>> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe and secure future, this is abc7 news. good afternoon. i'm kristen sze. we're asking every day to get answers in realtime. we tackle several hot topics. covid tourism in tahoe. the blakck lives matter fight over a park in palo alto and presidential elections, specifically, vote by mail during the pandemic. also, we want to address how to fly safely during a pandemic. flyers facing a patchwork of rules on airlines regarding the middle seat so reggie aqui talked to an expert about how to fly safely now. >> since the beginning of the

pandemic, a lot of you wondering, including me, what the chances are of getting sick on a plane from covid-19? as we've gone through this, we haven't seen a lot of studies on this until now. i saw this very interesting study done recently by professor at m.i.t. and look, chances of catching covid-19 from an airplane, what does your research show? >> first of all, no one knows exact exactly, the issue is whether or not important from the safety perspective to keep the middle seat empty, some airlines like delta, jetblue, southwest are keeping the middle seat empty on their planes, the narrow-body planes. whereas america, united and spiritre fildle

seat. alaska is also keeping the middle seat empty. i know it's an important airline in san francisco, and i remember thinking it's very rare, extraordinarily rare that u.s. airlines differ overtly on a matter related to safety. anyway, so i tried various approximations, which i'm glad to describe the interminable lens and if you're on a plane, like a 737 or airbus 320 that is completely full, your chance of coming down with covid-19 because of the flight is something like one in 4300. >> hearing an echo right now, thank you for taking care of that. i appreciate it. i want to get back to the issue of mail-in ballots because as you know, president trump is talking a lot about that and that process and why he thinks

it's going to lead to massive voter fraud this november. joining me now to talk about how to make sure your vote is counted is california secretary of state, alex, good afternoon secretary perdilla. >> 81 days until election day. 52 arriving in mailboxes in california. >> how many days? what is the date? do the math. i'll circle it on my calendar. >> to give us a little bit of wiggle room, the first week of october. so plenty early in california for voters, ample time to fill it out and send it back. >> all right. secretary, it is your job to ensure the integrity and access to voting in california. i want to start with this. for those who don't understand the crisis and the battle over the postal service, and have just heard bits and pieces in the news, what exactly is going on? >> look, we're hearing a lot of frankly, baseless attacks against vote by mail. let's know the truth. vote by mail is nothing new in

california and nothing new in states across the country. we've been using it for decades. it is successful. it's secure. it is probably the safest way to vote this november given the covid-19 pandemic. but sadly every time trump raises an issue, it's his confessional because he's the one attacking and threatening to pull resources from the postal service when we need it to not just make our democracy but keep our economy moving along. >> let's think about that. bottom line. vote by mail is is a big thing in this country and more people wanted to do it that way. safe thing to do, contactless. more need for processing. they're taking mail sorting machines out from some postal

facilities, mailboxes from the street and is it happening in california? >> i've heard some of the same reports and postal service say there may be delays later on but the same form other states are getting. here's why california is in a better state than most. you should get your ballot four weeks prior to official election date, even if that's delayed and only three weeks before the election, still, plenty of time. you can deliver it to a ballot dropbox but most convenient to mail it back. it's prepaid. don't worry about stamps. california allows that as long as they're postmarked before or on election day

tablgs a few weeks after, it will still be they will vote significantly for the first time, great experience of vote by mail. from the voter standpoint and working with the postal service and so look at my concern, yes, am i panicking, no. if for no other reason, another relief package prior to the election and a minimum, another appropriations bill out of congress to keep the government functioning. a negotiation between the white house and both houses in

congress should give the postal service the resources they need. >> speaking of that, party does want $25 billion and 25 million for the postal service which the president said no way to, but of course, today, just today, is your fear in the states we're talking about where there's sundayly getting all the extra volume of mail-in ballots and don't have more machines. maybe they have less. what does that mean? especially with a deadline unlike ours, needs to be postmarked. what could happen? >> it's unconscionable and then trump making it harder for people to vote and protect their health at the same time. we should be making it easier to

stay safe. what can we do? not just in california but in states across the country, the best thing we can do is educate voters. let them know what the rules are, make a plan. start with how they want to vote by person or mail, execute the plan early. i don't think anybody's waiting until the night before the election to decide how to vote. >> true. although, i have waited until the night before even day of to send mine out, put it in the mail and it's in but i guess your message this year is don't wait. let's say you get it by mid october, send it in. >> get it done right away, and for california voters, go to both and click on the tool

