Autonomous Vehicles are not The Great. And yet we keep trying, mainly because there is a lot of money behind it. In the Bay Area, this has led to some predictable consequences, according to the news outlet Mission Local reports that San Francisco police and first responders are dealing with malfunctioning driverless cars that get in the way during emergencies or cause traffic problems. Incident reports show that quite a lot is happening.

In case you missed it:

reports Received from Mission Local, detailing issues local responders have encountered with driverless vehicles from Waymo and Cruise, both of which have permits to test on city streets. In 15 separate incidents, autonomous cars either failed, causing a traffic problem, or got in the way of a situation where officers and first responders tried to get the car moving.

In one incident That happened on April 25, a fire truck responded to a call. The fire engine turned onto a narrow street that was too narrow for two vehicles to pass at the same time. According to the report, a Waymo autonomous car was approaching from the opposite direction. As the fire truck approached, instead of coming by for the first responder like it should have, it did something else: It continued to approach the fire truck until it was less than 10 feet from it. And then it just stopped. Firefighters had to get out of the truck, approach the car and speak to the vehicle’s monitor to tell it to move. The monitor replied that he understood the situation, but apparently the car was not responding to commands. The fire truck had to drive down the street and drive around.

Other incident From the end of January, a driverless car had to get closer to the scene of the fire where a fire was being fought. According to the report, the vehicle kept approaching, so close that firefighters at the scene thought the car would run over the hoses and hinder the firefighting effort. So a firefighter took matters into his own hands to stop the car.

I yelled twice for the car to stop and banged my fist on the hood. After warning the car twice, I smashed the window and the vehicle stopped. Thank you very much.

While many of these incidents read like something out of a movie, the reality isn’t as entertaining. Lots of cops and first responders Mission Local spoke to do not want the cars on the city streets. But driverless cars are federally regulated, with support from the city that says the local government doesn’t have much say. In the meantime, responders must bypass them or hope they don’t get in their way. Or even better, let the vehicles recognize emergency situations and react accordingly, as one firefighter emphasized in a report. “The need for these vehicles to see a road closed by caution tape and warning sandwich boards,” the firefighter said, “is imperative.”

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OAKLAND (CBS SF) — A medical response team was called on Tuesday morning to treat a pair of Oakland teachers who were in the eighth day of a hunger strike, protesting at an Oakland Unified School District plan to close or merge more than a dozen schools.

In a statement, supporters of Moses Omolade and André San-Chez said the pair were suffering from failing health.

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“Convocation hunger strikers, Moses Omolade and André San-Chez are having health difficulties this morning,” the release stated. “Medical teams are on the way to Westlake Middle School now to support.”

A statement was included in the update, San-Chez told the board — “If I die, I want the board to know my death was at your hands.”

A heated battle has been waged by teachers, students and parents for several weeks over the plan which comes up for a vote on Tuesday night.

The proposed closure list was released to the public at the end of January. Six schools — Brookfield, Carl Munck, Prescott, Grass Valley, Parker, Community Day School — are recommended for closure at the end of this academic year. Two other schools — Horace Mann Elementary and Korematsu Discovery Academy — would close after next year, with their students then being reassigned to other schools.

Additionally, three schools would merge onto other campuses after this school year with Manzanita Community School moving to join Fruitvale Elementary the following year.

OUSD says for the amount of students in the district, there are far too many campuses and the budget is blown. OUSD has 33,000 students and 80 campuses. Fremont has 34,000 students and 42 schools. In Stockton, 48 schools serve 35,000.

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OUSD parent of four Vanessa Gutierrez says if Brookfield and Grass Valley close, the move will cost her close to $100 a day in Uber fees to get her kids to class, because she doesn’t drive.

“They’re not thinking about the people that are less fortunate than them,” Gutierrez told KPIX5. She’s also worried about losing the Brookfield special ed teacher her son relies on.

“For him to get sent to another school with different teachers, that’s honestly something that I will always try to fight for my kids,” she said. “I don’t like them being switched from one teacher to another.”

