Post News Group Co-Publisher Gay Cobb shares a laugh with San Francisco Foundation CEO Fred Blackwell at the organization’s 75th anniversary celebration on Sept. 28. The event brought together leaders of the non-profit, public, and private sectors and featured a land blessing by by Pomo nation community educator Ras K’Dee, poetry by Chinaka Hodge, and remarks from former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was also present. The cities of San Francisco and Oakland each declared Sept. 28 as San Francisco Foundation Day, and the foundation received commendations from the City of San Jose and the California Legislature. Photo by Conway Jones.

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By Tanya Dennis

Gang violence is raging in Deep East Oakland, also known as “Bossland,” where gun shots are heard daily, and recently, youth and the East Bay Panthers football team had to duck and cover twice in one month at Verdese Carter Park at 9600 Bancroft Ave.  The Park has become the epicenter of violent activity despite a police station embedded there.

Jacob Davis, coach of the East Bay Panthers says, he will no longer bring his team to the park after shooting incidents on Aug. 24 and Aug. 29 where kids ages 5 -14 were caught in gang crossfire and had to take cover.

Tamu Lopez, treasurer of The East Bay Panthers, and accountant for Adamika Village#stopkillingourkidsmovement has two children on the team, Micah Lopez, 10, and Caleb Lopez, 14. Lopez says “My children are traumatized. My youngest, Micah, has had several nightmares since the violent encounters and neither of my sons want to play football anymore. Both are afraid to go to any park and want to leave Oakland.”

Davis notes that his team is a safety net, sometimes the only source of food for the kids, when they don’t have access to school meals or school activities.

“For many, belonging to the East Bay Panthers is their only positive outlet.  We thought we’d be safe in the park because, until now, we thought Verdese Carter Park was a neutral zone for the gangs, but no longer.  The police don’t respond, they don’t come here after 4 p.m. and we practice from 5:30 to 7.”

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The Panthers are not the only group of children who are in danger. “We have five organizations that need to practice where they are safe:  The Eastbay Warriors, 510 Legacy, Bay Area Lions, Oakland Dynamite and the East Bay Panthers for our girls and boys ages 5 – 14.”

Representing Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, Pati Navalta responded that the Oakland Police Department (OPD) recognizes the uptick in violent crime and gun violence. “The Department is dedicated to utilizing all available resources to focus on individuals committing violent crimes, and we have increased our presence in areas experiencing this uptick. We are also collaborating with our neighboring law enforcement partners to address the recent surge,” Navalta said.

District Attorney Pamela Price responded saying, “The District Attorney’s office does not control or regulate the Oakland Police Department however, we are committed to prosecuting gang members and others who cause death or injury in our community to the full extent of the law.”

Davis said immediate safety solution is that Oakland Unified School District allow teams to practice on their fields.  The problem currently is OUSD charges a fee to utilize the fields that we cannot afford.”

When asked if Oakland Unified would consider this proposal, John Sasaki, director of Communications promised to investigate the feasibility of Davis’ proposal.

Adamika Village#stopkillingourkidsmovement believe they have the solution to ending gang violence at Verdese Carter.

CEO Daryle Allums says. “Adamika Village hosts Town Night events funded by the Department of Violence Prevention and prior to, during, and a month after our last town night, crime and violence plummets. That’s because Adamika Village brings a different type of energy and people feel it!  We bring love, hope, gifts, money, testing for COVID and flu, food, entertainment, and a kid zone.  We provide a safe place; we are out here actively making a difference!”

Give Adamika Village the park for one year, before the city starts remodeling,  Allums said, and “we will create ongoing ‘Town Nights’ with education, cooking programs that provide food to eat while they learn good nutrition.  We’ll get Alcohol Anonymous out here to intervene in the drug culture and we’ll invite the Black Muslims to speak on health, lifestyle and self-control.”

When questioned about the cost Allums responded, “As we organize in the streets, we need people to organize behind the desk.  Our Black girls are being kidnapped, our elder women are getting robbed, our people have stopped coming out.

“Let Adamika rebuild what has been lost. The soil at the park is corrupted. It’s contaminated with community violence, it’s toxic. Adamika will shift that energy so we can heal our people who are addicted to violence, who know nothing else.”

The post San Francisco Basis Celebrates 75 Years of Social Justice within the Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The last time Mission District icon La Doña released an EP, she was on the cusp of a national breakthrough. While 2020’s “AlgoNuevo” introduced her incantatory “femmeton” blend of cumbia, reggaetón, and R&B to a wider audience, an extensive tour with her band ended up being preempted by the pandemic. Released last week, her new single, “Paloma No Vuelve Amar,” picks up where “AlgoNuevo” left off, grabbing attention with a sound that’s sensuous and inviting, forthright and commanding.

The song has received a burst of attention, landing just after President Barack Obama included her tune “Penas Con Pan” on his widely watched summer playlist. The track is from her upcoming EP, “Can’t Eat Clout,” which is slated for release Sept. 15. It’s not a song cycle, but the project describes the uplifting trajectory of a young artist coming to embrace herself, her lover and her art, drawing on the Latin music idioms that Cecilia Cassandra Peña-Govea has accumulated since she was a child playing community events around the Mission with her parents and older sister in La Familia Peña-Govea. La Doña plays an early set Friday on the Lands End Stage at the sold-out Outside Lands festival. 

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Speaking of La Doña and the fabulous creative team surrounding her, congratulations to second-generation sign-painter and artist Lauren D’Amato, who was just tapped by the Headlands Center for the Arts for the 2023-24 Tournesol Award, “which recognizes an emerging Bay Area painter in support of establishing and maintaining a career in the region.” The award includes a $10,000 stipend, a private studio, and a culminating exhibition or project of the artist’s choice. Mission Local covered her solo show at House of Seiko in March, and you can watch her in action on La Doña’s irresistible “Dembow y Sexo (Visualizer).”

Music and activism have been inextricably entwined for San Francisco pianist/composer Jon Jang since the beginning of his career. A co-founder of Asian Improv, the record label and arts organization that’s been a primary vehicle for the Asian-American jazz movement, he’s developed an arresting repertoire drawing on traditional Chinese melodies and adventurous post-bop improvisation. 

Jang presents “Civil Wrongs: Music about Black American & Japanese American Incarceration” Thursday at Sha’ar Zahav. Produced by the Community Music Center as part of a series showcasing the organization’s faculty, the free concert commemorates the 35th anniversary of the signing of the federal law granting reparations to Japanese Americans wrongly incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II. Featuring Erika Oba on flute, Gary Brown on double bass, and drummer Deszon Claiborne, who’s also on the CMC faculty, the program includes Jang’s 1987 composition “Reparations Now!,” which he wrote in tribute to the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations for Japanese Americans. 

The program also features “Meditations on Integration,” an extended work that Charles Mingus wrote in 1964 in response to a newspaper article about detention camps being built to hold protestors fighting segregation. Mingus recorded the piece several times under various names, including as “Meditation (For a Pair of Wire Cutters)” on the live album recorded in North Beach in 1964, “Right Now: Live at the Jazz Workshop.”

“This version is based on the Town Hall recording, a work introduced to me by James Newton,” Jang said, referring to the eminent flutist and composer with whom he worked widely in the 1980s and ‘90s. “We performed as a duo at anti-apartheid events and were ultimately invited to perform at the Arts Alive Festival in Johannesburg right after the election in 1994. The energy was electrifying. We played with two Black South African musicians in the rhythm section, and what was really moving was that they had not been allowed to perform in Johannesburg under.”

Reed maestro Sheldon Brown, who’s been busy recently touring with Cuban pianist Omar Sosa and Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros featuring The Wolfpack, plays a duo show Thursday Aug. 10 at the Red Poppy Art House with guitarist Scott Foster, renewing a collaboration that dates back some 25 years. The concert is presented by Jazz In the Neighborhood, an organization dedicated to getting fair wages for musicians. 

Jazz at the Make Out Room returns on Tuesday Aug. 15 with the protean duo of drummer Scott Amendola and saxophonist Phillip Greenlief, offering  a preview of their upcoming album “Stay With It” on Clean Feed Records. Pianist Motoko Honda, a pianist and composer who combines a wry sense of humor with a knack for startling harmonies, plays a solo opening set. 

Don Malcolm has been plumbing the cinematic shadows for the past decade at The Roxie, and he shows no signs of exhausting the darkness. Kicking off Sunday afternoon, A Rare Noir Is Good to Find offers a double bill, pairing the classic 1950 Mexican “cabareteraAventurera (The Adventuress)” with 1964’s “La muerte siba un blues (Death Whistles the Blues),” about a nightclub singer working undercover at a Caribbean casino. The series runs through Aug. 20. 

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The post A Cultural Mission, La Doña rising and music and justice appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

News

From Jorge Fitz Gibbon

May 31, 2023 | 10:35 p.m

Warning: Graphic content

Former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a controversial progressive prosecutor who was fired by voters last year for his soft-crime policies, is taking over as head of a new criminal justice center at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Boudin, 42, has been named executive director of the school’s Criminal Law & Justice Center, he announced Wednesday in an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle.

“In my new role, just as I did as District Attorney, I will continue to draw on networks of attorneys, activists, judges and legal practitioners to support reform and advance safety in a way that is rigorous, principled and responsive to the lived experiences of the communities directly affected,” he wrote.

“The center will systematically evaluate the results of specific policies and communicate to the public what policy changes are essential to improving public safety and equity,” Boudin said.

“Electoral politics will only advance the criminal justice reform movement so far. Winning a few major elections alone is not enough to bring about lasting change. I learned a lot during my tenure, including that people’s feelings are often more important than data and facts.”

Boudin, who faced criticism in the City of Gold as a criminal prosecutor, was voted out in a recall election in June – and announced in August he would not seek to retake the post.

Chase Boudin, 42, the progressive San Francisco prosecutor who was ousted from office by voters in June, said he is now the founding director of Berkeley Law School’s new Criminal Justice Center. AP

Critics said the left-wing prosecutors’ policies contributed to a rise in crime in the city, as drug dealers publicly sold their wares and shoplifting and robberies were rampant.

About 60% of San Francisco voters voted in favor of recall.

But in his editorial, Boudin stuck to his progressive stance, claiming that it’s Republicans and the “sensational media” that are making public safety an issue – calling it an “artificial frenzy.”

“In New York state, officials have rolled back pre-trial release reforms for poor people who cannot afford bail,” Boudin said.

Boudin has been named executive director of the school’s Criminal Law & Justice Center, he announced Wednesday in an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle.MediaNews Group via Getty Images

“Meanwhile, despite widespread claims of funding cuts, police budgets across the country have skyrocketed without demand for accountability.

“Even in liberal San Francisco, the mayor’s office shut down a regulated drug consumption facility while tightening surveillance of drug users, with results that were both predictable and tragic: the city is experiencing by far its deadliest year from drug overdoses on record.”

At Berkeley, Boudin will conduct research and advocate for criminal justice reform, the school’s dean said in a press release announcing the move.

“Since joining Berkeley Law, I have wanted to create a criminal justice and justice center to further advance the important work our amazing faculty and clinics do in this area,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkely Law School, in a statement.

“I am very excited to open the center and that Chesa Boudin will be its first managing director,” said Chemerinsky.

“Chesa was selected after a nationwide search and has extensive experience across the criminal justice system. He has thought deeply about the system and I can think of no one better able to establish and lead this important center.”

Boudin is the son of Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, who were members of the far-left terrorist organization Weather Underground.

Both were convicted of murder and serving decades of prison time in the deadly 1981 ambush of a Brink armored truck in Rockland County, New York.

The 14-month-old future prosecutor grew up in Chicago with adoptive parents.

“Both of my birth parents were arrested when I was a baby and together served 62 years in prison,” Boudin wrote in his editorial.

“A lifetime of visiting her behind bars, coupled with the years I spent as public defender and then as elected attorney general, have shown me the disastrous failure of California and the country’s current approach to justice.”

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Oberflächlich betrachtet ist die Geschichte der US-Umweltpolitik von durchschlagenden Erfolgen durch entscheidende Regulierung geprägt. Es wird geschätzt, dass der Clean Air Act von 1970 die Luftverschmutzung insgesamt um 66,9 % reduziert und die Lebenserwartung eines durchschnittlichen Amerikaners um 1,3 Jahre verlängert hat.

Aber es ist auch eine Geschichte von „Einheitspolitik“ anstelle von Gleichheit und Gerechtigkeit. Obwohl die Umweltgesetzgebung die Gesamtverschmutzung verringert hat, hat sich die Belastung durch gefährliche Giftstoffe für Haushalte mit niedrigem Einkommen und insbesondere für farbige Menschen verschlechtert. Die Luftverschmutzung liegt in farbigen Gemeinschaften zwischen 10 und 15 % über dem Durchschnitt, und heute leben mehr farbige Menschen in „Zaungemeinschaften“ (Stadtvierteln in der Nähe von Einrichtungen mit hoher Schadstoffbelastung) als noch vor 30 Jahren.

Der letztjährige Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ist ein weiteres weitreichendes Umweltgesetz – eine 369-Milliarden-Dollar-Investition, die die Emissionen bis 2050 voraussichtlich um bis zu 50 % reduzieren wird Obwohl es sich um eine Gruppe lokaler Planer und Praktiker handelt, die sich für die Umsetzung einer gerechteren Politik in ihren Städten eingesetzt haben, ist die IRA nicht in der Lage, Gesetze zum Thema Gerechtigkeit zu erlassen.