that's statewide for voters. sign up to receive text message alerts or phone message alerts on the status of your ballot through the postal delivery process and imagine getting a notification with the ballot that was received and counted. great for transparency, great for accountability, and great for confidence in vote by mail. >> got it. wow, that's terrific. i had not heard about that. i want to ask you. the whole fact this has gotten political, does mail-in voting usually favor one party or another? is there more of an advantage for one party to encourage that in another party to not? >> not just the ability to cast your ballot but during the pandemic, being able to exercise

the right to vote and protect your health, and that's why it's unconscionable, those opposing the expansion of vote by mail, not only making it harder for people to vote than it needs to be but also increasing public health risk a number that continue to climb nationwide for national leadership, because of a lack of national leadership and we will not let our democracy be a casualty of this pandemic. >> i know you're really bachelor's degree . >> when we come back, we'll talk about the battle over an access to a palo alto park

we're back. foothills park in palo alto restricted to residents, palo alto residents since it opened in 1965. but that's going to change, possibly, with a pilot program, letting non-residents bypass the visit but is that enough, some say no. joining me now, are two guests, respected retired judge for superior judge of california, ladoris cordell and a teen activist, angelie, good to you, judge cordell and angelie. >> good to be here. >> judge cordell, tell me about the history of that park. we know it's a gem in palo alto.

non-residents are not allowed. it's always been that way. so why is it coming to a head now. it has come to a head many times befo before. it came to a head also when i was a member of the palo alto city council, city council gave pushback. here we are now at the time of black lives matter where we're getting a better understanding of how systems work and how is a time when we want to be close so the push is on again and i think we're at a tipping point now. it's time to open this park. >> you see this area,

desegregate. you were part of a team group that painted that mural on the ground as part of a protest. talk to me about why you feel like it's open to non-residents. i understand you heard from the mayor of east palo alto nearby and that really woke up something in you. tell me about it. >> sure. thank you. i think the park policy is always something that's bothered me. i can walk into the park from where i live, so it's never been a question of my personal access. but it just never sat right with me that anybody would be denied, and always had a vision of someone thoughtfully packing up the picnic, to be turned away at the gate. that always bugged me but the m call at a black lives matter protest how palo alto uses racist housing policies that were, in effect, in the 1950s and '60s, at the time the park

was established and those policies were designed to keep palo alto away. so i don't think it's too difficult to understand how a residents only policy for a city that used those racist housing policies to create its demographic is going to be racist in the present and into the future. >> judge cordell, let me ask you. i understand you could get in if you're a company by palo alto resident. you have to show an id but i want to ask you, was there favorable treatment to people or not people of color, i guess white people, who were not residents? was there any differences in the way people were treated and were there arbitrary decisions about who would get in? >> i don't believe there's any kind of data that shows that people of different races are treated differently. we know palo alto is 1.6% african-american and this was way back in the '60s. so also, in which if you are not, you don't have the money to

live in palo alto if you have wealth, if you have privilege, then you cannot get access. this park, one of the arguments used is that if you open it up, it's going to be overrun by people in the park and that's just not true. the data shows that on average, there's about 150,000 people a year that come to the park, and in the 1970s, there was even a high of 370,000 in a year, and there was no problem at all in the park. so what we have, and i want to also add to that, about 3,000 people on average, 3,000 people a year are turned away from the park. so, you know, the city council, one last thing, the city council has to their, to complement them, they allow black lives matter to be painted on the block, on the street of in front of city hall but it's an empty gesture if it's not followed by action. so i think it's against the law

that it's unconstitutional and it's not going to stop here. we'll keep pushing until we get the park open. >> does that mean a potential lawsuit? >> absolutely, if that's where we end up, we'll see them in court. >> i want to ask you though. the city council recently passed this pilot program. they do allow some 50 cars or non-residents, i understand you have to register ahead of time, right? and you have to get a permit that costs $6. you know, does this strike you as feasible or is that still insufficient? only on the condition that one of them is revenue neutral. we're told at the city council meeting it was not possible so yet another empty gesture, and all it did was buy them time.

