that right — and they are not tied into anything when they do it. Then they climb up a ladder on the outside of the ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>Timing is critical, and especially the worse the weather, the more important timing is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The ships are side-by-side going about 12-miles per hour when the pilot makes his jump. Cevan says there are some weather conditions that make the transfer too dangerous, but it doesn’t happen often…maybe once a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>If it’s not safe you don’t do it, but a lot of people would look at the conditions and not think it’s safe, but we have our own definition of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Once the pilot is on board, he or she communicates with the captain and crew to bring the vessel safely under the Golden Gate Bridge, through the Bay and to its anchorage spot or port berth. The same happens in reverse, except the pilot has to jump off the ladder and onto the pilot boat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every bar pilot I talked to had a harrowing story about open water boarding, but Cevan’s is the funniest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>I was boarding a car ship and the conditions were really bad and the ship and the pilot boat were going up and down and up and down. The wind was so bad, I took like 3 attempts. Finally we came alongside and I was on the platform and I jumped and landed on the deck and was laying there. And the mate looked down, and said you’re f**ing crazy!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Over their long history, pilots \u003cem>have\u003c/em> died and many have gone in the water, but it’s not common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>In the modern era, we have not lost a pilot here. And the last time a pilot went into the water has been several years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>If a pilot does miss the jump, he’s wearing a “float coat” that becomes a life jacket when he hits the water, complete with lights and whistles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And to answer our question asker, no, they don’t get hazard pay. But they are paid well… on average about 500,000 a year — all of that paid by the companies operating the boats they serve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> We’re going to take a quick break, but when we come back we’ll learn how the bar pilots came to be and Katrina gets to shadow a pilot on a real job. Will she make the jump? All that coming up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sponsor message\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>We were on a tour of bar pilot headquarters at Pier 9. Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz found the halls are lined with evidence of the organization’s very \u003cstrong>long\u003c/strong> history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Captains Cevan Lesieur and Anne McIntyre are showing me cool photos and artifacts from bar pilot history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anne McIntyre: \u003c/strong>We have to stop at this one here. This is the original charter from the first California legislative session.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Anne points to an old looking document on the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anne McIntyre: \u003c/strong>The San Francisco Bar Pilots have been around a long time. We were founded in 1850. We’re the second oldest business in San Francisco behind Boudin Bread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The bar pilots are as old as the state of California. Even back in 1850, state legislators understood the future of San Francisco — California even — depended on the safe flow of ships in and out of the Bay. We couldn’t have all these shipwrecks gumming up the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anne McIntyre: \u003c/strong>We were the first act of the first California Legislature. So the first thing the California legislature did was pass the pilotage act happened and that’s what founded the San Francisco Bar Pilots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Back then, the ships coming to San Francisco were mostly sailing vessels. By the end of the century coal-fired steam engines would come on the scene and later diesel engines. Each era required something different from the bar pilots, Cevan tells me. Boarding sailing ships might have been the most physically demanding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>The pilot would get on a little dinghy, and they’d row to the side of the ship, and then you’d climb up the ladder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>He shakes his head at the idea of rowing a dingy through dense fog and huge wake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>You know when I look at the type of weather and conditions we deal with…These people were just tougher than we are nowadays. \u003cem>(Laughs, fade under)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>To become a bar pilot, you have to be a mid-career captain with many years of experience. There’s a written test and a simulator test. Candidates are ranked based on their scores and are then eligible for an apprenticeship with the bar pilots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Carlier: \u003c/strong>You’re going to probably do in the neighborhood of at least 600 jobs under the tutelage of existing pilots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>John Carlier is the President of the Bar Pilots Association. He says there are eight sections in the Bay, each with their own challenges, and the pilots have to learn all of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Carlier: \u003c/strong>And the area starts with the Gulf of the Farallones, works its way through the main bay, down the Redwood City, and all the way up to Stockton and Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Piloting up the rivers here can be especially challenging. The ships are within two feet of the bottom in narrow channels with little room for error. And it takes a long time, about 9 hours from the open ocean to Stockton or Sacramento, so they usually change bar pilots half way to avoid fatigue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite all this training, there have been incidents when ships captained by bar pilots have run into trouble in the Bay. Like in 2007 when an oil tanker clipped one of the Bay Bridge towers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Carlier: \u003c/strong>Yes, that was a bar pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>News clip: \u003c/strong>A 900 foot container ship hit the Bay Bridge tower east of the main anchorage. 