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Warning that Caltrain could shut down without a dedicated source of funding due to the COVID-19 pandemic, seven local lawmakers have released a joint statement urging the boards of supervisors in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties to allow voters to decide on an 1/8-cent sales tax measure in November.

Congressmembers Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo, state Sen. Jerry Hill, Assemblymembers Kevin Mullin and Marc Berman, San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine,  and Belmont Vice Mayor Charles Stone released the joint statement amid reluctance by officials in San Francisco and Santa Clara to support the measure, which would generate about $100 million for Caltrain.

Caltrain’s current reliance on ticket fares for revenue has made the system particularly vulnerable during the pandemic, according to the statement. The system serving about 65,000 riders per weekday saw a 95 percent drop in ridership due to the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders. Caltrain is the only Bay Area public transit system without a dedicated source of funding.

“It has no source of its own money, the farebox only brings in 70 percent of its operating costs coupled with annual operating costs from the three member counties, and year to year the riders are at risk of the line shutting down,” the lawmakers said. “Now, at one minute to midnight, the train is really in danger of not showing up at the station.”

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, officials in San Francisco and Santa Clara are proposing that the tax revenue from a voter-approved sales tax go to the county in which they are collected rather than to the San Mateo County Transit District, which provides administrative support to Caltrain.

“The money would be deposited in an account controlled by the county’s transit agency, which would then have the authority to give all of it — or a fraction of it — to Caltrain,” the Chronicle reported.

That proposal, according to the lawmakers’ statement, violates legislation aimed at providing dedicated funding for Caltrain. In 2017, Senate Bill 797, authored by Sen. Hill, paved the way for Caltrain to put a ballot measure before voters.

“The statute requires that, if the ballot measure passes, the tax money go to Caltrain,” according to the lawmakers. “The proposals by San Francisco and Santa Clara County would violate the statute by making it possible that Caltrain might never see a dime.”

San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents his city on the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which owns and operates Caltrain, said SF deserves a larger voice in how transit tax revenues are spent.

“It is unfortunate that San Mateo County leaders think they can continue to extort both counties and maintain 100% decision making, when it’s a fact that San Francisco and Santa Clara County would make up 80% of the 100 million dollars in revenue that Caltrain would yield from the tax,” Walton said in a statement on Facebook Sunday.

Redwood City is among jurisdictions nationwide facing calls to reform its public safety model in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis. On June 2, a crowd of about 2,000 filled Courthouse Square for a demonstration organized by several Redwood City young people. The two-hour rally and march was largely peaceful and only one arrest was made.

Warned by law enforcement about the demonstration, many businesses had hurriedly hired contractors to board up their windows, but the kind of violence and looting that has happened elsewhere did not occur. One of the organizers, 21-year-old Tyson Fraley, who is white and lives in the Friendly Acres neighborhood, thinks people on the east side of town are often unjustly “criminalized” and their views ignored, while neighborhoods west of El Camino Real don’t get the same level of policing. The demonstration’s success, he said, was in uniting residents across the divide. “They showed up and they made it clear that they’re ready to support it.”

On June 11, city leaders held a town hall meeting via Zoom on local policing policies, which included Mayor Diane Howard and Police Chief Dan Mulholland. The meeting drew hundreds of participants, a number of them calling to transfer funds from the police budget to other community services. After the town hall was criticized as overly scripted, the city pledged a number of new steps by endorsing the Obama Foundation Mayor’s Pledge to review and reform its policing policies, and by launching a three-month public outreach effort to determine the future of public safety in the city.

This story was originally published in the July edition of Climate Magazine. To view the magazine online, click on this link.

There has been division, but also unity. Business owners reeling from months of reduced income because of the coronavirus boarded up prior to the protest, in some cases at a cost of several thousand dollars. The owners of August Barbershop at 704 Winslow St. opted, instead, to set up a station outside their shop serving water and pizza.

“We decided not to board up our business because we wanted to show the community that we’re here, we stand with you,” said co-owner Marissa Ramirez.

Boarding up the Fox Theatre, the Little Fox and the Fox Forum cost about $7,000, according to General Manager Ernie Schmidt. “I can replace my windows,” he said, “ … but if somebody breaks my windows and enters the Fox Theater and damages all the beautiful history in there, I can’t replace that.”

