Authorities announced that a test of the emergency alert system will be carried out in Palo Alto next Thursday, December 14 at noon.
The City of Palo Alto announced that it will conduct a test of its emergency alert system on Thursday, December 14 at noon to ensure that residents who have signed up receive emergency notifications as defined in their account settings.
According to a statement from the city, the test is also intended to raise community awareness about the city's emergency alert system, as only one-third of Palo Alto residents are currently registered to receive such alerts.
The City uses AlertSCC, a Santa Clara County emergency notification system used by all cities in the county, to alert the public about floods, wildfires, or other public safety events.
The alert system is an approach used to communicate and keep the public informed during an emergency to share the community's impacts and risks to public safety.
AlertSCC is free to everyone and quick and easy to set up, with users able to select whether alerts are sent directly to their mobile device, landline and/or email address.
To register for the city's emergency alert system, interested parties can visit the site www.alertscc.com.
The City of Palo Alto said it plans to conduct a test of the emergency alert system annually each December. The emergency notification will indicate that the message is only a “test.” If you already have an account, you will receive the “test” alert as a call, text message, and/or email message, depending on your account preferences.
Local officials asked that people refrain from calling the city's 24-hour dispatch center (either 9-1-1 or (650) 329-2413) after testing to ask questions or obtain additional information.
“Our public safety dispatchers are not involved in this test and have no way to control their alert preferences,” they said.
In addition to Palo Alto's emergency alert system, there are other ways for the community to stay informed before, during and after an emergency, public safety incident or other event that poses a risk to the public safety of residents.
City of Palo Alto social media channels including Nextdoor, Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). Follow the City on these platforms at www.cityofpaloalto.org/connect
Un perro murió en un incendio en una casa cerca de Redwood City la madrugada de este miércoles, según el Distrito de Protección contra Incendios de Menlo Park.
Crews responded at 12:50 p.m. to a fire reported at 560 Beresford Ave., a home in an unincorporated part of San Mateo County.
Las llamas estaban inicialmente en la terraza trasera de la casa, pero se extendieron al interior. Todos los residentes escaparon ilesos y los bomberos impidieron que el fuego se propagara a las casas adyacentes, pero el perro de la familia murió, dijeron funcionarios del departamento de bomberos.
La causa del incendio está bajo investigación. Los funcionarios del departamento de bomberos dijeron que la propiedad estaba valorada en 3.2 millones de dólares y que el incendio causó daños por más de 1.2 millones de dólares.
Fighting back tears as they spoke Tuesday, San Francisco Supervisors Dean Preston and Hillary Ronan introduced a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, joining the cities of Richmond and Oakland in publicly condemning the conflict.
The resolution calls for a sustained ceasefire, an influx of humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages and the condemnation of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hatred.
Since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,200 Israelis, more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 1.7 million have been displaced, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Preston said he intended to add the city's voice to the chorus of international human rights and humanitarian organisations, countries, cities, trade unions and city residents calling for an end to the violence, destruction and death taking place abroad.
His performance was followed by 40 seconds of applause and cheers from a packed room. Audience members shouted, “You got it, Dean!” as he struggled to speak.
“Just this morning I heard from a Palestinian-American friend here in San Francisco who informed me…” Preston said, pausing to wipe away tears. “Seven more members of my family have been killed overnight, and at least 100 have already been killed since October 7. Meanwhile, Jews are still in shock because the October 7 massacre fulfilled the worst fears and nightmares of so many of us.”
Ronan was equally passionate.
“I must, I must! It is in my blood,” she said, recalling seeing the numbers tattooed on the forearm of her great-uncle as a child, who survived Auschwitz. “I must speak out against the overwhelming killing of innocent lives in Gaza, including nearly 7,000 children.”
“The resolution doesn’t actually condemn anyone,” said Samer Araabi of the Accountability Council, a nonprofit that helps small communities affected by international development projects. He spoke ahead of the meeting on behalf of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
“Ceasefires require a high degree of cooperation, so they lead to a kind of mutual trust-building process that allows for de-escalation,” said Araabi, who studied ceasefire dynamics at the London School of Economics.
Passionate public comments came from a variety of community groups and members of San Francisco’s Palestinian and Jewish community who wanted the resolution adopted. Many wore T-shirts reading “Cease Fire Now” and “Jews Say Stop.”
“When elected leaders join the call for peace, the city becomes safer for everyone,” said one Palestinian speaker.
High school rodeo participants say the patience and courage that comes with caring for and training horses can help curb the impulses that lead to bullying.
Above: Stella Aleman, 13, on her horse, Ice Baby, during a high school rodeo tournament in Corning, CA. Stella says the high school rodeo world provided her with a supportive community after being bullied at school. (Credit: Manuel Ortiz)
It’s tournament day in Corning, a small town about an hour north of Sacramento. Helmets and boots squelch through the mud on a rainy Saturday as more than 100 competitors prepare for a series of events, from roping to cutting, pole bending to cattle braving.
