announcer: building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc7 news. >> you are watching getting answers on abc seven, everyday we talk to experts about issues important to the bay area and get your answers in real time. as another winter like store moves through the bay area, today we are taking a deeper look at the impact the recent weather is having on a number of different fronts. san francisco mayor london breed will join us to talk about that as well as a new plan to revitalize business downtown and in union square. while we are on the topic, the recent rain has softened soil and triggered what you could call tree carnage. julie's a gorgeous joins us to talk about the impact of losing

so many trees. but first if it is raining, it must be tuesday. for the third tuesday in a row, we have had stormy weather. joining us live is spencer christian to talk about the latest storm. the good news, it is tapering off. spencer: it is. it helps our forecasting that we can predict every tuesday, we get a storm. it is remarkable that three consecutive tuesdays have produced similar weather. you can see we still have relatively widespread rainfall, but notice this really late -- or, not really raining at all in the bay. there's some widespread light rainfall from san francisco across the bay to the east bay. the heaviest and steadiest activity right now has shifted to the north bay and continues to move southeast. san jose, sunnyvale, all of those locations moving southward

from the peninsula, are getting a good dose of rainfall. we still have occasional gusts, but the system is weakening. we are keeping this, for the moment, on the storm impact scale at a level two because it's impacts are going to be felt through the afternoon and the commute. the intensity of the storm is far lower than it was earlier in the day. this will shortly be a level one storm. for the afternoon, periods of rain will be heavy. gusts up to 35 miles an hour. but overall, the wind has diminished. there is still the possibility of downed trees and slick roadways. here a forecast animation. notice how quickly the main body of that storm will be out of here. by 7:00. there will be areas of showers and maybe a brief down for or two following the main body of the storm. in terms of widespread steady, heavy rain cover that will be over by 7:00.

through the remainder of the night and overnight and through tomorrow, we can expect periods of showers again, and an occasional downpour as possible. we won't have the strong wind we had today. right now, surface wind is down under 20 miles an hour just about everywhere. earlier today, we had gusts up to 55 miles per hour. even in higher elevations, although gusty, nothing closed -- close to the gusts we had earlier. we are looking right now generally at 20 to 30 mile-per-hour gusts with a few locations higher. is significant. most locations right now are about 10 to 15° cooler than they were this time yesterday. there is a live view looking over san francisco where it is cloudy and there is light rain. temperature readings mainly in the upper 40's. 50° --

at the golden gate, it is not currently reigning but the pavement is wet and that is the case across the bay area. even if it is not raining on you, the pavement may be slippery. other temperature readings in the north bay, 40 inch to about 50° in santa rosa. fairfield in the upper 40's. these are our forecast features as we look at traffic slowly creeping along over in emeryville. the wind and rain will continue diminishing into the nighttime hours. showers tomorrow with brief sunny and dry thursday and friday. rainfall totals tomorrow will be quite impressive. one to 2.5 inches. it wind advisory remains in effect until 8:00, but not the north bay. the most intense features of the storm have moved out of the north bay. those tonight, low to mid 40's. highs tomorrow, low to mid 50's. as you look at our seven-day forecast you can see we are

looking forward to mainly sunny and dry days thursday and friday. but saturday, sunday and monday, will be expect some periods of light rain or showers. the sun -- dion: we need the drying out because of the soft soil, that way the soil can hold those trees a little better. can you forecast a little bit longer term? are we in this pattern for the foreseeable future? spencer: we can look ahead with a lower degree of accuracy than just for seven days, but it does appear we are in a pattern of a couple of days of drying out followed by two or three days of precipitation. last week's storm is a level three. today was a level two. the next system moving in, it is so far looking like a relatively light level one. if there is a pattern developing, if we can perceive a pattern i guess it would be that storms to come over the next

week or two look like they will be later, which may indicate we are moving into some calmer, dry, spring weather in the coming weeks. dion: i want to address the wind. last tuesday, we saw nearly 80 miles an hour. is there a wind situation anticipated later this week? spencer: not at the moment. there could be a minimal increase in wind when the storms develop. maybe 25 mile an hour gusts. that is how it seems to be shaping up but we do not see anything at the moment for the weekend storm that would need to hate the need for a wind advisory -- indicate a need for an advisory. dion: something we are focusing on, given the damage we have seen. i know we will get another check with you today at 4:00. sounds good. we will be right back with mayor london breed to talk about the impact of the recent storms as

well as a new plan to boost business downtown and in union square.

dion: san francisco on high alert after last week's weather cause a lot of problems. we saw falling glass from buildings downtown and hundreds of toppled trees and branches. today, san francisco fire closed some streets downtown after cracking was reported in high-rise windows. joining us live, a familiar face, mayor london breed who announced an emergency declaration ahead of today's storm. good to have you back let's talk about the state of things today, compared to last tuesday where we saw so much damage it does

not seem to be as bad this time. >> it is an example of the fact that climate change is real and we have a lot of work to do to make sure we are prepared for conditions that san francisco has never experienced. with a lot of the things happening downtown, the windows, nothing happened today, but we did out of an abundance of caution close down streets still being repaired from the last storm. the emergency declaration gives us the ability to respond more quickly and to hold businesses accountable differently so that we can ensure that people are safe. it is going to be tough for a little bit, but i think the storm today so far has not been as problematic as last week. dion: increasing the speediness of response. what happened the last time around? we saw trees on roadways, on top of cars and often times for days after the storm.

