In Santa Barbara, electric bikes have achieved a new critical mass in the past two years when BCycle first launched its electric-bike-share program downtown. Bikes here are parked in clusters of three in special charging docks installed in 66 specified locations on streets and sidewalks. As of the end of July, these bikes accounted for 170,000 trips taken, 590,000 vehicle miles traveled, and roughly 600,000 pounds of carbon dioxide offset.
Santa Barbara Independent - 8/10/22
Delta water crisis linked to California’s racist past, tribes and activists say
The tribes and environmental groups submitted a petition to the State Water Resources Control Board demanding the state change its approach and adopt science-based standards that ensure adequate flows in the Delta to improve water quality and sustain imperiled fish, including species that are at risk of extinction.
They said the ecological crisis in the Delta has its roots in California’s history of violence against Native people, the taking of land from tribes and structural racism that shaped how the water rights system was established more than a century ago. They said deteriorating conditions in the estuary represent a “continuation of California’s discriminatory water management history.”
They wrote in their 169-page petition that the state water board’s “failure to adopt sufficiently protective water quality standards entrenches a discriminatory system of water rights that was founded on the dispossession of Indigenous Californians and exclusion of communities of color, and that continues to prioritize large-scale agricultural interests over those of vulnerable Californians living in the Delta.”
Los Angeles Times - 5/26/22
Stanford Students Host Event to Show Support for Ukraine
“At the beginning of the war, we were all very sad didn’t know what to do we were helpless and then, we start to act and a lot of people start helping us, us is helping us a lot of other countries as well,” said Stanford student Kateryna Pistunova.
They aimed to show what different organizations have been doing…and create a dialogue about the impact of their efforts.
“It’s providing medical supplies its helping at hospitals helping refugees that have come in,” said Rodion Yaryy of the non-profit group Nova Ukraine.
NBC Bay Area - 5/8/22
32 tons of emergency medical supplies headed to Ukraine from Seattle
“These supplies are needed all over Ukraine and will save many lives,” Igor Markov said Monday afternoon in front of a cargo jet at Sea-Tac Airport.
Markov is the Director of Nova Ukraine, one of the groups that coordinated the airlift. The Ukrainian Association of Washington State, the Ukrainian-American Cultural Association of Oregon, and Ukrainian Student Association at Stanford University partnered in obtaining and sorting the hundreds of boxes of supplies.
“People all over the greater Seattle area, in Washington state, people all over the West Coast have come together to ship this life saving aid to Ukraine,” said Katya Sedova of the Ukrainian Association of Washington State.
KUOW-FM, Seattle NPR - 3/29/22
Hundreds Turn Out in San Francisco to Support Ukraine, Protest Russian Invasion
Hundreds of Ukrainians and friends of Ukraine turned out in San Francisco Sunday to show support for that embattled eastern European nation and urged Americans to take more forceful steps beyond donating to non-governmental organizations.
A sea of blue and yellow gathered outside City Hall as people sang and spoke in solidarity with Ukraine. Hundreds brought signs. One read “Don’t bully Ukraine,” another read “Stop Putin the Murderer” and “Glory to our Heroes.”
“Ukrainian[s] never give up. We are so brave, we love freedom and we will never, never be a part of Russia,” said Natalliia Melnychenko, who lives in San Jose. “We all support each other and we just need to be together right now to support each other.”
CBS San Francisco - 2/27/22
New transitional housing in Hayward opens to help human trafficked youth
HAYWARD, Calif. (KRON) — A new transitional housing facility in Hayward to honor the career-long efforts of Alameda County District Attorney, Nancy E. O’Malley to combat human trafficking has officially opened.
“Nancy’s House” will provide low-barrier emergency and transitional housing for youth ages 18 to 20 who have been victims of sex trafficking.
On Friday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the new facility in Hayward, which will provide wrap-around care for each person that comes through the home, including food, shelter, and case management to help them identify a plan for a safe place to live long-term.
KRON-TV 4 Bay Area News - 2/2/2022
Opinion: Governor must integrate justice into state water policy
California water policy shapes the future of communities across the state. As always, tribes and communities of color are on the front line.
Northern California tribes fear coming years could see the unnecessary extinction of salmon runs central to our religion and culture. For the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, one of those runs is the winter run Chinook salmon, which is being wiped out this year by high Sacramento River water temperatures. This is not caused by drought alone, but by excessive water deliveries to “senior water rights” holders that have drained Lake Shasta’s cold water.
In the Delta, pollution and inadequate water flows have led to an explosion of harmful algal blooms. This summer, the Delta is choked by floating masses of electric green algae that can harm people and kill pets, threatening the health, quality of life, and economy of Delta communities.
The Mercury News/East Bay Times - 9/18/21
Editorial: Trying to cross the street shouldn’t be a crime
Black people make up 9% of the population in Los Angeles, but they were 31% of the people stopped by the Los Angeles Police Department for jaywalking between 2018 to 2020. The numbers are similar in Long Beach and San Diego, and reports in Sacramento and elsewhere have also uncovered disparities in jaywalking enforcement. Police generally have a heavier presence in Black communities, and advocates say officers use jaywalking as a pretext to stop people. Those stops can turn deadly.
Los Angeles Times - 9/22/21
Environmental Group Says Newsom's Call For Water Rationing 'Too Little, Too Late'
The statement goes on to say that senior management at the California Department of Water Resources and the California Natural Resources Agency, gave Newsom "bad advice."
"They let too much of the water out of the system for industrial agriculture users — who only contribute 2 to 3 percent of the state's GDP. Our water resources and public trust resources like salmon fisheries have been squandered for almonds and other unsustainable crops," the statement said.
Newsweek 7/9/21
Battle over Southern California water czar is clash between old vision and new, observers say
The latest brawl in Water World plays out on this backdrop, and what comes out of your tap may well depend on the result. Will it come from recycled waste water? Desalination plants? A giant tunnel or two under the Delta? The answers will, in large part, depend on who’s chosen to lead the gargantuan Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water to 19 million people from Ventura County to the Mexican border.
LA Daily News 6/8/21