Denn der nachfrageorientierte Ansatz des Gesetzentwurfs – der auf Steuererleichterungen und Subventionen als Anreiz für die Eindämmung des Klimawandels setzt – bedeutet, dass die Klimaresilienz tatsächlich ungerechter werden und einkommensschwächeren Haushalten und farbigen Gemeinschaften schaden könnte. Aber wie in diesem Artikel untersucht wird, sind die Staats- und Kommunalpolitiker gut aufgestellt, um die Maßnahmen zur Bewertung und Durchsetzung der Gerechtigkeit während der Umsetzung des IRA zu stärken und so das Gesetz möglicherweise in Richtung besserer Ergebnisse für alle Gemeinschaften zu verändern.

Wie reparativ ist die IRA?

Anfang dieses Jahres haben wir eine reparative Haltung für die Klimapolitik dargelegt – Prinzipien für die Umweltpolitik, die auf der Schließung von Wohlstands- und Wohlstandsunterschieden zwischen den Rassen als Weg zur Stärkung der Klimaresilienz von Haushalten und Gemeinschaften basieren. Wir haben uns auf Wohlstand, Gesundheit sowie finanzielle Sicherheit und Wohnsicherheit konzentriert, da dies die Faktoren sind, die die individuellen – wirtschaftlichen und persönlichen – Kosten des Klimawandels erhöhen. Diese Faktoren vermitteln das Klimarisiko und können den Unterschied zwischen einer Katastrophe, die einen vorübergehenden Rückschlag verursacht, oder einer Verfestigung der Armut ausmachen.

Glücklicherweise nimmt die Biden-Regierung fortschrittliche Zivilklagen ernst, insbesondere im Bereich der Klimagerechtigkeit. Präsident Biden hat das Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act in Kraft gesetzt, kündigte die Finanzierung von 17 technischen Hilfszentren in Höhe von 177 Millionen US-Dollar an, um Gemeinden den Zugang zu Mitteln für Umweltgerechtigkeit zu erleichtern, und gründete das Büro für Umweltgerechtigkeit des Weißen Hauses, das bei der Entwicklung neuer politischer Ansätze eine entscheidende Rolle spielen könnte Emissionsreduzierungen durch inklusive Klimaresilienz ergänzen.

Neben dem Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) als zentraler Komponente der Klimaschutzpolitik der Regierung wäre es unaufrichtig zu sagen, dass die IRA keine Verpflichtung zu Gerechtigkeit und Gerechtigkeit beinhaltet. Es wird von der Justice40-Initiative unterstützt, einer Politik, die sicherstellen soll, dass mindestens 40 % der Bundesinvestitionen in die Klimapolitik in historisch benachteiligte und überlastete Gemeinden fließen. Die IRA wird außerdem durch aktuelle Verordnungen zur Reform der Regierungsstrukturen ergänzt, darunter Pläne zur Stärkung der Rassengerechtigkeit und zur Unterstützung unterversorgter Gemeinschaften in allen Regierungsbehörden.

Darüber hinaus sieht das Gesetz mindestens 45,95 Milliarden US-Dollar für Umweltgerechtigkeitsprogramme vor, darunter 10 Milliarden US-Dollar an Wettbewerbszuschüssen. Mit etwa 12 % der IRA und 3,4 % der IRA und IIJA zusammen bleiben diese Umweltgerechtigkeitsverpflichtungen hinter der Justice40-Initiative zurück (siehe Abbildung 1). Dennoch ist es keine Kleinigkeit. Diese Programme werden durch das Screening-Tool für Klima- und Wirtschaftsgerechtigkeit geleitet, ein vom Council on Environmental Quality geleitetes Kartierungstool, das Bundesbehörden und Kommunalverwaltungen dabei hilft, bedürftige Gemeinden anhand ihrer Anfälligkeit für Klimarisiken zu identifizieren.

Obwohl dies alles in die richtige Richtung geht, verfolgt die IRA immer noch einen einheitlichen Ansatz. Wir haben bereits darüber geschrieben, dass das Gesetz Gerechtigkeit nicht wirklich berücksichtigt und insbesondere die Kodifizierung eines Prozesses zur Bewertung von Investitionen im Hinblick auf Gerechtigkeitsergebnisse umgeht. Wie genau ein erfolgreiches Umweltgerechtigkeitsprogramm aussehen wird, ist unklar; Der Mangel an Leitlinien der IRA dazu, wie erfolgreiche Programmergebnisse definiert, gemessen oder aufrechterhalten werden, stellt eine erhebliche Lücke dar, die die Bewertung und Verfeinerung der Fortschritte bei der Gleichstellung zu einer Herausforderung machen wird.

Dies alles geht zu Lasten des Transformationspotenzials der IRA. Das Risiko besteht darin: Ohne eine Strategie, die Rassengerechtigkeit berücksichtigt, kann die Klimaschutzpolitik zu einem Vehikel werden, das unbeabsichtigt die Wohlstands- und Wohlstandsunterschiede zwischen Rassen vergrößert, selbst wenn es zu Emissionsreduzierungen führt. Dies war die Geschichte der Umweltpolitik in den USA, und ohne Maßnahmen besteht die Gefahr, dass sie auch zur Geschichte der Klimapolitik wird.

Die Vorteile der IRA werden nicht neutral verteilt

Die Verteilung der Bundesmittel und ihre Auswirkungen auf die lokale Umweltverschmutzung und Klimaanfälligkeit sind wichtiger als die Reduzierung der Gesamtemissionen, wenn es darum geht, wie farbige Gemeinschaften vom Klimawandel betroffen sind. Da die Hinterlassenschaften rassistischer Politik die Verwundbarkeit systemisch auf bestimmte Orte und Gemeinschaften konzentriert haben, kann ein verteilungsneutraler Ansatz die zugrunde liegende Ungleichheit zementieren. Es stimmt zwar, dass die IRA die Dekarbonisierung auf nationaler Ebene vorantreiben wird und dass bundesstaatliche Gerechtigkeitsbestimmungen dazu beitragen werden, einige ungleiche Ergebnisse auszugleichen, Ungleichheit ist jedoch immer noch in den Schlüsselmechanismen des Gesetzes verankert.

