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THE PIONEER Covering the East Bay community since 1961
California State University, East Bay
News, Art, & Culture for the East Bay
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THURSDAY JULY 20, 2017
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Summer 2017 Issue 5
Cuba opens American eyes Pioneer updates on America's president
SEE OPINION PAGE 2
What happened? President Donald Trump met privately with Russian leader Vladimir Putin a second time on July 7 at the G20 Summit, an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies, in Hamburg, Germany.
INTERNSHIP PROVIDES PRICELESS EXPERIENCE
SEE OPINION PAGE 3
EAST BAY STUDENTS STUDY ABROAD IN CUBA
PHOTO BY REBECCA ESPARZA/THE PIONEER
SEE FEATURES PAGE 4
DOG TEACHES STUDENT ABOUT LIFE PERSPECTIVE
The view of a worn down building in Old Havana, Cuba where Cal State East Bay students studied abroad.
Trip out of the country provides revelations By Kali Persall MANAGING EDITOR
SEE NEWS PAGE 6
MEDIA AFFECTED BY PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP
The warm water, palm trees and crystal-white sand of the Santa Maria beach were everything I pictured when I used to think of Cuba, a picturesque island in the Caribbean. However, over the past four days, my rosy tourist per-
spective has disintegrated as my eyes open to the real Cuba, a very different picture than travel agencies sell to Americans. The beaches do glitter with the promised tropical, soft white sand, but they’re also littered with garbage. Beer and soda cans bob on the balmy waves and children play with glass bottles like toy boats in the surf. Candy wrappers and diapers poke out of the sand, and I worry more about stepping on broken glass than sea life. While garbage may seem to be a side effect of such a populated destination
point as the beach, the ocean isn’t the only thing impacted by Cuban waste. Litter lines the concrete Malecon, the sea wall that separates the city from the ocean, and in rural towns outside the city of Havana, trash propagates almost as abundantly as vegetation. Potholes on the sidewalks of the city function like makeshift garbage receptacles and soda cans cap the ends of tree branches that shade the sidewalks. As progressive as Cubans are in some aspects, when it comes to their waste,
SEE CUBA PAGE 3
Interim Hayward top cop named permanent police chief By George Kelly EAST BAY TIMES The police department's interim chief has been named as its permanent chief, the city manager said Monday. Mark Koller, 54, will serve as the city's 14th police chief, and has shown the qualities necessary to lead the department forward, city manager Kelly McAdoo said in a statement. "Mark has earned the confidence and admiration of his colleagues within HPD, across city government and in the community at large by being approachable, forthright and honest, being adaptable, open to change and ready to confront new challenges," McAdoo said, thanking city officials and residents and police staff who participated in the nationwide search. "I believe whole-heartedly that we have, in Chief Koller, the best possible person for the job and the best person to lead the department for years to come." Born in Hayward, Koller became a Newark police Explorer at 14 and cadet at 18, and joined the Hayward department in 1981. After serving as a jailer and earning selection as a crime scene technician, he became an officer in
1984, working as a narcotics and childabuse investigator and a member of the department's special-response SWAT team. In 1995, Koller earned promotion to inspector, serving as a general crimes, burglary and homicide investigator, and continued to rise through department ranks. Koller, whose father David is a retired Hayward police inspector, said he looked forward to continuing a tradition of community service. "This is the highest honor to have an opportunity to give back to this community, a city that is so much a part of me, and to lead a department which my father has also served and which I have served throughout my entire adult career," he said. Koller holds a bachelor's degree from California State University, Long Beach, and graduated from the FBI National Academy, the Los Angeles Leadership Program,the Police Executive Research Forum Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP) and the Local Government Leadership Academy of Alameda County. He was appointed acting chief in the wake of Chief Diane Stuart's August 2016 retirement, and named interim chief last December.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF HAYWARD
Mark Koller was named the Chief of the Hayward Police Department on Monday after serving as the interim chief since last year.
