We are continuing KCBS’s State of San Francisco conversation this week and seeking to answer the question of what will it take to ensure that San Francisco thrives in the years to come? 

Is it workers returning to offices? Does the city need more financial investment? Or should the focus be on building – or, in some cases, rebuilding – the communities and partnerships within the city by the bay?

As with last time, KCBS Political Reporter Doug Sovern is our host and he is joined by a panel of guests who are striving to find the answers: Tanis Crosby, executive director of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank; Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association; Larry Baer, president, CEO and part owner of the San Francisco Giants; Brandon Schneider, president and COO of the Golden State Warriors; and Alex Bastian, president and CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco.

It’s a question that’s been pondered ever since we emerged from the covid pandemic: what is the state of San Francisco?

Some say that San Francisco has been spiraling into a ‘doom loop’ ever since the pandemic passed as once thriving businesses and hotspots are now languishing. Others say that San Francisco might be down, but can never be considered out, that there is a future to still be excited for and that those who love the city by the bay will find a way to build back better, stronger. 

So, where do things stand today and what will tomorrow bring for San Francisco? 

As part of KCBS’s deep dive into the status of the world around us, we have the State of San Francisco Conversation, Part One. KCBS Political Reporter Doug Sovern is our host and he is joined by a panel of guests to delve into these questions: Tanis Crosby, executive director of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank; Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association; Larry Baer, president, CEO and part owner of the San Francisco Giants; Brandon Schneider, president and COO of the Golden State Warriors; and Alex Bastian, president and CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco.

Last week, KCBS Radio looked at the state of the environment. We touched on how cities are responding to the rising tides and the extreme effects of climate change. We looked at the change in how we get around the Bay Area - EVs, bikes, and more - and how young people are stepping up to take on climate justice.

And we found out that one of the Bay Area’s most beloved places - the San Francisco Zoo - is focused on all the environmental changes that the world is undergoing as well.

We heard the first part of the Conservation Conversation on the last week's In Depth. Now we have the conclusion of that conversation, with KCBS’s Eric Thomas and Nikki Meduro speaking with Eric Kruzmen, vice president of wellness and conservation at the San Francisco Zoo. They are also joined by Shelby Hasbun, manager of environmental services at the zoo.

KCBS Radio has been taking a closer look at the state of the environment in the Bay Area - from extreme weather and rising sea levels to what people are doing to try and make the world around us better.

But how is the San Francisco Zoo faring with all these environmental changes? What are their conservation efforts looking like these days? And is the San Francisco Zoo ready for when pandas from China arrive?

To answer these questions, KCBS’s Eric Thomas and Nikki Meduro took their mics to the San Francisco Zoo and spoke with Eric Kruzmen, vice president of wellness and conservation at the zoo.

This is part one of a Conservation Conversation.

The housing crisis is widespread in California and it has become especially dire for college students, as rents go ever higher and competition increases for whatever apartments are available.

A 2022 UCLA survey found that student homelessness ranges from anywhere 5 to 20% across California’s colleges and universities, meaning that potentially hundreds of thousands of students are unhoused.

So, what’s being done to solve this problem?

We’ll start our conversation with Zennon Ulyate-Crow, third year student at UC Santa Cruz and founder and co-chair of the Student Homes Coalition - a student-led collective of higher education advocacy organizations and youth activists fighting for abundant, accessible, and affordable student housing.

And then we'll turn to Su-Jin Jez, CEO of California Competes, a nonpartisan policy and research organization focused on identifying solutions to the state’s challenges at the intersection of higher education, equity, and the economy. 

It’s a part of the passing of wintertime and moving into spring: you open up the windows or you step outside, and you hear them - birds singing.

And perhaps you hear the sounds of the male western tanager, a songbird that migrates thousands of miles once the seasons begin to change, heading to the Mountain West for springtime.

But maybe you’ve noticed, over the past few years, that spring seems to be arriving earlier than normal - flowers blooming, insects coming to life, sometimes months ahead of time.

Birds are noticing these changes and researchers are, too.

