In this edition of The Bay’s monthly news roundup, Ericka, Maria and Alan talk about how Richmond became the first city in the country to pass a resolution in support of Palestinians in Gaza, the Department of Motor Vehicles decision to pull Cruise’s permit in San Francisco, and a big labor win for childcare workers in California.

View the full episode transcript.

Links:

LA Times: California city first in U.S. to officially back Palestinians, accuses Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’
KQED: How a California Child Care Workers’ Union Fought for Living Wages — and Won
San Francisco Chronicle: California DMV suspends Cruise’s driverless taxis in S.F. after company allegedly withheld car crash footage

Episode Transcript

This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.

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Ericka Cruz Guevarra: I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the bay. Local news to keep you rooted. And welcome to our October news roundup where the bay team talks about some of the other stories that we’ve been following this month. I’m here with our producer, Maria Esquinca. Hi, Maria.

Maria Esquinca: Hello. Hello. Hello.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And also our senior editor, Allan Montecillo.

Alan Montecillo: Hi.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And wow, you all this month has been a lot. It’s been a lot. It’s been a heavy news month.

Maria Esquinca: Yeah.

Alan Montecillo: Yeah. I mean, before we get to the stories we are all following. I mean, I think everyone knows this has been a just completely chaotic news month. We have a new senator Lafond, a butler. Obviously, all this drama in the house, it looks like we do have a new speaker of the House as of this taping. So, you know, there is that Governor Gavin Newsom passed and vetoed a bunch of bills. And then, of course, the biggest story in the world, obviously, is the war between Israel and Hamas. So there’s been so much going on this month.

Maria Esquinca: Yeah, it’s a difficult time to also work in the in the media. I think we’re in a position where we literally cannot turn the news off and that can be heavy. And I’m sure a lot of people that also don’t work in the media are really closely following what’s going on in Gaza right now. I find that it’s a time where I feel myself at a loss of words about how to talk about this moment and what to say to people. And so all I can do is like, acknowledge, acknowledge what we’re feeling right now.

Alan Montecillo: When there’s big news that breaks nationally or internationally. We’re sort of in a weird position as a local show. We can’t necessarily cover every single, say, rally or meeting. We don’t have reporters in Israel or Gaza. We’re always trying to find the local angle. But it’s hard, you know, I mean, I think we tried to do that with some of our recent episodes covering rallies and gatherings in the Bay Area these last few weeks, an episode about kind of big tech and misinformation. But there’s obviously so much more.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, the story that I actually brought to the table today is kind of at the sweet spot of some of the stuff we’re talking about on Tuesday night. The Richmond City Council voted 5 to 1 to pass a resolution affirming Richmond’s support and solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza. That’s what the resolution is called. It was sponsored by Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez and Vice Mayor Gayle McLaughlin.

Maria Esquinca: What does this resolution do?

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: One of the big things is that it calls for an immediate cease fire and safe passage of aid into Gaza. It calls for the end of Israeli apartheid and an end to the occupation and blockade of Palestinian land. And it also calls for an immediate release of Israeli hostages by Hamas. So it really is a big statement, really laying out Richmond’s position on what’s happening.

Maria Esquinca: Richmond is the only city in the country to have done this. Why did they do this?

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, the co-sponsors of the resolution mentioned a couple of things. A vice mayor, Gail McLaughlin, told KPIX that she believes that, quote, Richmond is not an island and she and the mayor made a lot of reference to the fact that U.S. tax dollars, including the tax dollars of Richmond residents, is supporting Israel’s military and that she believes that as a public official, as a representative of the city of Richmond, she has a moral obligation to speak out against what is happening to the people of Palestine.

Alan Montecillo: I have to imagine that this resolution drew very, very strong reactions. What has been said so far about the resolution?

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Yeah, there have been some groups in support of Israel who kind of came out ahead of the vote. You also saw some community groups like the Jewish Community Relations Council coming out strong in opposition to this resolution, calling it inflammatory and biased and urging people to speak up against it. You know, that city council meeting was completely packed. There was literally like an overflow room of both supporters and opponents of the resolution.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: But honestly, there was a lot of support for this resolution. In fact, some local organizations say that they mobilized 6500 people to send letters. Encouraging the council to stand with the people of Palestine. You saw people at the council meeting with like huge Palestinian flags. I think the council is really felt very backed by the community and the constituents that this was the right thing to do.

