Transcripts For KQED KQED Newsroom 20140310 : vimarsana.com

Kqed newsroom. Im thuy vu. California democrats gather in los angeles this weekend for the states partys convention. While its not quite as glamorous as last weekends academy awards, there is a lot riding on this Election Year. Scott shafer leads our analysis of what the party faces as it gears up for november. In many ways, its the best of times for california democrats. The party holds both u. S. Senate seats and every statewide office from governor on down, while the Republican Party struggles to rebrand itself. Still, theres plenty for democrats to worry about, starting with political scandals that have cost them their twothirds majority in the state senate. Joining me to discuss what challenges may be ahead are democratic strategist chris lehane and scott detrow, Sacramento Bureau chief for kqed joining us from los angeles, where hes covering the convention. And scott, let me start with you. What impact are these scandals, including the investigation of senator ronald caldron of southern california, what impact are they having on democrats, if any . I think democrats are definitely concerned about this, and you know that because state Senate Leaders announced a big Ethics Reform package this week that would half the amount of gifts lawmakers can receive and lead to more disclosure, and this is clearly a response to the fact that ron caldron is facing massive criminal charges on ethics issues. And rob wright, another senate democrat, has taken a leave of absence from the senate after being convicted of not living in his district. Democrats pushed back on this, saying these are isolated incidents and you cant tie them to party leads, but the fact is, caldron especially has made a point to try to drag other democrats into the scandal with him. He made the public charge that it was darrell steinberg, the Senate Pro Tem and the next pro tem that were the subject of the investigation. Now the fbi says thats not the case, but thats a charge you can still expect on republican mailers. Does that offer any opening for republicans or is this something really not on the minds of voters and wont be in november . First of all, its an incredibly important issue substantively because legal issues and any time its involving the public, its serious. But i think in terms of the political implications, i think somewhat very limited. I mean, the most significant implication is what scott touched on, which is democrats losing their twothirds super majority, which really will constrain some of the types of stuff that the Senate Democrats and the Assembly Democrats could potentially have looked at over the course of the next four or five months going into the election, but in terms of what type of an impact . I mean, just look at the nature of these districts. You are in a state where the real question is going to be, are the democrats able to elect enough people to get the supermajority back or not . Thats really the issue thats at stake. And scott dutrow, in terms of losing the supermajority, from covering sacramento, what types of things might democrats not be able to get done, given that they dont have the supermajority, at least in the senate right now . The big issues is always taxes, so the Democratic Leadership made it clear they will not push for any tax increases in the legislature, something jerry brown promised when he campaigned for proposition 30, saying if were going to raise taxes, well do it through the ballot, not the legislature, but you do need twothirds for a lot of things, among them putting constitutional changes on the ballot, and thats something that jerry brown wants to do. He wants to push forward with a proposition that would create a new rainy day fund. You need twothirds votes for that. Now, will that get held up because of the missing seats . Unclear, because this is an idea that a lot of republicans have voiced support for. But if republicans want to play hard ball on an issue that the governor has marked as a priority, they now have the leverage to do that. And chris lehane, jerry brown running for an unprecedented fourth term. Hes going to be 76 years old next month. Is there anything, you know, besides his age and potentially a Health Problem that could derail him . Not unless there is some alignment of the stars that no one has ever imagined. No, i mean, he is in a strong position as a sitting governor running for reelection, really, frankly, anywhere in the country. And i think the real issue here is, you know, does the governor use this Election Year to have a broader conversation with the state about where he potentially wants to take it at a pretty important moment in time, right . Our budgets are under control, Economic Growth is going in the right direction, but we still have enormous, significant challenges. And you know, with what is essentially a free shot year election, do you use that to set up that conversation, then do some big legacy pieces . And you have a big gap between him and Lieutenant Governor gavin newsom who tweeted last night he was running for reelection, obviously no surprise there. He came out a couple weeks ago opposing highspeed rail, something the governors embraced. What do you make of that dynamic and that relationship . First of all, the Lieutenant Governor took a hard look at running for governor and, in fact, had a campaign four years ago where he and Governor Brown would have been in a primary. Ultimately decided