hollow and welcome to kqed "newsroom." troubling findings about santa clara's jails. dog owners feeling bitten by new national park rules. first an update on homelessness in san francisco. today is the deadline for homeless people to clear out of an encamp the on division street in san francisco. officials posted a notice to vacate on tuesday, giving 72 hours to leave the area. the tents have become a target of complaint for neighbors and businesses and a public relations dilemma for mayor ed lee. we talked to linda who lives in a tent on division street about potentially moving to a homeless shelter at pier 80.

>> no, i don't want to go to pier 80. i don't think it's even feasible. why the ultimatum to go to jail or pier 80? we have rights. as long as there's no violation in society or doing anything inappropria inappropriate, we shouldn't have tof to go. as long as we're people getting off the streets, if we're not doing anything to the public, they shouldn't bug us. don't put me in the category as those who do stuff wrong. i'd rather be on the streets. it would give me the opportunity try to maneuver and take care of business rather than living under someone else's rug until i get our place. it's too difficult to be living under some circumstances, and their regulations will keep you from taking care of business.

especially those that want to get off the streets, that have the drive to get off the streets and do something more with their lives than they already have. >> joining me now is kqed's stephanie martin taylor who has been following the story. thanks for coming in. >> thank you, thuy. >> the deadline is today. that tent city on division street is one of several around the city. why -- they've been around for months actually. why is the city doing this now? >> the city says it's gotten too dangerous for public health. there are needles on the ground, feces, they've round rats. there's an public outcry from bo business owners and residents who say something need to be done about the tents that show no signs of leaving. >> where would the homeless move to? >> the city has a temporary shelter at pier 80, south of the ballpark. 3.5 miles from the city center. its capacity is 150, although

supervisor malia cohen who represents the area says that there is potential for more beds to be put in. but a lot of the homeless people, like we saw, don't want to go. so that's been the city's challenge is coaxing these people to -- to take what's offered, and even if everyone did take what's offered, there aren't enough beds available. >> also, they can only stay there temporarily. it's not a permanent solution, pier 80. >> it's not. it's only a night or two. and then they're on to other options, other shelters around the city. so yeah, so a lot of the people i spoke with today have been in the shelter system before. they don't like this constantly coming and going and being displaced and moved around to other parts of the city. they prefer to stay in their tents. >> and so critics have made that very point. this is simply moving the problem around. and advocates for the homeless said this is criminalizing homelessness. what happens at this point?

what about those who refuse to go? what happens to them? >> i think the city is trying very hard to avoid a public relations nightmare where we see images of the police coming in and arresting people. they are trying a soft approach and putting homeless outreach into the field, trying to coax people into services. that's the big question is ultimately how long if people refuse to leave or they just continue moving on to other neighborhoods, how long can this go on. how long can san francisco oo sustain a city of little tent that pop up? >> will police arrest them if they don't move on? >> it's illegal to camp. yes, they could. we haven't heard a strong point of view from the police department, police chief greg surr. he has his own public relations issues and has not said

forcefully, yes, we will arrest people who stay. >> you mention public outcry has been growing, especially over the sanitary conditions, declining sanitary conditions. mayor lee's poll numbers have been dropping. does politics play into this? >> absolutely. mayor lee has had a tough time around the super bowl. he was quoted as saying that the homeless would have to leave the streets. he would say that that was misinterpreted, thieves talking about the area around -- that he was talking about the area around the super bowl city, the embarcadero. that was widely interpreted as meaning he wanted to sweep everyone off the streets, out of view of visitors and tourist. now he's got to deal with the tent city which many say is a symbol of everything that is wrong with san francisco's homeless policies, and its inable to serve all these people -- inability to serve all these people who need help. >> the city spends hundreds of millions a year on services for the homeless. nearly $250 million this fiscal year alone. any reason to think that the