Thirteen-year-old Stella Aleman smiles and her eyes sparkle as she rides her horse, Ice Baby, amid a group of giddy cowgirls.
Radiating confidence, you’d never guess that just weeks earlier she’d been the target of a cruel bullying campaign. “I was being bullied for riding horses, people calling me horse girl or cowgirl. People were yelling ‘yee haw’ around me, thinking it was funny,” she recalls. “It made me feel like I wasn’t normal. It made me not want to do this anymore.”
Stella’s mother, Andrea Aleman, is a registered nurse in Clear Lake, a town 60 miles south in Lake County. “It was very, very difficult,” she says with tears in her eyes as she describes her daughter’s struggle over the past few months. The threats became so constant that Stella had to be pulled out of school and placed in independent study. Local police eventually stepped in. “My daughter is very young … they were threatening to beat her up.”
Bullying can leave lasting scars for both victims and perpetrators, affecting grades, graduation rates, and even future employment and career opportunities. At its worst, it can lead to severe depression or suicidal thoughts.
More than 100 teens gathered over a recent November weekend to compete in the California High School Rodeo Association (CHSRA) District 2, which spans counties from Marin and Sonoma, just north of San Francisco, to Humboldt and Del Norte in the far north. There are nine districts across the state. (Credit: Manuel Ortiz)
A year-round lifestyle
Despite its popularity (43 million Americans identify as rodeo fans, according to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association), the equestrian sport remains niche among California youth. The California High School Rodeo Association (CHSRA) has about 800 members statewide.
The cost (up to $10,000 per year per horse in California), the commitment and time required to properly care for and train the animals, and the travel involved in participating in state and national tournaments are just some of the limiting factors.
Yet if their immersion in rodeo sets them apart, the irony is that the high school rodeo community sees itself rooted in a tradition that grew out of the cattle ranches that have long been a mainstay, even a defining one, of much of California’s rural economy, especially in the north. Far from being outliers, people here — young and old — will tell you they’re holding on to something precious, a bulwark against a hyper-digitized and increasingly encroaching urban world.
For the past 10 years, Marco Luna has served as the president of CHSRA District 2, which stretches from the Bay Area-adjacent counties of Marin and Sonoma to Humboldt and Del Norte in the far north (there are 9 districts total in California). A retired police officer and son of Mexican immigrants, he spends his time tending to his ranch in Humboldt when he's not shepherding rodeo families to and from competitions.
Marco Luna, president of CHSRA Dist 2, sets the rules for the tournament. He says rodeo is a “lifestyle” that is practiced year-round and requires commitment and dedication. (Credit: Manuel Ortiz)
Unlike seasonal sports like basketball or baseball, he says, rodeo is a year-round “lifestyle” that requires commitment and dedication.
There’s the daily feeding, the grooming, the training, the bonding. The horses “have to be your friends,” she stresses, a relationship Luna describes as “therapeutic” for the young people involved. Recognizing its value, universities such as Cal Poly Humboldt are now considering adding rodeo to their sports program, Luna says.
“Some kids struggle in school, in life, in their family environment, and this is their outlet,” he continues. “These kids build those bonds with these animals and then go out and compete.”
A culture of care
California is rife with efforts to reduce or prevent bullying, many of them centered on education and awareness about the harms bullying can cause. For Luna, the magic of high school rodeo comes through the connection kids share with their horses and the values that spread from there — values he believes can help curb the impulses that lead to bullying in the first place.
Competitors sign codes of conduct, as well as social media contracts, and must keep their grades up. If they fail to meet any of these, they will not be able to compete. “We want them to go out and become good public citizens,” Luna says.
It’s that culture of attention that prompted 16-year-old Gracelyn Minic-Hayes to headline a Blue Up Day tournament in honor of National Bullying Prevention Month in October. “I was cyberbullied by anonymous accounts, meaning I have no idea who they were,” says Minic-Hayes, this year’s District 2 queen, adding that she was targeted because of a minor speech impediment.
Gracelyn Minic-Hayes, 16, this year's District 2 queen, helped organize the Blue Up Day event in October, in recognition of National Bullying Prevention Month. (Credit: Manuel Ortiz)
Things got so bad, she says, that she started feeling anxious walking into school, not knowing who was attacking her. “But I knew when I walked into the rodeo, everyone just loved you. There was no bullying here.”
Minic-Hayes is aware that kids like Stella are being bullied for their rodeo involvement. “We’re different, we’re weird, and our views don’t match up with theirs,” she says, which is partly why she pushed for the Blue Up Day event. “At the end of the day, bullies are just trying to tear you down. But here you can learn, grow, and be yourself. And I thought some of our kids in our district might need a reminder.”
