Fall 2019 Issue 9 by Golden Gate Xpress

SF State’s student-run publication since 1927

Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019

Volume 110, Issue 9

Queer students of color win at film festival ‘Last Black Man in San Francisco’ BY NOOR BAIG STAFF REPORTER

Claire Weeks-Young sets up the camera while shooting “To You” for Campus Movie Fest Oct. 13 (Photo by MJ Johnson / Golden Gate Xpress) BY MJ JOHNSON CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR

laire Weeks-Young bit her lip in confusion. It was her first time operating a camera and she had no other choice but to press on. Time was running out. This was the last day of shooting before her filmmaking group would have to submit its completed short movie. The group had just one week to shoot and edit its movie and the deadline was fast approaching. She waved her hand to get the attention of the actors preparing for the scene.

“Okay, we’re rolling … and action!” she shouted. Weeks-Young and a group of five other queer identifying students of color made their movie as part of Campus Movie Fest, the world’s largest student film festival which offers equipment and a platform to students to produce a short film in a week. “We’re all friends and so we thought it would be fun to collaborate on something creative,” said Weeks-Young, a Bio-chem major who cowrote, produced and shot the film.

The group wanted to emphasize a queer narrative in under five minutes for their short film. “To You,” the film they submitted to the Campus Movie Fest, follows two characters, Eric and Matthew, who struggle to be open about their relationship. “We’re queer people telling a queer story,” said Carlos Fuentes, a junior and sociology major who acted as the producer. “When you see queer movies, the writers are straight, the actors are straight and it’s just what they think we look like.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

No more private cars on Market Street BY COREY BROWNING STAFF REPORTER

arket Street, San Francisco’s busiest pedestrian, bicycle and transit corridor, will soon be free from private vehicles, with wide protected bike lanes, larger sidewalks and sped-up transit lines from the Embarcadero to Gough Street.

Better Market Street, the project to completely renovate what is arguably the city’s most important street, has been in the works for nearly a decade undergoing environmental review and design changes. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors Sept.

15 unanimously approved the project, estimated by the city to cost more than $600 million. “This won’t just be a better Market Street. It will be a magnificent Market Street,” SFMTA board chair Malcolm Heinicke said during the meeting. Though construction is slated

to begin in 2021, a quick-build portion of the renovation, which will include new signage and road repainting, plans to give private vehicles the boot by early next year. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

rom naked white men to charming sidewalk musicians to seemingly unhinged Muni riders, there are just some characters one can’t avoid for too long while living in San Francisco. And if you stay long enough, you’ll often find that you have become one of the crazy, brazen passersby that you so often complain about. This love-hate relationship with San Francisco is the foundation of one of the latest acclaimed movies about the city. “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” a new film directed and produced by Joe Talbot, tells the story of two friends, Jimmie and Mont, who search for a place to belong against the backdrop of a San Francisco that is growing less and less black. The film screened on campus Oct. 17, followed by a panel discussion with the cast and crew. Jimmie Fails stars as himself alongside Jonathan Majors, who plays his character’s best friend, Montgomery (Mont), a gentle, observant playwright. The two spend the film trying to buy — and eventually squatting in — a multimillion dollar Victorian style home that Jimmie’s family used to own. The film, which was five years in the making before hitting theaters, came out of years of Fails and Talbot making films together. They said this was their first feature film to be seen by the public. “A lot of movies that we made came out of things that happened to [Jimmie] or to me or to friends of ours ... and the truth is we didn’t know how movies like this were made,” Talbot said. “I dropped out of high school ... but we knew we really wanted to make a film and tell the story of what was happening in San Francisco, and watching the city that we love start to disappear in some ways.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

INCLUDED IN THIS ISSUE SF State scientists explore life potential on other planets

Men’s soccer team dominates the home field against East Bay

Astronomy: Page 2 Soccer: Page 7

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How the city is preparing the public for earthquakes and emergencies

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Astronomy society raises question: What happens when Earth dies? BY KARAMEL NUNEZMARTINEZ STAFF REPORTER

F State helped the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) celebrate its 130th birthday, co-hosting the 2019 conference “ASP: Earth to Space - Celebrating a Century of Astronomy.” The ASP, a nonprofit organization founded in 1889 that developed curriculum and training programs to promote public interest in science, set up astronomy-themed activities on campus. This included discussion panels in the Jack Adams Hall and solar viewing in the quad. The physics and astronomy department also opened its planetarium to the public for the day. “We’ve always had a tight collaboration with [SF State]; the current CEO is an alumnus from here actually,” ASP member Brian Marino said. “We’re hosting this event, giving a lot of talks from the faculty and from members of the ASP, as well as making sure to engage with the students showing off what we do on campus.” ASP comes to SF State once a month, depending on how clear the skies are, for

solar viewing. Two standard telescopes, a 5” Meade and a 8” Dobsonian are equipped with a Hydrogen-Alpha filter, or black-out filter, which blocks out 99.9% of light and allows students to see the sun in full view. Even though the sun is at a solar minimum, it gives people the opportunity to see something like solar flares or sunspots with their own eyes. The larger event of the day consisted of panel presentations from various astronomers in the Bay Area and a few special guests that flew in. Debra Fischer, who began her discovery of exoplanets — planets discovered outside of the solar system — at SF State and is currently an astronomy professor at Yale University, opened the third panel of the evening, “Astronomers for the Planet: Actions for a Habitable World. “ Astronomers are studying planets like Mars and nearby exoplanets. They are determining these exoplanets’ ability to store water and maintain a habitable temperature. Such a study raises the question: Is there a plan B for people if the Earth is too far gone? “We consider the energy intercepted by the Earth, and we know the planets closest to the host star will be too hot, and the planets that

are far away are too cold and in the goldilock zone are planets like the Earth,” Fischer said. “Where the molecule H2O is not in the form of gas and it’s not frozen in ice, but in liquid water.” Even though water is a crucial element to maintain life, the Earth and its solar system contain unique elements that are difficult to capture on other planets, such as Earth’s global magnetic field, the moon and surrounding planets like Jupiter that help protect the Earth from larger asteroids Fischer said. San Francisco was one of the first cities to implement a climate action plan in 2004, to reduce the number of greenhouse gases produced in the city and reduce the carbon in the atmosphere. “Our goals are zero waste, zero incineration, zero toxins, 80% sustainable modes of transit … 100% renewable energy,” said Shawn Rosenmoss, Senior Environmental Specialist for the San Francisco Department of the Environment. “One hundred percent renewable energy is going to be more than just slapping a bunch of solar panels on our rooftops. We have to get rid of all fossil fuels and electrify everything.”

Astronomical Society for the Pacific volunteer and credential student Jose Ruelas adjusts a sun spotter in the quad Oct. 18 for viewing the image of the sun projected onto a sheet of paper. (Photo by Juan Carlos Lara / Golden Gate Xpress)

Crime Blotter:

Update on criminal activity on and around campus Burglary Bender

he SF State University Police Department (UPD) received 20 burglary reports since the semester began, more than half of all reports in 2018. Of the 20 reports, the majority were vehicle burglaries and just under half came from Lot 25. Aside from Lot 25, no other area on campus has been the scene of more than two burglaries this semester. On the afternoon of Aug. 31, the Saturday after the first week of class, six vehicle burglaries were simultaneously reported on Lot 25. Total losses and damages resulting from the six burglaries were valued at $2,135, according to Lt. Dave Rodriguez. Twelve of the burglaries this semester are the subjects of ongoing investigations and the rest of the cases were suspended. At least one of those suspensions, according to Lt. Rodriguez, resulted from the victim lacking interest in pressing charges. No charges have been filed for any of these burglaries. Thirty-eight total burglaries occurred in 2018, meaning that if the rate of burglaries continues though the end of the year, the fall 2019 semester could see more burglaries than all of 2018. Compiled by Juan Carlos Lara, staff reporter.