A recent study has looked at the effects of climate change on the seasons and found that by the time many migrating birds reach their destination, the food sources they search for have already bloomed or flown away.

And so the consequences of spring starting sooner - for the western tanager and for many other migrating birds - could be drastic.

To help us take a closer look at what we’re seeing in the world of migrating birds and how climate change is altering their world, I’m joined by Morgan Tingley, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA.

Every place carries a history, from forests and wildlife to the eventuality of roads, buildings, and all the communities of people who lay claim to a space and call it home.

For those who have called - and continue to call - Bayview-Hunters Point in southeast San Francisco home, that history comes with a heavy burden. A burden steeped in abandonment, in racial and economic injustice, and in toxicity that is embedded in the ground and moving through the air.

A new book looks at that history, but also at the activism for environmental justice that black Bayview-Hunters point residents have been seeking for years. 

For more, we're speaking with Lindsey Dillon, assistant professor of sociology at UC Santa Cruz and author of 'Toxic City: Redevelopment and Environmental Justice in San Francisco' which will be released on April 9th.

On this episode of In Depth, we turn to Audacy’s I’m Listening: Talk Away the Dark, a limited series where conversations cover grief, loss, and suicide.

Audacy’s David Glover will be speaking about men and mental health with Victor Armstrong, vice president of health equity and engagement for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Steve Sipel, longtime AFSP volunteer and advocate. Then David will talk about mental well-being and the military with Alex Silva, AFSP expert and veteran; Dan Miller, Wounded Warrior project guest and marine corps veteran; and Dr. Aaron Fletcher, Wounded Warrior project clinical expert.

A recent New York Times article did a deep dive into where the shift to electric vehicles is the strongest and it probably comes as no surprise to KCBS listeners that California - and in particular, the Bay Area - is the primary force behind seeing more EVs on the road.

Data shows that electric cars, trucks and S.U.V.s made up almost 40 percent of new auto registrations in the San Jose area last year and about 34 percent in San Francisco. 

But with a ban on new gas-powered vehicle sales in California happening in 2035, how ready is the state for a full on EV revolution?

We’ll start our conversation with James Bushnell, professor in the department of economics at UC Davis. Before joining UC Davis, he spent 15 years as the Research Director of the University of California Energy Institute at Berkeley. He has also advised the California Air Resources Board on emissions trading and other climate policies.  

And we'll also turn to Carleen Cullen, founder and executive director of Cool the Earth, as well as Ride and Drive Clean - a collaborative campaign to rapidly accelerate the switch to zero-emission vehicles. She’s based in Marin County.

Over three decades ago, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was created… This act requires institutions that receive federal funding… such as museums and universities… to return human remains, sacred objects, and other items of cultural significance to federally recognized tribes…

However… even now, in 2024… the struggle continues when it comes to the return of ancestral remains and revered belongings. This slowness in repatriation can be found across the country… and here in the Bay Area as well…

So… why is it taking so long to comply with these rules? 

For a broader look at all this, we’re going to start the conversation off with Logan Jaffe, newsletter reporter at Pro Publica… she worked on the news organization’s Repatriation Project

And then we turn to Kerri Malloy… assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies at San Jose State University… He is an enrolled member of the Yurok tribe and is of Karuk descent…

How much do any of us know about our family’s past? If we dig deep enough, far enough… what might be unearthed?

For Randy Quarterman… and for Sarah Eisner… living thousands of miles apart… one in Savannah, Georgia… the other in Silicon Valley… who seemingly had separate existences… what was discovered was an intimate history that binds them together…

A history that is both personal… and national… a history of enslavement in the United States…

But what would happen if two people took on this painful past… and worked together to make things right in the present?

To answer that question and more… I’m joined by Randy Quarterman, fifth generation descendant of Zeike Quarterman… and Sarah Eisner, fifth generation descendant of George Adam Keller… They are the founders of the Quarterman Keller Foundation… and the Reparations Project… They are also both a part of the documentary ‘The Cost of Inheritance’