The Bay

The National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is the nation’s first and only federally designated memorial of those who have died of AIDS (though ironically, it doesn’t receive federal funding.) The folks behind it say its existence is not just about remembering those who’ve died, but also the activism of the queer community who stepped up when the government wouldn’t. This story is part of the Bay Curious series "A Very Curious Walking Tour of Golden Gate Park." It originally aired on June 3, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In California, the death penalty is in limbo. On the one hand, the state hasn’t executed anyone since 2006. On the other, the death penalty in still legal. In practice, this means that hundreds of incarcerated people have been languishing on death for row years, even decades.Timothy James Young, who’s on death row at San Quentin State Prison, believes he was wrongfully convicted of murder and still hopes that someday he will be freed. And he has reason to hope: over the last few years, a garden project with UC Santa Cruz has snowballed into a full-blown campaign by students and faculty to exonerate him.Guest: Chloe Veltman, KQED arts and culture reporterThis episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.Links: California Will Close Death Row at San Quentin. The Next Steps Are More Complicated How a Garden at UC Santa Cruz Led to an Exoneration Campaign for a Man on Death Row 'I Am More: The Story of Tim Young'   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Golden State Warriors are one win away from another NBA championship, which would be their fourth since 2015. But as OG fans know, they haven’t always been this good.Writer and Bay Area native Alan Chazaro remembers those days, when tickets at Oracle Arena in East Oakland were affordable, attracting working class folks from across the Bay Area and street vendors selling hotdogs outside the stadium. Still, the Warriors have represented a kind of underdog mentality that the Bay Area has always identified with, even after their 2019 move to San Francisco and the new Chase Center. And for Alan, this championship just might be the most satisfying of them all.Guest: Alan Chazaro, adjunct professor for creative writing at the University of San Francisco and food writer for KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode contains mentions of suicide.On a weekend in early June, hundreds of San Mateo County residents drove to a courthouse parking lot in South San Francisco to voluntarily give up their guns. The buyback was conducted by the county sheriff’s office and organized by Citizens for San Mateo Gun Buyback. The group formed in 2018 after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and then raised money from local city governments to pay for the program. There are other events like this happening in the Bay Area, too.It won’t solve our gun violence problem overnight. But it’s one example of communities moving the needle without waiting for the U.S. Senate to act.Guest: Annelise Finney, KQED reporter/producerA transcript of this episode is available.This episode was produced by Maria Esquinca and Alan Montecillo, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has been recalled. This race has gotten a ton of attention both inside and outside the Bay Area, which is uncommon for a local DA race. And shortly after election night, national outlets proclaimed that these results show an indictment of criminal justice reforms in California.But the truth is a lot more complicated. Today, we’ll dig into the many different reasons why Boudin was voted out of office.Guest: Marisa Lagos, KQED political correspondent and co-host of the Political Breakdown podcastThis episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In California, tens of thousands of workers aren’t getting paid what they’re owed by their employers. Many of these workers are low-wage earning immigrants in industries like construction, home care, and food service.The state actually has a system in place where people can file claims of wage theft. But the system currently has a huge backlog, leaving people waiting years before they can try and and recover their money. In some cases, workers claim their employers stole tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars from them. The result? Many low-wage Californians miss out on rent, food, and can even lose their homes.Guest: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED labor correspondentRelated links: Most Fast-Food Workers Are Victims of Wage Theft, Survey Find Despite Record Budget Surplus, California Unlikely to Fix Massive Wage-Theft Claim Backlog Anytime Soon This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California’s mental health care system is a mess. And at the same time, unsheltered homelessness is increasing and voters want their leaders to do something about it.Those are some of the reasons why Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a proposal called the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Court — or CARE Court. The idea is to provide a coordinated mental health treatment plan for a patient, under the supervision of a judge.But there’s also a catch: if the patient refuses that treatment, that could also be used as grounds for conservatorship, where the judge appoints someone to manage a patient’s care and finances. That has created big concerns among civil liberties and mental health advocates, who worry that this new court system could cause even more problems in a system rife with racial disparities.Guest: Erin Baldassari, KQED housing affordability reporterThis episode was edited and produced by Alan Montecillo and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra, who also produced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are so many horrifying incidents of attacks on Asians that have gone viral. Many of them took place in San Francisco. There’s a lot of fear, anxiety, and anger among Asian communities in the city. And many people want justice for these attacks.Whether that is truly or happening or not is a huge sticking point in Tuesday’s recall election of District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who ran on a progressive platform and says incarcerating people should be a last resort.KQED and The San Francisco Standard reviewed 12 local, high-profile criminal cases involving Asian victims in 2020 and 2021. In this episode, we discuss what these cases show, and what the path forward might look like.Guests: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, reporter and producer for KQED News and Han Li, reporter for the San Francisco StandardA transcript of this episode is available.This episode was edited by Alan Montecillo and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra, who also hosted.Links: KQED Voter Guide KQED Live: An Interview with Chesa Boudin Why High-Profile Attacks on SF's Asian Community Rarely Lead to Hate Crime Charges Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time since 2014, the race for mayor in San Jose has no incumbent running, since Mayor Sam Liccardo is term-limited. On June 7, San Jose voters will decide between 7 candidates, ranging from current elected officials to complete outsiders. If no candidate wins a majority of the votes in the June primary, the top 2 finishers face a November runoff.Today, we’ll hear from voters and from the candidates who think they should be mayor of the Bay Area’s largest city.Guests: Carlos Cabrera-Lomeli, community engagement reporter for KQED and Guy Marzorati, reporter and producer for KQED’s politics & government deskThis episode was edited and produced by Alan Montecillo and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra, who also produced. Candidate audio comes from forums hosted by the San Jose Spotlight and SPUR.A transcript of this episode is available.Links:KQED 2022 voter guide Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Solano County, two high-profile police killings loom large over the race for District Attorney on June 7. That’s because the incumbent, Krishna Abrams, recused herself from investigating the deaths of Willie McCoy in 2019 and Sean Monterrosa in 2020, citing the public’s lack of confidence in her office.Now she’s running against her own chief deputy DA, Sharon Henry, who argues that the DA’s office hasn’t been independent enough to make tough, politically fraught decisions.  Guest: Scott Morris, investigative reporter with the Vallejo Sun Related links: KQED’s 2022 Voter Guide Solano DA candidates Abrams, Henry debate equity, accountability in ACLU forum Incumbents lead fundraising in Solano Sheriff, DA’s race The Life and Death of Willie McCoy  This episode was edited and produced by Maria Esquinca and Alan Montecillo, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices