today on getting answers. license plate readers are coming

to san francisco and traffic safety. in the wake of the deaths of three family members waiting at a bus shelter, mayor london breed will join us to discuss these issues and more. and what was supposed to be the city's second tallest building is now a $1.6 billion money pit. our media partner, the san francisco standard, explores what's holding up the massive project. but first, the biden reelection campaign launches a new national program to reach latinos, hoping to reverse his likely opponent. donald trump's noticeable gains with hispanic voters. you're watching, getting answers. i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us today. president biden is in nevada and arizona, where he's announcing latinos. cohen, biden, harris. recent polls like this new york times siena college poll from last month shows trump currently ahead with latino voters with 48% over biden's 43. that is, if the contest were held today. now this is a huge change from four years ago, when biden won latino

voters 2 to 1 over trump. joining us live now to talk about the courting of the latino vote and why it matters. cristian arana, vice president of civic power and policy at the latino community foundation. hi, cristian. >> hey, kristen. how's it going? >> it's going great. thank you so much for making the time to chat with us today. because of the biden initiative, how important will latino voters be in this presidential election? >> well, latino voters are going to be decisive for this election. there's a reason why president biden is visiting nevada and arizona today, because he understands that the latino vote is going to be consequential to uh- whether or not he wins this november. and it's not just the president. former president donald trump has also been doing his fair share of efforts to win over our voting bloc because, if you look at arizona and nevada, ultimately, the number that these candidates need to get to is 270. and between arizona and nevada, we're talking about 19 electoral votes. and given how

close elections are, every single election, the biden administration or the biden campaign and the trump campaign are trying to make sure that they speak to the community in these respective states. >> right. and of course, there are a lot of latino voters in both arizona and nevada and of course, california as well. tell us about the raw numbers. how many votes, how many people are we talking about? >> oh, sure. i mean, we're talking close to nine, 10 million, latino votes on the table on election night between california, arizona and nevada, at least here in the state of california, roughly 1 in 3 eligible voters are latino, that's a pretty significant share. when you look at arizona and nevada, it's also roughly about 1 in 4 latino, 1 in 4 voters are latino, so it doesn't surprise me that the biden campaign is starting very early. it's march, we're still months away from the november election, but they understand that latino voters coming out to vote and

them trying to vote for them is going to be absolutely important, for their victory in november. >> all right. so tell us more about this new effort. latinos con biden, harris, what is its aim and how will they achieve it? >> yeah. so, i think it's just important to remember i'm not part of the campaign, but from what i've read, so far from the announcement is that they're starting early. that not only are they trying to promote and it has accomplished for latinos, on this nation, but they're also looking to expand their on the ground efforts in these respective states. so that means opening offices, hiring staff and making sure that they're getting out there into the community, to talk voters who are latino about what the president has done for them and what he might do for them should he get reelected. >> right. and, of course, there'll be millions spent on television ads as well, and advertising through social media. i'm sure. by the way,

just because you're not with the campaign now doesn't mean they won't come calling someday. but. but okay, i want to ask you, though, what are biden's selling points in those ads? what do you imagine he will be talking about? if he was to have those touch points and connect with latino voters and say, look, here's my record on that. and these are the ways that we helped you. >> yeah. so there's been quite a number of accomplishments that the biden administration, has accomplished since he's become president, the american rescue plan, if you may remember, when he became president to address the covid 19 crisis, he passed this this piece of legislation called the american rescue plan, which sent stimulus checks to a lot of folks who were in need of money, it wasn't just that. it was money for local cities and counties like san francisco, so that they can, use that money to address whatever needs that they needed to see in the community. on top of that, it was the bipartisan infrastructure law, money for bridges, for roads, just to make sure that our infrastructure is, built for this new 21st century. it's really interesting how, the president has passed this. not a single republican.

single republican in california voted for any of this, so i would imagine that the president and his campaign are going to really try to sell this not just to voters generally, but for latino voters who have, who may have benefited from these pieces of legislation. >> so if they are, you know, if they have these concrete pieces of legislation and these concrete wins, why do you suppose that is that we were looking at the poll numbers showing that last month. that poll showed trump with 48% versus biden, 43% with latino voters, you know, is it just that they haven't been reminded, or is there like something that the trump campaign that they're doing that is attractive to some of these voters? >> yeah. so it's a number of things i think it's important to remember, especially for our viewers, that polls are snapshots in time. right. when i look at polls like this, you know, i'm always very curious to see how many latino voters they actually did poll, we're very large population, as i explained, and when you have a sample size of a couple hundred latino voters, it may not exactly be reflective of the actual situation on the ground.