“My best friends”
Stella and her horse, Ice Baby. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)
Stella jumps off Ice Baby and takes his front paw in her hands. The contrast is striking: this powerful animal towers over a tiny teenager who, with practiced confidence, gently rubs her before taking his muzzle in her hands and planting a kiss on it. Ice Baby leans in for another.
Weeks earlier, Stella's Instagram account, which had about 3,000 followers, had been shut down after someone complained about animal abuse. Animal rights activists have long pushed for a statewide rodeo ban. Los Angeles appeared poised Tuesday to join San Francisco and Pasadena in banning rodeos. ban rodeo events within the city limits.
As Stella says, school bullies and activists become almost synonymous with a world that sees their passion as something to be ridiculed or removed altogether.
“It was really hard to get over it,” she says. “Then I realized that it doesn’t matter if other people bully me, because I have a great family here. It really helped me get over it.”
And he adds: “These horses are like my best friends.”
Credit: Manuel OrtizCredit: Manuel OrtizCredit: Manuel Ortiz
Credit: Manuel Ortiz
EMS' Stop The Hate initiative is made possible by funding from the California State Library (CSL) in partnership with the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs (CAPIAA). The views expressed on this website and other materials produced by EMS do not necessarily reflect the official policies of CSL, CAPIAA, or the California government.
Investigadores de Stanford. De izquierda a derecha, Anton Molina, Anesta Kothari y Manu Prakash muestran la fibra de sisal y el material similar al algodón que han producido a partir del sisal. Esperan que este material pueda utilizarse para fabricar toallas sanitarias menstruales más accesibles y sostenibles. (Crédito de la imagen: Andrew Brodhead).
The menstrual poverty afecta a millones de mujeres en el mundo, lo que significa que no tengan acceso a productos femeninos de higiene como toallas sanitarias, tampones o copas menstruales, situación que investigadores de Stanford quieren cambiar, al crear toallas sanitarias a base de plantas que reducirían su costo y con ello mejorar su acceso.
Y es que, investigadores de Stanford han diseñado un proceso de código abierto para convertir fibras de sisal (fibras de las hojas de algunos agaves, plata originaria de México) en material absorbente para toallas sanitarias menstruales, creando una oportunidad para la fabricación local y sostenible de estos productos de higiene que muchas comunidades necesitan.
Para las personas menstruantes, el acceso a productos menstruales asequibles e higiénicos es una necesidad. Estudios estiman que 500 millones de personas (mujeres, niñas e individuos transgénero y no binarios) no tienen acceso a las instalaciones y productos que necesitan para controlar su período.
Manu Prakash, profesor asociado de bioingeniería en Stanford, y sus colaboradores han desarrollado un método para convertir las fibras de la planta de sisal en un material esponjoso y absorbente para toallas sanitarias menstruales. Y, al ser un proceso de código abierto, podría ayudar a los pequeños fabricantes a utilizar materiales de origen local para crear productos menstruales asequibles y de alta calidad para sus comunidades.
“Para abrir el acceso a la fabricación local, hay que pensar de dónde vendrán las materias primas”, señaló Prakash. En Kenia en particular, “resulta que el sisal es absolutamente increíble”.
According to work recently published in Communications Engineering de Nature, un componente crítico de una toalla sanitaria menstrual es el núcleo absorbente. Para encontrar el mejor material para crear almohadillas a base de plantas, los investigadores comenzaron con un enfoque sistemático, analizando los productos existentes y los recursos biológicos que se utilizan en diferentes áreas del mundo.
Algunos cultivos, como el algodón, precisaron, eran demasiado costosos y requerían mucha agua, y otros, como la madera, sólo tenían grandes suministros disponibles en unos pocos países.
“Comenzamos a mapear todo. Mapeamos plátanos, mapeamos jacintos de agua, todo lo que pudimos conseguir”, dice Prakash. “La idea era crear un mapa de biodiversidad, observando tantas plantas como pudiéramos encontrar y conjuntos de procesos universales que pueden dar lugar a productos de alta absorción”.
Alex Odundu, un ingeniero keniano, también coautor del artículo, ha estado desarrollando maquinaria para ayudar a las pequeñas comunidades agrícolas a procesar el sisal de manera más eficiente. El sisal se ha cultivado en partes de África y otras regiones porque las fibras de sus hojas pueden convertirse en fuertes cuerdas y cordeles.
El equipo sabía que era una planta que requería poco mantenimiento y que prosperaba incluso en años de sequía, pero nadie había intentado utilizarla para producir la pulpa de celulosa de alta calidad necesaria para una toalla sanitaria menstrual.
