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Lawmakers have been trying to create ways to reduce speeding on the road for decades at this point. California in particular has made multiple attempts to resolve the issues of speeding through various laws; however, none have stuck thus far. The most recent attempt came originally as a proposal by the state senator, Scott Wiener. He introduced a bill earlier in 2024 that immediately became very divisive. The proposed bill in question would require an update to vehicle technology that would issue a warning to a driver that they are speeding, much like a car would notify you that you have a low fuel level or service required.

Not long after the San Francisco native Senator proposed the bill did he begin to receive a mix of opposition and support.

Senator Wiener said in a recent interview that after the proposal went public, his best friend sent him a message to say the bill was one of the worst ideas he had ever seen. Shortly after that, he received a message from his best friend’s boyfriend, thanking Wiener for slowing his boyfriend down on the road. The mixture of reviews from his close friends represents the dichotomy of how Californians overall feel. Safety advocacy groups have vocalized their support for the bill while driver advocacy groups have expressed that California drivers and roadways are too far beyond a bill like this.

Part of the divisiveness of the bill comes from the original plan from the bill.

Originally, the bill proposed an “active” warning. An “active” warning is a type of speed assistance technology that would physically stop drivers from going above a speed limit. Oppositely, a “passive” warning would simply be a popup message warning on the dashboard to notify drivers that they are going above the speed limit. Because the original proposal received so much attention, much negative at the time, Wiener reworked the bill to instead propose a passive warning, which brought more positive attention to the bill. But nonetheless, it continues to be a controversial one.

Wiener and his team stated that they looked into studies and found that passive warnings are still highly effective, so they felt they were the most agreeable options. His team proved correct as the bill passed the legislature which, if signed into action, would require all new vehicle models starting with 2030 to add in these warnings to the vehicle technology.

San Bernardino County supervisors are urging state officials to declare a statewide state of emergency due to the ongoing reduction of insurance services in California.

On June 25, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pass a resolution requesting California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, Governor Gavin Newsom, and the State Legislature to declare a state of emergency. This measure aims to reinforce and stabilize the state’s insurance market.

If declared, the state of emergency would prevent insurance companies from canceling existing homeowners’ policies.

This resolution follows the decisions of major insurers like State Farm and Allstate to scale back their operations in California.

Last year, State Farm announced it would cease accepting new insurance applications for both business and personal property in the state.

Recently, State Farm’s California subsidiary, State Farm General, submitted a proposal to the California Department of Insurance to increase insurance rates for homeowners, condo owners, and renters.

Other insurers, including Allstate and Farmers Insurance, have also declared intentions to reduce their business activities in California.

The swift decline in the number of insurance providers serving California residents has forced many new and existing homeowners to rely on California’s FAIR plan for coverage. While this plan covers basic hazards, it is considered a “temporary safety net” and was never intended to replace the comprehensive coverage that insurance companies typically offer.

The city of San Francsico falls under the area many refer to as Silicon Valley. This means many leading tech companies work in and around the San Franciso area. Many companies tend to conduct research in the city, often doing test runs of products in San Francsico, before sending out a product to more major cities, before sending it out nationwide. For example, many apps that are now staples around the world, such as Uber and Airbnb got their starts in San Francisco. Now, one of the biggest products being tested in the city are driverless vehicles. These self-driving cars, also known as autonomous vehicles, are drawing a crowd for themselves in San Francisco. At this point, these vehicles are not only in San Francisco, but it continues to be their main hub drawing much attention.

The leading autonomous vehicle maker right now is Waymo.

Self-driving cars have actually been tested on San Francisco streets since as far back as 2009. However, in the last year they have been commercial driving and have occupied more road space than ever before. Because of their larger presence in the city, many are visiting the city in hopes of catching a ride in one. When the vehicles act in this way, people are referring to them as robotaxis. Tourists from all over hope to experience a robotaxi in San Francisco for a possible once in a lifetime experience.

Other companies on the road, including Cruise and Zoox, are now providing commercial rides.

Waymo, formerly working under Google but now simply under Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is the only autonomous car manufacturer giving rides to the public in San Francisco and anywhere else. You can also catch a ride with them in Phoenix, though many are preferring San Francisco for authenticity.