58,000 gallons of fuel oil. Countless fragile ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Carlier: \u003c/strong>There was some communication problems between the pilot and the crew as to where the center of the bridge was on their electronic nav equipment which definitely added to you know the the sideswiping of the Delta Tower of the Bay Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Because of that incident, the bar pilots now bring their own GPS navigational equipment on board with them so they don’t have to rely on the vessel’s equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m going to get to see that in action soon, so we start heading towards a boat with the word “pilot” boldly written on its side tied up out back. We clamor aboard. It looks like a fancy speedboat, and head towards Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pilot: \u003c/strong>Where do you want to head to?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>Port of Oakland, George III\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>It takes about 20 minutes to cross the bay and soon our small boat is pulling up alongside a massive containership. This boat is considered “small” by shipping standards and it’s still as tall as a 15 story building from the water up to the top. I now have to step from the bobbing deck of the pilot boat onto a rope ladder dangling from the first deck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sounds of ladder clanking against the ship\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>I had hoped to do the open ocean leap I’d heard so much about. Climbing about 15 feet up this ladder felt pretty tame by comparison. The water in the Oakland estuary was very calm, kinda the training wheels version of this climb. No heroics for me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ship, George the III, brings supplies to the Hawaiian Islands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ed Washburn: \u003c/strong>Everything from medicine to groceries to fertilizer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Ed Washburn is senior vice president of fleet operations with Pasha, Hawaii, the company that owns this vessel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ship runs the same two-week route on repeat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ed Washburn: \u003c/strong>The state of Hawaii has about three to five days of food availability, of shipping stopped. So it’s very sensitive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>It leaves Honolulu mostly empty, carrying a few commodities like rum and macadamia nuts to the mainland. Then it stops in Oakland to pick up cargo, down to Long Beach for more and back to Honolulu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ed Washburn: \u003c/strong>The value of that is about $50 million in cargo each time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ok, should we go up to the bridge?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The bridge is at the top of the ship and it’s where the bar pilot does their work. We walk up A LOT of steps to get there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(sounds of steps under this)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>From up here we have incredible views of the sun setting over the bay and the internal workings of the port.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>This is Christian Barron. He’s also a Cal Maritime graduate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Today, Christian Barron is the bar pilot in charge. But Cevan is hanging out with me, explaining what’s happening so I don’t bug Christian at crucial moments, like when he’s checking in with the captain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cevan Lesieur: \u003c/strong>Once the tugs have been made fast and the engine’s been tested we can get rolling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Captain Eric Veloni: \u003c/strong>The engine has been tested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>These massive ships are hard to maneuver, so pilots use tugboats to pull the ship off the dock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Radio sounds: \u003c/strong>Captain, this is the chief engineer. Show of power. Cables secured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Captain Eric Veloni: \u003c/strong>Roger, Dave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Christian checks in with Vessel Traffic Services, basically air traffic control for boats, to let them know his plan and find out if there are other vessels in the shipping lanes he needs to be aware of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Traffic, good evening, 4-5. Preparing to depart Oakland 55 starboard side two bound for sea. Deep draft 32 feet two inches. Tend to Delta-Echo span and deep water traffic lane Working my tugs on 20 Alpha.