Judge Says Strip Club Ruling Also Protects Restaurants

Speaker 1: 00:00 A ruling to open strip clubs and mid public health shutdowns. And what that means for other business, Speaker 2: 00:06 The order appears to apply not only to the strip clubs, but also to restaurants. Generally, Speaker 1: 00:12 I'm Jade Heintzman with Maureen Kavanaugh. This is KPBS midday. Speaker 3: 00:24 Is there any Speaker 1: 00:25 Ethical reason for not getting a COVID vaccine? Speaker 3: 00:28 There are probably many reasons why people would not want it to get the vaccine. Most of them, um, don't balance well with the fears we have now, Speaker 1: 00:38 And food banks are seeing a sharp increase in need what people were doing to survive food insecurity, plus details on a drive and screening of all is calm. That's ahead. On midday edition. Speaker 1: 01:01 Right now, San Diego County emergency departments are requiring complete ambulance diversion due to the pandemic. That means ambulances are being rerouted and in some cases turned away because emergency rooms are overwhelmed with patients. Recent shutdown orders across the state were put in place in hopes of easing the strain on medical systems, despite that San Diego superior court judge Joe Wolfville ruled yesterday that two strip clubs, Pacers and cheetahs could remain open, which could actually reopen the doors of local restaurants to hear to talk about that ruling is Dan Eaton. He's an attorney with the law firm seltzer Caplin McMahon Invitech. Dan. Welcome. Speaker 2: 01:41 Thank you. Good to be with you. Speaker 1: 01:43 So, Dan, what does judge Wolfelt's ruling say? And what exactly does it mean? Speaker 2: 01:48 What it specifically says with respect to the strip clubs that brought this lawsuit is that the state's orders are too restrictive because they have a first amendment, right. With respect to, uh, live entertainment and, uh, they have to be allowed to reopen and resumed both their live entertainment and restaurant operations. Speaker 1: 02:10 I mean, let's talk about that more. What justification did the judge cite for his ruling? Speaker 2: 02:16 Well, there were a few justifications. Uh, one was that the County had not shown any kind of, uh, connection between these operations, whether live entertainment or restaurant, given the restrictions that the strip clubs had agreed to adopt and the spread of COVID. Uh, the judge also relied on the constitutional interest in live entertainment. Interestingly, judge Wolfville cited the recent Supreme court ruling in the diocese of Brooklyn case, uh, which of course dealt with, uh, churches. And in that ruling, uh, the court said the constitution is not to be put away and forgotten even during a pandemic. Speaker 1: 03:00 So does Wolfelt's ruling apply to all restaurants or just to the two strip clubs that were litigants before him? Speaker 2: 03:07 Now that's a fascinating question. And it's one that apparently the county's going to ask the judge to clarify on its face. The order appears to apply not only to the strip clubs who were the only parties to this action, but also to, uh, restaurants. Uh, generally the interesting issue there is when you read the opinion very, very closely as I have. That's the question is really whether the restaurant operations are those that are tied to strip clubs or whether it applies more broadly. And even if it applies more broadly, is it limited to other operations that are like of these strip clubs? Whether because, uh, the operations offer live entertainment or for other reasons. Speaker 1: 03:48 So the ruling seems to be a bit vague, is that problematic at all? Speaker 2: 03:53 Well, it's potentially problematic except that judges only decide cases based on the parties that are before them. And it's important to realize that the strip clubs did not bring this lawsuit on behalf of other kinds of business establishment, like restaurant in that way, it's distinguished from the cowboy star and other restaurants who are brought a lawsuit, seeking a temporary restraining order, which was hurt by a different, uh, superior court judge at which resulted in a November 23rd order by judge, uh, Ken Madell, uh, that said, no, the state's interest is strong enough. And I don't think you restaurants have a strong enough, uh, interest in the economic wellbeing of that is going to be suffered by these restrictions to overcome of the state's interest in addressing this awful pandemic through which we've all been living. Speaker 1: 04:43 What do you think this could mean for other businesses like salons who have also had to shut down during this pandemic? Speaker 2: 04:50 Well, it's not entirely clear. Even the broadest reading of the judge's ruling doesn't include other kinds of establishments like gym and salon, but you can't expect that a very least restaurants will go in, uh, to, uh, judge Wolfville potentially and say, well, me too, let me, uh, try to take advantage of this as well, but understand that general restaurants that don't have live entertainment, but