American tech companies help shape new Korean city

INCHEON, South Korea (KGO) -- Monday, June 25th, was the 66th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. In San Jose, local officials joined Korean War veterans and their families for a special ceremony at city hall. Both the American and Korean flags were raised in honor of the veterans, and as a show of the strong bonds between the two countries.

The Korean War began with an invasion of South Korea, by troops from the north. The United States countered with one of the most daring maneuvers in military history -- General Douglas MacArthur landed 75,000 U.S. troops on the shores of Incheon.

Recently, I visited Incheon, which is just outside of the South Korean capital, Seoul. It is closer to the Bay Area than any major city in Asia and it is undergoing some dramatic changes. Right where MacArthur landed those troops, a new city is rising from the sea, in what may be the largest private real estate venture in the world. And it's a green city, LEED certified, standing for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Ten years ago the land was underwater, but by 2005 in a joint venture. Gale International of New York and Korea's POSCO Engineering began construction on land, reclaimed from the sea and now Songdo's first 22,000 residents have moved in.

"We have families right here," said Scott Summers, the Gale International vice president.

Summers grew up in Marin County where his grandmother, Mary Summers, was the planning director and a sustainable growth advocate. He now oversees construction on the $35 billion project.

"Sometimes we call it a city of synergy and we want a live, work, play, environment," said Summers.

A seven-mile bridge links Songdo to Incheon International Airport and a park in the city's center.

"It's 100 acres, it was modeled after New York City's Central Park," said Summers.

The canal uses seawater instead of fresh. Recycled gray water is used for landscaping and heated waste water from Songdo's power plant is used to heat its towers.

"I like to call them the basket weave the dancing ladies," said Summers.

But Summers knows Songdo's success will depend on global trade.

"We want this to be the doorstep for people wanting to do business in Korea, this is the landing point, almost as though it were General MacArthur's landing point, a landing point for foreign companies to do business in Korea," said Summers.

Silicon Valley's Cisco Systems is already connecting everything and everyone in Songdo with its U.Life and TelePresence technology. Cisco calls their touch screens "wall pads" and you can control the lights, save energy, watch a movie, set up a HD video conference with a neighbor or someone half a world away.

Cisco global PR operations manager Samer Constantini says Songdo provides a great chance to rollout new technology and provide new alternatives. He said, "You can actually dial in to call your doctor for a quick consultation, instead of getting in the car and driving all the way, looking for a parking spot and waiting at the waiting room and looking at old magazines."

But Songdo's backers believe they have to build more than sustainable tech-filled tower.

Stan Gale, the head of Gale International at the Good Market, appeared at a charity event designed to create a feeling of community.

"We dreamed for many years for a day like today," said Gale.

I caught up with Gale at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club following a PGA Champions' Tournament.

"We were fortunate enough to be able to plan from scratch the first sustainable compact city and we used all the technology available to us," said Gale.

While the global economic crisis has created a challenge for Songdo, Gale hopes the new U.S.-Korean free trade agreement will drive business between California and the world's newest city.

"Over 60 percent of the trade will be done with Korea from California and vice versa, and a lot of people don't know that," said Gale.

Gale says when the construction of the brand new city is complete there will be 100-million square feet of commercial, residential and retail space. And he hopes a quarter million residents will work, live, and play in Songdo.

(Copyright ©2012 KGO-TV/DT.

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2 pieces of technology may make roads safer

Experts who analyze car crashes are praising two new pieces of technology designed to make the roads safer.

The study was released on Tuesday by the non-profit Highway Loss Data Institute.

It found that forward collision avoidance systems reduce accidents by 14-percent. They use radar or lasers built into the grill, to warn you if you're about to rear-end another vehicle. If you ignore the warning, some autos just brake themselves.

"If you avoid one crash, it's paid for," said David Zuby from the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety.

Researchers also found that adaptive headlights, which turn to shine around corners, also help cut the number of accidents. But technology that alerts drivers when they're drifting off the road, actually appeared to slightly increase accidents.

(Copyright ©2012 KGO-TV/DT.

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San Francisco parklets: Good for business?

  SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Putting a park in a busy commercial district to beautify and increase street traffic sounds like a good idea, but some San Francisco residents say it isn't. ABC7 takes a look at the growing pangs of the city's growing parklet program.

A parklet is a parking spot turned into an urban oasis. There are big ones like those near Union Square and smaller ones like the one on Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights.

"We wanted a parklet not just because it was good for our business, but it's a great thing for the community," said Craig Stoll of Delfina. "It's fun and it slows people down."

Residents along busy Valencia Street in San Francisco say there are already too many in their Mission District neighborhood. Five parklets have been installed within three blocks, some right across the street from each other and two more are planned.

"For the most part they're cafe seating for the businesses near them -- sidewalk cafes. And the occasional sidewalk cafe in the neighborhood, I really like. It adds vibrancy to the neighborhood," said resident Kathryn Bowsher. "The question is, how many of them do you need?"