If you want to pick up a ride from Waymo, you must have the Waymo app. From there, you call a car similar to the way you order an Uber. The car will arrive and then you can be driven by technology to your new location! If you want to ride in a car for your trip to San Francisco, join the waitlist now to be approved as a passenger!

Google has temporarily removed links to certain California news websites to prove a point in response to a proposed California law known as the California Journalism Preservation Act. This proposed bill would require big tech companies, such as Google (who is a subsidiary of Alphabet, a.k.a. GOOGL), to pay news outlets for their content under certain circumstances. Google is not happy about this proposed bill and has announced this move of not showing the links to prove a point of requiring payment to be too much. The company released a formal statement on the matter, confirming that this will only serve as a test, affecting only a small group of California users. They stated that right now, they hope to show, “the impact of the legislation on our product experience.”

The bill first started making waves in California in March of 2023.

Nothing from the bill has been finalized into California law. The bill is still awaiting a hearing with California’s state Senate Judiciary Committee before any action, in terms of requiring payment for news content, would go into effect. If the bill were to pass, there would be a “journalism usage fee” for certain news sites that companies like Google and Meta would have to pay. So far, Google is the only company that would be affected that has spoken out and/or taken action.

The reason for the bill is that people are not consuming news in the same way as before and many traditional news outlets are becoming a thing of the past. The bill is seeking to prevent news from disappearing and entirely shifting to social media only. After Google and other tech companies have shifted in ways that would further harm the news outlets, using tools like A.I. to drive people to certain websites, the California state government wrote up the bill to prevent this.

The Senate President Pro-Tempore of the CA state senate’s office, Mike McGuire, called Google’s actions an act of bullying.

McGuire also called the action an “abuse of power,” arguing that Google is simply proving their point that they are able to control the news and what users see and that they are choosing the wrong techniques to do that. The push for this law stems from the fact that Google can control the news and then profit from the way in which they advertise it, but the originators of the work, a.k.a. the journalists and news publications, suffer without proper compensation. Now, many worry about the future of news consumption amidst this battle between the government and big tech companies.

Last week, as Black History Month was coming to an end, the city of San Francisco Supervisor Board issued a formal apology to Black residents in which they apologized for the city’s perpetuation of racism. They furthered the statement saying they intend to continue to make reparations of some kind to the Black residents of the city but have not yet stated what those reparations will be. The vote to issue the apology was unanimous, having all 11 board members agree to issue the apology.

San Francisco is the second major city to formally issue an apology, as Boston did previously as well.

These two cities joined the list of nine states that issued apologies. The states that have thus far issued apologies include Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia. Some of these apologies specifically mentioned being for slavery, while others were more general towards any racism and discrimination that the state participated in.

Over 100 proposals regarding reparations for the Black community have previously been given to the Supervisor Board of San Francisco. This was the first proposal to ever actually be approved by the city board. One such proposal that previously failed was proposed by the African American Reparations Advisory Committee. This proposal stated a plan that every eligible Black adult be given a $5 million lump-sum cash payment and a guaranteed annual income of $100,000.

In the same meeting in which the apology was issued, the Board spoke on some of the bills on the upcoming ballot.

One Supervisor, Dean Preston, spoke very candidly on his thoughts on some of the measures. One measure would further take away affording housing, allowing the predominantly Black neighborhood of Fillmore that he represents to become further gentrified. Additionally, he spoke poorly of two bills backed by Mayor London Breed in which one would require drug addiction screenings for welfare recipients and the other would put more power back into the police department. He expressed his beliefs that these would disproportionately affect Black residents of the city.

At this point, some have expressed that now that there is an apology for the past, they are wiped clean of responsibility for the present. Others have spoken out that the apology is not even sufficient for the past. We shall see in the upcoming months if any further action is taken.

A peaceful protest against the issues taken with the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion has been held in the Bay Area. The rally began at the Civic Center and would keep going down Market Street and head through to Embarcadero, which would cause the bus reroute and street closures.

Such an event is held once a year, near the anniversary of the Supreme Court. The Constitution had kept the rights to abortion safe, though the court was striking the ruling in June 2022, with an opportunity for the other states to decide.

The turnout is very encouraging for the pro-abortion reps that are hoping that someday, the tens of thousands of people marching can actually influence many folks up in the food chain.

