View the full episode transcript.
A year ago this Tuesday, a gunman entered two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay and killed 7 farmworkers — all of them Chinese and Latino immigrants.
The shooting brought attention to the living and working conditions of farmworkers in Half Moon Bay and across the state. State and local officials promised to do something about it. So, what’s changed?
Episode Transcript
This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted.
Speaker: Good morning everyone. I just wanted to, take a moment to also honor the victims and the surviving families of the hacking Bay shooting, and I just wanted to take a couple moments to, say their names, and I’m going to do the best I can.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: This week, Half Moon Bay commemorated one year since a gunman killed seven farm workers, all of them Chinese and Latino immigrants.
Speaker: So their names are getting Zi Chung Chen, Zetian, Leia, zinc, Shu, lo I Ching, Jose Romero Perez, Marciano Martinez Jiminez, and Pedro Ramiro Perez.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: The shooting took place at two farms in the small coastal town. Concord Farms and California Terror Garden, and it laid bare the poor living and working conditions of farm workers in Half Moon Bay at the time. State and local officials vowed to do something about it.
Gavin Newsom: Some of you should see where these folks are living. The conditions they’re. Living in. Shipping containers.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: So today, we take you back to Half Moon Bay. One year after the shooting, to see how the community has been changed by the tragedy and what’s been done to improve the lives of farm workers. Stay with us.
Speaker: Everyone. My name is Ting Lu, and I’m honored to be here today on behalf of the white House. I work in the white House.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: I went to, this sort of gathering by state and federal and local officials with community members, farm workers and people directly affected by the shooting.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Farida Jhabvala Romero is a labor correspondent for KQED.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Former presidential candidate Julian Castro and the former, you know, US housing secretary. Was there representatives from the governor’s office? Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, whose district includes Half Moon Bay. So this was one of, you know, several events to commemorate the first anniversary of the shooting.
Marisela Martinez: He was like a second dad to me. I of course.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: These are folks who have gone through so much in the last year. One of them was Marisela Martinez, whose uncle Marciano was killed at the shooting.
Marisela Martinez: Took my seat. It’s like watching English. I just called him my Tio Martian.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: She, you know, just stood up and took the mic and spoke about about her uncle and that they had talked often, that Marciano had been sending money to, his relatives there to build a house like so many, you know, immigrants in the US. Do, you know, to support their families back in their home countries?
Marisela Martinez: My uncle would always tell me that, like, if I ever went to Mexico that I could in his house, and that hopefully one day he was going to be able to go with me and show me the home in which my dad and him and all of his family grew up and.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: And how she had to travel there for the first time to bury Marciano instead.
Marisela Martinez: As my uncles were carrying my uncle’s casket. That’s when it all hit me. I was walking, and then I just had the sudden realization that this was not okay. This should not have happened. This is not the way that my uncle and I were supposed to go back.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Another farm worker who was there is Pedro Romero, who survived the shooting.
Pedro Romero: [speaking spanish]
Farida Jhabvala Romero: He was injured. Survived. His brother Jose did not.
Pedro Romero: [speaking spanish]
Farida Jhabvala Romero: He told everyone gathered there, all the local and federal officials that, you know, he’s still really sad that he thinks so much about this tragedy and that his brother is no longer there with him. And he said, Jose left three kids who need help.
Pedro Romero: [speaking spanish]
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: When the shooting happened, there was this huge focus on how what had happened had really revealed these working conditions, these housing conditions of farmworkers, not just in Half Moon Bay, but in California more broadly. But can you remind us how people responded at the time, especially public officials in the immediate aftermath of the shooting?
Farida Jhabvala Romero: You know, I remember all the TV cameras flooding down and other journalists as well, you know, and also elected officials, the highest people in office in the state, like Governor Gavin Newsom. And I remember the governor on live TV speaking about how some of these workers had been making $9 an hour, which is way below minimum wage in California.
