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Author: Alfredo Casuso

Acclaimed Palm Springs Theatre Expands Network with Respected Cultural Leaders Ann Sheffer and Will Dean Named to Board for Nonprofit Dezart Performs

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media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com  

Acclaimed Palm Springs Theatre Expands Network with Respected Cultural Leaders Ann Sheffer and Will Dean Named to Board for Nonprofit Dezart Performs

www.dezartperforms.org

30 September 2020 – Palm Springs, CA:  Two well-known Palm Springs cultural professionals, Ann Sheffer and Will Dean, have been named to the board of directors for the nonprofit Dezart Performs theatre company of Palm Springs significantly expanding the respected ensemble’s base of support as it heads into planning for its 2020 / 2021 season, a combination of virtual and live performances in light of COVID-era protocols.

“During this most challenging time, we are especially honored that two such widely respected members of the community have stepped up to help guide us during this challenging period,” said Clark Dugger, Board President for Dezart Performs. “We welcome Ann Sheffer and Will Dean to bring new perspectives and a new level of diversity to our Board.”

A resident of Palm Springs since 2005,  Sheffer currently serves as Chair of the Palm Springs Public Arts Commission, as honorary trustee of the Palm Springs Art Museum, and on the boards of the Palm Springs Cultural Center, and the Desert AIDS Project.   She was previously a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities from 1993 to 2000, appointed by President Bill Clinton.  From 2001 to 2012 Sheffer served on the board of Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America, and as Chair of its Arts Action Fund and PAC, and is now an Emeritus board member.  Sheffer received her undergraduate degree in Theater and French from Smith College, a MA in Theatre Administration from Tufts University and an MBA from the University of Washington.  She is married to William L. Scheffler, Esq. and has six children and six grandchildren (several of whom want to be actresses.)

“Theatre is the soul and voice of a community,” said Sheffer. “I have always been impressed with the ability of Dezart Performs to express just the right balance of timely themes. Never has their intuitive sense of stagecraft been more needed than right now. It will help us get past this challenging time and prepare us for a better tomorrow.”

A 13-year resident of Palm Springs, Dean moved to the desert in late 2007 to work as a community editor with The Desert Sun. His primary duties were guiding and editing the work of a small group of reporters covering Palm Springs and Cathedral City. Prior to the move, he completed a rewarding Knight Editing Fellowship at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.  In 2012, Dean created with and for The Desert Sun a monthly LGBTQ news and culture magazine featuring the Coachella Valley and Southern California region: Desert Outlook, which was the first LGBTQ publication for the USA TODAY Network, was published for six years.  In June 2018, Dean joined the staff of the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation as the director of communications and marketing. That same year, he became involved with a burgeoning nonprofit organization, Brothers of the Desert, a 501(c)(3) comprised of black gay men who live in the Coachella Valley. Earlier this year, Will was elected one of nine members of the Brothers of the Desert’s inaugural board. 

“I am honored and excited to join the Dezart Performs board. Over the years I’ve had the privilege of sitting in the audience at Dezart productions and marveling at the level of passion, dedication and talent the company presents,” said Dean. “Dezart Performs expands the concept of community theater, and I get to be a part of that! While Dezart productions are clearly for Coachella Valley audiences, each season spotlights entertaining, thought-provoking, universal stories that also reflect our diverse human community.”

Dezart Performs, one of the Coachella Valley’s preeminent theatre companies, recognizes that the performing arts enrich the life and culture of a community, promote greater understanding and provoke insightful discussion. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre company, its mission is to provide an artistic home for bold and cutting–edge plays, creating an atmosphere of artistic growth for actors, writers, and directors who uniquely contribute to the diverse theatrical environment in the Coachella Valley.

2020 SAFE Conference

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2020 SAFE Conference 

Tuesday, October 20, 2020 – Thursday, October 22, 2020



This year’s SAFE event is going virtual!

While we are disappointed, we can’t meet in person this year, you are able to still receive security updates and education from your desk. Plan to attend CHLA’s SAFE Conference, because security is everyone’s business. Join your peers from the hotel, lodging, and tourism industry for training online. This event was planned by hotel security professionals for security professionals. The conference will go live on Tuesday, October 20 and educational sessions will be available on demand. There will be a live speaker Q & A session on Thursday, October 22nd at 2:00pm.