Inspirándose en la forma en que las termitas descomponen la madera, Prakash y sus colegas desarrollaron un proceso para eliminar la lignina (un polímero de las células vegetales que proporciona estructura y repele el agua) de las fibras de sisal y utilizaron una licuadora para romper las macrofibras de celulosa restantes. en microfibras, lo que da como resultado una pelusa aireada y absorbente.
“El resultado es una hermosa pelusa que parece casi indistinguible del algodón”, dijo Anton Molina, estudiante de doctorado en el laboratorio de Prakash y coautor del artículo. “Las propiedades a microescala de las fibras son las que hacen que el sisal se destaque. Es una mejor alternativa que, digamos, el cáñamo o el lino y supera el rendimiento de los discos de algodón disponibles comercialmente”.
Además, los productos químicos utilizados en el procesamiento son fáciles de conseguir y pueden reciclarse en otros productos o transformarse de forma inofensiva en dióxido de carbono y agua.
“Uno de los aspectos clave de este documento fue garantizar que la cantidad mínima de productos químicos que utilizamos pueda obtenerse y fabricarse in situ”, afirmó Prakash. Actualmente, el equipo está probando enfoques y materiales similares para producir las capas superiores porosas y inferiores impermeables de una plataforma, creando una tubería simple de extremo a extremo para ir desde la planta hasta una plataforma completa.
“Realmente se puede imaginar una fábrica a pequeña escala, tal vez del tamaño de una cervecería local, que produzca de 5 a 10 mil pastillas por día sin nada más que el material biológico que entra y los productos que salen”.
“Hasta ahora ha sido fantástico aprender de otros en todo el mundo”, dice Anesta Kothari, investigadora del laboratorio de Prakash y coautora del artículo. “Estamos tratando de trabajar directamente con las comunidades y hacer que nuestras herramientas lleguen a manos de los usuarios”.
Con ese fin, los investigadores han iniciado el Plant Pad Consortium, un grupo internacional de empresarios, grupos académicos y organizaciones no gubernamentales que quieren construir y compartir el conocimiento necesario para desarrollar soluciones locales, sostenibles y asequibles para la higiene menstrual.
Oddly enough, it's hard to find a job fighting in the era of climate change. But the organic farming industry is one place where a person can make a living by making a difference.
Food systems account for 20 to 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to World Bank data. Reinventing agriculture could impact the future as much as the electric car.
At last week's Organic Grower Summit, hosted by Western Growers and the Organic Produce Network, more than 600 growers and industry leaders, mostly from California, gathered in Monterey to share problems, solutions and business cards.
Big issues included new technologies and new government regulations that could increase costs. Behind almost every discussion was the regenerative health of soil and its potential to fight disease, repel pests and capture carbon.
At the 2023 Organic Grower Summit, Monterey, CA, Bart Walker, Paul Mikesell, Tom Nunes and Kristin Smith Eshaya discuss the obstacles and opportunities of technology in organic agriculture, November 30, 2023 (Ruth Dusseault/Bay City News)
California leads the nation in organic agriculture, with more than 3,000 certified farms, according to 2022 figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA. In 2021, the state’s organic sales exceeded $14 billion. That’s the equivalent of $43 per person in the U.S. who buys organic products. In the Bay Area region alone, which spans Monterey to Sonoma counties, there are more than 1,550 organic producers generating nearly $1.4 billion in annual gross sales.
Gradually, more conventional farmers are adopting organic products and some are transforming their multi-generational farmlands. They bring entrepreneurial experience, innovations and capital to what was once a niche economy.
“I’m in it for the money,” said Carlos Amaral, a San Mateo County grower, who said he’s willing to put up with the higher cost of production because the buyer is willing to pay more in return. Today’s younger buyers, he said, are more environmentally conscious.
But by March 2024, organic prices could rise as new USDA rules for organic certification go into effect. The Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) rule will set new standards for everyone involved in production. Every link in the supply chain—growers, distributors, shippers, and importers—will need to be certified organic.
“You’re making sure they understand how to keep things organic,” said Danny Lee, an inspector with the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “You’ll be sure they’re not mixing organic products with non-organic products, which may have different pesticides or other inputs.”
It will be more expensive, he said, but whether that is passed on depends on who is willing to absorb those costs and what end retailers are willing to pay.
The summit focused on the unique challenges of specialty crops, such as leafy greens, berries and carrots. They are different from staple crops, such as corn and soybeans, which are grown on a large scale using herbicide-resistant seeds and industrial harvesting methods.
Specialty crops are labor intensive and synthetic herbicides like Roundup are not allowed on organically certified farms.
“What I see is that we have an oversaturated market for weeding,” said Bart Walker, who runs an equipment rental company.
Walker was referring to the array of mechanical weeders on display at the summit. Rather than asking workers to do the back-breaking work of pulling weeds by hand, engineers have designed a variety of machines to do just that. Pulled by a tractor, rotating paddles, blades and tines disturb the soil between rows of crops and prevent weeds from taking root.