However, he allowed local freelance artist Jose Castro to paint messages and images on the plywood in front of the theater, and others joined in. Two weeks afterward, Schmidt put out a call on NextDoor.com for volunteers to help business owners remove the plywood. About 60 people showed up June 14, Castro among them.

Schmidt started a GoFundMe campaign to reimburse him for the cost of his paints. The Fox Theatre boards will be preserved for future display. Tyrone Jones II of Redwood City brought young sons Tyrone III and Kingston to help remove the plywood. “(It’s for) a couple of reasons,” he said. “One is my personal accountability to my city. And the second reason is so that my boys understand the importance of taking care of the community.” Rich Digrazzi, who is a pilot, joined the work party after seeing the notice on NextDoor because “maybe I could give to the community a little bit. I don’t feel like I’ve done anything.” Brett Weber, a commercial real estate executive, started a GoFundMe account to assist business owners with the cost of boarding up. By mid-June, it had collected about $13,000. For information, go to the redwood-city-small-business-relief-fund on the site.

Finding solutions to the physical and mental health problems posed by COVID-19 pandemic confinement is a tall order. Thankfully, 7-foot NBA star Pau Gasol is rising to the challenge.

Through the Gasol Foundation, the six-time NBA All Star has been working since 2013 to reduce childhood obesity rates and improve quality of life for children and families. Now, the Spanish basketball legend is hosting a four-day PL4NETS Wellbeing Summit amid the COVID-19 pandemic that features experts from around the world on the subject.

Starting Monday, July 20, and running through Thursday, July 23, the summit aims to spread good ideas, coping mechanisms and good health.  It will also raise funds to support wellness programs in communities in need. Proceeds from ticket sales and donations from the international event will support projects like those spearheaded by the Gasol Foundation, which provides health-related programs and camps for underserved youth in the U.S. and Spain. With families confined in their homes and locked into computer screens, preventing obesity and promoting mental health has become critical, the Foundation said.

Gasol, whose NBA career began with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001 and also included stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks, and Portland Trailblazers will provide a welcome speech at the start of the summit. He will be followed by 30 amazing speakers who are atop their fields and range from psychologists, professional athletes, health scientists, bestselling authors, researchers, and sports and nutrition experts.

To purchase a ticket, click here.

Photo credit: Gasol Foundation.

The impending removal of the Black Lives Matter street mural in Redwood City is a source of controversy.

Local resident Daniel Pease led the effort to paint Black Lives Matter in large yellow letters on Broadway after receiving approval to do so by the city. On Facebook Wednesday, Pease said he was disappointed when the city informed him the mural would be removed this weekend due to traffic and vehicle code reasons. He also posted about a local attorney’s proposal to City Council to paint MAGA 2020 on the street, saying the attorney’s note played a role in the city’s decision to remove the BLM mural. He charged the city with caving to legal pressure.

Maria Rutenberg, the local attorney requesting that a MAGA 2020 mural be installed near the BLM mural, denied threatening legal action against the city in a post on the Redwood City Residents Say: “What?” Facebook group on Friday. Rutenberg said she also did not request the removal of the BLM mural. She said she “saw that Courthouse Square was being used as a public forum, and, as a Redwood City resident, wanted to participate.”

“There is a long and involved process by which the city council can erect monuments, which allows the members of our community to collectively decide on ways to declare our shared values,” Rutenberg said, adding later,  “The Redwood City council and its members have unconstitutionally chosen to become arbiters of private expression.”

In a statement, the city did not specify when it would remove the BLM mural, but said the installation was meant to be temporary. Here’s the city’s statement in full:

“Staff authorized the temporary Black Lives Matter installation at the request of a resident. The installation was allowed as an extension of City efforts to preserve art related to the peaceful Black Lives Matter protests in Redwood City, and to complement the chalk art mural commissioned by the Parks and Arts Foundation on Courthouse Square over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The painting was informally processed, and intended for a short duration.  As expressed in the City’s vision statement, the City of Redwood City strives to be a community where people of all backgrounds and income levels can thrive. We are in the process of scheduling a series of community meetings to seek ways for policing and for all City services to work better for everyone, and we invite all members of the community to participate. Go to https://www.redwoodcity.org/racialequity to learn more.”

Photo credit: Jim Kirkland