why was there such a slow response? >> it was not a slow response. we are often given information by the national weather service and we respond to it best on the best of our ability. it did not just happen here in san francisco it happened in the entire bay area. it happened in los angeles where there were unexpected conditions that had never occurred before. as a result, we responded immediately. we had a number of emergency personnel blocking streets. fortunately no one was hurt. we saw a lot of trees down. 311 was overwhelmed, but he was bonded -- we responded quickly and cleaned up a lot of the debris. weather conditions have changed and we are doing our best to make sure we are prepared and ready to respond when things occur. even if they are not anticipated. dion: the response may have been

quick, where it is on your radar and people have been deployed to the areas that need help, but what about the issue of staffing? could that may be be what people are perceiving? >> no, it is not staffing. i would say if anyone has a tree down in their neighborhood, they can call 411 to report it. in the past, 311 is a system where we respond in 72 hours. during this storm, we had over 400 trees we had to clean up, so we had to respond to that. it took a little longer than we are traditionally used for. but right now, if anyone has debris in their neighborhood that is blocking the sidewalk, please call 311 right away because we prioritize those things. dion: i'm glad you mentioned the distinction. 311 versus 911. what we are seeing right now is clogged storm drains.

it is always good to remind people of the differences there. i wanted to take a moment to ask you on the topic of legislation to support downtown and union square. we know the vacancy rate for offices downtown is about 25% or so. what does this legislation to to fill those empty spaces? >> some of the legislation we introduced is to help make it easier to convert. whether it is biotech, housing or what have you. doing business in san francisco and trying to change things is sometimes very problematic. downtown currently is zoned for housing, but the legislation may hamper the conversion of some of the underutilized at obsolete downtown office building to housing. it could unlock thousands of housing units. this legislation relaxes our planning code garments like rear yards. it does not make sense for conversions of existing

buildings to have real yards. it gets rid of that requirement. inclusionary housing. it depends on how good the building is. all of this technical stuff that is were tired when we are building new housing and what we are saying is, let's get rid of all of that. especially in some of our old buildings that could be easily converted to make it faster to get housing downtown as well as convert other properties for other uses besides office space. dion: cutting through the red tape, expediting the process. but we all know the red tape sometimes takes ages. how much faster do you anticipate this actually being implemented? >> this, along with a number of other measures, our goal is to cut it by anywhere between six and 18 months. we are talking about doing these things a lot faster where there is not even they were garments that has to go through an extensive planning process. it will vary based on the

legislation. as you know, downtown recovery is important, but we are hired under state law to build 82,000 units of housing in san francisco in the next eight years. we are going to be proposing a laundry list of proposals changes to policy in order to get rid of the process that gets in the way of housing or anything else we are trying to do and something that also makes it a lot more expensive to do business or to do housing in any capacity. dion: it impacts not just people who need a home, the people to maybe start a business. >> yes. dion: i know that similar proposals have been implemented in other parts of the country. with great results, some. manhattan, for example. they have double-digit vacancy rates. how has that served as a for how san francisco has structured this new plan?

what are some points of feedback in the cities? >> i would say that san francisco is just like new york, very dense. but we are a different kind of city. we do not want to necessarily be new york. we want to maintain our neighborhood character. but we have a lot of underutilized properties. i think the biggest issue for us is we have to make sure we make it easier to do the kinds of things we need. we have a vacancy rate, office space, close to 25% in san francisco. yet for the biotech industry, which is an emergency -- that is less than 5%. conversion to use it for those particular purposes could make a big difference. it is going to be necessary to diversify the workforce of san francisco. it cannot just be tech and those sitting at a desk in the financial industry. it is going to have to be a lot

of different things and that includes housing, that includes making downtown a more vibrant neighborhood for people to go. not just monday through friday 9:00 to 5:00, but the evenings and weekends. we are going to change how san francisco looks and feels and that is somewhat similar to what other cities want to see done to their downtown as well. >> it is nice to see that vibrancy come back it is good to have you. stay dry. >> you too. dion: stay with here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. the three what? the three ps? what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54 and was a smoker, but quit.

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use this valuable guide to record your important information and give helpful direction to your loved ones with your final wishes. and it's yours free just for calling. so call now for free information. dion: one consequence of our storms, all of the fallen trees, or as described by our partners at the substandard, tree carnage. we have been reporting on those trees falling on power, on top of cars or in some instances, hurting bystanders. the standard dug into the dangerous problem in say tree loss across the city is worse

than you think joining a slip that you think. joining us is a reporter for the sf standard. first off, i have to commend you. this is very in-depth and i learned a lot. >> thank you. i appreciate that. dion: let's start with this question. why are so many trees falling in the city? initial reports mentioned more than 700. we know about issues of soft soil, but what else? >> there's a lot of different factors. one thing is the intensity of the storms to begin with. we have seen almost 80 mile-per-hour wind. multiple bomb cyclone's. atmospheric river's. when the soil gets so saturated with water, then more waterfalls , there is nothing for the roots to hold onto, which makes it easier for trees to topple. what i tried to explore in my article is that it is not just about the storm weather.

there are pre-existing conditions. that have made them more vulnerable and more susceptible to failure. some of those include poor pruning over many years and decades of private pruning that did not keep up with adequate care for the trees, which made them very top-heavy. therefore, more susceptible to wind. trees being planted in very narrow sidewalk strips where their roots cannot really dig in and take hold. other factors like planting non-native trees. that might not be best adapted to our weather. dion: i think you linked another piece that says there are a number of tree species that should never have been planted to begin with. was the palm tree one of those? i do not recall. >> interestingly, some of our most historic trees, and yes, that is a thing.

be designated as historic landmarks, they are not native to san francisco. but these luxurious palms we equate with the caddis -- california lifestyle, but the canary date palm, the beautiful palm sideline dolores avenue, none of those are native to san francisco. those trees do hold up pretty well in windstorms because you can imagine thinking of a palm tree in florida, it can almost get benched to the ground, then spring up again. we have not seen as many palm trees fail, but they are trees that technically shouldn't even be here. dion: my producers has ficus is on the list as well. that can cause major problems. one gripe we have heard from viewers, certainly people in my own neighborhood, is that days after tree branches fell and littered the streets, they would block roads and cause headaches. they were still there.

the question sands, who is responsible for cleaning up? >> typically the department of public works will come to clean up fallen trees. but there were so many incident reports in such a short amount of time, they basically had to triage the situation and move limbs that were may blocking traffic or very dangerous and then they would leave the rest and come back to it later because there were so many trees falling across the city that they were not able to respond to all of them at once. dion: she spoke about the difference between 311 and 911 earlier in our show and how there was an influx to both, it was almost overwhelming. something in your article that i did not know about was the shrinking tree canopy in san francisco. that the rate of new trees being planted does not equal the rate of them being removed. can you elaborate on that?

>> this is a concerning trend. we already have one of the smallest urban canopies in the u.s. our tree cover is about 13%. los angeles is 20%. portland is 30%. we have a small urban canopy to begin with. with the rate of trees that either die naturally or need to be removed for other reasons, we are not keeping up even close with the planting just to make up for those trees that naturally die off or get removed every year. let alone building up our tree canopy, which is part of san francisco's claimant resiliency plan, to plant more trees because trees are a natural carbon sink. this is one of the most effective ways to fight climate change. there is a plan for the city to plant more trees, yet we are so far behind maintaining what we already have let alone planting even more trees. it is a big problem. dion: it is a big problem and planting trees sounds like an easy fix.

however, it can cost a pretty penny. to plant a tree and also maintain it. what else can be done? this may take years. >> there needs to be more funding. proposition e, passed by voters in 2016 and took effect in 2017, a lot of people think that -- people think that took care of the trees, but it only helped with pruning and removal. there are no funds in proper ee for tree planting. there really needs to be somebody within the city government to dedicate to treeplanting given the expense, get also given how important it is, especially in light of how many tree failures we have had lately. dion: it feels like last tuesday's storm as a wake-up call to get people to understand how serious this is. i want to ask this, i mentioned it at the beginning of our conversation, i found your article very informative. can you tell me about the

reporting process? you mentioned you crawled through all of the data and were asking people to come forward if they have reports of trees. what was that research process like? how long did you have to work on this? >> it was pretty complex. part of what made it difficult is there are no fewer than 22 different jurisdictions that oversee trees in san francisco. just getting numbers from one department took upwards of a week or two and they had to piece together their own numbers. and then, a lot of fallen branches are mistaken for trees. so the numbers are not always accurate. it is really hard to gauge the actual number of trees that have fallen. given that there are so many different agencies, the department of public works, muni, caltrans, sfp uc, it can be really complicated to understand what the overall

picture looks like. you have to do a little bit of digging into reports and talk to a lot of different agencies as well as arborists and other people familiar with the overall landscape of the urban canopy of san francisco. dion: i can imagine. your article is that the sf standard website. check it out. it is a good reminder of the situation we have at hand. thank you. a quick reminder that you can always get our live newscasts, breaking news, weather and more with our abc 7 bay area news app tree me in pdf. you can find where to download it.

dion: thanks for joining us. we will be here every weekday at 3:00 answering questions from experts across the bay area. we will see you in 30 minute >> tonight the chilling video inside that nashville school, the police takedown of the shooter. surveillance showing the suspect audrey hale shooting into that school, firing through glass doors, stalking the halls, armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun. tonight hear police video showing officers racing into the school the moment they confront audrey hale on the second floor. two officers opening fire. new reporting here, what police have revealed about the suspect getting help for an emotional disorder and the seven guns legally purchased from five different gun stores. alex perez in nashville and pierre thomas and rachel scott in washington. tonight the breaking news here, involving former president trump. a judge now ordering former vice president mike pence to testify

about his conversations with