“What I’m excited to see is more lasers,” Walker said.
Robotic weeder that doesn't use herbicides at the Organic Growers Summit, Monterey, CA, Nov. 29, 2023 (Ruth Dusseault / Bay City News)
“It turns out that having people walk through the field and pull weeds with hoes and tools will damage some of the plant structure,” said Paul Mikesell, inventor of Carbon Robotics’ LaserWeeder. “When the weed is tall enough for a person to pull it out, the root structure is deep enough to disrupt crop roots as well.”
The LaserWeeder uses artificial intelligence to identify weeds when they are just budding. Costing $1.4 million, it uses flash photography to create thousands of high-resolution images of the soil as it crawls across a field. Onboard computers interpret the image information and send it to robotic mirrors on the back of the machine, which rotate to direct a laser beam. Weeds are eliminated in a cloud of smoke.
At the 2023 Organic Growers Summit in Monterey, CA, Carbon Robotics demonstrated its Laserweeder. The machine uses artificial intelligence to photograph and identify weed shoots and then burns them with a robotically directed laser. Nov. 30, 2023 (Ruth Dusseault / Bay City News)
“It doesn’t harm the topsoil, it doesn’t harm the ecosystem and it’s also good for the environment,” Mikesell said.
For centuries, farmers plowed fields between seasons, but now they are told to use a tender touch. Exposing the top layer of soil to the air releases trapped carbon. Sunlight burns off important nutrients and good fungi that organic farmers use to fight pests and diseases. Carbon capture is a new role for farmers, as evidenced by two awards presented at the summit: an Ag Shark Innovator Award and a Grower of the Year Award.
Jason Aramburu is the founder of Climate Robotics and inventor of a small mobile biochar incinerator. Imagine a pottery kiln on wheels. It can move around a processing plant or be pulled behind a tractor. It digests waste, such as corn stalks, wheat, straw, and nutshells, and deposits biochar right there on the ground.
“Biochar is a very pure form of charcoal made from agricultural waste that we burn at a very high temperature and apply back to the soil,” Aramburu said upon receiving his Ag Shark investment award. He cited university studies showing biochar can generate 16 percent more crop production compared to fields without biochar. It has increased soil water retention by 51 percent and fertilizer retention by 95 percent, he said.
“If we do this on a large enough scale, studies indicate that we can sequester around 2 billion tons of CO2 annually in the soils of our farms,” Aramburu explained.
The USDA offers about $2,000 per acre per season to growers who apply biochar to their soil.
“Agriculture is considered the second largest CO2-producing industry, right behind fossil fuels,” said Rod Braga of Braga Fresh Farms, accepting the Organic Producer of the Year award.
“The pressures really come from the top down,” he said of the push for agriculture to adopt conservation measures. “I’m not talking about retailers. I’m talking about the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, the European Union.”
Braga talked about ways agriculture has tried to become carbon neutral: using less diesel fuel, planting one crop on top of another instead of tilling it, and investing in carbon sequestration elsewhere to offset the carbon generated on local farms.
“Now they are talking about net zero emissions,” he said, referring to the theory of an economy that does not emit more greenhouse gases than are permanently removed and stored.
“How can we get to zero in agriculture without cutting down crops and starving millions? We can capture carbon while we farm,” Braga said. “We are still growing vegetables and other crops. We need to be the answer. More agricultural acres is what we will need in the world and not less.”
Aumento de la vegetación urbana, arboles y parques, especialmente en las zonas con escasez de zonas verdes, podría añadir casi un millón de años de esperanza de vida en todo el condado de Los Ángeles.
Durante mucho tiempo se ha dejado a las comunidades más vulnerables sin los espacios verdes necesarios, aunque estos sean muy importantes; y es que la falta de árboles y parques afectan directamente a la salud, dejando a las comunidades sin accesos a sus beneficios y a la sombra.
Una investigación de la Escuela de Salud Pública Fielding de la UCLA descubrió que el aumento de la vegetación urbana, la cubierta arbórea y los parques, especialmente en las zonas con escasez de zonas verdes, podría añadir casi un millón de años de esperanza de vida en todo el condado de Los Ángeles.
“Cuando hicimos nuestros modelos estadísticos, nos dimos cuenta de manera consistente que entre más árboles hayan, aumentará la expectativa de vida”, así lo dijo Michael Jerrett, catedrático del Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud Medioambiental de la UCLA, durante una sesión informativa realizada por Ethnic Media Services.
El también codirector del Centro de Soluciones Climáticas Saludables de la Escuela Fielding de Salud Pública, enfatizó la importancia de tener parques distribuidos en todo el estado para mejorar la calidad del aire, así como la vida de los residentes.
