Poll: Only Half In US Want Shots As Vaccine Nears

Speaker 1: 00:00 Could the magic number, be 75% of the population vaccinated. Speaker 2: 00:05 By the time we get to the middle to end of the summer, we will have that veil of protection. Speaker 1: 00:12 I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade Hyman. This is KPBS midday edition. Kevin Faulkner looks back at his years as San Diego mayor and forward to his future in politics. Speaker 3: 00:32 I think as we look to the future of California, I think it's important to have a competition of ideas. I think it's important to not just have one party rule Speaker 1: 00:45 And our port of entry podcast features the first in a series of border voices. That's ahead. On mid day edition Speaker 1: 01:02 And FDA advisory panel, we'll evaluate the Pfizer COVID vaccine tomorrow. They are expected to recommend emergency authorization of the vaccine. Many researchers believe the first vaccinations could begin in the U S as early as next week. As we stand at the brink of a huge national vaccination program, talk has turned to the subject of herd immunity. How many people need to get vaccinated before we reach an immunity threshold? President Trump is touting unsubstantiated numbers indicating he thinks herd immunity is around the corner. Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fowchee, director of the national Institute of allergy and infectious diseases spoke about herd immunity earlier this week. Speaker 2: 01:47 If we get a good uptake of vaccine and we convince the people who are reluctant to get vaccinated, and we vaccinate 75% of the population, then I believe that by the time we get to the middle to end of the summer, we will have that veil of protection that we will be able to, uh, to approach a strong degree of normality. Speaker 1: 02:18 Joining me is Dr. Francesca [inaudible] and infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego health. Dr. Taurine, welcome. Thank you for inviting me. I'm delighted to be here now, as I understand it, herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. And as a result, the whole community becomes protected. My question doctor is how do scientists determine that percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity? So there's herd immunity can be reached two ways, Speaker 4: 03:00 One, uh, due to immunity to having experienced the disease and, and our cells is producing, uh, sufficient immunity. And then the second way is through vaccination, uh, with COVID, uh, the first, uh, natural immunity is not thought to be playing a big role and therefore we have to rely primarily on vaccine administration. And so that is why Dr. Fowchee was, uh, speaking about 70 to 75% of the population, uh, getting vaccinated. Uh, and therefore then, uh, getting, uh, herd immunity acquired by the vaccine. Speaker 1: 03:50 You determined that 75% Speaker 4: 03:53 It's determined on, uh, the immunogenicity, uh, that is provided by the, the vaccine and on other factors that give us an idea of how the disease is in the community and how it spreads Speaker 1: 04:11 Well, each year, many people get vaccinated against the flu. Does herd immunity ever develop against that virus? Speaker 4: 04:19 Well, so herd immunity also for it to last, right? Uh, you also have to have a, a certain amount of disease that is circulating in the population, and then you have to have, uh, the virus not necessarily mutating too fast, right? And, and that is why in, in influenza for once we have many strains, different strains that are circulating, and these strains also mutate, uh, and therefore it's really difficult to develop herd immunity during, you know, a year or even more. Speaker 1: 05:09 Now, Sweden tried to see if natural herd immunity would develop if enough people were exposed to COVID. And that was also a strategy embraced by Dr. Scott Atlas, formerly of the Trump Corona virus task force. Sweden now admits that was the wrong approach. Why was it the wrong approach? Speaker 4: 05:30 Because this infection, this pandemic is killing people and therefore, uh, you are taking risks of getting a lot of people sick and, and die from the complications of having a lot of people who are sick, needing hospitalization and overwhelming the health system. And so that system was not a idea. And, uh, that unfortunately the Swedish population had to experience that. Speaker 1: 06:05 Now president Donald Trump has been making claims without evidence about the level of immunity to the Corona virus that exists as a result of the number of people who have already had the virus and recovered in the us. You must have heard some of the things that the president has said, what is your reaction to them? Speaker 4: 06:23 I would say, let's look at the science and keep politics out and have the experts, uh, provide the scientific rationale and what the data is. Let's look at the data. That's what I would