Erstens vergrößern nachfrageorientierte Richtlinien, die das Chancengleichheitsrisiko nicht kodifizieren, die Resilienzkluft, indem sie einkommensschwache Gemeinschaften und farbige Gemeinschaften zurücklassen. Dies liegt daran, dass die finanziellen Anreize im Gesetzentwurf auf Hausbesitzer ausgerichtet sind – typischerweise Bewohner mit mittlerem bis hohem Einkommen, von denen die Mehrheit weiß ist. Darüber hinaus haben andere auf das nahezu vollständige Fehlen von Bestimmungen zur Verringerung der Faktoren der Gefährdung hingewiesen, darunter Wohnsicherheit, gleichberechtigter Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung und die Verbesserung der Bereitstellung und des Zugangs zum öffentlichen Raum. Eine stärker reparative Politik würde Bestimmungen für Mieter und Menschen in unsicheren Beschäftigungs- und Wohnungsverhältnissen umfassen und so die zugrunde liegenden Wohlstandslücken angehen, die diese Gruppen anfälliger für die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels und Katastrophen machen.

Zweitens werden nachfrageseitige Maßnahmen ohne restriktive angebotsseitige Regulierung (d. h. den Ausstieg aus der Nutzung fossiler Brennstoffe) die Förderung fossiler Brennstoffe verlängern, wodurch farbige Gemeinschaften weiterhin übermäßigen Schäden ausgesetzt werden. Ölkonzerne erzielten im Jahr 2022 Rekordgewinne, und nach der russischen Invasion in der Ukraine schossen die Verbraucherpreise in die Höhe und Unternehmen weiteten ihre Bohrprojekte in den USA aus. Große Hersteller haben ihre Verpflichtungen zur Emissionsreduzierung bereits verdoppelt. In diesem Zusammenhang öffnet die IRA die Tür zur CCUS-Technologie (Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage) – ein Ansatz, den Kohle- und Gasproduzenten unter anderem deshalb unterstützen, weil er die Fortsetzung der Verbrennung fossiler Brennstoffe ermöglichen würde. Die wahrscheinlichsten Standorte für diese Infrastruktur sind Gebiete, in denen die Gemeinden bereits durch die Verschmutzung durch Öl- und Gasraffinerien überlastet sind – beispielsweise entlang der Golfküste, wo bereits große Entwicklungen geplant sind. Diese Kombination ist eine schlechte Nachricht für viele Gemeinden an vorderster Front, die es sich nicht leisten können, länger auf strengere Kontrollen lokaler Schadstoffe zu warten.

Einige Kommentatoren, darunter auch unsere Kollegen bei Brookings, haben argumentiert, dass sich diese Kompromisse für beschleunigte Klimaschutzmaßnahmen lohnen, mit der Begründung, dass unvollständige politische Maßnahmen besser seien als gar keine. Wir argumentieren jedoch, dass das Versäumnis, eine inklusive und gerechte Politik umzusetzen, ein größeres soziales Risiko mit sich bringt, als nur einige zurückzulassen, da eine regressive Politik eine negative Rückkopplungsschleife aufrechterhalten kann, die die Wirksamkeit der Klimapolitik selbst untergräbt. Der Grund, warum internationale Entwicklungsagenturen zunehmend integrative Klimaschutzmaßnahmen unterstützen, liegt nicht darin, dass sie moralische Akteure sind, sondern darin, dass es sich um eine kluge Klimapolitik handelt. Die sozialen Kosten des Klimawandels – d. h. die Auswirkungen auf die gesamte Wirtschaft, vom Wohnungsbau bis zur Gesundheitsversorgung – sind in finanziell weniger sicheren und ungerechteren Ländern tendenziell höher, da diese Faktoren die Klimarisiken verstärken (siehe Abbildung 2). .

In den USA, wo Rasse häufig einer der größten Prädiktoren für Klimaanfälligkeit ist, ist es logisch, einen Ansatz für Klimaschutzmaßnahmen zu verfolgen, der auf Rassengerechtigkeit basiert. Aber die IRA beantwortet einige der entscheidenden Fragen, die wir in unserem Bericht über reparative Klimapolitiken aufgeworfen haben, nicht. Wie wird Rassengerechtigkeit in der Milderungs- und Anpassungspolitik kodifiziert? Wie gewährleistet es Fortschritte bei der Umweltgerechtigkeit bei der Umsetzung? Wie wird diese Politik rassistisch bedingte Lücken in der Klimaresilienz verringern?

Die Umsetzung auf staatlicher und lokaler Ebene könnte die IRA zu gerechteren Ergebnissen führen

Diese Einschränkungen der Klimagerechtigkeit bedeuten, dass die IRA durch lokale und staatliche Maßnahmen unterstützt werden muss, um bessere Chancen auf gerechtere Ergebnisse zu haben.

Ein guter Anfang für beide Regierungsebenen wäre die Zusammenarbeit mit Gemeindepartnern in gefährdeten Regionen, um den Zugang zu den unterschiedlichen Klimafonds zu vereinfachen. Traditionell unterinvestierte Gemeinden haben aufgrund mangelnder Ressourcen und Fachkenntnisse in der Regel Schwierigkeiten, Zuschussfinanzierungen zu erhalten. Investitionen in gemeindenahe Organisationen durch Initiativen wie lokale Aktiennavigatoren können dazu beitragen, dass die Mittel dorthin fließen, wo sie am meisten benötigt werden. Neue Richtlinien, wie die kürzlich angekündigten Community Disaster Resilience Zones, bieten die Möglichkeit, gemeinsam mit Gemeinden an vorderster Front Resilienzstrategien zu entwickeln und aus den Fehlern früherer Richtlinien wie dem Programm „Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities“ zu lernen, das vor allem wohlhabenden Küstengemeinden zugute kam .

Ebenso wichtig wird sein, wie die IRA mit lokalen Richtlinien interagiert, bei denen es offiziell nicht um das Klima geht, die es aber dennoch beeinflussen, etwa in den Bereichen Wohnen, Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten, kommunale Infrastruktur und Erschwinglichkeit von Dienstleistungen, die die Anfälligkeit für das Klima verringern. Unsere Kollegen haben gezeigt, wie die Interaktion der IRA mit anderen politischen Maßnahmen – einschließlich des IIJA und makroökonomischen Faktoren – die Ergebnisse des Gesetzes beeinflussen wird, aber auch seine Wirksamkeit bei der Lösung von Rassenunterschieden bestimmen wird.

Das Ausmaß, in dem Kommunalverwaltungen gerechtere Ergebnisse planen können, dürfte uneinheitlich sein, da Städte in einigen der am stärksten gefährdeten Regionen entweder weniger bereit sind, sich für Klimagerechtigkeit einzusetzen, oder durch regressive staatliche Maßnahmen behindert werden. Dennoch geben einige Regionen ein positives Beispiel, indem sie ergänzende Initiativen zur Rassengerechtigkeit anführen, die die Auswirkungen der IRA auf die Widerstandsfähigkeit verstärken werden. In Boston, Rochester, NY und San Francisco wurden Task Forces für Reparationen eingerichtet. Kürzlich war Evanston, Illinois, die erste Stadt in den USA, die ihren Bewohnern direkte Wiedergutmachung gewährte, und Los Angeles County hat Land im Wert von 20 Millionen US-Dollar an die Nachkommen einer schwarzen Familie zurückgegeben, die es ihnen als bedeutendes Eigentum gestohlen hatte. Andere Städte, darunter New York und Chicago, testen Verfahren zur Einbeziehung der Gleichwertigkeitsbewertung in die Planungsprozesse für neue Infrastruktur.

