Stephen stock good evening, im stephen stock. Thanks for joining us on nbc bay area, where we investigate. Were not far from a year into this pandemic that has put many parts of our lives on hold, but what happens if you cant wait for when we come out the other side of this tunnel . Terminally ill people are fighting for their day in court before its too late. Senior investigate reporter bigad shaban has the story. Bigad shaban how do you build a legacy . Alfonso rocciola spent his whole life building his. Alfonso rocciola if you drive through the city, you can say, wow, well, look what i did. You accomplished something. Bigad hes been in charge of some of the most iconic Construction Projects in San Francisco the cliff house, exploratorium, and his favorite, this chapel in north beach. Throughout his life, alfonso also built a marriage. Alfonso my wife is the number one bigad a family. Alfonso we have five grandchildren. Bigad and now hes building a court case. Alfonso is suing nearly 20 companies that made and distributed Construction Materials to the sites. According to his lawsuit, those companies failed to protect workers from asbestos, a material known to cause cancer. Its the very same cancer alfonso has. Alfonso i have a lot of things to lose. Stephen its caused mesothelioma. Alfonso i have the grandchildren to lose. Bigad and its terminal. Alfonso the worst part is you know that youre going to die, and my life is gone. Bigad are you scared of dying . Alfonso yes. Marisa rocciola i dont want to think about him not being here. Bigad marisa is his wife. They met as teenagers in italy. Marisa i want to enjoy every day that i have with him, and hopefully, tomorrow we have another one, but not thinking that it may be the last one. Bigad how often are you in pain . Alfonso oh, every day. Every moment. Bigad every moment. Alfonso every moment. Im in pain right now. Bigad alfonso is suing for pain and suffering, which can provide legal payouts worth millions of dollars. In most of the country, that money goes to the family if a plaintiff passes away before the end of the trial. But thats not the case in california, where once the plaintiff dies, the pain and suffering claim dies too. Bigad do you worry you may not be here to see the case make its way through court . Alfonso yes. Bigad and what is that feeling like . Alfonso its a mission not accomplished. Bigad Court Closures during the pandemic are making it harder for the terminally ill to make it to trial. Across the bay areas nine counties, four still arent allowing juries in these kinds of civil cases, so the trials cant begin. Dr. Raja flores that court date for them, thats air that they breathe. They need that. That is whats keeping them going. Bigad dr. Raja flores has been treating mesothelioma patients for 25 years and says the pain they endure is excruciating. Dr. Flores it is like a boa constrictor that strangles you with each breath until the tumor basically suffocates you. Bigad but as California Courts see it, once the plaintiff dies, theyre no longer experiencing that pain and suffering, so they cant sue for it. Bigad that is the law, but is it justice . Mark stone i dont think its justice, no. Its not justice. Bigad Assemblyman Mark Stone chairs the states judiciary committee, which serves as a watchdog over californias legal system. Bigad do you think theres enough political will in sacramento to change this law . Mark i think thats a very tough one. The insurance companies, theyre whole obligation to their shareholders and others is to minimize theirthe payouts, and that sounds kind of cold and cynical, but thats a reality of this legal structure. Bigad the nations largest Insurance Association tells us pain and suffering is intended to compensate the one who actually suffered. The group says changing the law would lead to greater expenses for businesses and ultimately consumers. And it argues terminally ill plaintiffs already have other means to speed up their cases. Bigad in california, the terminally ill can request their trials begin in four months or less, but in the midst of the pandemic with courtrooms still closed or severely backlogged, weve confirmed some plaintiffs never got their trials. Bigad just how many statewide is difficult to say, because as weve found out, no one is keeping track. Mark to me, thats kind of an administrative failure within the system. Bigad after we started asking questions, assemblyman stone is now calling for each California Court to disclose to the state whether it violated the law by not prioritizing cases for the terminally ill. Bigad are California Courts failing some people right now . Mark i think they are. We should be able to know whether or not that right is truly being implemented and how its being implemented. Bigad Alfonso Rocciola had to wait an extra two months before filing his case. He was finally assigned a trial date for december. Alfonso before im gone i want to make sure that everybody being taken care of. I want to die in peace. Ave maria. Bigad alfonso never made it to court. The trial, he told us, was never about him. The case he built was for the family he built. Angela bergamini when we think of life without dad, its hard to breathe. Bigad angela bergamini is alfonsos oldest daughter. She gave the eulogy with her siblings, viviana and dino, at her side. Angela you may be gone from my sight, dad, but you are never gone from our hearts. Bigad alfonsos death could soon lead to changes at the state capital. In the new year, california lawmakers are now expected to explore ways to better protect the legal rights of the terminally ill. Its not exactly what alfonso would hope to leave behind for his family, but there is more than one way to build a legacy. With the Investigative Unit, im bigad shaban. Stephen up next, ill look into how the pandemic is impacting out fight against rising sea levels. Ellen rook i really dont know what were going to do. I dont swim. I guess get a boat and throw it out . Stephen why experts say its costing us time we dont have. Oh, oh, announcer ® onceweekly ozempic® is helping many people with type 2 diabetes like emily lower their blood sugar. A majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. Heres your a1c. Oh my a1c is under 7 announcer and you may lose weight. Adults who took ozempic® lost on average up to 12 pounds. I lost almost 12 pounds oh announcer for those also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. It lowers the risk. Oh and i only have to take it once a week. Oh oh, oh, oh, ozempic® announcer ozempic® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not share needles or pens. Dont reuse needles. Do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. Stop taking ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, itching, rash, or trouble breathing. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis. Tell your doctor if you have Diabetic Retinopathy or vision changes. Taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. Common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, awe discovered that covid has asickened budgets and timelines and constipation. Meant to deal with rising sea levels. According to this report put out by the legislative Analysts Office in sacramento, california could see 8 to 10 billion worth of property flooded by 2050 if something is not done and soon. Jack liebster if we dont start very soon, were going to be in a world of hurt. Stephen Jack Liebster showed us around one of the most pristine and soughtafter pieces of property in marin county, Stinson Beach. Stephen if we dont do anything, what happens . Jack the water is going to come in the front door. Stephen listed by the National Park service as one of the best swimming beaches in all of Northern California with beachfront Property Values in the millions, Stinson Beach is also one of the most vulnerable locations in the bay area to the unrelenting rise in sea levels. Jack this beach, Stinson Beach, itll be gone. A lot of it would be underwater. Ellen itll come flowing in from here. Stephen across the Marin Headlands and down the peninsula in redwood city, ellen rook and her family deal with flooding nearly every winter in lemar Mobile Home Park, which sits right on the edge of the bay. Though this area has flooded with heavy rains since the 1990s, historical maps from the federal Emergency Management agency show the flood risk directly from the bay has increased significantly with rising sea levels. Female its always living on edge. You dont know if youre going to wake up and youre flooded. Stephen flooding here could soon be not only every winter but yearround. While older scientific models show a gradual sea level increase in recent decades, the latest satellite data shows seas rising exponentially around the bay area. That puts this entire Mobile Home Park several inches underwater by 2030 if something isnt done and soon. Stephen what are you going to do if the water comes or when the water comes . Ellen i really dont know what were going to do. I dont swim. I guess get a boat and throw it out. Stephen along 400 miles of bay area shoreline, we found more than a dozen projects that were meant to slow, stop, or protect against the rising tides, now put on hold or delayed all because of the covid crisis and its economic impact. Stephen projects that have been delayed or halted include exploring ways to prevent frequent floods on highway 1, in marin county, by elevating the roadway and buildings and creating artificial reefs and sea walls, protecting Water Treatment plants in san rafael, in one case, by replacing an outdated levee with a new environmentally friendly one, and the multiyear, multimilliondollar south bay salt ponds restoration project, the largest tidal wetlands effort on the west coast, meant to absorb rising sea levels. While some planning work continues, most construction has stalled. Warner chabot we cant afford to lose a week, a day, certainly not a year or two. Stephen Warner Chabot is executive director of the San Francisco estuary institute. Warner this is probably going to rob us of one to two years out of that critical tenyear window because local governments are simply going to be cashstrapped. Stephen does that worry you . Warner it terrifies me. I mean, we have an enormous challenge ahead of us. Stephen a challenge that currently has no longterm funding, thanks to the high cost of the covid crisis, a 4. 