A disappearing city, gentrification, pollution, black masculinity in The themes of gentrification cupancy building. pushing politicians to investigate recent breakout SF film also hold especially true to real Talbot encouraged the audience these suspicious fires that are CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The complex, truthful characters honor the pain of displacement, gentrification, environmental racism and the desperation for belonging without any mention of throwaway buzzwords. Jimmie and Mont are thoughtful, sensitive and wholesome while facing some of life’s most difficult dealings. “We showed black men in a different light and how we can be all these different things, and not just the things that society, or America, the box that they put us in,” Fails said. “But I think that goes for everyone, not just black men. So I think it’s important to see the range within human beings.” Fails spoke during the panel about the character Kofi, who wears a false tough exterior at the price of never living a true version of himself. “He felt like he couldn’t be himself, and he had to be hypermasculine and that wasn’t even really him, so those are the consequences of that,” Fails said. “There’s a lot of people that I know — that we all know — that we lost because they felt like they had to fit into this box that the world put on black men.” Many students who posed questions to the cast and crew after

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the film said they had seen the same struggles with gentrification growing up in the city, or in other communities they call home. Ilana Fale, second year at SF State, said it was “surreal” to see a film that reflected her experience growing up in San Francisco. “I even took my dad to see it and he was just in awe, speechless, watching it,” Fale said. “Because it’s a lot of TV shows or sitcoms that are based in San Francisco but you watch the shows and you’re like, ‘Where is this at? I’ve never seen this place in the city.’” Fale is a third generation San Francisco resident and said her grandfather has a house near Hunter’s Point, the area of a toxic soil scandal. The film makes references to years of pollution, as well as fires that destroyed rent-controlled buildings, only to be replaced by upscale developments. “The places that they chose to shoot at, those are real places, I live by those places and growing up I wasn’t aware of the toxic waste that was by the houses that I live in, and still is to this day,” Fale said. “The people that were trying to keep that hidden from residents — there was no awareness, until now. I’m 21 years old now, I just learned about it when I was 18.”

life, Talbot said, as many of the filming locations have been torn down between the filming and release of the movie, including the Double Rock housing projects and a Tenderloin single room oc-

to channel frustrations about the changes in the city by voting and making their voices heard on city issues. “If we don’t push to have the Ellis Act repealed, if we’re not

happening all over the city ... if we don’t call on elected officials to look into the toxic waste in Hunter’s Point ... then we’re not doing our job,” Talbot said.

“There’s a lot of people that I know — that we all know — that we lost because they felt they had to fit into this box that the world put on black men.” - Jimmie Fails

The cast and producers of ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ respond to questions from the audience during a Q&A session at SF State’s Annex I Oct. 17. (Photo by James Wyatt / Golden Gate Xpress)

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Campus Movie Fest premieres diverse student films CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The group wanted to emphasize the happy ending for the characters in the film. Fuentes and Weeks-Young pointed to movies like “Moonlight” or “Call Me By Your Name” in which queer characters don’t experience the same outcomes in relationships as heterosexual couples in film. “We want to inspire other queer people to have hope that there is something for us, ”said Luis Blanco, a junior and English literature major who wrote the script with Weeks-Young. With the rush to shoot and edit, the student filmmakers improvised creative locations and methods. They filmed around the neighborhood near campus, in their apartment and guerrilla style at a movie theater and ice cream parlor. Although there were moments of panic — like the camera inexplicably running out of battery in the middle of a scene, oblivious passersby walking into frame and editing software crashing unexpectedly — the group shared countless laughs while in production. “This is a diverse crew that is representative of what you see on screen,” said Jason Lemos, an actor who played the role of Eric. “It’s hard finding gay roles because they are often heterosexual, but this was a great opportunity to play a character that is more authentic and real to me, because this is my life.” At the Oct. 15 deadline, 35 films created by student filmmakers were submitted to be judged by an anonymous panel of students and faculty that are diverse in race and age, according to Byron Gamble, the Campus Movie Fest representative for the West Coast. The CMF

Jason Lemos, Alfonso Torres, Luis Blanco and Carlos Fuentes (left to right) talk on stage about their experience making the film at McKenna Theater on Friday, Oct. 18. “We’re going to Hollywood,” they said in unison after they won the Jury Award for their film “To You.” (Photo by Kameron Hall / Golden Gate Xpress)

representatives helped students with filming gear and editing technical support during the moviemaking week. “We want to hear more stories that aren’t told yet,” Gamble said. “We don’t have restrictions so students can tell any story they really want. I hope students take this as a way to memorialize a place in their life and tell the story that they were feeling at that moment in time.” Oct. 18 at the Mckenna Theater, 16 of the best movies premiered in front of a crowd of

budding filmmakers. Silver Tripod awards and other Jury Awards were handed out to the best films from SF State. “To You” was a Jury Award Winner and one of the Top 4 best films of the night. The group of filmmakers from the winning films will travel to Hollywood to enter CMF Terminus, which showcases 200 short films from campuses across the nation. Other Jury Award winners have the opportunity to attend the Cannes Film Festival next year. Campus Movie Fest has

sponsored categories for women in film, for female identifying filmmakers, and social justice, for films with a hopeful message, that offers further prizes including a $10,000 cash prize. Weeks-Young will submit “To You” into those categories. “Representing women is incredibly important since they are not represented in mainstream cinema nearly as much as men are, and I love that we are pushing toward equality with that,” Gamble said.

University launches ethical Artifical Intelligience program BY WILSON GOMEZ STAFF REPORTER

s the sun began to set, two dozen students gathered in the J. Paul Leonard Library’s Events Room last Wednesday to hear about SF State’s newly created Ethical Artificial Intelligence curriculum — the first triple discipline graduate certificate in the country that focuses on AI. The three people responsible for the creation of the new certificate, Dragutin Petkovic, professor of computer science, Denise Kleinrichert, interim associate dean from the college of business, and Carlos Montemayor, from the philosophy department took turns presenting what each of the three departments offer students and how they all interact with each other. Petkovic, Kleinrichert and Montemayor came together to create a certificate that is the first of its kind to explore the issues of ethics in relation to artificial intelligence. “Other universities teach AI courses or have AI institutes and AI seminars but they don’t offer an interdisciplinary certificate,” Montemayor said. What sets this certificate apart from the others is that it is addresses ethical issues related to artificial intelligence, such as fairness and bias.

