kevin ko reports. >> reporter: leslie hu is showing us the most important person in her world. >> thiser on -- they all have birthdays in the same week. >> reporter: pierce was a third grader in san francisco. three years ago, he was shot and killed by his father who then took his own life. >> you know it's really hard to show up because i have to relive i over and over again but i do it because i find the courage to do it, because i want to help protect other families and to make a difference to make sure that no other family has to live through this, because this is really hard to survive. it's really hard to deal with. >> reporter: when leslie was forced to say good-bye to her 9-year-old son she never wanted another person to feel her pain. that's why she created pierce's pledge, a nonprofit aimed at keeping kids safe from gun violence. that includes this online map of locations where anyone can safely store a firearm. and an online form to take pierce's pledge. where lawyers vow to take preventative gun violence measures with their clients. pierce was killed in the middle of a cust

kevin ko on the uncertainty facing the famous beach town. >> reporter: thomas maguard has been living on a boat for about 13 years and was just about to move into his new vessel. >> i had just moved my bed over here, all excited. i had internet set up. i was excited. >> reporter: this excitement flipped upside down monday as thomas stood on the harbor. >> it's the wave coming through right here. >> reporter: another angle shows the wave coming in. the powerful

kevin ko reports from santa cruz. >> reporter: the signs say it loud and clear, but a small opening in the yellow tape means servers aren't letting this thursday go to waste whether the beach is open or not. >> oh, it was a blast. i'm a little chilly now, but water temp's a little cold, but it's fun out there. >> reporter: todd kramer has been surfing for 30 years. today he's on his hydrofoil board. >> it lifts up out of the water versus sitting on the water like a surf board. >> reporter: the rain brought smaller crowds at beaches, but so did the high surf advisory issued by the national weather service today. impacts include dangerous swimming and serving conditions from unexpected large waves and the potential for cold water shock. todd heard about the advisory. >> the first thing you do is head to the water to see if it's correct or not. >> it's more the amateurs who think they can handle this that we hear a lot about. >> reporter: braydon murdoch with the national weather service says swimmers and surfers with experience like todd aren't the issue. it's the people who are overconf

kevin ko on the uncertainty facing the famous beach town. >> reporter: thomas maguard has been living on a boat for about 13 years and was just about to move into his new vessel. >> i had just moved my bed over here, all excited. i had internet set up. i was excited. >> reporter: this excitement flipped upside down monday as thomas stood on the harbor. >> it's the wave coming through right here. >> reporter: another angle shows the wave coming in. the powerful storm surge caused more than a dozen boats to sink and damaged many more. while much attention has been on the wharf collapse, santa cruz mayor fred keeley says the harbor is a priority. >> all of the elected officials who can help us access state and federal money are totally dialed into what's going on over at the harbor. they're going to sustain something probably on the order of $20 million worth of damage. i'll be surprised if that's what ours is. >> reporter: city officials gathered friday morning at cal's beach where the iconic santa cruz wharf has been closed to the public since monday. the wharf was undergoing a $4 mill

we'll kick things off in oakland tonight where our kevin ko got a look behind-the-scenes at oakland zoo's's the first of many steps into a new world. it's glow- fari, the fifth annual holiday event at the oakland zoo. isabella is showing us around the illuminating lantern festival, a never ending project for staff. >> we start thinking of our layouts starting end of december, so right when we're still doing this event, we're thinking of 2025 into 2026 and we probably have our new layout by may of the year and we solidify it then and we're ready to go and they're crafting away. >> reporter: glow-fari features hundreds of thousands of l.e.d. lights all handpainted and handcrafted. every year it features new surprises and new environments to discover. >> this is the first time we've done the farm area. so you see all the wheat here. we have our big tractor with the animals, too. >> reporter: you'll have plenty to see going from exhibit to exhibit. >> we have our turkeys here with like these large pumpkins. we have tomatoes. we're going through another sunflower tunnel. >> reporter: soon enou

