Thirty-one years ago, supervisors in San Francisco passed a landmark piece of legislation as a signal of the city’s commitment to the environment and conserving water. 

Any new buildings that were bigger than 40,000 square feet and located in designated zones on the city’s west and east sides would be required to have “purple pipes.” These pipes, which are literally required to be the color purple, would be installed to transport water from a recycled water plant. Wastewater—known as blackwater—would be tested, treated and cleaned, vetted again, and then shipped back to the source to be reused for non-potable purposes, such as flushing toilets and irrigating landscapes.

Over the last three decades, San Francisco has seen more than 70 structures go up with dual-plumbing systems that separate potable from recycled water. The buildings can be found in SoMa, Mission Bay, Hunters Point, Lake Merced and other neighborhoods—zones colloquially called “Purple Pipe Districts”—and they range from multi-unit dwellings to high-rises that shoot up dozens of stories, including the city’s tallest structure: Salesforce Tower.

But there’s just one problem.

San Francisco never built a recycled water treatment plant for these buildings. Since the city passed the groundbreaking legislation in 1991, it hasn’t come close to building the facilities it needs to realize its big water dreams. A recycled water plant that will open on the west side next year will only serve parks and golf courses.

In all but one instance, San Francisco’s purple pipes lead to nowhere.

‘Potemkin Environmentalism’

California is currently going through a mega-drought not seen in 1,200 years, and San Francisco has seen its once-ample access to water curtailed by several court challenges. The city could really feel the squeeze in years to come as environmental pressure builds on its main source of water, the Tuolumne River.

Meanwhile, every building in San Francisco with purple pipes—except for Salesforce Tower—is flushing its toilets with Hetch Hetchy reservoir water that is clean enough to drink. And the cost of San Francisco’s inaction can be measured in more than cubic feet. 

Officials for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), which manages water for 2.7 million people and sells water to 26 other agencies, said they have no idea how much money has been spent installing purple pipes over the years. But sources familiar with dual plumbing operations told The Standard that large projects can incur costs in the hundreds of thousands, if not more than a million.

This money gets spread across a project, from planning and materials to additional labor. Developers who have built housing and commercial spaces in San Francisco’s purple pipe districts have almost certainly passed along these extra costs to residents and tenants. 

The shaded zones are colloquially called ‘Purple Pipe Districts,’ as any building over 40,000 square feet must have dual plumbing. I Map courtesy of SFPUC

Patrick Kennedy, a Bay Area developer with more than 30 years of experience, said that purple pipes may sound “benign,” but the extra costs have a chilling effect on developers in the current climate. He called the city’s purple pipes program an example of  “Potemkin environmentalism.”

The facade of a progressive policy that doesn’t actually do what it portends is likely to remain in place, Kennedy said, as elected officials are currently facing great pressure to address the city’s most visible crises: homelessness, crime and rampant drug use on the streets.

“I think it’s more for the bragging rights than anything else,” said Kennedy, who owns the firm Panoramic Interests. The developer said he seriously doubted the city would drop hundreds of millions of dollars “on a graywater system when we have all of these other unresolved problems.”

San Francisco will open a recycled water plant on the west side of the city next spring, but this $216 million facility will not connect to any buildings but instead irrigate Golden Gate Park, Lincoln Park Golf Course, the Presidio and other landscaping areas.

The latest attempt to build a recycled water facility on the city’s east side, where the buildings with purple pipes are located, fizzled this spring after officials deemed the price tag prohibitive. 

A report in April found that the total cost of creating a recycled water plant in Mission Bay—from acquiring the property and building the facility to digging up the streets to install the pipelines—would run as high as $185 million.

“I feel like we need to figure out where we’re going with this,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who has been working with the SFPUC and the plumbers and pipefitters union UA Local 38 to see what might be possible. “We are heading into a period of serious water shortage and we are going to need a recycling plant.”

SF Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, seen here at a news conference on Sept. 6, 2022 in San Francisco, said the lack of a recycled water plant on the east side of the city is an issue that needs to be addressed in the face of an ongoing drought. | Paul Kuroda for The Standard

Dave Feahy, who oversees business development for Local 38, said the “big trick to the puzzle” would be figuring out how to get the piping and infrastructure under the streets without too much disruption. “That’s the hard part,” he said.

Paula Kehoe, the director of water resources for the SFPUC, did note in an interview that buildings with purple pipes are better situated in the event that a recycled water plant gets built. Multiple experts agreed that retrofitting these buildings would cost exponentially more than installing the pipes at the outset. 

But city officials on all sides acknowledge that the purple pipes program has failed to date.

“I could certainly see people being frustrated by it, yes, and that’s why we haven’t given up on the topic,” Kehoe said. “We recognize we’re not addressing it.”

Good Intentions

Salesforce Tower is an exceptional building in San Francisco, but not just because of its size and notable shape. Before erecting the nearly 1,000-foot tower, the owners of the building, Boston Properties, joined with Salesforce and city officials to come up with a plan to retrofit a graywater system in an adjacent building while also building out an on-site recycled water system to treat “black” water. Blackwater contains human waste, while graywater usually consists of runoff from sinks, baths, laundromats and kitchens.

Altogether, the on-site system at Salesforce recycles about 7.8 million gallons of water a year, which comes out to the same amount of water 16,000 residents would use in a year, according to the company.

“Drought is persistent in the state of California and in and around the Bay,” said Amanda von Almen, head of emissions reductions at Salesforce. “We really wanted to make sure that when we were addressing sustainability of the building, we were thinking about it locally. ‘What are the local issues? What are the environmental factors to consider?’ It became obvious that we needed to do something about water and really showed some leadership there.”

Salesforce Tower’s blackwater on-site treatment system is unique among buildings in the city required to have ‘purple pipes.’ The company joined with Boston Properties and city officials to create the recycled water system. | Courtesy of Salesforce

In an effort to buffer the feckless purple pipes program, San Francisco officials created an on-site water reuse program in 2012 to collect, treat and provide water for non-potable purposes. State Sen. Scott Wiener expanded on this program in 2015—when he was still a supervisor—by forcing private developers to install on-site water reuse systems in any property over 250,000 square feet. That requirement dropped to 100,000 square feet in October of last year.