“This is the highest honor to have an opportunity to give back to this community, a city that is so much a part of me, and to lead a department which my father also served and which I have served throughout my entire adult career.” —Mark Koller, Hayward Police Department Chief
Hours into the annual summit, Trump made his way over to Putin and the two had a conversation, according to The New York Times. The White House confirmed the report and on Tuesday, they also verified that Trump met with Putin at a dinner with translators, for “nearly an hour” the same day. According to multiple statements from the White House last week, Trump and Putin discussed several things, including the possible interference in the U.S. 2016 presidential election, something Putin has denied publicly. The meetings were highly scrutinized by several publications, since there has been mentions of collusion between Trump and Putin, according to The New York Times. Trump took to Twitter, one of his preferred method of communications on Tuesday, writing, “Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!” In a statement following the summit Trump said that in his first meeting with Putin, he asked twice about his role in the 2016 presidential election. According to Trump’s statement, Putin denied involvement twice and the two agreed to drop the issue. Trump went even further on Twitter on Tuesday when he said, “Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is ‘sick.’ All G 20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!” Several media outlets reported about an originally “undisclosed” conversation between the two leaders at the G20 dinner, but at the time of publication it was unclear if any news outlet referred to the meeting as “private.” According to The New York Times, there is no official United States government record of the intimate dinner conversation, because no American official other than the president was involved. Everything the White House and Trump himself mentioned about the two meetings were in response to questions and or inquiries. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the meeting was shorter than an hour and, “It was pleasantries and small talk.” In another White House press statement last week it said Trump and Putin spoke through the Kremlin’s interpreter because the American translator didn’t speak Russian. The meeting came on the heels of a potential tie between Trump and Moscow highlighted by allegations that his son, Donald Trump Jr., attended a meeting with a lawyer who has ties to Russia and promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton, according to The New York Times.
By Louis LaVenture Editor-in-Chief
2 OPINION
THURSDAY JULY 20, 2017
THE PIONEER
My internship with the Los Angeles Sparks
EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
WNBA team provides priceless experience
Louis LaVenture louis.laventure@csueastbay.edu
MANAGING EDITOR
Kali Persall
kali.persall@csueastbay.edu
By Marissa Marshall
ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR
Casey Peuser
STAFF WRITER
casey.peuser@csueastbay.edu
I’ve worked with the Los Angeles Sparks as a game operations and entertainment intern for about a month and half and it’s been fantastic. Everyday I learn about the execution process of halftime entertainment, camera cues for broadcasts, gameday operations and so much more. But recently the Editor-in-Chief at this publication brought to my attention that what I was learning could translate to my time at East Bay when I return. With that thought on my mind, I took time to implement that idea and see how the teachings I’ve grasped from my internship could carry over to my studies at CSUEB. The Sparks games are filled with broadcasting and two-person interviews, which is great to see because my personal goal is to be a sports broadcaster. This ignited my interest to bring this to East Bay and conduct video interviews with the athletes and coaches following the sports games I cover. East Bay’s athletics program does not get the recognition it deserves. Giving them more digital exposure, allowing outsiders to see visuals and understand players through their own voice. Hearing players thoughts on video is much more intriguing than just quotes in a story and could even draw more people to come to the sparsely attended games. Without the media that covers them, the Sparks would not be a recognizable team, or any other WNBA team for that matter since women’s basketball is not a force in the sports industry. Their media appearances and constant social and digital media exposure enables the team and players to stay relevant and keep people interested in their league. As a sports writer, I never record videos of my interviews. But by doing this, it could create new fans and establish digital and social media exposure of teams and athletes at East Bay with my own spin on it. I’ve also learned that having a DJ at the game keeps the crowd excited and engaged in the game, even during breaks. It creates a fun, party atmosphere that makes the fan experience that much better. The Sparks have a house DJ at all home games,
SPANISH EDITOR
Daisy Ortiz daisy.ortiz@csueastbay.edu
STAFF WRITERS
Marissa Marshall marissa.marshall@csueastbay.edu
ILLUSTRATOR
Dina Arakcheyeva dina.arakcheyeva@csueastbay.edu
PHOTO EDITOR
Kedar Dutt kedar.dutt@csueastbay.edu
EDITORIAL PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Marina Swanson marina.swanson@csueastbay.edu PHOTO COURTESY OF TNS/LA TIMES
The Los Angeles Sparks walk off the court during a timeout at The Staples Center in Los Angeles.
FACULTY ADVISOR
Nolan Higdon nolan.higdon@csueastbay.edu
FACULTY COORDINATOR
“Everyday I learn so much; like the execution process of halftime entertainment, camera cues for broadcasts, gameday operations and so much more.”