don't have exactly the same bundle of interests that the strip clubs do. So there could very well be a different outcome and understand also that in the meantime, the County is not enforcing restrictions on restaurants until this is all clarified, that itself could have a dramatic impact. Speaker 1: 05:33 And so when does this go into effect and while the County can appeal, is there anything else the County could do at this point? Speaker 2: 05:40 Judge Wolfelt's order went into effect yesterday that day immediately. And that is why the County decided to suspend enforcement, uh, at least with respect to strip clubs. And then of course it also said more broadly with respect to restaurants. The order is in effect pending of this matter while trial, this matter is not going to occur for a number of months. And by then we will have emerged from this nightmare. And in that case, the case will be moved. But yep. Speaker 1: 06:08 Let me ask you this question. So basically this, this, this ruling allows even restaurants to open, right? Speaker 2: 06:15 Arguably, uh, while it was restaurants opened. Remember what I said before is that the ruling continually uses this phrase, uh, to San Diego County, uh, businesses with restaurant service, comma, such as plaintiff's establishment. That is the phrase that the judge uses repeatedly, uh, about 10 or 12 times. The question is whether that means that all restaurants or only those restaurants that come with it, the kinds of features that the, uh, plaintiff's trip clubs have. Speaker 1: 06:47 Right. And also, I'm curious to know if the restaurants, if they were able to reopen which, I mean, it sounds like no, one's going to be enforcing them anything if they are, if they are reopened, do they have to abide by a social distancing mandates, or would they have to have diners eat outside or, or is it just, are they back open as if there's no pandemic? Speaker 2: 07:09 That is incredibly important point because no one is claiming that our restaurants and even the strip clubs are not claiming that they are entitled to operate without restrictions. In fact, one of the most important parts of judge Wolf fields ruling was that after the earlier temporary restraining order, he issued, which allowed the strip clubs to reopen the strip called, uh, agreed to a broad set of restrictions, 15 feet away, no touching, all kinds of restrictions. Even the restaurants have said that we're willing to abide by the purple tier restrictions. What we don't want is this flat out a shutdown. Speaker 1: 07:46 I've been speaking with attorney Dan Eaton with the law firm, seltzer Caplan McMahon, and Vitech Dan, thank you so much. Speaker 2: 07:54 Good to be with you. Speaker 1: 07:56 And also this Justin San Diego County supervisor, Diane Jacob released a statement about this ruling moments ago. She is calling for an emergency closed session meeting of the board to quote, get clarity on the judge's order and the county's position on an appeal Speaker 4: 08:21 As the first COVID vaccinations take place across America. There are no reports of hospitals requiring their healthcare workers to get the shots at this point. The decision about whether to get vaccinated is up to individuals and the availability of the vaccine. But as we continue to see more vaccine available and more people eligible to be vaccinated, will vaccinations continue to be viewed as an individual choice is a healthy person's decision not to get vaccinated and ethically defensible choice. And on the other hand, would it be right for businesses and organizations to require people to get a COVID shot? Joining me is Michael [inaudible], founding director of the UC San Diego research ethics program and co-founder of the center for ethics in science and technology. Michael, welcome back to the show. Good to see you Moray. Now there's been a lot of joy and relief expressed this week about the first COVID vaccinations, but in the background of all that is polling that shows a substantial number of Americans say they won't get vaccinated. What do you make of that contradiction? Speaker 5: 09:31 Well, it's not surprising that there would be some people who would say no, because there are some people who say no to almost anything. Uh, what is disconcerting for many is that so high percentage of people are aware of getting the vaccine. And when I say, what do I make of it? You know, I, I can probably ask, but what do I make of it? It seems to me that there are probably many reasons why people would not want it to get the vaccine. Most of them, um, don't balance well with the fears we have now. So what I make of it as some concern about this trend, Speaker 4: 10:08 What about people who say they feel this vaccine has been developed too fast and they're wary of it? Is that an ethically defensible point for not getting the shot? Speaker 5: 10:20 It's definitely a good question. Uh, but I've had the good fortune to speak with people who are actually working on developing vaccines. And what I've, what I've heard is that, um, a