SUNDAY,MAY 16,2021 /// Times Community News publication serving Orange County /// timesoc.com O.C. opts to shelve Hearing digital stories vaccine record with Supervisors vote to ‘pause’ the program open after hundreds of people speak out against it at ameeting on Tuesday. eyes BY BEN BRAZIL ABOVE: A store owner alters hanbok, traditional Korean Orange County won’t for the clothing worn for celebrations, in Through UC Irvine’s VOICE time being offer a digital vaccina- her shop which is one of a few in tion record to residents after hun- Orange County. project, researchers used dreds of people spoke out against Courtesy Ivy Duong photography to capture nonexistent “vaccine passports” RIGHT: While working at Target at a county Board of Supervisors as a cashier, Sidra Ali encountered the pandemic’s impact on meeting on Tuesday. an Asian mother who told her AAPI communities. At least 600 people held a rally how difficult it was to find outside the meeting and took to supplies that she needed like the podium to urge the board not baby wipes because people kept to allow a COVID-19 vaccine pass- buying them for general cleaning port in the county, even though purposes. officials have repeatedly said par- Courtesy Sidra Ali ticipation in the program would not be a requirement. FAR RIGHT: UCI student In response to the public out- housing residents, like Grace cry, the board ended up voting 4-1 Choe, are prohibited from using to “pause” a plan to offer a digital the common room in the dorms vaccination record to residents while they share the same who request it. Supervisor Katrina restrooms, kitchens and laundry Foley cast the only dissenting facilities. Furniture from the vote. common room was wrapped in Courtesy Ivy Duong Much of the movement against the middle of the space. the record seems to stem from Courtesy Grace Choe confusion around the county’s announcement in early April that it would be starting a vaccine “passport” program, prompting immediate uproar from some residents. The announcement “...this (voluntary digital record provision) was intended as a courtesy and not a mandate. There is no vote to mandate vaccine passports. Anyone suggesting otherwise is directly harming the county’s BY VERA CASTANEDA rely on words and texts,” said Judy Tzu-Chun ABOVE LEFT: Workers at the public health and Wu, a project lead and director of the UCI hair salon plastic wrapped vaccination outreach ast spring, a group of UC Irvine staff and Humanities Center. “This really foregrounds chairs and created plastic students who work across departments the visual and allowed us to sort of step in the barriers that they can move efforts.” L in Asian American studies, public health shoes of people who are experiencing the around the stations. The — Katrina Foley and the university library’s Southeast Asian pandemic. There’s also more of the emotional barriers are made from O.C. supervisor archive began discussing a project that would impact of thinking about photographs. It’s plastic, hair clips, and help document the impact of the COVID-19 foregrounding the voices of people who are movable stands in order to pandemic on Asian American and Pacific Is- experiencing the pandemic because we want create an extra source of came amid a national conversa- lander communities. to hear their stories.” protection. tion over potential government- They settled on a project based on photogra- By the fall, a diverse group of 24 UC Irvine Courtesy Ivy Duong issued vaccine passports, which phy or a photovoice research technique in undergraduates were selected to be part of a the state and federal government which participants use a camera to document research project called Visualizing Our Iden- ABOVE RIGHT: Emma Hong aren’t requiring. and express experiences from their own point tities and Cultures for Empowerment or Nguyen's cat, Leo Candy At a mid-April board meeting of view. The intention of the technique is to VOICE. The project focused on Orange County, Nguyen, acting like a about a week after the announce- foster community empowerment and social which is made up of the third largest AAPI classmate sitting next to her. ment, Orange County Health Care change in an ethical way that minimizes the population in the country. However, the stu- Her companion made her feel Agency Director Clayton Chau power dynamics between the researcher and dents were well into distance learning and less lonely during a distance- clarified that the county was not the researched. spread out throughout California — O.C., learning year when it was considering a vaccine passport “We found it to be a really compelling