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>VTS Operator:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Roger, copy that, 4-5. George the third preparing to get underway from Oakland…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Nothing to worry about. There’s a fair amount of waiting as the crew gets in position and the port workers untie the boat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>All clear forward\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>And then we get going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron:\u003c/strong> All clear fore and aft, stand clear of your tuglines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Artemis and Apollo are the names of the tugboats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>Ok, ready to go. Artemis stop and stretch. Apollo stop and stretch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>As Christian gives orders, the massive container ship starts to slowly move away from the dock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>It’s kinda anticlimactic when you have 90 ton boats and no wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Once the tugboats are secured and ready to go, the whole procedure only takes about ten minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz (in scene): \u003c/strong>It is a little anticlimactic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Captain Eric Veloni: \u003c/strong>We love boring when it comes to this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz (in scene):\u003c/strong> I didn’t even realize we were moving at first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Port sounds\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz (in scene): \u003c/strong>You pushed off, what’s the next thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>I’ll give a command for dead slow ahead. We’ll confirm the engines come up to rpm and then we’ll put the tugs in position so they can follow along so they’re not impeding us, but can still affect the boat if we have an engine or steering failure they can still maneuver the vessel if need be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Then he’ll check in with traffic again to let them know he’s underway and get any updates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>And then we’ll start casting off tugs once we get about half a mile from here and start bringing her up to speed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz (in scene): \u003c/strong>Anything you’re particularly concerned about tonight?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christian Barron: \u003c/strong>Tonight, no. We have a little bit of current at the bar, so I just need to make sure I time my turns correctly, use enough rudder, engine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Unfortunately, the bar pilots were not keen on me following Christian all the way out into the open ocean to disembark at 9 knots onto the pilot boat. Instead, we’ll be going back down the ladder in the Oakland estuary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Thanks, nice to meet you all. Safe voyage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Captain Eric Veloni: \u003c/strong>Be safe on the ladder!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>We tramp down many flights of stairs, back to the lowest deck and our ladder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>It should be easier going down, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sounds of clanking\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pilot boat crew: \u003c/strong>You’re two from the bottom…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>As we head back towards the Ferry Building, the sun’s last glow seeping from the sky, I’m struck by the vastness of the Bay as the darkness encroaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m heading home to my warm bed. But a crew of bar pilots is waiting 11 miles offshore rain or shine. At their best, their work is invisible to us. We only notice the stocked shelves, cruise ships at their berths and fuel at the gas station. Our entire city works because they do. Guiding ship after ship through the fog and to safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sound of the pilot boat motoring back to the Embarcadero\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>That was Bay Curious editor and producer, Katrina Schwartz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thanks to the KQED Members whose support made this episode possible! If you’d like to become a member, visit donate.kqed.org/podcasts to get started. It only takes a minute and comes with some nice perks. We’ll drop the link in our show notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen-Price. With extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As record-breaking heat waves sweep across the U.S. and Europe, San Francisco Supervisor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/rafael-mandelman\">Rafael Mandelman\u003c/a> wants to make sure the city is prepared, in case an extreme heat event comes its way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mandelman called for a hearing on Tuesday to discuss the progress — or lack thereof— of San Francisco’s Heat and Air Quality Resilience Plan. Mandelman said that although the city released the plan in 2023, many of its strategies have yet to be implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is warming the Bay, experts warned, and \u003ca href=\"https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-study/burning-issues-cool-solutions-san-francisco%E2%80%99s-heat-and-air-quality-resilience-plan\">Cal-Adapt’s High Emissions Scenario\u003c/a> predicts that by 2050, San Francisco will see twice as many extreme heat events per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000299/a-delight-mare-bay-area-sizzles-march-heat-wave-could-shatter-records\">hit a record-breaking\u003c/a> 90 degrees Fahrenheit — the highest temperature recorded in the month of March in the past 152 years, according to Mandelman’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rishee Jain, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, said that “just like wildfires have become a California annual occurrence, I think this is going to be an annual occurrence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062093\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062093\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251029-SNAP-PRESSER-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251029-SNAP-PRESSER-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251029-SNAP-PRESSER-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251029-SNAP-PRESSER-MD-05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman speaks at a press event in front of San Francisco City Hall on Oct. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mandelman said that San Francisco residents are extra vulnerable given their lack of exposure to extreme heat. “San Francisco has less air conditioning than any major city in the country,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also cited the city Department of Public Health, which estimates that “the risk of hospitalization and death here starts climbing at 85 degrees, an unremarkable temperature by California standards — because our bodies and our buildings are unprepared for that kind of heat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noah Diffenbaugh, a professor and senior fellow at Stanford University, said that humans can adapt to a variety of climates, and what’s safe for some humans can be disastrous for others. “It’s really relative to what we’re accustomed to and what we’re prepared for,” he continued.[aside postID=news_12076584 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/02/RS4903_marajuanasales-e1550105105781.jpg']Even within San Francisco, the risk is not evenly distributed, Mandelman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When heat arrives in San Francisco, it hits hardest in neighborhoods like SoMa, Bayview-Hunters Point and Chinatown — urban heat islands that run significantly hotter than surrounding areas and whose residents are the least likely to have access to cooling,” he explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the day, Diffenbaugh said, “resilience to severe heat really comes down to preparation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jain said that in order to prepare for extreme heat, San Francisco may need to revisit its infrastructure. “Many of our buildings are designed to keep heat in because it’s notoriously cold here,” he said. He explained that because they’re designed to keep the heat in, buildings can stay hot inside even after the heat breaks outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said another solution could involve making it easier to get cool air back into buildings. “Most people in San Francisco still get to use Karl as their primary source of cooling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So a big part of this is also thinking about how we can harness that cooling power even on days that it does get hot,” Jain continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077503\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077503\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GettyImages-2266506019-scaled-e1783536611934.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People flock to Baker Beach near the Golden Gate Bridge as heat advisory issued in San Francisco, California, on March 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Diffenbaugh also offered solutions such as installing air conditioning, having warning systems, designating cooling centers for heat waves, and getting vulnerable people access to those centers when the heat waves come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mandelman’s office said that although the hearing isn’t officially scheduled yet, he’s aiming for July 23.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Mandelman said that the hearing will answer one question: “When an extreme heat event strikes again — because it is a question of when, and not if — is San Francisco in a better place to respond?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As record-breaking heat waves sweep across the U.S. and Europe, San Francisco Supervisor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/rafael-mandelman\">Rafael Mandelman\u003c/a> wants to make sure the city is prepared, in case an extreme heat event comes its way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mandelman called for a hearing on Tuesday to discuss the progress — or lack thereof— of San Francisco’s Heat and Air Quality Resilience Plan. Mandelman said that although the city released the plan in 2023, many of its strategies have yet to be implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is warming the Bay, experts warned, and \u003ca href=\"https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-study/burning-issues-cool-solutions-san-francisco%E2%80%99s-heat-and-air-quality-resilience-plan\">Cal-Adapt’s High Emissions Scenario\u003c/a> predicts that by 2050, San Francisco will see twice as many extreme heat events per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000299/a-delight-mare-bay-area-sizzles-march-heat-wave-could-shatter-records\">hit a record-breaking\u003c/a> 90 degrees Fahrenheit — the highest temperature recorded in the month of March in the past 152 years, according to Mandelman’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rishee Jain, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, said that “just like wildfires have become a California annual occurrence, I think this is going to be an annual occurrence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062093\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062093\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251029-SNAP-PRESSER-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251029-SNAP-PRESSER-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251029-SNAP-PRESSER-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251029-SNAP-PRESSER-MD-05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman speaks at a press event in front of San Francisco City Hall on Oct. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mandelman said that San Francisco residents are extra vulnerable given their lack of exposure to extreme heat. “San Francisco has less air conditioning than any major city in the country,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also cited the city Department of Public Health, which estimates that “the risk of hospitalization and death here starts climbing at 85 degrees, an unremarkable temperature by California standards — because our bodies and our buildings are unprepared for that kind of heat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noah Diffenbaugh, a professor and senior fellow at Stanford University, said that humans can adapt to a variety of climates, and what’s safe for some humans can be disastrous for others. “It’s really relative to what we’re accustomed to and what we’re prepared for,” he continued.