really compelling argument that in the face of a dire emergency resources were made available that have never been made available so quickly. Um, the very finest minds, not just in this country, but in the world have done all. They can to develop a vaccine on an accelerated timeline. Nothing is guaranteed, but it is remarkable how strong the evidence is that what they have is safe and effective. Speaker 4: 11:02 You mentioned hospitals are not requiring their eligible staff members to get a COVID shot. So do you see this as a matter of individual choice Speaker 5: 11:13 In this country, almost everything as a matter of individual choice. Um, and I, I was thinking about this earlier today, the question is, at what point would we require people to do this? How bad would it have to be right now? Um, it's probably getting pretty close to that. Mark. Uh, we're seeing our hospitals filling up, um, emergency rooms are over capacity. We're trying to find medical staff because there aren't enough medical staff and the cases and risks of illness and death are continuing to rise. So what point would we require it? My hope is we won't have to, Speaker 4: 11:56 Well, let's say vaccinations don't become required. When does a person's hesitation about getting a vaccination become an ethical problem? Speaker 5: 12:06 Well, it's always an ethical problem. Almost every choice we make is at some level an ethical problem. Um, the ethics though that we're dealing with here vary, depending on what you decide, you're going to consider. When you say, how do I dissect this as an ethical issue, for example, um, if I say, I want to trust the available evidence that people are suffering from this disease, and it's going to get worse unless we take this vaccine, the ethical choice seems simple. You have to take the vaccine, but what if you decide that the ethical question is your fear of side effects for you or your family. Um, and you don't believe that, um, the virus is causing, um, the problems that many of us think are very real well in that case, you balance it in favor of saying caution, I need to be cautious. Speaker 5: 13:02 I'm not going to take this vaccine. I, you know, I have to say, um, my, my role as an ethicist is usually to try and ask questions rather than give answers. But in this case, I think the burden of proof for that argument lies with those who say that that's, that the virus isn't a problem. And right now we need an explanation of why are our hospitals filling up why our ICU is maxed out? Why are we losing medical staff? We don't have enough medical staff to be able to, to respond to the number of people who are ill. If it's not the virus, then what is it? Speaker 4: 13:39 You know, there's also a strong racial divide over trust in the vaccine. And that's based on the, the medical atrocities that African-Americans have been subjected to in our past. So is it more ethical for a black person to decide not to get vaccinated than it is for a white person? Speaker 5: 13:58 I would hesitate to, to judge, um, whether, um, somebody's experience as a black person means that they are more or less ethical because of a choice they'd make. Um, I should also make, make it clear. I think it's really important to remember that this is not just a matter of being black, but being Latin X, being native American, um, their life experiences of people in those groups are remarkably and undoubtedly different from the experience of someone like myself, who is white, the disparities, those groups face are very real. They're well-documented in many ways, but they're certainly documented for this virus. I mean, we, we know that members of those communities are at greater risk of becoming infected at greater risk once infected of serious disease. And then if a greater risk as well of actually dying from the disease. So these disparities mean this group is at increased risk of infection. Their increased risk of birth hospitalization increased risk of death. So it seems that those communities, arguably, should be more interested in taking advantage of a vaccine that at this point is probably going to help people in all groups, not just some, but having said all of that at one level, I understand what it must be like to be part of a community that has been, um, basically abused in the past. And we need to do better. Speaker 4: 15:33 I've been speaking with Michael [inaudible], he's founding director of the UC San Diego research ethics program co-founder of the center for ethics in science and technology. And Michael, thank you very much, Speaker 5: 15:46 Right. Thank you. It's been an interesting topic. Speaker 4: 16:04 This is KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade Heinemann. There was a recent report in the Washington post about an increase in shoplifting across the nation, but the items being stolen weren't Christmas presents or a luxury items. It was food retailers say more people are trying to steal food, staples like meat or peanut butter, even baby food, food relief organizations