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Broadcast TV Pioneer & KTSF Owner Lillian Lincoln Howell Dies

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AIDS Emergency Fund

Broadcast TV Pioneer & KTSF Owner Lillian Lincoln Howell Dies

February 26, 1921 – August 31, 2014

Asian Language TV Station To Continue Under Family Ownership

Media Contact: David Perry
415.676.7007
news@davidperry.com

9 September 2014 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA: TV pioneer and longtime owner of the San Francisco Bay Area television station KTSF Lillian Lincoln Howell died peacefully at her South Bay home on August 31. Born February 26, 1921, she was 93 years old.

“My mother was a visionary in the broadcasting industry and a generous philanthropist,” said her son, Lincoln Howell, KTSF CEO. “She took big risks in her life and created our station’s mission: to serve the underserved. That she did and as her legacy, that we’ll continue to do.”

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Howell was the eldest of three children born to industrialist and inventor John C. Lincoln and his wife Helen. Her father, the oldest son of a minister, founded Lincoln Electric in 1895. She attended Pomona College where she later graduated in 1943. Following graduation, she taught preschool in California, worked as a recreational director in a disabled children’s home in Phoenix, and married Carl Howell, with whom she had her only son, Lincoln. After the couple separated in 1957, Lillian moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. In the mid-1960s, she learned that the Federal Communications Commission was making a license available for a new commercial television station in the San Francisco market. She applied and was granted the license by the FCC. In 1976, she started KTSF television, whose programming was designed to reflect the diversity of the Bay Area’s Asian American community. Under Howell’s ownership, KTSF became the first television station in the United States to focus on Asian-language and other ethnic programming, offering programming in 12 different languages.

The station began transmitting from San Bruno Mountain on September 4, 1976, with Chinese and Japanese programming from overseas and syndicated reruns of U.S. programs.

“My mother wanted to offer programming to people that no other station was serving,” said her son. “She committed a substantial amount of her programming to the Asian format.”

At that time, Asian Americans made up only five percent of the Bay Area population. Today, the television market’s Asian American population is more than 23 percent. Over the years, KTSF responded to the changing demographics and began adding live newscasts in Cantonese and Mandarin.

“Lillian Howell was unique in that she marched to the beat of her own drum and firmly stuck to her own beliefs, regardless of popular convention,” said her daughter-in-law Barbara Bissell-Howell. “It wasn’t profits that motivated her interest in buying a television station, but rather helping the community Even as she approached the age of 90, Lillian continued to attend weekly manager meetings at the station. As owner, the welfare of her employees was always a priority.”

Howell believed in giving back through generous charitable donations and as such created the Lillian Lincoln Foundation which funds documentaries on topics of interest to her: land reform in Taiwan, primary education in Japan, the Swedish system of caring for its elders, micro-lending for women in the third world, and cultural exchange between American and Vietnamese theatrical producers, among others.

Howell is survived by her son, Lincoln Howell, her daughter in-law, Barbara Bissell-Howell, her granddaughter, Alisha Howell, and her brother, David Lincoln. A public visitation will be held at Crosby and Gray Funeral Home (2 Park Road, Burlingame, CA) on Saturday, September 13, 3pm – 7pm.

Rainbow Honor Walk

Rainbow Honor Walk To Be Dedicated in San Francisco

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Rainbow Honor Walk

Rainbow Honor Walk To Be Dedicated in San Francisco


WHAT:
Rainbow Honor Walk To Be Dedicated in San Francisco
All funds, over $100,000, for first 20 plaques raised privately
AT&T leads efforts with $25,000 Gift
$ 22,000 donated by Ron Collins during Beth Van Hoesen Exhibit Benefit

WHEN: 11am, Tuesday, September 2, 2014

WHERE: Harvey Milk Plaza: Castro & Market Streets, San Francisco

WHO:
Speakers:
David Perry, Rainbow Honor Walk Co-Founder & Chair
Supervisor Scott Wiener
Tom DeCaigny, SF Cultural Affairs Director

WEB: www.rainbowhonorwalk.org

DETAILS: Over 20 years in the making and commemorating centuries of historic LGBT contributions, The Rainbow Honor Walk (www.rainbowhonorwalk.org) will be unveiled at 11am on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 in the sidewalks of San Francisco’s Castro District .

Envisioning the Rainbow Honor Walk, a volunteer committee of community leaders received the unanimous support of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to create the sidewalk monument. Each phase of construction will honor twenty individuals. The walk will eventually extend from the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy on 19th Street at Diamond down to Castro Street—the LGBT community’s “Main Street”—and will continue up Market Street with additional extensions on 18th Street. On Market Street, San Francisco’s main thoroughfare, the Walk will continue to the LGBT Center at Octavia Boulevard. All funds for the Walk’s design and manufacture – over $100,000 for the first 20 plaques — were raised privately.

