today on getting answers, a once grand theater in the bay area. now, blight, why is this dilapidated building still vacant after 17 years? san francisco's festival season is in full swing. we'll have a preview of the next cultural celebration in the city. north beach's festa italiana. but

first, the world experienced record warp last year. climate scientists say global warming is the culprit, and they say they now know down to the day how it's impacting our weather. hi there. you're watching, getting answers and i'm dionne lim. we begin now with an alarming new headline about climate change. joining us live to talk about new research about the impact on our planet is one of the researchers on the project himself, doctor andrew pershing, vice president for science at climate central. doctor pershing, thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. great to great to see you today. >> yeah. and we should point out that scientists say this climate change is because of human actions. can you elaborate on what that means? >> absolutely. so scientists have known for, you know, for decades with very high confidence and for have been working on the problem for more than a century to link warming of the planet to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. and so it's just really, really clear that the

climate that we're living in now is fundamentally altered by things that humans have been doing, especially over the last 100 to 150 years. >> and are these the same things that we have been talking about for so long, such as emissions from vehicles, our own use of personal care products, etc. >> absolutely. like the number one, the number one driver of this is carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that comes from burning coal, oil and natural gas. so driving cars, burning coal to power factories and cities, those are the big drivers of emissions around the world. >> okay. so those drivers certainly have not changed. talk to me about the degrees hotter that we are seeing. is it significant? >> absolutely. so we're now about 1.5°c, which is, you know, getting close to about three degrees fahrenheit above what temperatures would would have been in the pre-industrial era before we started burning carbon dioxide or producing carbon dioxide on large scales. and so that's a that's a that's a really significant number. we're getting very close to the level

where we expect to see major in some cases almost permanent or very long term changes in the systems around the world. >> yeah. and it's so fascinating to me as a non-scientist, because it does not seem like that number is big, but it does have very large impacts. and the research that you were a part of says the world experienced, i want to make sure i get this right. 26 more days of abnormally high temperatures because of this climate change, how did you get to that number? >> yeah. that's right. so what we what we are able to do is we look at the temperatures around the world at that reach an what would be a locally hot level. so it's going to be different depending on where you live. but what your local hot level would look like. we look at how many days you experienced over the last 12 months, and then we're able to use a combination of local data and climate models to then say, what would the world have? look like without global warming, without human caused global warming? and we see that the average human on the planet experienced almost a month of this extra stressful

temperatures. those are temperatures that just wouldn't be here if we hadn't been burning coal, oil and natural gas. >> and speaking of the research itself, it sounds like analyzing all of this data was a huge undertaking, and different agencies played a role. >> correct. so we've worked very closely with with researchers around the world for this report especially, we worked with world weather attribution, which is an an organization based in the uk. but they bring scientists together across the planet to look at the impact of extreme weather and then link it back to climate change in a in a very quantitative and scientifically sound way. >> and what is so frightening is that with the 26 extra days of these abnormally high temperatures, that is just scratching the surface, because there are other parts of the world that are experiencing climate change differently, it sounds like. >> definitely. so, you know, california had 17 extra days. so a little bit below that global average. but then in the united states, we have a lot of states

that were over that, including places like puerto rico with 109 days and florida and hawaii with more than 50 days. places in, you know, in the southwest were getting close to, you know, 30 days, almost a whole month. and then if you move into the tropics in central america and in northern africa, we had places that were over 120 days, essentially almost four months of extra heat that they would not have experienced without climate change. wow. >> and what are some of the consequences is due to these extra days, and especially in places like puerto rico, seeing those extreme surges. >> so the things that we worry about with heat are, you know, are very the first thing we worry about is people's health. and so we've seen that around the country. we see that around the world that when conditions start to get above this level, this this stressful level, that people start to show up in the emergency room, people start to show up sick and dying, and the warmer it gets above that level, the more the more stressful it becomes. and it really is just

like this pressure that we're putting on society and any weaknesses that are in society, you know, around, you know, people who are unhoused, people who are in other otherwise vulnerable states, people who are very young or very old or have some underlying health condition are the first people to succumb to the challenges of heat. >> yeah. and it's not just heat either, because we should point out that we have other natural weather phenomenons that have been happening more frequently, or at least to me, it seems like it. >> absolutely. and, you know, heats the in some ways, the easiest one for us to look at because the data is so good, it's well represented in the computer models. and so we can just do a lot of really detailed scientific work. other phenomenon like, you know, some of the atmospheric river events and the big rain and the big snow that that you all have experienced in california over the last few years has a very strong climate link. a warmer atmosphere can hold more water, and so it can dump that onto the sierras. when you get these big events and a warmer atmosphere wants to hold more water. so if