are in agreement that the pandemic and related unemployment are increasing the amount of food insecurity in the U S one estimate predicts 52 million Americans will be food insecure by the end of the year, that 17 million more than last year organizations like the Jacobson Cushman San Diego food bank are trying to fill that need, but it's a race to keep up with the growing number of hungry people. Johnnie Mae is James Flores, president and CEO of the, and Cushman San Diego food bank. And welcome to the program. Speaker 5: 17:03 Thanks so much for having me on, can Speaker 4: 17:05 You tell us how the need for food assistance has increased in San Diego over the past year? Speaker 5: 17:11 It's a, you know, we can't make this stuff up. I mean, we went from fee and 350,000 people a month to nearly 600,000 people. And it seemed like that happened over night by way of background. Uh, prior to the pandemic, we estimated about one in seven people in San Diego County, that's about 450,000 people were termed food insecure. I would be, it'd be safe to say that number is at least doubled. We may have a million people in San Diego County. They're not food insecure. Speaker 4: 17:40 And you must be seeing people then who've never been on a food distribution line. Speaker 5: 17:44 Absolutely. I mean, you know, we have the people that work in poor and seniors on a fixed income, Speaker 6: 17:50 Living in poverty and reacting to the military that we were serving prior to the pandemic. But now there's a whole host of people. A lot of people in the hospitality, lot of people in the service industry, so many people have been furloughed had been laid off and then it's been this rollercoaster for them because they go back, they get unemployment, then they get, they go back to work and then they get out and then they get laid off again. So then they lose their unemployment that they're reapply for unemployment. We have people have applied for unemployment, but they haven't gotten their money yet. Um, and it's just now we're seeing white collar positions being laid off. So we're seeing our numbers rise, especially with the, in this last period of time. Speaker 4: 18:25 The term food insecurity really doesn't describe the worry and the real hunger that people are experiencing. What does it mean actually, to be food insecure, Speaker 6: 18:36 Having a reliable source of food, not knowing where your next meal is coming from, uh, skipping meals, uh, parents who skipped meals, uh, so their children can eat. I mean, it's a wide variety of things, but it's basically, uh, there's two parts of that. One is not having enough food to feed your family or feed yourself, but then there's a whole other underlying dynamic that not a lot of people talk about. And it's about having nutritious food because sometimes people scamp, they can't afford to healthy food. So now they're buying, you know, the stuff they can afford, which lacks protein, fresh produce, that type of thing. So now you started talking about poor health outcomes, obesity, diabetes, and you talking about poor academic outcomes for children. So it's not just about food, but it's about nutritious food. Speaker 4: 19:16 Just remind us about what the food bank does. How do you get your food into your warehouse and how do you distribute it? Speaker 6: 19:23 Some people refer to us as the Costco of nonprofits. We do not actually prepare a meal. Is that something our nonprofit partners would do? So we are a supply chain, uh, at its very best and we're really basically giving out, uh, groceries, uh, bulk food distributions. So prior to the pandemic, our distribution model, very solid. Uh, we have 200, uh, distributions that we conduct each month. Um, that's our staff, our trucks. What have you with partners in the community nonprofits or what have you? So we do that about 200 times a month. Uh, those locations are strategically located throughout San Diego County. And then perhaps maybe the best part, one of my favorite parts of the San Diego food bank, we partnered with more than 500 nonprofit agencies. So pretty much for your listeners, if they know of a nonprofit that has a feeding program, more likely than not, they're getting the majority of their food from us. Speaker 6: 20:13 So that ranges from, you know, the big guys like salvation army and Catholic charities and Jewish family services, all the big agencies that we know are doing feeding programs down to church groups that have a food pantry helping 25 or 50 families a week and everywhere in between. Now with the pandemic, although that's a distribution model was pretty solid. We saw that we needed to augment that because, um, it was still the lines were doubling and tripling and a lot of our distribution sites and our distribution sites for our partners. So we, uh, came up with phase three of our pandemic response and that's our super pantry program, which we, uh, what that is is we took 35 of our 500 nonprofits and we kind of supersize them and we made them into high volume, high frequency