SAFE registration includes access to Covid-19 Precautions for Hotels online training – at no additional cost. 

AHLA announced a new enhanced version of COVID-19 Precautions for Hotels, a hotel-specific online training course designed for cleaning and safety during the pandemic.  This valuable training tool was developed in partnership with the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) and now includes a brand new module focused on de-escalation training for employees.  The new de-escalation module offers all hotel employees guidance on how to reduce tensions and promote a safe environment while maintaining the spirit of hospitality throughout all interactions. A certificate is given upon completion. SAFE attendees will have the chance to complete this training from October 20 – October 31, as part of their SAFE Conference registration.

REGISTER NOW!

SAN FRANCISCO TO MOVE FORWARD WITH REOPENING MORE BUSINESSES AND ACTIVITIES ON SEPTEMBER 30

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org  

*** PRESS RELEASE ***

SAN FRANCISCO TO MOVE FORWARD WITH REOPENING MORE BUSINESSES AND ACTIVITIES ON SEPTEMBER 30

Now that San Francisco is assigned to the State’s Orange tier, the City will move forward on reopening indoor restaurants and places of worship, and other activities including plans for outdoor family entertainment, playgrounds and indoor movie theaters

San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed, Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax, and Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu, co-Chair of the City’s Economic Recovery Task Force, today announced San Francisco will move forward with indoor dining and places of worship at 25% capacity up to 100 people starting on Wednesday, September 30. In addition, San Francisco will expand the capacity of outdoor places of worship, outdoor political demonstrations, and indoor malls, and will reopen additional family entertainment, hotel fitness centers, and more. These next steps come as the State assigned San Francisco to Orange on its tiered reopening system, based on San Francisco’s COVID-19 infection and case rate.

San Francisco has also set a timeline for opening indoor movie theaters and outdoor playgrounds. Indoor movie theaters are slated to reopen at a limited capacity and with modifications on Wednesday, October 7, and public outdoor playgrounds are planned to open in mid-October, now that State restrictions have eased.

“We know this continues to be a challenging time with people struggling economically and emotionally. However, thanks to San Francisco’s commitment to following public health guidance, we are seeing improvements in our numbers, which means we can continue to move forward with reopening,” said Mayor Breed. “Reopening indoor restaurants and houses of worship with limited capacity, and creating opportunities for families to safely enjoy outdoor entertainment are a good step on our road to recovery. We are committed to following the data and continuing reopening once our local health indicators demonstrate it is safe to do so. That said, the last thing we want to see is a spike in cases and a need to roll back all the progress we’ve made, so we all need to do our part. Please continue to follow the public health guidelines and participate in these activities responsibly so we can continue to move forward together.”

“This latest round of activities and re-openings is a result of the dedication and commitment of our residents and businesses. Our actions to limit the spread of the virus continue to pay off,” said Dr. Grant Colfax. “Since we came off the state watch list Sept. 1, we have kept a steady and gradual pace of reopening — from after school programs and in-classroom learning to indoor personal services and restaurants. We want this to continue and we do not want any setbacks, so we will keep reminding the public to be diligent and wear a mask, physically distance and wash your hands.”

“Growing up I spent many weekends bussing and waiting on tables at our family restaurant. Today, I’m especially excited to see restaurants reopen indoor to create a lifeline during the colder fall and winter months,” said Assessor Carmen Chu, Co-chair of the Economic Recovery Task Force. “Together our actions got us to ‘orange’ so let’s keep it going. Let’s keep taking precautions to keep our workers and families safe.”

“San Francisco’s world class restaurants create vibrant spaces for culture and community to thrive and remain absolutely vital to our economic recovery. They draw visitors from across the Bay and the globe, employ tens of thousands of diverse San Franciscans and generate billions in taxable sales,” said Joaquín Torres, Director of Economic and Workforce Development. “Even as the crisis has impacted their industry, they’ve been persistently innovative to serve all of us, supporting their workers and those most vulnerable in our communities. Doing business indoors couldn’t come at a better time as we approach the colder months, but we must do so safely. Keep your mask on when you are talking, especially to restaurant staff. This will allow us to stay safe and do what we do better than any other City, eat out often.” 