Comprised of 3 foot x 3 foot bronze plaques embedded in the sidewalk, the Rainbow Honor Walk salutes the groundbreaking achievements of noted LGBT individuals throughout history. The first 20 honorees were announced in 2011, and in 2012 The Rainbow Honor Walk solicited design proposals from around the world. A jury of artists and cultural leaders selected the winning design by architect Carlos Casuso of Madrid, Spain. The plaques were manufactured by Mussi Artworks of Berkeley, California with creative oversight of the process spearheaded by Lawrence Noble, head of the sculpture department at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

Rainbow Honor Walk

Rainbow Honor Walk To Be Dedicated

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Rainbow Honor Walk

Rainbow Honor Walk To Be Dedicated 11am, Tuesday, September 2, 2014

All funds, over $100,000, for first 20 plaques raised privately
AT&T leads efforts with $25,000 Gift
$ 22,000 donated by Ron Collins during Beth Van Hoesen Exhibit Benefit

www.rainbowhonorwalk.org

29 August 2014–San Francisco, CA: Over 20 years in the making and commemorating centuries of historic LGBT contributions, The Rainbow Honor Walk (www.rainbowhonorwalk.org), will be unveiled at 11am on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 in the sidewalks of San Francisco’s Castro District .

“These people courageously stood up as openly and self-expressed members of the LGBT community and made the world a better place through their work,” said David Perry, Rainbow Honor Walk co-founder and board chair. “They have walked the walk for human dignity and equality and so created a pathway the rest of us are humbled to tread.”

Envisioning the Rainbow Honor Walk, a volunteer committee of community leaders received the unanimous support of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to create the sidewalk monument. Each phase of construction will honor twenty individuals. The walk will eventually extend from the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy on 19th Street at Diamond down to Castro Street—the LGBT community’s “Main Street”—and will continue up Market Street with additional extensions on 18th Street. On Market Street, San Francisco’s main thoroughfare, the Walk will continue to the LGBT Center at Octavia Boulevard. All funds for the Walk’s design and manufacture – over $100,000 for the first 20 plaques — were raised privately.

“AT&T has a long history of celebrating the contributions of the LGBT communities,” said Kenneth McNeely, AT&T California President, who contributed the lead gift of $25,000 to the manufacture of the Walk’s first 20 bronze plaques. “The Rainbow Honor Walk commemorates not only the lives of these 20 extraordinary individuals, but also will inspire the next generation of community leaders.”

Comprised of 3 foot x 3 foot bronze plaques embedded in the sidewalk, the Rainbow Honor Walk salutes the groundbreaking achievements of noted LGBT individuals throughout history. The first 20 honorees were announced in 2011, and last year The Rainbow Honor Walk solicited design proposals from around the world. A jury of artists and cultural leaders selected the winning design by architect Carlos Casuso of Madrid, Spain. The plaques were manufactured by Mussi Artworks of Berkeley, California with creative oversight of the process spearheaded by Lawrence Noble, head of the sculpture department at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

“This permanent and growing contribution to the City of San Francisco is a fine example of how public and private partnerships can contribute to a more livable city,” said Tom DeCaigny, Chairman of the San Francisco Arts Commission which has been heavily involved in the project from its inception. “I am proud to represent everyone in the City Family — its artists, workers and construction crews — by officially dedicating the Walk.”

Earlier this year, the Rainbow Honor Walk received the bequest of original artworks by the late Castro neighborhood artist Beth Van Hoesen from the E. Mark Adams and Beth Van Hoesen Adams Trust to benefit construction of the monument. The artworks, drawings, watercolors, and prints portraying colorful personalities from the Castro, were featured in a fundraising exhibition in January 2014 at the George Krevsky Gallery in downtown San Francisco. The exhibition, Beth Van Hoesen: Portraits from the Castro, likewise generated funds for the Walk’s construction, including a $22,000 donation from Ron Collins of Marin in loving memory of his brother, Donald O. Collins.

“This is the gift that gives twice,” said Collins. “The art now hangs in my home and reminds me of my brother, and every time I see it, I know that the funds generated by their sale continue an educational and historic legacy.”

A full list of donors can by found online at www.rainbowhonorwalk.org.

The first 20 honorees on The Rainbow Honor Walk are:

· Jane Addams (1860-1935), Social worker, first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, 1931.

· James Baldwin (1924-87), American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, civil rights activist.

· George Choy (1960-93): Activist for Asian & Pacific Islander youth and people with AIDS.

· Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936), Spanish poet, playwright, political activist.

· Allen Ginsberg (1926-97), American poet. San Francisco Beat poet/Free speech activist.

· Keith Haring (1958-90), American artist and AIDS activist.

· Harry Hay (1912-2002), English born writer, gay rights activist. Founder of The Mattachine Society, 1950.

· Christine Jorgensen (1926-89), Pre-eminent American transgender pioneer and advocate.

· Frida Kahlo (1907-54), Mexican artist whose work has been celebrated as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition.

· Yukio Mishima nee Kimitake Hiraoka (1925-70), Japanese playwright, poet, actor, film director.

· Del Martin (1921-2008), American feminist, gay rights activist. Founder Daughters of Bilitis.

· Bayard Rustin (1912-87), American civil rights leader.

· Randy Shilts (1951-94), San Francisco journalist, biographer.

· Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), American novelist, essayist, playwright.

· Sylvester James (1947-88), American disco star, soul singer, San Francisco performer.

· Alan Turing (1912-54), British scientist who broke the Nazi’s Enigma Code and father of the modern computer, cryptanalyst, logician, mathematician.

· Tom Waddell (1937-87), American athlete, physician, founder of the Gay Games.

· Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish playwright, poet, novelist, essayist.

· Tennessee Williams (1911-83), American dramatist, poet, novelist.

· Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), English novelist, essayist, publisher.

Ten Percent – TV Listing. September 2014

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Ten Percent

Ten Percent – TV Listing. September 2014

Ten Percent — LGBT-TV for Northern California

Mondays – Fridays, 11:30am & 10:30pm and Saturdays & Sundays at 10:30pm on Comcast Hometown Network Channel 104 in Northern California.

www.comcasthometown.com

Episode # 239
Monday — Friday, September 1 – 5, 11:30am & 10:30pm
Saturday & Sunday, September 6 – 7, 10:30pm

David Perry interviews Jose Navarette and Debby Kajiyama, co- artistic directors of Oakland’s NAKA Dance Theater. Perry also speaks with Dan Demers, artistic director of Hillbarn Theater about their current production of Funny Girl.

Episode # 240
Monday — Friday, September 8 – 12, 11:30am & 10:30pm
Saturday & Sunday, September 13 – 14, 10:30pm

David Perry chats with Liss Fain, artistic director of Liss Fain Dance, about theworld premiere of The Imperfect is Our Paradise. Perry also speaks with Olga Talamante, executive director of the Chicana Latina Foundation.

Episode # 241
Monday — Friday, September 15 – 19, 11:30am & 10:30pm
Saturday & Sunday, September 20 – 21, 10:30pm

David Perry talks to industry expert Janelle Lee about the health insurance landscape under “Obamacare.” Perry also chats with Judea Eden, co-founder of Fabulosa Fest women’s music festival. Perry speaks with Michael Colbruno about the ongoing restoration of Berkeley’s historic UC Theatre.

Episode # 242
Monday — Friday, September 22 – 26, 11:30 am & 10:30pm
Saturday & Sunday, September 27 – 28, 10:30pm

David Perry is taking a dip for charity – being “thrown in the pool” at the annual “Celebrity Pool Toss” to benefit the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation. Perry speaks with Donna Sachet, longtime emcee for the event. Perry chats with Neil Figurelli about the programs offered by the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation.

Episode # 243
Monday — Friday, September 29 – October 3, 11:30 am & 10:30pm
Saturday & Sunday, October 4 – 5, 10:30pm

David Perry chats with Eric Smith, curator of Peter Berlin: A Solo Exhibition of Photographs. Perry also interviews Karen Sundheim, program manager at the James C. Hormel LGBT Center of the San Francisco Public Library.

Ten Percent is also available 24/7 through the “On Demand” Feature through your Comcast Cable Network. Choose “Get Local” and “Comcast Hometown” to access Ten Percent. Past shows may also be viewed online at www.comcasthometown.com.

Become a fan on Facebook: 10 Percent on Facebook

About 10 Percent

Comcast Hometown Network (CHN), Comcast’s regional cable network covering Northern and Central California, continues its commitment to quality original programming with Ten Percent, a weekly interview series that focuses on lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender (LGBT) issues. The half-hour show, created and hosted by long-time San Francisco media professional David Perry, airs on Channel 104, Mondays – Thursdays at 11:30am & 8pm and is available to all Comcast digital cable customers throughout Northern and Central California. Each episode will then be available online at www.comcasthometown.com as well as on Comcast’s popular ON DEMAND platform, which is free to Comcast digital customers. To view Ten Percent ON DEMAND, Comcast Digital Cable customers can tune to Channel 1 on their Digital Cable lineup or press the ON DEMAND button on their remote control, then click on the “Get Local” section, then click on “Comcast Hometown.”