The first parklets in the city were created as temporary spaces in 2005. Five years later the city jumped in to help people make them more permanent structures. They've been so popular, other cities including New York, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia and Chicago have sought advice from San Francisco on building their own.

"The whole idea is to look differently at how we use our streets, to make them not just for cars, but for pedestrians, for walking, for biking, for hanging out," said San Francisco Planning Director John Rahaim.

According to the San Francisco Planning Department, there are currently 27 parklets in the city, another seven have been approved, and 33 more are proposed. More than 70 people have expressed interest in installing one.

"When you look at the total sum of the parking spaces that are removed, it's not a huge amount of parking, but what it gives back to the community is so much more," said Rahaim.

Businesses pay up to $20,000 for the construction, planning and permits for a parklet, then pay the city $200 a year to keep it there.

"I love the parklet," said Tony Azzollini, owner of Caffe Roma on Columbus Street. "It's been very good to us." He says the parklets add a European flair to the neighborhood by providing more sidewalk seating. "It's brought my business up 35 to 40 percent, so in the past year, my numbers are great."

He says that increase in business equals more tax revenue for the city, making up for any revenue lost by taking out parking meters.

But not all the parklets appear to be so well used -- some of them sit empty during the day. A study released last year by the San Francisco Great Streets Project found that while most parklets increased foot traffic in the neighborhood, not all of them were as widely used, on some days foot traffic actually went down.

People who live near parklets say the city needs to make sure parklets get installed where they will be most beneficial.

"The more difficult the parking becomes, the more desperate the people coming to the neighborhood become, and they start taking spots they really don't fit in on the residential streets [and] blocking driveways," said Bowsher.

City planners say they are monitoring the growth of the parklet program, but so far they don't see too many.

"At one point we're going to have to look at that if we have four on a block, maybe that's too many, and we'll take a look at that," said Rahaim. "I don't think we are there yet."

>> More: Google map of San Francisco parklets

Written and produced by Ken Miguel.

(Copyright ©2012 KGO-TV/DT.

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Neighbors upset over off-road vehicle expansion plan

There is a battle being waged in the hills near the Altamont Pass. Environmentalists and neighbors are upset about a plan to expand the Bay Area's only state run off-highway vehicle park.

Since the 1920s motorcyclists have been visiting this area in the hills between Livermore and Tracy to ride the steep hills, rugged canyons, and meandering trails. The state took over the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area in the 1960s.

"When you are out here, you just feel like you are out of the city. It's just so peaceful and relaxing and we usually camp out on the weekends and it's a great feeling," said Jeff Baritell of Hayward.

But it can get congested out there. On a busy day, as many as 700 off road enthusiasts ride 1,300 acres of trails and roads. Hoping to reduce congestion, the state paid $7.8 million in the late 1990s to expand on adjacent land. It bought 3,000 acres, including the remnants of an old coal mining town called Tesla.

"This new expansion will allow us to continue work to provide programs that will actually help with the cultural and natural resources and protection, and also provide high quality motorized recreation," said Joe Ramos, superintendent of the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area.

The plan calls for new hiking paths and designated trails for off-road use that would be largely invisible to people looking up the hillside.

But some environmentalists and neighbors, balk at the idea of turning the rolling hillsides into anything but open space.

Celeste Garamendi and Art Hull are with Friends of Tesla Park.

"We have a chance to save this beautiful piece of land for future generations to enjoy and appreciate," said Hull.

They say Tesla is an important part of California history. In fact, it is home to Native American artifacts, and was used by Spanish settlers as a trail to San Francisco Bay.

"We cannot allow the damage that has occurred at Carnegie SVRA to invade into this wonderful pristine parkland," said Garamendi

Garamendi lives next to the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area. Her husband's family has been here since the 1870s. He's seen how off-road vehicles change the landscape.

"See that rut for example right there, where the trail's going up kind of below the fence line, that hasn't been used for 20 years," said John Connolly, who opposes the park expansion.

Connolly doesn't believe riders will stay on designated trails in an expanded off highway vehicle park.

"And even if they say well 90 percent of them are good guys, 10 percent of OHV users if they violate it, do an incredible amount of damage," said Connolly.

Karen Schambach says the park hasn't been a good steward of the land they've been given. She's with Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility. The group sued the state park department in 2009 over diminished water quality in a creek that flows during the rainy months. The state water board stepped in and ordered the park to make changes.

"You know, they are making some efforts at it, and I guess it remains to be seen, but as long as you have hill climbs like you have here, you're going to have sediment and there's just no way around that," said Schambach.

The park admits there's still work to do adding that they've been busy replanting hillsides and restoring closed trails to prevent future damage -- a promise it says, to improve the experience for everyone who wants to enjoy nature.

"I think that the word is 'balancing act' -- the balance between motorized recreation and the protection. And we have that balance," said Ramos.

Plans for a larger off-highway park are still being drafted. The public comment period is still open and you can find out more about that here: Carnegie General Plan and here: Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area

Written and produced by Ken Miguel

(Copyright ©2012 KGO-TV/DT.

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Popularity of drones raising privacy concerns

Drones were once expensive weapons used only by the Department of Defense but now, they've become relatively inexpensive toys and their rise in popularity brings concerns about privacy.

