today on getting answers. we're less than a week away from a total solar eclipse as excitement builds. will dig into the best ways to see the eclipse here in the bay area and debunk some of those common misconceptions. then, a san francisco developer is betting on an office resort to bring workers back downtown. we'll explore whether an eat work,

play concept pioneered in menlo park could be the key to reviving san francisco's financial district. but first ever get annoyed when your boss contacts you when you're off the clock? well, those after hours calls could soon become illegal. if a bay area lawmaker has anything to say about it. hi, everybody. thanks for watching. getting answers. i'm dion lim. calls, emails. slacks texts. there are so many ways for your employer to contact you these days, but a bay area politician is proposing a new law that would give you the right to ignore your boss after hours. yes, it definitely got our attention. there is a catch though. so joining us live is assembly member matt haney of san francisco, who proposed that new bill, matt good to have you. >> thank you. it's great to see you, dion. >> all right. let's get right into it. you say a lot of countries around the globe already have protections like this in place for workers. >> yes. well you know this is kind of a feature of the modern work life where because we are

24 over seven available with our smartphones, sometimes we are treated like 24 over seven workers having to respond to texts and emails at any time of the day. and even if you signed up for a 9 to 5 job, you're expected to respond all the time. so countries around the world, particularly coming out of the pandemic france, ireland, portugal, all places that have a right to disconnect where companies and employees establish time uh- whatever those times are, and policies around times when they're not expected to respond to work related calls, and they can sit and have dinner with their families or take time to rest. uh- it's something that i think that we need in california to make sure we have that work life balance, but also that so that we can compete for these highly skilled workers who i think are looking for a quality of life where they at least have some time with their families. yeah. >> it's interesting you mentioned the quality of life, because i think being in tv news, right, we're on 24 over seven or maybe doing the job you

do before we get more into that, how exactly does this proposed law work? >> sure. so it establishes a right to disconnect that workers can assert and requires companies to have policies on it. uh- those policies can be very flexible. so some workers do need to be on call. most of the time. work long hours, start up hours, all of that would still be allowed, but they'd have to have a policy where the workers consented to it and they were following it. and so those would all still be allowed. but it would also hopefully just based on common decency and common sense, provide for some time when the workers are not expected to be working and they can have uninterrupted time with their families. i think it's especially important that coming out of the pandemic, that people can have time with their kids that are uninterrupted, and if you have 24 over seven availability, it doesn't mean you should be working 24 over seven. and we just want to make sure that companies establish

policies and are clear with their employees about when they're working and when they're not. >> now, i'm very curious because even if there are policies, are there some consequences for those employers who still maybe cross the line a little bit? >> so if an employer is violating this policy, me repeatedly showing a pattern of it and intentionality, there can be an investigation by the labor commission of the state and there can be fines assessed, but really, this isn't about fining or punishing, it's about making sure that we have that level of clarity around when folks are on and when they can be off, when you can have uninterrupted time if you need to be with your kid, and having that expectation so that workers can have sustainability and not burn out and support their well-being. and also, i think this will ultimately be good for businesses because they may find themselves contacting their workers so much, giving them no time to rest, and burning them out or even pushing them to other places in the world. now where they do offer these types

of support and protections, which can certainly make sense. >> and i also want to talk about who else is exempt from this, because from what i understand, those who are in a union, such as a tv news anchors, for example, do happen to be exempt. >> yes. if you are in a union and you have a collective bargaining agreement, this should be something that's negotiated as part of that agreement, hopefully if this passes, that would now become a feature of collective bargaining agreements with when unions are negotiating with employers, emergencies are exempt, scheduling is exempt. and really this allows for companies, or businesses or professions to craft the type of policies that make the most sense for them and the needs that they have from their workers. but their workers should always consent to it. and right now, there's often a gray area murkiness, a lack of consent where people are just expected to be on and available and working all the time and can't even put their phone away when they're with their kids, this is something that i think that we can fix by just being a