you have dry air coming in, it can dry things out even more. and that's been a part of the drought story and the fire story that you've had in california. >> yes. and certainly our meteorologists, our weather team have all noticed these changes just within the past few years. how concerned should we be about all of these changes? because they seem alarming, particularly the number of excessive heat days? >> absolutely. i mean, i think it i think it is alarming and i think it's a, you know, it's a wake up call. i think they're, you know, a couple of things that we need to think about. there's the big problem of how do we reduce carbon emissions. and that's a societal challenge. and there's great progress. like there's a ton of wind and solar energy on california's been a real leader in that. and that just needs to continue. but at the local level, there's also a lot we can do to protect ourselves and our families and our cities. you know, everything from, you know, planting more trees to setting up cooling centers to even just like keeping an eye on a neighbor when it's unusually hot and making sure that they have water and that their air conditioner

is working and that they they know where to go if they get into a bad situation. yeah. >> and certainly, as with all data, what do you plan to use with your findings? i mean, where do you plan to take this and what type of change do you hope will be enacted because of it? >> so we really are using this as a resource to just to try to monitor conditions around the world. i think, you know, especially last starting last year. and i think it's going to continue. we're going to keep hearing statistics about the global temperature numbers, right, 1.5 degrees c, and some of these other scary thresholds. but really what does it mean to live on a warming planet? what is the experience that people around the country, around the world have with climate change? and that's what i think these tools can do, is to really shine a spotlight on on the change that people are experiencing and the, you know, the challenges that we face. because if we know what we're facing, then we can develop the solutions. yeah. >> that's right. and as a scientist as well, i'm always interested in what your thought process was. what was it like for you as you were analyzing

some of this data with all of these other teams, were you surprised at all? were there things about the findings that piqued your interest in particular? >> i think, you know, a couple of things that, you know, i always find surprising is, you know, we're so used to focusing on conditions here in the united states and we'll see places, you know, like in, you know, in the central valley, in california or in, like phoenix, where it's just like really, really hot. and everybody says, man, 110 degrees is really hot. but, you know, health effects start to accumulate at much lower temperatures, especially if you're in a city that's normally cooler. and so, you know, we see this pervasive effect all over the planet. but then the climate signal is so strong in places, you know, near the equator. they just have really they really are experiencing a fundamentally altered climate due to things that humans have been doing over the last 150 years. >> well, certainly, this study has been exceptionally fascinating for us. i'm sure there will be much more coming down the pipeline in the future. doctor pershing, thank you for joining us.

>> well, you're welcome. >> well, climate change is impacting every corner of our planet, as you just heard. and here in the bay area, we will see dramatic changes and they will impact how we live in the future. so what will the bay area look like in the year 2050? experts weigh in on what lies ahead in our abc7 original bay area 2050. you can watch it right now. wherever you happen to stream abc7. the final curtain call has been in limbo at an empty, rundown theater in san francisco for more than 15 years. our media partner, the san francisco standard, se

it's covered with graffiti and has been sitting vacant for an awful long time. so why is that? our media partner, the san francisco standard, takes an in-depth look in a new article, why this blighted theater sits empty after 17 years garrett leahey, reporter for the sf standard, joins me now to talk about why this theater has been empty for so long. i mean, garrett, 17 years is a really long time for something to be sitting empty. this, i can imagine, is prime real estate. why have we not seen this turned around into something new by now ? >> well, you know, it's that there's actually been efforts in the past, although they haven't really gotten very far. we've seen, you know, proposals to turn it into a restaurant a couple of proposals, one proposal for a nightclub, and then most recently, the latest plan that got the furthest was to basically restore it as a movie theater with a film school for city college film students, but that plan seems to have basically fallen through, the

property owner mentioned to me that he doesn't think a movie theater is going to be viable. he's just looking for someone to lease out the space, more or less as it is right now. so there's been a couple of plans over the years, but none of them have really materialized. >> yeah, we'll talk a little bit more about that in a second, but i'm just so curious because there have been so many iterations since opening back in 1912. can you tell us about some of the changes that this theater has gone through, including the name? first and foremost? >> yeah. well, you know, it started out as the majestic theater when it opened in 1912. there's not a ton of info online about it, but i've seen reports saying it had between 700 and 1000 seats when it opened. single screen theater, and then it changed to tower theater. i believe some time in the 1940s, and there it remained as the tower theater. there are pictures of it in the 60s and 70s still as a movie theater. and then i believe it was sometime in the 1990s that it stopped operating as a theater. but it was, used as a church of some kind until 2007. and then since then, it's just kind of

