>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ us here for "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 we have the co-author of "just action," taking a deep

dive into policies that enable education. what gives and how is this contributed to the racial wealth gap? what can we all do about it? we will discuss. we will talk to glide sf about an discussion -- about a discussion in honor of juneteenth and what we can do to get involved. first we start with a major move made by san francisco supervisors last night to convert retail structures into housing. joining us to discuss all of this is the individual sponsored the legislation and mayor breed. thanks for being here. >> thanks for the opportunity. julian: your thoughts on the news that westfield is pulling out of san francisco and turning the property over? this is your district we are talking about here. julian: it is not my supervisorial district but it really doesn't matter.

this entire city is of interest to this supervisor. obviously, disappointing news. not unexpected. all before the pandemic, retail across the city and across the country have been impacted realy property owners to imagine a new future. and the board of supervisors yesterday passed legislation that really changes are fundamental zoning that has been on the books probably since i was a little kid. and this zoning allows for much more flexible uses. historically, we have had multi-floor retail destinations like fao schwartz. and we did not allow for the convergence of upper stories to office and production and distribution and repair. the world that we live in now calls for thiese kinds of changes. as well as to inject residential

and this legislation the pathway for that. it's not going to be easy. it's not going to happen overnight. but i have already heard from building owners who had dreams of office, that are rethinking toward residential. i just toured a property on mason street that looks like a pharmacy home for 56 residential units. that's obviously needed. julian: let's talk about the reimagining of the use of the speech -- of the space as you mentioned here. something that hasn't been done in decades. the existing textbook of how we use the land that we have here in the city has been how it has been for so long now, we know the office vacancy rate in san francisco is about 30% as the city still rebound from the pandemic. so there's a lot of space for opportunity and creativity here.

how does the legislation cut through the red tape and make it easy for landlords to convert the existing space they have into something that'll be better suited for the current needs of the city? >> you just put your finger on it, there's actually a lot of opportunity. some of that opportunity is going to come to the market cycle, which is that inevitably rents will get cheaper in the downtown and that will allow for a class of uses that were financially excluded from the downtown, particularly as it relates to arts and culture and entertainment, that could not make the kind of price demand that exists -- earlier today i met with a coalition of 30 of the largest arts organizations in san francisco. they have been doing their rehearsals out of town and storing sets out of town. now we have opportunities to bring that altogether as the price environment changes. ultimately i think it is

san francisco's requirement to get out of the way and loosen up the zoning we have downtown, as well as offer financial incentives. many of the buildings downtown, which is an interesting destination, are historic buildings. there are tax credits that are available for the preservation of those historic buildings that can be used to assist the conversion of residential. downtown has some really cool alleys named after the african-american individual who was the first treasurer of the city and county of san francisco . a place with all sorts of neat restaurants. we have to invite people back and but folks from around the bay area and around the country know there are interesting things in san francisco's downtown. not just in union square and chinatown and fishermen's wharf -- fisherman's wharf. and arts and entertainment

attract people from around the region. julian: they certainly do. let's talk about how some of this would actually do. we know you've been hitting the pavement, walking around in your district trying to talk to some landlords who might be good candidates for revisiting how they are currently using their space and doing something different with it. what have you been hearing from some of the landlords you've spoken to so far? do they think this is a good idea? our contractors up for the job? -- are contractors up for the job? >> i started convening the chamber of commerce and downtown building organizations, building owners and associations, even as we were formulating this legislation. some buildings are going to lend themselves to these conversions and other buildings are not. the office industry is not dead. some of them should not be repurposed. right now we have about 19 million vacant square feet of office. some of that is going to come back. some of that is going to be

forever changed. the smaller buildings that have smaller four plates, and that have more access to windows tend to lend themselves to residential conversion more readily. and the price point of those conversions is lower. let's be candid about it -- it is going to result when the value of these buildings go es down and that is going to be part of the foreclosure process. we are all aware of that. in some instances, banks are taking properties back. when they come out the other side, they will be at a lower price point that more easily lend themselves to residential conversion and other uses. julian: understanding there will be some pain before we got to the promised land so to speak of some of this paying off here. i want to talk about just realistically, what type of turnaround can we expect to see here?