The promise of AI was that it could be free from bias, thus making more rational decisions than a person, decisions based on data rather than emotion. As Petkovic pointed out, that hasn’t been the case yet. Last year, Amazon, got rid of its AI powered recruiting tool because it was biased against women. The AI was supposed to vet all the resumes it received and suggest the top candidates for each position. Instead, it penalizes women because the majority of the resumes the AI had been given to train itself to find qualified candidates came from male applicants. The course will be a total of three classes plus a research and reflection paper to show potential employers what the students learned. Because this is a multi-disciplinary certificate and not everyone has taken computer science classes, there will be an option of taking “Philosophy and Current Applications of Artificial Intelligence” for the AI Technologies and Applications section of the certificate program. None of the philosophy or business courses in the program have prerequisites. “We’re asking the questions from the perspective of the producers and the

manufacturers of the technology, but also from the perspective of society who will receive the benefits,” Montemayor explained. “They will be the main benefactors, but also the people at risk of whatever goes wrong with the technology.” To exemplify the need for this program, Petkovic spoke of a hypothetical medical business buying the right to use an AI that has almost 100% accuracy in diagnosing patients. Petkovic’s concern is that during the development of the AI, few if any, people of color might have been added to the AI’s database, meaning that the AI’s decision making abilities are not attuned to the needs of minority patients, which could harm the patient, as well as open the business up to a lawsuit. “The ethical part is that intelligence is supposed to be related to rationality and rationality to responsibility, and responsibility to political and larger norms in society that really frame labor, for example, and legal systems and the economy,” Montemayor said. The program will focus not just on the effects that AI will have on business but also the effect that it will have on the workforce and society at large. For now, Petkovic is skeptical of the possibility to create an AI that is free from bias. After

all, what is ethical in one country may be unethical in another. “So it’s not trivial, the deployment, and no one knows how to make adjustable AI,” Petkovic explained, “They give you a black box and say ‘Oh, it works with 90% accuracy.’ What does that mean?” While the U.S. uses AI mainly for automation and business, militaries around the world are looking into creating autonomous drones to replace live soldiers in combat. According to the New York Times, the Chinese government uses AI to comb through surveillance camera footage to find criminals and more controversially, track the Uighur Muslim minority in the country. The problem with building an ethical AI is that coding is purely mathematical and there are no equations to solve fairness and diversity. The certificate is not focused on creating AI, but understanding how an AI could lack context for the data it uses to make decisions. Students will come out of the program with the skills necessary to help guide businesses through the tricky future that comes with artificial intelligence. The graduate certificate program, which begins in the Spring semester, is taking applications through the CalState Apply

Power outages expected to strike Northern California again BY DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ CITY NEWS EDITOR

Mateo, Sonoma, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Sierra, Sonoma, Sutter and Yuba. The utility will open community resource centers providing restrooms, bottled water, charging stations, seating and air conditioners. They’ll be staffed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the outages. For more information about the resource centers and the outages, visit pge.com.

ifteen California counties and 209,000 premises may lose electricity once again on the heels of the largest imposed power outage in state history, the bankrupt utility Pacific Gas and Electric announced the afternoon of Oct. 21. Imposed during dry, windy weather to reduce the risk that PG&E’s equipment will spark wildfires, this week’s potential power outages may begin at different times for different counties, Dozens of cities in the Bay Area counties of San starting Wednesday evening. The outage is expected to affect portions of San Mateo, Napa and Sonoma may be affected.

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State hospitals unprepared for the Big One BY DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ CITY NEWS EDITOR

an Francisco’s acute care hospitals have met California’s earthquake safety standards ahead of a 2020 deadline, but a second state safety requirement would cost too much for some hospitals and force them to close by 2030, according to hospital industry officials. “Functioning hospitals are critical after major disasters,” said Dick McCarthy, executive director for the California Seismic Safety Commission. “They have to be up and running. You cannot have the hospitals be a victim too. The staff has to be safe, the hospital has to be functional.” Aware of hospitals’ vulnerability, California legislators passed SB 1953 in 1994 and began grading its general acute care hospitals based on how well they could endure earthquakes. Those graded “Structural Performance Category 1” (SPC-1) — at risk of collapse during a strong earthquake — could no longer provide general acute care beginning 2008. Those graded SPC-2, likely irreparable following a strong earthquake, would be prohibited from providing the same care starting 2030. The state’s hospital industry has struggled to meet deadlines, and California granted eight extensions to push back the 2008 deadline to Jan. 1, 2020, and a few to 2022, according to the California legislature. But 643 general acute care hospital buildings across the state — 12 in San Francisco county — must still meet the 2030 deadline, according to data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD). When the Northridge Earthquake struck San Fernando Valley in 1994, it forced people to evacuate 82 medical buildings. The quake killed 61 and injured 8,700 — more than 1,600 of whom required hospitalization, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Proponents of the legislation, such as the California Nurse’s Association (CNA), have condemned hospitals for lagging decades behind schedule. The CNA was not immediately available for comment but forwarded an August post by its executive director. “By asking for constant extensions, hospitals are literally gambling with the lives of Californians,” CNA Executive Director Bonnie Castillo stated on Medium. There’s a 72% chance that a 6.7 magnitude or greater earthquake will strike San Francisco between 2014 and 2043, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Meanwhile, the state is overdue: If an earthquake happened tomorrow, it would be too late.

The statewide cost to upgrade SPC 2 hospitals ranges anywhere from $34 billion to $140 billion, according to a study commissioned by the California Hospitals Association (CHA) and published by the nonprofit RAND Corporation think tank. With few exceptions, hospitals shoulder that price tag by themselves, according to Jan Emerson-Shea, vice president of external affairs for the CHA. “Whatever it is, hospitals are going to pay it, and ultimately someone has to pay the hospital. That might be an insurance company. Premiums are going to go up. The cost of care is going to go up,” Emerson-Shea said. Meanwhile, 34% of California hospitals experience financial distress, and that could rise to more than 50% to meet the 2030 requirement, according to the RAND Corp. study. The CHA proposed a bill to scale back the 2030 requirements to apply solely to

buildings that provide an emergency department, emergency room, surgical services and recovery care. The goal, Emerson-Shea said, is to keep hospitals open and affordable while protecting the most vulnerable of patients. “This would really focus the resources necessary on the parts of a hospital most important after a disaster, and it would really bring down the price tag,” Emerson-Shea said. “This idea that the hospital has to remain fully operational after an earthquake honestly doesn’t make sense in today’s world.” The CNA staunchly opposes the bill, which is proposed for the state legislature in 2020. “2020 is upon us, and 2030 is right on the horizon,” Castillo stated on Medium. “The earth doesn’t grant extensions, so California hospitals need to stop hedging bets — and go all in for seismic safety.”

Source: OSHPD

Hall of Justice to close no later than 2021 BY SAM MOORE STAFF REPORTER

San Francisco’s Hall of Justice, notorious for its frequent sewage overflows, asbestos-laden walls and — most notably — high chances of crumbling in the event of a large earthquake, will close no later than 2021, Mayor London Breed announced Thursday. The ominous gray building spans an entire city block at 850 Bryant St. It houses several criminal justice-related city departments, the city’s criminal courts and County Jail 4, which holds roughly 300 incarcerated people on the seventh floor. It was deemed seismically unsafe and marked for demolition in 1996, but has since remained open. The Hall of Justice is “one of the city’s most dangerous buildings,” with a high probability of posing a seismic “crisis situation” that would result in over 100 casualties and more than 70% building damage if a 7.9 magnitude earthquake occurred along the San Andreas fault, according to an analysis published by the Controller’s Office in 2017. Several of the city’s courts and criminal justice departments recently relocated out of the Hall of Justice, but the issue of when and how to relocate County Jail 4 continues to spark debate. Breed’s plan to close the jail by 2021 was met with criticism at a Board of Supervisors hearing Friday from city officials and local organizations who say the jail should be closed much sooner.