Many attendees that had been around came from the other side, specifically the church groups that had opposed the movement. In other words, anti-abortion folks. The Clergymen and Nuns would hold signs saying “pray to end abortion” and “love them both.”

A larger national antiabortion movement has been made the focus, as the March for Life would take place at the National Mall in Washington, where activists would say “I am the pro-life generation” and “Life is precious.”

Even the President, Joe Biden, preserved abortion rights to be a main focal point of the administration and Kamala Harris to highlight the White House’s very own commitment through a visit to Wisconsin, on the 51st anniversary of the Roe decision.

Saturday saw plenty of celebrities give their opinion on abortion rights. Kaya Jones, from the Pussycat Dolls, has mentioned how there’s always a way, and Lila Rose, the activist of the Live Action anti-aborition nonprofit, also showed up to speak on the matter. It continues to be a red-button topic to this day.

San Francisco, a once booming city, blossoming as a pinnacle for ideologies of the future, is now stuck in a doom loop. The term “doom loop” refers to a city that is stuck in a constant spiral of unaffordable housing, empty office spaces, and so much more. It is essentially an extended time in which a city is constantly in a state of dread, with countless bad traits inhabiting the city. The doom loop of San Francisco has been perpetuated by homelessness, which has also been furthered by the doom loop as they are in a toxic symbiotic relationship. This has also led to a steep rise in drug abuse and crime.

Many are hopeful for the cities regrowth, but pessimism is running rampant as well.

The city of San Francisco has always been a pioneer in modern ideas and innovations. They were one of the first cities to raise minimum wage, which led to California overall following suit. Countless other, now statewide, laws started in the city. However, now they are stuck in a seemingly never-ending crisis.

Of course, San Francisco is not isolated in their struggles; just about every other large metropolitan city is dealing with a housing crisis. Employment rates nationally are low. But, given the history of the city, it seems like a particularly worse condition for the city to be in. The city has an office vacancy rate of 30%. This equates to nearly 30 million square feet of unused space. This is happening while a large population of the city is living in the streets.

Some are trying to generate plans for repair, while others are simply trying to stay afloat.

A few believe that the key to repairing and rebuilding the city lies within going back to a fully in person lifestyle. Ever since the COVID-19 global pandemic, much of the city has gone remote. Many work from home, order contactless food delivery, etc. People theorize that this loss of connection has further spiraled individuals down dark paths which has further spiraled the city. Those with confidence in this theory operate under the assumption that the future will be restored with a return to greater human connection. In the very least they believe that this will rebuild morale of residents of the city, which will ideally generate more confidence in them for the city to be restored, which will trickle down into actual citywide restoration.

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom passed a new law this past weekend that will legalize speed cameras in six different large cities in the state. This marks the first time in California’s history in which speed cameras are legal. The six cities in which they are legal include three in northern California and three in southern California. The three northern cities are San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. The three southern cities are Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Glendale. The law will allow these cities to act as testing sites for something that could eventually become widespread, speed cameras automatically sending speed tickets to drivers going above the speed limit.

The bill, AB 645, was pushed for by state Assemblymember Laura Friedman, who has pushed for a bill of this nature since 2005.

The law will officially go into effect in January 2024. With it, the six cities will be given a limited number of speed cameras which they can install in heaving vetted, pre-approved locations. The cameras will then begin monitoring the speed of drivers and detect when someone goes above the speed limit. From there, there is a tiered ticket fine pricing list based on the driver’s speed and once that has been determined, a ticket will be mailed to the driver. This will be done by the fact that the cameras will record license plates and from that locate the driver’s information.

The tiered pricing has a ticket priced at $50, which is generated when a driver is going 11 miles per hour above the posted speed limit. It then increases to $100 for drivers going 16-25 miles per hour above the speed limit. The fine goes all the way up to $500, which would be the fine for a driver going 100+ miles per hour higher than the speed limit.

So where will the speed cameras go?

The speed cameras are intended to go in places in which speeding causes a deadly risk for pedestrians and other drivers. This would predominantly be high-accident corridors, street racing locations, and school zones. In order for the cameras to be installed anywhere, there are several steps they must take. They must vet the location through public neighborhood meetings and from there can determine if the street truly does deserve the camera.