say. Yes. Speaker 1: 06:38 Now we've seen poll after poll saying that there are a significant number of people who are not intending to get vaccinated in the U S if say only 60% of the population gets the vaccine and 40% do not. How does that impact overall protection from the virus? Speaker 4: 06:58 It will impact, and it will also impact how long our Phi is. Our public health measures have to continue, right? So if we want to get back to easier and better lives and not as miserable as they have been in the past year, we need to vaccinate as a community. And if a community vaccinates, that community will be protected and people who can get vaccinated for whatever reason will be protected, right, or who could get vaccinated, but don't get a good response, will be pro protected by this book, by this vaccinated population. And so that's what we have to strive. And we have to strive to really be very transparent on, uh, how the vaccine is, uh, is working and, and the different vaccines, what the side effects are and, and showing our leaders, uh, take the vaccination and show the examples in their communities. Speaker 1: 08:10 I have been speaking with Dr. Francesca [inaudible] and infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego health, as always Dr. [inaudible] thank you so much. Speaker 4: 08:19 You're very welcome. And it was a pleasure. Thank you. Speaker 5: 08:33 Cases of COVID-19 are going up around California with people of color bearing a burden of deaths, a close look at state data show. The disease is most prevalent among Pacific Islanders and native Hawaiians. CAPP radio is Pauline. Barcelona has more about how that community in Sacramento is trying to bring infections down. When Katherine man first came down with COVID in June, she felt like she just needed a little rest and water. She had a small cough, but breathing was hard. The doctor, the urchin kid took one look and he said, Oh my goodness, do you need the, um, oxygen? I says, yes, I need oxygen. I'm here to give him an inhaler because, uh, I think I have bronchitis. And he said, I would like to send you to the hospital, man, tested positive and spent a couple of days in the hospital. She grew up on the Island nation of Tonga, a short plane ride from New Zealand, and now runs an organization that serves specific Islanders. Speaker 5: 09:38 She says recently her community members have been falling ill to COVID and some of them are dying. Families don't want to even talk about it. They don't want to even say that they have it, and they take care of their own because they heard that people go to the hospital. They die, you know, they, they there's no medicine. Pacific Islanders are a small population in Sacramento County, roughly 20,000 people, but local and state data indicate the rate of COVID among them is higher than in whites, Latinos, blacks, and Asians. Dr. Ronald Samoa leads a national COVID task force for Pacific Islanders and says, many of them are vulnerable because they're essential workers, Speaker 6: 10:20 Just like other communities of color. Uh, there's a significant percentage that live in multi-generational homes. And there's a lot of sort of crowding and not as stringent worker protections in the industries that are overrepresented by Pacific Island. Speaker 5: 10:36 And Dr. Simoa says recently, people have gotten sick by going to funerals for people who had COVID. He says the pandemic is tough for Pacific Islanders who have strong community ties, but they're working with families to keep culture strong and stay safe Speaker 6: 10:54 Way is when there's adversity, um, that we show up for each other. That's the underlying value that we should hold true to. And that showing up for each other, it looks different today that it looks like wearing a mask. Like it looks like reducing our physical contact Speaker 5: 11:12 In Sacramento. Pacific Islanders are finding new ways to do that for each other. Speaker 4: 11:17 Thank you both for joining us. And thank you for your detail. Speaker 5: 11:20 Lisa had Foca Hoffa man's daughter runs an online program to educate people from oceanic nations, like Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. They make it fun by using online quizzes, youth members of their organization take the lead. Speaker 4: 11:36 Okay. This one is most people who test positive for COVID-19 are only severely ill and that's true or false, false, false. The people that we're reaching out to, we have a personal connection with we're all on the same level. Speaker 5: 11:54 Some of us are language speaking. And so meet people's understanding through language. It would probably mean more to them because it comes from someone like us. That's our presentation. So that's that part of your application done? Oh, Furman was back to work just a few weeks after testing positive for COVID. She's also educating Pacific Islanders about the disease. We want to empower