homeless dilemma will be solved this time? maybe mayors have tried. >> yeah, they have. i think a lot of that hinges on mayor lee's proposal which is being acted on, to create a department of homeless services, putting all the services that the city currently has under one roof. philadelphia's done it, new york has done it, salt lake city's done it with -- with success. and a strong department is what's needed. >> all right. we'll see how that goes. stephanie martin taylor, thank you. >> thank you. a new report on santa clara county's troubled jails has some alarming findings. widespread inmate complaints of excessive force, filthy living conditions, and inadequate medical care. the analysis found a broken grievance system that allows complaints to be hidden or ignored. calls for reform intensify after mentally ill michael tyree was allegedly beaten to death by three correctional officers last year. last month, a former inmate filed a lawsuit contending he was beaten by guards.

a a blue ribbon commission has been formed. and joining us, the chair, judge cordell. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> your commission made the report. your response to the findings? >> first of all, i want to make clear that people understand that jails are a place for people to go, one, to be punished, so they're not meant to be a place where you can go and have a good time. also, half the population, more than half are there, not convicted of any crimes. they're pretrial waiting to to trial because either they did not get bail or denied bail. that said, we asked our consultant to go the jails and speak with whomever the consultants could speak with. a total of 11 attorneys went into the jails. there's the main jail, north, south, and elmwood in milpitas. a women's facility and the men's facility and a minimum camp. it was stunning at how many inmates were willing to talk to

these lawyers. and most of them wanted anonymity because they were concerned about retaliation from the custodial officers, the guards. they talked to 944 inmates and talked to some correctional officers and some family members. and so these aren't really findings. they're really just reporting back and saying, this is what the inmates are saying, what they're experiencing in the jails. >> what was your reaction upon hearing what the inmates were saying about the jails? >> i think i can speak for all of our commission members to say that we were stunned. we were really taken aback by the kinds of things that were being said. for example, some of the worst medical care was given to women, at the women's facility in elms wood. and we heard talk about miscarriages which according to the inmates could have been avoided and should have been avoided had they been given the

proper care. we heard concerns about the lack of psychiatric services, inmates not getting their meds when they should. and then we heard about the grievance process. we heard about sanitation in the jails, where inmates get one change of underwear a week, and during the process that this commission has met, the sheriff actually has ordered that inmates get their underwear more frequently during the week. >> we want to point out that we did ask sheriff lori smith to come on the show. her department did not respond to us. the sheriff has released a statement in the past on this issue. earlier this week, she said her department's already working on making changes. she said in part, "we are installing locked grievance collection boxes in our facilities so that inmates feel safe in making a complaint. we will implement a tracking process to ensure those complaints don't fall on deaf ears. we have reinstituted pre-shift squad meetings so our custody deputies hear directly about issues and concerns from the previous shift." are you satisfied with her

response? >> it's certainly not bad. but no, it doesn't go nearly far enough. so let me take one example. the grievance boxes. so if you're an inmate, you have a complaint, there's a form that you can get. you're given. you fill it out, and it might be a complaint again a specific guard. so before there were no grievance boxes, you had to hand it in. sometimes it would go to the person about whom you were complaining. now, there are books. i'm not sure how many there are, and so the idea is they're locked so the inmate can put the complaint in. then somebody has to open the boxes. the hope is someone higher up in the chain of command, not your average, the guard can actually get access to it. i recently received information in the last 48 hours that at least one sergeant, and that's a step up from being an officer, has gotten open -- opened the box, taken out a complaint, read it, shown it to the particular officer who was being complained about. the problem still exist. so more has to be done than just

putting some boxes throughout the jail. >> a number of scandals that happened under sheriff smith's watch, this issue but also the michael tyree case we mentioned, also two guards accused of beating a shackled inmate so severely that his jaw was permanently disfigured. how would you assess sheriff smith's job performance? >> the jails came under the sheriff's purview in 2010. there's been five years in which they're under the supervision of the sheriff's department. and just looking at what we have found so far, i have some very serious concerns about what has happened in the jails under her leadership. it's not personal. i know the sheriff, i don't dislike her at all. if we're talking about business here and about what the responsibility is to run the jails and to see that guards behave correctly and inmates are treated in a humane fashion, clearly what we have found so