City officials are sensitive to the fact that the purple pipes program has never come to fruition, and they point with pride to facilities that do the dirty work of treating their own water in-house.

The Chase Center, an 11-acre spread that serves as the home of the Golden State Warriors, has an on-site water treatment system that saves 3.8 million gallons of potable water each year. Moscone Center, which covers a staggering 1.5 million square feet, has a large on-site water system that harvests, treats, and reuses rainwater and drainage from multiple locations in an effort to export more non-potable water than the convention center consumes. Anchor Brewery received a million-dollar grant to save water and the developing mixed-use neighborhood Mission Rock—spread out over 28 acres—will feature a district-scale project to treat blackwater for up to 11 buildings.

In total, the city has almost 60 voluntary on-site water recycling projects in various stages of design, construction, permitting and operation, according to the SFPUC.

But these are all unique projects and large-scale venues that have the ability to cover the substantial cost of on-site water systems. Smaller developments would struggle to make an economically feasible plan that pencils out, Kennedy said. And, of course, this does nothing to solve the missing link for buildings that were required to install purple pipes.  

Salesforce officials declined to reveal how much their recycled water system cost to create, but a recycled water system called the “Living Machine” at the SFPUC headquarters on Golden Gate Avenue reportedly cost the utility $1 million.

Steve Panelli, the chief plumbing inspector for the Department of Building Inspections, told The Standard that the city may have been a bit premature in launching its purple pipes program in 1991, but needed to start somewhere.

“I do think everyone’s intentions were good,” Panelli said. “When it gets done—great. I just don’t know when it will happen.”

‘Mad Max Style’

If San Francisco had followed through on building a recycled water plant to connect to its purple pipes, the city could be saving up to 438 million gallons of water every year. By no means would this make San Francisco drought-proof, but every drop will matter in the years to come. A report from the governor’s office last month predicted the state’s water supply could drop by 10% by 2040.

An example of a purple pipe at the 555 City Center building under construction in downtown Oakland—the building was set to become the first to use reclaimed water in a high-rise tower in that city. | Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

One person who seems less keen on San Francisco investing almost $200 million into a recycled water plant is perhaps its leading expert on the future of water.

Newsha K. Ajami, an SFPUC commissioner and director of urban water policy at Stanford University, told The Standard in an interview last week that the on-site reuse model is a more logical step as the city tries to build out a more “diverse portfolio” of water conservation models.

“In my professional opinion, I think on-site is the way to go,” said Ajami, who clarified that she was speaking as a water researcher and not in her capacity as a commissioner. “You have to start with the building blocks of building recycled water into our water portfolio, meaning we have to start with the smallest units in homes and buildings and gradually build up. And then we go to neighborhoods and city services areas.”

Gary Kremen, a director for the Santa Clara Valley Water District in the South Bay, suggested that San Francisco could find itself in a tough situation in the years to come, as a prolonged drought combined with water diverted from the Tuolumne River to farming communities could leave San Francisco thirsty for options.

“Without more conservation, San Francisco could be in a really tricky position,” Kremen said. “I can see the price of water not only heading at twice the rate of inflation but eventually surpassing the cost of gasoline—kind of Mad Max style.”

Forget the meek. Burning Man fans will inherit the earth.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly noted the way wastewater is transported. Sewage lines transport wastewater from buildings and purple pipes would transport recycled water back to these buildings.

The post San Francisco Recycled Water Program Is Performative Environmentalism appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

San Francisco Adopts IAQ, Air Conditioning Program | ACHR News

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CNN
 — 

As a child, Robin Rue Simmons didn’t know the Evanston neighborhood she called home was an area where Black families were once forced to live.

Rue Simmons grew up just north of Chicago in Evanston’s 5th Ward, where banks refused to give mortgage loans to Black families until 1969.

In Evanston, Black people were restricted to a certain portion of the 5th Ward and excluded from other parts of the city.

The area “was disinvested in, stripped of a neighborhood school and access to health care,” Rue Simmons told CNN.

“There were specific anti-black zoning laws and housing practices that are responsible for our racial segregation – not only our physical segregation, but our wealth gaps and home ownership gaps and all other racial gaps that we have here in Evanston,” she said.

Those discriminatory housing policies led Rue Simmons, a former alderwoman, to push for reparations. Under Rue Simmons’ leadership, Evanston became the first city in the United States to pass a reparations resolution in 2019 for Black residents who qualified.

“It is a $25,000 direct benefit to build wealth through home equity,” Rue Simmons said. “Black Residents that lived in Evanston during the period of harm, which was 1919 – 1969, or their direct descendants are eligible.”

In March 2021, officials voted to release the first batch of funds in that program, and the first recipients were awarded grants in 2022.

Initially, the grants of up to $25,000 were restricted to mortgage assistance, renovations or a down payment on a home. Earlier this month, the Reparations Committee unanimously recommended the inclusion of a fourth option for beneficiaries receiving payment through the housing program: a direct cash payment to beneficiaries.

On Monday night, Evanston’s city council approved a cash option to its Housing Restorative Program. The meeting lasted three hours and it took the council three seconds to approve the cash option. Now, the program includes direct cash benefits for those who qualify.

There was no discussion because it was listed on the consent agenda. Council member Devon Reid told CNN by phone after the vote, “the items on the consent agenda are non-controversial items.”

At the end of the meeting, Reid appeared via Zoom with his camera off and spoke about the change.

“I just want to highlight how special Evanston is. Tonight, we passed what I believe is a historic amendment to our reparations program. It was just on the consent agenda and there’s no fuss, no folks coming out, you know protesting. No dissent amongst the council,” Reid said.

He added this will allow Evanston to move forward swiftly.

“This will allow us to get funding to our ancestors in a much more expedient fashion. We will be able to get that money out to folks and be able to provide some repair to our Black community and to the harmed community who has suffered from uh housing discrimination,” Reid said.

So far, the city has only spent $326,836 of the $10 million promised.

Tasheik Kerr, an assistant to the city manager, told CNN 124 people are still on a waiting list to receive money. Six who were eligible died before receiving payment.

Overall, Kerr said 650 residents have applied. The city is still sorting through applications and at least six people who qualified have died while waiting for their grant.