that being said, possible reason why latinos may not understand, or may not want to vote for the president is because they, the engagement is so important. right, it's not every day that the president of united states shows up into a latino community. right? i you know, i would love to see him in fruitvale one day, to talk to people about what he's done for the community. but, as you can imagine, the schedule, the resources that are necessary to talk to voters are enormous, right. and, you know, and the fact that the campaign is starting this effort today just signals to me that they're going to be very serious about courting our votes to not only as i mentioned, talk about what exactly he has done and make sure that people are aware of it, also make the selling point for why he should get another four more years and do you think the path to that vote is through talking about economic bread and butter issues and not issues maybe that are more prominent in the headlines like immigration?

yeah. it's interesting. i mean, because the latino community foundation has commissioned a poll, regularly throughout elections. what we found is that the economy is consistently a top one, two and three issue for our community. as you mentioned, kristen, i mean, immigration obviously is an issue that's very personable, and very emotional for us. but it's not the top issue, i think it's important for your viewers, especially to understand that latino voters are just like anybody else. we're concerned about the prices of our goods. the cost of affordable housing, we're also deeply concerned about homelessness. right. just at the state of the union, president biden talked about new efforts to expand affordable housing options for all americans in this country. and so understanding that the campaign that really connects, their campaign to the issues that we care about, i think is going to be most successful in november, in addition to the biden-harris administration's efforts, i know you guys at the latino community foundation are

doing your own work to try to engage voters, educate voters, and support the population. talk about some of your key efforts. >> yeah. so later this spring, we're going to be putting out another round of investments, to make sure that latinos are not only registered. right, because you need to be registered in order to actually turn out to vote, but it's just the everyday stuff that, that is essential to our democracy, right? we can't take for granted that people understand how to vote an election if you may remember, if you're a registered voter in the state of california, you now get sent in your ballot, you no longer have to put, a stamp on it, and so there have been many changes to how we vote, at least here in the state of california, that sometimes people may not be aware of. right. and that may be a reason why certain people don't turn out to vote. and so our investments are to make sure that we're working with those local community based organizations to not only help explain to latino voters about what's at stake in this election , but also educate them throughout this entire process about how to actually turn out

to vote, because we know that when our community does turn out to vote, that it's going to make a difference from the mayor of san francisco all the way to the presidency in this country. >> all right. kristen arana, vice president of civic power and policy at the latino community foundation. thank you so much. a pleasure talking with you. >> thank you. kristen coming up, speaking of the mayor of san francisco, a one on one with mayor london breed, she'll be here to talk about safety in the city, the allees she's trying to tackle and w

automated license plate readers in a new effort to fight crime.

this is a dramatic shift from a few years ago, when the idea was rejected over concerns about privacy and surveillance. joining us live now to talk about this and other new initiatives in san francisco. is mayor london breed here herself. thank you so much for coming in. thank you. glad to be here. well, i'm glad because, you know, tomorrow you have that big news conference. you're going to do the kickoff for the installation of these license plate readers. so tell us, where is the first batch going? >> well, we want to keep those a secret a tad bit, but tomorrow when we make the announcement, it's at a location, but it's going to be at 100 locations around san francisco. so there'll be license plate readers that will help us combat crime in a lot of different ways. some of the challenges around speeding, car break ins, car theft, sideshows, all of those things, these automated license plate readers will be very critical in helping us to track people as they move around the city, especially as it relates to crime. so this is a really great tool we're going to

install and be happy to use. >> where did the money come from for this? >> so we have a $17 million grant from the state to help fund this project, along with some of the other financial support we've gotten to help combat crime. we got a $17.5 million grant from the state to help with retail theft uh, including money for our police department as well as our district attorney. so we're getting a lot of resources from the state. finally coming in, helping us to address these real challenges. >> okay, i assume these cameras will be at key locations. yes and i wonder if the next step then is facial recognition, right. that was something that prop e covered. and people said yes. right. but there should be conditions. and rules surrounding that. and i wonder if that is on the table soon as well. and if you think together they'll really be able to make a dent. >> well, well, to be clear, prop e was not about facial recognition technology. it was about surveillance technology to help us combat crime and to use

