3rd anniversary of coastside mass shooting 

“It’s the not forgetting,” Dr. Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, executive director of Ayudando Latinos A Soñar, said. “To continue to keep the farmworkers’ mission and their lives front and center in conversation, in places we are present and advocating.” 

In the aftermath of the shooting, ALAS, a Latino cultural arts and programming organization, provided many essential services to displaced families, survivors and other affected individuals alongside other coastside basic needs providers. 

ALAS is hosting a private, invitation-only memorial Jan. 23 to honor the lives of those lost.

“This time marks a really painful event, but it’s also a moment to come together, to continue to grieve the loved ones that were lost. That pain will never go away,” Hernandez-Arriaga said. 

In the three years since the shooting occurred, the county has pursued a variety of different avenues to improve farmworker housing, living and working conditions on the coastside, Ray Mueller, who represents the coast on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, said. 

That includes a new countywide Office of Labor Standards — where employees can report violations — as well as a Farmworker Housing Compliance Task Force that investigated all farms and ranches housing employees. The result of that investigation found substandard living conditions in 33% of housing units. 

“We were able to, in some circumstances, remove people from poor housing. In other circumstances, we were able to identify what needed to be fixed,” Mueller said. 

Working around federal government policy remains a challenge, Mueller said.

Anti-immigrant policy under the Trump administration is causing fear and anxiety in communities across the country. 

“One of the challenges, frankly, is the positioning of federal government policy right now, which has some farmworking families living in fear,” Mueller said. “It makes it harder in that circumstance to find out when someone is being taken advantage of, if they’re afraid if they say anything, they could face federal punitive action.” 

The county has also worked to develop and open new farmworker housing since the shooting. One new development, however, designed to house senior farmworkers at 555 Kelly Ave. in Half Moon Bay, has faced some community pushback and is still in the planning process. 

While change takes time and many political leaders have expressed support for the farmworker community, Hernandez-Arriaga said it’s still hard for her to believe that anyone would not support housing for senior farmworkers. 

“It’s hard to understand how we cannot support housing for farmworkers who are seniors and have given their lives for us,” she said. “When you know them up close like we do, we know their names, we break bread with them, we see them working in the fields. We see their heart.” 

The court case for Chunli Zhao, the 68-year-old farmworker who allegedly shot seven farmworkers and injured one in two separate mushroom farms Jan. 23, 2023, is continuing, with the district attorney stating this summer he would seek the death penalty. Zhao has pleaded not guilty.

Ultimately, the work to improve the lives and housing conditions of farmworkers is an ongoing project, Mueller said. 

“There’s been some successes, and there’s been some challenges, and there’s work ongoing,” he said.