“I jokingly call the show ‘Charlie Rose for the LGBT world,” said David Perry, Producer/Host of Ten Percent. “We may be only ten percent of the general population, in round numbers, but our issues are one hundred percent front-and-center in today’s world. Whether it’s the fight for marriage equality or debates about gay clergy or the right to serve openly in uniform, our issues are reflective of the world at large.”

“David has a well-known and unique voice that bridges many communities,” said Jason Holmes, Executive Producer at Comcast Hometown Network. “David’s talents and the launch of Ten Percent further enhance Comcast’s commitment to our communities and Comcast Hometown Network’s compelling, community-based regional programming,”

Blind Bay Area Architect Christopher Downey Designed Cutting Edge Facility

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Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco

Blind Bay Area Architect Christopher Downey Designed Cutting Edge Facility

Saturday, July 26 Grand Opening of SF’s New Independent Living Resource Center Marks Anniversary of the Signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act

www.ilrcsf.org

Media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc / (415) 693-0583 / news@davidperry.com

21 July 2014 – San Francisco, CA: It’s the blind leading the blind. When the Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco (www.ilrcsf.org ) opens its new state-of-the-art facility this Saturday, July 26 – the 24th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act – this often negative cliché will become a high compliment, especially to the facility’s architect, Christopher Downey of the Bay Area: one of the world’s very-few, working, blind architects.

“Both the visually impaired and the sighted rely on information and architectural cues to navigate the built environment,” says Downey, who lost his sight in 2008 following surgery to remove a tumor that was pressing on his optic nerve. “I draw upon my experience as an architect to help design teams and client organizations to create enriching environments for the visually impaired and, not coincidentally, the sighted as well.”

Downey, 51, starts each day rowing with the East Bay Rowing Club on the Oakland Estuary before commuting on public transit to his office in San Francisco. He has been featured in local, national and international media stories and speaks regularly about architecture and visual impairment including his inspirational TED Talks. He also teaches accessibility and universal design at UC Berkeley and serves on the Board of Directors for the Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco. Downey consults on design for the blind and visually impaired, encompassing specialized centers as well as facilities serving the broader public. His work ranges from a new Department of Veterans Affairs blind rehabilitation center, to renovations of housing for the blind in New York City, and to the new Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco.

“With over 98,000 people with disabilities in the City of San Francisco, we know that our goal of expanding access for all was ambitious, especially given the current real estate climate, but that didn’t stop us, and Chris was integral to helping us realize our dream,” says Jessie Lorenz, Executive Director of the Independent Living Resource Center, noting that fully 25% of their clients are current conflict vets with disabilities. “We exist to ensure that people with disabilities are full social and economic partners, both within their families and in a fully accessible community. What a perfect way to mark almost a quarter century of the ADA and the lives this law has improved.”

According to Lorenz, the Independent Living Resource Center’s new facility at 825 Howard Street is “truly a community center.” It is a purpose-built, ground floor, fully accessible location in the heart of San Francisco’s South of Market district. An integral part of its neighborhood, the new center is a welcoming place with street appeal where people with disabilities feel comfortable dropping in, participating in workshops, and seeking support and information as they establish or maintain their independence.

“Our new home was designed and built to anticipate disability as the rule, not the exception,” Lorenz emphasizes. “It has an open floor plan guided by a forward-thinking green design that is made expressly for enhancing community for people of all abilities. We endeavored to create space to allow for dynamic interaction and group presentations. The lobby will be for waiting, greeting, and exhibiting veteran and community artwork. The built environment will showcase the best principles of accessible design, responding to the growing needs of a technologically savvy disabled community.”

Additionally, Schindler Elevator Corporation, a pioneer in building mobility, has partnered with the Independent Living Resource Center to pilot the next generation of features for PORT Technology, an innovative destination-dispatching system that revolutionized the way people move through buildings.

Founded in 1977, the Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco exists to ensure that people with disabilities are full social and economic partners, both within their families and in a fully accessible community. ILRCSF core values are: Choice: the right of individuals and families to make informed decisions about their own lives. Persons with disabilities are experts on their own needs. Consumer leadership creates an accessible community. Full access to and inclusion in the community for all people with disabilities means the same range of choices as the general community. Universal usability means that services, housing and consumer products are designed to be used by all members of the community.

“Establishing a more accessible and visible office will position us as a model community-based center for independent living in an urban area,” Lorenz sums up. “We hope to move from a model of solely offering support and services to individuals with disabilities, to becoming an incubator and community center where the Independent Living Movement can build the next generation of leaders who will be empowered and engaged citizens who are fully integrated in their communities.”