Dr. Katherine Bell kate.bell@csueastbay.edu
Questions? Comments? Contact us! t. 510.885.3175 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd. CSUEB - MI 1076 Hayward, CA 94542 pioneernewspaper@csueastbay.edu
PRODUCTION STAFF FACULTY PRODUCTION MANAGER
DJ Mallski, who plays music and hypes up the crowd with dance battles and sing-alongs. Crowd participation is key. This is something I can’t do myself, but it is something I have seen the Sparks do that makes the game a total experience. I think it’s important to enhance school spirit and
make sporting events fun, it’s an important part of the college experience and culture. The East Bay athletic culture needs a change that makes students want to come to the games. I hope that some of the things I’ve learned through my internship can translate here to CSUEB; that would be a great legacy to leave.
Eric Ronning LAYOUT DESIGNER
Veronica Hall
ADVERTISING STAFF SALES EXECUTIVES
Anthony Slewoo Daniel Aziz Jocelyn Manfut Grace Martinez ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
Catherine Cyr GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Ryan Vu Advertising Contact t. 510.885.3526 f. 510.885.2584 pioneer.advertising@csueastbay.edu Funding for The Pioneer comes, in part, from the Academic Access, Enhancement and Excellence (A2E2) Fee.
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OPINION 3
THURSDAY JULY 20, 2017
THE PIONEER Cuba From Page 1 they lack in environmental consciousness. It seems like their actions are in response to their poor living conditions, void of luxury and personal autonomy; most of their day-to-day lives are controlled by the state. Government rations are sparse and Cubans can’t own their own property. They are paid around 30 CUC per month, equivalent to $30 in the U.S. Today in Old Havana, I dropped 1 CUC on the ground and had to step on it to stop three different kids from quickly swooping down and taking it. Our tour guide confirmed that in Havana, entire families live in crumbling, dilapidated buildings that once belonged to Cuba’s elite, who vacated during the revolution. They are passed down from generation to generation and would be deemed uninhabitable in the U.S. Cuba is impoverished, but poverty does not guarantee squalor. I believe that Cubans’ attitudes toward managing their waste speaks volumes about the way they view themselves, their culture and their leaders. Perhaps they are simply uninformed about things like carbon footprints; however, I believe that their lackadaisical attitude regarding waste is intentional. In a country where food is rationed and property is owned by the government, blatantly not adhering to minimal state policies could be interpreted as a subtle act of defiance, a way to regain control of their autonomy. In America we have litter and landfills—entire islands of floating trash—
PHOTO BY KALI PERSALL/THE PIONEER
A Havana, Cuba resident flexes his muscles while smoking a cigar in a doorway earlier this month. Cal State East Bay students visited the country on a study abroad trip earlier this summer quarter. however, I believe U.S. waste is largely due to a mixture of carelessness, privilege and luxury. With a system of capitalism, we have too many goods and a disposable, “if you break it, buy a new one” mentality. In Cuba, their waste disposal hints at an undercurrent of repression and poverty.
While Cuba is advertised as a tourist’s paradise, the residents of the city know a different Cuba. A paradox exists, symbolically portrayed by Cuba’s picturesque beaches, marred by the ugly aftermath of gluttony and ignorance. Cuba debatably progressed in numer-
ous ways under Fidel Castro; however, there are many things about the lifestyle that make visitors like myself, who are used to a more luxurious lifestyle, uncomfortable. When we finally realize that the true Cuba doesn’t quite stack up to the Cuba of our dreams, we are able to simply
leave and choose not to see the ugly truth lurking just below the surface. But Cubans will wake up tomorrow and the candy wrappers, used condoms and beer bottles will still be there. And they will keep adding and adding to the piles because nobody is organizing any beach cleanups anytime soon.
Cuban neighborhood has familiar feel for me Study abroad trip reminds student of home By Rebecca Esparza CONTRIBUTOR My tour guide decided to take me to an area that had a bit more “poverty” or more poor houses, also known as “the projects.” The first thing I noticed was the graffiti, which was very similar to back home. I admired the kids from the block playing together. That’s what I used to do during the summer. They all looked so innocent and happy, laughing with each other and having no worries, even though they were all on the sidewalk. There was no playground near or any toys around. A lot of the apartments looked the same, poor or poorer. Usually neighborhoods are separated rich from poor and middle class, but here it as if almost everyone is the same. To go further into the projects, I had to walk down these stairs to a neighborhood called “Mud.” You can imagine why. I was told not to look anybody directly in the eye, but I grew up that way, so it was nothing new. In fact, it’s almost like a common courtesy. However, you could immediately notice a big difference when you realized someone was actually living in a hut built of metals and wood more commonly described as a shack. As I walked through the alleys I looked like an outcast, but I definitely
PHOTO BY KALI PERSALL/THE PIONEER
Two kids from Havana, Cuba take time out from playing to pose for a picture. Cal State East Bay students visited the country on a study abroad trip earlier this summer quarter. didn’t feel like one. I knew what people were thinking when they stared at me with my camera even though I was not using it. Why is this person here? What is she
doing? She better not take a picture. Is she the police? I would have thought the same if someone I didn’t know was strolling through my neighborhood. Believe me,
I have been there before. I guess it’s true. In order to understand the struggle, you have to have lived or experienced it at one point in your life. Even though I am in another
country in a bad neighborhood, I still feel at ease. It is something that many people will never truly grasp because they can’t relate. But I can.