languished. right there on mission street, a block away from the well known theater, the alamo drafthouse. so it's had a bit of a history to it, but since the mid 2000, it's basically just been sitting there. >> and i know that there have been so many plans for redevelopment. and you touched upon one of them, the film school, but something went awry with the structural engineer. i was reading when it came down to that project. >> yeah, well, that's just one of the things that went awry, maybe the most notable, the structural engineer was a guy named rodrigo santos, and for those watching me scrub their memory banks and remember seeing lots of news about him as recently as last year when he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. the reason he was sentenced is because he was convicted of fraud and tax evasion charges, because, well, there was a they were connected to this scheme. he did from 2012 to 2019 where he, asked for checks for fees that were non-existent and had them made out to dvi department of

building inspection. but then he would write in his name around dvi and deposit the checks into his personal accounts around $775,000 worth of these checks. oh, boy. so? so his firm is now closed because he's incarcerated and his reputation, no doubt is not great. in light of all the news around him and the scandal surrounding those charges, and, you know, not only that, but the late property owner, she passed away vera court last month, and her son is kind of managing her estate and affairs, including taking over ownership of the theater, the tower theater and the architecture firm. the firm appears defunct. i couldn't manage to contact the firm or its its owner. >> oh, boy, what a what a history. i mean, ranging from corruption to all of these roadblocks. what what is it that got you interested in this story to begin with? i'm always curious because on the outside, people would just walk past and think nothing of it. and lo and

behold, you've unearthed quite a quite a back story. >> yeah. well, i think what's kind of fascinating about empty buildings, empty lots is it touches on a couple of key san francisco issues. one of them is that there's issues with having enough housing in the city, and, you know, when you see buildings like this, you know, certainly a layperson, just someone walking by would wonder what the reuse opportunities are. and, you know , why it hasn't been built out yet. and then the reasons for that can be kind of manifold for, you know, all kinds of reasons, whether it be, you know, issues with getting permits, you know, it could be an issue with the engineer being arrested and convicted, you know, they are all over the place, all kinds of reasons that these properties, whether they be buildings or just empty lots, remain vacant for years. >> yeah. so we have to look to the future. have there been any rumblings on what this theater can indeed be going forward? >> well, you know, i haven't really heard much from the property owner at this point, hoping to stay in touch and see

if there are plans for the theater that come to light later on. but when i spoke to folks walking past the theater, when i went out one night, i was surprised by how many of them said they'd like a movie theater there. even the ones who don't even remember its time as the tower theater, some of them mentioned, they want just kind of a normal single screen movie theater. others mentioned they'd like, you know, something like a second alamo drafthouse there, so, you know, proposals ranged all over the place from folks walking by, but i think 4 or 5 mentioned to me they'd like to see a movie theater. >> no. soccer stadium. no a little far from downtown. just a little bit, you know, i do have to ask, too, because, you know, commercial real estate, property values, you know, we've covered both of us have covered, you know, extensively in how, you know, prices have really gone down in recent years thanks to the pandemic, etc. do you have any idea as to, you know, the cost for anyone who wants to move on in? i'm sure they can get a good deal. >> right? well, you know, i don't know if the building is actually for sale at this point.

i talked to the property owner, robert court varicourt son, he mentioned he's just trying to get a lease out, but he admitted that's not really on the market. he's been busy managing his mom's estate and taking on responsibility for all her properties. he said that she owned hundreds around the city, and that's been keeping him busy for months. he said it was just a lot of bookkeeping. so leasing out the theater is taking kind of a back seat while he's dealing with all that well, the tower theater saga shall continue. >> always a pleasure to have you on our show, garrett. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> now you can check out more of the san francisco standard's other original reporting at their website, sf standard.com and abc7 will continue to bring you more segments featuring the standards, city focused journalism twice a week right here on getting answers at 3 p.m. well, it is never too early to look ahead to the weekend. festa colonial italiana is back in north beach, and it's set to be bigger than ever. we'll hear from the ceo of the san francisco italian athletic club

and the salami

italiana. the street festival showcases and celebrates and shares the neighborhood's rich italian history through food, drink, music, culture and a lot of family fun. the organizers are extending a big oh, i hope i get this right, benvenuti. that is welcome. from what i understand in italian to everyone to join in the fun. so joining us live now is nick fijian. is that is that how you say figoni go hajji okay. figoni chief operating officer of san francisco italian athletic club and evan inada, that was a little bit easier. the salami samurai. thank you both so much for joining us. >> we are happy to be here and excited for another festa italiana this year. okay so for all of everyone who's watching who may not be familiar, tell us

about the festival. well, it's, it's a two day event, june 1st and second. and as you just said, it's full of music. so we have live music for two days. we have vendors showcasing all of the great italian products, we have a pizza toss from tony gemignani. and of course, we also have the statuto race, which will be on sunday. and that's an eight k fun run, which we're very excited about. we have the largest participation in that race in many, many, many, many years. is it just me or does it seem like the festival keeps getting bigger and bigger? >> and it's also two days this year, similar to last, similar to last year was the first time we did a full weekend and we actually increased our footprint by 50% this year. >> and yes, the festival is getting bigger because north beach wants it and so we're giving it to them. >> the demand is there. i feel like after the pandemic, especially, people want to celebrate. they want to have fun, be with community and know north beach is the best area to really be with friends and family. >> and this festival is always really fun, especially the race

at the end where everybody gets handed a salami at the end of the race you get a big columbus salami stick and you know there's so many different companies like columbus craft meats and mazzetta and others. it started here right in north beach, little italy. so we've been here for over 100 plus years, and we're always happy to work with the community to really celebrate this time of year. >> you and i had a little bit of fun before this segment started recording that you're clearly not italian. i'm not italian. how did you get this nickname of the salami samurai? >> you know, just working with the product. a lot. columbus craft meats, we've been around for 100 plus years, so for me, just working with the beautiful meats that we make and dry age in the city and nick, we have so many different community events that we love tying together. so it really is a family here. >> yeah. and a lot of familiar faces. you mentioned tony, jimmy, yanni, the pizza king doing his twirling. always part of the celebration. what can we expect up his sleeve this time? >> well, i think he's going to be spinning those pies, throwing them to the audience. he always likes to get the kids involved. this is a very family oriented

festival, so this is free and open to the public. and we want people to bring their kids and really have a good time. yeah. >> and speaking of the family, what other things can people expect to be able to partake in? you had mentioned this is something really for every taste and every person who has different activity needs. >> sure, we're going to have the laura vicuna kids corner this year, where we're going to have puppet shows that are going to be going on. so their italian operatic marionettes and so singing to opera music, there will be the puppet show, as well as some face painting. we're going to have tarantella dance classes for the kids so they can learn how to do some italian traditional dancing, uh- and arts and crafts as well for them. so that'll be on both days and we hope that the families can come out. >> i have to tell you during this interview, there's a wafting scent of meat that's flowing this way. so can we talk a little bit more about this race, how it works? >> yeah. well totally. so like the meat smell that you have, the aromatics is always good for

like our perfect charcuterie bite. so for columbus, we try to build as many bites to have the north beach tie in. so this bite itself is actually called the north beach bite. so it's a little bit of finocchio a little bit of burrata inside. and then just a simple cherry tomato and a little bit of basil on top is a little fun shooter. but so much food is about this festival as well and just really showcasing everything fun involved. and then the salami at the end for every one of the racers, that's the reward is one of the salami sticks, and even the first place winner gets a bigger one. oh, i was wondering if this was like a relay race. >> you know, like people are handing off salami, you know, it's good for it on the go for sure. >> so keep your spirits up and get the blood sugar at that right level for sure. >> i think we have an idea for next year. i like where you're going with this. i like where you're going with this. >> to the runners. i think that will be next year for sure. >> yeah, it's good protein. it'll sustain them throughout the race. >> totally can't beat it. >> so what do people need to know in order to get involved?

and also if they want to bring their families. >> so the festival is going to be taking place in the heart of north beach, right on washington square park, in front of the italian athletic club, opens at 11 a.m, goes till 6 p.m. on both days, saturday and sunday. and all they need to do is just come show up and sample some of the good food uh- buy a cold beer, have a glass of wine, whatever it is that they want to do, we're going to be there for them. totally >> yep. just soaking in the culture. i think that's what this weekend is going to be all about. >> and you're lucky the weather's supposed to be really nice. >> also, we are looking forward to some spectacular san francisco weather. >> okay, well, thanks so much for joining us. i can't wait to dig on in to what did you call it again, the north beach bite right here. >> so each bite got to give it a try. >> it'll be a nice afternoon snack thanks to you guys. thank you dion. that segment made me hungry. don't forget abc seven news is streaming 24 seven. you can get the abc seven bay area app and

questions from experts from around the bay area. world news tonight with david muir is next, but be sure to tune in for abc seven news at 4:00 in just about 30 minutes. we'll see you then. ♪ tonight breaking news as we come on the air, the closing arguments right now in donald trump's criminal trial. next, the jury gets this case. also developing, the tornado watch right now and the new dangerous system sweeping through and the major building explosion, debris raining down. the images coming in now. first tonight, jurors listening intently. donald trump looking at the jury. the defense lawyers and the prosecution dir