d"comunidad del valle." and welcome to i'm damian trujillo, and today the young eagles are soaring. plus, the future of funding for education on your "comunidad del valle." male announcer: nbc bay area presents "comunidad del valle" with damian trujillo. damian: we begin today with the monthly visit of the consulate of mexico in san francisco. mario garcia is the consul [speaking in foreign language] consul general there of documentation, the forms and whatnot at the consul. welcome back to the show. mario garcia: thank you very much, damian. it is a great pleasure to be here on your show again. damian: thank you very much. so, your job is to make sure that the people who are looking for visas, matriculas, birth certificates maybe because they left them back home in michoacan or wherever, they can-- mario: visa is just for the foreigners that wants to go to mexico, but mainly for issuing passports consular ids, birth

certificates, voter ids, mainly that kind of documents is that i'm in charge of. damian: you were telling me that it's been very, very busy. and you're doing a lot of work, you're working saturdays, you're working through the weekend sometimes. mario: yes, yes we have two weekends per month. we organize a mobile consulate or sabatinas, we're now sabatinas, we open every second saturday, or go to the consulate so the people that cannot go during the week, they can attend during the weekends and they can get their documents in the weekends. damian: okay, and tell us about the issues that you want to talk about. what do you want the viewers to know? mario: mainly, i'd like to remind people what are the requirements to get a passport or the consular id. and i would ask them also to be patient because we have a lot of demand of documents. we have a very long time of--the queue is very, very long. so, right at moment, the appointments are ready

for the next month. we all the may-- damian: all may is booked, right? mario: it's booked. yeah, all may is booked already. but i ask people to be patient and to remember that we only receive people with appointments unless there's an emergency, we receive those people. and basically, i would like to talk about the requirements for every document. damian: okay, go ahead. mario: well, for example, to get a passport if it is the first time, they need their birth certificate and official id. and then we receive the document and we check them. and if everything is correct, we issue a passport in the same day. when they arrive to the consulate, in one hour they have their new passport. damian: wow. mario: mm-hmm, and it is the same with the consular ids. with the consular ids, besides the requirements that i mentioned, they also need a proof of id, for example could be a bill or a bank statement or another letter that they receive at home. and then we can issue the consular id.

damian: is that kind of the mandate from the foreign affairs office in mexico to say, "make sure that we expedite these documents and not make them wait any more than they need to wait"? mario: there is a certification. we have a certificate from mexico. there were some studies and we realized that we needed to improve our services to the community. and if you went to the consulate ten years ago, you have to wait about three, four hours. nowaday, you make an appointment and that's importance to make an appointment. now that you have your appointment, you arrive to the consulate 15 minutes before your appointment, and you leave the consulate one hour later with your documents. damian: wow, that's great. so, you have been busy. as you mentioned, you're booked through all of may. why do you think that is? why do you think there's--is there a rush, or it's just that's just the way it is now? mario: that's the way it is now. it's the way it has been ever since a long time. yeah, we have noticed every day the same needs of the people. they need--they really need their documents.

for example, in this season of the year, they need it for--to pay their taxes in the states because the irs asks them for their passport, so they go for their passport to the consulate, and then they can pay their taxes. damian: all right. well, again, they only take appointments online. in fact, actually you can call that number right there, it's called mexitel, you can call that number to make your appointment at the mexican consulate there in san francisco to get your documents or that of your-- mario: actually, i would like to suggest it is easier to make it online because sometimes the phone number is quite busy because they are in mexico and they're receiving calls from everywhere in the united states. damian: so, go online. mario: going online is easier, it's easier and faster. and then another thing that i would like to mention is, for example, if the people don't bring their birth certificate because they forgot it in mexico or they lost it or there is a problem with their birth certificate, we are able to issue a new birth certificate at the consulate. or now, they even can get online.

they can google for it online, the birth certificates online from mexico, and they can get their birth certificate online. damian: all right, well, great information. thank you so much for your service. mario: thank you very much. damian: all right, thank you. and up next on "comunidad del valle," the young eagles, they're soaring. stay with us.

actually. russell todd is here with us, he's with a group called young eagles of san jose. welcome to the show, sir. russell todd: thank you. damian: we do have some great video. tell us what you do with the young kids in the young eagles program. russell: well, the young eagles is a great program for kids between 8 and 17. they get introduced into aviation. we give them a half hour flight in a general aviation aircraft, and then we complete that with a five-step program that leads them on to becoming a pilot or any other area of aviation that they might be interested in.