we know we desperately need more housing in the city. if we are looking at one of these smaller office buildings with a smaller footprint, how many years are we talking about before we can actually see one of these things transformed into housing for example? >> it is my responsibility to set realistic expectations. and then of this is going to happen overnight -- none of this is going to happen overnight. i have been pleased by the level of initial interest we've got ten of people willing to spend money on speaking to contractors about what it would take and people are starting that process now. but realistically before we see any huge change in the downtown area, the injection of residential into appropriate places is going to be a number of years. julian: before we let you go, how will you measure success here? obviously this is a bold initiative. how will you measure success? >> success is going to be measured in two ways -- one is

where vacant retail spaces are repopulated with retail or other uses and two is the number of requests for building permits for conversions from vacant office to residential that should be coming into our inspection. julian: thanks so much for joining us. and has been well documented and exposed that government at all levels created segregation through local state and federal policies. a book, "just action," gets into detail about how we counter that. the author will join us (bell dinging) how's john? oh, much better. that was quite a scare. got us thinking about a lot of things. like life insurance. if something happened to either one of us, we'd really be in trouble. but where can we get coverage with john's health problems on a fixed income?

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julian: earlier this month, a new book was released, a follow-up to the groundbreaking text "the color of law" that highlighted the problems in housing and in equities, tracing them back to segregation once enforced by state, and local law. joining us live now is one of the co-authors of "just action." we appreciate your time. thanks so much for joining us. >> [no julian: we might be having some audio issues. you wrote this with your father, richard rothstein as a follow-up to his incredible book, "the color of law." what got you interested in teaming up with him on this important topic? >> well, i've worked in community organizing and affordable housing community development my whole life. i like a one million other people around the country read

the color of law and my eyes were open to what the actual history is in our country, that we have a segregated society because of federal, state and local policy. unconstitutional actions by our government at all levels has created the segregated society we live in. the book opens our eyes to that forgotten history and i like many other readers of "the color of law" were shocked to know that history and wondered, what do we do about it now? it seems like an overwhelming issue. we live in segregated communities. it is hard to change that. i didn't know even with my experience in the housing field and community organizing what we could do about it. so i asked my dad, what do we do with this history and knowledge and how do we change things? his challenge to me was to help him answer the question by writing this book. we wrote this book for the many other people like me around the country who want to address these issues in their community and understand we have an obligation to do something about

this because the reason we are a segregated society is because our government of unconstitutional actions to create the communities we live and leaves us with an obligation to do something about it. this book offers some ideas of what local community groups can do in their own communities. i hope some hope there's a lot that can be done. it is an overwhelming problem that there's a lot that we can do to challenge and undo the apartheid system and society we live and. -- live in. julian: cap man with the millions of people who read the first book. where do we go from here? the new text "just delivers some of those answers. the landmark law prohibited but it didn't reverse the dockets of policy that were created during segregation.

why is? -- >> that the case? >> it doesn't do anything to address the disparities that exist today. which are the direct result of government-sponsored segregation. one example is in the 1940's, when the federal government helped to finance the suburbanization of our country and helped subsidize white homeowners to get into homeownership at the time for affordable prices, and prohibited african-americans from doing so, those white homeowners at the time could buy homes for $100,000 in today's money which is very affordable for working families. if you were a white veteran you could get a loan with no down payment. these homeowners $200,000-five $100,000, a one

million or more in some places and those families were able to gain wealth through that homeownership experience that they could use to send their kids to college, whether -- whether health emergencies. for their kids to buy their own homes. meanwhile african-americans were explicitly by government policy prohibited from buying those same homes that whites were subsidized into. as a result today, we have an income gap between whites and blacks. average household wealth is only 5% of white household wealth. a direct result of these government policies that allowed african-americans from doing so. if we want to segregation, we not only have to outlaw the future of discrimination in the sale and rental of housing, but also address this disparity. julian: we know "just action" looks

the targeted investment in majority black communities or advocates for that. this truly comes at an interesting time when the california reparations task force is set to release their proposals for reparations. many of those things will be targeted investments in the black community. what are some of those specific investments you called for in your book? >> that's right. the underinvestment of african-american communities is a consequence and result of segregation. if we want to redress segregation and the harms of it we need to increase resources in those communities to building housing not only for low income families but for middle income families as well who can't afford market rate housing and make too much -- as we increase resources in those communities, we have to ensure we don't displace a longtime residents of those communities. because as we all know, as resources and the investments in income communities increase, often times people of higher

incomes want to move in and price out the longtime residents. we call it gentrification. families that have lived in a low income low resource communities are forced out when their community starts to gain in resources and investments. some of the strategies we outline for preventing that displacement are things like inclusionary zoning policies, which require when you housing is built, some units are preserved as affordable to lower and moderate income families. or protection for renters against unjust evictions and rapidly rising rents. providing renters with free legal counsel when they face in eviction so they have some recourse, facing landlord's trying to evict them under false pretenses because they have the promise of getting in higher income families. we have to both increase resources in these communities as well as prevent some of the displacement that can happen when we do that. julian: there's so much more i wish we had the time to get into. "just action" is incredibl

if you have not already read the first one, you've got to start there,. leah rothstein, the co-author, we really appreciate your time. thank you so much for having me. julian: a spiritual in the bay area is celebrating juneteenth. a part of that celebration includes having tough conversations on overcoming america's history. of systemic racism. up next we talked to the leader of glad church on efforts to