Tomorrow, the San Francisco Department of Public Health will issue final health and safety guidelines for indoor dining, places of worship, and other activities to ensure the safest reopening possible. On Thursday, September 24, the Department of Public Health provided restaurants and places of worship with preliminary guidance to safely reopen with limited capacity and other modifications in place.

The reopening of businesses and activities will increase travel and interaction throughout the city, which means increasing community spread of the virus and an increase in cases. Public health officials will regularly assess the Key Public Health Indicators, particularly new positive case counts and hospitalizations to ensure San Francisco has the necessary resources available for those who contract COVID-19.

While San Francisco recognizes the State’s thresholds, the City will continue on a reopening path based on its local health indicators and unique challenges and successes of our local reopening. San Francisco’s reopening plan is available online at SF.gov/reopening. Reopening is dependent upon San Francisco’s Health indicators remaining stable or improving, and the plan is subject to change. Although additional indoor activities are being allowed, it is important to remember that outdoor options remain safer. Seniors and those with COVID-19 risk factors should avoid indoor crowds. All San Franciscans must do their part to limit the spread of COVID-19, including face masking, social distancing, and handwashing.

Indoor Dining

Starting on Wednesday, September 30, restaurants and bars serving meals can reopen for indoor dining at 25% capacity, up to 100 people. Safety requirements for indoor dining are similar to the existing guidelines for outdoor dining. Face coverings must be worn by personnel and patrons at all times except when the patron is eating or drinking. That includes customers wearing a face covering when ordering, waiting for their order to arrive, or anytime staff is at their table. Restaurants are encouraged to use reservations to help ensure compliance with capacity limits. Under the new health guidance, restaurants must conduct a health check of patrons before they are seated. The health check requirement applies to both indoor and outdoor dining. Additional requirements and guidelines are available online here.

Places of Worship

Starting on Wednesday, September 30, places of worship can open indoors at 25% capacity, up to 100 people. Outdoor worship services will continue, now with up to 200 people, as long as there is sufficient space to allow for social distancing. Singing or chanting is not allowed indoors since choirs and singing indoors is a known source of COVID-19 spread. The place of worship must conduct a health check of patrons before they enter the facility. Face coverings are required at all times except for brief removal to consume food or drink if it is essential to a ritual or ceremony. Additional requirements and guidelines are available online here.

Additional Activities Resuming September 30th

In addition to indoor dining and places of worship, San Francisco is moving forward on reopening or expanding the following activities on September 30th:

  • Outdoor political demonstrations may continue, now with up to 200 people, as long as there is sufficient space to allow for social distancing and everyone wears a face covering.
  • Indoor classes for higher education and vocational programs that require specialized equipment that cannot move outside are allowed with modifications and capacity limits in place.
  • Some additional family entertainment, including outdoor children’s carousels, miniature trains, and Ferris wheels, like the Observation Wheel in Golden Gate Park, with specified safety precautions.  
    • The Observation Wheel is currently under construction and is expected to open by the end of October.
  • Fitness centers located within hotels and lodging establishments up to 10% capacity with staff monitoring.
  • Indoor shopping centers and malls with 50% capacity, upon approval of an updated health and safety plan.
    • Indoor food courts may reopen following guidelines for indoor dining.

GOAL: early October – Indoor Movie Theaters and Outdoor Playgrounds

  • The Department of Public Health plans to issue directives and guidance to allow indoor movie theaters to open on October 7, if San Francisco remains assigned to the Orange tier. At that time, movie theaters can reopen with 25% capacity up to 100 people, and with no concessions sold, or outside food or drink consumed.
  • Now that the State has changed its guidance to allow outdoor children’s playgrounds operated by government agencies to operate, and if San Francisco remains assigned to the Orange tier, the Department of Public Health will issue a directive and guidance to allow outdoor playgrounds to reopen. San Francisco anticipates this change will occur by October 14.

