Transcripts For KGO ABC 7 News Getting Answers 20240712 : vi

So beautiful, so congratulations. Thank you so much for having us. Cassius and mark did a great job. They really did. Thank you very much. Mayor, you have made quite the name for yourself. Youre not even 30 yet, for being such a young mayor to the mayors for guaranteed program, to the universal basic Income Program but stockton often gets a bad rap so what do you hope people learn about you from this film and about your city . Well, mostly, help the people of this nation learn that cities like stockton matter. The community, the young people, the formerly incarcerated, teachers and essential workers are the life of the democracy and the solutions starts with listening and doing work that helps their dreams and aspirations, typically, young people. And hope people learn that in every community, theres a kid right now who may have a father whos incarcerated. They have a mother who had them young, who may be going to a school whos just as talented, just intelligent as kids anywhere else in the city and with the right mentorship, the right resources, right opportunity, they could have a chance to be a mayor or a doctor or a police officer. I think thats just important that my story is not singular. Theres literally millions of folks from backgrounds in this country who just need a fair shot and a fighting chance. Right, if you can do it, other young people can do it too. You were embedded in stockton for more than a year working on this. The project came back after california, 20 years in new york where you and i met and then when i was approached by mark shortly before i left new york, it seemed like a great opportunity to collaborate with such a respected documenttarian and i just started hearing about mayor todd and was very curious about what he was doing in stockton. You could already sense the narrative was changing about stockton, growing up, stockton didnt have the same shine you were seeing now, so i was very interested in kind of being part of the process and helping build that story. Yeah, mayor, one of the most powerful moments in the film is during an interview with your father who is currently incarcerated for an Armed Robbery and he explains that he did that to get money to pay for your baby sisters funeral. Its really a powerful moment to watch as a viewer, so im curious, what was your reaction when you watched that for the first time . It was jarring. Because i had no idea. Me and my father never talked that frequently, so i didnt know what he was incarcerated for. I just knew 25 to life. I thought, he must have killed somebody. Being scared to find that out, in terms of what does that say about me, very embarrassed. So as a 29yearold now, a father and to watch and hear that story was moving and made me so happy that i grew up from my teenage anger because i had no idea, what indeed he shared is true is thats why he committed the crime and also makes policies like basic income that much more important. I can only wonder if he had a guaranteed or basic income, no guarantee, but maybe he would have had more options than not commit a crime to pay for burying his daughter. Cassius, you were in the room during that interview and its so clear how proud the mayors dad is of him. Absolutely. The pride shines through the demeanor, not just in the film but the room. Hes so excited to talk about the mayor and the book he had written to share with the son to tell him his life story and who he is as a person, and throughout the interview, the themes that rise up and again are just how he feels his son took the positive qualities he did have, just kind of made the most of it. Whereas he kind of went the wrong way or chose the wrong path to end up where he is now, but i think he looks forward to redeeming himself if possible and then if he is allowed to at some point, just kind of have the opportunity to do better and start over, and i think, be a part of that. And mayor, you are a new dad which is part of this too. But a large part of this film is about the cyclical nature of poverty and youve started the mayors for guaranteed income. 500 months, no strings attached, a Controversial Program when it started. I saw you extended it. What is the evidence so far that this is working . If you go to the stocktondemonstration. Org, youll find the data with how the money is being spent and find much like its explored in the film, people are spending money in the ways you and i spend money so the majority of money, particularly during covid19, its been with food and utilities, and then merchandise, clothes for children, et cetera. Behind the data, just the stories you hear of folks like maggie who was in the film, but also folks who, like, who are buying dentures because they couldnt afford dentures, living paycheck to paycheck, people in debt, paying for more tutoring for their kids, people able to stay home in quarantine because they can afford to take time off work who are sick with symptoms and people who are waiting for unemployment still, has been a lifeline as they wait for Unemployment Benefits to qualify for. 40 of all people today who paid in and qualified for Unemployment Insurance still have yet to see a check. So i think its been successful at showing the importance of building Economic Resilience and providing an income that doesnt replace work. It hasnt made stockton a different country with a different governing system. We have the term communist but becoming a more caring and compassionate community. I want to ask you to rip on this, but if you could repeat the web site because i think it cut out, but mayor, i think its interesting too as we start seeing the stimulus