public cameras to do so, as well as drones. so instead of like la helicopter chase, we have the ability to use drones to track people and to hopefully hold people accountable for the crimes that they commit. in san francisco, our plan is to really focus on making sure we have the tools, the resources necessary to have an impact, but it does not include facial recognition technology. that is still a conversation that would need to be had to, to talk about how it potentially could be used in san francisco. but we have no plans to do so at this time because we believe the resources we have now available to us are sufficient to help us to continue to combat crime. as you know, san francisco in 2023 had one of the lowest crime rates we've had in ten years, not including 2020 when we experienced a global pandemic. and those trends are continuing even this year. we're continuing to see crime job, so i'm really

happy about that. so how long do you think it'll take for the 400 cameras to all go up? >> and how long before you have solid data to show you if it's working? yeah. >> so we expect all those cameras to be up, sometime by the month of april, and they'll be all over the city and they'll be used for different things, to be clear. so, for example, if there's a car that's stolen, it'll give us the ability, red corvette to pull it up and to look at all the locations, look at all the license plates, and really identify and see a path of travel, potentially, as to where that car might have gone and the tools to look for it. so it's really about maximizing our use of technology to help combat crime in san francisco. so it's really exciting. all right. >> well, we'll see how that works out. keep us posted. but i also want to talk about in the headlines so devastating. this past week, the muni bus shelter, the family that were waiting for the bus got hit by a car and three members of the family died. and this is the year when you have vision zero. it's supposed to be, you know, no

fatalities. what do you think can be done to improve traffic safety? >> well, first of all, it's it was definitely, a really devastating, accident that occurred. and it's not only rocked the family involved and it also has devastated the community, the merchants, the first responders who were there to render aid, this has really hit people to the core. and yesterday at the vigil, there were so many families and people with kids. so i know that this has had a real devastating impact on people who may not have ever met the couple that lost their lives and their young son, and our hearts and our prayers go out to them and their families. and it means it's more important now, more, more than ever to make sure that we as a city are being as aggressive as we can to implement the kind of infrastructure changes on our streets that make it safer to

bike, to walk and to drive. we are not a city that's anti-car, but we do need to invest best in our public infrastructure in a way that could help address areas where we do have challenges with speeding or where there aren't, you know, the appropriate signage, lights, crossing patterns and other things. and so we have a big, plan around some of the work we've already done around protected bike lanes and some infrastructure improvements. but change, you know, is hard. and there are people who, of course, you know, want us to do it, but also want to make sure that it doesn't impede on their ability to move around the city using whatever mode of transportation they want to use. and i have to make sure that whatever mode of transportation is going around the city, that we can do so safely and that requires changes to infrastructure and somewhat

of an inconvenience, but hopefully will get us to a place where things like this don't happen. >> yeah, these are going to be big and extensive conversations. i know every time an idea is thrown out, like no turn on red, people start to get really, you know, when something new is suggested, people initially don't like it and don't want to look deeply at it. so that's something we'll have to cover another time because like i said, we can do a whole nother show on that. but i want to talk about something else that's happening, and that's at pier 3039, i should say, that ferris wheel, the sky star that. have you been on it, when it was at golden gate park. >> oh, my goodness, you got it right. >> it aipac right. and it's been there since. and now you want to extend that. >> is that right? yes >> yes. it's doing really well. i mean, the tourists who are coming to san francisco love it. even residents, i mean, people or natives don't really go to pier 39, but now they're starting to do the staycation and go to pier 39. i've heard from so many people who who have ridden the flywheel in the daytime and night. it's so beautiful on a clear night. it's

beautiful in the day. you see these beautiful views of san francisco and it just makes you feel good about the city. >> yeah. >> all right, so that's great. i'm going to ride it, i promise you, before i let you go, i just want to touch on this big headline this week as well. giants longtime announcer. yeah ronell, of course, that we all know. renel brooks-moon not coming back to the giants. they couldn't reach a deal. i know a lot of people are sad about it. how do you personally feel? >> well, i'm of course sad about it. i mean, my whole going to giants games at its renowned like you look for renel, you go up to the booth to say hi to renel you see her, you hear her voice. she's the voice of san francisco. i've been listening to renel since kmel days. i remember when she first got engaged to tommy moon. i remember ronald whole life and then to eventually become friends with her. i mean, she's a. can you accept this? i mean, i don't want to accept it. i mean, renel is such an amazing person. she's such a trailblazer . and, you know, someone like her deserves, you know, just all the love, all the flowers, all the support and i want to make

sure that we as a city, you know, recognize her for everything she's done. but this is a hard one to lose renel and not have her at the ballpark. it's hard to say goodbye. and i don't want to say goodbye. >> well, i sense a renel brooks-moon day in san francisco . >> oh, yes. and then some. >> all right. >> marilyn aubry, thank you so much for coming. i really appreciate the chat. of course. all right. coming up next, we want to talk about stalled plans for a san francisco skyscraper. what our media partner, san francisco

eileen has become anything but. the city broke ground in 2016 on what was to be the oceanwide center, a multi-billion dollar pillar of downtown. but with development stalled, has it become more than an eyesore? our media partner, the san francisco standard, is exploring the issue

in this article today. is this really a sign of the downtown dysfunction they ask? joining us live now is the author of the article, kevin truong, the standard's business editor. hey, kevin. >> hey, kristen. >> so for people who haven't heard of it, what was the oceanwide center originally envisioned to be? >> so let me take you back to 2015, back when, the economy was really booming in san francisco and there were cranes all across the city at that point, oceanwide center was a chinese funded development that was supposed to be the second tallest skyscraper in san francisco, just, below its neighboring salesforce tower. and this was supposed to have a luxury hotel, 200 plus massive condos, a million plus square feet of office. it was really supposed to be a new jewel for the city skyline. >> so what is it now? where does this sit? what's happening there right now? >> well, pretty much. it's a pit in the ground. it has a concrete and rebar and steel sort of strewn all over it. last time i

was there, i saw quite a few pools of water because of some of the recent storms we had. and it's basically sat that way since 2019, when the chinese developer essentially ran out of money and, has tried to sell the site off and on. and now it's sort of weighed under a tangled mess of legal and financial issues. >> okay. so what happens then? because in these situations, right, sometimes you can find someone to sell it to take it over and then you keep going, but in this case, what is happening. >> so basically a lot of the contractors who were doing work on the project, once the developer ran out of money, started to put legal claims on it. so there's a roughly $200 million worth of legal claims on the project itself. so that provides a major barrier for anyone who wants to take over the site and potentially resume construction. now that's working its way through the legal system , it's down to around negotiated

down to around $21 million in, basically a settlement for those liens. but then there's also $13 million in back taxes. there's also the cost of actually trying to bring the project back up to grade, bring in, you know, new crews. so we're talking millions and millions of dollars. and that's, if the site goes for free and i don't think the, the developers or the owners currently are going to want to let that go. so it's all a bit of a negotiation. and essentially, who wants to pick up the burden of the debt, right now because they see opportunity in the near future or, or maybe a little bit longer time. >> right. but in the meantime, this is not good news for san francisco, because when you have a hole in the ground, it's not generating money for you. right? not like there are people living there paying their taxes, shopping. there are no restaurants doing sales tax, bringing that in, so what does this mean for the city? >> it's a bit of a energy sink for downtown, and it's a, you know, obviously an area in sore need of revitalization. you

know, part of the reason i decided to report on this site is because it's such a prominently placed site. it's right next to salesforce tower, right next to the transbay terminal, right next to the salesforce park. you know, basically the nexus of a lot of the energy and development and investment that we saw in the last, economic cycle, the last economic boom. and now we're sort of seeing a kind of negative sink and the hope is, you know, i talked to a restaurant owner who, has sat next door to that site for the entire length of the construction. and she said, can we at least turn it into a parking lot so we can at least have somewhere to park for a little bit cheaper than i currently do? >> i don't think that's part of the city's vision to move away from cars and towards transit and walking, all right, so what's the next thing to watch out for? we've got about like 20s left. >> yeah, the next thing to watch out is for is for these legal fees to or legal issues to be, sort of paved over and then

hopefully, making its way to an auction or a sale of the property to somebody else. all right. >> keep us posted. kevin, thanks so much. we'll do. thank you. you can check out more of kevin's story and the san francisco standard's other orig are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for adults with hr positive, her2 negative metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy.

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three answering questions with experts from around the bay area . world news tonight with david muir is next, and i'll see you tonight, breaking news. the supreme court says texas can enforce its own immigration law, arresting and in some cases depo