not to go. But you definitely have the sort of jerry brown as sort of, one end of his career, gavin newsom at another end and sort of circling each other. Champing at the bit. At some level. And look, its understandable, particularly if youre Lieutenant Governor, youre always looking for what is next. And i think some of what the Lieutenant Governor with gavin newsom is doing is really beginning to stake out positions that help define him statewide as he looks down the road, frankly, four years from now. So, i think youre seeing that on highspeed rail. I think youre seeing that in terms of his embrace of the legalization of marijuana. I think youre going to see that in a variety of issues that consistently reinforce the brand that hes sort of ahead of the curve, has the courage to take on some interesting issues, and i think, you know, hes going about this in a smart way. And scott detrow, there are going to be some endorsements potentially made this weekend in los angeles, and there are some hot contests in the primaries, like the state comptrollers race. But what effect do you think those intraparty battles, because of term limits and other things that are pitting democrats against each other, are having on the party . I think you look at the two statewide races where you have competitive democratic primari s primaries, comptroller and secretary of state. The party chair, john burton, has made a point of publicly asking these candidates not to seek the Party Endorsement this weekend. Hes saying that hes going to stay neutral, but hes also acknowledged that he cant really control what votes happen and who can contend for what. But i think in the push for neutrality and trying to avoid a party fight, i mean, thats a clear sign that Democratic Leaders dont really love the top two primary system where you can have democrats battling it out with each other in the fall. I want to ask chris lehane most professional races im sorry, were getting short on time. Let me ask chris about that, because in the south bay, you have a battle. Is that a good thing for the party . I think competition is good as a general proposition. I think any time candidates are forced to have to actually campaign, its good for democracy, its how it is set up. You know, i would separate that from the top two primary process, which i do think has become a bitter challenge for democrats and has had some unintended consequences, where you could have the scenario either where democrats have to run against each other multiple times or you have multiple democrats running statewide and run republican and you end up getting a republican into a runoff when that person really didnt get the same number of votes. And you could see some crazy situations playing out as a result of that, so i would bifurcate those two issues. Yeah, all right. Quickly, scott detrow, i know turnout is a big issue for democrats, especially in offyear elections like this. What are you hearing the democrats are going to do to try to get that turnout up in november so they hold on to some of these close seats that theyre going to be challenged for . Well, i think theyre going to start that process by reminding the people coming to this convention this weekend that they shouldnt take anything for granted. Obviously, democrats are in a great spot and the Republican Party is pretty weak here, but the message is going to be dont coast into the fall, because you never know what is going to happen. All right. Scott detrow in los angeles, have a good time this weekend, not too good, and chris lehane, thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me. And coming up, recycled water gets a big boost in Silicon Valley. But first, this week, after a fierce debate over privacy, Oakland City Council voted to scale back a Controversial Program for citywide surveillance. The Domain Awareness Center will now monitor only the Oakland International airport and the port of oakland. At the heart of the debate is whether the use of new technology from street and Police Cameras to the Wearable Computers google glass constitutes an invasion of privacy. Joining us for analysis are aarti shahani, kqed news reporter, and ali winston, freelance journalist. Now, ali, lets begin with you. Youve been covering this story for kqed and for the center for investigative reporting. How are Civil Liberties groups and opponents of the center reacting to what the Oakland City Council did this week . So, there are some groups that are actually opposed to the plan to go forward with the Domain Awareness Center in any form or shape. The oakland privacy working group, which is one of the groups thats been in opposition to this Initiative Since the beginning, has actually vowed to sue the city for violating a nuclearfree ordinance from the 1980s or the 1990s, and their contractor right now has some history with manufacturing nuclear weapons. But whats their main contention, though . Their main contention is that, a, the city should not be hiring contractors that violate city law, that has to do with bringing nuclear weapons. But b, they dont want to have any sort of surveillance infrastructure in the city. Because they feel it violates peoples privacy, people collecting data on people who have done nothing wrong . Yes. But the center, as of the council vote this week, is now restricted to the original intent of the grant that was given out for this, restricted to the port of oaklands property, which is the port of oakland and the