checks getting sent out, people say, huh, this seems like universal basic income. Absolutely. And i think the stimulus checks are one step, but part of the guaranteed Income Network which includes 20 mayors now, including mayor garcetti, dear friend and garcia long beach, a good friend and essentially, were saying the checks need to be regular. And monthly because we know bills are regular and monthly and bills wiont stop this mont or next month. Theyll continue through covid19. If Small Businesses are being hurt, we have to make sure folks are able to still pay for rent, mortgage, accessories. And the web site for the stockton project, stocktondemonstration. Org and there you can see all the data every month, how money is spent. Listen to the stories of people and spoiler alert, the same things you would say, your family would say, these are real people. Just like all of us who are using money in realtime to address real needs. And cassius, this film strikes me as being so timely for this moment. I know youve been working on it prior to the last few months but talking about black lives matter and how to break out of systemic inequities, you told me something is how cyclical so much of this is in these communities. I think as a filmmaker, you can only hope that the topics youre covering become so timely as this film has and part of that is while were even making the film, mark and myself were very much struck by the patterns we saw repeating. I posted on social media about this, but at the heart of the story is the story of mayor michael and his father that extends beyond just then into the effects of absent fathers in the community as a result of the policy and activity, but when you see the progress being made, its not so easy to grasp in the moment, but then to see someone like isaiah whos facing similar charges with the father, but then has someone like jeff on his side, an activist whos fighting for his rights, but but rather, rehabilitation based. And find another opportunity and have the opportunity to continue his education and receive money from stockton scholars to make money of himself. Because hes a kid who grew up without opportunities and we see that all over. Not just stockton but in this country. Im hopeful that the policies the mayor is pushing kind of fosters a more compassionbased policy. Because i think thats what we need now for the children of this country. Its so timely and i think we have to wrap up but before i do, i want to give a shoutout to your wife because i feel like she was the secret star of this film. Everyones been saying that. She was their favorite person, so shoutout to my wife. Who you guys met your sophomore year at stanford here in the bay area. Well, i was a senior. She was a sophomore. I really did enjoy the parts with her. Congratulations on your new family. Thank you. And for joining us today and congrats on this documentary, mayor michael tubs from stockton and filmmaker Cassius Michael kim, thank you. Thank you for having us. Up next, a close look at the bay area Housing Market for the conversation continues on as thow llleav sversmortgage works. People think that the bank takes your home, but that is not true. Thats absolutely 100 wrong. The home is ours. We can sell it if we want to at any time. I like the flexibility of not having a payment, but i can make the payment if i want to. Youre responsible for keeping up your property taxes and youre responsible for paying your insurance on the property. For us, it was a security blanket. The value of our house, was to fund our longterm health care. For years, reverse Mortgage Funding has been helping customers like these use the equity from their homes to finance their lives. They know the importance of having financial security. Make an appointment so they can tell you how it works. Its a good thing. Access your equity. Stay in your home. Have peace of mind. All right, welcome back. Abc7 news committed to building a better bay area and were committed to addressing housing in the middle of this pandemic. So joining me to talk about this is someone whos seeing it firsthand. Lead agent in San Francisco for compass real estate, Erin Thompson, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me, liz. All right sochlt t. So the big question, is this a good time for people to buy a house in San Francisco . Well, this is a question i get a lot. Especially in the midst of a pandemic, it can be a little confusing. Ill tell you, you know, this crisis has created a lot of movement and a lot of need. So i think a good time to buy is when you have a need. And i would say, theres quite a lot of people looking for more space, to have offices, to have some outdoor space, especially in these summer months when we are faced with lots of fog. What about rent . Is that something, people are saying, everyones escaping the city, rent must be going down. Is that what were seeing . There definitely has been a pretty considerable impact to the rental market. A good portion of our entry level workers and Service Workers are sadly without work. So these people without that income find it very difficult to pay the exorbitant rent we have here in San Francisco. I believe the rental market has taken a 15 to 20 hit. So theres absolutely been a pretty considerable hit with that market. So if youre looking for a small one bedroom apartment right now in San Francisco, might be the time to snatch it up. Well, and frankly, theres a lot of people that are leaving their apartments that are too expensive because they know they can find cheaper ones. And if you can work remotely and google until next summer, why would you not . Right. Im not sure if you can see this but ill show