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“Everyone who works there is being moved out of the building,” Supervisor Matt Haney said. “The only group we don’t have a plan for are the people incarcerated there, and the people who work directly with them. This is unacceptable, it is shameful and it needs to change.” Haney highlighted dysfunctions in the jail’s processing system, including that over 90% of its inmates have not been convicted of any crimes and are being held while awaiting pretrial, sometimes for months or even years at a time. The mayor’s long-term plan includes demolishing the Hall of Justice by 2025 and starting construction on a new Justice Campus by 2028. This means currently incarcerated people could be relocated to Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail in the meantime, a solution staunchly opposed by many at Friday’s hearing. Santa Rita Jail is notorious for human rights abuses and at the center of several recent lawsuits surrounding inmate deaths, pregnancy miscarriages and sleep deprivation. “This is a horrible plan because it separates people from their families and legal counsel and support groups,” Sheriff Vicki Hennessy said. “Sending some of our folks to Santa Rita is frightening, and the latest reports about the suicides and the deaths there, the lack of programming, the lack of support there — it is just frightening to think that we would send people to that facility.”

SF cuts contracts with antiabortion states BY SHELLEY WANG STAFF REPORTER

Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Vallie Brown announced Oct. 16 that beginning 2020 San Francisco will ban city-funded travel and business with companies based in 22 states that have policies restricting abortions. Approved by the Board of Supervisors in July, the legislation applies to states that restrict abortions before the fetus is able to live outside of the womb, including socalled “fetal heartbeat” laws, according to an Oct. 16 mayoral press release. “I want to be clear that these laws do not just limit women’s freedom — they put people who can get pregnant and their lives at stake,” said Elizabeth Newman, workplace policy and legislative director at the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women, at the Board of Supervisors meeting on July 11. “Anti-abortion laws do not reduce abortion but make them more dangerous.” San Francisco included waivers and exemptions to the law. They include emergency services, sole-source contracts, auctions with no other qualified bidders, and contracts related to public health, safety, bulk purchasing and grant agreements. Since January, state legislators across the country have enacted 60 new abortion restrictions, 26 of which would ban abortion in all or some cases, San Francisco supervisors said at their July 11 meeting. Though city officials have indicated they’re aware that the tax revenue states stand to lose from San Francisco’s ban is not sufficient for them to rethink their laws, they believe that if other cities follow San Francisco’s lead, the cumulative financial pressure could change their policies. San Francisco applied the law to Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

“At a time when reproductive rights are being attacked from Washington and state houses across the country, it is imperative that San Francisco step up and fight back.” - Supervisor Vallie Brown

Hennessy recommended that San Francisco invest in mental health and substance abuse treatment services as well as supportive housing. Her sentiments echoed those of Haney and other supervisors who said the city should focus on alternatives to incarceration that address the racial and economic disparities in the criminal justice system. “Forty-five percent of those held (at 850 Bryant) are African American. Almost 40% are unhoused. Over 30% are in need of mental health care. Twenty-five percent are under 25, and over 90% are being held pre-trial,” Haney said. “These statistics should shock our moral conscience.” The Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal to build a new jail in place of the Hall of Justice in 2015, and instead compelled the city to implement programs that would lower its overall population behind bars. Some of these programs, highlighted in a letter to the Board published in July by the No New Jail Coalition, could include supportive housing, mental health and substance use services, decriminalization of quality of life charges, pretrial process reforms and an increase in hospital treatment beds. “The longer we wait to plan for an effective, smart and safe San Francisco solution to closing this facility, the more constrained our decisions and options are, and the longer we place people in grave danger in this facility,” Haney said. “The time for a plan is now.”

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When complete, a single lane each way will be open to commercial vehicles such as delivery trucks, buses and taxis. Ride-hail vehicles will not be allowed. The center of the street would be reserved for a Muni-only lane in either direction. Sidewalks would be extended to 10 feet wide, with additional 8-foot-wide sidewalk-level bike lanes and added room for sidewalk furniture and buffer zones. “This is not even at the controversy stage anymore, this is what folks want,” Heinicke said. “It’s supported because it’s going to save people’s lives.” The Oct. 15 City Hall meeting drew over 60 public commenters in support of the project, including members of the business community and advocacy groups. Mayor London Breed also indicated her support. “This is one of the best days of my life as a San Franciscan,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco, shortly after the project was approved. Close to 500,000 pedestrians utilize Market Street daily, along with 650 cyclists an hour during peak times, according to the Better Market Street project team. The top five intersections for crashes with injuries in the city are located on the portion of Market Street in question, and threefourths of the accidents with injuries on Market Street involve bicycles or pedestrians, according to the team. Phase one of the project, which will cover between 5th and 8th streets, is scheduled to be completed by 2025. City officials did not provide an overall completion date, citing a lack of secured funding. So far, the city secured roughly $144 million to cover

the first phase, the majority coming from the SFMTA’s Proposition A general obligation bond passed in 2014. Besides redesigning and repaving, the plan will install new water and sewer systems, traffic lights, Muni rails and power lines, as well as relocated transit stops for improved efficiency. It will add more than 200 new loading zones as well as a few one-way or two-way conversions and turn restrictions on cross streets to accommodate the closure to vehicles. F-line streetcars will receive a new turnaround point for added flexibility, looping through McAllister Street and Charles J. Benham Place. Some advocates hope that in addition to making traffic safer, the renovation will improve the struggling Mid-Market area, which continues to grapple with crime, drugs and vacant storefronts despite the recently ended Twitter tax break. “It’s certainly an area of the city that needs revitalization,” said James Sievert, a San Francisco resident who attended the meeting in favor of the project. “If you get people out there walking, and you get pedestrian-friendly businesses, you get street furniture where people can hang out and have their lunch, all sorts of things like that. It’s just going to create this compounding positive effect.” Heinricke and other city officials have stated they wish to give other city streets the car-free treatment as well. “Let’s not wait to see if this will be a success,” Heinicke said. “It will be a success, and let’s start building for the future ones.” A pilot program will be built on the south side of Market Street near Gough Street next spring to test the projects feasibility.