“Iniciamos este proyecto colaborativo para poder acceder a la conexión entre expectativa de vida y espacios verdes, donde la hipótesis es que la expectativa de vida tendrá una reacción positiva en la medida de espacios verdes”, comentó el catedrático de la UCLA.
Agregó que muchos de los vecindarios oprimidos son latinos y afrodescendientes, y con las mejoras en áreas verdes se estima que habría un aumento de 122 mil 700 años de expectativa de vida para las personas que viven en estos espacios.
Websites like prevention institute dan información clara sobre equidad de parques.
Rachel Malarich, responsable forestal de la ciudad de Los Ángeles, habló de 4 pilares para la Ciudad de Los Ángeles: plantar más árboles, mantenimiento de los mismos, preservación de los parques, y reconocer que las personas son una gran parte de los bosques urbanos, así como la relación y el compromiso que se forma entre las comunidades.
“Estamos desarrollando este plan de mantenimiento de bosques urbanos. Esto tiene una guía para alcanzar las metas; vamos a tomar en cuenta las opiniones de la comunidad y del vecindario, estamos viendo cómo vamos a mejorar la ciudad con estos beneficios”, comentó Rachel Malarich.
Para Malarich, la participación de la comunidad es lo esencial, por lo que en enero se realizarán talleres en los vecindarios para recibir retroalimentación de los residentes y también se tendrá una encuesta que estará disponible en varios idiomas para escuchar a la comunidad y poder obtener la información que se necesita.
“Estamos trabajando juntos con el Condado de Los Ángeles porque sabemos que podemos hacer un trabajo a mayor alcance y llegar a las comunidades con reuniones y campañas”, dijo.
Finalmente, Malarich agregó que uno de los grandes componentes del plan es tocar el tema de la equidad en las áreas y los árboles, donde no todo mundo tiene acceso a las áreas y paseos verdes.
Marcos Trinidad, director Senior de Silvicultura TreePeople, dijó que en su asociación llevan 50 años trabajando en estos temas, donde comenzaron con la idea de lograr reunir a gente para plantar árboles; a través del tiempo lograron que más gente comprendiera su entorno y las necesidades de la comunidad donde las áreas más vulnerables se han priorizado.
“TreePeople no es solo entrar a un área, es darle más oportunidades a la comunidad, de educación, trabajo, con conciencia ambiental, y como poder reconstruir las áreas forestales de nuevo”, añadió.
Para Marcos Trinidad, el trabajo en equipo es lo más importante, generando un modelo que permite crear fondos para apoyar a la comunidad con empleo y seguir colaborando para generar más bosques urbanos.
Bz Zhang, directora de proyectos de Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, comentó que, durante los últimos años, su asociación ha creado 30 parques y jardines que están sirviendo a casi medio millón de personas en Los Ángeles.
“Las comunidades que no son blancas tienen menos acceso a parques, estamos hablando de un 66 por ciento menos”, añadió.
Agregó que sus pilares principales son: participación comunitaria, diseño de desarrollo y los parques.DEstacó que los parques los mantienen a través de contratar a los mismos vecinos para cuidar estos espacios, esas personas son las que hacen que todo esto sea exitoso.
Además, explicó que la participación de los jóvenes en estos programas es muy importante, ya que ellos son el futuro del país.
Jon Christensen, profesor adjunto del Instituto de Medio Ambiente de la UCLA, explicó que es muy bueno plantar árboles, pero eso no es suficiente; se necesita organización, recursos y planeación, algo positivo que ya están haciendo las asociaciones.
“Hablamos de programas en las comunidades que ayudan a la gente a mejorar su estilo de vida, un beneficio más de la inversión que se está haciendo con los proyectos de infraestructura ecológica, ya que muchas de estas inversiones son guiadas para que las comunidades con más desventajas sean priorizadas porque no ha sido consideradas antes”, comentó Jon Christensen.
The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations just released its 2022 Hate Crimes Report, which shows an increase in hate crimes across the county.
According to the Los Angeles Hate Crimes Report, there was a rise in hate crimes across the county in 2022 with attacks targeting a broad spectrum of racial and ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities.
Hate crimes in Los Angeles County rose in 2022, with attacks targeting a broad spectrum of racial and ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. The increase is attributed in part to a rise in local reporting, but it also follows broader state, national, and even global trends.
The most recent data comes from the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, which just released its Hate Crime Report for 2022.
“Reported hate crimes in Los Angeles County have reached the second-highest level in more than 20 years,” said Executive Director Robin Toma, at a Wednesday press conference announcing the report’s release. “Nearly every race, ethnicity, nationality and religion has been targeted.”
In total, 929 hate crimes were reported countywide in 2022, an increase of 18% from the previous year. (California statewide reported an increase of 22%.) Of the total, 72% were violent, with race being the motivating factor in 57% of the attacks.