“We are thrilled to welcome families back to our playgrounds, centers of neighborhood joy and connection that have been sorely missed, particularly in our low income and high density neighborhoods,” said San Francisco Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg. “Opening the Observation Wheel for Golden Gate Park’s 150th anniversary is a tribute to the resilience of San Franciscans, who have found healing and happiness in our parks throughout our history. The Wheel is a symbol of hope and celebration that connects our past with our future.”

Reopening of Schools – Ongoing

As state and local COVID-19 indicators permit, San Francisco schools may now resume in-person learning with approved safety plans in place. San Francisco’s approach to the reopening process for San Francisco TK-12 schools (transitional kindergarten through 12th grade) prioritizes the reopening of younger grades for in-person learning this fall. As many as 106 private, parochial or charters schools have requested applications for in-person learning this fall. Almost 60 schools have submitted applications and 20 schools have been approved for re-opening. The applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis. Elementary schools are reopening first, followed by middle schools, and then high schools.

All San Francisco schools must meet minimum standards required by the state and DPH before resuming in-person learning. This includes providing detailed plans on how they will ensure adequate testing and contact tracing for their staff and students. Schools will work with DPH to meet all the requirements for the safest re-opening. The school re-opening dashboard identifies the schools that have begun this process by sending an initial letter of interest to DPH to reopen, and shows where each school is in the approval process, including completion of an on-site assessment.

PANDEMIC-THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE

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PANDEMIC-THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S
DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE

By John Murphy

What does a governor of California at the height of the Great Depression have in common with President Donald J. Trump in engendering the Covid-19 Pandemic just prior to the most consequential election in modern American history?

California Governor James “Sunny Jim” Rolph, its Chief Constitutional Officer in 1933, not only refused to call out the National Guard to prevent the lynching of two men in what is now known as Silicon Valley, but promised to pardon anyone convicted of carrying out one of the most notoriously self-deluded manifestations of citizen justice in the United States.

Donald J. Trump, America’s Chief Constitutional Officer, consciously and cynically concealed his informed knowledge of the most deadly virus since 1918 from the American public, refused to employ his authority to mount a comprehensively uniform national campaign to prevent the virus from spreading, and now hideously exploits the avoidable deaths of 200,000 Americans to scare voters away from the polls while spewing propaganda echoed by both the Russians and the Chinese about the integrity of voting by mail.

American citizens regularly look toward the leaders of their respective states and the nation for both moral and civic judgment and inspiration. Governor Rolph’s pardon promise gilding his refusal to call out the National Guard to prevent the lynching of two men accused of kidnapping and murder, resulted in a press-estimated five to ten thousand men, women, and children crowded into a city park to carry out a Sabbath lynching four days before Thanksgiving in 1933.

The following morning, Governor Rolph praised the otherwise upstanding God-fearing citizens who he claimed just momentarily lost their minds, then reaffirmed his pardon pledge. Citizens who participated in the lynching doggedly refused to talk about it the rest of their lives.

President Trump just awarded himself an A-plus for his Covid-19 response he claims kept the Covid-19 casualties to only 200,000 when it could have been in the millions. It doesn’t matter the size of the match, spark, or ember that ignites a wildfire, it is solely measured by the number of human lives lost, homes and businesses destroyed, and acres burned. President Trump, like his role model eighty-seven years ago, has no capacity to understand or appreciate what the loss of a loved one means to each American, and only offers risible respect for the credulous who accept his toxic leadership as gospel because he is President of the United States.

President Trump’s minions—their lush political paranoia nourished by his chronic inversion of facts—consciously and deliberately distorted and manipulated scientific judgment inextricably tied to the gruesomely heartbreaking Covid-19 death toll, and are complicit with President Trump in causing the deaths of our 200,000 fellow Americans. In any other circumstance, such behavior would constitute depraved indifference that arguably would be used as material evidence for a manslaughter indictment.

