Bay Curious

What are the recommendations for taking public transit? Should I go to work? Should I cancel upcoming travel plans? How long does the virus last on a doorknob? Can it be transmitted in the air? Will we be quarantined? Find the latest answers to these questions and more in this constantly-changing story.Additional Reading: Public Health Orders and Recommendations for Each Bay Area County Bay Area Hospitals Gear Up for Potential Surge in Coronavirus Cases Coronavirus: Public Health Experts Want to 'Flatten the Curve.' Here's What That Means Featuring KQED reporter Michelle Wiley. Produced by Asal Ehsanipour, Olivia Allen-Price and Katie McMurran. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Asal Ehsanipour, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Carly Severn, Bianca Hernandez and Ethan Lindsey.

Question asker David Shayer has a lot of opinions... about billboards. He says the worst are electronic billboards that flash changing images at night. But in addition to an opinion, David has a question: "Why is Highway 101 plastered with billboards while Highway 280 doesn't have any billboards?" In this episode, reporter Christopher Egusa takes a roadtrip to find out more.Additional Reading: Green Foothills Bay Area, I Love You Reported by Christopher Egusa. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Asal Ehsanipour, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Carly Severn, Bianca Hernandez and Ethan Lindsey Patricia Yollin.

San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood is bordered by some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city, yet it has a bad reputation. Tourists are told to avoid the area. You can often see drug dealing out in the open, and garbage on the streets. Today's question asker, Vy Nguyen, lives in the neighborhood and wants to know how the Tenderloin has stayed the same in a city where most low-incomes areas have gentrified.Additional Reading: Why Hasn't the Tenderloin Gentrified Like the Rest of San Francisco? By Randy Shaw: After a Tough 2019, Tenderloin Will Move Forward Reported by Kelly O'Mara. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Carly Severn, Bianca Hernandez, Ethan Lindsey and Don Clyde.

Question asker Lauren Fleming has noticed a lot of signs warning about coyote sightings in San Francisco parks. She wants to know how many coyotes live here, how they got here, and how they manage to live in an urban environment. In this episode, reporter Bianca Taylor meets a woman who has been observing the city's coyotes for thirteen years. Additional Reading:  San Francisco's Coyotes are Back, and They are Thriving The "Coyote Lady's" website, CoyoteYipps.com Submit your love letter to the Bay Area Reported by Bianca Taylor. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Asal Ehsanipour, Paul Lancour, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey and Patricia Yollin.

This week the Bay Curious team asked locals to help us make a collective love letter to the Bay Area. We talked to people whose families have been here for several generations, people who just arrived and some who recently left. We heard all kinds of reasons for why you love it. We present to you, your stories and our love letter.CreditsBay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Kyana Moghadam, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Don Clyde, Carly Severn, Christopher Cox, Bianca Hernandez, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Holly Kernan.

When Nicole was growing up, her grandmother always told her: Don't live anywhere built on fill. Her uncle also had strong memories of watching the Marina burn after the 1989 earthquake — when parts of the ground liquefied, causing buildings to collapse and gas lines to break.Nicole wants to follow her grandmother's advice, but she needs to know a few things: "What neighborhoods and cities in the Bay Area are built on filled land? And what are those cities and neighborhoods doing to mitigate the risk of liquefaction?"Additional Reading Large Parts of the Bay Area Are Built on Fill. Why and Where? MAP: Where We "Created" Dry Land The Precarious Future of Treasure Island: Rising Seas and Sinking Land How Treasure Island Got Made and Why CreditsReported by Kelly O'Mara. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Don Clyde, Carly Severn, Christopher Cox, Bianca Hernandez, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Holly Kernan.

We get a lot of BART questions from our listeners, so this week we're answering a slew of them with long-time transit reporter Dan Brekke. How did they build the underwater tunnels for BART? In its nearly 50 years of existence, why has BART taken so long to extend into Santa Clara County? And only normally protruded into San Mateo County and never expanded into any of the North Bay counties? Why are there news kiosks in the BART station that are closed? Why doesn't BART let people run these news kiosks? What is the history?  At the West Oakland BART Station there are ads right next to the third rail. How on earth do they change those out without getting electrocuted? Why does it seem like the escalators are constantly broken? Why does BART announce elevator status all the time? Our question askers this week were Briana, Brad Meyer, Jay Quigley, Mark, Dan and Eric. Additional Goodies Why are BART trains so loud? (Apple Podcasts) Sign up for the Bay Curious newsletter The Bay: An Unspoken Guide to Riding BART (Apple Podcasts) Why are BART Escalators Nearly Always Broken? And How Did They Build Those Tunnels? CreditsProduced by Jessica Placzek and Olivia Allen-Price. Featuring KQED's transit editor Dan Brekke. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Patricia Yollin, Carly Severn, Christopher Cox, Bianca Hernandez, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Holly Kernan.

Jerry Brown has been a dominant force in California politics for decades. He spent 16 years as governor of California, ran for Senate twice, ran for president three times, and spent eight years as Mayor of Oakland. In this episode, we explore how Brown's legacy in Oakland is playing out today with Devin Katayama of The Bay, and Guy Marzorati, producer of new podcast The Political Mind of Jerry Brown. You can subscribe to both in the same place you get Bay Curious.Produced by Devin Katayama, Marisol Medina-Cadena, Alan Montecillo, Jessica Placzek and Olivia Allen-Price. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong, Holly Kernan and Patricia Yollin.

Reporter Rachael Myrow and listener Debbie Torrey discover that what we've been told about this famous road is mostly bunk. This story first ran on the podcast in Nov. 2017.Additional Reading: Video: The true story of the 'royal' road El Camino Not-So-Real: The True Story of the 'Ancient Road' Reported by Rachael Myrow. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey and Patricia Yollin.

The crosswalks in San Francisco, and many other Bay Area towns, play a 'machine gun' sound when the 'walk' sign is illuminated for pedestrians. A Bay Curious listener recalls hearing chirping sounds in other areas. Why do ours sound the way they do? Plus, we get to know an architect who listens to buildings.Additional Reading:An Architect Who Listens To BuildingsReported by Olivia Allen-Price, Annika Cline and Sam Harnett. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey and Patricia Yollin.