bit more transparent and clear around these policies. yeah, it's so interesting to see how the world has changed. >> i remember my dad, he always taught us right, first one in, last one out, because there wasn't a cell phone available. right? he couldn't be hounded by his employer, you know, what about cases where maybe your boss needs to call you about a last minute schedule change? are there other exceptions? >> yes, we have scheduling explicitly exempt, emergencies exempt. you know, one call here and there. of course not. none of this is, again meant to punish anybody, really? we're asking companies, employers to be more explicit, have a policy, agree to an employee about what their hours are going to be about, when they might have some time that's more protected, and stick to it. and of course, there can always be exceptions or emergency scheduling, etc, this is intended to be flexible, but. right now, we don't have any clarity. clarity. we don't have any protections that are required. and so we have this 24 seven available creep that i think is creating a lot of

problems for, workers in our state, for the competitiveness of our industries. and ultimately, this will be a selling point for california to say we're a place that will take care of our workers. you're going to work hard. sometimes. you might have to work long hours, but we are going to protect some time for you and your kids and for you to rest as well. >> yeah. and i think in many ways, california already has so many protections in place, such as today with the minimum wage going up for those fast food workers, things like that, what about the criticism that perhaps there are bigger issues to tend to first? do you have a response to that? >> well, the quality of life and well-being of people and their time that they can spend with their families and their kids is a pretty important issue, right now, we have many people in california who can never shut down, who can never take a break. and we're seeing high levels of stress. we're seeing high levels of unhappiness in our state, mental health issues, industries that are losing high skilled workers to other places. so this is pretty important for

the future of our state. and it really speaks to something that is foundational in how we live. you got to be able to work hard and do your job. and we also got to make sure people have some time to, to shut down and be with their kids and take care of kids, especially coming out of pandemic, making sure we have that interrupted, uninterrupted time to give them the support and the love that they need. >> matt, i've got one last question for you because from what i know, you have already started implementing this within your own office. how has that worked out? are you happier? are your people happier, i think they're happier. >> you know, part of this, again, is just to make sure we have the conversation up front and be a little bit more intentional or cognizant of it, just because, you know, you can reach somebody at any hour doesn't necessarily mean that you should. just because you're working doesn't mean that they are, so we've reduced the number of text threads. we've stopped contacting each other after certain hours, and honestly, i think our people are happier. they're less, overworked. and, it's also just made us more

cognizant about how we interact with each other, and when there's work time and when there's rest time. and trust me, there's still a lot of work time. so, we get the job done. >> yeah. it's amazing what you can do if you have a deadline of certain. of course. that's for sure. all right. assembly member matt haney, always a pleasure. >> thanks for being here with us. yes. >> great to see you. and congratulations to you on on your new child as well. >> oh thank you. >> i am definitely trying to practice work life balance. easier said than done. great. thanks. all right. well coming up, eclipse excitement. with just six days to go, astronomy lovers are gearing up. we'll find out what to know and where to watch. righ

are buzzing about a rare phenomenon in space. a total solar eclipse. millions of americans will be able to watch the moon completely block out the sun next monday in the bay area. we'll get a partial view. so joining us live now to talk all about it is andrew fraknoi, professor of astronomy at the fromm institute at the university of san francisco. thank you for joining us. is this still cool and exciting for you, someone who does this for a living. oh yes. >> we call eclipses the super bowl of sky spectacles, and i think it's justly deserves that name. at least the total eclipse does. and, many people, 32 million people, will be seeing a total eclipse. and then the rest of us, 500 million people in north america will see a partial eclipse of this. >> a little bit more specific than when and where can we see the partial eclipse on april 8th, and where can the total one be seen? >> so the total eclipse is

visible on a path about 100 miles wide that goes from western mexico through texas, up through indiana and into upstate new york and new england, but but here in san francisco, we're going to see a partial eclipse with about 45% of the sun's diameter, taken out by the moon. so it looks like the moon is taking a big bite out of the sun. and as you can see on the screen, we'll start monday at about 10:14 a.m, the biggest bite will be about 1113, and it'll all be over by 12:16 p.m. so i'm recommending that people maybe spend from 11 to 1130, finding safe ways to look at this eclipse. okay. >> well, this is very appropriate because i remember after the 2017 eclipse, there were all these reports of people having some severe vision problems. they didn't wear the

right glasses, for example, how can we be safe this time around? >> and actually, it turns out that there weren't as many as originally thought of people who permanently damaged their eyes. but you're absolutely right. it's very dangerous to look at the sun when any part of it is showing. and normally we don't do that because we're we're it hurts. but sometimes during an eclipse, people get overenthusiastic. so there are safe to view eclipse glasses. you see them on the picture there. and i'm happy to report that we have a project. we astronomers have a project where, with the support of the moore foundation, 6 million such eclipse glasses are being distributed by 13,000 public libraries free of charge. and i checked, there are still some bay area libraries that have free glasses available, so gently check with your librarian. don't get mad if they're out. but here in san francisco, i know, for example, the west portal branch of the

san francisco library still had some left. when i was chatting with them yesterday, if you can't get these special glasses, sunglasses won't do. but a really interesting way to project a safe image of the sun is to use a colander. and that may sound like i'm crazy. yes, that a colander. but here's what you do. stand with your back to the sun. bring a household colander and hold it over your shoulder so that the holes in it are pointing toward the sun, but you're not looking at the sun and the shadow that the colander makes on the sidewalk in that shadow. each hole in the colander will act like a pinhole projector, and you'll see lots of images of the eclipsed sun in the shadow. and if you're standing in the middle of the sidewalk holding a colander over your shoulder, some neighbor will likely come out and ask if you're okay, and then you can show them the eclipse and get a whole neighborhood viewing going

. >> oh boy. andrew. at first i thought this was a belated april fool's joke because when you said colander, i had to scratch my head. but that makes a lot of sense. we just have to make sure we implement it correctly and turn away from the sun. >> absolutely. and you can do other things. you can use a pinhole projector where you make a pinhole on a piece of cardboard and get one image. some people like to take a hand mirror, cover most of it with cardboard and make a hole a little smaller than a dime. and you can use that hand mirror to project an image of the sun onto a wall. all of those are safe. the images are safe to look at, but don't look at the sun directly. don't look through your smartphone. don't look through sunglasses. if possible, use these eclipse glasses from the library or you can buy them in many museum and college bookstores. but if you don't have one, the calendar is still my favorite way of saving. >> these are some great tips, especially knowing where to get those glasses, because i know that there have been counterfeit

ones the last time around. i want to shift gears to school, because we know that schools that are in the path of the eclipse have teachers planning special lessons about it. can you tell me if there have been some obstacles in? >> well, in 2017, the last time we had such an eclipse at the last minute, many school administrators became frightened of the insurance issues and forbade the teachers to go outside at all. so this year we've been working not just with teachers, but with administrators, to reassure them that with the right preparation and the teacher really reviewing safe viewing, uh- students going out with pinhole projectors or with the right glasses can be an amazing learning experience. it's so rare that we get to see the power of the scientists and science to predict things as clearly as we do with eclipses. we can predict them a thousand years in advance and they happen on schedule. >> wow, we have learned so much,

not only for what kids can learn in school by what happened in 2017, but also on a bigger front , a scientific front, real quickly, what happens if we have a cloudy day? come eclipse day? >> that's right. so then the exploratorium, our bay area science museum, is working with nasa to live. cast the eclipse. you can see it on youtube. you can go to the exploratorium. org website and see the plans for, for essentially giving you a tv view. and there are eclipse viewing parties, as you can see here on the screen planned for many of the, astronomical institutions in the bay area. so check with them for precise information and timing. >> you are chock full of information. where will you be by have everything planned out for yourself? >> that's.

information. i'm not allowed >> we'll explore when getting answers

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this is a destination spot. for disney bundle subscribers, hulu on disney+ is here. for some new workplace developments include not only office space, but listen to this a private spa, fitness center, even a golf simulator. our media partner, the sf standard, took a deep dive into a new such

facility in menlo park. so joining us live is the standards business reporter, kevin nguyen. my mind is blown. the idea of a golf simulator. have we gone soft here? >> hey, deon, it's good to be with you. yeah. i mean, look, we're in the post pandemic world where landlords have to work a lot harder to bring people back into office. right? so we're seeing just not a flight to quality, but also people are thinking now about a flight to experience. yeah. >> clearly a cafeteria is no longer just enough. let's dive right into the development itself, because the one in menlo park, it's called spring line, a resort by the developers presidio bay ventures. it sounds too good to be true, but run us through what's included. >> yeah, so i think what's important to pick apart here, because, you know, there are a lot of complexes that offer a lot of amenities, but this is specifically a san francisco themed resort, as i would call it. you have all the businesses there are san francisco are from san francisco. so you're thinking like che fico, bare