Corrin Haskell, a teacher at Brookfield for the past 25 years, says this is about losing a valuable community school and resource and putting kids in danger.

“There’s not really a school that’s within safe walking distance from here if you’ve ever been to the Brookfield/Sobrany Park area. It’s not really a place where people walk around freely for miles,” said Haskell. “Taking these kids and making them walk another one and a half, two miles to get to another school on top of that is really unfair.”

In a statement, OUSD said this about the hunger strikes and protest:

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“We support everyone’s right to protest, including protesting possible decisions by the Board of Education. Of course, the District cares deeply about the health and well-being of our staff, and hopes that any staff member engaging in a hunger strike explores other means of protest that don’t involve harming themselves. We know that our students, staff, and families all agree that we need a district of thriving schools, yet not everyone necessarily agrees on how best to get there.”

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CLAYTON (CBS SF) – Clayton City Council will discuss next week a motion from the city police union for a COVID-19-related “hero payment” for officials funded by the city’s share of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding will.

The idea came about during the council meeting on December 7th when council members expressed interest in the police union idea and possible expansion to other city employees.

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An employee report for Tuesday’s meeting said, “One of the identified spending categories for ARPA funding is the premium payment for key workers, defined as those who work in critical infrastructure areas. In the case of local governments, since all of our employees are considered disaster relief workers and therefore essential employees, the premium payment would be a reimbursable expense for all employees in the city.

“In addition, most of the city’s employees offered some or all of the services in person earlier than many others in other jurisdictions, as Clayton was ahead of many other cities in the county in terms of opening up to the public,” the report said.

The report suggests that if the council decides to move forward, lump-sum payments be made to staff employed by the city before March 3, 2021. Up to 18 full-time employees and two part-time employees could be eligible.

Clayton has received $ 1.45 million in ARPA funding, less than $ 200,000 of which has been spent, the majority of which has been spent on Clayton Cares grants for pandemic-hit households, nonprofits, and small businesses.

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In a December 2 letter, Rich Enea, president of the Clayton Police Officers Association, called for “hero pay” for police officers.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, every police officer stayed on track and kept coming to work to protect this wonderful city,” wrote Enea. “While other city workers could work from home, our police officers didn’t have that choice. During the pandemic, nobody knew what it could bring. Like everyone else in the country, our police officers were concerned about getting sick or worse, but bringing the disease to loved ones. Unfortunately, one of our police officers got infected with COVID last year. “

Enea pointed out that other cities, including Concord, are also compensating first responders.

Clayton City Council meets practically at 7 p.m. Tuesday. To join the meeting, people can go to https://bit.ly/3Juxa5Z.

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CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (CBS SF) – Citing the Omicron variant, Contra Costa County officials are requiring first responders and homeless shelters to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster or undergo weekly tests.

The order, which comes into effect January 10, applies to law enforcement agencies, firefighters, emergency medical personnel who work or respond to calls in “high-risk facilities” such as hospitals, prisons, care or community facilities. Workers in homeless shelters are also covered by the requirement, as are rescue workers who transport patients in the facilities mentioned above.

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Workers who have not received a booster by the deadline must undergo a weekly PCR or antigen test.

Contra Costa County’s new booster need comes amid a surge in COVID-19 cases believed to be driven by the fast-spreading variant. Health officials said the average daily number of new cases discovered in the county rose about 156% over the past week to 313 new cases per day.

The first cases of the variant in the district were only confirmed by health authorities a week ago.

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Meanwhile, many residents of the county have not yet received their booster vaccinations, with only 36% of people aged 16 and over receiving the third vaccination.

“The Omicron variant is much more contagious than previous COVID-19 strains,” said Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano on Monday in a statement. “Boosting is necessary for the best protection against Omicron infection and transmission. Our hospitals run the risk of being overwhelmed when a large number of our vulnerable residents fall ill. “

Last week the state required all healthcare workers, home care workers, and community care and detention center workers to receive their vaccinations.

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For more information about the booster and upcoming vaccination clinics, visit the Contra Costa Health Services website or call 1-833-829-2626.

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