damian: you work with a hispanic group, a latino group called lulac, and a lot of young hispanic kids are-- russell: everybody. i haven't identified whether it's spanish or any other one. damian: a lot of us, myself for example, have a fear of getting in a small plane like that. what can you do to dispel that fear and say it's okay? russell: we're very sensitive. we have pilots that want to get kids introduced to aviation, so they're very sensitive to it. and in all my years of doing it, i've only had one person that really rejected the flight that we offered to them. they tried to talk her into it, but they just couldn't do it. damian: now, one time they did convince me to get on an aeronca champion, it's an old-- russell: aeronca champion, yes. damian: so, i did that, and so that was a little scary. but i mean, what kind of lessons aside from flying do you think these kids are learning once you're taking them through this group? russell: well, they're getting to be the--they're being recognized for the people that they really are.

i mean, they are great people, and this is one way of bringing that out. when they get off that airplane, they know they're great because they have done something great. we give them a certificate signed by the pilot, we give them a log book that start their fight, and we give them a . the first three parts of it, the eaa pays for. then they can take the faa test towards being a pilot. and again, they're paid for that. and they--upon successful completion of that, further they're given a endorsement to take the--a flight lesson at any flight school here in the bay area. so, you can see it really gives them quite-- damian: yeah. how old do you have to be in order to-- russell: between 8 and 17. damian: what about to get your license? russell: oh, well you can--you have to be 17. damian: you have to be 17.

russell: you can start at 16, but you have to be 17 to get a pilot's license, yes, yeah. damian: how confident are you that the person maybe flying next to you, if that person is 17 or 18 and they've gone through young eagles program, that they'll be good? russell: i'm perfectly, perfectly confident, yes. i don't have any problem with that. no, i've taught a lot of them. i'm not teaching much anymore myself. i'm leading this program, but yes, i'd done several hundred, and some of them been young too. and they're all--they all love it really. i get a lot of calls from mothers who want their sons or daughters to come to my events. we have--the next event is down at san martin airport there off of 101, south of san jose on the 18th. and i've already got 51 kids signed up. damian: fifty-one? russell: fifty-one. i'm looking for 150. damian: personally, what do you get out of it knowing that you're showing these-- russell: that i'm giving back to what i get

out of aviation, yes. i've always wanted to give back, and this is my way of giving back. so, i get all the pilots. i've only got three of them right now, but next week i'll have--i hope to have 15 for this event to cover the 150 kids that we're going to have. and yeah, i'll arrange everything. we'll have a lunch for the pilots. we'll get all the kids there signed up, registered, assign them to a plane. and they'll go out to the--to the airplane and they'll get introduced by the pilot to the airplane and given a preflight of the airplane, make them all feel comfortable, get them all seated in the airplane. there's three people, three kids will go in each airplane. although there are a few airplanes that only take two, so therefore it's a pilot and child. and the one that wants to be the pilot is often given the place of supposedly being the pilot so that the pilot really does give him control of the airplane, yeah, for at least for a little while.

and that really excites them too. so, you can see that excitement in their eyes when they get off the airplane and when they get their certificates and their endorsements and their log books, yes. damian: all right, well yeah, some of the lulac kids are a part of that. if you'd like to participate, sign up. again, they're going to--flying out of san martin coming up shortly. and log on to that website. you'll find a lot more about what's happening with the young eagle's and taking flight with the kids. russell: eaa62.org. damian: there you go. russell: is that point that you wanted to-- damian: that's the website. thank you, sir, for what you're doing with the kids out there. russell: you're welcome. damian: thank you. and up next here on "comunidad del valle," the future of education, stay with us.

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nice to have you here. bernie: thank you for inviting me. damian: what concerns might you have about where we are and where we're headed and where we might be headed if we don't do things right? bernie: well, there's lots of concerns when it--with regards to school funding in california. i mean, as you know, california's the fifth strongest economy in the world, yet we fund public education at 41st out of 50. so, we're in the bottom ten, and really we should be in the top 25, if not the top 10. it's a big concern, especially in communities and counties like san mateo, santa clara, san francisco. very expensive to live in this area, and we just don't get enough to be able to pay our teachers enough that they can stay. damian: well, i know in speaking to one local board member, he called it a crisis. he can't keep his teachers, he can't pay them enough. bernie: it is very much a crisis. it's going to get worse. we are--may not be able to provide public education to everyone just 'cause we don't have the staff. damian: who's getting shortchanged here? bernie: all of our students are getting shortchanged.