4 FEATURES
THURSDAY JULY 20, 2017
THE PIONEER
Why a puppy is worth the time and effort
ILLUSTRATION BY DINA ARAKCHEYEVA/THE PIONEER
School, work and dog teach time management By Louis LaVenture EDITOR-IN-CHIEF I’ve only had one dog in my life, so it is safe to say that I am not the most experienced person when it comes to canines. The dog lived at my grandfather’s house, and despite my frequent visits, it wasn't truly my dog. I live in a house and for some time now I wanted to get a dog so he could roam the backyard and protect our house from potential burglars and even rodents. So I began to look and in the first week of perusing, I found the perfect situation. A six-week-old half German Shepherd, half Pit Bull mix that was rejected by his mother. She accidentally got pregnant way too early, when she was just over a year old. For two weeks the puppies were fed milk through droppers, a tedious task for an overwhelmed owner. So after visiting the puppies, I fell in love and left with a boy, Chance the Puppy. Initially I was all for this; I have a large family and I knew everybody would be involved to help raise the dog. However, my duties associated with both of my jobs and full-time course load here at East Bay were completely out of mind when I laid my eyes on the precious little pup. I don’t regret the decision to adopt him, but I definitely should have considered a time management schedule way ahead of actually getting the dog. For the first few weeks he was like a newborn baby; he would stay up for two hours and then sleep for an hour, like clockwork this was his schedule. I was in hell. My late night job and my daytime duties at school kept my tank on empty and I constantly felt tired. Chance has abandonment issues from his mother rejecting him and he
yelps, squeals and cries if humans aren’t around. This was my life for a few weeks and I regretted my decision to adopt immensely. I felt like a zombie and like I was drifting through life constantly exhausted. Then, it was as if somebody heard my cries for help, because Chance started to grow up. Right around the third week, he cried less, stayed awake longer during the day, slept longer at night and begin to go to the bathroom on his puppy pads. Two weeks after that, I signed him up for puppy classes at a local pet store. Now, things are easy. My dog is motivated by food, so getting him to learn tricks like sit, down, roll over, up, off, stay, come and stop was no problem as long as I had treats. Now, four puppy classes in and three months old, he has transformed into one of my favorite beings on this planet. He listens, he is potty trained, he rarely cries and his puppy nibbling stage is almost over. I love coming home to him and being greeted with his unabashed excitement. He is so happy to see me his tail shakes so hard his whole body moves. He yelps, groans and jumps on me because he wants love. All of the sleepless nights and tired days seemed to just fade away now that he is growing into an adult dog. Some people say they love the puppy stage the most because they are so cute and small. But I have to disagree, the puppy stage sucks. I prefer the older puppy I have now that listens and makes my life fun, not hard.
"All of the sleepless nights and tired days seemed to just fade away now that he is growing into an adult dog. Some people say they love the puppy stage the most because they are so cute and small. But I have to disagree, the puppy stage sucks."