Cyclists ride down Market Street during rush hour traffic Oct. 15. (Photo by Corey Browning / Golden Gate Xpress)

SF Fire Department hosts citywide emergency drills BY CHRIS RAMIREZ CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

3.5 magnitude earthquake struck 3 miles from San Francisco Oct. 5, followed by a magnitude 4.5 earthquake in the Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill area last Monday. On edge from the earthquakes and the recent Pacific Gas and Electric power outages that affected 738,000 premises, people across Northern California are concerned in keeping themselves safe during disasters. The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) has spearheaded a free program that trains people in the basics of preparing for emergencies, a community-based effort called the Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT). Formed following the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, NERT celebrated its 30th anniversary Saturday with a citywide drill at St. Ignatius College Preparatory School for NERT graduates to practice their skills. “[NERT training is] a chance to learn from our firefighters directly, which there’s not really any other area where you can really do that,” SFFD Capt. Erica Arteseros said. “A lot of people say they feel empowered.” Arteseros has coordinated NERT training since 2004 and advocated for making the program more accessible to underserved areas. She has also created a two-hour workshop focused on personal safety for those unable to attend NERT trainings in their entirety. NERT ensures certified individuals are trained for a multitude of emergencies ranging from food safety during power outages and terrorism. The training is especially relevant in San Francisco, where there is a 72% chance of being stricken by a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake any time between 2014 and 2043, according to a U.S. Geological Survey. “When we have earthquakes, people want more earthquake information in the training, and after, for instance, the Boston bombing, people wanted more terrorist training in the information,”Arteseros said. More people sign up after large disasters, she said, noting that she held a class of over 200 people after Hurricane Katrina. To tend to each neighborhood, Arteseros cooperates

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with volunteer neighborhood coordinators such as Jennifer Ringgold, who manages Excelsior’s NERT program and its estimated 200 graduates. She became Excelsior’s NERT coordinator last spring. “I’m just trying to find a place to find a meeting, man,” she said, laughing. New to NERT, Ringgold said she has not yet had a chance to properly engage with Excelsior. She planned on using Saturday’s event to observe how NERT functions and connect with residents to start planning community meetings. Ringgold and Arteseros agreed that it is advantageous to be in the Excelsior in the face of danger, with open areas like McLaren Park and Crocker Amazon Playground. Excelsior also boasts a tight-knit community, with many

nonprofit organizations that seek to aid the neighborhood. “People in this neighborhood have been around for a very long time ... all my neighbors have lived here for 20, 30, 40 years. So there’s a sense of community there that’s already been in position,” Ringgold said. Nonetheless, Excelsior’s Mission Neighborhood Health Clinic manager Antonio Avalos remains pessimistic about the community’s preparedness to disaster. The clinic’s manager of 11 years, who is not NERT certified himself, said he worries for his “viejitos” — eldery clients who may be unable to seek help during an emergency. “I don’t really see that our neighborhood is very organized, or (that) it’s organized to respond to emergencies like that,” he said.

Peter McElmury volunteers at St. Ignatius College Prep High School’s practice field to prepare their simulated disaster situations Saturday, Oct. 19. (Photo by Camille Cohen / Golden Gate Xpress)

10/21/19 10:02 PM

6•ARTS&ENTERTAINMENTTUESDAY, OCT. 22, 2019 | GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG Discover the Filipino Night Market BY BRIANA BATTLE STAFF REPORTER

aint aromas of sizzling sisig, adobo and sweet ube ice cream graced attendees noses as they entered Stevenson Street between 6th and 7th streets. Tables to the left and right showcased a mixture of modern and traditional Filipino clothing, art and jewelry. Smiles, laughter and warm embraces were found at every turn. Walking into Undiscovered SF, you can feel the community known as SoMa Pilipinas. Undiscovered SF is a night market held in the SoMa for the past three years with the goal of helping grow small businesses in the Filipino community. The event was held in the parking lot near the brightly colored “UNDSCVRD” pop-up basketball court, which opened last month. The area surrounding the main stage became crowded around the time that rapper Bettina Francisco’s set started. Francisco first performed at Undiscovered when the event was

just starting out. She moved to San Francisco from San Jose to go to school at University of San Francisco. She began working at West Bay, a community center in the SoMa, where she became involved in the neighborhood’s Filipino community. According to Francisco, while the event is important, it could do a better job of educating people on the history of the community. She says that a lot of people go to the event without knowing the significance of the area. “I just try to create a space of just love and feeling love and exchanging love with other people.” Francisco said about what she was most excited for. Following Francisco’s set was a dance performance by the Westlake School of Performing Arts. The students performed a freeform dance routine to a poem about the struggles of being Filipino-American. They also performed a routine to a song by H.E.R., a black and Filipino sing-

‘Addams Family’ surprises

er from Vallejo. Rocky G, an SF State alumnus, rapper and saxophonist performed next. After Rocky came DJ Umami, one of the DJs for the Golden State Warriors. Her set gathered a large crowd as well, as she played Bay Area hits such as Thizzle Dance by Mac Dre. Umami said her favorite part of the event is the food. “Getting that elevated authentic Filipino food is probably my favorite part,” Umami said. “And then of course there’s like cool vendors and stuff but the food is what I’m excited the most about.” Pia Barton, owner of Malaya Botanicals is part of Undiscovered’s seed program, which intends to help small businesses in the community grow. According to Barton, Undiscovered picks six small businesses in the community and gives them free marketing and accounting consultation for seven months. Barton, an SF State alumna, sells CBD infused body care

products. She said her favorite part of being a vendor at the event is people who have already purchased her products in the past coming and telling her how much the products are helping them. Tilted Brim, a shop that sells men’s streetwear, was another vendor at the event. Owner Justin Bautista, also an SF State alumnus, said Undiscovered is important because it celebrates what’s going on in the community. “I really like the diversity of everyone they’re able to attract, the energy, and the positivity of the whole experience.” Bautista said. Tilted Brim has been a vendor at Undiscovered every year since the store opened three years ago. Karen Posadas has been a vendor at Undiscovered for the past three years. Her business, Kare and Passion, sell handmade soaps, body scrubs, and bath bombs, as well as other body care products. According to Posadas, creating her own bath products started as a hobby that she loved doing, and

she eventually decided to share that passion with others and began selling her products. One of the event’s attendees, Christopher Chase, said he went because his girlfriend is Filipino and he wanted to know more about her culture. He said his favorite part was the food, and he ended up liking all of the new things he tried. “Her family is always trying to introduce me to new foods and experiences,” Chase said. “At Undiscovered SF I thought it would be a good chance to see the Filipino culture for what it truly is.” SF State student Renz Andales, one of the program’s volunteer teachers, was one of the students running the kid’s corner. Children could either color a story book or make clothing pin babaylans, which according to Andales, were women in the pre-colonial Philippines that acted as a healers and warriors. Contributor: Felicia Hyde, staff reporter.

Outer Sunset: The Final Frontier

BY ALONDRA GALLARDO STAFF REPORTER

s a 90s kid, I grew up watching the 1991 film version of the Addams Family nonstop. It was pretty much the only thing that would entertain me and keep me from bouncing off the walls. My cousins and family compared me to Christina Ricci’s character “Wednesday Addams.” When Ricci and the rest of the cast reunited in 1993 for the “Addams Family Values” sequel, I loved it. So I was surprised to hear that the film was remade again, especially as a fully animated movie. The thought of replacing the unique Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams as an animated character seemed out of the question. The thought of having her dark style and humor through her deadpan expression replaced by a cartoon felt unimaginable. But, I applaud this new animated film, directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan. The new Addams Family movie, which was released Oct. 11, is still just as creepy and kooky as the previous film and television adaptations. The movie’s ghoulish cartoon characters fit the season, whether your Halloween style is spooky or sweet. The film being cartoon made me iffy about wanting to give it a chance but it is safe to say it is compelling while still remaining mysterious. Though I do not believe the original can be topped, the animations are exaggeratedly sculpted to fit the Charles Addams ghostly vibes of the original characters and the bizarre, dark humor does not go unnoticed. Throughout the film, Gomez tries to teach Pugsely how to be a “man.” Morticia wants Wednesday to become more like her after noticing she makes a new friend that is not necessarily like them, leading her to worry that Wednesday would change. Eventually the plot leads up to an event ceremony that brings the family together. The additional new characters along with the originals overall form a favorable storyline. The animated Addams cast is full of life, featuring Snoop Dogg, Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things and Chloe Grace Moretz.