“We have stalled because of complications,” Rue Simmons said. “It has taken longer than we expected. And some of those challenges have been really underestimating, operationally, the work.”

From Asheville, North Carolina, to Detroit, Michigan, cities across the country are trying to repair harms caused by institutional racism. In San Francisco, a reparations committee is seeking payments proposed of $5 million to every eligible Black resident. A final report that includes board feedback is due in June, according to the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee.

The complications Evanston has seen with funding and distributing funds will come up across the US, Rue Simmons said. “We’ve had challenges, but we have found solutions,” she said. Those struggles were highlighted in the 2023 documentary “The Big Payback,” by Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow.

Funding for a repair of this magnitude is a tough hurdle to clear, Rue Simmons said. While she and her team worked on reparations in Evanston, the state of Illinois approved recreational marijuana, which went into effect in 2020 – and that provided the initial funding for Evanston’s reparations initiative.

“It is one thing to identify a harm and prescribe a remedy,” Rue Simmons said. “In the case of Evanston …we have been led to understand and appreciate that home rule taxes are our most viable way to fund reparations being that they’re within our purview.”

Ramona Burton is among the 14 people who have received the $25,000 grant so far. The 74-year-old woman has lived in Evanston her entire life but was born in Chicago. Back then, the city didn’t allow “the birth of Black” babies in certain hospitals, she said.

Burton said she used the money to purchase a new roof, install eight new windows and a privacy fence, as well as repair her chimney.

“I wasn’t planning on buying a new home at my age and my home is paid off. So, I used it for renovations,” the 74-year-old told CNN. “I was so excited when I found out. We didn’t get the money in our hands. We never see the money. The city paid the contractors for the work.”

That’s what 88-year-old Louis Weathers, another grant recipient, said he wants to remain in place. He is not in favor of the cash option the council approved Monday.

“I don’t think they should do that. They should have some stipulations that will help the city in housing. Something that will help the value of my property stay stable or go up,” he said. “Giving people cash isn’t a good idea unless you put it in a trust, and you can only get so much each year.”

Kimberly Holmes-Ross is among 124 approved residents but is still waiting to begin her project.

Her father, she said, migrated to Evanston from the South following the Korean War. Like Rue Simmons, she was raised in the 5th Ward with her parents but has since moved to the city’s 2nd Ward.

“My parents weren’t even shown houses in this ward in 1962 – everything was over in the 5th Ward. That is what they were shown and allowed to buy,” she said, standing in the neat yard of her home. “We’re looking to either build another house or add on to our garage.”

Holmes-Ross expressed some hesitation about the cash option and said there must be checks and balances.

“I hope it doesn’t stray too far from the original plan, where they could prove the harm. The harm was in housing and in redlining,” she said.

The post Evanston Metropolis Council votes in favor of increasing its reparations program to restore housing discrimination appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Evanston’s city council approved a cash option to its Housing Restorative Program. (Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP/Getty Images / File via CNN)

(CNN) — As a child, Robin Rue Simmons didn’t know the Evanston neighborhood she called home was an area where Black families were once forced to live.

Rue Simmons grew up just north of Chicago in Evanston’s 5th Ward, where banks refused to give mortgage loans to Black families until 1969.

In Evanston, Black people were restricted to a certain portion of the 5th Ward and excluded from other parts of the city.

The area “was disinvested in, stripped of a neighborhood school and access to health care,” Rue Simmons told CNN.

“There were specific anti-black zoning laws and housing practices that are responsible for our racial segregation — not only our physical segregation, but our wealth gaps and home ownership gaps and all other racial gaps that we have here in Evanston,” she said.

Those discriminatory housing policies led Rue Simmons, a former alderwoman, to push for reparations. Under Rue Simmons’ leadership, Evanston became the first city in the United States to pass a reparations resolution in 2019 for Black residents who qualified.

“It is a $25,000 direct benefit to build wealth through home equity,” Rue Simmons said. “Black Residents that lived in Evanston during the period of harm, which was 1919-1969, or their direct descendants are eligible.”

In March 2021, officials voted to release the first batch of funds in that program, and the first recipients were awarded grants in 2022.

Initially, the grants of up to $25,000 were restricted to mortgage assistance, renovations or a down payment on a home. Earlier this month, the Reparations Committee unanimously recommended the inclusion of a fourth option for beneficiaries receiving payment through the housing program: a direct cash payment to beneficiaries.

On Monday night, the Evanston City Council approved a cash option to its Housing Restorative Program. The meeting lasted three hours and it took the council three seconds to approve the cash option. Now, the program includes direct cash benefits for those who qualify.

There was no discussion because it was listed on the consent agenda. Council member Devon Reid told CNN by phone after the vote, “the items on the consent agenda are non-controversial items.”

At the end of the meeting, Reid appeared via Zoom with his camera off and spoke about the change.

“I just want to highlight how special Evanston is. Tonight, we passed what I believe is a historic amendment to our reparations program. It was just on the consent agenda and there’s no fuss, no folks coming out, you know protesting. No dissent amongst the council,” Reid said.

He added this will allow Evanston to move forward swiftly.

“This will allow us to get funding to our ancestors in a much more expedient fashion. We will be able to get that money out to folks and be able to provide some repair to our Black community and to the harmed community who has suffered from uh housing discrimination,” Reid said.

So far, the city has only spent $326,836 of the $10 million promised.

Tasheik Kerr, an assistant to the city manager, told CNN 124 people are still on a waiting list to receive money. Six who were eligible died before receiving payment.

Overall, Kerr said 650 residents have applied. The city is still sorting through applications and at least six people who qualified have died while waiting for their grant.

“We have stalled because of complications,” Rue Simmons said. “It has taken longer than we expected. And some of those challenges have been really underestimating, operationally, the work.”

From Asheville, North Carolina, to Detroit, Michigan, cities across the country are trying to repair harms caused by institutional racism. In San Francisco, a reparations committee is seeking payments proposed of $5 million to every eligible Black resident. A final report that includes board feedback is due in June, according to the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee.

The complications Evanston has seen with funding and distributing funds will come up across the US, Rue Simmons said. “We’ve had challenges, but we have found solutions,” she said. Those struggles were highlighted in the 2023 documentary “The Big Payback,” by Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow.