♪ (tense music) ♪ one aleve works all day so i can keep working my magic. just one aleve. 12 hours of uninterrupted pain relief. aleve. who do you take it for? julian: juneteenth is not just a time to celebrate the joy of the back community but to acknowledge our countries racist history and work towards an equitable future. celebration, recognition, remedy all part of an event by san francisco glide memorial church. joining us now is the

minister of celebration and the director of glide center for social justice. thank you for joining us. holly, tell us about the upcoming juneteenth event. it will be both a celebration but also an important and timely discussion. >> absolutely. as you know, for 60 light has been providing supports and services to san franciscans, addressing some of the bay area's most pressing issues including housing, poverty and homelessness. we seafood access as a racial human rights issue. poverty and food insecurity are currently affecting 1 in 4 san franciscans and racial disparities are significant. let people make up just 5% of centrist's ghost population. 46% of children living in san francisco live in poverty. 16% of the people we

are people of color. we also see ourselves as thought partners and convenience, bringing together diverse groups of people and community leaders to learn and st in recognition of the ongoing struggle for racial justice and to lift the strength and brilliance of community led interventions, we are cohosting a roundtable discussion and we are going to be focusing our discussion on addressing the barriers to healthy food and nutrition. julian: this is such an important issue. i'm thinking back to the days of covering so many of these food distribution services during the height of the covid pandemic. seeing the folks that were in line, predominantly black and brown, so this is so important and so timely. reverend martin, how's the community having a say in this discussion? because these are issues

directly affecting them. >> i think that is the of juneteenth dr. holly was describing. it took 2.5 years after the emancipation proclamation for word to get to galveston that everybody was free. that all the enslaved africans were indeed free. and that is the work that we are doing now. we are still letting folks know that there is liberation ahead for them whether it is liberation from poverty or homelessness or food insecurity or trafficking -- glide is doing the work of still letting folks know that there something they can get free from and we are the folks that will accompany them to that freedom. julian: that is so important. and i also understand there is a message of hope that's modeled in that as well -- bottled in that as well. what other groups are part of the conversation?

you are convening a number of partners to come to the table and have this conversation about one of our most basic needs, the need to feed yourself. >> yeah, absolutely. we believe deeply in lived experience and wisdom from the street as the most important element of the conversation. so our panelists really are rooted in community and our community-based leaders and servants. it will be juneteenth. the tenderloin neighborhood development cooperation. usda and glide tomorrow, the sanctuary from one -- from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. julian: how do you hope people get involved in this event? >> i hope people know that those who are not suffering from food insecurity can find a place like glide to donate to, time, talent, or treasure, we need all of that support and service of making sure that everyone gets fed.

the work that dr. holly is doing is moving people from just being hungry to people knowing what they are hungry for. anyone who can support is giving the power back to the people, in order for them to advocate for themselves, are a part of our team. julian: very quickly, dr. holly, i understand as a racial justice and reconciliation program, can you talk about that really important work, too? >> the center for social justice was created to maintain legacy of we have a specific focus on systems change through community organizing entrance for many education

issues require multipronged intervention strategies. so we respond with both direct services and on the ground crisis response. we advocate for systems change including changes to policy and investments and work to create deeper empathy and understanding specifically around racial justice and reconciliation, community health and homelessness, and equity for women and families of color. julian: reverend dr. holly, i really appreciate your time. we know glide sf is always dedicated to making sure folks have their body, mind and soul fed. obviously tomorrow's event, focusing on the body. we hope everyone can join you all for it. appreciate your time. a quick reminder -- you can get our live newscast, breaking news, weather and more with our abc7 bay area streaming tv app. it's available on apple tv, google tv, fire tv, and roku. just search "abc 7 bay area" and download it now. we will take a short break and we'll be right back but do they really?

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julian: tonight, multiple reported tornadoes on the ground. the images coming in at this hour. and the severe thunderstorm watches across several states. damaging winds into the night. and outside new york city, the worker hit by lightning. at least six reported tornadoes from texas to georgia tonight. what the national weather service is calling a particularly dangerous situation across several states. in the northeast, the storms blowing through, disrupting air travel. and the video showing the moment a worker was struck by lightning outside a school in new jersey. a police officer racing to give him cpr. chief meteorologist ginger zee is reporting from the storm zone