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BY LANCE TISUELA STAFF REPORTER

Locals gather at the Sunset Rebel Base to play pool, ping-pong, and jam out while surrounded 70’s pop culture memorabilia. Hosted by James Kirk, owner of the Rebel Base, on Oct. 19. (Photo by William Wendelman / Golden Gate Xpress)

ay Area native James Kirk sits on the bridge of his Starship Enterprise, inside his rebel base two blocks away from Ocean Beach, which is adorned with relics of his childhood growing up in San Francisco. A rebel alliance flag flaps in the driveway. A Batmobile replica is parked out front. “Surf Rock” from the 1950s blares down the street. Kirk considers his house a community center, museum and amusement park. Kirk strives to recreate the Sunset District he grew up knowing. He remembers the Sunset District being a place with landmarks like Playland at the beach, a defunct amusement park. His home is a tribute to pop culture and old San Francisco. It’s fixtures include a replica of the Starship Enterprise, as well as a room that has been transformed into the bridge of the ship. There are handmade replicas of the Murphy Windmill which stands in Golden Gate Park, and the Adolph Sutro Cliff House. “When I grew up in the sunset, we had a lot of open doors. A lot of people were into going to the movies and playing music, really interacting with one another. It’s something that I’m trying to keep alive here with the house,” Kirk said. Kirk lives in the Outer Sunset District of San Francisco. He shares his name with Captain James T. Kirk, the main character of Star Trek played by William Shatner, but was not named after him. Kirk’s plan to unify his neighborhood is working. The home is open to the public. Neighbors stop by to hang out, those with chil-

dren play kickball outside. The bases are outlined in white paint on the asphalt and home plate sits at the end of Kirk’s driveway. Tina Khamphakdy, who lives two doors down, believes that Kirk’s addition to the community has increased neighborhood interaction. “I think it’s cool, it’s really creative and he works really hard on it,” Khamphakdy said. His backyard contains a shaded seating area with a fire pit and an oversized ping pong table. The indoors area is scattered with musical instruments and a pool table. Over the summer Kirk hosted a miniature golf tournament that spanned the inside of his home. He hand built the obstacles for each hole. “It really does appeal to all ages, the kids love it, the adults love it. Adults feel like they’re a teenager again,” Kirk said. “It’s a place where people can actually interact with each other and physically pick up a guitar or play ping pong or learn how to build stuff with their hands.” An influx of guests stop by to check out his home on weekends. People learn about his home through word of mouth or accidentally on foot. From the sidewalk Kirk’s space draws the attention of most pedestrians. There is an abundance of lights and the sound of rock music draws looks of curiosity from people passing by. Justin Martinez is a graduating senior from SF State. Martinez lives across the street and regularly visits Kirk’s house to hang out. “Sometimes there’s too many people

here, and I’m like ‘hey man I’m gonna head home,’” Martinez laughed. “I first recognized this place from the ‘open’ sign. I was looking outside the window from my home.” Kirk enjoys the company of his guests, for the most part. He has mentioned having to ask people to leave if he doesn’t feel they respect the space. “The house tends to attract a really amazing crowd of artists and musicians. There’s also a lot of fun stuff to do,” Kirk said. While many of his neighbors enjoy the space, not all do. Kirk said that some neighbors are not fans of his community center. “To be honest I think there are some neighbors that do have a problem with the noise. For me normally I don’t hear it as much because I live in an in-law,” Khamphakdy said. Kirk wants to give Sunset residents the opportunity to experience the neighborhood he grew up in. “Rebel Base comes from Star Wars,” Kirk said. The rebels are fighting against the evil empire which is like government and big business. The rebel base signifies freedom from real takeover of power. It’s a parallel to that.” The rebel base gives guests the opportunity to go back in time, a reality before the age of social media. The rebel base is also inspired by the music Kirk grew up listening to. He says he learned a lot from 70’s icons like Jim Morrison and Ozzy Osbourne, people who taught him to “break away from the norm.”

10/21/19 9:50 PM

SPORTS•7

GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG | TUESDAY, OCT. 22, 2019

Staff season predictions for National Basketball Association BY ROBERT JUAREZ SPORTS EDITOR

The upcoming NBA season is going to be long, and anything can happen with the league being an even playing field. There is no clear cut favorite for the first time in a long time. However, I actually already know the Finals matchup without seeing any substantial competition. When the ball goes up June 4, the battle for this year’s Finals trophy will be between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles … which one … wait for it … The Los Angeles Lakers. The combination of Lebron James and Anthony Davis, and Rajon Rondo distributing the rock will be a tough matchup for any team in the league and it is going to carry them all the way to the final dance. The 76ers will finally stay healthy, specifically Joel Embiid, and the 3-pointer heard around the world last Tuesday by Ben Simmons was a tease of what’s to come when he becomes a multi-faceted playmaker. A healthy Embiid and dynamic Simmons will set them up for a date against the Lebronthony Lakers. At the end of it, there will be a Larry O’Brien trophy being held up high by the four-time champion Lebron James as he brings a title back to the lost and now found Lakers organization. BY JESSE GOMEZ STAFF REPORTER

Out of the West, I see the Denver Nuggets coming of age and making their mark in the overhauled NBA. The Nuggets have a serious candidate for MVP at the center position in Nikola Jokic. Head coach Mike Malone is entering his fifth season at the helm and managed to improve his win total each year. Accompanied by budding superstar Jamal Murray, the Nuggets will continue to get better and find themselves in the Finals for the first time in franchise history. In the East, it’s a three-team race. The Bucks, Sixers and Pacers all have real shots at pushing through. After seeing the Sixers fall short because of bad shooting and timely offensive woes, I see the Pacers staying healthy and putting it all together at the right time. Oladipo is a legit NBA superstar and if he stays healthy, this team can get on a roll. The addition of Malcolm Brogdon from the Bucks should be enough to put them in a prime spot to take the reigns in the east. Itt will be a refreshing look for the NBA Finals. I see the Nuggets getting it done with coaching, big plays from its big man and taking advantage of the biggest home court advantage in the NBA. Denver wins the NBA Finals over Indiana.

BY ALONSO FRIAS STAFF REPORTER

The Lakers have the best player of the generation, Lebron James. James, alongside newly signed Anthony Davis, will put on a show game in and game out. James will be completely healthy for this upcoming season after only playing 55 games last year and will do all it takes to win a fourth ring. The Milwaukee Bucks will have an easy regular season as their closest competitors will be a Philadelphia 76ers team without Jimmy Butler, a Boston Celtics squad in shambles without Kyrie Irving and Al Horford and the Kevin Durant-less Brooklyn Nets. It’s also important to see how well the Raptors can play without Kawhi Leonard and if they can still succeed in the East. The Bucks will have reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton leading the offense. The star-studded Lakers will have a harder time against their home-town rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers, in the Western Conference Finals compared to a series against the Bucks and will be too much for Antetokounmpo to handle in the NBA Finals. The Lakers will take the title home in five games.

