Here's what's happening in the Bay Area, curated by KALW news:
BART chased glamorous projects as its core system decayed // SF Chronicle
"Splashy extensions in recent years have taken BART down the Peninsula, deeper into the East Bay and tantalizingly close to Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, its core is falling apart.
"Some transit observers — and even some of the people who run BART — say the attention the agency lavished on shiny new stations and rails into fast-growing suburbia distracted it from the health of the system’s heart: its original stations, its train control system and its rail cars."
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49'ers, Santa Clara leaders warring over allegedly unpaid Levi's Stadium rent// NBC Bay Area
"Santa Clara leaders and the San Francisco 49ers are warring over allegedly unpaid rent for the use of Levi's Stadium.
"Every month, the football team is required to pay Santa Clara $2 million rent for the rights to play in the recently-built stadium. But Vice Mayor Teresa O’Neill says the city has yet to receive any payments this year."
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Earn less than $13,870? California rewards low-income tax filers // New America Media
"SACRAMENTO--The Golden State’s poverty statistics are grim: Two in five people live just over the federal poverty level (FPL), and the state has the highest child poverty rate in the nation.
But this year, for the first time, California’s working poor will get to keep more of their earnings in their pockets thanks to the California Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). But people with low incomes – less than $13,870 a year – must be sure to file their taxes in order to get their money back."
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Ethnic Studies granted temporary funding, but students continue to fight // El Tecolote
"In continuing efforts toward a solid future for the College of Ethnic Studies at SF State, students rallied on campus on March 16 to obtain signatures from University leaders for their previously established demands.
"'I as a student take back the right to my own narrative,' shouted students in a collective voice at the quad before relocating outside the Administration Building."
"The rally, which began Wednesday at noon at Malcolm X Plaza, was in response to President Leslie Wong’s indefinite answer to student and faculty demands. Since last month’s major student protest to resolve the issue with the college’s funding, President Wong agreed to provide $250,000 to cover the college’s deficit for another year, but students and faculty are saying that the amount is not enough, and that a permanent solution for the college’s future must be instituted."
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The lesser told story of the California Missions // Hoodline
"Each day, countless residents pass by San Francisco’s oldest building, Mission Dolores. Its modest white adobe chapel— dedicated 225 years ago this August— rests in the shadow of its sister basilica on 16th and Dolores streets. Every year, 300,000 visitors tour its historic church and cemetery (one of two remaining graveyards in San Francisco). The city of San Francisco emerged from that site, where Franciscan missionary Francisco Palao, under the direction of Father Junípero Serra, established a mission in 1776.
"The story from there depends on whom you ask."
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Bay Area Natives energizes the ecosystem of Bayview // Hoodline
"Unless you were a hardcore heavy metal music fan, it wasn't likely that you would make a trip to Pier 96 at Cargo Way in Hunters Point for fun in the early 2000's.
"The location used to be home to a music venue called Pound SF, which drew hundreds of music lovers from all over the Bay Area. In 2007, after many failed attempts to renew its lease with the San Francisco Port Authority, Pound SF had no choice but to close and relocate to Oakland.
"The Port of San Francisco currently manages seven miles of waterfront property in San Francisco, and this area specifically located at 10 Cargo Way (at Jennings St.) sat vacant for years until Geoffrey Coffey and Paul Furman made a deal to run a plant nursery called Bay Natives in 2011."