far raises all kinds of red flags. >> should she step down? >> i'm not going to say anything at this point when whether or not she should step down, but i tell you that the issue of leadership is certainly going to be a topic of discussion among commission members when we determine what recommendations we're going bring forward. >> your commission is set to make your final recommendations on april 12th, and then after that, you will be disbanded. do you think that there is additional review needed after that? should there be an independent oversight committee? some kind of entity set up? >> so, i will make a report on behalf of the commission to the board of supervisors on april 12th at their supervisors meeting, on a tuesday. it's my view that there has to be an ongoing look at everything that's happened, especially if the board adopts the recommendation for the commission. somebody has to see that they're implemented. i will tell you that i'm personally in favor of independent, civilian oversight. a sort of monitor of the jails

in santa clara county. that's just me. i don't know how the commission will feel about it. but absolutely, there has to be oversight independent of the sheriff's department, to hold that department accountable and to hold leadership accountable. >> and just real quickly, at one point you had threatened to quit the commission because the county had hired a consulting firm to review the jail system but produce a report that would not be public. you're satisfied that that's been resolved? >> no, it hasn't. that consultant's there. they're doing a secret report. we're covering information that the consultant is not covering. >> all right. judge cordell, always good to have you here. thank you. >> thank you. california democrats kick off their statewide convention today in san jose. it's expected to set the stage for key races, including the contest to replace long-time u.s. senator barbara boxer who is retiring. the top democratic con toernds take her seat are -- contenders to take her house are the topic

of our discussion. and scott schaefer, senior editor of kqed politics. thanks for joining us. what else is on the agenda because democrats control just about every statewide office from the governor on down. there's still work to do? >> this is the last big meeting before the primary in june. there's a lot of organizing that goes on. there's all these caucuses, every image nibbinable group ta. it's talking about becoming a delegate for the national convention in july for the presidential campaign. and people getting trained and organizing volunteers, those kinds of things. gearing up for the june primary and then the big event in november. >> what about party endorsements? are those up for grabs? >> they are. that is probably the most important thing that's going to be happening this weekend. you mentioned in the senate race, barbara boxer retiring after 24 years. it's tough to get a party endorsement in a contested race where there is no incumbent which is what this is. you have to get 60% of the delegates plus one.

if anyone can do that this weekend, it will be camela harris. she's been traveling, trying to lock down votes from delegates. her people are downplaying, lowering expectations. there is a chance she could do that, and it will be probably a victory for loretta sanchez if she can just block harris from the endorsement. it's tough because you can vote no endorsement. therefore, it's tougher to get the 50% threshold. >> no incumbent in that race. but in san jose, there is a race where there is an incumbent, mike honda. squaring off again against ro qana. >> it's a bitter fight. and honda did not get the early endorsement. you need 70%, and he did not get that. if he can just get 50% of the delegates this weekend, he will get that endorsement. he probably will. but just the fact that he's struggling even to get that endorsement for an incumbent is not a good sign for him. he's running an aggressive campaign.

he's raced more than honduras arch he's lining up -- honda. he's lining up endorsements. obama is not going to get involved. last time he endorsed honda, that was a boost. this time he's going to sit it out. there's an investigation of mike honda in the house, and i think that's giving people cold feet. >> what about amiberra? >> he's not running contested. he's the congressman from the sacramento area. he's taken conservative positions on things like the pacific trade agreement which he supports. that makes organized labor very unhappy. he also was denied that early endorsement. and he'll probably get it again -- just 50% plus one, i think they're making him sweat it out because they're not happy with him. >> there's also a presidential primary in june. will hillary clinton or bernie sanders show up? >> no. they will not be there. they've got something going on tomorrow in south carolina. >> just a little thing called the super tuesday i think. >> that's tuesday, then south carolina is tomorrow, saturday. they're very busy. but the vice president will be