Just like once respected Republicans rendered mute in the face of human, economic, and political devastation by the dark money generated by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling—granting corporations the same free speech rights as individuals while guaranteeing anonymity, the inquiry into the lynching overseen by subsequent Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, then Alameda County District Attorney, Earl Warren, excluded both Governor Rolph and the allegedly anonymous members of the local vigilance committee comprised of well-known civic and business leaders, falsely attributing the lynching to otherwise God-fearing citizens who forgiveably lost their minds for a moment in the face of the evil contempt for human life by the accused kidnappers and murderers and what they were led to believe was a legal system benefiting criminals rather than victims.

President Trump, obdurately dismissing the 200,000 Covid-19 American deaths, gleefully conducts serial political sideshows emblazoned in history by the shameless merchandising of treasured symbols of American democracy, while contemptuously flouting scientific fact by shaming mask-wearing and social distancing that encourages increasingly deadly exposure to the virus by his true believers and all those with whom they subsequently come into contact.

Most concerning of all is President Trump’s and his appointees’ promotion and endorsement of armed citizen retaliation against people exercising free speech rights—free speech which categorically does not include violence, arson, or looting—and the ominous specter of the election of Joe Biden resulting from the rigging of voting. Like the lynching endorsed and pardoned by Governor Rolph, the potential for horrific and tragically misplaced political violence is ominously extant.

It is the enemy defined by human imagination that most often results in the most lethal and perpetually damaging consequences. President Trump, by exploiting, rather than condemning, the outlandish and factually baseless conspiracy theories about the virus and his political opposition, provides the emotional gunpowder to wreak havoc on the long-proven, and highly regarded American electoral process solely for the narcissistic purposes of being re-elected.

American democracy survived and became the symbol and reality of freedom in the world because of its capacity to accommodate the most questionable manifestations of free speech while retaining the composure to eventually come to its senses. It is now time for our weathered, but resilient sense of justice to again exercise its enduring power and prevail over the worst presidency since the founding of this nation.

Murphy,  a founder of the University of Phoenix authored an insider account of its formation and what transpired at the nation’s first accredited for-profit university after he resigned in 1997: “Mission Forsaken: The University of Phoenix Affair with Wall Street.”Subsequently, he wrote and produced the award-winning feature film, Valley of the Heart’s Delight based on the Republican politics of the 1933 San Jose lynching starring Pete Postlethwaite, Bruce McGill, and Gabriel Mann.

BuildOUT California Opposes President Trump Executive Order

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BuildOUT California Opposes President Trump Executive Order

On September 22, 2020, our Nation took a giant step backward. Claiming that “Americans should be taught to take pride in our Great Country, and if you don’t, there’s nothing in it for you,” the President of the United States issued an Executive Order to ban training on implicit bias and most aspects of diversity for any company receiving federal grants or contracts. With one stroke of his executive pen, the President is attempting to erase decades of hard-won freedoms. In order to “form a more perfect union” for our future, we must engage in a critical assessment of the past. 

This Executive Order requires that any company seeking to benefit from a government contract must pretend that systemic bias does not exist. To do so requires one to ignore America’s history — of taking land from native peoples, enslaving African Americans, subjecting women to unequal treatment, permitting hate crimes against members of the LGBTQ community, enacting the Chinese Exclusion Act, forcing the internment of Japanese Americans, denying Jews entry to the US during WWII, and the daily indignities suffered by anyone who is not straight, white, privileged and male.

To ignore the cruel and unjust periods of American history denies us the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of those who fought against those injustices and triumphed. How can Americans celebrate the accomplishments of Thurgood Marshall, Harvey Milk, Susan B. Anthony, Cesar Chavez, Jackie Robinson, Megan Rapinoe, or Serena Williams without understanding the historical and systemic injustices they overcame? It is only by studying our past – the good and the bad – that we can identify our own biases and work together to create an equal and just society.

BuildOUT California calls upon all elected officials to take immediate and swift action to right the wrongs inflicted by this Executive Order. We urge all business owners to embrace diversity. And we ask all Americans to stand with us as we say: “Mr. President, we dissent.”      

— BuildOUT California

BuildOUT California is the world’s first LGBT industry association dedicated to the sustainable growth of LGBT-owned and certified businesses, and our allies, in the fields of architecture, engineering, construction services, real estate development and related industries.

www.buildoutcalifornia.org