Oakland International airport. And this was a grant given by the department of homeland security. Its federal money. Its federal money. It started with a 2009 grant from the stimulus act, and then since then, the port has been receiving grants from the federal Emergency Management administration. Homeland security money. And aarti, youve reported extensively on this as well. Oaklands mayors contention, a big supporter of the Domain Awareness Center, also known as dac, and she says police and fire officials support this, saying access to big data would help them respond better in emergencies when they have realtime data. Is that a good point . You know, its a good point if it were applicable. And what i mean by that, listen, everybody wants to reduce crime, okay . No one is saying, oh, we think that being a murder capital is a good thing. Obviously, Everyone Wants to feel safe. I think the issue with the surveillance center, the Domain Awareness Center, that its called, in oakland, which i think is really you know, everyone that listens and sees this thing popping up in their neighborhood should think about is that its a pretty standard example of federal money coming in to prompt, you know, a Technology Project that, frankly, its not enough money to fund, and the people on the ground running it dont know how to implement. I actually went through the process of talking to different leaders in the city to understand, okay, what is this Domain Awareness Center going to do for you . And something that stunned me is that the money was going to the port of oakland, and the people at the port of oakland said we want this because we need help with 24 7 surveillance, because you know, if a tree branch or an intruder hits our fence at 4 00 a. M. In the morning, we dont have staff to look to see whether its an intruder or a branch, so we need 24 7 surveillance. We need help with manpower to look at the video cameras. Then you go over to emergency services, and theyre like, oh, its not going to operate 24 7. There will be a dark hour where we shut it all off. And these basic things about how they didnt even know how they were going to cooperate with each other and then who would be in charge of this whole thing. They planned to launch before they announced they would no longer have such an expanded program, they planned to launch by june of this year. Who would be head of it, which agency . They didnt know whether it was police, fire or a contractor, a private contractor. So theres the personnel issue there, but also the larger issue thats been intensified by Edward Snowden and the nsa leak. The intensified controversy over the sense of privacy, the lack of privacy that everywhere you go now there seems to be cameras, and its capturing data on you and your daily activities. Case in point, google glass. Thats raising a lot of worries. How does google glass work . I know you had a chance to try it. What are the worries . I did. I tried it. I went for a drive with a google glasswear the other day. There are maybe three kinds of worries. You know, one is that its privacy, right . Its that google glass is like a pair of sunglasses. By way of technology, its revolutionary. Its truly this disruptive, amazing invention where you can have a camera and a computer processing all sorts of apps just hanging out on the upper righthand corner of your eye. Thats a breakthrough technologically, but if im walking down the street, i dont want you to record me. And so, its gotten a lot of people upset from the question of are you recording me, so much so that theres now a petition that was started in San Francisco called gla glassholefree. Org, and theybae signing up saying we dont want google glass here because of these privacy concerns. Getting back to the issue of the Domain Awareness Center and even google glass, what kinds of privacy laws are in place . Do agencies have guidelines . How do you control this, how data is collected, how its retained and for how long . So, Law Enforcement agencies, for example, have different guidelines for different technologies, for license plate reader datas, cameras that take automatic pictures of cars as they pass by other stationary objects or patrol cars, which have these devices. The Retention Periods vary from 60 days to 3 years to none at all, there are no Retention Periods. For cameras, the individual agency can have their own retention period. This is really a gray area of the law, and that is a big point of debate in, obviously, municipal governments around the country and certainly in congress, because we dont have laws or firm rules on these technologies, and the technologies have completely outstripped the legal limits. And i would say an added problem with this is that its not just that these big Data Technologies cut costs, they create new costs. For example, 2013 wasnt just a year we discovered snowden leaks and hacking, its also target hacking. The fact is, when youre collecting all this data and throwing it into a centralized server, that becomes a target. And so, are you as a municipality or a federal agency, whatever the size is, are you prepared to handle that . Because the cost of a breach will far outstrip, you know, 1,000 the cost of gathering it. And just a real quick question is the Domain Awareness Center up and running already at the port of oakland or its still in the construction stages . It is up and running right now. In a certain respect, until the vote this week, the city had linked in Traffic