our viewers this graph our Data Journalism team put together showing 30 of californians are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage. 20 of americans are, but only 19 of the bay area is. Does this sort of mirror what youre seeing . It does, liz. You know, when we think about our primary industries, were very techheavy, biotech, financial services. All of those industries, for the most part, you can have your computer and work everywhere. Obviously, if you need to be in a lab or Something Like that, thats different but just because of the industry here in the bay area, we are so fortunate to be able to take our job pretty much anywhere. Kind of big picture, what are the biggest changes that you have really seen since the pandemic started . A question were getting in. As far as real estate . Mmhmm. I think some of the biggest changes have to do with psychology. Theres this idea were in the middle of this pandemic and everything is just going to be thats just not the case. With crisis comes movement and that means that people, maybe three roommates live in an apartment and then work from home. Its impossible to have three zoom calls at one time in a small apartment, so those may be doing so, and then there are people downsizing so they can get their second home outside of the city. So theres quite a bit of movement and quite a bit of movement coming into San Francisco. Its not the exodus that everybody keeps talking about. Coming from the east coast. San francisco is still a very desirable place to live. Is that because people are trying to get out ofthe cold with more outdoor space and activities . I think its about space. Especially in San Francisco, notoriously foggy, everybody kind of locked inside, all they want to be is be outside but they cant because its freezing cold. So to be able to get to the sunshine and then feel a little bit more, given its not quite congested. Ive been seeing,seeing, with people trying to get homes out there, the real estate market. Erin thompson. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your insight today. Of course. Thank you, liz. Be safe. You too. Bye. All right, were going to take a break on air but how about poor fred wilson . What a shame. So soon after retiring. I hear his wife needed help with the funeral expenses. Thats ridiculous he had social security. When my brother died, his wife received a check from social security, all right for 255 the funeral costs were well over 8,000. How on earth did she pay for it . Fortunately, my brother bought additional Life Insurance before he retired. Whew i bet that cost a pretty penny, huh . Not with Colonial Penn. Coverage options start at just 9. 95 a month. Less than 35 cents a day. I have it myself. We both do. Both of you . Thats right. Neither of us had to answer any Health Questions or take a physical exam. In fact, no one our age can be turned down. For any health reason. No one . No one . Nope. Hm. Is this a plan that offers a lot of protection at first, and then reduces it little by little each year . No ive had this coverage for years. My benefit never decreases as i get older. Your rates go up every year, right . No, not at all. Friends keep telling friends about guaranteed acceptance whole Life Insurance from Colonial Penn Life Insurance company. With this coverage, your premium never increases for any reason, and your benefit wont decrease simply because you grow older. Options start at just 9. 95 a month. If youre age 50 to 85, you cannot be turned down because of your health. Colonial penn specializes for mature men and women. To find out more, call now. male announcer call now and youll also get this free beneficiary planner and this free prescription savings card that can help you save up to 80 on prescription drugs. Reggie aqui talked with regi libby schaaf about the police department. Fascinating conversation. Take a listen. We spoke about further defunding. Opd. How do you feel . Lets be clear. They passed a measure to establish and then responsible thing to do. They are inviting you, the community to come cocreate what this reimagined Public Safety is going to look like. And before we do more cuts, its important to understand what the public is losing and potentially getting in its place. That should be transparent, it should be informed and it should be cocreated with community. Council passed that unanimously last night. This is something weve talked about this with you for a number of weeks. This is generally not the direction you believe the Oakland Police department should be going in, correct . What i believe is that we need to make informed decisions. I supported the more than 14 million immediate cut to the Police Departments budget but we could not see how any further cuts would not require the elimination of a service or division. For the Council Members who asked additional cuts, we asked for cuts and they refused to, and thats whats important. People need to be informed about the impact of that and based on what the study shows, i actually might be absolutely convinced that this redirection of 150 million people, the Community Involved in analyzing it and seeing it and informing those decisions. So i look forward to seeing the results of this task force. I just think this is the way to do it with information with transparency and with th public. Well, City Council Also passed a measure to deny federal agents from being sent to the city. Have spoken out strongly about how you feel about that but then saw the damage to the Alameda County courthouse and were just wondering now, do you still feel like this is the right decision and how can you enforce it, how can we measure if its enforceable . I feel its the right decision more than ever. In fact, i joined with mayors across the country this morning from portland and seattle and philadelphia and albuquerque under the umbrela of the u. S. Conference of mayors to make a very clear and united statement that the federal government should not send Law Enforcement agents to perform tasks or in a way that is not approved by the local government. We know our communities, and let me be clear, i have no tolerance for vandalism. It upsets me greatly. It infuriates me and as i said this week, i believe it plays right into the hands of the trump campaign. But i know this community and in this community, sending federal troops in would only cause more civil unrest, more vandalism. That is very clear for anybody who knows oakland, and i believe that Income Program<\/a> but stockton often gets a bad rap so what do you hope people learn about you from this film and about your city . Well, mostly, help the people of this nation learn that cities like stockton matter. The community, the young people, the formerly incarcerated, teachers and essential workers are the life of the democracy and the solutions starts with listening and doing work that helps their dreams and aspirations, typically, young people. And hope people learn that in every community, theres a kid right now who may have a father whos incarcerated. They have a mother who had them young, who may be going to a school whos just as talented, just intelligent as kids anywhere else in the city and with the right mentorship, the right resources, right opportunity, they could have a chance to be a mayor or a doctor or a police officer. I think thats just important that my story is not singular. Theres literally millions of folks from backgrounds in this country who just need a fair shot and a fighting chance. Right, if you can do it, other young people can do it too. You were embedded in stockton for more than a year working on this. The project came back after california, 20 years in new york where you and i met and then when i was approached by mark shortly before i left new york, it seemed like a great opportunity to collaborate with such a respected documenttarian and i just started hearing about mayor todd and was very curious about what he was doing in stockton. You could already sense the narrative was changing about stockton, growing up, stockton didnt have the same shine you were seeing now, so i was very interested in kind of being part of the process and helping build that story. Yeah, mayor, one of the most powerful moments in the film is during an interview with your father who is currently incarcerated for an Armed Robbery<\/a> and he explains that he did that to get money to pay for your baby sisters funeral. Its really a powerful moment to watch as a viewer, so im curious, what was your reaction when you watched that for the first time . It was jarring. Because i had no idea. Me and my father never talked that frequently, so i didnt know what he was incarcerated for. I just knew 25 to life. I thought, he must have killed somebody. Being scared to find that out, in terms of what does that say about me, very embarrassed. So as a 29yearold now, a father and to watch and hear that story was moving and made me so happy that i grew up from my teenage anger because i had no idea, what indeed he shared is true is thats why he committed the crime and also makes policies like basic income that much more important. I can only wonder if he had a guaranteed or basic income, no guarantee, but maybe he would have had more options than not commit a crime to pay for burying his daughter. Cassius, you were in the room during that interview and its so clear how proud the mayors dad is of him. Absolutely. The pride shines through the demeanor, not just in the film but the room. Hes so excited to talk about the mayor and the book he had written to share with the son to tell him his life story and who he is as a person, and throughout the interview, the themes that rise up and again are just how he feels his son took the positive qualities he did have, just kind of made the most of it. Whereas he kind of went the wrong way or chose the wrong path to end up where he is now, but i think he looks forward to redeeming himself if possible and then if he is allowed to at some point, just kind of have the opportunity to do better and start over, and i think, be a part of that. And mayor, you are a new dad which is part of this too. But a large part of this film is about the cyclical nature of poverty and youve started the mayors for guaranteed income. 500 months, no strings attached, a Controversial Program<\/a> when it started. I saw you extended it. What is the evidence so far that this is working . If you go to the stocktondemonstration. Org, youll find the data with how the money is being spent and find much like its explored in the film, people are spending money in the ways you and i spend money so the majority of money, particularly during covid19, its been with food and utilities, and then merchandise, clothes for children, et cetera. Behind the data, just the stories you hear of folks like maggie who was in the film, but also folks who, like, who are buying dentures because they couldnt afford dentures, living paycheck to paycheck, people in debt, paying for more tutoring for their kids, people able to stay home in quarantine because they can afford to take time off work who are sick with symptoms and people who are waiting for unemployment still, has been a lifeline as they wait for Unemployment Benefits<\/a> to qualify for. 40 of all people today who paid in and qualified for Unemployment Insurance<\/a> still have yet to see a check. So i think its been successful at showing the importance of building Economic Resilience<\/a> and providing an income that doesnt replace work. It hasnt made stockton a different country with a different governing system. We have the term communist but becoming a more caring and compassionate community. I want to ask you to rip on this, but if you could repeat the web site because i think it cut out, but mayor, i think its interesting too as we start seeing the stimulus checks getting sent out, people say, huh, this seems like universal basic income. Absolutely. And i think the stimulus checks are one step, but part of the guaranteed Income Network<\/a> which includes 20 mayors now, including mayor garcetti, dear friend and garcia long beach, a good friend and essentially, were saying the checks need to be regular. And monthly because we know bills are regular and monthly and bills wiont stop this mont or next month. Theyll continue through covid19. If Small Businesses<\/a> are being hurt, we have to make sure folks are able to still pay for rent, mortgage, accessories. And the web site for the stockton project, stocktondemonstration. Org and there you can see all the data every month, how money is spent. Listen to the stories of people and spoiler alert, the same things you would say, your family would say, these are real people. Just like all of us who are using money in realtime to address real needs. And cassius, this film strikes me as being so timely for this moment. I know youve been working on it prior to the last few months but talking about black lives matter and how to break out of systemic inequities, you told me something is how cyclical so much of this is in these communities. I think as a filmmaker, you can only hope that the topics youre covering become so timely as this film has and part of that is while were even making the film, mark and myself were very much struck by the patterns we saw repeating. I posted on social media about this, but at the heart of the story is the story of mayor michael and his father that extends beyond just then into the effects of absent fathers in the community as a result of the policy and activity, but when you see the progress being made, its not so easy to grasp in the moment, but then to see someone like isaiah whos facing similar charges with the father, but then has someone like jeff on his side, an activist whos fighting for his rights, but but rather, rehabilitation based. And find another opportunity and have the opportunity to continue his education and receive money from stockton scholars to make money of himself. Because hes a kid who grew up without opportunities and we see that all over. Not just stockton but in this country. Im hopeful that the policies the mayor is pushing kind of fosters a more compassionbased policy. Because i think thats what we need now for the children of this country. Its so timely and i think we have to wrap up but before i do, i want to give a shoutout to your wife because i feel like she was the secret star of this film. Everyones been saying that. She was their favorite person, so shoutout to my wife. Who you guys met your sophomore year at stanford here in the bay area. Well, i was a senior. She was a sophomore. I really did enjoy the parts with her. Congratulations on your new family. Thank you. And for joining us today and congrats on this documentary, mayor michael tubs from stockton and filmmaker Cassius Michael<\/a> kim, thank you. Thank you for having us. Up next, a close look at the bay area Housing Market<\/a> for the conversation continues on as thow llleav sversmortgage works. People think that the bank takes your home, but that is not true. Thats absolutely 100 wrong. The home is ours. We can sell it if we want to at any time. I like the flexibility of not having a payment, but i can make the payment if i want to. Youre responsible for keeping up your property taxes and youre responsible for paying your insurance on the property. For us, it was a security blanket. The value of our house, was to fund our longterm health care. For years, reverse Mortgage Funding<\/a> has been helping customers like these use the equity from their homes to finance their lives. They know the importance of having financial security. Make an appointment so they can tell you how it works. Its a good thing. Access your equity. Stay in your home. Have peace of mind. All right, welcome back. Abc7 news committed to building a better bay area and were committed to addressing housing in the middle of this pandemic. So joining me to talk about this is someone whos seeing it firsthand. Lead agent in San Francisco<\/a> for compass real estate, Erin Thompson<\/a>, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me, liz. All right sochlt t. So the big question, is this a good time for people to buy a house in San Francisco<\/a> . Well, this is a question i get a lot. Especially in the midst of a pandemic, it can be a little confusing. Ill tell you, you know, this crisis has created a lot of movement and a lot of need. So i think a good time to buy is when you have a need. And i would say, theres quite a lot of people looking for more space, to have offices, to have some outdoor space, especially in these summer months when we are faced with lots of fog. What about rent . Is that something, people are saying, everyones escaping the city, rent must be going down. Is that what were seeing . There definitely has been a pretty considerable impact to the rental market. A good portion of our entry level workers and Service Workers<\/a> are sadly without work. So these people without that income find it very difficult to pay the exorbitant rent we have here in San Francisco<\/a>. I believe the rental market has taken a 15 to 20 hit. So theres absolutely been a pretty considerable hit with that market. So if youre looking for a small one bedroom apartment right now in San Francisco<\/a>, might be the time to snatch it up. Well, and frankly, theres a lot of people that are leaving their apartments that are too expensive because they know they can find cheaper ones. And if you can work remotely and google until next summer, why would you not . Right. Im not sure if you can see this but ill show our viewers this graph our Data Journalism<\/a> team put together showing 30 of californians are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage. 20 of americans are, but only 19 of the bay area is. Does this sort of mirror what youre seeing . It does, liz. You know, when we think about our primary industries, were very techheavy, biotech, financial services. All of those industries, for the most part, you can have your computer and work everywhere. Obviously, if you need to be in a lab or Something Like<\/a> that, thats different but just because of the industry here in the bay area, we are so fortunate to be able to take our job pretty much anywhere. Kind of big picture, what are the biggest changes that you have really seen since the pandemic started . A question were getting in. As far as real estate . Mmhmm. I think some of the biggest changes have to do with psychology. Theres this idea were in the middle of this pandemic and everything is just going to be thats just not the case. With crisis comes movement and that means that people, maybe three roommates live in an apartment and then work from home. Its impossible to have three zoom calls at one time in a small apartment, so those may be doing so, and then there are people downsizing so they can get their second home outside of the city. So theres quite a bit of movement and quite a bit of movement coming into San Francisco<\/a>. Its not the exodus that everybody keeps talking about. Coming from the east coast. San francisco is still a very desirable place to live. Is that because people are trying to get out ofthe cold with more outdoor space and activities . I think its about space. Especially in San Francisco<\/a>, notoriously foggy, everybody kind of locked inside, all they want to be is be outside but they cant because its freezing cold. So to be able to get to the sunshine and then feel a little bit more, given its not quite congested. Ive been seeing,seeing, with people trying to get homes out there, the real estate market. Erin thompson. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your insight today. Of course. Thank you, liz. Be safe. You too. Bye. All right, were going to take a break on air but how about poor fred wilson . What a shame. So soon after retiring. I hear his wife needed help with the funeral expenses. Thats ridiculous he had social security. When my brother died, his wife received a check from social security, all right for 255 the funeral costs were well over 8,000. How on earth did she pay for it . Fortunately, my brother bought additional Life Insurance<\/a> before he retired. Whew i bet that cost a pretty penny, huh . Not with Colonial Penn<\/a>. Coverage options start at just 9. 95 a month. Less than 35 cents a day. I have it myself. We both do. Both of you . Thats right. Neither of us had to answer any Health Questions<\/a> or take a physical exam. In fact, no one our age can be turned down. For any health reason. No one . No one . Nope. Hm. Is this a plan that offers a lot of protection at first, and then reduces it little by little each year . No ive had this coverage for years. My benefit never decreases as i get older. Your rates go up every year, right . No, not at all. Friends keep telling friends about guaranteed acceptance whole Life Insurance<\/a> from Colonial Penn<\/a> Life Insurance<\/a> company. With this coverage, your premium never increases for any reason, and your benefit wont decrease simply because you grow older. Options start at just 9. 95 a month. If youre age 50 to 85, you cannot be turned down because of your health. Colonial penn specializes for mature men and women. To find out more, call now. male announcer call now and youll also get this free beneficiary planner and this free prescription savings card that can help you save up to 80 on prescription drugs. Reggie aqui talked with regi libby schaaf about the police department. Fascinating conversation. Take a listen. We spoke about further defunding. Opd. How do you feel . Lets be clear. They passed a measure to establish and then responsible thing to do. They are inviting you, the community to come cocreate what this reimagined Public Safety<\/a> is going to look like. And before we do more cuts, its important to understand what the public is losing and potentially getting in its place. That should be transparent, it should be informed and it should be cocreated with community. Council passed that unanimously last night. This is something weve talked about this with you for a number of weeks. This is generally not the direction you believe the Oakland Police<\/a> department should be going in, correct . What i believe is that we need to make informed decisions. I supported the more than 14 million immediate cut to the Police Departments<\/a> budget but we could not see how any further cuts would not require the elimination of a service or division. For the Council Members<\/a> who asked additional cuts, we asked for cuts and they refused to, and thats whats important. People need to be informed about the impact of that and based on what the study shows, i actually might be absolutely convinced that this redirection of 150 million people, the