them saying, learn for yourself so you can save others, not just yourself, but you can save others. The city of Sacramento funds the work using federal stimulus dollars. Organizers hope the COVID education will continue even when and if the vaccine becomes available. Yes, that's correct. I'm Pauline Bordelone in Sacramento. Speaker 7: 12:50 [inaudible] Speaker 5: 12:54 I'm Jade. Hindman with Maureen Cavenaugh. You're listening to KPBS midday edition. Today is San Diego mayor. Kevin Faulkner's last day in office KPBS. Metro reporter, Andrew Bowen looks back at Faulkner's nearly seven years as mayor and what he accomplished Speaker 7: 13:11 It's time for us as a community to come together, to decide the future of the chargers in San Diego, Speaker 8: 13:19 Kevin Faulkner in his first state of the city address in January, 2015, keeping the city's football team by building them a new stadium was a top priority. Faulkner created a stadium task force and spent more than $2 million on an environmental impact report to clear the stadium for construction. Speaker 7: 13:36 And so I want to thank the Spaniels family, the entire chargers organization and the fans, your continued commitment to San Diego, working together. We can get this done. Speaker 8: 13:47 They didn't get it done. Charges officials repeatedly rejected the city's suggestions in 2016, the team placed a tax measure on the ballot to fund a new stadium downtown and Faulkner endorsed it. But voters rejected it overwhelmingly. I was one of those folks that never thought they were going to stay. Gil Cabrera is an attorney who chaired the city's ethics commission and the board of the convention center corporation. He says the time and money Faulkner spent on the stadium issue was a waste, give them, Speaker 7: 14:15 Or they're going to get from us and then, you know, give them a deadline to then move on. But we dragged it out for them. Speaker 8: 14:21 Carrera is among those who see Faulkner's tenure as marked by big plans that failed to pan out another example, the convention center expansion. Speaker 7: 14:29 It's time to settle this once and for all and get the convention center expanded. Speaker 8: 14:35 That was from Faulkner's 2016 state of the city address. The convention center expansion was always a top priority for him, but time after time, his efforts to get it done came up short Cabrera says he doesn't lay all the blame on Faulkner, but I think there was a lot of delays that that probably Speaker 9: 14:52 Weren't necessary. I mean, I, uh, you know, there was, we went through, I think two or three state of the city addresses where we talked about we were going to do something and then nothing happened that year. Speaker 8: 15:00 One achievement Faulkner touts most frequently is the city's 2015 climate action plan, which requires the city to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2035. Nicole Cafritz leads the nonprofit climate action campaign and was one of the plan's main architects. Speaker 10: 15:17 He enjoyed the accolades that came with passing the climate plan, but I don't think his heart was ever in the implementation of that Speaker 8: 15:26 Capra. It says Faulkner was too slow in starting the transition to 100% renewable energy. And she says he hasn't been the biggest champion for reducing the city's dependence on cars Speaker 10: 15:37 Is mostly a go along, get along kind of guy. And if he can sidestep more challenging conversations, uh, then he's likely to do that. Um, now to his credit, when we sort of built the community and political will to take on some of the harder conversations around transit and around community choice, energy, he eventually did, but it's not his defense. Speaker 8: 16:02 Others give Faulkner more credit for his own coalition building. In his last few years as mayor housing affordability took center stage, Mary Leiden is a land use consultant who led the coalition group housing. You matters. She praises Faulconer for uniting business groups, builders, environmentalist's labor unions and social service providers all under a pro growth agenda. Speaker 10: 16:25 So he was the leader that did that. Um, all kinds of policy has been put into place in the last couple of years. And, uh, we'll see, um, in the next few years, um, if those strategies actually are working okay, Speaker 8: 16:42 Among those strategies, ending parking requirements for new apartment buildings, near public transit, rezoning parts of the city for higher density housing and adding new incentives for developers to include subsidized affordable homes in their projects. Leiden says none of that was Speaker 10: 16:59 San Diego has kind of a reputation for being a NIMBY city. It's beautiful here. You know, we love our communities. We don't want it messed with, but there's other things that play and housing became the issue that, um, our leaders needed to focus on. And mayor Faulkner stepped up