Funding for a repair of this magnitude is a tough hurdle to clear, Rue Simmons said. While she and her team worked on reparations in Evanston, the state of Illinois approved recreational marijuana, which went into effect in 2020 — and that provided the initial funding for Evanston’s reparations initiative.

“It is one thing to identify a harm and prescribe a remedy,” Rue Simmons said. “In the case of Evanston …we have been led to understand and appreciate that home rule taxes are our most viable way to fund reparations being that they’re within our purview.”

Some recipients hesitant about cash option

Ramona Burton is among the 14 people who have received the $25,000 grant so far. The 74-year-old woman has lived in Evanston her entire life but was born in Chicago. Back then, the city didn’t allow “the birth of Black” babies in certain hospitals, she said.

Burton said she used the money to purchase a new roof, install eight new windows and a privacy fence, as well as repair her chimney.

“I wasn’t planning on buying a new home at my age and my home is paid off. So, I used it for renovations,” the 74-year-old told CNN. “I was so excited when I found out. We didn’t get the money in our hands. We never see the money. The city paid the contractors for the work.”

That’s what 88-year-old Louis Weathers, another grant recipient, said he wants to remain in place. He is not in favor of the cash option the council approved Monday.

“I don’t think they should do that. They should have some stipulations that will help the city in housing. Something that will help the value of my property stay stable or go up,” he said. “Giving people cash isn’t a good idea unless you put it in a trust, and you can only get so much each year.”

Kimberly Holmes-Ross is among 124 approved residents but is still waiting to begin her project.

Her father, she said, migrated to Evanston from the South following the Korean War. Like Rue Simmons, she was raised in the 5th Ward with her parents but has since moved to the city’s 2nd Ward.

“My parents weren’t even shown houses in this ward in 1962 — everything was over in the 5th Ward. That is what they were shown and allowed to buy,” she said, standing in the neat yard of her home. “We’re looking to either build another house or add on to our garage.”

Holmes-Ross expressed some hesitation about the cash option and said there must be checks and balances.

“I hope it doesn’t stray too far from the original plan, where they could prove the harm. The harm was in housing and in redlining,” she said.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

The post Evanston Metropolis Council Votes to Develop Reparations Program to Embody Direct Money Funds | Chicago Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

August 07, 2023

3 min read

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Key takeaways:

• An initiative to promote water drinking at elementary schools in San Francisco led to a reduction in overweight prevalence among students.
• The intervention did not have an effect on obesity prevalence.

A program to promote water drinking in elementary schools prevented increases in the prevalence of students with overweight, a study published in Pediatrics found.

According to one of the authors, the idea for the study came out of an aim to develop an obesity prevention program for teenagers in middle schools.

“I was working with a team that was using a research approach called community-based participatory research, where you work with communities to actually develop research, ideas and interventions with the community,” Anisha I. Patel, MD, MSPH, MSHS, director of community-engaged research at Stanford University’s Maternal and Child Health Research Institute, told Healio. “We came to Los Angeles and were first just going to talk to students and parents and observe the schools to see what topics were most important for the program.”

During one observation day at a middle school in October, there was a “very hot L.A. sun,” Patel said.

“We were standing at the school observing the students and what they were eating in the cafeteria,” Patel said. “And some teens came up and said, ‘What we really think we need is water with our lunch.’ What got this all started was these teenagers coming up and saying, ‘We really want to have cold water available with our lunch.’”

Patel and colleagues found that the water available to students came from ceramic, porcelain drinking fountains that were warm and not refrigerated.

“The students weren’t able really to go out and drink from them, or they didn’t even want to because the water was lukewarm,” Patel said. “They also had concerns about water quality, as a lot of these schools were in low-income areas. So, we developed a small program, which then led to this study.”

Patel and colleagues cluster-randomized 1,249 students from 18 low-income, ethnically diverse elementary schools in California’s San Francisco Bay Area into intervention and control groups as part of a program they called Water First. The school-based water promotion and access intervention included classroom lessons, water bottle filling stations, testing water for lead and schoolwide water promotion over 1 school year.

“One [component of the program] was that we wanted to make sure that drinking water was actually accessible to students in the schools, so we installed a water dispenser with cups in the cafeteria, and we actually worked with the schools to figure out whether they wanted compostable recyclable cups,” Patel said.

“We also installed two water bottle filling stations, and those were put in high traffic areas, typically somewhere where the students were physically active where they were engaging in recess or [physical education] classes. And then we worked with the schools to really identify the other location based on where they had plumbing or where they felt like a lot of staff and students would be using the station.”

Although the authors noted no significant difference in prevalence up to the 7-month point, when examining the results from baseline to 15 months, they found that increases in overweight prevalence were significantly greater in control schools (3.7%) compared with intervention schools (0.5%). The program did not affect obesity prevalence.

“The fact that we were able to see prevention impacts on overweight was promising for us,” Patel said. “We also did see promising results for water intake and also sugar-sweetened beverages.”

Patel said she would be interested in seeing the study format adapted to new settings.

“We actually have similar projects happening in early care and education or child care centers [that are] pretty similar to this,” Patel said. “While I’m not an adult physician, I think any intervention, to be really successful, needs to focus on the caregivers in the home. … I think that that’s a critical component for any school-based intervention.”

References:

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The post Elementary college water program prevented will increase in obese prevalence appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Das City College of San Francisco sollte in diesem Herbst zwei neue kantonesische Zertifikatsprogramme starten, eine Premiere für ein Community College und vermutlich ein Sieg für die starke kantonesischsprachige Bevölkerung der Stadt. Eines der Programme wurde jedoch kürzlich vom Lehrplanausschuss der Hochschule verschoben, nachdem Fakultätsmitglieder der Abteilung für Weltsprachen und Kulturen Bedenken geäußert hatten, dass die Institution nicht über die Ressourcen verfügt, um ein qualitativ hochwertiges Programm durchzuführen.

Die Verzögerung machte langjährige Befürworter der geplanten kantonesischen Programme wütend und frustriert.

