View the full episode transcript.
In this edition of The Bay’s monthly news roundup, Ericka, Maria and Alan talk about an assembly race where housing development has taken center stage, the mother of Oscar Grant getting his cell phones back 15 years after his killing, and how the politics of fast food are heating up in San José.
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Ericka Cruz Guevarra: I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and welcome to the Bay local news to keep you rooted. And it is time for our monthly news roundup, where I sit down with the rest of the Bay team and talk about some of the other stories that we’ve been following in the month of February. I’m joined by our producer, Maria Esquinca. What’s up Maria?
Maria Esquinca: Hello. Happy to be here.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And our senior editor, Alan Montecillo. Hey, Alan.
Alan Montecillo: Hey. Happy belated year of the Dragon.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Yes. Happy belated Lunar New Year to you both. A just, I guess, a check in. How are we feeling at this point of the year?
Alan Montecillo: I feel like February is usually the doldrums. Certainly it’s been a cloudy and rainy few weeks. I think we’re just trying to get through the rainy weather while also gearing up for the primary on March 5th.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Yeah, and honestly, I don’t know. I’m ready for spring. I did step outside my door the other day and it like, smells like spring. But I think we have some more rain coming this week. But I hope you have enjoyed the sunshine lately. Maria.
Maria Esquinca: Yeah, I think we’ve had like an interesting start to the year, but I’m excited for, warmer weather.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, yes, spring is coming. The election is coming, and today some of the stories we’ll be discussing are definitely election related, including yours, Alan, out of the South Bay. I’ll start with you. What story have you been following this month?
Alan Montecillo: Yes. So the California primary is on March 5th. Everyone should have received their ballots by now. There’s a great voter guide at KQED, Dawgs Voter Guide, and I wanted to talk about a local race in Silicon Valley, specifically the race for state Assembly in District 23. So that includes Palo Alto, Mountain View and West San Jose. And it’s a race that could serve as a bit of a referendum on the state’s swing towards building more housing.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, can you talk a little bit more, Alan, about who’s running for this seat?
Alan Montecillo: There are four candidates, two Democrats, two Republicans. District 23 is a very Democratic district. You know, since this is a primary, the top two advance to the November election regardless of party. So you could have two Democrats, one Republican, one Democrat. But I think the reason why this race is interesting is because you have a local Democrat challenging a Democratic incumbent. This doesn’t happen all that often. I think in Democratic politics there’s very much a kind of wait your turn kind of energy.
Alan Montecillo: But the main two Democrats that our colleague Guy Mercer said he wanted to focus on is Palo Alto City Council member Lydia Koo, who is challenging the incumbent Assembly member, Mark Berman. And actually, guy’s story starts with this town hall meeting in Palo Alto at a community center. And there’s a big sign there that’s called Town Hall to save our neighborhoods. And the person leading that town hall, the person hosting that event was Palo Alto City Council member Lydia Kou.
Lydia Kou: My name is Lydia Kou. I am council member and former mayor of Palo Alto, and I’m running for state assembly.
Alan Montecillo: So Lydia Kou is a city council member from Palo Alto, which has the largest block of voters in the 23rd district. And she is part of a coalition of voters in Palo Alto who are really angry at the state for making it easier to build more housing and for reducing the power of cities to block development.
Lydia Kou: Their voices are being diminished or eliminated through these housing laws.
Alan Montecillo: And Councilmember Kou isn’t shy about saying what she thinks. You know, when when asked about whether 23rd district can put off building new housing because of the number of jobs that have come to the region, she said, well, why do all those jobs need to be here?
Lydia Kou: Diversify. Make some incentives for companies to have their headquarters, other places versus just all gathered here. Why is it only focused on Mountain View in Palo Alto?
Maria Esquinca: So that is a pretty bold move from Lydia Kou to run against an incumbent. I’m curious what Mark Burman is saying in response. How is he responding to her?
Alan Montecillo: So Assembly Member Marc Berman has been in office since about 2016, and he has joined many Democrats in the state legislature in pushing for basically a stronger, firmer approach from the state and saying to local cities and towns, hey, you need to get on board with building new housing. You know, he says, we have a housing shortage. We have a huge imbalance of housing and jobs here in Silicon Valley. We’ve done a terrible job in Silicon Valley of creating the housing we need to house all the people that are taking those jobs, and that’s just been pushed down.
Alan Montecillo: On the folks that can least afford it. He even says to that. It’s not just that the state should create more incentives for more housing development. The state needs to also be tough on cities that are pushing back. We want to provide them as many carrots as possible, but for decades there has been no stick. I think it will be a test to see how strong this anti development coalition in Palo Alto has gotten. And if there’s a real backlash to this sort of, you know, yimby pro housing turn that the state has been taking.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Sweet will we’ll be watching that race in March. Thanks so much, Alan.
Alan Montecillo: Thank you.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And after the break, we’ll discuss my story and Maria’s…Stay with us.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And welcome back to the base news roundup for the month of February. We’re going to get right back into it with producer Maria Esquinca:. Maria, what story have you been following this month?