distribution sites at least three days a week. And they'd walk ups and drive ups. And we're pushing through a lot, a lot of food, uh, through those 35 sites and the other 465 agencies. And the other 200, uh, distributions are still fully functioning. And what have you, but these high velocity high, uh, um, quantity sites are strategically located in the greatest areas of need. Speaker 4: 21:17 Are you accepting in-person volunteers at the food? Speaker 6: 21:20 Um, absolutely. You know, we are a part of the, or we're exempt from the executive order. So we've been on the job, uh, since day one and our volunteers are also exempt, uh, from that executive order, volunteers are integral part of our supply chain. And so we have a lot of corporate groups that usually volunteered. Um, but obviously they all canceled, but we will put up the word asking for individuals to come and they heated our call. We're actually turning volunteers away. Many of the shifts are already full. Uh, we had to do social spacing. We had to change the size of the, the shifts from 40 to 20 people, but their social space in gloves, mass, all that sort of thing. So we have volunteers here at six days a week, four nights a week, just ask people to go to San Diego food bank.org, do all the necessary, uh, registration start looking for shifts. And even if they look full, keep checking back because we get cancellations all the time. So this is San Diego way of really rallying around people in need. Speaker 4: 22:13 So if a person worried about feeding their family, we're tempted to lift some food from a store. What would you tell them the food bank could offer? Instead, Speaker 6: 22:23 They don't need to do that. That, uh, really there's plenty of food and there's a distribution near their home, near their neighbors in their neighborhood where they can get the food they need with complete client dignity. And I would tell them their call to action is San Diego food bank.org backslash get help. There's no shame in asking. And that is the other thing. We have a message we want to get out is that there's no shame in asking. And we have people that maybe are reluctant. Maybe they're embarrassed. There's no embarrassment. This is what we're here for. This is what we signed up for. There's plenty of food for you and your family. Uh, in fact, we're doing a big distribution tomorrow just for hospitality and, um, and service workers that are out of, uh, out of work. So there's plenty of food. You don't need the shop lift, you know, just call on your local food bank and we'll help. Speaker 4: 23:08 Where can people find out where food is being distributed? Speaker 6: 23:12 San Diego food bank.org backslash get help. We list all of our distribution sites, all of our super pantries. And we're also the regional diaper bank. And we've got about 50 diaper hubs throughout San Diego County as well. And for, you know, young families with the kids and they had two, uh, parents that were working. Now, they're both out of work and they've got young kids. Diapers are so expensive. We've distributed about 6 million diapers since the beginning of the pandemic. So Sandy and food bank.org backslash get help. And there's your call to action. There's plenty of food for everybody. Speaker 4: 23:41 Right? Then I've been speaking with James Flores, president and CEO of the Jacobs Speaker 7: 23:46 And Cushman San Diego food bank. James, thanks a lot. And thank you for what you're doing Speaker 8: 23:51 Very much. You know, we just tell everybody, stay calm together. We'll weather. The storm Speaker 7: 24:00 Burnout is a common problem for family members who care for disabled veterans. And for many of them, the pandemic has made things even harder. Now a new program is hoping to give some caregivers a break. Kathy Carter reports for the American Homefront project before COVID-19 Laurie, Gary, uh, lost in Texas, had a network of support when it came to care for her husband, Tom, an air force veteran diagnosed in 2016 with service related ALS. Speaker 9: 24:29 And once COVID hit, we had to stop everybody coming into the house. So it was just crazy stressful Speaker 7: 24:37 Even before the pandemic Gary's daily responsibilities as her husband's primary caregiver left little time to focus on anything else, Speaker 9: 24:45 Caregiving for me because of Tom's high level disability. Is am I going to get a shower today? Am I gonna get to sit down and actually drink a hot cup of coffee? Speaker 7: 24:55 Now after eight months of nearly going in alone, Gary has received some much needed help with a free respite relief program from the department of veterans affairs and the Elizabeth Dole foundation, the nonprofit founded by the former Senator offer support and resources to military caregivers. Twice. Now, respite workers have come to Gary's house to prepare meals and clean the kitchen. That's a huge job because Tom has a feeding tube and his food has to be chopped blended and liquified. Speaker 9: 25:25 Those are all things that in addition to my normal