to the plate on that Speaker 8: 17:20 I've long suspected Faulkner is considering a run for governor in 2022, as a Republican in blue, California, the odds are stacked against him and voters will look to his record as mayor for evidence. He has what it takes to lead the state KPBS, Metro reporter, Andrew Bo, and had a chance to interview Kevin Faulkner one last time, a San Diego Speaker 10: 17:41 Mayor, and talk about what may be his future plans in politics. Speaker 8: 17:46 Mayor Kevin Faulkner. Thank you so much for speaking with us. Oh, to join you. Thank you. Speaker 11: 17:50 So let's dive right into one of the biggest issues that you dealt with in your first few years in office. And that's the chargers. You tried very hard to keep them. You put together a task force to come up with a plan. You funded an environmental impact report on the new stadium. You endorsed their 2016 ballot measure to fund a new downtown stadium, which the voters ultimately didn't agree to. There were people saying at that time that this team does not want to stay in San Diego. They're not acting in good faith with the city and that this was all just a waste of time and money in hindsight. Do you agree at all with that criticism? Speaker 3: 18:27 Well, look, I think there was so much back and forth, literally over more than 10 years in San Diego, they culminated in a ballot measure. Um, and then the team obviously made their decision. Um, I think when I look at what's going on right now in San Diego, in terms of our sporting community and the highlights from, you know, if you take a look at Padres, uh, what they've done and continue to do the new infrastructure that's coming forward in San Diego that I think is going to be incredibly positive and particularly the, uh, new stadium for San Diego state, the mission Valley redevelopment, including the river park and the, and the opportunity to finally have a new sports arena. And the voters have supported that the measure E and the height limit. And so as I look at the future of infrastructure and particularly how it relates to our sporting community, both collegiate, uh, and professional, uh, I think it's a bright future ahead for San Diego Speaker 11: 19:31 Housing affordability has been really one of the main focuses in your, uh, in your recent years in office, you've won, reproval often unanimous approval for a number of reforms to stimulate more home building things like updating our zoning laws, lowering parking requirements. Was there something that changed to make this issue so very central to your agenda? Speaker 3: 19:52 It had to happen. And I think that, and the tone I really tried to set was I wanted a bias towards action and not just doing things the same way, because if we did, we were not going to change the dynamic to actually get new units constructed that San Diego ones can afford. Um, and that's why we worked so hard on updating all of our community plans, uh, more than we've ever done in the history of San Diego. And particularly with a focus the last two years on complete communities, and to see that strong support at the council, uh, which gave us our ability to really get these units, you know, constructed, remove regulatory barriers, allow for additional infrastructure. And I think most importantly allows for buy right development. Um, it's all really, uh, a culmination of the work that we've done over the last several years with one goal, we to increase housing supply, cut the red tape, lower costs, uh, where they put particular emphasis on housing, that's affordable for San Diego. Speaker 11: 20:58 The hepatitis a outbreak, I imagine was a really tough time to be mayor of San Diego. People were getting sick and dying. Many of them were homeless and it really put the city's homelessness crisis in, uh, under the microscope. What did you learn from that experience? Speaker 3: 21:14 There, there were, there were a lot of lessons, hard lessons learned from hepatitis a and that, you know, struck county-wide, but hit us particularly hard in the urban portion of, of San Diego. Um, and it really, from my perspective was, was a, it was very a stark reminder that the status quo was not working. And so when I look at some of the significant changes, uh, that have come out of that first and foremost, it's stronger relationship with the County on tackling region, regional emergencies, but really a, a, you know, a new effort and energy that said allowing tents on the sidewalk is unacceptable. And that was the Genesis for the creation of our bridge shelter network. We had the ability to have how's every night up to a thousand individuals, our storage centers, uh, and really the safe neighborhood, the safe parking lots we've done, uh, our lab, our landlord, you know, family reunification. Speaker 3: 22:18 It's, it's really been an all hands on deck effort. And I will tell you, as I look at, particularly over the last year with