Cameras and gunshot detectors into a central hub at 18th street and Martin Luther king jr. Way, but after the council vote, they will have to disconnect the cameras from the citys Traffic Cameras and the gunshot detectors from the system. So, now they only will have about 130 cameras on port property linked into it. Okay, and certainly this is not the last of it because mayor jean quan has said they will work on developing privacy laws, and once those are in place, they may try to resurrect other parts of the Election Year<\/a>. Scott shafer leads our analysis of what the party faces as it gears up for november. In many ways, its the best of times for california democrats. The party holds both u. S. Senate seats and every statewide office from governor on down, while the Republican Party<\/a> struggles to rebrand itself. Still, theres plenty for democrats to worry about, starting with political scandals that have cost them their twothirds majority in the state senate. Joining me to discuss what challenges may be ahead are democratic strategist chris lehane and scott detrow, Sacramento Bureau<\/a> chief for kqed joining us from los angeles, where hes covering the convention. And scott, let me start with you. What impact are these scandals, including the investigation of senator ronald caldron of southern california, what impact are they having on democrats, if any . I think democrats are definitely concerned about this, and you know that because state Senate Leaders<\/a> announced a big Ethics Reform<\/a> package this week that would half the amount of gifts lawmakers can receive and lead to more disclosure, and this is clearly a response to the fact that ron caldron is facing massive criminal charges on ethics issues. And rob wright, another senate democrat, has taken a leave of absence from the senate after being convicted of not living in his district. Democrats pushed back on this, saying these are isolated incidents and you cant tie them to party leads, but the fact is, caldron especially has made a point to try to drag other democrats into the scandal with him. He made the public charge that it was darrell steinberg, the Senate Pro Tem<\/a> and the next pro tem that were the subject of the investigation. Now the fbi says thats not the case, but thats a charge you can still expect on republican mailers. Does that offer any opening for republicans or is this something really not on the minds of voters and wont be in november . First of all, its an incredibly important issue substantively because legal issues and any time its involving the public, its serious. But i think in terms of the political implications, i think somewhat very limited. I mean, the most significant implication is what scott touched on, which is democrats losing their twothirds super majority, which really will constrain some of the types of stuff that the Senate Democrats<\/a> and the Assembly Democrats<\/a> could potentially have looked at over the course of the next four or five months going into the election, but in terms of what type of an impact . I mean, just look at the nature of these districts. You are in a state where the real question is going to be, are the democrats able to elect enough people to get the supermajority back or not . Thats really the issue thats at stake. And scott dutrow, in terms of losing the supermajority, from covering sacramento, what types of things might democrats not be able to get done, given that they dont have the supermajority, at least in the senate right now . The big issues is always taxes, so the Democratic Leaders<\/a>hip made it clear they will not push for any tax increases in the legislature, something jerry brown promised when he campaigned for proposition 30, saying if were going to raise taxes, well do it through the ballot, not the legislature, but you do need twothirds for a lot of things, among them putting constitutional changes on the ballot, and thats something that jerry brown wants to do. He wants to push forward with a proposition that would create a new rainy day fund. You need twothirds votes for that. Now, will that get held up because of the missing seats . Unclear, because this is an idea that a lot of republicans have voiced support for. But if republicans want to play hard ball on an issue that the governor has marked as a priority, they now have the leverage to do that. And chris lehane, jerry brown running for an unprecedented fourth term. Hes going to be 76 years old next month. Is there anything, you know, besides his age and potentially a Health Problem<\/a> that could derail him . Not unless there is some alignment of the stars that no one has ever imagined. No, i mean, he is in a strong position as a sitting governor running for reelection, really, frankly, anywhere in the country. And i think the real issue here is, you know, does the governor use this Election Year<\/a> to have a broader conversation with the state about where he potentially wants to take it at a pretty important moment in time, right . Our budgets are under control, Economic Growth<\/a> is going in the right direction, but we still have enormous, significant challenges. And you know, with what is essentially a free shot year election, do you use that to set up that conversation, then do some big legacy pieces . And you have a big gap between him and Lieutenant Governor<\/a> gavin newsom who tweeted last night he was running for reelection, obviously no surprise there. He came out a couple weeks ago opposing