caregiving duties, I have to take care of. So you just tend to forget that it takes a tremendous amount of energy, Speaker 7: 25:34 Professional caregiving, company care links, and the wounded warrior project donated $1 million each to launch the nationwide respite relief for military and veteran caregivers program. The Dole foundation's CEO, Steven Schwab says the organization saw the need. As the pandemic has met military caregivers who are dealing with long-term isolation, Speaker 8: 25:57 Anxiety, depression is skyrocketing among caregivers and all of that equates to a crisis happening in millions of homes across America. Right now, Speaker 7: 26:08 Recent dill foundation survey respite relief was the top need identified by veteran caregivers still says Schwab many have concerns about safety because they're looking after people with serious illnesses. Speaker 8: 26:20 So in a typical day, that veteran that caregiver, that family is vulnerable. Now that we're inside a pandemic, it can be life-threatening Speaker 7: 26:30 Schwab says before going into the home professional healthcare workers complete a symptom check and recipients are also screened for COVID symptoms. That's important for the health of people like air force veteran, Laura novice, who a traumatic brain injury in 2016, after an IED attack, the blast caused her to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder and also damaged the nerves that control everyday functions like her blood pressure and heart rate. That's what I noticed with a red stop sign has been taped to the door of her home near Clearwater, Florida, since March it alerts any would be visitors. She has a weakened immune system Speaker 8: 27:06 Called the house. And I was like, are you staying at home? And I was like, yes, I'm staying at home. Cause literally like everything they started saying for people who are succumbing to it, um, I was checking all the boxes. Yeah, Speaker 7: 27:18 Joseph [inaudible] is his daughter's caregiver. He's also a fellow with the Elizabeth Dole foundation and an advocate for other veteran caregivers. These days, he hears a lot about how overburdened they feel because of COVID-19 respite. Speaker 8: 27:31 There is paramount. So it's my job now to educate them Speaker 7: 27:36 Where to get help and how to get help. Steven Schwab of the Dole foundation expects the program to cover 75,000 hours of care for more than 3000 caregivers. The next step he says is to develop a long-term plan for respite relief, Speaker 8: 27:50 Because we want to change the model of the department of veterans affairs and the ways that they're going to offer respite care post pandemic on a sustained basis. So those investments are going to be super important Speaker 7: 28:03 Because after the professionals leave, veteran caregivers are back on duty. And for many it's a full-time job. I'm Cathy Carter in Tampa. This story was produced by the American Homefront project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans funding comes from the corporation for public broadcasting. Speaker 1: 28:34 Our general manager, Tom Carlo is in his last week here at KPBS. After 47 years, he is retiring Carlo who started working at KPBS after graduating from San Diego state university in the seventies, began his career working in production and eventually moved into the role of general manager. Since then he has grown the station into a multimedia platform where news and programming serve the community on television online and on the radio. And Tom Carlo is joining us now to talk about the future of KPBS as he transitions to the next chapter in his life. Tom, welcome and congratulations to you. Speaker 8: 29:13 Well, thank you very much, Jade. It's great to be here. Speaker 1: 29:16 You've done so much and seen so much changes and you're nearly 50 years at KPBS. What's the main difference you see when you compare KPBS today with the KPBS of say 25 years ago? Speaker 8: 29:30 Well, um, you had to say 50 years, it makes me seem so old, but you know, when I started many, many years ago, we were a very small organization. We about 20 full-time Speaker 10: 29:42 Staff and another 20 students who were attending San Diego state university. And we were a simple little educational television station or radio station, um, was an eclectic mix of different formats. We had, uh, we had, um, classical music, Spanish language programming, jazz programming, folk, music, community producers. We weren't really reaching very many people at that time. And we've grown into, as you said in the intro, a multimedia organization that focuses on multi-platform distribution, finding our niche in terms of local serious journalism on all platforms. Speaker 1: 30:21 You know, what was your main goal when you became general manager of KPBS? Speaker 10: 30:25 I needed a vision for the future because we were struggling and not only did we have tough times with the economy in the early two thousands, we were also seeing traditional media of television radio and print