Alan Wong, der Präsident des Kuratoriums, der im vergangenen Januar die erste Resolution verfasst hatte, in der die Programme vorgeschlagen wurden, gab am Dienstag eine Pressemitteilung heraus, in der er die Entscheidung als „taub“ und als „Enttäuschung für die chinesische Gemeinschaft“ bezeichnete. Er teilte Inside Higher Ed am Mittwoch mit, dass er öffentlich seine Bedenken geäußert habe, Druck auf das Komitee auszuüben, das Programm so schnell wie möglich zu starten.

Die beliebtesten Geschichten

Am beliebtesten

Ausschussmitglieder sagten, sie fühlten sich dazu gedrängt, ein Programm überstürzt auf den Markt zu bringen, bevor es fertig war.

Sheri Miraglia, Präsidentin des Akademischen Senats der Hochschule, sagte, die Verzögerung des Starts eines Programms, um sicherzustellen, dass es auf dem neuesten Stand sei, sei ein „normaler, routinemäßiger Prozess“.

„Wir machen das ständig“, sagte sie. „Unser Ziel ist es, der kantonesischen Gemeinschaft zu dienen, indem wir dafür sorgen, dass dieses Zertifikat vergeben wird und dass es sich um einen qualitativ hochwertigen Lehrplan handelt, den das City College anbietet.“

Kantonesisch ist die vorherrschende Sprache in Hongkong, Macau und der chinesischen Provinz Guangdong und die am häufigsten gesprochene Sprache unter den chinesischen Einwohnern in San Francisco. Einige Sprecher befürchten, dass die Sprache vom Aussterben bedroht ist, da die chinesische Regierung auf die weitverbreitete Verwendung von Mandarin, der Landessprache des Landes, drängt.

Als das City College im vergangenen November ankündigte, zwei kantonesische Zertifikatsprogramme einzuführen, feierten Wong und studentische Aktivisten. Die Nachricht kam, nachdem die Verwaltung damit gedroht hatte, voll eingeschriebene Kantonesischkurse im Jahr 2021 aufgrund von Budgetkürzungen zu streichen, unter anderem weil Kurse, die nicht Teil eines Zertifikats oder Studiengangs sind, keinen Anspruch auf staatliche Förderung haben, sagte Wong.

Ein Konversations-Kantonesisch-Zertifikatsprogramm mit neun Leistungspunkten wird wie geplant durchgeführt. Doch die Pläne für ein kantonesisches Leistungsnachweisprogramm mit 16 Leistungspunkten sind vorerst auf Eis gelegt. Abteilungen, die ein neues Programm starten möchten, müssen dem Lehrplanausschuss der Hochschule Pläne zur Genehmigung vorlegen, die dann vom Office of Instruction bearbeitet und vom Kuratorium ratifiziert werden, sagte Craig Kleinman, Vorsitzender des Lehrplanausschusses. Die endgültige Genehmigung muss dann vom Büro des Systemkanzlers des California Community College erteilt werden.

Der Lehrplanausschuss genehmigte im vergangenen Herbst das Neun-Kredit-Programm, verlangte jedoch von der Abteilung einige Änderungen am Lehrplan für das zweite Programm, sagte Kleinman. Als er die Überarbeitungen weiterverfolgte, teilten ihm die Abteilungsmitglieder mit, dass sie sich „unter Druck gesetzt“ fühlten, den Lehrplan schnell zu entwickeln, und dass sie sich über die Qualität der von ihnen eingereichten Unterlagen unwohl fühlten. Die Abteilungsmitglieder äußerten auch Bedenken hinsichtlich der Anrufe von Studenten, die sich für die Programme stark machten, und wegen Medienberichten, in denen die Programme als abgeschlossene Geschäfte beschrieben wurden.

In der Zwischenzeit landeten beide Zertifikatsprogramme aufgrund eines Schreibfehlers im Office of Instruction im November auf der Tagesordnung des Vorstands zur Genehmigung, obwohl das Komitee eines davon noch nicht offiziell genehmigt hatte, erklärte Kleinman. Der Vorstand ratifizierte beide Programme während dieser Sitzung. Anschließend setzte der Ausschuss das Programm wieder auf Entwurfsstatus zurück.

Wong sagte, soweit er weiß, habe der Ausschuss das Programm mit einigen Auflagen genehmigt und es dann offiziell vom Vorstand genehmigt. Er stellte fest, dass im Protokoll einer Sitzung des Lehrplanausschusses im November beide Zertifikatsprogramme ausdrücklich als „kürzlich mit Auflagen genehmigt“ beschrieben wurden. Er sagte, er habe in früheren Gesprächen mit Fakultätsmitgliedern nichts von einem Schreibfehler gehört

„Als ich zuvor mit ihnen gesprochen habe, schien es, als hätten sie angedeutet, dass sie weitermachen könnten, aber sie bereuten es“, sagte er.

Diana Garcia-Denson, Vorsitzende der Abteilung für Weltsprachen und -kulturen, erklärte auf einer Sitzung des Kuratoriums im März, dass ihre Abteilung mit dem vorgeschlagenen Programm nicht zufrieden sei, da das College nur einen Teilzeit-Kantonesischlehrer beschäftigt, der die vier Konversationen unterrichtet Kantonesischkurse bietet die Abteilung derzeit an.

„Es gibt kein kantonesisches Leistungszertifikat mit 16 Einheiten und es wird auch nicht im Katalog 2023 enthalten sein“, sagte Garcia-Denson. „Dieses Zertifikat wurde für unsere Abteilung noch nicht fertiggestellt und befindet sich im Lehrplan noch im Entwurfsstadium. Der aktuelle Entwurf entspricht nicht den Abteilungsstandards, da wir weder über die Kurse noch über die Ressourcen verfügen, um ein 16-Einheiten-Zertifikat auf Kantonesisch zu unterstützen … Wir können dieses Zertifikat nicht auf der Grundlage solch begrenzter Ressourcen aufbauen. Der Vorstand fasste einen Beschluss, der nicht mit einer Mittelzusage untermauert war.

„Es ist nicht die Aufgabe des Vorstands, den Lehrplan vorzugeben“, fügte sie hinzu. „Der Vorstand muss darauf vertrauen, dass die Fakultät und der Abteilungsleiter mit der Verwaltung zusammenarbeiten, um ein Qualitätsprogramm zu entwickeln, das unseren Standards entspricht. Geben Sie uns den Raum, die Ressourcen und das Personal, die wir brauchen, um dies zu verwirklichen.“

Die Zahl der Kantonesischlehrer an der Hochschule ist im Laufe der Jahre zurückgegangen. Grace Yu, die letzte kantonesische Dozentin der Hochschule, sagte dem San Francisco Standard zuvor, dass die Hochschule in den 1990er Jahren mindestens zehn kantonesische Kurse hatte, die von einer Handvoll Dozenten unterrichtet wurden, aber jetzt ist sie die einzige, die noch übrig ist. Mittlerweile verfügt die Hochschule über ein Associate-Degree-Programm in Mandarin mit mehreren Dozenten.

Wong glaubt nicht an das Argument, dass für den Start des neuen Zertifikatsprogramms mehr Ressourcen erforderlich seien. Seine Hoffnung bestehe darin, die an der Hochschule bereits vorhandenen Kurse zusammenzufassen und sie als kantonesische Zertifikatsprogramme zu bündeln, die keine zusätzlichen Dozenten oder Kurse erfordern würden, sagte er. Er fügte hinzu, dass die Abteilung diese Bedenken früher im Prozess hätte äußern sollen, wenn sie solche Bedenken gehabt hätte.

„Es ist sehr unfair, dass es zu einer Änderung der Meinung kommt, nachdem die Zertifizierung ordnungsgemäß durchlaufen wurde, da die Gemeinschaft dieses Zertifikat gefeiert und erwartet hat“, sagte er. „Es ist sehr taub, das einer Community anzutun, die miterlebt hat, wie dieses Programm entwickelt wurde und nun plötzlich weggerissen wird.“

Kleinman glaubt, dass das Programm einen Lese- und einen Schreibkurs braucht, um dem Standard zu entsprechen, und diese Kurse existieren noch nicht. Er wies auch darauf hin, dass die Hochschule versuche, einen zweiten Teilzeit-Kantonesischlehrer einzustellen.

Er glaubt, dass Wong darauf drängt, dass das Programm schnell herauskommt, auch um seinen Ruf zu stärken.

„Ich sage nicht, dass es keine wirkliche Sorge um die kantonesische Gemeinschaft gibt“, sagte er. „Es besteht große Sorge, dass wir am City College mehr anbieten, weil es sonst nirgendwo wirklich angeboten wird. Aber ich denke, da sind auch viele politische Ambitionen damit verbunden und es gerät außer Kontrolle.“

„Diese Gemeinschaft liegt uns am Herzen“, fügte er hinzu. „Wir kümmern uns um die Studenten, aber wir müssen uns wirklich sehr um den Lehrplanprozess kümmern.“

Wong sagte, er übe Druck aus, weil seine Gemeinde sehnsüchtig auf die Programme warte.

„Meine Eltern sprechen Kantonesisch“, sagte er. „Meine Gemeinde spricht Kantonesisch. Dies ist eine meiner obersten Prioritäten, und ich werde alles tun, was nötig ist, um dafür zu kämpfen … Da ich mit der Community zusammengearbeitet habe, denke ich, dass es möglicherweise ein anderes Gefühl der Dringlichkeit gibt.“

Auf der Vorstandssitzung im März äußerten sich mehrere Studenten, Alumni und Community-Mitglieder, um die Bedeutung der Programme zu betonen.

Lauren Chinn erzählte dem Vorstand, dass sie vier Kantonesischkurse am City College belegt habe. Sie sagte, die Sprache sei für sie als Mitarbeiterin in einer örtlichen COVID-19-Impfklinik, als studentische Mitarbeiterin in der Campusbibliothek in Chinatown und als Nachhilfelehrerin für Englisch als Zweitsprache nützlich gewesen.

„Ich bin eine kantonesische San-Franciskanerin in der fünften Generation, meine Vorfahren kamen also aus kantonesischsprachigen Regionen Chinas, aber ich habe es nie gelernt, als ich aufwuchs“, sagte sie bei dem Treffen. „Meine Fähigkeit, Kantonesisch zu sprechen, verdanke ich größtenteils den Kantonesischkursen, die ich am CCSF besucht habe. Ich bin sowohl dafür dankbar, dass es mir ermöglicht hat, mich wieder mit meinen Wurzeln zu verbinden, als auch dafür, dass ich mit Mitgliedern meiner Gemeinschaft in Kontakt treten und sie unterstützen konnte.“

Es ist zu spät für das College, das Programm diesen Herbst anzubieten, aber Wong plante, dem Vorstand in einer Sitzung am Donnerstag einen Beschluss vorzuschlagen, einen Hinweis in den Kurskatalog 2023–24 aufzunehmen, dass das Zertifikatsprogramm in Kürze verfügbar ist.

Das City College of San Francisco ist nicht die einzige Hochschule, die Schwierigkeiten hat, kantonesische Programme zu erhalten und zu erweitern. Die Stanford University sah sich insbesondere mit Gegenreaktionen von Studenten und Alumni konfrontiert, nachdem sie angekündigt hatte, den Vertrag ihres einzigen kantonesischen Dozenten im Jahr 2021 zu beenden. Eine Basiskampagne zur Erhaltung des kantonesischen Programms führte ein Jahr später zu einer Spende in Höhe von 1 Million US-Dollar von S. J. Distributors, einem gegründeten Lebensmittelunternehmen von Kantonesisch-Sprechern für eine Stiftung zur Unterstützung von Kantonesisch-Kursen in Stanford. Nach Angaben der Brigham Young University Cantonese Language Association bieten nur etwa 20 Hochschuleinrichtungen in Nordamerika Kantonesischkurse an.

Dana Bourgerie, Professorin für Chinesisch und Linguistik an der Brigham Young University und Vorsitzende der Cantonese Language Association, sagte, dass Universitäten bei der Entscheidung, ob sie Mandarin- oder Kantonesischkurse anbieten, sich oft für Mandarin entscheiden, weil es häufiger gesprochen wird und dem geschriebenen Standard-Chinesisch näher kommt.

Er stellte jedoch fest, dass es weltweit schätzungsweise 73 Millionen Kantonesischsprecher gebe. Er betonte auch, dass Kantonesisch in den Vereinigten Staaten eine reiche Geschichte habe – fast alle frühen chinesischen Einwanderer in die USA sprachen Kantonesisch.

„An Orten wie San Francisco besteht viel eher ein praktischer Bedarf an Kantonesisch als an Deutsch oder Französisch“, sagte er, obwohl es sich bei diesen Programmen um gängige universitäre Angebote handele.

Wong betonte, dass es in einer Stadt mit so vielen Kantonesischsprechern von entscheidender Bedeutung sei, Arbeitskräfte auszubilden, die Kantonesisch sprechen können. Er erinnerte sich, in einem Krankenhaus, das er während seiner Tätigkeit als Gewerkschaftsvertreter besuchte, einer älteren Frau mit einem verletzten Auge begegnet zu sein. Sie erzählte ihm auf Kantonesisch, dass sie in öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln ohne Vorwarnung von einem Fremden geschlagen worden sei, aber Polizisten und Krankenhauspersonal konnten sie nicht verstehen.

„Es geht nicht nur um die Bewahrung der Sprache oder Kultur, sondern auch um die praktische Hilfe, die dies unseren Gemeinden bietet und die es unseren Sozialarbeitern, Mitarbeitern im Gesundheitswesen, Beamten der öffentlichen Sicherheit oder unseren Polizisten und Feuerwehrleuten ermöglicht, dies zu tun.“ „Kantonesisch lernen und mit diesem großen Teil der Bevölkerung von San Francisco kommunizieren können“, sagte er. „San Francisco ist die kantonesische Hauptstadt Amerikas. Wenn wir hier nicht Kantonesisch unterrichten, um unsere Gemeinschaft zu unterstützen, wer wird es dann tun?“

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The Northern California Board of Rabbis (NorCal BOR) on Tuesday announced a new program called the “Jewish Chaplaincy Program,” designed to fill a notable gap in San Francisco’s unaffiliated Jewish community.

According to NorCal BOR, the program will provide acute bedside care to unaffiliated Jewish patients in San Francisco hospitals. It is also expected that a system for contacting chaplaincy leaders and hospitals will be developed to provide information and support to unaffiliated Jewish patients facing illness or at the end of their lives.

The board is currently looking for a part-time rabbi-chaplain to lead the initiative.

California’s Golden Gate Bridge, near San Francisco (Credit: RICH NIEWIROSKI JR./WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

According to a 2013 Pew poll, one in five American Jews say they don’t belong to any religious community — or have “no religion.”

Jewish Life in San Francisco

The San Francisco Bay Area has the fourth largest Jewish population in the United States after the New York area, southeast Florida and metropolitan Los Angeles.

According to a 2018 report, the Jewish population in the San Francisco Bay Area has a higher proportion of young adults, at 37%, than any other recent major American Jewish community study. Not only young people are drawn to the region (around 70% of the Jewish population come from other countries); Once they get here, they move around. The Jewish population is growing in the East Bay while it is shrinking in San Francisco.

Reflecting the entire Bay Area, the Jewish population is more diverse than any other community in the country. There is one LGBTQ+ person in every fifth Jewish household in San Francisco. Across the Bay Area, there is one Hispanic, Asian American, African American, or person of mixed or other ethnic or racial background (other than white) in one in four Jewish households, The 2018 Portrait of Bay Area Jewish Life and Communities, the first comprehensive Study of the Bay Area’s Jewish population, said.

Danny Grossman contributed to this report.

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EAGAN, Minnesota (AP) — The NFL has expanded a program for minorities and women in sports medicine with the goal of…

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The NFL has expanded a minority and women’s sports medicine program with the goal of increasing diversity among athletic coaches and medical staff across the league in line with similar initiatives for coaches and the front office.

The league announced Monday at spring owner meetings in Minnesota an expansion of the pool to bring together diverse students from 19 medical schools with NFL clubs.

The NFL Diversity in Sports Medicine Pipeline initiative started last year with 14 medical students from historically black colleges and universities completing month-long clinical rotations with eight NFL teams in partnership with the NFL Physicians Society and the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society. Medical students interested in primary care sports medicine and orthopedic surgery were selected for the pilot program, and this year the number of participants more than doubled.

“We need more minorities, diverse people. We need more women to continue participating in programs, in colleges and in high school,” said Reggie Scott, vice president of sports medicine and performance for the Los Angeles Rams.

The league plans to expand the initiative in the future to include other player care disciplines such as physical therapy and behavioral health into the immersive and holistic program. The overarching goal is to reinforce the historical under-representation of women, as well as Black, Latino and other minorities in this area.

With the education process spanning more than a decade, from medical school to residency to fellowship, another goal of the NFL is to raise awareness of these professions higher up.

“The sooner we can inspire people, the sooner they can address the requirements, bring them into the programs and then allow them to start looking for mentors,” said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer.

“So not only are they knowledgeable in the field, but they can also be confident applicants when it comes to enrolling and settling into areas like orthopedic surgery,” said Kelsey Henderson, a graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville. the 2022 contestant was with the Tennessee Titans.

Henderson had a picture of her with Sills and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in her yearbook, a potential inspiration for future contestants.

“When I applied to medical school, I really didn’t have any mentors, so I just had to figure it out for myself,” said Omolayo Dada, a 2022 program participant from Atlanta’s Morehouse School of Medicine who worked with the San Francisco 49ers.

“I felt like part of the family from the start,” Dada said.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Copyright © 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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San Francisco, California, United States

Marc Cavagnero Associates’ Hamlin School renovation and expansion project transformed the campus into a fully sustainable building that minimizes demolition and maximizes the reuse of existing structures to reduce waste and increase material resources and insulation of all exterior building envelopes above and below save class to reduce energy consumption

The new Hamlin School campus recently received the 2023 Green Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

For over 127 years, The Hamlin School has been focused on its mission to educate girls to “meet the challenges of their time.”

The school is located on a steep sloping site in a residential area of ​​San Francisco with restrictive height restrictions.