it is very disappointing sometimes, or discouraging i should say, to see the level of resources that other states offer their schools. you walk through their schools, they have a librarian there all day, they have a nurse there all day, they have extra support staff supporting the classroom teachers. and you walk into a california school, you've got a librarian one day a week maybe if you're lucky, a nurse another day a week, very few outside of the classroom staff. and it just makes a difference for kids, especially those who require additional supports. damian: and people might be asking, i mean, you're talking about other states, you come to california, we're one of the highest tax states, you know, in the republic. and here we are where we are. "where are my tax dollars going?" is what everybody is asking. bernie: that's a great question, and that's really a question i think that folks should be asking their legislators. california spends a lot in lots of other places. they have a robust human service agency providing needed services

to many members of the community that sometimes take away likely from contributions to public education. but state legislators need to hear from their constituents that they want their public schools to be funded at the level of at least half of the other states in the nation, if not greater. damian: so, governor newsom took the keys to the governor's mansion here recently. what have you seen that's encouraging, what have you seen that's maybe discouraging from what the governor has done? bernie: an encourage--a couple of encouraging aspects. one is that he proposed to maintain the local control funding formula, which is-- damian: is that working do you think? bernie: yes, it is, it is working, but it has a long way to go. it is--basically what it does, it provides funding for students who require additional services, english learners, or students who come from unresourced backgrounds who might be further behind academically, provides more money to educate those kids because those students often require more resources, which

makes a lot of sense to anybody working in a school district. so, he's proposed to maintain that structure. the other encouraging effort that he proposed in his last january budget was to be able to take some of the load away from school districts for their contributions to the state teachers retirement system. when the local control funding formula came into play in 2012-2013, it was a big boost of initial funding for schools. but at the same time, school districts were burdened with having to contribute about 2% more a year for ten years to the state teacher retirement system. so, the lift that school districts should've gotten was deflated quite a bit by the additional requirements. so, governor newsom has proposed some additional funds to take care of that. i believe jerry brown would call it the wall of debt.

so, take care of that wall of debt so the school districts do not have to. damian: 'cause they have to take from peter to pay paul, i guess. bernie: correct, yes. and so we can--and especially that comes off the top. and it's incredibly frustrating to speak to your employees and say, "we don't have enough money to think about a pay raise. we only got increased by 3%, and it costs us 3% to open the doors for another year." damian: well, discouraging, anything discouraging or is it all positive right now? bernie: well, there's quite a bit that's discouraging. and as i've mentioned already, the cost of living in the bay area is skyrocketing. you know, it costs a lot more to live in any of the bay area counties than it would in alpine county or san joaquin county. yet when schools are funded, they're funded a dollar per student equally. so, what we would want our legislators to understand is that maybe we need to fund education similarly to what we do to other services. medical services, childcare, state funding, they're all

indexed by regional index. and so, perhaps education also needs to be--have that index applied so that counties like santa clara, san mateo, san francisco counties, we can take into account just how much it costs to live here, and so that a dollar in the bay area can buy as much or the same as a dollar in alpine, shasta county. damian: because you--very good point because you have people in silicon--you have teachers in silicon valley who are considered extremely low income. and they're teachers, they're in one of the most honorable professions this country has to offer, yet they're considered extremely low income because of our funding mechanism, i guess. bernie: that's correct, yeah. so, the cost of what it takes, the median income in the bay area has also risen dramatically. not salaries for public employees in general, teachers specifically have not risen as quickly. damian: not good news. well, again, he's at the jefferson elementary school

district in daly city colma area. there's the website for more information. dr. vidales, any final thoughts before we let you go? bernie: i just encourage any of your viewers to please contact their state legislators. i think state legislators in the bay area are highly supportive if they can work with their colleagues from other parts of the state. if we have cousins or aunts and nephews, ask them to call their legislators in their region. i think they all need to hear that it's important that we keep public education alive. damian: very good information. thank you sir for coming. all right, pleasure. and we'll have more when we continue, stay with us.

on que pasa. ♪ and our saludos to those celebrating a special day, felicidades.

and here's our contact information, you can follow me on twitter, my handle is @newsdamian. also pick up a copy of "el observador" newspaper and support your bilingual weeklies all across the bay area. thank you for sharing your sunday with us, we'll see you next week. we leave you now with another special interview, buenos dias. damian: he's a phd candidate at stanford university and he's researching wage theft. forest olaf peterson is my guest here on "comunidad del valle." welcome to the show. forest olaf peterson: thank you very much. damian: so, we're talking about wage theft, and in particular when it involves construction. we do have some video what we're talking about. it's got to be unique for you to be assigned strictly to research wage theft in the construction industry. forest: yes, that's correct. wage theft as an academic research topic is unfortunately a gap in our field. you know, as academics, we look at engineering, how do we design the construction process? but the responsibility for the individuals actually constructing, you know, what we called built environment