PHOTO BY LOUIS LAVENTURE/THE PIONEER
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6 NEWS
THURSDAY JULY 20, 2017
THE PIONEER
Rough road ahead for journalists in Trump era Media coverage faces challenges By Daniel McGuire CONTRIBUTOR
Since his January 2017 Presidential Inauguration, Donald Trump has verbally attacked the press. His attacks have focused on corporate media companies such as CNN, ABC, NBC News, CBS, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, which he pejoratively brands “fake news” or “fake media.” On July 2, the attacks continued when Trump tweeted a video of his WWE WrestleMania 23 performance with the CNN logo superimposed over his opponent's face. While these attacks have centered on nationally reporting corporate journalists, the local press is feeling a chilling effect. “The president is fixated on imagining a war between his administration and the press. We are uninterested in playing this game,” said Audrey Cooper, editor-in-chief of the San Francisco Chronicle. “We cover the news as best we can ascertain it so that we can provoke and inspire civil civic discussions about what is happening in our communities. That is our job.” The Bay Area News Group, which includes several publications and brands that include the East Bay Times, Mercury News and the Marin Independent Journal, have a less career-focused opinion: “I don’t worry about Donald Trump in my career in any way, I worry about journalism,” said Daniel Borenstein, columnist and editorial writer for the Bay Area News Group. Other groups have written off the contemporary press model in the U.S. and sought other solutions to protect journalism. Professor Mickey Huff, Director of Project Censored and President of the The Media Freedom Foundation describes Trump’s attacks on the press as an “assault on expression” and a clear sign of a “historic culture in decline...this is what decaying Democratic cultures devolve into,” said Huff.
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF SUCCO VIA PIXABAY
He described Trump as “a man born on third base that thinks he hit a triple,” and while he doesn’t blame Trump for the current state of the government’s relationship with the media, he describes him as a “symptom and product” of it. “It’s as if we’re in Plato’s cave and there are shadows flickering on the wall while the real action is happening ten,
twenty, thirty, forty years behind that have been casting these kinds of shadows that people have opacity of understanding about,” he said. One of the goals of Project Censored is to “talk about critical media literacy, talk about how to be your own thinker and how to understand whether sources are trustworthy or credible,” according
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to Huff Organizations such as Project Censored and The Media Freedom Foundation have worked to educate people in critical media literacy in place of the nation’s education system. Both California and Massachusetts have proposed bills to add critical media literacy to our educational system
because it currently is not taught, said Huff. This is why organizations such as Project Censored and The Media Freedom Foundation educated people on the topic themselves for several decades, according to Huff. “We do have a serious problem going on with the press, [but] it’s not new,” he said.
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FROM THE WIRE 7
THURSDAY JULY 20, 2017
THE PIONEER
Good luck getting rapper Boots Riley to reveal details for his Oakland-based film By Angela Hill EAST BAY TIMES A large, gangly papier-mache horse and papier-mache man stood on the sidewalk on Broadway in uptown Oakland last Friday, the faux man doing something to the faux horse that would make a real porn star blush. It was a visual protest against corporate suits sticking it to the working stiffs, so to speak, and demonstrators gathered as cameras rolled. Yet this wasn't just another Oakland protest, at least not a real one. It was a movie in the making. "Sorry to Bother You," a dark comedy/political satire, marks the directorial and screenwriting debut of Oakland rapper/activist Boots Riley. With filming taking place in various locations around Oakland through July, "Bother" stars Lakeith Stanfield, Armie Hammer, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick and Terry Crews. It's backed by independent film companies including Cinereach and Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions and is set to premiere at Sundance in 2018. And it's about ... well, we're not quite sure, especially after talking to a cryptic Riley at Friday's shoot. "It's an absurd and dark comedy with magical realism and science fiction," says Riley, 46, declining even to suggest the desired audience take-away from the film. "There are a lot of things I want people to get from it. I don't want to limit it to just one sound byte." It's loosely based on his own job as a telephone salesman years ago, so it involves a black telemarketer, played by Stanfield, trying to make it in a white-man's world. "The main character develops a way to have his voice overdubbed with a white man's voice, which makes him successful," says one of the film's local producers, Jonathan Duffy. The character's success then dovetails with his activist friends rising up against unjust labor practices. "And then comedy ensues," Duffy says. One thing's for sure, when Riley calls for "action" on the set, you know the word carries a deeper meaning. The longtime frontman for the politically charged hip-hop group The Coup -- which formed in 1991 and which Riley describes as a "punk-funk Communist revolution band" -- grew up in Oakland and studied film at San Francisco State University. For decades, he's been addressing issues such as community welfare, police brutality, racism and systemic inequality. He was a vocal organizer during the Occupy Oakland protests in 2011, and was recently part of a benefit concert for the Ghost Ship fire victims.