highspeed rail, something the governors embraced. What do you make of that dynamic and that relationship . First of all, the Lieutenant Governor<\/a> took a hard look at running for governor and, in fact, had a campaign four years ago where he and Governor Brown<\/a> would have been in a primary. Ultimately decided not to go. But you definitely have the sort of jerry brown as sort of, one end of his career, gavin newsom at another end and sort of circling each other. Champing at the bit. At some level. And look, its understandable, particularly if youre Lieutenant Governor<\/a>, youre always looking for what is next. And i think some of what the Lieutenant Governor<\/a> with gavin newsom is doing is really beginning to stake out positions that help define him statewide as he looks down the road, frankly, four years from now. So, i think youre seeing that on highspeed rail. I think youre seeing that in terms of his embrace of the legalization of marijuana. I think youre going to see that in a variety of issues that consistently reinforce the brand that hes sort of ahead of the curve, has the courage to take on some interesting issues, and i think, you know, hes going about this in a smart way. And scott detrow, there are going to be some endorsements potentially made this weekend in los angeles, and there are some hot contests in the primaries, like the state comptrollers race. But what effect do you think those intraparty battles, because of term limits and other things that are pitting democrats against each other, are having on the party . I think you look at the two statewide races where you have competitive democratic primari s primaries, comptroller and secretary of state. The party chair, john burton, has made a point of publicly asking these candidates not to seek the Party Endorsement<\/a> this weekend. Hes saying that hes going to stay neutral, but hes also acknowledged that he cant really control what votes happen and who can contend for what. But i think in the push for neutrality and trying to avoid a party fight, i mean, thats a clear sign that Democratic Leaders<\/a> dont really love the top two primary system where you can have democrats battling it out with each other in the fall. I want to ask chris lehane most professional races im sorry, were getting short on time. Let me ask chris about that, because in the south bay, you have a battle. Is that a good thing for the party . I think competition is good as a general proposition. I think any time candidates are forced to have to actually campaign, its good for democracy, its how it is set up. You know, i would separate that from the top two primary process, which i do think has become a bitter challenge for democrats and has had some unintended consequences, where you could have the scenario either where democrats have to run against each other multiple times or you have multiple democrats running statewide and run republican and you end up getting a republican into a runoff when that person really didnt get the same number of votes. And you could see some crazy situations playing out as a result of that, so i would bifurcate those two issues. Yeah, all right. Quickly, scott detrow, i know turnout is a big issue for democrats, especially in offyear elections like this. What are you hearing the democrats are going to do to try to get that turnout up in november so they hold on to some of these close seats that theyre going to be challenged for . Well, i think theyre going to start that process by reminding the people coming to this convention this weekend that they shouldnt take anything for granted. Obviously, democrats are in a great spot and the Republican Party<\/a> is pretty weak here, but the message is going to be dont coast into the fall, because you never know what is going to happen. All right. Scott detrow in los angeles, have a good time this weekend, not too good, and chris lehane, thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me. And coming up, recycled water gets a big boost in Silicon Valley<\/a>. But first, this week, after a fierce debate over privacy, Oakland City Council<\/a> voted to scale back a Controversial Program<\/a> for citywide surveillance. The Domain Awareness Center<\/a> will now monitor only the Oakland International<\/a> airport and the port of oakland. At the heart of the debate is whether the use of new technology from street and Police Cameras<\/a> to the Wearable Computers<\/a> google glass constitutes an invasion of privacy. Joining us for analysis are aarti shahani, kqed news reporter, and ali winston, freelance journalist. Now, ali, lets begin with you. Youve been covering this story for kqed and for the center for investigative reporting. How are Civil Liberties<\/a> groups and opponents of the center reacting to what the Oakland City Council<\/a> did this week . So, there are some groups that are actually opposed to the plan to go forward with the Domain Awareness Center<\/a> in any form or shape. The oakland privacy working group, which is one of the groups thats been in opposition to this Initiative Since<\/a> the beginning, has actually vowed to sue the city for violating a nuclearfree ordinance from the 1980s or the 1990s, and their contractor right now has some history with manufacturing nuclear weapons. But whats their main contention, though . Their main contention is that, a, the city should not be hiring contractors that violate city law, that has to do with bringing nuclear weapons. But b, they dont