a lot of times is left to another field. as an engineer, when i walk on a job site and if i see the construction worker, i say hello, ask them how they're doing. but i don't ask, you know, "are you being paid properly?" that's not my responsibility. but most likely if i do ask, i might get answers that i don't expect. damian: have you gotten that? forest: yes, definitely. walking onto construction sites, now that i'm more aware that wage theft is as prevailing as it is through my research, going out and verifying that wage theft. you know, the dynamics of wage theft and listening to construction workers. and it's interesting 'cause it is california, so there's a lot of latino workers, and so sometimes there's a language barrier and maybe a trust barrier as well. so, you know, i might ask some workers, "oh, how are you doing? you know, it's hot out today." and the workers will say, "oh yeah, it's hot." and i'll say, "oh, you know, is your--is this a pretty good company you work for?" they might say, "oh, you know, it's okay." you know, i say, "well, you know, do they always pay you?"

and i say, "you know, sometimes you don't get paid." and they might laugh, a little joke. and the next thing you know, you know, there's these two workers in particular were telling me, they're like, "no, we never get paid." damian: it's not a joke. forest: yeah, it was for real for them. they started talking to each other. and you know, three minutes after i walked up and just said hello, these two workers are explaining to me how they really aren't paid. damian: and how are you allowed on the site? i know that they have strict guidelines on who can and can't. forest: right, so finding sites to be allowed on is difficult. there's several ways. i can ask local construction leaders to gain access to sites. i can ask construction companies to provide me access to sites. but as a researcher, i can always just walk down the sidewalk, and if there's workers within earshot, i can simply just say hello. and it's up to them if they'd like to talk with me or not. damian: you're a stanford researcher. you can't have bias in your reporting, it has to be analytical, it has to be factual, and you can't opine. forest: that's correct. damian: how vital is that that, that that's the kind of

end result that you're going to come up with? forest: remaining neutral is absolutely important. and of course, as a researcher, i don't have a choice because i have to follow where the data and the facts take me, you know? and when i start off, i start off with the assumption there is no wage theft. and i need to prove to myself that there is wage theft. and so, i try hard to show that there is no wage theft. and to date, i have not been able to prove that. no matter how hard i try, i have only found evidence that there is wage theft, i found evidence that it's widespread, i found evidence that it's hidden, and i found evidence--i've had it difficult finding evidence that there's anywhere that doesn't have wage theft in fact. damian: your report will go where, and what will be done with it at the end? forest: so, as an academic, we have--we have publications that we have. there are academic journals where we publish this information, so then it's available not just, you know, to other academics in the western us, but also internationally and globally so we can share information.

you know, maybe wage theft also occurs in poland, and it's possible that wage theft there is similar to wage theft here. you know, maybe there's wage theft in germany with similar dynamics. so, we're able to share that information as wage theft researchers. it's an early field. and so, there are other researchers out there, but it does take time, and it's through those publications that we're able to share that information. damian: those victims, is there always a fear of something? fear of deportation, a fear of family harm? why are they accepting to work for nothing? forest: so, that's something that we've had a hard time understanding is why is there wage theft? and we don't have an answer for that. there are publications that do show that if there's--if there's a workforce that does have--you know, the paperwork is still a little bit out of order and they're still finalizing things that maybe they're less likely to come forward and say that there's an issue. and they're waiting until they feel more secure before they

come forward with that. so, i have seen publications out of europe that they have shown that especially from eastern european workforces working in, say, the euro zone, that they have seen concerns, say workers from romania working in germany, that they won't necessarily report those wage discrepancies that they--that they're seeing. damian: well, it's a billion--billions and billions of dollars in industry, especially here in silicon valley, and it's happening right under our noses here. again, this is research out of stanford university. you can log onto that website for more information, right? this is where you're working out of, this office right here, and that's where your research will ultimately end up. forest: that's correct. is it okay if i add an invitation? so, this saturday, february 23, there will be an event at the yerba buena high school called justice for workers. and at that event, we will have some presentations.

and some of the research that i've been involved in will be one of those presentations, where we'll show where we've used an advanced data science approach using machine learning to try to better detect wage theft. damian: okay, all right. well, good luck. forest: thank you very much. damian: appreciate your work, all right. ♪ ♪ ♪

day. a large tree crashes onto a right now at 4:30, a huge tree crashing into a south bay home. why the friday accident could have been so much worse. plus, a local father is arrested after telling police his daughter was kidnapped. the condition police say he filed a fake report. an encounter that went viral one year ago. today people talk about what's changed. the news starts right now. thanks so much for joining us. one year ago a simple barbecue turned into an international controversy. >> another year later another barbecue and another