Oakland rapper and activist Boots Riley poses for a picture in June 2010. Perhaps his best-known controversy surrounded The Coup album "Party Music," which delayed its September 2001 release because the original cover depicted Riley and band DJ Pam the Funkstress blowing up the World Trade Center (it was created before the 9/11 attacks). Riley finished writing the screenplay for "Sorry to Bother You" in 2012, the same year The Coup
released an album of the same name, considered a soundtrack for the film (a new soundtrack is in the works, he says). He is elated to see the film coming to fruition, thanks in part to a recent grant from the San Francisco Film Society and Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Because of his firm Oakland roots, Riley has embraced various East Bay artists in the film, such
PHOTO COURTESY OF BANKROBBER1 VIA WIKICOMMONS
as political artist Spy Emerson, who built the man/ horse sculpture. And though not forthcoming on the plot, Riley at least admits there's a strong social justice message involved. "That's just part of everything I do," he says. "This comes from a similar place as all of my art, using the ridiculousness of interpersonal connections to talk about the ridiculousness in the world."
BART officials look for ways to 'aggressively hire' police officers By Erin Baldassari EAST BAY TIMES
Faced with rising crime and a more than 20 percent vacancy rate in its police department, several BART officials are calling on the agency to do whatever it takes to hire more officers and stem crime on the system. Violent crimes, which include rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults, were up 41 percent in the first five months of the year compared to the same time period last year, according to the BART Police Department. At the same time, property crimes, such as burglaries, theft, auto theft and arson, were up 14 percent. But the agency is also down 39 officers out of a department budgeted for 176, or roughly 21 percent of its patrol force. That's a challenge, especially for a district as geographically diverse as BART, the agency's new police Chief Carlos Rojas said in an interview last week. "We have a system that has over 100 miles of rails, and it covers four counties, soon to be five counties," Rojas said. "So, it's a very challenging task, and we do need more human resources." Several members of BART's governing board called on the agency to aggressively recruit officers and do whatever it can to retain them -- including, possibly offering higher pay or other perks. The crime spike comes amid public outcry following several high-profile robberies involving groups of minors boarding trains. And, it follows a startling
PHOTO BY EVELYN TIJERO/THE PIONEER
A San Francisco-Daly City bound BART train leaves the Fremont-Warm Springs station.
increase in the number of rapes and sexual batteries reported on BART. Rebecca Saltzman, who heads the agency's governing board, said they weren't always informed of trends in certain types of crimes. The board
receives a quarterly report, but those reports only look at the overall crime level and is often a month or two delayed. She asked the chief to begin providing more detailed, monthly reports to the board, which he agreed to do in a memo released last week.
But the agency also needs to "aggressively recruit officers," said BART Director Joel Keller, who also helms the Operations, Safety and Workforce Subcommittee. The committee is expected to meet Tuesday to discuss officer recruitment and retention tactics. "We have a systemic and chronic problem with staffing police at BART," Keller said in an interview last week. "And we have a situation where, I think, crime is rising generally in all areas of BART, and ridership is going down, and that's not a shock because people feel less comfortable." Keller blames a departmental culture that has gone from "aggressive enforcement to compassionate enforcement," which he said was bad for morale. Meanwhile, BART Director Debora Allen pointed to fare evasion as "the gateway crime" leading to more serious offenses on the system. She called on the agency to install taller barriers to prevent people from jumping over the short metal fences that bound the paid area of each station. One of those taller barriers was unveiled Monday at the Downtown Berkeley station. But it's not just BART that's facing a chronic shortage of officers. Gardena police Chief Edward Medrano, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, said the shortage persists statewide. With tenured officers retiring at an accelerated rate, competition among departments for a small pool of qualified applicants and increased public outcry at the wrongdoing of officers, Medrano said the combination of factors has made it increasingly difficult for departments to hire and keep officers. "It's a trifecta," Medrano said, "and not a good one."
8 OPINION
THE PIONEER
Quotes from the Quad
By Kedar Dutt PHOTO EDITOR
If you could ask Cal State East Bay President Leroy M. Morishita one question, what would it be?
“How do you plan on making students more involved and participate in school programs, academics and extracurricular activities?” - Beth Mengesha Health Science, Senior
“
“
THURSDAY JULY 20, 2017
“Where did the childcare program go?” - Jenifer Grennberg Psychology, Junior
“I would ask about the tuition raise for all California State Universities. Would you apply the five percent raise to all students including seniors?” “What’s going on with the library on the bottom floor?” - Elisa Thurman Speech Language Pathology, Graduate
“What type of beer or wine do you like?” - Joseph Marsili Computer Science, Junior
- Bernard Juan Putra, Business Administration, Senior
THE PIONEER NEWSPAPER
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