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Even within San Francisco, the risk is not evenly distributed, Mandelman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When heat arrives in San Francisco, it hits hardest in neighborhoods like SoMa, Bayview-Hunters Point and Chinatown — urban heat islands that run significantly hotter than surrounding areas and whose residents are the least likely to have access to cooling,” he explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the day, Diffenbaugh said, “resilience to severe heat really comes down to preparation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jain said that in order to prepare for extreme heat, San Francisco may need to revisit its infrastructure. “Many of our buildings are designed to keep heat in because it’s notoriously cold here,” he said. He explained that because they’re designed to keep the heat in, buildings can stay hot inside even after the heat breaks outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said another solution could involve making it easier to get cool air back into buildings. “Most people in San Francisco still get to use Karl as their primary source of cooling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So a big part of this is also thinking about how we can harness that cooling power even on days that it does get hot,” Jain continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077503\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077503\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GettyImages-2266506019-scaled-e1783536611934.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People flock to Baker Beach near the Golden Gate Bridge as heat advisory issued in San Francisco, California, on March 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Diffenbaugh also offered solutions such as installing air conditioning, having warning systems, designating cooling centers for heat waves, and getting vulnerable people access to those centers when the heat waves come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mandelman’s office said that although the hearing isn’t officially scheduled yet, he’s aiming for July 23.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Mandelman said that the hearing will answer one question: “When an extreme heat event strikes again — because it is a question of when, and not if — is San Francisco in a better place to respond?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "San Francisco CEO Gets 6 Years for Scheme to Sell Adderall Online",
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"content": "\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco-based\u003c/a> telehealth company’s top executives were sentenced to years in prison on Tuesday over a $100 million scheme to fraudulently distribute Adderall and other stimulants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ruthia He, the founder and CEO of Done Global, and David Brody, its clinical president, were convicted of conspiring to commit healthcare fraud and distributing controlled substances to people without a medical need and conspiring to defraud pharmacies, along with Medicaid, Medicare and commercial insurers, to dispense stimulants in violation of their corresponding responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was handed down the six-year sentence, followed by three years of supervised release, though Judge Charles Breyer said she was likely to be deported after her release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He, who came to the U.S. from China 14 years ago, told the court tearfully that she had wanted to contribute and make a positive impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brody, 70, was given a shorter two-year sentence, followed by three years of supervised release. His lawyer, Roberto Escobar, said he planned to appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to his sentencing, he said he was remorseful for his actions and asked to be sentenced to home confinement. His defense counsel said he had spent three decades providing mental-health care to underserved communities in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was faced with a challenging situational operation, and I chose poorly,” he told Breyer. “I relied too heavily on my own judgment. At the very moment when outside input would have made a crucial difference, I failed to engage others. I also owe an apology to the patients and staff of Done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12003275\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12003275\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The U.S. Department of Justice headquarters, pictured on Sept. 5, 2024. \u003ccite>(J. David Ake/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Both will be fined $1 million, in addition to restitution to the families of victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pair spearheaded the online mental health treatment venture to provide easy access to Adderall, Vyvanse and other stimulants. The Department of Justice alleged that they took advantage of eased restrictions on prescribing controlled substances without in-person consultations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The defendants allegedly preyed on Americans and put profits over patients by exploiting telemedicine rules that facilitated access to medications during the unprecedented COVID-19 public health emergency,” Anne Milgram, then-administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a statement after their arrests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the beginning of the pandemic, the company arranged for the prescription of more than 40 million pills, according to court documents.