7 billion bond meant to address the issue statewide, pulled by governor gavin newsom. Yet another law proposed by san mateo assemblyman kevin mullen wouldve protected important assets like highway 101, caltrain, bart lines, and local residential communities from flooding due to sea level rise. Kevin mullins this is going to be a huge challenge that is going to take resources at the local level, the regional level, the state level. Stephen but mullins bill was shot down this fall, all due to a lack of funding. Stephen now, when the tax base does rebound from the covid crisis, experts worry it might be too late. Coming up, crimefree housing . Our Investigative Unit looks into a program thats keeping some people from renting a room even when they can afford it. soft music hey dad, im about to leave. Dont forget your hat. Good morning. How can i help . I need help connecting with my students. Behind every last minute save, ok, that works. And holiday surprise, thank you a Customer Service rep is working unseen, making it happen. And at genesys, were proud to help them help you everyday. Suprogram that compares peoplee puwitto dangerous animals. Glejo, and at genesys, heres Investigative Reporter candice nguyen. John jones i didnt have my dad in my life, and i always said as a kid, if i ever had if i ever became a father, im going to be present. Candice Nguyen John Jones has been out of prison for eight years. His turning point . His children. John so from day one, i made a personal commitment candice to live a crimefree life and to find a home for him and his boys. John a lot of landlords were they were advertising, no, you must have a clean criminal record. Im applying to places, and im begging and pleading, saying, look, im a changed person. Heres my son here. Im a father. Candice rejected because of his criminal record, jones and his sons lived in this basement for two years. John and as a father, just the sense of shame that i couldnt provide better housing and shelter for my two kids. Candice while investigating why people like jones are being kept out of housing, we came across the crimefree multihousing program. Tim zehring hello, my name is tim zehring. Candice Police Officer tim zehring from mesa, arizona, created the program in 1992. Tim zehring the crimefree multihousing program was our best option to deal with crime and rental housing. Candice zehring never responded to our multiple requests to speak with him, but on his website, it says the program has spread to 3,000 Law Enforcement agencies internationally. Tim did you know that it is not illegal to discriminate against people based on their behavior . Louis chicoine we challenged the fundamental assumption that just because someone had a problem when they were younger, years ago often, that theyre going to have a problem going forward. Candice Louis Chicoine is the ceo of the housing nonprofit abode services. He believes the program discriminates against people of color who have more contact with police. Louis this is an example of institutional racism. Candice after weeks of research, our Investigative Unit found hundreds of crimefree Housing Developments in the bay area, most of them in these cities. Candice we found the most troubling guide to crimefree housing here in the city of vallejo, illustrated in its program booklet. Candice here, you compare crime and people with criminal records to a dangerous dinosaur. Judy shepardhall mmhmm. Candice thats vallejos housing director judy shepardhall. She oversees the program. Candice and then theres an actual picture of a dinosaur that your program says needs to be killed while still in the egg. Judy mmhmm. Female i would say that, candice, judy doesnt have the answers to these questions cause candice that voice offcamera . Thats vallejos Public Information officer, also known as a pio. Candice have you gone through it . Judy right, it doesnt have a date on the booklet so candice but this is the one i got two weeks ago. Judy where did you pull it from . Yeah. Candice the city pio. Judy yeah, ive not seen that. I have looked at the powerpoint. Ive been in two sessions, and this is the first ive seen this. Its not language that i would think thatmost of the communities are multifamily properties in the city are senior properties. This is candice i mean, right there, it says off the top, and i think you see it. Criminals are like weeds. Judy mmhmm, yeah, yeah. Female actually this is a document that has to be revised. So, candice, im going to have to stop the interview. Candice on monday, the city put out this press release where shepardhall says, i am grateful that the reporter shared her findings with the city regarding the unsuitable terminology of this training document. It did not speak to the values of the city nor the housing or police department. The city got rid of the former vallejo officer they had hired as a consultant to run the program. The program is now on pause until it receives a muchneeded update. But 15 properties throughout vallejo are still operating under the program