our kevin ko takes us to arcwood street, fremont. >> reporter: twas the night before the emanuel family'sbegan and the lights turned bright. >> three, two, one! >> reporter: every year this home on arcwood street in fremont transforms into the emanuels christmas village. this holiday town's roots begin with cynthia and kent emanuel who love crafting and building. >> so this started when we started dating and every year for thanksgiving i'd get a new house, not a new house. >> reporter: a thomas kinkade christmas collectible specifically. as it grew, friends noticed the emanuels' christmas village, gave them some of their own collectibles and then a snowball effect led to this, but most of the snow was from ken who built and still builds handmade features like this golden gate bridge. >> every year he promises me we're not going to do a new display. this is perfect. we're going to keep it. every year we both -- >> reporter: new this year is this gingerbread house built by ken, crafted by cynthia. in fact, just about everything in this village is handmade by the emanuels like santa's worksh

our kevin ko spoke to business owners who say they're not sure what to do now. >> and so we've got all kinds of candy. >> reporter: the candy adds up when you've been in business since 1915. it all started with victor marini, gino and nick's great grandfather. >> we would turn our location on the boardwalk and the rest was history. >> reporter: what the future holds for the candy company store on the wharf is unknown. it's a waiting game. other business owners on the santa cruz wharf. the end of the pier that collapsed has been closed for the past year. that includes the dolphin restaurant, which was forced to close after high waves damaged the diner in december of 2023. next to the dolphin restaurant sits the candy store. even closer to the edge is the made in santa cruz gift shop. >> very overwhelmed. >> i'm sorry. >> it's been a long year. there is nothing i could do about it. i mean i have to be strong. i have two kids, you know, they lost their father in the beginning of the year. it has been very, you know, hard on all of us. >> reporter: new difficulties may only be beginning. c

kevin ko has more on what they are crediting that drop and the hope of keeping up momentum for the new mayor when he takes office. >> what are the outcomes? >> okay, last question. >> nine. >> reporter: paulette brown couldn't wait to get something off her chest during san francisco's police headquarters. >> i thank god the crime and the homicides are down. >> reporter: paulette knows personally that homicide figures are more than just numbers. her son, aubrey was killed in 2006. his homicide remains unsolved. but paulette hasn't given up on her son's case, encouraged by the announcement that san francisco is seeing it lowest homicide rate in about 60 years. >> our shootings have down this year. our gun related violence is down this year. >> reporter: both, police chief bill scott and mayor breed, partially crediting a violence reduction initiative or vri. that was implemented in district 10, which includes the bayview neighborhood. the focus is reducing gun violence in the immediate future. reducing recidivism, and building police community trust. >> we left the work if district 10, w

kevin ko was at city hall for a start of a new era in oakland. >> reporter: it was a packed house insidey hall for oakland's first city council meeting of the year without an official mayor. many were seeking answers on the city's $130 million budget shortfall, but they left with more questions on who will be the interim mayor of oakland in the new year. >> reporter: bhat arrived at oakland city hall to talk about the budget, but was taken back by the city officials he didn't see. >> it was just disrespectful. not to see all the city council members sitting in the chambers to hear our voice and our concerns. this is a very important meeting. it's the last meeting for some of the outgoing city council members. >> reporter: there was no absence of emotion inside city hall tuesday night, as oaklanders across the city demanded council members to fix the budget shortfall without touching necessities like public safety and senior citizens. and they believe any cuts should start inside the building he's standing in. >> i want a real truthful leadership. start from the top all the way to the bot

kevin ko talked with some of those business owners about their uncertain future. >> so we've got allf candies. >> reporter: the candy adds up when you've been in business since 1915. it started with victor, gino and nick's great-grandfather. >> push cart on the boardwalk turned into our location on the boardwalk. the rest was history. >> reporter: what the future holds for the candy company store on the wharf is still unknown. it's a pain staking waiting game for them and other business owners on the santa cruz wharf. the end of the pier that collapsed has been closed the past year. that includes the dolphin restaurant, forced to close in december of 2023. next to the restaurant sits the candy store. even closer to the edge is the made in santa cruz gift shop. >> very overwhelmed. >> reporter: i'm sorry. >> it's been a long year. there's nothing i can do about it. i mean, i have to be strong. i have two kids, and you know, they've lost their father at the beginning of the year, so it's just been very, you know, hard on all of us. >> reporter: new difficulties may only be beginning. c