meth- difficult to make new friends. but rather will offer a voluntary odology. A lot of research approaches tend to See Eyes, page R4 Courtesy Emma Hong Nguyen See Vaccine, page R5 O.C. plumeria growers help stem the losses of a Texas cold snap BY LORI BASHEDA When David Konishi lost his plumerias in the Orange County freeze of 2007, complete strangers mailed him cuttings from their own trees so he could rebuild his collection. Humbled, Konishi vowed that one day, if ever called to do so, he would pay it forward. That day ar- rived this past February. Konishi, who owns Konishi Plumeria in Cypress, was on his Kevin Chang | Staff Photographer plumeria growers Facebook group when messages started popping PLUMERIA PLANTS grown from up from Texans who were help- seeds at Konishi Plumeria in Cypress. lessly watching their deliciously scented tropical trees die in a freak when weather forecasters warn cold snap. that a cold snap is coming. Houston is home to the Plume- But who has a plan for a power ria Society of America, so there are outage on top of a freeze? Without alot of growers in that state. heat in their homes, Texans had Plumeria, heat-lovers native to the no chance of saving their collec- tropics, need to be protected when tions. Specimens, some decades the temperature drops below 40. old, perished within hours; That’s why growers build green- branches just falling off, bleeding houses for wintertime. And if you brown mush. don’t have a greenhouse, you have “I live in Texas and lost all my aplan to haul your plumerias into plumeria in the arctic blast,” a Courtesy of the L.A. Arboretum your house (even digging them out of the ground if you have to) See Plumerias, page R5 PLUMERIAS BLOSSOM DURING the L.A. Arboretum's Plumeria Day on July 20, 2019, in Arcadia. R2 SUNDAY,MAY 16,2021 TIMESOC WWW.TIMESOC.COM Irvine council opposes Musick jail expansion The city votes to put THE COUNTY Board of pressure on the Board Supervisors of Supervisors to hold a approved a public meeting to address $261-million residents’ concerns. construction contract last BY BEN BRAZIL year for the expansion of Irvine’s decades-long fight to the James A. stop the expansion of the contro- Musick jail. versial James A. Musick jail is not over yet. The Irvine City Council voted Tuesday night to put pressure on the county Board of Supervisors to hold a public meeting on the issue. The board approved a $261-million construction con- tract for the expansion last year. The item was proposed by Mayor Farrah Khan and Vice Mayor Tammy Kim at the urging of the Stop the Musick Coalition, agroup of social justice organiza- tions in Orange County working to halt the expansion. File Photo “Unfortunately we’ve reached a Los Angeles point where we’ve exhausted all Times legal resources or all legal avenues to stop the county of Orange from pushing through with this expan- mayor of the city. day’s resolution. Braun said in mid-April that the by 54% to 1,886 cases, meaning sion,” Kim said at the meeting. During Tuesday’s meeting, “It was a step in the right direc- average daily jail population is about two in five inmates re- “But I agree that a resolution af- Agran said he hopes the Board of tion, we are considering it a win,” down to 3,300. It was 5,200 before quired mental health treatment. firming our strong opposition to Supervisors quickly take action. Drake said. “It’s definitely not the the pandemic. “Musick is not a mental health this expansion will demonstrate “It would be very unfortunate if end, we consider it the beginning. Ajudge ordered Sheriff Don jail,” Braun said in an email last our values as a city. And further- the Board of Supervisors just sat We are hoping the City Council Barnes in December to cut the jail month. “It is the responsibility of more, I hope this resolution will on it and did not honor the re- continues to support our efforts population in half due to the Sheriff’s Department to pro- send a strong message to the Or- quest with the scheduling of a opposing the expansion.” COVID-19 outbreaks among in- vide for the care and custody of ange County Board of Supervisors meeting,” Agran said. “So I as- Drake said the coalition has re- mates. incarcerated individuals who by urging them to hold a public sume, Mayor, that you and the quested for the city to support a The Musick jail has sat empty have broken criminal law. The meeting to address the concerns Vice Mayor will be conveying the separate, independent public fo- for the last two years. beds at Musick are designed to be of our residents, whom they were importance of this in the strong- rum in Irvine to educate residents The O.C.