media, um, beginning to lose significant audience to something called the internet and digital, uh, digital was taking audiences away and we went through a situation nationwide where journalism and media jobs and TV, radio, and print media were going away and KPBS was suffering. So I think the vision for me was to capitalize on our strength as a local organization and our strength at that time was our local radio news that complimented NPRs news. And I felt there was a decline in serious local journalism throughout the San Diego media market. And I took our, our strength of our radio local news and said, you know what, I'm going to put it on all platforms. We needed to converge our TV and our radio and our digital divisions internally at KPBS into one content producing division. Then at that time we had 15 people in our newsroom. Now there are 50 people just in KPBS as newsroom. Speaker 1: 31:49 No, I'm sure you didn't expect your last year here to be impacted by a pandemic. Uh, what's been the impact or the effect of the pandemic on KPBS as audience and revenue. Speaker 10: 32:01 We saw our audience grow. We saw our TV audience shoot up. We saw our digital audience shoot up. Um, our radio audience in the beginning fell a little bit. It fell about 25%, but that's expected because radio tends to be a medium. You consume when you're in your car. And, but our streaming went up and radio has come back from a revenue standpoint, even though the audience surge to all time record highs for KPBS, because businesses had to shut down. We saw a significant drop in our revenue on our corporate society aside almost 8%, uh, of our operating budget. So in may and June, we had to go through some very challenging times of reducing our budget, reducing our expenses and really cutting back on some staff. At the same time, we couldn't cut back on our content because there was so much in the new cycle that was happening. Uh, the new cycle did not stop and people expected KPBS to be there. Um, but I think the future is bright for KPBS. Speaker 1: 33:09 You know, the, the outlook for media seems to be constantly changing. What about local commercial, television and radio? Do you think they'll remain a viable option in the future? Speaker 10: 33:20 I think local television and local radio will never go away, young people. And I, I have grandkids, you know, my grandkids, they're not gonna listen to a live radio or watch, you know, television. Uh, they're not going to tune into the PBS news hour at seven o'clock, but they're going to consume it on their digital platforms. And I think this is hurting local television and local radio. We have to be in the digital arena. And I think local television is, and especially on the commercial side is, is going to go through a huge shift and change over these next decade. But I think the major networks of NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox may consider not having a relationship with a local television affiliate anymore. You don't need them to get to the consumer. Speaker 1: 34:17 Tell us about Nancy Worley, the new KPBS, interim general manager. What's her background? Speaker 10: 34:23 Well, you know, Nancy has been with KPBS almost 18 years now. Um, she is a graduate of San Diego state university in communication, but she went off and was producing television news in Las Vegas and in Reno. And then she spent three years working for United States, Senator Harry Reid from Nevada in Washington, DC in the press room there. And she did that for three years. And then we brought her in, uh, I believe in 2003 and, uh, working in communications and, and, and she just started rising up in the organization and five and a half years ago. Um, I promoted her up to the associate general manager position and she oversees TV and radio programming. Uh, the news division. I'm very excited that Nancy is going to be starting as the first woman, general manager in January of 2021. Speaker 1: 35:20 And so Tom, finally, uh, how do you plan on spending your retirement? Speaker 10: 35:24 You know, I'm going to spend a little more time at home and spend a little more time with my kids and my grandkids and just enjoy being a KPBS supporter. And my wife and I Speaker 11: 35:38 Will continue to be producers club members. Um, I'm really planning on becoming more of a listener and a viewer and a digital consumer of KPBS content. I really can't wait to see KPBS really flourish over these next few years. Speaker 1: 35:54 I've been speaking with KPBS general manager, Tom Carlo, Tom. Thank you. And congratulations again. Speaker 1: 36:10 You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Heintzman San Diego opera is planning a drive in screening of its all is calm. The Christmas truce of 1914, the production was recorded by KPBS for broadcast back in 2018 KPBS arts reporter Beth Armando speaks with San Diego operas director. David Bennett about trying to plan an event as locked down. Rules are changing. David, the opera has decided to play all is calm in a drive-in setting. Now, even