African Americans were disproportionately represented among victims at 531. Attacks targeting Latinos rose by 31%, though 931.7% of them were violent, the highest level of any racial and ethnic group. Crimes against Asians fell by 251.7%, though the 61 reported crimes still marked the highest level ever recorded.
Eighteen percent of the attacks were motivated by sexual orientation, followed by those motivated by religious identification (16%). Of the latter, 83% were anti-Jewish, and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has led to an even greater rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim attacks since fighting began in October.
As complaints increase, so does hate
Toma said the increase in complaints through the website LA vs Hate The increase in the number of hate crimes and hate-related incidents by the county and 211 LA, where victims can call to report hate crimes and hate-related incidents anonymously and in a multitude of languages, has led to higher overall numbers, though she acknowledged the numbers: However high they are, they represent “just a handful” of the actual total.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, nearly half of all violent hate crimes go unreported to law enforcement, while an even higher proportion of hate incidents and nonviolent hate crimes go unreported. Reasons include fear of interacting with or lack of trust in law enforcement, as well as concern that reporting could lead to further attacks.
Toma also described a broader atmosphere of rising intolerance and extremism as helping to fuel the rise of hate in Los Angeles. He listed a grim list of incidents, including racially motivated mass shootings in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, El Paso and the May 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that claimed 10 lives.
The latter, he noted, was related to an incident involving an adult white male who attacked an African-American teenager, making repeated phone calls and text messages warning of his association with the Ku Klux Klan. The perpetrator sent multiple images of firearms, threatening a mass shooting like the one in Buffalo.
“This is an example of how hate and outside violence influences violence in the county,” Toma said.
'Hate has no borders'
The Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations has been tracking data on hate crimes since 1980. A hate crime is defined as any crime motivated by bias against race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
“Hate knows no borders,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis. “What we are seeing is a trend across the country and the world… Hate crimes continue to rise.”
It was Solis, along with Supervisor Sheila Keuhl, who in 2018 drafted a measure aimed at protecting minority communities in Los Angeles from hate crimes. That measure eventually led to the creation of the anti-hate initiative LA vs Hate. Led by the Human Relations Commission, LA vs Hate works with a coalition of community partners to track and combat hate throughout Los Angeles County.
Visitors to the site will find a variety of resources available and will also be able to report hate crimes or hate-related incidents. According to Toma, the LA v Hate site is now the third-largest source of reported hate crimes after the LAPD and the Sheriff's office.
“We have a lot of challenges, but the good thing is that we are collecting data,” Solis said — data that is being used to help direct critical funding to anti-hate initiatives, including training for law enforcement, as well as education, data collection efforts and coalition-building.
Reporting is key to combating hate
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna emphasized his department’s commitment to combating the rise of hate and stressed the importance of coming forward when it happens. “When there is a hate attack, it threatens the entire community,” Luna said. “When someone doesn’t report it, it ends up in the hands of the perpetrators.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office is one of the only in the country that tracks non-criminal hate incidents, Luna explained, noting that doing so “gives the community a voice when hate doesn’t rise to the level of a crime” and also helps “prevent acts of hate before they happen.”
Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Blake Chow echoed Luna. “We have to report. If people don’t report, we don’t know what’s going on.”
He also offered this reminder about the numbers contained in the report.
“Each one of these numbers is tied to a victim… to a family,” he said. “This is a commentary on where we are as a society.”
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the CaliFornia State Library.
Se estima que alrededor de hay 40 millones de mexicanas y mexicanos en Estados Unidos, de estos, solo alrededor de 50 mil están registrados para votar en las próximas elecciones en México, que es muy poco, por lo que el reto será lograr más participación ciudadana.
En 2024 se llevarán a cabo elecciones en México y la participación de los mexicanos en el extranjero será clave en este proceso electoral. Sin embargo, muy pocos se han registrado para ejercer su voto, por lo que el reto será que más mexicanos sean parte de las próximas elecciones desde Estados Unidos.
Se estima que alrededor de hay 40 millones de mexicanas y mexicanos en Estados Unidos, de estos, solo alrededor de 50 mil están registrados para votar, que es muy poco, por lo que el reto será lograr más participación ciudadana, así lo dijo el politólogo Diego Martínez García, de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), en entrevista con Manuel Ortiz durante el programa Península 360 Radio, en colaboración con Marcos Gutiérrez de “Hecho en California”.
El experto destacó que es muy importante dar visibilidad política a los mexicanos en el exterior, recordando que votar es un derecho de todos, por lo que recordó que aquellos que faltan ya se pueden registrar, y así formar parte de este gran proceso electoral en México.