Alan Montecillo: It seems like the value of the resolution to council members and residents is this sort of official symbolic statement that says this is what the city thinks about this issue?

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Yeah, definitely. I think it’s it’s really a matter for them of taking a moral stance here. Council member Doria Robinson actually talks about that. She mentioned how the fight to end slavery in the U.S. and also the civil rights movement. The fight against apartheid in South Africa were all once very unpopular and controversial issues.

Alan Montecillo: But at some point somebody has to say, I love you and you’re wrong. What you’re doing is wrong. And I cannot not say it’s wrong anymore. I think we’re at that point in Richmond. I hope we’re at that point in Richmond. I hope other people find courage in our actions. I hope we find the right resolution tonight. Thank you.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: So there’s my story. After the break, we will talk with Maria and Alan about what they’ve been following this October. Stay with us.

Maria Esquinca: So my story is about Cruise. The driverless car company just this week had its permit removed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Alan Montecillo: These were, just to be clear, the self-driving taxis, right?

Maria Esquinca: Yeah. So what happened is basically they got permission by state authorities. And so when this happened back in August, it was quite a moment where people were, you know, either shocked or worried or excited about this. And at the time when it when this got approved, again, there was sort of hesitation that was raised by some groups whether this was safe. And the latest news is that they got their permits removed and it was a decision that was effective immediately. And we do not know when they will be allowed to roam the streets of San Francisco again.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Yeah, that’s kind of wild. I feel like the the rug was basically pulled out from under Cruz, who it seemed like was kind of on a roll. But why is this happening?

Maria Esquinca: So at the heart of this is an incident that happened early in the month, on October 2nd. This is according to the documents that were released by the Department of Motor Vehicles. This happened somewhere around Market Street in San Francisco. There was a pedestrian and this was a hit and run. So a real person driving a car hit her and threw her into the path of a Cruz car. The Cruz car came to a stop or braked, but then kept moving and did a pull what they’re calling a pull over maneuver while she was under the Cruz car and dragged her 20 feet before stopping.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Oh, my.

Maria Esquinca: And the next day, DMV officials met with Cruz officials, officials of the Cruz. The company had video footage of this incident. According to the DMV, they only showed camera footage up to the point of the Cruz car breaking. Mm hmm. And then they didn’t show any additional video footage to DMV officials. And according to the DMV, they later found out that Cruz had additional video video footage that showed the Cruz car dragging this woman underneath their car and had withheld the this video footage. And that is really at the heart of like the suspension. And according to DMV officials, they only found out about this like additional video footage through another government agency.

Alan Montecillo: Is the woman who was hit. Okay. Do we know?

Maria Esquinca: So according to media reports, the woman’s identity is unknown and she’s currently in the hospital.

Alan Montecillo: Okay. So these are serious allegations from the DMV. Obviously, having your permit suspended in San Francisco is a big deal. What has Cruz said about this?

Maria Esquinca: So Cruz is denying the allegations. And in their own statement, they said that they showed the complete video multiple times on October 3rd, the day after this incident happened, and they sent a copy to DMV officials. Omdia DMV officials in their own like statement had said that they received a copy of the whole footage, but that was way later on October 13th. And so Cruz is right now just denying.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And how have city officials responded to this? Because they know actually some of them were actually kind of hesitant about allowing these cars to just roam free.

Maria Esquinca: Yeah. So there are some city officials that are speaking out about this. And one of those is San Francisco’s city attorney, David Chiu.

Alan Montecillo: And our profound hope is that the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the ability of a ton of vehicles to carry passengers, that they will reconsider their recent decision. The CPC recently decided to allow for the unfettered, unlimited expansion of autonomous vehicles in San Francisco. We have formally requested that the CPC reconsider its decision.

