Asian Prostitutes Increase In Bay Area
Bridges to the New California
Pacific News Service, Compiled and Edited by Pueng Vongs Posted: Jun 17, 2002
"Bridges to the New California," produced by Pacific News Service, is a weekly report on the news and views of in-language and English-language ethnic press based in or circulated in California's ethnic majority communities.
More Pedaling Across Border
La Opinion, Andrew Reding
Tightened security post 9/11 has meant longer waits at the Mexican border, including for those who commute daily to school or work. Resourceful Mexicans have adapted to the slowdown by flocking to bicycles, allowing them to pedal right past the long lines of cars and trucks, reports Spanish-language La Opinion.
More than 1,500 cyclists now cross into the United States every day between California and Mexico at San Ysidro, as well as another few hundred at Mesa de Otay. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has responded by opening special lines for cyclists. Bicycle rentals have sprung up on the Mexican side of the border.
Those seeking illegal entry have also embraced the new bicycle border crossing strategy. The INS reports catching an average of five bicyclists a day attempting to make an illegal crossing.
Asian Prostitutes Increase In Bay Area
Sing Tao Daily, Kai Lui
While most other businesses are suffering from the economic downturn, the sex industry continues to grow in the Chinese community in the Bay Area, reports the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily.
The Hong Kong style of "single woman in a single unit" -- prostitutes working from their own homes -- has been introduced to the Bay Area through voluminous advertisements in Chinese newspapers. The ads emphasize sex services will be provided by young women from China, Taiwan or Hong Kong and use language far cruder than would be allowed in these countries' newspapers. The Sing Tao also reports that organized sex rings may be arranging Asian prostitutes to come to the United States as tourists.
Only a contact phone number is published in the advertisements. Calls are answered by people who speak fluent English, Mandarin and Cantonese. The caller is usually picked up at a public place.
Prop. 45 Crucial For Asian Leadership
Nichi Bei Times, Donal Brown
San Francisco ballot measure Proposition 45, which could extend terms for state representatives, is especially important to California's Asian American community, writes Assemblywoman Judy Chu in the Nichi Bei Times.
After more than a decade without representation in the Legislature, there are now three Chinese Americans and one Japanese American in the State Assembly. Term limits will strip the Asian American community of its representatives within four years if Prop. 45 fails, Chu writes.
There is also no guarantee that Asian Americans will replace these representatives. Neither former Assemblyman Mike Honda or former Assemblyman Nao Takasugi were replaced by Asian Americans, Chu points out.
Neighbors Protest Clubs In The Dogpatch
The Potrero View, Dick Millet
Residents in San Francisco's lower Potrero Hill don't want their neighborhood to become the new after-hours party zone, reports the Potrero View.
The neighborhood has seen a surge of new late-night events at local standbys such as Mission Rock, SnoDrift, the Ramp, Cafe Cocomo's and Jelly Beans. Residents oppose the noise, traffic, crime and trash that come with the events. Developers are also planning to convert an empty 15,000 sq. ft warehouse on Third and 19th streets in the heart of the "Dogpatch" area to a multi-story entertainment venue.
Club owners are staking out the area that will soon be served by the Third Street light rail that could transport more than 1,200 patrons nightly. After being forced out, several large clubs have their sights on the neighborhood. "We don't want to be the dumping ground for after-hours clubs," said Susan Eslick, President of the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association.
South Asian Women's Support Group Breaking Taboos
India-West, Lisa Tsering
During its 10th anniversary commemoration, a South Asian women's support group in Berkeley recently chronicled changing attitudes among its clients to report cases of abuse, reports India-West.
Narika in Berkeley has five paid staffers and 17 volunteers, who receive about 150 calls a month on the helpline. "Early on, women had so devalued themselves that they didn't think they should call unless they were in an emergency situation," said Shobha Menon, Narika co-founder. "But now they're calling to complain that they're not getting along with their husbands, or wanting counseling, or reporting marital rape -- where years ago, they didn't even know that marital rape existed," Menon said.
Wanted: Black Foster Care Parents
The Sun-Reporter, Sun Reporter
Alameda county officials are making an urgent plea to African American couples to become foster parents, reports the Sun-Reporter.
African American children make up 19 percent of all children in Alameda county, but they are 45 percent of all abuse and neglect investigations. Consequently, African American foster homes already account for more than half of foster homes in Alameda county -- but more homes are needed. Children and Family Services in Oakland is looking for more black parents to open their homes for children 6 to 17 years of age. Their goal is to recruit 250 new homes.
Former Field Workers Waiting To Be Paid
Vida en el Valle, Eduardo Stanley
Dozens of former braceros recently gathered in front of the Mexican Consulate in Fresno to demand one more time, the return of money that was withheld from their paychecks under the federal bracero program from 1942 to 1963, reports Spanish-language Vida en el Valle.
The program established by the United States and Mexico brought 5 million Mexican workers to work in the fields and railroads of the United States. They were promised 10 percent of funds withheld from their paychecks when they returned to Mexico. But many braceros were never given the funds, estimated at more than $500 million.
The crowd protested the postponement of a scheduled court hearing on the issue in San Francisco. The class-action lawsuit filed by former braceros and their families was delayed until August.
Bay Area Leaders Weigh In On Bush China Visit
World Journal, Franz Schurmann
The pro-Taiwan World Journal asked three well-known Chinese figures in the Bay Area to interpret President Bush's failure to mention controversial plans to unite Taiwan and China -- the One China policy -- on a recent visit to Beijing.
Li Shih-ming, newly appointed economic and cultural head of the Taiwan office for the Bay Area, confirmed that it was diplomacy at play on the part of Bush. Even as "America wants to upgrade its relationship with China, it also wants to upgrade its relations with Taiwan," he said.
Professor Ling-chi Wang, chairman of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, said "Bush scored nothing in his visits to Japan and South Korea," but scored well on his China visit. "The fact that he asked Jiang Zemin to visit America, shows how important China has become for America."
Wang Yunxiang, the new consul general of the People's Republic of China in San Francisco, spoke of the two sides increasingly seeing eye-to-eye. "To speak of 'Peaceful Reunification' and 'One China Two Systems' are not contradictory."
For more and expanded stories from California’s ethnic media, see www.ncmonline.com
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