In ähnlicher Weise verfolgen einige Staaten Richtlinien, die unbeabsichtigt oder absichtlich zu besseren Ergebnissen für farbige Gemeinschaften führen. Gute Beispiele sind strengere Vorschriften zur Luftverschmutzung, wie die Gesetze von New York und New Jersey, die umweltschädliche Entwicklungen in überlasteten Gemeinden verbieten, und Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung bezahlbaren und nachhaltigen Wohnraums für Mieter, wie das vom American Rescue Plan finanzierte Whole Home Repairs Program in Pennsylvania.

Obwohl diese Fälle nicht als Anpassungspolitik gedacht sind, zeigen sie einen Anstoß für eine stärker reparative Politik und nicht nur für einen einheitlichen Ansatz. Das entstehende Büro für Umweltgerechtigkeit des Weißen Hauses sollte diese lokale und staatliche Dynamik zur Kenntnis nehmen. Eine gerechtere und gerechtere Klimapolitik mit messbaren Fortschritten bei der Umsetzung könnte Strukturen schaffen, die Emissionsreduzierung mit Programmen zur Stärkung der Anpassungsfähigkeit und zur Verringerung von Klimaresilienzlücken verbinden. Darin mangelt es der IRA, aber zukünftige Richtlinien müssen es nicht sein.

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study design

This study is a secondary qualitative analysis of responses from a nationwide online survey of medical students and practicing clinicians conducted between December 2020 and February 2021 during the development and evaluation of the P5RJ curriculum. Participation was voluntary and written informed consent was obtained from all participants. There was no incentive to complete the survey. The study was approved by the Stanford School of Medicine IRB.

Survey development and distribution

The P5RJ curriculum and survey is based on the Presence 5 Framework for Humanism in Medicine and was developed by the Presence 5 for Racial Justice research team (including all authors) at Stanford University School of Medicine. The original Presence 5 framework was developed through a systematic literature review, patient and clinician interviews, and a Delphi panel. This framework was used to develop an anti-racism curriculum for medical education, the P5RJ curriculum, which aims to teach medical students evidence-based anti-racism communication strategies to promote health equity for black patients. The P5RJ curriculum was developed through literature review, online Qualtrics feedback survey, and structured feedback synthesis by the research team. The feedback survey surveyed clinicians and medical trainees with DEI experience including health inequalities, health equity, anti-racism, medical education and racial justice. Respondents were recruited through convenience sampling and email listservs (N=52) from clinicians and medical trainees with experience in DEI; These listservs contained chapters of national medical school diversity organizations (e.g., White Coats for Black Lives, American Medical Students Association, Student National Medical Association). In addition, the survey was distributed to individual professional contacts (N=123) involved in DEI efforts and medical education. Participation in the survey was limited to medical trainees and clinicians. The P5RJ curriculum has been implemented in various medical education settings, including local academic institutions and national conferences, and participants were unfamiliar with this curriculum.

The survey questions included feedback on the P5RJ strategies, examples and suggestions for additional recommended language/phrases to be used for communicating against racism in the clinical encounter. Survey participants were provided with the titles and descriptions of each of the P5RJ strategies: (1) Prepare Consciously, (2) Listen Carefully and Fully, (3) Agree What Matters Most, ( 4) Connect to the patient’s story, and (5) Explore emotional cues. Participants were asked to record free-text style responses with specific phrases or actions that they use directly in their communication with patients as they clearly relate to the given definition of each strategy, e.g. B. “What specific phrases or sample language do you use with patients? for this practice (preparation on purpose)?” Respondents could submit more than one answer per question, and each question was optional. Respondents were also asked about demographics, role/level of clinical practice, and DEI involvement.

secondary analysis

We performed a secondary analysis of survey participants’ qualitative feedback, focusing on specific phrases/languages ​​and actions used for each of the P5RJ strategies using inductive qualitative analysis [7]. To develop the codebook, authors BK and RG (medical students and medical students at the time of the study) derived key terms from previous research on anti-racism communication [8] can be found in the survey responses. We then conducted a literature search in PubMed on these terms such as “empathetic statement”, “allyship” and “self-accountability”. We developed codebook definitions by snowball sampling from relevant articles in the initial literature search. The codebook was validated by JC, DZ and MS (a qualitative researcher, physician-scientist and physician-educator) through independent review and group discussion. Authors BK and RG independently and manually coded all responses using Microsoft Excel, and then discussed the coding of each response until thematic saturation was achieved according to definitions from the literature. All answers were coded with one or more of the four codes.

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FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried can be stuck with a feature phone. In a letter from Bloomberg, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried’s attorneys had agreed to amend the terms of his bail agreement. Provided the judge overseeing the case approves the changes, SBF will be limited to using a “non-smartphone” without an internet connection. Unless an attorney is present, he is also prohibited from contacting current or former employees of FTX and Alameda Research. The proposed restrictions came after Bankman-Fried allegedly attempted to contact the general counsel of FTX’s US subsidiary earlier this year about Signal. District Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to vacate Bankman-Fried’s bail and send him to jail before his trial begins after learning that the disgraced businessman may have influenced potential witnesses.

Under the modified bail agreement, SBF would be allowed to use a laptop to surf the web, but its access would be filtered through a VPN that would restrict it to two categories of websites. One category would include resources that his defense team says are critical to his case. The other has 23 websites that SBF could use to order food, read the news, and watch streaming content.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter — it’s also a daily podcast. Receive our daily audio briefings Monday through Friday by subscribing right here.

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It has also paused the construction of its second headquarters.

According to multiple reports, on April 1, Amazon is closing two cashless Go stores in New York City, two in Seattle, and four in San Francisco. Bloomberg noted that these are part of Amazon’s recent cost-cutting measures amid slowing sales growth. In January, the company expanded its planned job cuts from 10,000 to 18,000 jobs. Company spokeswoman Jessica Martin said, “We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the United States, and will continue to learn which locations and features are resonating best with customers.”

Continue reading.

It’s the second major price cut for these models this year.

Tesla has lowered the prices of its high-end Model S and Model X electric cars by $5,000 and $5,000 respectively. It is the second time this year the company has cut prices, bringing the Model X down from $120,990 at the start of the year year has fallen by 21,000 US dollars to currently only 99,990 US dollars. The Model S, meanwhile, has fallen from $104,990 to $89,990 since Jan. 1 — a significant drop of $15,000. However, neither car qualifies for federal tax breaks that are set to expire later this month, as those only apply to SUVs priced under $80,000.

Continue reading.

If you don’t already own Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, get a 35% discount.

Super Mario Celebration/Sale Opportunity, March 10th (Mar10) may not be a few days away, but that’s not stopping retailers like Amazon from offering early Mario Day deals. Ahead of Friday, the company discounted a handful of Nintendo Switch titles that feature the mustachioed plumber. For example, Super Mario Odyssey is 33 percent cheaper, which is currently $40. Meanwhile, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is currently $39 compared to $60.

Continue reading.

A new generation of gaming handhelds.

Engadget

With the advent of cloud gaming, there’s a newer breed of mobile device like the Razer Edge that’s trying to make things even more travel-friendly. Rather than relying solely on local performance, the Edge runs Android for lightweight apps, while services like GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming provide the processing power for more demanding titles. But is the Razer Edge something you really need?

Continue reading.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team independently from our parent company. Some of our stories contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may receive an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at time of publication.

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San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin is fighting for his job, with a recall election on Tuesday’s ballot. 

Mr. Boudin is part of a recently elected wave of similarly minded progressive prosecutors in Seattle, Kansas City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. Their movement seeks to prevent certain offenders from repeatedly churning through the system by, for example, diverting them to mental health, drug misuse, or education programs. They seek accountability of rogue police officers and greater post-conviction justice. They support better victims’ services and treating juvenile suspects as juveniles – not as adults.

Why We Wrote This

A recall vote facing San Francisco’s district attorney may indicate an underlying doubt that criminal justice reforms across the country can handle the challenges posed by rising crime rates.

But crime rates across the United States went up during the pandemic. And in a midterm year when crime and violence have edged up to rank third among the list of Americans’ top concerns – behind inflation and the economy – Mr. Boudin and other reformist prosecutors are under attack.

“Voters fundamentally understand that the reason they elect DAs is to put the bad guys behind bars,” says veteran Democratic strategist Garry South, in Los Angeles. If Mr. Boudin is recalled – and several polls point to that likelihood – “it sends a message to Democrats that even in a very liberal bastion like San Francisco, prosecutors have to do their job, and they have to be perceived as doing their job. If they just come off as reformers of the criminal justice system, that’s not what they’re hired to do.”

San Francisco

It’s been a mixed day for Chesa Boudin, San Francisco’s embattled district attorney. One of the nation’s most progressive prosecutors, he’s fighting an unprecedented recall election – a test of criminal justice reform in America’s most liberal city, and, Mr. Boudin argues, an unfair test. 

On one of his recent “merchant walks” in the ethnically diverse Excelsior neighborhood, many shopkeepers happily take a campaign sign for their window. They appreciate his personal attention, fluent Spanish, and efforts to speak Chinese, Russian, and even Farsi. Pedestrians stop him for a photo or to offer encouragement. A passing driver shouts support.

But he also hears from critics. More than one business on his sidewalk tour of taquerias, auto shops, and small retailers has been burgled – a hardware store just the day before. People have witnessed unchecked retail theft at two nearby Walgreens. One of them closed last year. Mr. Boudin backtracks to talk with a man who is hosing down a bright blue Yamaha motorcycle in the driveway at Pro Image Auto Collision on Mission Street. “I understand you support the recall. What’s your concern?” he asks.

Why We Wrote This

A recall vote facing San Francisco’s district attorney may indicate an underlying doubt that criminal justice reforms across the country can handle the challenges posed by rising crime rates.

The worker says the district attorney has had “all these years” to change the city – and Mr. Boudin interrupts, talking over him. “How many years have I had?” he quizzes. The shop worker keeps speaking, driving to the point that people who commit crimes need to be held accountable. “I agree,” says Mr. Boudin, pointing out that he’s been in office less than 2 1/2 years, and was almost immediately shut down by the pandemic. Despite that, he tells the man he has been able to increase the rates that charges have been brought in cases of homicides, sexual assaults, and drug sales, compared with his predecessor.

The employee continues hosing down the bike, unconvinced. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”  

This “seeing is believing” is Mr. Boudin’s challenge, and to some extent, a challenge for Democrats in a midterm year when crime and violence have edged up to rank third among the list of Americans’ top concerns – behind inflation and the economy, according to a March survey by Gallup. Political and criminal justice experts warn not to extrapolate a national trend from a single locale. And yet, Mr. Boudin is not the only progressive prosecutor under attack, with George Gascon in Los Angeles and Alvin Bragg in Manhattan having to backpedal on some reforms. Mr. Gascon is also being hounded by a second attempt at a recall. Even when reformist prosecutors have voter support, some state legislatures are trying to clip their wings. That’s the case in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner won reelection last year.  

“Voters fundamentally understand that the reason they elect DAs is to put the bad guys behind bars,” says veteran Democratic strategist Garry South, in Los Angeles. If Mr. Boudin is recalled – and several polls point to that likelihood – “it sends a message to Democrats that even in a very liberal bastion like San Francisco, prosecutors have to do their job, and they have to be perceived as doing their job. If they just come off as reformers of the criminal justice system, that’s not what they’re hired to do.”

Francine Kiefer/The Christian Science Monitor

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin talks with business owners and residents in San Francisco on May 17, 2022. Mr. Boudin is one of a number of progressive prosecutors across the U.S. who are under fire for their attempts at criminal justice reform.

A reformer whose parents were incarcerated

When Mr. Boudin ran for district attorney in 2019, he emphasized his upbringing as a child of incarcerated parents. David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin were members of the militant, leftist Weather Underground. After a 1981 botched armored truck heist, they were convicted of felony murder for their supporting roles. His mother was released in 2003. She died in May. His father was released late last year.

The toddler was raised by adoptive parents in Chicago, who had also been members of the radical group. He grew up to graduate from Yale Law School and eventually became a public defender in San Francisco – driven by his personal experiences with the criminal justice system. But he switched roles to pursue the top prosecutor job, running on a reform platform to end racist, mass incarceration. 

Mr. Boudin is part of a wave of similarly minded district attorneys in Seattle, Kansas City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and elsewhere who were elected over the past five years or so. Their movement seeks to prevent certain offenders from repeatedly churning through the system by, for example, diverting them to mental health, drug misuse, or education programs. They seek accountability of rogue police officers and greater post-conviction justice. They support better victims’ services and treating juvenile suspects as juveniles – not as adults. 

A lightning rod for the city’s ills

In a city with a history of progressive prosecutors, Mr. Boudin barely won his race, besting his opponent by 1.6 percentage points.