kevin ko has more on what city officials are crediting for the drop. >> the outcomes. >> last question. >> nine. [ laughter ] >> reporter: paulette brown couldn't wait to get something off her chest during tuesday's press conference at san francisco police headquarters. >> i just think that -- i thank god that the crime and the homicides are down. >> reporter: paulette, knows personally that homicide figures are more than just numbers. her son, aubrey was killed in 2006. his homicide remains unsolved. but paulette hasn't given up on her son's case and is encouraged by the announcement that san francisco is seeing its lowest homicide rate in about 60 years. >> our shootings are down this year. our gun related violence is down this year. >> reporter: both police chief bill scott and mayor breed are partially crediting a violence reduction initiative or vri. that was implemented in district 10 which includes the bay view neighborhood. the focus is reducing gun violence in the immediate future. reducing recidivism. and building police community trust. >> we -- lost this work in district 10

our kevin ko takes us to arkwood street in fremont. >> reporter: as the the night before the emmanuelone began and the lights turned bright. >> three, two, one. [ cheering and applause ] >> reporter: every year, this home on arkwood street in fremont transforms into the emmanuel's christmas valleyage. the holiday town's roots begin with cynthia and kent emmanuel who love crafting and building. >> this started when we started dating and every year for thanksgiving i get a new house. not a new house. >> reporter: a thomas kinkade christmas collectible specifically. as it grew, friends noticing the emmanuel's christmas village and gave them some of their own collectibles and then a snowball effect led to this. but most of the snow was from ken who built and still builds handmade features like this golden gate bridge. >> every year he promises me, we're not going to do a new display. this is perfect. we're going to keep it -- every year. >> we both -- running out of space. >> reporter: new this year is this gingerbread house built by ken and crafted by cynthia. in fact, just about everyth

cutting back on police overtime spending while two fire stations are set to be closed temporarily as kevin ko it's now coming as there's now leadership change amid growing frustration from residents. >> reporter: arrived at oakland city hall to talk about the budget. but was taken aback by the city officials he didn't see. >> just very disrespectful and not to see all the city council members sitting there in the chamber. hear our voice and our concerns, because this is a very important meeting. and it's the last meeting for some of the outgoing city council members. >> reporter: there was no absence of emotion in city hall tuesday night as oaklanders across the city demanded councilmembers to fix the budget shortfall. without touching the necessities like public safety and senior services. he believes any cuts should start inside the building he is standing in. >> going to be a real truthful leadership, it's just start from the top all the way to the bottom. >> reporter: although she was not there in-person, sheng thao briefly joined tuesday's council meeting via some. someone who was there,

kevin ko spoke with business owners who say they're not sure what they're going to do now. >> so we've got all kinds of candy. >> reporter: the candy adds up when you have been in business since 1915 like marie knee's candies. all started with victor. geno and nick's great grandfather. >> little push cart on the boardwalk and we turned into our location on boardwalk. and kind of rest was history. >> reporter: what future holds for the candy company's store on the wharf is still unknown. it's a painstaking waiting game for the family and other business owners on the santa cruz wharf. the end of the pier that collapsed has been closed for the past year. that includes the dolphin restaurant which was forced to close after high waves damaged the diner in december of 2023. next to the dolphin restaurant sits their candy store. even closer to the edge is the made in santa cruz gift shop. >> very overwhelmed. >> i'm sorry. >> reporter: it's been a long year. >> there's nothing i can do about it. i mean, i have to be strong and i have two kids. and -- you know, they lost their father at the be