a lot of the changes in the reforms that we've made that have really come to fruition with our operation shelter, to home at the convention center, where since March, uh, we have put 800 folks into a place of their health, uh, with a another 300 that are in progress with a resource that they can get into. We are doing things differently in San Diego. It shows we have a lot of work to do, but I think the fact that we are the only urban County in California, where homelessness has actually decreased over the last two years, speaks volumes of the concerted effort that we have taken in our region with one goal. How do we get people off the street, not just for a night or a week Speaker 11: 23:17 Publicly, you're considering running for governor in 2022. Of course, you know, there are currently no Republicans in statewide office and the party in much of the state seems to have really suffered under the brand of Donald Trump. What is the message that you think can unite the Republican party and also win over enough Democrats and independents to win the state? Speaker 3: 23:39 Well, I am giving it serious consideration, uh, and I've really tried to set. The tone is mayor. It's not about, you know, Republican or Democrat. It's, what's the right thing that we should be doing. Um, that's how I've, I've set my governing style. Uh, and I've, since I've been mayor, obviously I've had a majority of city council of Democrats, but when you treat people, I think with dignity and respect, even if you disagree with them and you focus on the issues that matter to San Diego wins, you can achieve real results. And I think we've been able to do that in, in San Diego. And I think it's, you know, we look to the future of California. I think it's important to have a competition of ideas. I think it's important to, uh, not just have a one party rule. And so those are all the factors that I think are important for California. Uh, moving forward again, with that emphasis on let's get new ideas, let's try things differently. Let's have that back and forth. I think that may as make our city stronger. And I think it can make California strong Speaker 11: 24:44 In 2016. You said that you could never vote for Donald Trump for president, but you also recently told the columnist for the LA times that you did in fact vote for him this year. After seeing him in the white house for four years, what did he do to win you over? Speaker 3: 25:00 I've worked with, uh, Republican presidents, obviously, and Democrat presidents since I've had the privilege to Maine as mayor. And I will tell you my support for his reelection was absolutely based on I bled that was the best for our economic recovery, uh, because I've seen firsthand, particularly what we've been through with, with COVID-19 that our small businesses need help need support. Uh, and that recognition of really focusing on economic recovery I think is, is, is Panama. Uh, and it's, you cannot have a successful economy if you do not have an active thriving. Trump Speaker 11: 25:39 Still has another six weeks in office. And yet he seems to have shown little to no interest in engaging with Congress over another stimulus bill. And I, of course, as you noted individuals, businesses, cities, and, and budgets of cities are really suffering right now, economically. Um, but he still seems focused on trying to overturn the election results. Explain to me why you think at this moment, uh, Trump would have been better for the economy than Biden. Speaker 3: 26:07 Look, I, you know, people have made their choice. Um, and I think at this point as we move forward, uh, it's incredibly important to focus on what you just mentioned, which is an economic stimulus package and a recovery. Uh, I think it's important that Republicans and Democrats come together, uh, in the Congress and the Senate to provide that help and support and relief that people need. We've been actively advocating for that. And I will continue to advocate for that particularly my last several days, uh, here as mayor, because you need that support. Uh, absolutely because of the economic shutdowns, we to give our small businesses that help and support that as not a partisan issue, uh, that is an issue that we must come together as a country and as elected officials to give that support. So I'm actually optimistic that that will happen. I'm going to keep working to keep the pressure on to make that happen because it's the right thing to do. Being mayor is Speaker 1: 27:04 A really big time-consuming job. Speaker 12: 27:06 Are there things that you're looking forward to after leaving? Speaker 3: 27:10 Um, yes. It's always, uh, to spend just a little bit more time, uh, with the family will be something that I'm looking forward to the most. Um, but I will tell you it's been a, it's been a real honor. It's been a real privilege to, to serve in this capacity. Um, and, and one that I will always, uh, always