Defense department videos depict what many people probably envision when they think of drones, grainy images from unmanned aircraft taking on enemy stronghold in a war zone, but drones have come a long way.

Andreas Oesterer and Mark Harrison are among the estimated 26,000 drone enthusiasts around the world flying their own robotic aircrafts. "It was not too difficult to get started," Harrison says. Under U.S. law, hobby drones can fly below 400 feet and cannot fly out of sight of the controller. You don't need a permit to fly one and no commercial uses have been approved.

The three to six foot-long machines are relatively affordable because of inexpensive chips, sensors, and cameras that have flooded the market in recent years. "Even a couple of years ago, this would be like a $10,000, $20,000 project and now have it be like $500, $600, as cheap as a smart phone, as cheap as a laptop computer, makes it pretty feasible," Harrison says.

"If you have an iPhone or an Android, you have all the sensors and technology necessary to fly an airplane," Chris Anderson says. Anderson is editor-in-chief of Wired magazine. He started a popular drone website and founded a company that sells drone parts. He says business is growing 50 percent a year. "Right now, the vast majority of people are doing it for fun, education, learning, you know, just the sheer thrill of having a flying robot," he says.

However, it's aerial photography that has many drone pilots most interested. Whether it is being able to wear special glasses to see from the planes point-of-view or just taking in the view of the bay. The Department of Homeland Security operates a small fleet of drones along the Canadian and Mexican borders. "So, with the aircraft, you can put that aircraft up at 400 or 500 feet, be able to scan the area for other individuals and again, contain it more visibly from the air than you could from the ground," explains Vanguard Industries CEO Mike Buscher.

That's raising big concerns about privacy and how the government is using drones to watch all of us. People, when they step outside their door, could end up being tracked 24-7 by these cameras," Trevor Timm with Electronic Frontier Foundation says. He thinks it's getting too easy for government agencies to spy on us with drones. "The FAA was basically mandated to issue drone licenses to public agencies as long as they could prove they could fly them safely," he says.

The foundation sued, demanding to know who has applied for a drone license. They won, so the federal government turned over a list of 60 government agencies who want to use them. On the list were a few dozen law enforcement agencies across the country. "The FAA actually estimates that by 2020 there may be as many as 30,000 drones flying in U.S. skies," Timm says.

Although, drone enthusiasts say they are just doing it for fun. "Hobbyist drones, you can get them up 20, 30 minutes at a time. It's really not practical for long-term surveillance," Harrison says.

(Copyright ©2012 KGO-TV/DT.

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Planning funeral celebrations with a personal touch

  OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- For most of the important events in your life, you can find people to plan them out for you -- birthday parties, weddings and graduation events, for example. So why not have someone plan your funeral? One Bay Area woman is trying to carve out a niche for herself by helping others with their final wishes.

Barbara Gibson of Oakland spent most her life in public relations. But when she was laid off, she saw an opportunity to reinvent herself.

"My mother passed away without any last wishes. She had had Alzheimer's for many, many years so I had no concept of what she would want, and I have a 17-year-old son -- and I thought, if something happened to me, I wouldn't want him to have to go through this," she said.

There are companies that help terminally ill people prepare for their end, but Gibson wanted to offer services to people who are still healthy and alive.

Last Wishes, the business she launched late last year, targets baby boomers -- and business has taken off. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, 71 percent of baby boomers don't want a traditional funeral.

"I am not a lawyer, I won't do their will. I am not a nurse or a doctor, so I can't do their medical directives. But basically I help them organize and sift through all the many options and get them on the road," Gibson said.

The cost of Gibson's services average around $500. She guides clients through their options. Do they want be buried or cremated? What happens to their digital legacy? Who's responsible for taking care of executing the plan? Will there be a party? What will be served?

Evelyn Dalton of Danville plans to be around for a while but felt the time was right to make her end-of-life plans. "It's one of those things you should do if you're a certified grown up, just like doing your taxes or doing a will," Dalton said.

She met with Gibson three times to draft her last wishes. "It was a very cathartic experience, chilling to a certain degree. I wrote my own obituary," Dalton said.

Dalton's plans are complete for now, but nothing is set in stone. She will revisit them annually to make updates.

Not every plan is as simple.

"The most interesting one I've gotten recently was from someone who asked me if I could do a Viking funeral with flaming arrows shot through the air at a wooden ship and with Wagnerian music in the background -- which I think is a truly Bay Area idea," Gibson said.

She hopes others will find peace in knowing that when the end comes, their last wishes will be taken care of. While funerals are sad, they're also a celebration of a life lived."I think that we need to get away from thinking of it as something very morbid and sad," Gibson said.

Written and produced by Ken Miguel

(Copyright ©2012 KGO-TV/DT.

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Poll of the Week – How Do You Feel about the ACA?

Healthcare is one of the topics that will be discussed during the first 2012 Presidential Debate on October 3. One issue that is sure to come up is the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Have another answer or comment on our Poll of the Week? Enter it below.

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