there. you know, he's a big favorite of the rank and file democrats. he'll be there. no. no bernie. no hillary. >> joe biden is having an interesting week. he was at ucsf, then the convention and the oscars -- >> the convention is a warmup. he's going to be at the oscar ceremony in los angeles. he's introducing lady gaga, who's going to be singing a song from a nominated best original song from a film about sexual assault on campus which is a big issue for joe biden as it was going all the way back to his days in the senate. >> now, in addition to the democratic convention, another big issue in state politics this week, governor brown is now appealing a superior court ruling against his initiative to make certain nonviolent felons eligible for early parole. take us through this battle quickly. >> the governor made that announcement in january, and it was immediately opposed by the district attorneys. they then filed a lawsuit saying that what the governor did was he took a pending ballot measure

on juvenile justice, added this stuff about sentencing, and then -- >> for adults. >> for adults. and so paired it with the juvenile stuff, but didn't give any time for the public to comment on this new version. now brown says this was just a -- an amendment to an existing ballot measure. the d.a.s saying no, this is a whole new thing. you got to start at the beginning. you can't jump in in the middle. and this judge in sacramento this week agreed with the district attorney. now the governor and the attorney general are appealing to the state supreme court. it was really a slap of the hand, also of the a.g., camela harris. the judge said she should not have accepted the changes because it was a whole new ballot measure. now it goes to the state supreme court where brown has three of the seven appointees. it will be interesting to see what they do. >> former state senator lee sentenced to five years in prison. of course, he was caught up in the fbi sting of raymond chow.

he was sentenced for exchanging political favors for campaign contributions. do you think this finally puts a lid on that one chapter? and how has it changed the democratic party? >> well, leland ye was never a favorite among democrats in sacramento. he was always regarded a showboat and lone wolf on certain issues. i don't think there were a lot of tears shed. that said, his getting caught up in the sting happened when other controversies and scandals were happening up in sacramento. so there's actually a ballot measure in june which the legislature put on allowing them to suspend members of the legislature when they're caught up in these kinds of ethics problems. so it's had that impact. the democrats also lost their supermajority up in one of the houses after the scandal broke. so it has had an impact on the party. you know, there's also the district attorney in san francisco. george gascon, doing a local investigation not into leland ye, but the others caught up in the investigation by the fbi.

we haven't seen the final chapter on the story. >> that is definitely ongoing. in the meantime, you take off i think tonight for the state democratic convention in san jose. >> they told me i was going to the oscars. i'm going to the convention? >> clearly you need a better representative around the station in terms of what assignments you get. >> i will be in san jose. you are correct. >> it's just as good. live in san jose. i love san jose. >> i hear the museum is fantastic. >> fabulous along with lots of other things. scott schaefer, thank you very much. >> you bet. this week the golden gate national recreation area proposed new rules for walking dogs off leash at popular sites such as chris field in san francisco. the rules would limit where dogs run freely to five locations within the park's 80,000 acres. dog owners are crying foul while environmentalists see the restrictions as necessary to protect wildlife and sensitive habitats. the controversy has been brewing for more than a decade and was featured in this pbs "news hour"

story from october by spencer michaels. >> trying to get rid of the recreational mandates. we were promised this land would stay with the traditional recreational uses of the land. and now they're going back on their promises. basically what the parks service is planning to do will amount to the largest loss of public access in the history. >> while most national parks include wilderness areas, the battleground here is a stunning compilation of government-owned properties. the presidio of san francisco, a repurposed army base, is parts of the park, as is the coastal battery now used for hang gliding and dog walking along popular trails near the beach. and there's ocean beach where the continent ends. off-leash dogs are allowed but would be curtailed under proposed rules. >> and joining us now to discuss this is christine leonards,

superintendent at the golden gate national recreation area. welcome. >> nice to be with you. thank you very much. >> first of all, for those who don't know what the golden gate national reactionriaticreation park is, can you describe what sets it apart from other national parks? >> yes, i'd be happi. to the recreation area was established in 1972. if you look at the national recreation area today, the north send in marin county. we run through marin 60 miles south through san francisco and down to san mateo county. the park preserves a number of special resources from incredible natural resources when you look at marin county and places where there are areas that have been preserved in perpetuity because of the passion of people who have lived in this area, into the san francisco area where we have nike missile sites, pre-civil war era -- areas, and down into the south area, san mateo county where there are beaches and open spaces that we are proud to preserve forever. >> enormous natural beauty.