want to have any sort of surveillance infrastructure in the city. Because they feel it violates peoples privacy, people collecting data on people who have done nothing wrong . Yes. But the center, as of the council vote this week, is now restricted to the original intent of the grant that was given out for this, restricted to the port of oaklands property, which is the port of oakland and the Oakland International<\/a> airport. And this was a grant given by the department of homeland security. Its federal money. Its federal money. It started with a 2009 grant from the stimulus act, and then since then, the port has been receiving grants from the federal Emergency Management<\/a> administration. Homeland security money. And aarti, youve reported extensively on this as well. Oaklands mayors contention, a big supporter of the Domain Awareness Center<\/a>, also known as dac, and she says police and fire officials support this, saying access to big data would help them respond better in emergencies when they have realtime data. Is that a good point . You know, its a good point if it were applicable. And what i mean by that, listen, everybody wants to reduce crime, okay . No one is saying, oh, we think that being a murder capital is a good thing. Obviously, Everyone Wants<\/a> to feel safe. I think the issue with the surveillance center, the Domain Awareness Center<\/a>, that its called, in oakland, which i think is really you know, everyone that listens and sees this thing popping up in their neighborhood should think about is that its a pretty standard example of federal money coming in to prompt, you know, a Technology Project<\/a> that, frankly, its not enough money to fund, and the people on the ground running it dont know how to implement. I actually went through the process of talking to different leaders in the city to understand, okay, what is this Domain Awareness Center<\/a> going to do for you . And something that stunned me is that the money was going to the port of oakland, and the people at the port of oakland said we want this because we need help with 24 7 surveillance, because you know, if a tree branch or an intruder hits our fence at 4 00 a. M. In the morning, we dont have staff to look to see whether its an intruder or a branch, so we need 24 7 surveillance. We need help with manpower to look at the video cameras. Then you go over to emergency services, and theyre like, oh, its not going to operate 24 7. There will be a dark hour where we shut it all off. And these basic things about how they didnt even know how they were going to cooperate with each other and then who would be in charge of this whole thing. They planned to launch before they announced they would no longer have such an expanded program, they planned to launch by june of this year. Who would be head of it, which agency . They didnt know whether it was police, fire or a contractor, a private contractor. So theres the personnel issue there, but also the larger issue thats been intensified by Edward Snowden<\/a> and the nsa leak. The intensified controversy over the sense of privacy, the lack of privacy that everywhere you go now there seems to be cameras, and its capturing data on you and your daily activities. Case in point, google glass. Thats raising a lot of worries. How does google glass work . I know you had a chance to try it. What are the worries . I did. I tried it. I went for a drive with a google glasswear the other day. There are maybe three kinds of worries. You know, one is that its privacy, right . Its that google glass is like a pair of sunglasses. By way of technology, its revolutionary. Its truly this disruptive, amazing invention where you can have a camera and a computer processing all sorts of apps just hanging out on the upper righthand corner of your eye. Thats a breakthrough technologically, but if im walking down the street, i dont want you to record me. And so, its gotten a lot of people upset from the question of are you recording me, so much so that theres now a petition that was started in San Francisco<\/a> called gla glassholefree. Org, and theybae signing up saying we dont want google glass here because of these privacy concerns. Getting back to the issue of the Domain Awareness Center<\/a> and even google glass, what kinds of privacy laws are in place . Do agencies have guidelines . How do you control this, how data is collected, how its retained and for how long . So, Law Enforcement<\/a> agencies, for example, have different guidelines for different technologies, for license plate reader datas, cameras that take automatic pictures of cars as they pass by other stationary objects or patrol cars, which have these devices. The Retention Periods<\/a> vary from 60 days to 3 years to none at all, there are no Retention Periods<\/a>. For cameras, the individual agency can have their own retention period. This is really a gray area of the law, and that is a big point of debate in, obviously, municipal governments around the country and certainly in congress, because we dont have laws or firm rules on these technologies, and the technologies have completely outstripped the legal limits. And i would say an added problem with this is that its not just that these big Data Technologies<\/a> cut costs, they create new costs. For example, 2013 wasnt just a year we discovered snowden leaks and hacking, its also target hacking. The fact is, when youre collecting all this data and throwing it into a centralized server, that becomes