look back on fondly, uh, because of what we've been able to do and the way in which we've been able to do it. And that's, uh, that's what I will look back with pride. Well, mayor Faulkner, Speaker 1: 27:42 We really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for speaking with us. Thank you very much. Speaker 1: 27:56 Lots of people complain about government, but don't really do anything to change things. Perhaps you've griped about potholes or a new development in your neighborhood. Even talked with the neighbors about the problem. Maybe even made a phone call to a legislator, but nothing changes. It could be nothing changes because you don't know how local government works a new book by two former incinerators city officials explains what you need to know to make change. The book is called potholes parks and politics, a guide to getting things done locally without having to run for office yourself. It's by educator and former Encinitas city council member, Dr. Lisa Schaefer and Lisa, welcome to the program. Speaker 12: 28:41 Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here Speaker 1: 28:43 And also collaborating on this book. Former Encinitas mayor to RESA Barth, Theresa. Welcome. Thank you. Now, Lisa, when did it start occurring to you that many of your constituents didn't know the first thing about how to complain or a lobby for change effectively? Speaker 12: 28:59 Well, it actually started before I was elected to city council when I was frustrated, trying to get things done. And then after I was in office, I realized how little I knew about how the system worked and how much more effective I could have been if I had known more. And so I started paying attention to who the city council listened to, uh, while we were in office and which speakers were effective in, which were not. Then after my term was over, I started writing about what I had learned from the experience. And that's was the Genesis of the book Speaker 1: 29:33 You were on the Encinitas city council. Were there any specific instances where you saw that there was a need for people to be guided through the, Oh, there Speaker 12: 29:42 Were lots. One of the biggest issues was housing, affordable housing and what the state rules were, what discretion the city had. We had people asking the city to take actions that were not within our purview, that, that were state or federal mandates. And so it was frustrating because they were frustrated that we weren't doing what they asked, but we didn't actually have the authority to do what Speaker 1: 30:04 Lisa, one of the first pieces of advice in the book is for people to define the problem that they have, that would seem very easy. But what do you mean by that? Speaker 12: 30:14 Well, the example that I use, one of the examples is that somebody wants to get across the street safely to get to the park. And they think that putting a stop sign on the corner is the obvious solution. If the cars had to stop, then they could get across the street. But in reality, a stop sign might not be the answer. It's really what their problem is, is being able to get safely to the park. And it might be that walking an extra block or two to an existing traffic control place might be a better, a better solution or having a pedestrian crosswalk that could be activated when there's somebody ready to cross, but not making every car that goes through that intersection stop. Even when there are no pedestrians. Speaker 1: 30:55 So some problems are more complex than they might seem. At first later, Speaker 12: 30:59 I would say almost every problem is more complex than it seems at first. Speaker 1: 31:05 Theresa, let me ask you one of the first things a very motivated citizens often do is start a petition to present to legislators. Is that a good idea? Speaker 13: 31:15 It is. If they understand again, the body in which they're supposed to present that to when we were on council, we had people, uh, with a petition about a school issue. Well, we had no authority over the school, so we couldn't help them. Also petitions need to be focused on the municipality. So if we had a petition that was signed by people all over San Diego County on an instant need, a specific problem that rather dilute it, that, you know, you can get lots of people to sign a petition. If you put it up on social media and that sort of thing. And if the majority of the signers didn't even live in the community, then I discounted that petition to a large degree. Speaker 1: 32:01 So Lisa, it seems that there is a very informative part of your potholes parks and politics book that is specifically about what you and Theresa have been talking about. It's called identify the players, know the rules. It's almost like a full-on civics lesson, isn't it? Speaker 12: 32:20 Yes. In fact, one of the issues that we encountered is that most people are not well-educated about local government. And for the most