>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ kristen: hi there. i'm kristen sze. you are watching "getting answers" on abc7. every day, we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and we get answers for you in real time. today, 2.5 months after the coastal community of half moon moon bay was rocked by deadly workplace mass shooting deadly mass shooting on two farms, liz peña is still recovering from a ski injury and has put together a special for farmworkers, hidden crisis, tragedy and half moon bay. . she will join us in a few minutes. since that is the friday before easter, we will lighten things up and share with you the be

areas best easter egg hunts that you can take your whole family to. we will have some great ideas. first the death of a cycling champion from san francisco's renewing calls for protection and safety for cyclists and pedestrians in the city. ethan b. was the holder of several national titles in regards. he was hit by a car in the presidio. here to talk about the call to action is look born heimer -- luke bornheimer. thank you for your time. did you know ethan personally? >> i did not know him personally. i have many friends who did. who did know ethan. obviously he was well-known in the community. it was a really tragic day. kristen: to all those who knew him and knew of him, tell folks about his accomplishments in

cycling and what he meant. >> as you mentioned, he was a u.s. hi -- champion and an advocate for the sport. just a really traffic laws for the community and the city and for the cycling community as well. kristen: it happened on tuesday. what do you know about the details of the accident? >> so, what i know is that ethan was riding along a street in the presidio that has unprotectedpas nothing to protect people on bikes. the driver came across the road and hit ethan apparently had on. -- head on. so ethan went into the windshield of that driver's car and was killed. it's really unfortunate death that could have been prevented with protected bike

infrastructure. kristen: can you talk about when you say protected infrastructure, is that something concrete, something raised? >> in an ideal world, people o bicycles are fully separated from people driving cars by concrete or fully separated by paths. in this case, it was a paint only unprotected bike lane that did not provide protection. in an ideal world, there would be concrete there. but immediately i am calling for the presidio trust to install traffic posts there that would help to prevent something like this and make drivers drive slower and more carefully on that section of our boulevard. kristen: do you just mean signs that say slow down or watch for cyclists? >> no, so actually the most effective thing that has been proven around the world and in san francisco is to install physical infrastructure in the roadway. which makes drivers drive more slowly and carefully and less

recklessly. specifically posts in the roadway. the presidio has them on other streets. kristen: is that what we are looking at, the yellow posts? >> those are lighter weight, there are more substantial posts that can be installed. that can be installed to make it safer for people on bicycles. kristen: it is important to clarify and emphasize the investigation is in its early stages. are there any witness accounts the driver was speeding? >> i do not know of any accounts about the driver's behavior before the crash. but what i can't tell you is that many people including myself who have ridden bikes on that boulevard know that drivers drive fast and recklessly on that section because there is no physical infrastructure in the roadway to make them drive slower or more carefully. that is again why i am calling for physical infrastructure in

the roadway to make it safe for people including drivers. kristen: and that part on presidio near washington, is that an area used by a lot of cyclists? as a very popular? >> it is a tremendously popular right. not only for people riding to and from marin, but also families, seniors, people with limited mobility who ride bikes in the presidio, to drop their kids off at school and go to camps, visit things in the presidio. so it is a heavily used route for people on bicycles and it has zero protection in terms of physical infrastructure. kristen: there's been a lot of reaction especially from cycling advocates -- i just want to show this sweet from the san francisco bicycle coalition saying "this is the first vitality of a person riding a bicycle in 2023 and one is too many. last year, san francisco experienced the most traffic

fatalities in a decade yet the vision zero goal of ending traffic-related deaths and serious injuries by 2024 is just a year away." a couple of things to unpack here. let me just get your reaction to this, do you agree with the points they are making about the city kind of having been on a dangerous trend in terms of traffic fatalities, secondarily, the vision zero, what needs to be done together? >> -- to get there? >> so, as was mentioned in the tweet, san francisco had more roadway deaths last year than in any year since the vision bureau pledged was signed by the then supervisor in 2014. not only that, but we have a sustainable mode share goal of 80% of trips by sustainable modes by 2030. and we are moving in the wrong direction. we are at about 47% as a city and moving in the wrong direction.