BY FRANK SUMRALL MANAGING EDITOR

With Warriors GM Bob Myers having his eyes on the horizon of Greece to land the next big free agent and the Utah Jazz shocking the world with a third seed finish just to lose in the second round, the NBA world is left with the Los Angeles Lakers in a brutal seven-game series against their Staples Center roommate, the Clippers, in the NBA Finals … or what should be the NBA Finals. The Clippers are great with some of the most intense defenders on the planet, but where’s the offense facilitating from? Paul George and Kawhi Leonard combined for under six assists a night. The last 10 league champions averaged 24.3 assists per game with an average ranking of 9.2 out of 30 teams. The Clippers ranked 18th last year and their newly tooled 12-man roster combined for a total of 19.9 assists per game. The 17-win New York Knicks averaged 20.1 dimes last year. With his royal highness King James and his new toy, Anthony Davis, the Lakers will dine with the league’s greatest and come out on top as kings of the NBA realm, gifting “the chosen one” his fourth career title. One last title is destined for LeBron by his divine right before the league inevitably passes over him and his nearly two-decade tour de force career.

BY JIMMY DEROGATIS SPORTS EDITOR

The NBA season tips off on Tuesday night, and out of the 30 teams in the NBA, probably around 10 have legitimate championship aspirations. The world did not predict the Toronto Raptors would win the NBA championship last season, but we all were witnesses to just how valuable a player Kawhi Leonard is. This is why the Los Angeles Clippers are the current favorites to win the 2020 NBA championship. Who will win the finals this year: The Golden State Warriors will rise from the ground once again to claim another championship, furthering their dynasty across the Bay in San Francisco. Coupling Curry with D’Angelo Russell in the backcourt will certainly create extremely huge matchup problems for opposing defenses, and the shots that went to Durant and Thompson will now go to Curry to rain down his relentless 3-point shooting attack. Curry will come out with a fire under his belly for the start of this season. Hearing all the NBA experts and analysts saying the Warriors are not a threat to seriously contend this year, the hot hand of Steph Curry will drain yet another record-shattering shooting season. Many have written off the Warriors, stating that the dynasty is over, but with the talents of the baby-faced assassin who has been the best player in the league over the past six seasons, I can put nothing past this team. Splash!

BY DIEGO FELIX STAFF REPORTER

The Los Angeles Lakers will represent the Western Conference while the Milwaukee Bucks will represent the Eastern Conference. The Bucks fell short in last season’s Eastern Conference finals losing to the eventual champion Toronto Raptors. The Raptors won’t have Kawhi Leonard since he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in the offseason, making the Raptors not much of a challenge to deal with. Giannis Antetokounmpo hasn’t reached his full potential, he can only help his team by getting better. They call him the “Greek Freak” for a reason. The reigning MVP helped his team reach the best record in the league at 60-22. The final result: The Lakers beat the Bucks to become the 2020 NBA Champions. Why? The Lakers starting lineup will have Lebron James and Anthony Davis, who will be surrounded by talented veterans such as Danny Green, JaVale McGee and Avery Bradley. They have as much top-end talent as any team in the league. With arguably the best player in the league in Lebron James and the trade for Anthony Davis, the Lakers have made a lot of high profile moves in the offseason which indicates they’re in a win-now mentality.

Late goal surges Gators to fifth seed BY JESSE GOMEZ STAFF REPORTER

he Gators pour on the pressure in the second half to beat the visiting Cal State East Bay Pioneers 2-1 on Sunday afternoon — capping off a perfect weekend on their home field. The win improves the Gators (8-3/52 CCAA) to 3-1 at home, firmly in the playoff picture as the final few regular season games approach and marks the sixth consecutive win over East Bay, dating back to 2014. Benefiting from a free kick in the 11th minute, the last place Pioneers got on the board with a header in the near post from Tommy Flora. That would be the only shot on goal that got behind SF State goalie Peter Swinkel—he closed out the day with two saves on three shots on goal. Despite the low volume of shots on goal, the winless Pioneers went into half with a 1-0 lead at Cox stadium. “We all grouped together at half, our Midfielder, Crinan Dunber (13), celebrates as the SF State Gators win in the final seconds against captains did a great job motivating us,’’ Cal State East Bay Pioneers. The teams faced off on Sunday, Oct. 20 at Cox Stadium. (Photo by William Wendelman / Golden Gate Xpress) The Gators hit the road to face Cal State San Bernardino on said Freshman Center Forward London Lombana. “We knew we were coming Friday, Oct. 25 at 3 p.m.

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out of this game with the win.” The Gators came out of the intermission with intense pressure on the offensive side of the pitch — putting up a season-high 15 shots total. Ten of those shots coming in the final 45 minutes. Finally breaking through in the 63rd minute was midfielder Crinan Dunbar who cleaned up a blocked shot on goal with an emphatic attempt of his own from outside the box. The equalizer was Dunbar’s first score on the year. The Pioneers continued to bend but not break as the game looked destined for over time leading into the final minute of regulation. Lombana had other plans as he received a cross from teammate Julio Ponce Gonzales and finished off the score with a header in the near post for his third goal of the season. “He is one of the best finishers on our team,” said coach Pedro Osorio. “If he gets the ball on his head, foot or chest inside the box it’s going in.” The Gators will ride this momentum into a difficult four-game stretch that will pit them against three teams leading in the rankings.

10/21/19 9:50 PM

8•OPINION

TUESDAY, OCT. 22 2019 | GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

THE ABORTION PILL EASY TO SWALLLOW FOR SOME MORE THAN OTHERS GOLDEN Abortion pills on campus: A Pro vs. Con debate

BY ARIANNE ARCIAGA & ANDREW R. LEAL STAFF REPORTERS

ov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 24 or the College Student Right to Access Act which will require public colleges to give students the ability to access abortion medication on Oct. 11. The expansion law will go into effect in 2023. UCs and CSUs in California already provide contraceptive and sexual health services on campus, but Newsom’s new law will provide even more birth control coverage to California college students. Pro: This law is a good thing and it makes sense. Abortion pills are necessary when other contraceptives fall short. Con: Newsom was wrong to sign SB 24 into law. The abortion pill law is an overreach by the California state government to impose more power to colleges and universities in the name of healthcare access when there are plenty of facilities already.

Accessibility

Pro: “Access to safe, holistic and accessible sexual and reproductive health care is essential to everyone’s health and wellness,” said Karen Boyce, director of Health Promotion & Wellness. “Providing as many of these sexual and reproductive health services as possible here on campus has been a long SF State commitment.” Students should be able to have quick and easy access to obtaining abortion pills. In 2015, women between ages 15 and 44 have the most abortions. For every 1,000 live births, there were 188 abortions according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are more than 400,000 women enrolled in colleges in California, according to the Associated Press. “I believe it’s hard to obtain one (abortion pill) outside of campus,” said Aleksandra Serebrina, secretary of the Political Science Student Association. “If the abortion pill were to be available on campus students won’t need to go into the city to get one - that would allow them to study or work more.” Last year, former California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill, arguing that it was not necessary to have abortion medication on campus because abortion services were available off campus. According to a study by the Journal of Adolescent Health, about 62% of students live 30 minutes away from the nearest abortion facility. At SF State, the closest abortion facility is 20 minutes away.