or version of it along with many more throughout the bay area. Chicoine says its only fueling the bay areas crippling homeless crisis. Louis so we saw over and over again, landlords unwilling to even consider one of our clients for housing because of this policy. Judy im someone who made mistakes. I am not the sum of those mistakes. Candice we went to a local homeless shelter where the director told us every single one of her clients had been turned away from housing because of this crimefree program. To view vallejos full statement on what theyre doing to change, go to our website, nbcbayarea. Com. Candice nguyen, nbc bay area news. Stephen coming up, we investigate how cal fire is partnering with native americans to prevent megafires. How the land around them . Fires while still preservingns . Heres Investigative Reporter jaxon van derbeken. Elizabeth azzuz we offer up smoke to you for prayer. Jaxon van derbeken twice each year, members of yurok tribe venture into the Klamath River forest elizabeth we only want to make our world better. Jaxon invoking the spirits of their elders. Elizabeth they help us guide our hands as we bring back the greatest tool left to us, to the land, which is fire. Jaxon and seeking forgiveness. Elizabeth the birds, the trees, we call them the onelegged people. You know, asking permission to come into their home basically and to light it ablaze. Jaxon Elizabeth Azzuz first learned about fires sacred role to her people at age four when she was caught playing with matches. Elizabeth my grandfather, who was blind, could smell what i was doing and made me put my fire out and sit below him, so he could explain to me what fire meant to us and how important it was. Jaxon for hundreds of generations, the yurok saw fire as a gift from the creator. The animals they hunted flourished in the open spaces. Medicinal herbs and wild berries sprung from the ashes, and the flames made brittle hazelnut sticks pliable enough to weave into baskets. State Officials Say they have a lot to do before we come close to honoring that special bond. Native americans burned some two million acres each year in the state, before european settlers, who saw fire as the enemy, outlawed burning in 1850. The yurok resorted to secretly burning on their land. Some paid a price, branded arsonists for life. Elizabeth i have a relative who cannot light his barbecue. He cannot light his wood stove. A Family Member actually has to go and do these things for him so that he can cook his food or heat his home, because he can be arrested for having a match, flint, a lighter. Jaxon the yurok had to fight to bring back the kind of fire that many experts now believe helps preserve the states forest and offsets the damage from climate change. In 2013, the yurok finally got the states approval to bring fire out of the shadow. It started with just a sevenacre patch with cal fire crews awkwardly standing guard. Elizabeth you know, theyre all in their uniforms, and theyre very, you know, professional, but they were pacing because they were bored. They basically had to stand for eight or ten hours and watch us burn while they just stood there. Jaxon that awkward beginning is now a full partnership. Cal fire recently gave the yurok a grant to burn several thousand acres, telling us native people bring thousands of years of traditional ecological knowledge to our partnership. Dar mims and the native americans have always lived with fire, and they continue. Jaxon dar mims is a meteorologist with the air Resources Board and a leader of the states Wildfire Task force. Dar and we live with fire. We just havent embraced it to the degree that they have, and thats where were going. We need to really start living with fire as opposed to really trying to suppress it all the time. Jaxon to do that, mim says, the state has joined the u. S. Forest service on a plan to thin or burn one million acres of wild land a year, starting in 2025. U. C. Berkeley professor Scott Stevens says thats a start, but he thinks the most important lesson native americans could teach us is the neverending need to cleanse the forest from being choked by fallen branches, dry needles, and small trees. Getting rid of the fuel that kindles megafires, he says, must now become the states perpetual mission. Scott stephens the native people, they thought about this as land stewardship, about really a relationship with the land that went on forever. Elizabeth that creator gave us, you know, the ability to warm ourselves, to cook our food and gave us the creatures that we have here to sustain us. But in return, its our obligation to take care of them. We have to take care of the land, the water, the animals, the creatures. Jaxon Elizabeth Azzuz says she hopes one day soon the state will truly honor that sacred obligation. Jackson vander beckon, nbc bay area news. Stephen thats our show. If you have a story for our Investigative Unit, call 888996tips, or visit our website, nbcbayarea. Com investigations. Thanks for joining us. Im steven stock. Stay safe, and have a good night. So strong. So. Not ripped. Whatre we talkin about. 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