where can dog owners currently walk their dogs off leash in this area? >> currently we're operating on a policy under 1979 that allows offleash dog walking in a number of areas. the new proposed rule will allow that continue in 22 areas where dogs can be walked, and seven specific areas where dogs can be walked off leash. >> so the five areas, for example, in san francisco, for those who may not be totally familiar, chrissy field, fort fundsten, ocean beach, and the fifth area is rode yeah beach in marin. the public anger, though, i think arises from how much of that land will be restricted in terms of where they can walk their dogs y frofreely. in chrissy field, ft. foundsten, dog walks lose half the space. >> we've heard from the public, one individual commented to us

said ft. fundsten is the sistine chapel of dog walking. a wonderful description. our intention is to allow that off-leash dog walking to be two areas, down along the beach and also in the uplands, where people can continue to walk their dogs off leash. >> why is it necessary to do this? >> it's an interesting proposition when we live in a place like san francisco or the area where the population is increasing so dramatically. we know this year the population has s estimated -- is estimated to be around seven million people in the bay area. 25 years from now we'll be at 9 million people. when we were first established, we had around 1.4 million visitors who came to golden gate. last year, we had almost 18 million visitors. we need to make sure that the places that golden gate preserves forever for the american people are available for people who have many choices to make, when they want to recreate by kiting or surfing, walking, running, walking a dog, our job is to make sure that all

of those opportunities are available and to reduce conflicts where we see them. >> what problems are the dogs creating? what are you hearing? >> the dogs are often very well managed by responsible dog earns who make sure that when their dog is supposed to be on leash, it's kept on leash. or when their waste is supposed to be removed, they do that. we have enough conflict that we're concerned that too many people are being knocked over by dogs, bitten. we hear complaints about pet waste. instances where even if a dog does something that's negative or attacks an individual, that owner sometimes is -- is embarrassed and hates that it happens, and we want to reduce the opportunities for that to happen by lowering those places where we see conflict today. >> dog owners, though, as you know, are angry about this. and i -- the point is that this area is not like yosemite or even yellowstone where you were the deputy superintendent at one point. those are wilderness areas.

and these rules might work there. but the ggnra is an urban park. and dogs are part of the urban landscape. and i think they're feeling like they had a right to walk their dogs there. and now the right is being taken away from them. how do you respond to that? >> this plan is definitely a plan for the future. and i would remind people that ggnra is a national and nationally significant place. and so while people say it's not like yellowstone or not like yosemite because it doesn't have the wilderness that those places have, you know, the national parks service doesn't create parks. that power is reserved for the president and for the congress of the united states. when they do that, they do it because they think each. these areas should be preserved for the future for all people. >> so there's a public comment period running through april 25th. is that right? >> it's been extended 30 days. it will run through may 25th. >> when will the final rules be issued? >> we hope to have final rules before the end of the year. >> i think you'll get an earful

during this public comment. >> we will. thank you very much. >> thank you for coming in. chris leonard, superintendent of the ggnra. that is it for us. thank you for watching. i'm thuy vu. for all of kqed's coverage, go to kqednews.org.

captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday february 28: campaign 2016 goes national, as the candidates criss-cross a dozen states before super tuesday. in our signature segment: the booming solar power industry faces a fight for its life in one of america's sunniest states. >> i was here two weeks ago with 550 of our people and we basically said, 'guys, we have no work for you. we have no work for you.' >> sreenivasan: and, an emerging ethiopian filmmaker provides a unique look at his country. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: lewis b. and louise hirschfeld cullman. bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston.