Crosscurrents

The new Eastern span of the Bay Bridge opens in 10 months. It will make for a seismically safe and beautiful ride for motorists, but for bicyclists ­­– not so much.

For two years, bicyclists will have to turn around before they reach Yerba Buena Island, because the old Eastern span will be in the way. And once it’s gone, they’ll have to turn around at the island anyway, because there are no plans to connect the path to San Francisco.

The only local ballot measure San Franciscans rejected on Election Day was Measure F. It would have prompted an $8 million study into taking down the O’Shaugnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park, which currently supplies water for San Francisco and dozens of other Bay Area counties.

Inmates in Richmond work to combat violence, a Hear Here story on being reformed in court, an inmate-commentary in favor of repealing the death penalty, what goes on in the BART tunnels in the wee hours, making the Bay Bridge accessible to bikes, and local musicians Alex Pinto Trio.

With one of the highest crime rates in the country, Richmond, California, is a regular on the evening news.

Zoom out to just California and that crime rate looks even higher: the city’s murder rate is seven times that of neighboring San Francisco, and more than twice as high as Oakland’s. Only nine miles west of Richmond is San Quentin State Prison.

Richard Gilliam is incarcerated at the California Men's Colony (CMC).

November 8, 2012

The votes are counted and the people of California have spoken. I applaud the voters' presence of mind to re-visit and (in my opinion) mend an ill-considered law. Amending the Three Strikes Law will not only save millions of dollars, but will make the dispensation of criminal justice more efficacious and humane.