they said we need to open this park and they need to get rid rr the ordinance nothing changed since the city council met, nothing. >> i want to, as a young ng ng g you see inequity around you in the form of environmental access, access to open space, parks, recreational activities. i know you've gone to different schools. do you see the different experiences that different types of students have had? >> well, i mean, i think it's absolutely true that having access to a 1400 acre nature preserve is definitely not

something that everyone considers available, and what i hear a lot, there's all these other parks that folks can go to but not all parks are the same and doesn't necessarily make sense to say, you can't be led into this park but you have other options, go over there. i think that sort of smacks of some rhetoric we all understand to be wrong. and i think that when we have, you know, the beautiful california landscape, and we have a beautiful park in los altos hills, doesn't make sense to say anybody in the bay area should be deprived of access and i think there's extensive research about the importance of having access to outdoor recreation on the effect it has on our mental health. the effect it has on educational outcomes in children, and i don't think it makes sense to say that all parks are the same and that it doesn't matter if folks get into this park. >> all right. your mental health of all youth

matters a lot. judge ladoris cordell, thank you for keeping us posted and we'll talk to you again soon. >> thank you. >> when we come back, we'll talk about whether tourists should go to lake tahoe right now. protests are how about poor fred wilson? what a shame. so soon after retiring. i hear his wife needed help with the funeral expenses. that's ridiculous! -he had social security. -when my brother died, his wife received a check from social security, all right-- for $255! the funeral costs were well over $8,000. how on earth did she pay for it? fortunately, my brother bought additional life insurance -before he retired. -whew! i bet that cost a pretty penny, huh? not with colonial penn. coverage options start at just $9.95 a month. less than 35 cents a day. i have it myself. we both do. -both of you? -that's right. neither of us had to answer any health questions or take a physical exam.

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local tourist spots in northern california right now are fed up. people who live in tahoe protesting along highway 50 to discourage people from showing up. they see a surge in the area of covid partly blamed on out of town visitors. >> tourism, a lot of people do make their money and living off of people coming here and that is a major part of the economy. but at what point is enough? and that's kind of the big question here, in my book. >> all right. so that's how some people feel but not everyone me n is jared

the idea of discouraging tourists. jared, what do you do? >> so i own aloha ice cream. it's an ice cream shop here in south lake tahoe and i own the tahoe club crawl which i lose 100% of my summer business because of covid-19. nightlife tour that i do that's all gone due to covid-19. so now running my ice cream shop that's going really well. it's been a very busy summer. and it's been crazy. people are a little with everything going on. restaurants don't have indoor seating and they're doing takeout, everyone is just a little overwhelmed.

the city hasn't kept up with the picking up of the trash and people are trying to use trash biproblem hey're overflowing and that's l tt'lyhy bausa the tourists are coming in, not taking care of the pristine beautiful lake tahoe environment and trashing things? do you not see that and do you not worry about that? >> i have seen graffiti, i can't guarantee you. i been to places only locals kind of go and i've seen graffiti. i see the trash, people try to my ice cream shop trash and i stare out at the lake right across from the ice cream shop and there's a trash can right there that's the city trash can

overflowed. we need twice a day pick-ups that needs to happen. >> that protest is allegedly starting right about now. it was slated for friday afternoon. is it happening already? people out there? >> i was going to go down there and see what was going on. i think, yeah, i'm sure it's happening. you know, and the initial poster that came out, the guy josh who initially said he was upset with the trash, he didn't create the poster and the poster that came out was like a baby in a gas mask and it said, stay out of tahoe. not to keep people out of tahoe but first reactions is everything. and looks like they want people?

>> we're almost out of time so i got to ask you, because we have seen the videos of lots of people, bus loads congregates in and on the

thank you so much for joining us on this interactive "getting answers" show. we'll be back here every weekday on air and live stream answering your questions today, we talk with california secretary of state alex t maker vcots u's track your ballot, that's vote.ca.gov. and you'll actually be able to track it like a package delivery and see it's gotten back to them. we talked about the tahoe

tourist situation, and also talked about that park in palo tonight, breaking news -- the election warning. the u.s. postal alert in more than 20 states. mail-in ballots may not be deliver in the time. including to some key battleground states. this as president trump campaigns against mail-in voting, threatening to withhold funding from the post office. even as he and the first lady request their mail-in ballots in florida. tonight, former president barack obama accusing trump of trying to kneecap the postal service. also developing the grim new forecast showing as many as 200,000 u.s. lives may be lost by labor day, as americans remain divided over schools, news tonight from the cdc about survivors of the coronavirus and how long they may be protected after beating it.