Con: There are 110 Planned Parenthood clinics in California spread across the state, with location information on their website. And that number is about a fifth of the 512 facilities that provide abortion access to women in the state, according to the Guttmacher Institute. About 152 makeup actual clinics. In 2017, there were 132,680 abortions administered to women in the state by the Guttmacher Institute numbers and that figure is down from 2014 by 16%. While there was a 6% increase in clinics in California. The numbers show abortions are down even when access increases so SB 24 doesn’t look like it will do much good. And Newsom signed the bill not just to provide access because there was a lack in access but as a political response to other states restricting abortions. “As other states and the federal government go backward, restricting reproductive freedom, in California we are moving forward.” Newsom’s predecessor, Jerry Brown, recognized the unnecessary actions SB 24 gives to the state and colleges and he vetoed identical legislation last year.

Expense

Pro: Medication for an abortion costs $350 to $950, depending on where you get it and your health insurance, according to Planned Parenthood. In an article reported by the Golden Gate Xpress Roger Elrod, director of Student Health Services at SF State said that students who may need to get abortion medication won’t need to pay for it out-of-pocket. “Having an abortion pill on campus allows for students to have an easy and accessible resource,” says Angeline Noguera, pre-nursing SF State student. “Some students may not have the insurance or the finances to go to certain hospitals or they may not have the ability to travel to a planned parenthood.” Con: SB 24 requires that, “a total of at least $10,290,000 in private moneys is made available to the fund in a timely manner on or after Jan. 1, 2020,” according to the text of the bill. Newsom’s own Department of Finance were not optimistic about that fund being fully attained and opposed the bill. A combination of private funds mostly split between the Women’s Foundation of California and the Tara Health Foundation supposedly will front the cash but they have not offered concrete assurances. As of this opinion, there is no guarantee of payment which comes due soon.

The abortion pills themselves cost between $300 to $800 on there own but, in California Medicaid covers it and private plans require the medication to be covered as well. And the Affordable Care Act mandates plans and insurance providers to offer dependent coverage up until the age of 26. Typically, the age range for undergrads is 18 to 22 based on a four year degree pathway, so there is coverage built in for students who live under their parents’ plan.

Open up the conversation

Pro: Now that abortion medication will be accessible on campus, this can be an opportunity to open up more conversations on abortion to campus. SB 24 allows college campuses to be more educated on what is abortion and its consequences. “This new bill and how it contrasts with the attacks on access to sexual health care around the country will have a lot of people talking about abortion and healthcare as a human right,” Boyce said. When we don’t openly talk about abortion or when we shame women for wanting to have one, it may cause women to turn to receiving unsafe abortions. If women want an abortion, she should have one and she should not be shamed for wanting one. No person should feel pressured into becoming a parent especially when they are not ready. The talk around abortion is very active throughout the past few years and is still a major topic discussed by states such as Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Other states have banned abortions while others made abortion legal. Con: There should be no censoring of conversation pertaining to abortion access on college campuses, as per the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. The problem is the state of California is expanding their reach into the colleges and universities. The true way for the abortion pill conversation to be open is to make it a ballot issue and let the voters decide like they have done for a plethora of issues in the past. A majority support for abortion itself is a divisive issue in the super majority democratic controlled state with just 57% of Californians who say abortion should be legal in all or most cases with 5% undecided. A proposition on the 2020 ballot should put to the test whether the abortion pills or abortions in general are welcome in the Golden State.

GATE XPRESS

EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Carly Wipf cwipf@mail.sfsu.edu PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Frank Sumrall fsumrall@mail.sfsu.edu ONLINE MANAGING AND SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Sahar Swaleh sswaleh@mail.sfsu.edu ART DIRECTOR Paisley Trent ptrent@mail.sfsu.edu CITY NEWS EDITOR David Mamaril Horowitz dhorowitz@mail.sfsu.edu CAMPUS NEWS EDITORS MJ Johnson mjohnson23@mail.sfsu.edu Paisley Trent ptrent@mail.sfsu.edu OPINION EDITOR Andrew R. Leal aleal@mail.sfsu.edu SPORTS EDITORS Jimmy DeRogatis jderogatis@mail.sfsu.edu Robert Juarez rjuarez1@mail.sfsu.edu PHOTO EDITOR William Wendelman wwendelman@mail.sfsu.edu

XPRESS ADVISERS PRINT ADVISER Gary Moskowitz gmoskowitz@sfsu.edu MULTIMEDIA ADVISER Sachi Cunningham sachic@sfsu.edu PHOTO ADVISER Kim Komenich komenich@sfsu.edu

@ggxnews @ggxnews Our website, goldengatexpress.org is temporarily down. Staff is working to resolve the issue.

Newsom hits snooze on school start times BY DIEGO FELIX STAFF REPORTER

ov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 328 into law on Oct.13, making California the first state in the country to require later class times for middle and high school students. Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, the earliest start time for middle schools will be 8 a.m. while high schools can start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. SB 328 will not apply to rural or private schools. The San Francisco Unified School District didn’t take a position on the bill. Fifteen high schools in the district currently start before 8:30 a.m. Newsom made the right call to sign SB 328, it will be a law that benefits middle school and high school students in their educational careers. Supporters of the bill pointed to studies that found that moving the school day later was followed by increased attendance, graduation rates and improved grades. The American Association of Pediatrics said

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that teens naturally have difficulty falling asleep before 11 p.m. and need eight to nine hours of sleep a night. Teenagers should get eight to 10 hours of sleep, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The California School Boards Association expressed disappointment by saying the new law fails to respect parental decisions or consider the needs of local communities. Most high schools start around 8 a.m. or earlier, having that extra 30 minutes or more would be beneficial for the student not only sleep wise, but getting to school on time. There are students who don’t have the opportunity to live around or much less be in the same city as their school. The extra time would benefit the student arriving on time to school. Some students come in 10 or 15 minutes late to class every day and sometimes it’s due to traffic or living far away. Some parents comment that their child doesn’t eat breakfast and it’s due to stu-

dents already rushing trying to get to school. If they had that extra time, students would eat breakfast and be ready to learn. “Waking up early 5 days a week to go to school, I sometimes don’t have time to eat but if school started at 8:30 a.m. it would help me have time to eat,” said Albaro Sotelo, a student at College Park High School. Sotelo said it takes around an hour to get to school from his house in the morning. It would be beneficial for him if school started later so he wouldn’t have to worry about being late. Parents don’t want to hear complaints from teachers saying that their kid keeps falling asleep in class. Especially hearing excuse, “I didn’t have time to eat.” Students wouldn’t be embarrassed anymore to come to class late, having everyone in the room look at them and interrupt the professor giving a lecture. Tardiness would go down and students would avoid the walk of shame into the office and getting a tardy slip. Florence Ezekwem, a mother of three, disagreed on the decision of high school

starting at 8:30 a.m. She said some kids need more time in school to develop their brains, so that extra time could be used in educating kids. “I don’t think it’s right that schools are being forced to change what time they start, that should be left to the school district.” “If experts are worried about kids not getting enough sleep, then maybe parents need to be stricter on their kids on going to bed early and make sure they don’t leave the house until eating breakfast,” said Ezekwem. However, teachers and administrators are saying the government has no right to intervene in the school change and that decision should be left to the school district or community. Their argument is that by changing school times, it would make it more difficult to add extracurricular activities, renegotiate teacher contracts and give parents time in getting their children to school.

10/21/19 9:50 PM