part, there's no reason they need to be because the city works pretty well and the streets are paved and the ambulance shows up when you call them. But when an issue arises, you don't really know where to start and people can spin their wheels a lot and get very frustrated because they don't understand who to talk to. So if you don't know those things, then it's unlikely. You're going to be successful, trying to advocate for change. Speaker 1: 32:52 Lisa, you advise people after they get that kind of knowledge and have what they need to know about the problem they have with local government, they have to build their case. How do they go about doing that? Speaker 12: 33:05 The first thing is to get educated and to learn why does the problem exist and who has a stake in it? So if there were people advocating strongly to enact a policy that you're unhappy with, you need to understand who those people are and why they did that, so that you can develop a strategy for creating change. And so you need to know who would benefit from the change you're looking for, who might oppose it. How can you find a win-win situation? Then once you understand that you can talk to neighbors, you can use social media, um, and you can see who has an interest and educate them about the things that you are trying to advocate for. Speaker 1: 33:46 Teresa. Does it seem to you that sometimes people would just rather yell at politicians rather than actually get something changed? Speaker 13: 33:54 Oh, uh, unfortunately, yes. I think most of us, um, the expression is we have to vent every now and then. And I, I think a lot of that frustration is what brings people to, uh, to a council meeting, to stand there at the, at the podium. And they don't really want to do the work as Lisa referred about finding out who you need to contact and what you need to do. They don't really want to do the work. They just want you to know that they're not happy and that you should do all of the work to make it work for them. So, um, I think that's part of our culture in our society, that instant gratification, um, because it's a lot of work to accomplish change in the civic environment, in the, in the city and, and state environment. Speaker 1: 34:45 Is there an example you can point to, of citizens who have done their homework and may change perhaps in Encinitas or, or beyond? Speaker 12: 34:54 Yes, absolutely. And that was part of what my motivation was in writing this. We had a young mother who came to council, concerned about pesticides in the parks, and she had some health issues and she wanted to make sure that when she took her kids out, they weren't breathing toxic chemicals and she did her homework and she came very politely, very respectfully and knowledgeably. She worked with others to come up with a pilot project. And so it was a graduated way to get a new policy, to allay the fears that people had, that it would cost too much, or it wouldn't work. Speaker 1: 35:29 We end with a success story. And we've been speaking about the book, potholes, parks and politics, a guide to getting things done without having to run for office yourself. And I've been speaking with former Encinitas city council member, Dr. Lisa Schaefer and former Encinitas mayor to RESA Barth. Thank you both very much. Our pleasure. Thank you. Speaker 10: 35:51 Thank you. Speaker 1: 36:04 This is KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade Heinemann Paulina Olvera Kunis is the director and one of the founders of espacio, immigranty a migrant shelter and nonprofit in Tijuana. She's also currently working on getting her master's degree in Latin American studies at UC San Diego in a new episode of KPBS, his border podcast, port of entry host Alan Lillian Thall talks to Paulina about how and why the migrant rights activist is now helping bring the black lives matter movement to Tijuana. Speaker 14: 36:39 Back in June activists in Tijuana and Mexico city reached out to Paulina and asked her if she wanted to help get the black lives matter movement going into Quanta and Polina didn't blink. Even with grad school, being a mom to a young son and running a full-time shelter. She said yes to taking on the extra load of organizing a protest in part, because of a recent event at the shelter that shook Paulina to her, Speaker 10: 37:07 The police was chasing after a vehicle and they decided to open fire in front of the shelter. So there was a bullet that entered our office right next to our office is a clinic. And there was some mom with her children from the shelter there. And then upstairs in the second floor was everybody from the shelter. So we have surveillance video cameras and we saw, and it was just really, really sad to see the video because they, when they heard the gunshots, they automatically grabbed their kids, threw themselves on the floor. So we weren't there in person, luckily, but it was just really hard to see that Speaker 