bottle brewing andytown coffee roasters, burma love, you name it. they're all coalescing here in this complex of menlo park, and it's next to fully leased offices and apartments. and in there it's all inclusive, right? that's what people think of when they think of resorts. there's a spa, there's a gym. all of it's all wrapped into this one facility. again, that's kind of flying in the face of san francisco, which is struggling with in commercial real estate. yeah. >> and this resort like concept apparently happening in san francisco as well. 88 spear in particular, was mentioned in your piece, the developer's next project. what do we know about that site? >> yeah, well, it's one of these classic buildings in the financial district. it was built in 1967, 11 stories, and for the longest time it was just a pure office tower, you know, pre-pandemic. i think people should remember that, you know, office space, office vacancy was near zero. so, you know, times were good. people didn't have to update their buildings much. well, now, after covid, it's

vacant and it was sold for over a 60% discount. >> and obviously, the thing i think about in comparison, the comparing the two cities is that space is a premium in fidai compared to menlo park. can you talk to me about the amenities that will be attracting tenants there? >> yeah, well, i think the biggest thing that presidio bay wants to do at 88 spears, they want to add a completely entire new floor. so they want to build a new rooftop restaurant that will be kind of the jewel of that new jewel of that area to, you know, to bring in new guests. but they're going to diversify the building beyond. it's not just going to be office anymore. it can't be, you know, they're going to build that gym. they want to include, like all these pools that you can float or dunk into a different temperatures. they want to have personal trainers there. acupoint archer, and then they want to turn parts of it into like co-working space, a cafe just again bring bringing like a more diverse set of uses for this building outside of just

hey, let's lease it out to a few office tenants of leases, we know that the commercial real estate market has taken a real hit in recent years. there's been a lot of talk about vacancies. how has the situation improved, and can you share a little bit more about the sales and what those have been like? >> yeah. so as i alluded to with the 88 spear, you know we're still in the early innings of a what they call a market reset in which things are going to fly off the shelf at a discounted rate. they just have to write. these buildings are no longer occupied by office tenants that generate revenue. so, you know, to answer your question, we're we're still in the early innings of that reset uh- activity is picking up in the office sector, but right now we have to wait for that reset to play through. and we have to we have to remember that tech is contracting. last year was a year of layoffs, so we need these companies to start kind of picking up steam and creating jobs again, which will then

create a demand for office and that brings me to the next question, because in your article, you mentioned something called tier one properties. >> tell everyone what that is. and also if they're going to be getting that asking price, you think? >> yeah. so i mean the top level number for office vacancies in san francisco is bad. but when you drill down to the nuance, the properties that have the best views, best location are near transit, have a lot of amenities. those are doing well. those those asking rents are still going for about, 40% more than the rest of the city. so you know, once you look into the details, there's always a little more nuance. and people still want to go to the best places. >> well, speaking of best places, you mentioned some pretty big names when talking about menlo park, andytown coffee. burma love che fico. did they have some incentive to move all the way to menlo park? >> yeah, a lot of these businesses i spoke to, they weren't even thinking about going that way until it was actually presidio bay that really, picked them out

specifically. again, you know, they went into menlo park with the idea of taking this taking san francisco and bringing it there because they're believers in it, and they're from san francisco. so what i found out was, presidio bay was just actually a really motivated landlord who got involved with the permitting process, just made the tenants life easier because they want they believed in their product and they didn', you know, have these companies figure it out for themselves. >> yeah. real quickly, any insight, any sneak peeks onto the tenants potentially for 88 spear then? >> yeah, i mean, obviously we're still very early on. they got to get these permits approved. but the heads up presidio bay tell me that they're they want to keep betting on these local businesses, these homegrown concepts like they did at spring line. they they believe in san francisco. and they want these, the businesses that are grown here to keep growing here. okay. >> and we shall see. kevin win of the sf standard. thank you so much for joining us. thanks, diane. all right. and you can

check out kevin's story and more of the sf standard's oth

tonight, the tornado threat right now. the possibility of long track tornadoes already multiple reported twisters. the system moving into the east next. heavy rain, destructive winds. this will effect travel all along i-95, washington, d.c., up through new york city. millions of americans on alert tonight for these potential long track tornadoes from kentucky to indiana to ohio. already a state of emergency tonight in kentucky, where three ef-1 tornadoes have already been