Crosscurrents

Coming up today on Crosscurrents:

• The new Farm Bill could limit access to food stamps.
• Behind the scenes at the San Francisco Food Bank.
• Sweet Lew and the Sweet and Lows

To listen to this report, tune in to Crosscurrents today on KALW 91.7 FM at 5:00 p.m., and streaming online. A full audio archive will be available here after the broadcast.

The Farm Bill. It sounds like a bill that deals with … well, farming. But the Farm Bill that’s up for renewal and being debated in Congress right now actually deals with a lot more.

Paul Ash is the executive director of the San Francisco and Marin Food Banks. And he’s taking us on a tour of the main distribution center in Potrero Hill.

When filling out the US census, Egyptians, Moroccans, Iranians, and many other people from the Middle East and North Africa have always had to check the box 'White' or other. There’s no Middle Eastern or North African box. This is problematic because these communities rely on representation when it comes to things like legislative redistricting and health statistics—in addition to the cultural inaccuracy of calling them White in the American context. 

Nazira Babori moves around The 1951 Coffee Shop with ease: mixing, steaming, and grinding coffee like a pro -- but the truth is, she’s new to this, and not so long ago, she was in a very different place.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts a new count every decade — and the next one is coming up in 2020. Last month the bureau released the questions they intend to use … and one new question has caused vigorous debate and multiple lawsuits.

Coming up today on Crosscurrents:

• Why some are fighting the new 2020 census citizenship question.
• Arab Americans ask for their own census box to check.
• A Berkeley coffee shop helps resettle refugees.

Tune in to 91.7 FM at 5:00 P.M.

Today on Crosscurrents:

• Voices from a gun show in Daly City
• Inmates inside San Quentin Prison explain why they want the right to vote
• More about the ballot initiative that would restore voting rights to prisoners

California has some of the strictest gun regulations in the country — and a booming gun industry. More than 1 million firearms were purchased in the state in in 2016, or roughly one gun for every 30 residents.

Today on Crosscurrents:

• Business owners in East Oakland impacted by a major transportation project are still waiting for help promised by the city.
• A listener asks: Is the Bay Area losing money to corporate tax incentives?
• A conversation with trailblazing trans choreographer Sean Dorsey, who’s exploring masculinity in his new show, Boys In Trouble.
  

A massive, multi-year transit project is transforming International Boulevard in Oakland — and financial aid for local businesses affected by the project is tangled up in red tape.

This story originally aired in May of 2017.

San Francisco has the strongest economy of any city in the United States. And with business booming, a lot of eyes are on local corporations to see if they are giving back to the local community by paying their fair share in taxes.

Sean Dorsey is a trailblazing transgender choreographer, and the founder of Fresh Meat Productions, an annual transgender and queer performance festival.

Sean has a new show premiering in San Francisco this week called Boys In Trouble. The show comes out of two years of research, during which Sean traveled across the country, hosting community forums about masculinity and interviewing people about gender.

A couple of weeks ago I received an email reminding me that it would soon be time to file my U.S. tax return for 2016. The email said that first and foremost, I’d have to locate my W-2 form showing my earnings and taxes for last year.

Lamar Van Dyke, Paula Lewis and Traci Lewis have a special bond. Lamar gave birth to Traci when she was 18 years old. Unprepared to have a baby, she gave Traci up for adoption. Paula Lewis adopted her. Traci sat down with her biological mom, Lamar, and her adopted mom, Paula, at the StoryCorps booth at the San Francisco Public Library to talk about their family.

Click the audio player above to hear the story.

This interview was facilitated by Geraldine Ah-Sue, and produced for KALW by Chris Hambrick. It originally aired in May of 2015. 

The redevelopment of the Hunters Point Shipyard is slated to be San Francisco’s biggest redevelopment project since the 1906 earthquake.

The Shipyard is a former naval base and nuclear-weapons testing lab — and the cleanup of radioactive materials used there has been ongoing for decades.

Artist Beatrice Thomas performs in drag as soulful death-metal diva Black Benatar at Drag Queen Story Time at the San Francisco Public Library — and all over the Bay.

She’ll be hosting Black Benatar’s Black Magic Cabaret as part of So Soul San Francisco at Brava Theater this week.

Today on Crosscurrents:

• Why some are calling the Hunters Point Shipyard cleanup "eco-fraud"
• Tax filing takes one minute in Estonia
• Black Benatar's salon for black performers and artists at Brava Theater
• StoryCorps: Two moms and twice the love

When we think of big moments in our lives, we often imagine photographs: wedding pictures, baby announcements, smiling in front of a new house. But for all of these events there's also lots of paper that needs to be signed and approved by the state.

Would you choose to pay a tax that you didn’t legally owe? A group of indigenous women in the East Bay have gotten together to ask for just that. They’ve levied a tax on residents for the land they are living on.

Today on Crosscurrents:

• A group of indigenous women in the East Bay have asked residents to pay a voluntary "tax" on the land they inhabit
• Going behind the scenes with a traveling notary 

When winter comes, Bay Area cities open temporary shelters to keep unhoused residents warm and dry. But, as winter comes to an end, these shelters close down. In Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco about 500 homeless people will be back on the streets.

Today on Crosscurrents: 

• As a winter shelter prepares to close for the season, 90 homeless residents of Berkeley return to the streets
• A nonprofit wants to help the whole city of San Francisco explore the big questions of life and death
• What inspires some volunteers who care for the dying

Tracy Grubbs grew up fascinated, curious and also afraid of death. Her curiosity, plus her interest in Buddhism led her to volunteer at the Zen Hospice Project, a San Francisco center for the dying supported by the Buddhist community. Grubbs spoke with her colleague Lisa Messano.

Liam Dillon covers state politics and policy for the LA Times. He spoke with KALW's Ben Trefny about the split roll campaign to reform Proposition 13 — which was just postponed to the 2020 ballot — and how that reform fits in with other proposed initiatives to address the state's housing crisis. 

Today on Crosscurrents:

• The tax revolt of 1978, Proposition 13, and the campaign to reform it
• L.A. Times reporter Liam Dillon on proposed housing initiatives heading for the state ballot

If you’ve heard of Proposition 13, you probably know that it cut property taxes back in 1978, which reduced funding for public schools and other services. It also has a lot to do with the state’s shortage of housing and, many argue, the fact that rents are so darn high.