People raise concerns about how this bill will likely disproportionately affect people of color and low-income folks. Newsom and Friedman assure that it will not since the cameras will only detect the license plate, not any driver details. They included as well that there is the possibility of a reduced ticket price, with the potential of an 80% reduction for low-income drivers. However, people expressed concerns with the expectation that most cameras will be installed in low-income neighborhoods that are predominantly people of color. This concern has not been addressed.

Caste Racism has long been a major concern for folks immigrating into the the United States from varied countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and India. The latter of these countries, is currently considering changing it’s name to Bharat. That change aside, the same principles likely apply. California is starting to come around on this however, given that they’re going to be the first state to ban anti-caste racism.

The sadness in all of this shows as California has been rampant with way too many anti-caste cases. Back in 2020, the state regulators had made a lawsuit against the tech company of Cisco. All while supposedly, two of the high-caste Indian managers themselves had been discriminating against a Dalit engineer to subject them to lower pay and even inferior terms of employment. The California State University’s own approach has showed in 2022, where they became the primary university system that would add caste as a protected category for their own anti-discrimination policy.

California has been home to some of the most concerning crimes had occurred versus people that had been based on their own caste. For instance, 2001 saw a rich Bay area landlord being convicted of sex tracfficking in the aftermath of him sexually abusing beyond two dozen women in India through the course of about 15 years. He would then spend eight years in state prison.

Caste in specific references to the exclusionary system of more than several centuries of age.

The caste system shows a separation into four inherited social categories. Within a caste system, people whom have been left at the bottom of the social strata are seen less than. Not quite standard human beings if not victims forced to engage with everything from substandard housing into enslaved type of work. This is all information that comes from the IDSN or International Dalit Solidarity Network. They are an advocacy group for Dalits, also known as a South Asian minority group facing many generations of violence and stigma.

Caste systems like this have originated in the country as far back as about 3,000 years for a social hierarchy integral to someone’s occupation and birth. It was even through caste-based discrimination has been prohibited over there for 75 years. Dalits have been facing socioeconomic stagnation, poor treatment and violence.

Such a bill, given that it was previously approved by the state senate 31-5, had been sponsored by Aisha Wahab, whom is well known as the California state senator, while also having been the first Afghan American woman to be elected to the public office in the United States. By passing this bill, Governor Gavin Newsom will allow the first-in-the-USA bill to ban caste racism and acts of racism.

In the Bay Area, there has been problems in the past that showed so much danger in the air. Something that would definitely threaten the majority of people who are truly worried about keeping their lungs clean and safe. Otherwise, there’s an effort that usually comes through to indicate that the weather needs to be noticed. All because the Spare the Air Effort is an indicator for everyone in San Francisco and the surrounding areas to totally be ready for when smog or ozone would become too much.

However, in these days, when there’s heat advisories going about in what looks to be the hottest month in recorded history, an alert is issued by the air district for smog/ozone where huge concentrations of the ground-level ozone pollution are said to be unhealthy. Higher levels of ozone pollution can even be too harmful to breathe. This is particularly true for young kids and old people. Even those with breathing problems find it tough. Thus, the Spare the Air effort is a big help to many people in the community who suffer from this.

Higher levels of ozone, aside, high heats are heading to all over the Bay Area, while there are plenty of cities on the inland that are going to surpass 100 degrees while the heat lasts for beyond several days.

Even in the immediate coast, you will see a comfy heat around the 60s to 70s range.

The excessive heat watch has been heightened from the excessive heat warning for all over the areas Inland, indicating that the heat’s change is not too far off. The National Weather Service themselves believe that around 3.5 million folks in the Bay Area are going to be indicated of the Excessive Heat Warning.

I would say, I wish there were more indications throughout San Francisco and beyond, towards other areas of the state of California. It makes a difference to show your fellow Californians how expertly you can show your care and compassion for each other. It’s also of a huge importance to unify different parts of California, much like the Oakland A’s and the Giants are attempting, in order to lessen the rivalry. Who else can really be so pursuant of the common good than your fellow Californian? It makes a difference to care, and Spare the Air!

To contact the Spare the Air team, all you really have to do is call the toll-free number at 1-800-HELP-AIR.