Maria Esquinca: Yeah. So a story that I’ve been following is about Reverend Wanda Johnson. She is Oscar Grant’s mother. Most people are probably familiar with the case of Oscar Grant. He was a 22 year old black man that was shot by a Bart police officer on New Year’s Day 2009, and his death resulted in a lot of outrage. And after 15 years of asking the DA’s office for Oscar Grant’s cell phones, she finally got them back.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Why has it taken so long?
Maria Esquinca: So, according to transcend, she said that she made repeated requests to the district attorney’s office for the cell phones. And what was told to her was that the phones were mixed in with other evidence around the case.
Reverand Wanda Johnson: And so they didn’t know which phones. Was head.
Maria Esquinca: And Reverend Wanda Johnson, Oscar Grant’s mother, talked about this at a press conference with the current Alameda County District attorney, Pamela Price:, who returned the phones to Johnson.
Pamela Price: There was no challenge finding the phones. We know which phones they that actually belong to Oscar Grant, which phones were cataloged appropriately. It was apparently an act of will not to return the phone after.
Maria Esquinca: And based off the reporting of Oscar Palma, who reported on this for KQED, he did reach out to former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, who said no one ever asked her about the phones and that members of her team never brought this issue up to her.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And Maria, can you maybe help give us a sense of why this is such a big deal for Wanda Johnson? How does she talk about why this moment 15 years later, is so important to her?
Maria Esquinca: She really talked about how these cell phones almost seem like an extension of Oscar Grant, and I think she really talked about wanting to have these cell phones because of the pictures in them, because there was pictures of Oscar Grant. It was clear from listening to her at the press conference, so she was elated that she was very happy. She talked about how these phones represent another piece of her life.
Reverand Wanda Johnson: That is being fulfilled, that I have me having my son’s property, and that’s all families want.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: All right. Well, Maria, thank you so much for that.
Maria Esquinca: Thank you.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And last but not least, we’ll talk about my story, which is about how fast food chains are entering the business of local politics in San Jose. The San Jose Spotlight has been reporting on some pretty interesting examples of fast food companies doing all kinds of things. Politics in San Jose. From meeting with City Council members to donating to a bunch of political campaigns and PACs, and even hiring lobbyists to campaign against certain policies in the city, all, of course, in an election year.
Alan Montecillo: So corporations spending money on politics, not really a new thing. But what do fast food companies want to accomplish in San Jose? Specifically, what are they pushing for?
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, San Jose is one of two cities in California right now that is looking into a potential policy to essentially give more worker benefits to fast food workers. And in particular, it would allow fast food workers to accrue paid time off. These workers are really pushing, have been pushing in the last couple of years in California for more rights. And this issue is sort of taking center stage in San Jose.
Maria Esquinca: So what are the companies that have been getting involved in this and how?
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Burger King, the owner of several Popeyes locations, the owners of some McDonald’s and some Taco Bell locations have also donated to this PAC called the Strong Economy Silicon Valley PAC, which has been running some ads against certain candidates in the race for city council and also a number of new lobbyists, have sort of popped up in the city of San Jose tasked with trying to fight against this potential policy for fast food workers in San Jose.
Maria Esquinca: So obviously, their funding or their yeah, they’re starting to put money into some of these races. How is this impacting local politics right now?
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: So the San Jose Spotlight reported on this story from earlier this month about how the California Fast Food Workers Union, which was established also just this month, recently held a protest of San Jose City Council member David Cohen. He’s actually currently running for reelection in a really tight race. And the union was protesting because they argued that Cohen was basically walking back his support of this potential policy to expand fast food worker benefits in San Jose. He’s now saying that he’s skeptical about how to make this work.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And the spotlight reports that he’s also one of the councilors who met with the fast food companies, in the last three months. Cohen says that he met with them to try and work out something for both sides. But the union believes that Cohen has sort of switched up his position, because of this tight reelection race that he’s in against Assembly member Kansen Chu. And actually, the strong economy Silicon Valley PAC, which is funded by a bunch of fast food corporations, has spent $18,000 on ads against Chu.
Alan Montecillo: Why do you think this story is happening in San Jose, specifically?
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Yeah, well, that’s a great question because there has been a pretty unprecedented labor organizing among fast food workers all around California. But the California Fast Food Workers Union, which again, just finally formed this month, has said that San Jose has one of the largest populations of fast food workers in California. And that is part of the reason why San Jose is one of only two cities in the state that are considering this policy that would increase benefits for fast food workers. And so I think this is an example of how the union plans to make more ground in other corners of the state.
Alan Montecillo: And you you’re if you’re the companies, I imagine you feel the same way that you want to defeat policies you don’t like, candidates you don’t like. On the local level before it snowballs.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Well, that is it for the bays news roundup for the month of February. Maria and Alan, thank you both so much.
Maria Esquinca: Thank you.
Alan Montecillo: Thank you.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: The Bay is a production of listener supported KQED in San Francisco. And I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thank you so much for listening to the Bay. Talk to you next time.
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