so our city needs to take drastic measures to improve not only street safety but bike infrastructure so that people feel safe using bikes in our city so we can take climate action as well. kristen: are you saying the percentage of trips on bikes and suitable modes of transportation has actually gone down? and if so, why do you suppose that is? gas has gotten so expensive. is it truly the safety issue? >> yeah, that is exactly correct. the percentage of people using sustainable modes like bicycles to get around san francisco has decreased in the past few years. which is tragic and also results in more people driving cars which means likely more injuries and fatalities on our roadways. and so, the reason -- one of the primary reasons is, we lack safe bike infrastructure for people to feel safe riding bikes around our city and to be safe, so there are a massive amount of people who want to ride bikes and -- ride bikes

in san francisco but feel unsafe doing it. we need the mayor, mta, to prioritize that and make it a reality. kristen: do you think there is perception or a reality to it that you've written around for a long time here, have drivers become more distracted or less cautious, or is there more antagonism between cars and cyclists? >> certainly. there is more distraction and more lack of patience by drivers. but the great thing is that physical bike infrastructure -- protected bike infrastructure in the roadway not only makes people feel safer, but it also makes drivers drive more carefully and more slowly, so that everyone is safe, including drivers, and more people will feel safe riding bikes around

our city. it is like a win-win-win. kristen: i guess you can see that that is expensive and probably not realistic to do on every major roadway, right? so if there was to be kind of a focus, where would you think it is important to invest in that? >> i think the first thing i'd say is we have seen cities around the world where mayors and leaders have taken bold action, including mike bloomberg in new york city. as well as anne hidalgo in paris to take drastic action to make their streets safer and better for biking around and better versus tenable transportation. the mayor can absolutely do that and take quick action to make that happen. as far as where we would prioritize that, we have a supposed bike network of a lot of unprotected bike lanes around the city and we could very quickly build infrastructure to make those safe bike routes and

we just need leadership by the mayor and the director to make that happen. kristen: certainly ethan's tragedy may spread that conversation. thank you so much, luke, appreciate your time and insight. there will be a vigil for ethan tonight at the site at 7 p.m., for those who wish to pay their tributes. coming up next -- two months after the deadly mass shooting and half moon bay, we will take a deep look at the lingering crisis uncovered by the city. we will talk about the horrific living conditions some farmworkers endure. 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.

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farmworker opened fire and killed seven workers, revealing an underside to living conditions of farmworkers. luz pena, juan carlos and edward gonzalez have put together a true eye-opening special called "hidden crisis: tragedy in half moon bay." reporter: as authorities investigate of the tragedy, they were confronted with the secret. deplorable conditions. a gathering space with plywood for floors. walls made of plastic. camping stoves for cooking. >> horrible, horrific, deplorable conditions. we saw basically what looked like sheds, storage containers people were living in. no insulation or running water. know where would you ever want to prepare food. it is a mess. kristen: joining us live to talk about what our team has documented is luz pena. great to see you. >> likewise.

happy to join you today. kristen: this is just a joy. it's been about two months since your own brush with death, really, your ski accident. that was so terrifying. how are you doing? you look amazing. >> thank you so much. i am doing much better. we chatted a month ago, so i'm doing much better now. getting stronger every single day. i'm now in the recovery phase of this whole ordeal, of just trying to bend my knee. it is extremely hard because around the knee, scar tissue heals up after a trauma like this, so the way that the surgeon explained it to me is that it's basically like concrete. so now i have to push through concrete to try to bend my knee, and every week i have a new goal of ten degrees to vent a week -- bend a week. i achieved that goal this week so that is really exciting. kristen: yay! >> but it is externally painful. it's honestly the most