[aside postID=news_12089481 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-17-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg']“Instead of properly addressing medical needs, the defendants allegedly made millions of dollars by pushing addictive medications,” Milgram said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the company’s now-defunct website, Brody \u003ca href=\"https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/442850-23\">co-founded\u003c/a> Done Global in 2019, calling it a “passion project” to help friends and coworkers in need of mental-health care navigate a complex system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The startup promoted a quick and easy process to become a monthly subscriber: members completed a one-minute assessment, followed by a telehealth appointment with a licensed clinician before paying the $79 monthly fee for “worry-free refills” and ongoing care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, major pharmacies stopped filling prescriptions from prescribers at Done, and another online mental health company, Cerebral — which also came under federal investigation — after reports that some healthcare professionals felt pressured into diagnoses. In 2024, Cerebral agreed to pay more than $3.6 million “for engaging in practices that encouraged the unauthorized distribution of controlled substances” as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/telehealth-company-cerebral-agrees-pay-over-36-million-connection-business-practices\">non-prosecution agreement\u003c/a> with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Done faced similar scrutiny, and according to court documents, paid medical professionals to diagnose members with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and write them prescriptions for Adderall and other stimulants, even when people did not qualify for the medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and Brody, among others at the company, created policies including limiting the information available to prescribers, instructing them to issue Adderall and other stimulants even if the Done member did not qualify, and limiting appointments to under 30 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Justice alleged that they falsely represented their prescription policies, claiming that they were able to keep appointments short with a screening process designed to weed out people who were unlikely to qualify for a diagnosis — a factor that could have diverted Adderall from people who needed it amid a nationwide shortage that began in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DOJ also claimed that the company continued to operate even after He and Brody became aware that information had been posted on social media instructing people to use Done to gain easy access to stimulants — and that some members had overdosed and died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Kimberly Atwood told Breyer and the court that her brother Michael had died after he was misdiagnosed by a Done provider and relapsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have a mistrust of doctors now,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/adahlstromeckman\">\u003cem>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Instead of properly addressing medical needs, the defendants allegedly made millions of dollars by pushing addictive medications,” Milgram said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the company’s now-defunct website, Brody \u003ca href=\"https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/442850-23\">co-founded\u003c/a> Done Global in 2019, calling it a “passion project” to help friends and coworkers in need of mental-health care navigate a complex system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The startup promoted a quick and easy process to become a monthly subscriber: members completed a one-minute assessment, followed by a telehealth appointment with a licensed clinician before paying the $79 monthly fee for “worry-free refills” and ongoing care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, major pharmacies stopped filling prescriptions from prescribers at Done, and another online mental health company, Cerebral — which also came under federal investigation — after reports that some healthcare professionals felt pressured into diagnoses. In 2024, Cerebral agreed to pay more than $3.6 million “for engaging in practices that encouraged the unauthorized distribution of controlled substances” as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/telehealth-company-cerebral-agrees-pay-over-36-million-connection-business-practices\">non-prosecution agreement\u003c/a> with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Done faced similar scrutiny, and according to court documents, paid medical professionals to diagnose members with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and write them prescriptions for Adderall and other stimulants, even when people did not qualify for the medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and Brody, among others at the company, created policies including limiting the information available to prescribers, instructing them to issue Adderall and other stimulants even if the Done member did not qualify, and limiting appointments to under 30 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Justice alleged that they falsely represented their prescription policies, claiming that they were able to keep appointments short with a screening process designed to weed out people who were unlikely to qualify for a diagnosis — a factor that could have diverted Adderall from people who needed it amid a nationwide shortage that began in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DOJ also claimed that the company continued to operate even after He and Brody became aware that information had been posted on social media instructing people to use Done to gain easy access to stimulants — and that some members had overdosed and died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Kimberly Atwood told Breyer and the court that her brother Michael had died after he was misdiagnosed by a Done provider and relapsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have a mistrust of doctors now,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/adahlstromeckman\">\u003cem>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
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"order": 1
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. 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 />",
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"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. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"order": 9
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
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"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. 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": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"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. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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