Lo más importante para votar en el extranjero es tener la credencial de elector. Si ya se cuenta con ella, sería suficiente; pero si aún no la tienes, puedes proceder al registro y tramitarla, se puede solicitar en cualquier consulado y no es necesario agendar una cita.
Las personas interesadas en obtener su credencial de elector, se deben presentar con su acta de nacimiento, que se puede obtener en la página web https://www.gob.mx/actas, una identificación oficial con fotografía y un comprobante de domicilio que no sea mayor a 3 meses de la fecha presentada. El documento oficial mexicano llegará de 4 a 5 semanas después de concluir el trámite y se debe activar vía internet.
Para continuar con el registro para poder votar en las próximas elecciones, se debe realizar el registro en https://votoextranjero.mx/web/vmre/inicio y se llenará una solicitud, en esta parte se puede elegir como votar, teniendo 3 opciones: por voto postal a través de un sobre que se recibe y se debe regresar, voto electrónico que se recibirá por correo electrónico, y una nueva modalidad que es el voto presencial que se estará llevando a cabo en 20 consulados de Estados Unidos.
Lo que esta en juego en las próximas elecciones, determinará el rumbo que tendrá México; muchos que se encuentran hoy en Estados Unidos tiene a sus familiares y amigos en México, es por eso que todo lo que afecta a uno lo hará a los demás. De igual manera, como países cercanos, las decisiones de los mexicanos en territorio nacional serán importantes para lo que suceda en Estados Unidos.
Como parte del proceso de las elecciones, se podrá votar por los cargos de: presidente, 128 Senadores, 7 gobernadores estatales, y 4 diputaciones migrantes, entre otros cargos.
Diego Martínez García, comentó que existe más información de estos procesos y lo que ocurre con los mexicanos en Estados Unidos en el sitio web https://redmigrante.com/, a space for migrants and nationals that allows the community to be informed.
El objetivo para el 2024, es duplicar la cifra de las elecciones pasadas. La gran mayoría no puede votar en las elecciones de Estados Unidos, pero si para los comicios de México, donde pueden hacer uso de su poder de elegir como ciudadanos, comentó Diego Martínez García.
"Es muy importante que se involucren en el proceso porque al final fue la tierra que los vio nacer”.
Se han realizado cambios para las próximas elecciones, dejando un sistema más amigable para los mexicanos en el extranjero, el proceso de registro ahora es más simple y sencillo, sin trámites largos como anteriormente se tenía.
"Con la modalidad presencial se espera que la participación de mexicanos en el extranjero sea mayor, de tal manera que, si se logra, para los próximos procesos electorales se pueden exigir más consulados y más espacios para ejercer el voto de manera presencial", he added. Diego Martínez.
Es importante resaltar que, para participar, se debe tramitar la credencial de elector lo antes posible, porque tarda en llegar y ese tiempo se debe contemplar antes de que empiecen los procesos en México.
"Se trata de un asunto de cultura cívica, visibilizar, organizar y de esa manera hacer contrapesos en este sistema democrático en donde no solo a través del voto, sino de la organización de los ciudadanos arrebata y conquista los derechos, entonces es importante utilizar esta herramienta que es el voto", he concluded Diego Martínez.
En Guatemala, la ciudadanía honrada lidereada por los pueblos indígenas se enfrenta a lo mas regresivo del poder castrense y oligárquico en alianza con la narcopolítica. Faltan pocos días para que el 14 de enero tome posesión Bernardo Arevalo and Karin Herrera y el país pueda retomar el camino de la democracia burguesa.
Pareciera que la decisión de los Estados Unidos de hacer pública la causa judicial en contra del concubino del presidente Giammattei, el joven Miguel Martínez y sus asociados, alborotó el avispero y se anticipa con ello el desmoronamiento de lealtades sostenidas por la distribución de dinero succionado del erario y de la amplia gama de negocios ilícitos que pudren a los tres poderes públicos.
Los Estados Unidos construyeron un monstruo que se convirtió en un estorbo geopolítico y ahora con la bandera de la lucha anticorrupción intentan remover la costra criminal que hundió a Guatemala en los últimos lugares de desarrollo humano en todo el planeta.
Arévalo y Herrera serán los encargados de iniciar el largo proceso de reconstrucción institucional interrumpido por la expulsión en 2019 de la Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala.
No queda claro si Giammattei terminará como el expresidente hondureño Juan Orlando Hernández, extraditado a los Estados Unidos apenas a quince días de haber entregado el cargo. Habrá que ver también qué tanto le alcanza a Giammattei su lealtad hacia la política exterior estadounidense en Ucrania, Israel y Taiwán.
La crisis guatemalteca va más allá de la corrupción y tiene hondas raíces en un modelo incapaz de generar empleos y que por siglos ha descansado sobre la muerte social de la mayoría indígena y mestiza. Como dice el dicho la esperanza es mas fuerte que el miedo.