Now it’s not his background, but his performance that’s up for discussion. The debate boils down to a charge that he’s too lenient with criminals, but the reality is more complex. In a city where two-thirds of voters recently polled say they feel less safe than in 2019, and 57% want to recall Mr. Boudin, the DA has become a lightning rod for everything that ails San Francisco, from homelessness and rampant open-air drug use and overdoses, to auto burglaries, hate crimes, and spectacular smash-and-grab retail theft. 

Homicides in the city were up during the pandemic, from a half-century low. In the first five months of 2022, they’re slightly down, while assaults and rape are up, and larceny and theft up substantially.

“There are so many moving parts” behind crime trends and the recall, says Magnus Lofstrom, policy director of criminal justice at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. The pandemic interrupted lives and included a period of “wild fluctuations” in crime that affected people’s feelings about public safety, he says. 

Nationally in 2020, residential burglaries plunged by more than half but homicides rose by nearly 30%, and hate crimes against Asians surged by 76%, according to the FBI. Gun sales flourished and so did gun deaths. To control contagion, homeless shelters reduced their populations and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encouraged encampments; jails and prisons released certain inmates early, and courts operated at far below capacity.  

Given the many factors influencing crime, Mr. Loftstrom says that “there’s a limitation [to the effect] a district attorney can have on crime rates.”

“We cannot do it alone”

When Mr. Boudin is campaigning, he works the personal angle – if a shopkeeper is Taiwanese, he mentions a glorious trip surfing on the Taiwanese coast. He expresses empathy for a difficult last two years, and hands out his business card for people to email him directly. But many people want to know what he’s doing about crime, about cleaning up the city. That’s when he delves into the workings of government: He’s not the sanitation department, the mayor, the board of supervisors, or the police. That he can only prosecute the cases that police send him.

“We cannot do it alone,” he told the Monitor about lessons learned in his brief tenure. “We have to work with other agencies.” When asked what he’s most proud of, he says, “I’m most proud of how we handled the pandemic.”

Since taking office in 2020, he as well as his supporters say, the DA ended cash bail, reduced the jail population, added Chinese speakers to victims services, charged police officers for abuse of force, went after ghost guns, and set up an Innocence Commission to review wrongful convictions. Joaquin Ciria – in prison for 32 years for a murder he did not commit – was the first person exonerated after a review by the commission. He was released in April.  

Mr. Boudin and his campaign point to misinformation and fearmongering from the recall side, which they describe as an aggressive drive by Republicans and the police union. They are pushing “a false narrative of rising crime and an ineffectual DA. That’s not true,” says John Avalos, former representative for the Excelsior neighborhood on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors – which overwhelmingly supports Mr. Boudin. “We know he’s done what he’s promised.” 

The initial recall effort was started by Richie Greenburg, who ran as a Republican for mayor in 2019. It’s since been taken on by some high-profile Democrats, including a former San Francisco Democratic Party chair, Mary Jung. Republicans are contributing to the recall, but its organizers say 83% of donors are Democrats or people not identified with a party.  

Francine Kiefer/The Christian Science Monitor

Brooke Jenkins, a former assistant district attorney for San Francisco, speaks at a literature drop-off rally in the city’s Portola neighborhood, May 21, 2022. She quit her job last year to help lead the recall effort against her former boss, District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

“Balance. That’s my word.”

Democratic leaders who support the recall say they still advocate criminal justice reform. Just not Boudin-style.

“One of the main issues is that Chesa has taken a one-size-fits-all approach,” says Brooke Jenkins, a former homicide prosecutor who quit last year to join the recall campaign. She says she is among 40 colleagues who have left the office under Mr. Boudin. “Balance. That’s my word.”

In an interview before setting off with volunteers for a literature drop, she says Mr. Boudin started off with several blanket policies: never charge juveniles as adults, never use gang charges, never use prior serious and violent felonies as a punishment enhancement, never use cash bail. While she supports “the spirit” of such changes, the problem is that “you never leave yourself the room for exceptional circumstances.”

Ms. Jenkins mentions a homicide case in which there was video evidence, but the exact identity of the shooters was indiscernible. Prosecutors could have persisted with gang conspiracy charges used specifically for these kinds of cases, but didn’t because of the policy, she says. Over the next 11 months, two of them shot people. “Chesa’s alternative [to incarceration] is release, release, release.”

If Mr. Boudin is recalled, Ms. Jenkins and others hope the mayor will appoint someone with experience as a prosecutor. Mr. Boudin still has his public defender’s hat on, she says.  

Mr. South, the Democratic strategist, reaches back in history, to the failed campaign of President George H.W. Bush in 1992. A recession had not yet officially started, but people felt economic pain. “People felt it, but he kept saying, ‘Look at the statistics.’” Whether it’s a district attorney like Mr. Boudin or LA’s Mr. Gascon, if the perception is that crime is out of control, homelessness is taking over the sidewalks, and people are stealing catalytic converters, “it doesn’t matter what the statistics are.”

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On its face, the effort to recall San Francisco Dist. atty Chesa Boudin is a debate about how a relatively small, atypical city battles crime, a philosophical dispute about how often to lock up offenders and the relative success of efforts to divert nonviolent criminals into treatment programs that keep them out of jail.

In reality, the recall is a battle over facts versus feelings, a case study in the power of millionaires to set a political agenda, a lesson on the limits of enacting reform through progressive prosecutors and the difficulty of changing the status quo.

That’s why the June 7 referendum on Boudin holds significance far beyond the 47 square miles of San Francisco, where violent crime rates are near historic lows, viral videos of smash-and-grabs and the twin crises of homelessness and drug deaths notwithstanding.

Since his upset victory, Boudin has made the establishment uneasy: Yale-educated public defender, son of imprisoned Weather Underground leaders, relative newcomer and political novice in a city where politics is a blood sport and people proudly trace their local lineage back generations. He emerged from obscurity in 2019 to campaign on a detailed platform that promised to upend a system that disproportionately prosecutes black and brown people.

As Democrats across the country face voters’ fears about rising crime rates, many have retreated from reforms — including Los Angeles Dist. atty George Gascón, who faces a likely recall himself later this year. Boudin has instead implemented the ideas that got him elected: Jail as a last resort. No cash bail or gang enhancements. Not prosecuting juveniles as adults. Charges against police who use excessive force. Increased victim services. Review of lengthy sentences handed down under obsolete laws during the war on drugs. Charges against employers for wage theft.

Boudin’s policies have won him newspaper endorsements, but he faces an uphill battle in the recall election. His core mission — to rethink crime and punishment — is a jolt to the status quo at an already fragile moment. The rush to blame him for myriad long-standing ills has resonated amid the frustrations and anger at all the life-altering changes of the last two years. Tragedies and mistakes are easy to exploit, especially in the wake of a pandemic that has exacerbated the city’s glaring inequality, upset its economic base of tourism and tech, and heightened fears of crime.

His agenda does not lend itself to sound bites, while the reverse is true for his opponents. Allowed to collect donations in unlimited amounts, they have spent millions, first to pay signature gatherers to get the recall on the ballot and now on a television advertising blitz.

The names on the five- and six-figure contributions on file with city and state agencies — a who’s who of tech, finance and real estate moguls — signal the extent to which those accustomed to exerting influence in the city view Boudin’s agenda as a threat . Executives with Blockchain, Lyft, Y Combinator, Grove Capital, Twin Tree Ventures, Route One Investment, Prime Finance, Initialized Capital. The three largest contributors have been the California Assn. of Realtors, Shorenstein Realty and Republican billionaire William Oberndorf.

Boudin, whose parents spent decades in prison for their role as getaway drivers in a 1981 robbery that ended with three shot dead, is an easy figure to caricature and a convenient target in a city grappling with visible, intractable problems — spreading homeless encampments, record drug overdose deaths, increased burglaries, gun violence and car break-ins.

The recall attempt also illustrates a lesson with national ramifications about the limits of relying solely on reform prosecutors to enact change.

District attorneys have enormous power; they alone decide what charges to file. That unchecked power has ripple effects in a system where most cases never go to trial. If prosecutors overcharge, they have more leverage to get plea bargains. If they seek diversion, fewer people end up behind bars. If they prosecute police officers, that conduct becomes subject to public scrutiny.

But a district attorney trying to change the country’s reliance on incarceration has little or no control over either the key drivers of the problem or the infrastructure that could help solve it. City, county and state officials determine housing policy, drug and mental health treatment options — all the ancillary services needed to reshape a world where the county jail is often the largest provider of drug and mental health counseling and the largest homeless shelter. In many ways, the recall is a proxy battle for how a liberal city deals with poverty.

Boudin was not naïve about the challenges, both internal and external.

“In many ways, getting here tonight was the easy part,” he warned amid the cheers the night of his victory party. “What comes next is essential …. We have our work cut out for us. This is not going to be easy.”

But he reckoned without a pandemic that shut down the city and transformed patterns of crime. He could not have anticipated the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in a city almost one-third Asian. He expected to have four years, which might be just enough time to show that his policies could reduce recidivism rates, one of the clearest measures of criminal justice success.

Nor do facts carry weight the way they once did. It is not only the far right that has embraced the idea that truth is what you think it is, that facts are what you experience. Recall supporters mock data that shows that crime is down; they post photos of broken car windows and ask, are you going to believe statistics, or your own eyes? Boudin, whose crusade is proving that locking up more people does not make the rest of us safer, makes an attractive target.

Here are some facts.

According to FBI and San Francisco police statistics, overall crime — and violent crime — has decreased from 2019 to 2022. Homicide increased from a historic low, but less steeply than in nearby jurisdictions with traditional law-and-order prosecutors.

The jail population in San Francisco dropped by about 40% since Boudin took office, a decrease spurred by the urgency of COVID-19 but maintained as the pandemic subsided.

Boudin has charged crimes presented by police — who are making arrests in only about 8% of the crimes reported — at roughly the same levels as his predecessor, but he has sent more cases to diversion courts that allow offenders to avoid criminal prosecution if they successfully complete programs.

Those are nuanced messages to impart amid a blizzard of television ads that blame the city’s ills on a wide-eyed radical who lets dangerous criminals roam the streets. Crimes make headlines; Success stories are less well-known, and perhaps of less import to those pouring millions of dollars into the recall. A man wrongfully convicted of murder and freed after 32 years was front-page news. But not the 58 San Franciscans, serving lengthy prison sentences they would not receive today, resentenced and sent home with reentry plans and regular visits from a social worker. (Only two have been arrested, according to the DA’s office.)

Like much of the country, San Francisco is struggling to find a post-pandemic equilibrium, complicated by its reliance on tourism that has dried up and tech companies that have gone remote. Two-thirds of the workers have not returned to offices. San Francisco International Airport, once one of the busiest in the country, has regained barely half its pre-pandemic volume. The median sale price for a home was $1.6 million in April, while the city spent millions on a tent village for the homeless that has filled United Nations plaza in the shadow of City Hall.

If Boudin’s grassroots campaign to keep his job beats the odds, he will have a reprieve of 18 months to make his case before the next election, and a bully pulpit to leverage the notoriety of San Francisco for national reform.

If the status quo triumphs, his enemies will have to find a new scapegoat for the anguishes of a divided city in the throes of reinvention.

Miriam Pawel is the author, most recently, of “The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation.”

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ANTIOCH (KPIX) — Families demonstrated in front of the Antioch Police Department on Saturday to demand transparency and accountability related to in-custody deaths.

This came as the FBI and the Contra Costa County District Attorney announced last month it had launched an investigation into multiple Pittsburg and Antioch police officers.

READ MORE: Heartbroken Family Wondering Why After Truck Plunges Off Santa Mateo Coastal Cliff

“We’ve joined the club that nobody wants to be a member of,” said Robert Collins, stepfather of Angelo Quinto, who died in police custody on December 23, 2020.

About 30 people gathered to listen and share stories of alleged police brutality. Some families accused Antioch police of killing their loved ones.

“When Angelo was killed, there were two crimes committed that night. One was his actual death. And the second one was the cover up,” said Collins.

Quinto’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Antioch. They claimed an officer put his knee on the 30-year-old man’s neck for almost five minutes, cutting off his oxygen.

“This process of grief that’s always going to be prolonged because we don’t have any sense of closure,” said Quinto’s sister, Bella Quinto Collins.

The family said it trusted the police. That was why they called the police for help when Quinto was dealing with mental illness.

READ MORE: San Jose Police Investigate Crash That Killed Female Pedestrian on I-680 Exit Ramp

“Such a life-changing moment that you will never forget that,” cried Quinto’s mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins.

Some demonstrators are even asking for the ouster of the Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston.

“We are calling for Sheriff Livingston to resign in light of his irresponsible and dangerous remarks made following the sentencing of Andrew Hall. If he doesn’t resign, we’re calling on the Board of Supervisors to at least publicly censor him. And if neither of those happens, we’re calling on the public to vote him out this June,” said Veronica Benjamin, co-founder of police watchdog group Conscious Contra Costa.

The FBI and the Contra Costa County district attorney are investigating multiple Pittsburg and Antioch police officers. Pittsburg police said three officers are on paid leave during the investigation.

But Antioch has so far to decline to say how many of its officers are under investigator. The DA’s office and the FBI declined to say what the investigation was about or answer any questions.

Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe said he fought for police reform and will work with the new interim police chief to bring change to the department.

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“We are moving in advancing police reform and I know change doesn’t happen overnight. And I know some people are frustrated,” said Mayor Thorpe.

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