Gavin Newsom: And by the way, some of you should see where these folks are. Living conditions. They’re. Living in shipping containers.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: You just talked about some of these really substandard, living and working conditions for people there.
Gavin Newsom: No health care, no support, no services, but taking care of our health, providing a service to each and every one of us every single day.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: And so after that, you know, there was a lot of attention on those issues. People really promised to, to create change.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, you mentioned two really big issues here that were highlighted by the shooting housing, but also workplace conditions for these farmworkers. So since the shooting, I know that state and local regulators have been investigating the working conditions on some of these farms in Half Moon Bay. What’s happened since then? What is the status of those investigations now?
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Yeah. So there are a number of investigations by the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office by state agencies at the two farms, Concord Farms and then California Terra Garden. Carlo Shire cited Concord Farms for $51,000 for workplace safety violations. Of course, Carlos is the agency that regulates worker safety. And then they also cited California Terror Garden for about $114,000, for a total of dozens of violations that inspectors found at these two farms.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: But those cases are still open, and the farms haven’t paid the amount of the citations yet. Then there’s the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, which investigates labor law violations, you know, potential wage theft. And so that agency cited California Terror Garden as well for violations related to paid sick laws. And that business settled for about $150,000. We should also note that successor business at that same site where California Terror Garden was, which is now called Lee and Sun Mushroom Farm.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: That business was also cited, including for minimum wage violations under San Mateo minimum wage laws, which are actually higher than for the state. So that’s sort of where those investigations are at. But it sounds like there may be more citations and charges, sort of proposed penalties coming both from the state and the county.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: I mean, that’s sort of the accountability part of this Farida. But what about support for the farm workers since the shooting? Who’s been taking the lead on that in Half Moon Bay?
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Well, there’s a couple of nonprofit organizations that have been really visible through this whole ordeal for people in Half Moon Bay. One is at usando, at Latinos lasagna. It’s known as Alice. They’ve really been a connector with the farm working community. And then we see a lot of movement at the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors level.
Ray Mueller: The county and the community. City, a Half Moon Bay, really rallied together, in the days and months following the event.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Supervisor Ray Mueller told me that right after the shooting, he committed to try to do whatever he could.
Ray Mueller: To go to the site to see how those families were living. Really? When I saw it. I wanted to make sure that no one could look away from it. And since that time, the county really has worked very hard, to address those issues.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: They recently approved the purchase of a 50 acre plot of land.
Ray Mueller: But we also have other sites. We’re building 46 units of farmworker housing, on 18 of which are being set aside for victims of the shooting.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: He also pushed and, you know, got approved and new Office of Labor Standards Enforcement in San Mateo County that will start helping all workers be able to file claims with the state labor Commissioner’s office and also really take on education for employers about their obligations under under the laws, but also for workers about their rights. Those are important things, you know, that are ongoing as well, that they’re taking off in the county. And that really came out as a result of this, of this shooting.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Coming up, how advocates and farmworkers in Half Moon Bay are feeling about what’s been done so far. Stay with us.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: I am, I have to say, surprised a little bit, Frida, by how much it seems like it is happening in San Mateo County as a result of this shooting. But I do wonder how people are feeling. I mean, especially the farmworkers directly affected by this shooting. Do they feel like they’re getting the help that they need?
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Well, like we mentioned, Pedro Romero, for example. I mean, he said he was grateful for housing assistance, but, you know, that funding is set to run out soon. And, they’re wondering what they’re going to do. There’s a lot of hope, you know, for all of these projects and things that are happening, but they’re going to take a long time to really create the change that everybody can see and that they could actually use, you know, by moving into one of these housing units.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: So it’s unclear what’s going to happen in the meantime. I will say that one point of positiveness in this whole thing is that, I mean, the community says that they’re committed to continuing helping them. So hopefully we’ll see some other ways that they find to do that. But at this point it’s uncertain.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Yeah. And and I guess how can you move on when there are these investigations still ongoing and and still open? And I know you spoke with someone from United Farm Workers about this. Can you tell me about Antonio and how he feels about how these investigations are still going?