debilitating pain i've ever experienced. but it's necessary so i will be able to walk again. kristen: we are pulling for you, and you are just superwoman and nothing can keep you down or keep you from filing a report. i don't mean to embarrass you, but i'm going to tell folks about the great lengths you want to to make a special get on the air in a little bit. you did the reporting work right around the time of your accident, right? >> actually, we stopped shooting this piece in half moon bay three days before the accident, to show you that life can change at any minute, you don't know was going to happen tomorrow. i was very blessed that we were able to finish the shooting of this piece. because after the accident, i was homebound. i couldn't do anything. the fact that i had the help of producer jc and photographer edward to help me make sure we got this story on the air was such a blessing. without them, i would not have been able to finish this piece and it was definitely teamwork

because i was home and i couldn't really go to the track. kristen: let's show the picture, since you are talking about it. luz is like, i'm voicing over this piece, find a way to make the audio work where i can -- look at this, what are you doing here? >> had a blanket over my head, the way that -- [laughter] we made an audiobook to make sure the track was clear as possible. that is in the basement of my house. producer jc is recording me, that was the last time that we finished tracking the piece. and it was victoria's moment. [laughter] i'm there with a walker. he had to help me get back upstairs in my house. thank you, jc, if you are watching this. kristen: just ingenious. he went through all that because you really want viewers to see what you discovered. and that was the living conditions for the farmworkers there in half moon bay.

walk us through what you found and the stunning part, too, that it was like everyone knew about it but their hands were tied. >> honestly, so eye-opening. despite the accident, we knew we had to get the story on the air because it was so important and crucial for viewers to really know and see what was going on and still going on in half moon bay and overall in the san mateo county coast. it was heartbreaking. it was heartbreaking just to see what farmworkers are having to go through and the conditions they have to live in. we spoke to a farmworker whose was jesus, he's lived in a tiny room for six years, you can see it in the piece. that specific farm gets inspected, so it is considered acceptable. but it is still very crowded. and he talked about how he would love to live and sleep in a three-star hotel because that is all he can afford and he pays

$300 a month to live in a very crowded space, and encourages him to move on and do something great one day and honestly just be able to sustain that type of lifestyle is to provide for his family in mexico. he sends everything that he makes over to his daughters. one of them, he has not even met and she is 18 years old. these are the people who pick up our crops and get our tomatoes and our pumpkins -- they are going to really heartbreaking situations down the street. kristen: you also document and the special that a lot of the social service workers who come because they are helping them out, they see that -- they see the deplorable conditions but they are afraid to report it. >> when we walked into this farm, i actually got a tip from someone that messaged me about this and said, there's a farm you should go to. i said, how do you guys even know about this?

they said, we know about these farms, and it was eye-opening to see what we saw in the peace and you will be able to watch it on our website. but a lot of these social workers have known about these conditions for decades, because they are allowed to go in and provide resources for these farmworkers, but they are afraid honestly, it is just for your, they are afraid of reporting it to county officials, reporting it to anybody because many of these farmworkers could end up homeless or end up without jobs. so what they do behind the scenes as advocate for more housing for these farmworkers to be able to have a better place one day. but they are not really able to shed light on what's happening because the consequences will be, many people would end up homeless. that's what we found. kristen: we don't have time right now to go through everything you discovered. that's why people have to watch the peace. what you go over where some of them are living now, permanent solutions are possible. just today you just discovered

that the alleged shooter and the community affected most -- some of them were chinese americans, and we did not know that there were chinese-americans working on farms in half moon bay. but they are no longer there after this, right? >> the majority of farmworkers are latinos, spanish-speaking. but there is still a group of asians who work in the farms and who were able to -- actually, kristen, you helped me translate for one of those farmworkers that we interviewed early on. thank you for doing that. because those voices need to be heard. and what we found out today is that, i was messaging the mayor of half moon bay and asked him, are there still asian farmworkers at the farms? and he said there is actually only two, two left in half moon bay. that was so shocking. because many of them are afraid. they are afraid to go back. and the ones were still at these farms are doing it because that is all they can do and that is the only job they have right now. what we also found in this report is that many of them are

actually leaving the agricultural industry because it is not enough pay. they are moving into construction and other fields. so the agricultural industry is really suffering in half moon bay and the main issue is housing. many of these farmworkers need housing. without them having housing, farms don't have anyone to work there. kristen: this is such an important issue. you did an amazing job, along with jc and edward. i know you have a spanish emergent -- he recorded a spanish version -- i know you have a spanish version recorded of the whole thing. luz, thank you so much. you are amazing. >> thank you so much for having me. kristen: you can certainly watch "hidden crisis" streaming at 5:30 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. on our abc7 bay area streaming tv app or had to -- head to abc7news.com.

it's a few days until easter, we will have some of the yeah, that's the only food. they have broccoli smoothies, and broccoli pancakes, and broccoli ice cream, and broccoli hotdogs, and of course, they have raw unseasoned broccoli..... with stems. -daddy, i don't want to go to las vegas with you and mommy tomorrow. oh, are you sure?

are you sure you don't want to go, it will be so much fun!

kristen: this sunday is easter sunday and all weekend long the easter bunny will be busy with events beginning today. joining us like to share good ideas for the whole family is johnny fun cheap, the founder of funcheap.com. give us some of the best family-friendly events in the bay area particular to easter. >> i thought we would start with the big one, and the city of belmont and between san mateo and redwood city, they have an egg hunt that's got 13,000 bigs. -- 13,000 eggs. this is set up on saturday at twin pines park. to make sure that every kid has a shot, they have designated areas by age. the park is a really pretty

spot, it's got a creek running through it and it is byob, bring your own basket to this one. kristen: that is tomorrow. what about folks i want to get started tonight with activities? >> tonight, you will have to do it at night. because sometimes daytime is a little bit too easy to hunt for eggs. this one tonight is actually for the older kids. in salmo and flashlight egg hunts. in memorial park, kids eight and over. they have 3500 plastic eggs. they blow the whistle and the kids go nuts. have a basketball scoreboard that counts on the time. kristen: fun. >> in berkeley, it is glow-in-the-dark eggs. the main prize is a nintendo switch. kristen: there's also an event in san francisco's curviest street. >> this is where you can crack

your skull if you are not paying attention, it is bring your own big wheel race on vermont street, one of the curviest streets in san francisco. there's a kids only race, you've got to ride in a plastic tricycle we had when we were kids. the kids race is from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. and the adults 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. kristen: that one is for kids and adults. i think this one may be more for the adults, a hunky jesus contest? >> absolutely. there's a kids' aspect to this, this has been taking place since 1979 in dolores park in san francisco. they have a kid friendly easter egg hunt and storytime from 10 to noon, -- 10 a.m. to noon, but then after there is a foxy contest and the annual hunky jesus contest. [laughter] kristen: where can kids see the

easter bunny? >> oh my gosh, if you don't mind looking up, a great place to see it is in san carlos at the aviation museum. that is on saturday. the easter bunny is going to ride by helicopter. you don't really have to do any hunting at all. there's going to be an inflatable obstacle course and you can sit in a museum in an actual cockpit and look at all the loot you got from easter eggs. kristen: fabulous. you can find all these activities and more at -- what is your website real quick? >> funcheap.com. kristen: great talking with you. happy easter. we will take a short break

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kristen: thank you so much for joining us today for "getting answers." we will be here every weekday at 3:00 p.m. answering questions with experts from around the bay area. ♪ ♪ >> tonight, backlash over what critics are calling an extraordinary act of political retaliation. a showdown in tennessee international spotlight. to but in speaking of the twoace house 24 hours ago and the white lawmaker allowed to keep her see. vice president kamala harris traveling for a face-to-face meeting all three democrats targeted by gop members of for joining a protest in favor of new gun control laws following the deadly school shooting in nashville, both expelled lawmakers soon return to their positions in the state capital? alex perez in tennessee. also breaking tonight, the pentagon investigating how top-secret classified documents about everything from china to the middle east to of the war in ukraine were posted on social

media. how to doc