The campus consists of 3 buildings descending 65 feet down a slope while scaling a 40 foot retaining wall, all conditions that created profound site constraints and design challenges.

With separate elevators and stairways in each building, connections between the separate buildings were unclear.

The retaining wall at the center of the campus created a physical barrier between the middle school and the junior high school, fundamentally dividing the site into upper and lower sections.

The three buildings were constructed in three different eras and were not designed to support the school’s contemporary pedagogical ambitions.

And the undersized gymnasium was shared with the performing arts department, affecting both athletics and performing arts programs.

Work focused on the interior of the site to minimize impact on the stunning bay views from the campus and neighboring residences.

The project expanded the lower school’s McKinne Building, retaining its front half while excavating behind it south to the retaining wall, yielding new excavation area as usable area.

The new design stacked a large, double-height gymnasium over a multipurpose arts space deep in the center of the site, conforming to zone boundaries and minimizing visual impact on neighbors.

The roof of the extension forms a new terrace directly in front of the existing science classrooms in the middle building and creates new opportunities for science education and experiments.

This strategy also consolidated the newly enlarged classrooms on the north side of the McKinne Building, where they make best use of the large windows, soft light, and views.

The existing classrooms were small and did not support the school’s project-based pedagogy.

Working closely with the teachers, the classrooms were paired by grade level, with the youngest children on Level 1 moving up the building as they got older.

Each pair of L-shaped classrooms is connected by an operable partition and a shared project space.

This layout creates differentiated learning spaces to support different learning modes: individual, small group, whole class, and whole grade level.

The renovation also created a new, open and accessible entrance at ground level, midway between the first floor and the newly excavated lower level.

Where the building’s previous 1960s entrance was awkward, cramped and hidden from the street, the new entrance welcomes students, parents and visitors and is connected to the indoor lobbies on levels 1 and 0, which lead directly to the multipurpose performance space and The climbing wall.

These lobbies are open and flexible spaces used for classroom activities, after-school programs and as a vestibule for the new performance space.

Sustainable features of the campus include a computerized building management system using occupancy sensors and daylight sensors to automatically reduce energy use from lighting and HVAC systems when not required.

The architects have used high-efficiency LED lighting fixtures and low-flow plumbing fixtures throughout, while low-E coating double glazing reduces solar gain and energy loss in all new windows.

In addition, operable windows provide user-controlled natural ventilation and limit mechanical cooling to large gathering spaces to reduce energy consumption.

Project: The Hamelin School
Architect: Mark Cavagnero Associates
Design Team: Mark Cavagnero, Felicia Dunham, Anna de Anguera, Christopher Agosta and Tammy LePham
Project Manager: Pacific Union Development Company, Inc.
Client: The Hamlin School
Photographers: Mike Kelley

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A new program by the City of San Francisco to revitalize the empty downtown area to provide free rents and grant money for pop-up shops was launched Monday. Applications are now available.

Since 2020, around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco has seen a major loss of storefronts and retail locations in the city. High crime rates, overt drug use, and record numbers of homeless vagrants in neighborhoods are all major contributors to this loss. Additionally, high rents, a huge drop in foot traffic caused by businesses migrating from the city center, and many businesses relocating out of town to be closer to where owners and employees live have contributed . As a result, both chain stores and independent companies have left San Francisco, leaving a large number of vacancies.

With nearly a third of all downtown office and retail space now vacant, and similar rates elsewhere in the city, San Francisco has tried numerous schemes in recent years without success. In her State of the City in February, Mayor London Breed highlighted many areas to focus on to bring businesses back to the city centre, including improving safety and cleanliness, attracting and retaining a wide range of industries and employers, finding new uses and flexibility in vacant buildings, making it easier to start a business, increasing the workforce, making downtown a cultural and entertainment center, improving public spaces, improving transportation and focusing on the positives of the city to attract new residents and businesses.

Specifically, as part of this plan, the mayor is calling for lowering permitting costs, suspending tax hikes for businesses remaining in the city, and offering three-year tax breaks to new businesses. For the development of downtown into an entertainment hub, Mayor Breed even proposed passing legislation allowing outdoor drinking.

However, the situation has not improved. While the summer tourist season may bring more potential customers to these stores, many are still staying away due to the whole array of issues mentioned earlier. Needing more ways to attract businesses, San Francisco decided to focus on pop-up stores or short-term retail and arts locations that typically last less than a few months by launching a new program Monday.

Accepted pop-up stores, known as Vacant to Vibrant, will receive three months of free rent plus an additional subsidy of $3,000 to $8,000 to help cover relocation costs. Interested companies must first fill out an application. Once accepted, a committee will rank each one, with the highest-ranking interested property owners being cheered. Owners must apply themselves to be considered to host such a business, with areas under 5,000 square feet being preferred first. The must-haves for interested landlords include available WiFi, at least one bathroom and a ground floor apartment.

The city will foot the bill itself, with $710,000 provided by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and nonprofit group SF New Deal.

“Vacant to Vibrant is a city-funded program aimed at revitalizing the economic heart of San Francisco (aka “Downtown”) by helping small businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and cultural organizations activate vacant storefronts, to revitalize the area and promote economic recovery,” the Vacant says on Vibrant’s website. “As part of the larger vision of Mayor Breed’s Roadmap to Downtown San Francisco, Vacant to Vibrant will provide a glimpse of what the future of downtown with public participation can look like – innovative, creative, vibrant and diverse.”

While the program has been praised by some in the city, many others have serious doubts as to whether the pop-up locations will have any success.

“It’s not going to be successful,” Michelle Duggan, a building occupancy researcher, told the Globe on Monday. “Cities in the Bay Area have literally been trying to launch pop-up stores for years, but to no avail. The city lures them in, they stay there for 3-4 months, then they leave. Not many business cycles go through and few people benefit. Some of the better known ones, like San FranDisco, had a good couple of early days but quickly fell by the wayside as the city’s troubles crept in.”

“It’s good that the city is still trying, but it’s ignoring the incentives that are proven to work, like tax breaks and city programs to reduce crime and other related issues, to make them stay.” We know how to get business back, but San Francisco seems to be trying everything except the obvious solutions for long-term retail and other leases.”

Applications for the Vacant to Vibrant program are open until June 1st.

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