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Yeah. So Antonio De Loera directs communications for the United Farm Workers.
Antonio De Loera: And what’s been so dispiriting, perhaps, on this first anniversary is how quickly it feels like we went back to normal.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: With even such a high profile case. You see some of the issues that bogged down investigations into wage theft or workplace safety issues and other parts of California.
Antonio De Loera: I think if the anniversary of Half Moon Bay is about anything, it’s about, we need to notice farmworkers all the time, not just when something horrible is in the news.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: And, you know, mind you. Many agricultural workers don’t want to come forward and talk about some of the problems at their worksite because they’re afraid of losing their their job.
Antonio De Loera: You multiply that across the whole state, where if we can’t get accountability for a case that was this public that had this much attention from the highest elected officials in the state of California, what does that say about what’s happening in the rest of California?
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And then there’s the housing element of this, right? Frida, which, as we all know, takes forever to build in California. How do people feel about how that’s going?
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Yeah, I mean, all of these projects are going to take, you know, several years to complete if they come to completion.
Rocio Avila: [speaking spanish]
Farida Jhabvala Romero: And then a Rocio Avila has lived in Half Moon Bay for many, many years. She has three children in person.
Rocio Avila: [speaking spanish]
Farida Jhabvala Romero: She’s one of the people who were really just shocked at learning wait, after the shooting and after everyone says, you know, they’re really going to focus on building more affordable housing. It’s going to take how many years?
Rocio Avila: [speaking spanish]
Farida Jhabvala Romero: She told me a little bit about her situation, and she said she’s sharing an apartment with her brothers and their families and her family. And so her husband, her and her three kids sleep in one room with her oldest girl, sleeping on a mattress on the floor, and then everyone else sharing a queen size bed.
Rocio Avila: [speaking spanish]
Farida Jhabvala Romero: For her. Like many other people in the community, this this shooting sort of steeled their resolve to make sure that these changes happen. And so Rocio Avila has taken it upon herself to be in attendance at every supervisor meeting. And she’s also part of vigils, regular vigils and marches for affordable housing.
Rocio Avila: [speaking spanish]
Farida Jhabvala Romero: I think it’s also a realization on her part that what she said is that her voice matters and she wants to, you know, help other people in the community to also speak up about what they’re seeing in terms of housing. You know, when people get evicted, the problems that they’re facing, so that elected representatives take note and can do something about it as well.
Rocio Avila: [speaking spanish]
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: I mean, it’s it seems like based on your conversations with people in Half Moon Bay a year later, it seems like folks are still very much reeling from this shooting, but also are feeling very fired up and much more active politically in the community. Is is that fair to say?
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Yeah, I think that’s fair to say for definitely, you know, many agricultural workers and other people who weren’t feeling as united and motivated to be part of these conversations and, and make sure that these promises of more affordable housing, better conditions at work, that they really become a reality. And I think, you know, there’s a lot of hope in the community as well, because people are finding that at least in their personal lives, they’re taking steps. So that’s that’s definitely a feeling you get from visiting Half Moon Bay these days that, that, that there’s a lot of hope.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Farida, thank you so much.
Farida Jhabvala Romero: Thank you. Ericka. So nice to be here.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: That was Farida Jhabvala Romero, a labor correspondent for KQED, on Thursday afternoon, Farida learned that the city and county are working to find more funding to keep survivors and their families housed. Leaders with allies say they’re confident that housing assistance will continue until new housing is built. This 35 minute conversation with Farida was cut down and edited by senior editor Alan Monteceillo. Maria Esquinca is our producer. She scored this episode and added all the tape.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Additional production support from me. Music courtesy of Audio Network. First cut music and Audio Socket. The rest of our podcast team at KQED includes Jen Chien, our director of podcasts, Katie Sprenger, our podcast operations manager, Cesar Saldana, our podcast engagement producer, and Maha Sanad, podcast Engagement Intern. The Bay is a production of member supported KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time.