14: 37:46 If the police had been in front of a school or a fancy hotel, or basically any other type of business, aside from a shelter for migrants, Paulina says she doesn't think the police would have been so quick to open fire. The shooting also came in the wake of the death of a black migrant in police custody in Tijuana, back in January, Paulina felt like it was time to do something. So she reached out to black migrants. Who've become leaders in the community and asked if they'd be willing to take a stand. Speaker 10: 38:26 It's been really interesting and also a challenge because in the group, there's people that speak only Spanish, only English or only French in Creole. We started having conversations with them and most of them were like very supportive black lives matter, but they were also kind of scared to go out and protest for different reasons. One was of course, that Corona virus. So that's why we tried to organize a small protest and say, uh, we're gonna make sure that we socially distancing that we don't put anybody at risk, but the second reason was also documents because, um, a lot of them don't have documents in Mexico or even if they do, they can easily get stopped. And then turn over to [inaudible] Speaker 14: 39:10 In NAMI, by the way is basically the ice of Mexico. They handle immigration enforcement and deportation. Speaker 10: 39:17 So there was a lot of interest. Um, a lot of people that like are in support of what's happening in the U S but some of them decided not to go out into the streets and protest for those reasons, Speaker 14: 39:29 But others overlook those risks and did it. They helped organize a protest. And at noon on Saturday, June 14th Paulina, and about 50 other people showed up to the city. His first ever black lives matter protest. Speaker 10: 39:45 Some of them were black leaders from Haiti, Cameroon, and Ghana, and others were people from [inaudible] and from other organizations like [inaudible] Haitian bridge Alliance [inaudible]. And, uh, we also had artists from the corner, uh, that joined the protest. And it was really cool because they helped us to do a lot of signs that were very beautiful and had them the message in Spanish, English, and also in Creole because of Haitians. So we, uh, we focus on the testimonies and then after that we started chanting and we had a speaker and we started putting music and dancing. I think that's something that I really liked too, about some of the events and things that we have done. We have a phrase that we like, which is [inaudible], it's like resist joyfully. Speaker 10: 40:55 The intention was that too visible, lies it. And to try to continue building that connection between immigrants rights and racial justice movement. We were also of course, inspired by black lives matter in San Diego. And, um, one of the organizers from black lives matter in San Diego is a board member and [inaudible] her name is Christina Griffin. And ever since she joined our board, she has been trying to make that connection and say, immigration is also a black issue. So she's been really great at doing that. And we were just kind of inspired by what they are doing in San Diego too, Speaker 14: 41:38 In October Paulina. And others helped organize another protest at the border, actually on both sides of the border fence, in both Tiquana and San Diego. Speaker 10: 41:48 So we're asking you to stop Speaker 14: 41:57 The protesters called in the us federal government to reopen the asylum system, which grinded to a near halt back in March, when the pandemic hit leaving lots of very vulnerable people stuck in the Juana and depending on Paulina's shelter and other migrant shelters for their survival. Speaker 10: 42:16 The reality is that thousands of black migrants that are in Tijuana are actually trying to be asylum seekers in the U S like they're trying to seek asylum in the U S but the Trump administration has been creating all these policies that have made the asylum system not work at all. And especially right now, because, uh, since March the U S Mexico border has been partially shut down for non-essential travels, and that includes asylum seekers. So the us didn't even consider asylum to be an essential matter. Speaker 1: 43:03 And that was Paulina Allavara ness director of the espacio Migrante shelter in Tijuana talking with port of entry, host Alan Lillian Thall, to hear the full episode look for port of entry, wherever you listen to podcasts, Paulina story, by the way, kicks off a new series for a port of entry. It's called border voices. And the series features shorter episodes, spotlighting people who identify as transporter, frontal RESO, or simply have an interesting relationship with the U S Mexico border. If you have a border story you'd like to share call (619) 452-0228 and leave a voicemail, tell port of entry who you are, where you live and more about your connection with the U S Mexico border.