Maria Esquinca: And so I think part of the things that he’s flagging is a concern about transparency and the information that these companies are providing to the to the city, which arguably they need to be able to make these sort of decisions.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Oh, Alan, I want to move on to you, and you’ve actually got a more positive story for us to end on. I know our listeners probably like to hear some good news. Yeah.

Alan Montecillo: So this is a story about childcare workers. It was a story reported by KQED Daisy, when this past month, childcare workers in California got $2 million from the state to provide about a 20% increase in wages. Wow. And to even create a first in the nation retirement fund for childcare workers.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: As Daisy as reported on in the past. California has a child care crisis in large part because many of the people who do this work don’t get paid living wages, right?

Alan Montecillo: Yeah. I mean, America has a child care crisis. Childcare workers all across the nation report just terrible, terrible pay, generally feeling kind of undervalued, like people don’t understand or care about the work that they do. As most people probably know, childcare workers tend to be immigrants. They tend to be women of color. They’ve generally been left out of a lot of labor protections. And obviously, in California, this is an expensive state to live in.

Alan Montecillo: So a lot of those problems just get compounded. One person that Daisy talked to is a woman named Nancy Harvey. She runs a daycare out of her home in West Oakland. And she actually transitioned to daycare after working in the private sector, after working in schools. And she was she was just shocked at how much worse the pay is in child care, how much worse the benefits are.

Alan Montecillo: I had come out of corporate. I had also worked in the school system, and a retirement plan was essential for anyone that worked a job. And I couldn’t understand how this very valuable industry did not have that.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, I mean, Alan, what kind of work are we talking about when we when we talk about childcare workers? And why is it the state that is paying them?

Alan Montecillo: So in this case, we’re mostly talking about home based child care providers. So people who are operating childcare centers out of their homes, these home based providers are considered self-employed small business owners. But many of them, especially those who serve lower income families, have long argued that they should be classified as public employees because a lot of their salary actually depends on reimbursement from the state of California. It’s not uncommon for people who work in childcare, who receive money from the state to pay their salaries to themselves, also qualify for public assistance. I mean, it’s hard to overstate how much lower the wages are.

Maria Esquinca: How did they get this to happen? How did they organize?

Alan Montecillo: It actually took about two decades of organizing for workers to even win the right to collectively bargain. In 2019, the union, which is called Childcare Providers United, which represents about 40,000 workers, was finally able to unionize and gain the right to collectively bargain. They were actually on the verge of negotiating their first contract. And then COVID happened. And one thing that happened with COVID is many child care centers closed. You know, in 2021, they did negotiate their first contract. They got $100 million from the state. But this is much, much bigger. So, yeah, I think that, you know, decades of organizing is one big part of it. I think the sort of inadvertent effect of COVID really just emphasizing how important childcare services are to people. And another thing that Daisy flagged in her story is that more women in the legislature made a big difference. One of the people who Daisy talked to, a state senator, Nancy Skinner, and she talked about just how much the pandemic really affected childcare services.

Alan Montecillo: So we just saw this collapse that affected not only families, obviously, and the little kids that that really deserve good childcare, but also affected California’s employers and our economy.

Alan Montecillo: Many other workers who aren’t in the union will benefit, too. You know, they they got the state to change the way it pays providers so they’ll get a raise even if they’re not in the union. So this will supply apply to larger childcare centers that are subsidized by the state, not just home based ones. So this is a pretty big deal.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, thanks so much, Alan, for that bit of positive news. If you want to read more about Daisy’s reporting, we’ll leave a link to that story in our show notes, as well as coverage on the DMV’s decision on Cruz and some reporting on the Richmond City Council’s vote in solidarity with the people of Palestine. And meantime, Maria, Allan, thanks so much.

Alan Montecillo: Thank you.

Maria Esquinca: Thank you.

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Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Thanks to KQED reporter Sidney Johnson for the tape of David Chu that you heard in this episode. Shout out as well to the rest of our podcast team here at KQED. That’s Jen Chien, our director of podcasts. Katie Sprenger, our podcast operations manager. Cesar Saldana, our podcast engagement producer. And Holly Kernan, our chief content officer. The Bay is a production of member supported KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next week.

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