Community Involved<\/a> in analyzing it and seeing it and informing those decisions. So i look forward to seeing the results of this task force. I just think this is the way to do it with information with transparency and with th public. Well, City Council Also<\/a> passed a measure to deny federal agents from being sent to the city. Have spoken out strongly about how you feel about that but then saw the damage to the Alameda County<\/a> courthouse and were just wondering now, do you still feel like this is the right decision and how can you enforce it, how can we measure if its enforceable . I feel its the right decision more than ever. In fact, i joined with mayors across the country this morning from portland and seattle and philadelphia and albuquerque under the umbrela of the u. S. Conference of mayors to make a very clear and united statement that the federal government should not send Law Enforcement<\/a> agents to perform tasks or in a way that is not approved by the local government. We know our communities, and let me be clear, i have no tolerance for vandalism. It upsets me greatly. It infuriates me and as i said this week, i believe it plays right into the hands of the trump campaign. But i know this community and in this community, sending federal troops in would only cause more civil unrest, more vandalism. That is very clear for anybody who knows oakland, and i believe that President Trump<\/a> knows that and he is actually trying to do harm to our city. Not make it safer, actually, make it more dangerous. I want to talk to you about whats going on in lake maran. This is something building over the last several weeks. Weve seen larger crowds and a spike in coronavirus cases in Alameda County<\/a>, where are we with lake merit and are you satisfied with the way people and police are responding . Im not satisfied because we are having unacceptable increases in coronavirus infections. And recent data from our incredible Roots Community<\/a> health center, what a trusted community organization. They are seeing a huge increase in infections caused by social gathering. This can even be with your family and friends. Where do we see it in public is around lake marn. We cracked down on vendors, tried to put more traffic and parking restrictions and we did see an impact. But i am not all the evidence is coming out about just how important wearing a mask, just a simple cloth covering on your face is to keeping you healthy. Your loved ones healthy. Call him on the phone or zoom with them because we have got to stop the spread of this virus. Were on the states watch list. This is unacceptable. Weve got to do better. Now, as far as enforcement goes, we are cracking down on the vendors and the parking thing. I know that people are suffering right now financially, theyre stressed out. Im starting to focus a little bit more on workplace compliance with health orders. I want our employers to make sure that workers are safe because we also have seen a lot of infections come through the workplace. So get prepared, this is something i think will be our next area of focus when it comes to enforcement. Im sorry, go ahead, kumasi. No, youre fine. I was just going to follow up on that. When you say workplace, are there specific, im not talking about names of companies but specific types of businesses are you most concerned about . Well, we are seeing some trends particularly, workplace with low wage workers that might not have access to good health care. Well be analyzing what are certain classes of occupations where you see high cases and high infections. We know we have seen some in construction and in food service. But we will continue to look at the data and make sure that our enforcement efforts are targeted and to start with, you know, not just slapping people with fines and tickets but providing them with resources, with information, with warnings, again, we know everyone is stressed out from this pandemic. But we have got to all do our part to keep everybody healthy. Yes, we do. Indeed. We appreciate you. As always, coming to spend time with us and checking in, so thank you. That was mayor libby schaaf earlier on all right, thank you all so much for joining us on this interactive getting answers show. We talked with stocktons mayor about the guaranteed Income Program<\/a> as long as a documentary about his life. Called stockton on my mind. Hopefully you got answers from Erin Thompson<\/a> from compass, talk abouted the bay Area Real Estate<\/a> and renting market. Fascinating conversation. Well be here every day at 3 00 on air and live stream answering your tonight, the news ce on the. The number of coronavirus deaths in the u. S. Now topping 150,000. America with a 30 increase in deaths in the last week. The federal government now identifying 98 emerges hot spots in 30 states. Florida and texas reporting record deaths in the last 24 hours and texas, they have crossed a grim milestone tonight. With doctors saying everyone is exhausted. Hospitalizations on the rise in 39 states and puerto rico. And the debate continuing over reopening schools and what the secretary of education acknowledged today while visiting a private school in North Carolina<\/a> with the vice president. Saying, there is no National Plan<\/a> to reopen schools. Tonight, President Trump<\/a> doubling down on his support of that controversial doctor who said masks dont work and who","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia903208.us.archive.org\/4\/items\/KGO_20200729_220000_ABC_7_News_Getting_Answers\/KGO_20200729_220000_ABC_7_News_Getting_Answers.thumbs\/KGO_20200729_220000_ABC_7_News_Getting_Answers_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}