a target. And so, are you as a municipality or a federal agency, whatever the size is, are you prepared to handle that . Because the cost of a breach will far outstrip, you know, 1,000 the cost of gathering it. And just a real quick question is the Domain Awareness Center<\/a> up and running already at the port of oakland or its still in the construction stages . It is up and running right now. In a certain respect, until the vote this week, the city had linked in Traffic Cameras<\/a> and gunshot detectors into a central hub at 18th street and Martin Luther<\/a> king jr. Way, but after the council vote, they will have to disconnect the cameras from the citys Traffic Cameras<\/a> and the gunshot detectors from the system. So, now they only will have about 130 cameras on port property linked into it. Okay, and certainly this is not the last of it because mayor jean quan has said they will work on developing privacy laws, and once those are in place, they may try to resurrect other parts of the Domain Awareness Center<\/a> she wants to pull it back to the whole city. Thank you so much ali winston and aarti shahani. Thank you. One more note on this, we will be taking a deeper look at these issues in an up ecoming special produced with the center for collaborative reporting. State of surveillance will air on friday, april 11th. As californias drought continues, the recent rain brought more hope and relief. Last week, Governor Brown<\/a> signs legislation that could provide millions of dollars for Water Conservation<\/a> efforts and to expand the use of recycled water. Silicon valley has a head start on that front with a new facility in santa clara county. As craig miller reports, it purifies sewage water, making it clean enough to even drink. Reporter as californias drought drags on, washing and buffing the cars at a. J. Auto detailing in san jose is a bit more of a challenge these days. Because youre not supposed to wash your car in your home, so people are taking a long time, and finally, when the cars really dirty, they bring in the car. Reporter helen masamori manages this business, which uses thousands of gallons a day to clean luxury cars, but instead of going down the drain, 70 of the water is fed into these tanks for reuse. Before we had the recycling water, we were spending almost 3,000 a month in water. Were spending i would say about 300 or 400 now. Reporter masamori wants to use even more recycled water by hooking up to san joses network of purple pipes that carry recycled water to more than 700 customers. Were going to be the first car wash in the san jose area who is going to use 100 recycling water. Reporter san joses recycled water is not yet used for drinking, but by using it elsewhere, the city can free up more water for drinking and be less dependent on outside sources, according to Environmental Services<\/a> director kerry rominow. We have some pumped ground water and some from the delta. The hat chechi and the delta have had environmental issues, but recycled water gives us control over a local resource. Reporter this starts off as sewage, treated so its clean enough to discharge into the San Francisco<\/a> bay. Even though most of it ends up in the bay, 9 million gallons a day are reused in san joses parks, fountains and cooling towers. Here in Silicon Valley<\/a>, were not only talking about being energy independent, but were also talking about being water independent and really squeezing the last drop out of every opportunity that we have in our water world. Reporter so, the city of san jose and the Santa Clara Valley<\/a> Water District<\/a> are finishing up a new 70 million facility to expand the use of recycled water by making it cleaner, a lot cleaner. This is the water that comes into the plant. Its already been treated at the wastewater plant across the street to some level. And then we then clean it further. Were going to hopefully show and demonstrate that the water will be pure enough to be used for Drinking Water<\/a> purposes. Reporter this new plant will also help the Water District<\/a> double its use of recycled water to 10 by 2025. It all happens in here, huh . Although it wont open until june, Operations Manager<\/a> crystal yesmin showed me the threestage technology that will purify up to 8 million gallons of sewage water a day. So, this is a sort of a cross section, i guess, of what were seeing here. The microcessation unit. Inside, there are over 6,000 little fibers and theres holes on the side. And so, the waters pushed into the holes and comes out through the center of these fibers, like a straw. Reporter okay. And so, were filtering out large bacteria and particles. Reporter the water then goes to a second stage of filtration. All right, so, here we are, reverse osmosis. Reporter reverse osmosis. And this is . A reverse osmosis element. Reporter so, thats whats inside all those . Thats whats inside. Reporter looks like a roll of saran wrap. Its actually made of hard plastic. And the pore size here is so small that were really only letting water molecules through. Were removing viruses, bacte a bacteria, pharmaceuticals and also salt. Reporter and by removing the salts, even more recycled water can be sold to cool data centers, for example, in Silicon Valley<\/a>. But the water still isnt done with its hightech treatment. Inside each one of these reactors are 40 uv light bulbs, ultraviolet light bulbs. Reporter like this . This is an example of one. It creates a glow at a certain wave length of light that can deactivate or inactivate bacteria supplement santa clara countys Drinking Water<\/a>. Its already happening in orange county, where the Water District<\/a> there mixes 70 million gallons of purified sewage water a day with groundwater before it reaches peoples taps. And in a sense, all water is reused and recycled. They say that the water in the Mississippi River<\/a> is used five times by the time it hits the gulf of mexico. Reporter this toilettotap concept took years to win over wary water consumers in southern california, but it may favor better in technologyembracing Silicon Valley<\/a>. Raul sanchez. Reporter raul sanchez. Do you live here in san jose . I do. Reporter what would it take to convince you personally . You know, its a proven method, making sure people didnt get sick. Reporter so, heres the ultimate test, okay . If i were to say to you, this was reclaimed water here. Right. Sure. Reporter cheers. Id have to smell it first. Sure, why not . Reporter okay. Tastes great. Reporter yeah, well, i was kidding, actually. Its tap water. I just wanted to see. Kidding aside, as population soars and theres a strain on water sources, reusing water for work, play and drinking will likely become a necessity, not a choice. Recycled water just has an integral role in the future of the Silicon Valley<\/a> in particular, but most of california as well. It is a renewable, sustainable source of water. Its something were going to need if our economy and our population is going to continue to grow. And joining me now for a look at other stories were following is scott shafer. Hey, thuy. Big shakeup in the supermarket industry. A private equity firm is buying safeway, based in pleasanton. Why would they want this . Theyre getting pressure from above and below, from above from the highend stores like whole foods and from below, costco, walmart. And also online, amazon fresh. So, the grocery business is not expanding, so if they can merge the acquired and maybe merge with this company that also owns albertsons, maybe theyll be able to get some efficiencies and save some money, and hopefully, make some money as well. Are there some antitrust issues, though, given that the company acquiring them does own lucky as well, in addition to albertsons . There could be, and certainly antitrust regulators will see if it passes muster. Were already hearing from consumer advocates saying this is a little scary, because you know, when you have fewer choices and more control in fewer hands, potentially, prices go up, there could be impact on labor and, you know, the workers and so on. So, theyre going to be taking a close look at that. Its not a done deal. Right. And kroegers, we hear, the number one grocer in the u. S. , may want in on the deal as well. Any Immediate Impact<\/a> on shoppers, number of stores, employees . Ill tell you, the most nervous is probably the city of pleasanton, where safeway is based. We remember what happened when b of a got bought by a company in north carolina. Those communities count on that Corporate Support<\/a> for all kinds of things, and i think that not only are they concerned about losing jobs, but also that corporate money that comes when you have a local Corporate Headquarters<\/a> in your town or in your region. A couple of developments this week as well on a couple of things weve reported. One having to do with pedestrian safety. We had a Panel Discussion<\/a> on that recently. San Francisco Mayor<\/a> ed lee announced something this week about trying to make the streets safer. What did he announce . Well, theyre announcing 17 million to make intersections and streets safer. You know, theres three people hit by cars a day in San Francisco<\/a>. There have been more People Killed<\/a> by cars so far this year than have been murdered in San Francisco<\/a>. So, theres a lot of pressure to enforce the laws better, make the streets safer by changing the intersections, more timed lights, that kind of thing. So, theres going to be kind of a down payment. Its not going to solve the problem, but theyre putting some money toward that. A little bit of progress there. Also, the other item is you had interviewed sunnydales mayor last year regarding the gun measure that was passed by voters. The nra challenged it this week, and a court ruled on that. What did they say . The nra is appealing it, saying it is constitutional and does not infringe on Second Amendment<\/a> rights. The law is in effect, but as of yesterday, those magazine clips with ten or more rounds are illegal in the city of sunnyvale. They have to get rid of them, destroy them, give them to police. So, that law is in effect. Im sure the nra is going to appeal, but right now, that law is the law of the land here. Thank you for being on top of all that. Thanks, scott. You bet. For all of kqeds news coverage, go to kqed. Org. Im scott shafer. Thanks for joining us. And im thuy vu. Have a good night. On this edition for sunday, march 9. Whats believed to be debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines<\/a> jet is discovered in waters off vietnam. Investigators investigate a possible terror link. The latest on psalm bosama ladens soninlaw. Next on","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia600602.us.archive.org\/10\/items\/KQED_20140310_000000_KQED_Newsroom\/KQED_20140310_000000_KQED_Newsroom.thumbs\/KQED_20140310_000000_KQED_Newsroom_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240619T12:35:10+00:00"}