though you made this decision, things have changed recently that are impacting you. So tell me, where are you at right now with the idea of presenting all is calm to audiences. Speaker 11: 36:57 Well, calm is a good word, isn't it? So we are, we're trying to remain calm, uh, and it's shifting see right circumstances. So clearly what we're trying to do is make sure that we can do this in a safe way, right? And, uh, guaranteeing the safety of everyone, not just the audience, but also our employees is paramount to us. Cause we had a huge success with lava whim in terms of safety. So we want to follow it up with another big success story. So we, we know that driving theater movies are an approved activity, even with the new announcement by the governor. So we have two of those that are two places that are holding those right now in San Diego. So we know that aspect of it is going to be approved and can be saved. We are still getting approval of whether we can have the 30 minute concert of live singing that we are trying to hold. And the plans for that is to have eight members of our course. So it's not a large ensemble, uh, space safely in the way that we did her in level one, which is each singer having 120 square feet of their own territory. So they stay very far apart. So, so that's kind of where we are with it. Yeah. Speaker 1: 38:05 Now explain what people will be getting in terms of all is calm. This is not a live performance, but this is a performance that you staged. Speaker 11: 38:14 Correct. So we ha we did all this column in 2018 and it was, it had a live telecast on KPPs, which of course KPBS filmed it beautifully. It's a very, very beautiful video capture of that performance. We had intended to do a live performance this year. Safety's not allowing us to do so. We decided to try to take advantage of that beautiful capture that we have, and we're going to be showing it at a venue that has been built at Del Mar at the racetrack called concerts for cars. And it's around stage with four screens and cars parked all the way around it. So we have a lot of proximity to the stage and if we're allowed to, it will be proceeded by about 30 minutes of live holiday singing by members of our course and a singalong portion. So encouraging people to be in their cars and enjoying that experience. And then the performance itself is about 70 minutes. So all in all an hour and a half seven o'clock to eight 30, uh, on 21st. And of course we know that's the first week that school is no longer in session. So by that Monday after the weekend, um, parents might be looking for a safe thing to do with their children, which this would be wonderful. It said he'll be a safe activity and also beautifully, uh, it's a family friendly, beautiful performance. So that's what you should expect. Speaker 12: 39:36 And is this, the production of all is calm that you partnered with Bodhi tree concerts. Speaker 11: 39:42 It is, it was a co-production group, buddy tree and soccer profile when we did it two years ago. Correct. Speaker 12: 39:47 And why do you feel that it's important to have a production of this in some shape or form in this particular time? Speaker 11: 39:58 Well, you know, what we learned from [inaudible] that we did in October is we're missing not just seeing live performance, but everyone is missing a communal experience, right? We spend so much of our time in a conversation like I'm having with you right now, where we're all in our own individual homes, right. And the opportunity to us, for us to find a way to be together as a community safely is a very important thing. And I think around the holidays particularly, right? So that's why I think it's important and it's a beautiful performance, right? It's a very, very beautiful production and we did a beautiful performance of it. And it's a family-friendly story with music that you recognize telling, um, an experience it's, it's, uh, kind of an overwhelmingly moving, uh, story for this time. Speaker 12: 40:47 And for people who may not be familiar with all is calm. This is about the Christmas truce where, you know, we're talking about having this communal experience, and this is this very interesting sense of enemies at war being so close to each other, that they could literally like hear each other singing. Speaker 11: 41:06 Right. And it was, you know, it was the warring factions. It wasn't the, you know, the commanders that made this decision. It was actually soldier, the soldier, Saint hearing the singing across no man's land and the opposite trenches and coming out and actually sharing the experience of Christmas Eve together and playing sports and ultimately burying their dead for a single night, every man's lamb. Speaker 3: 41:34 And we, the lowest of the ranks chief with the Pope himself could not the middle of the wall. We had ourselves a Merry Christmas. Speaker 11: 41:48 Uh, so it really is a story about using Christmas as an opportunity for a collective communal experience. Speaker 12: 41:56 And that's why you decided to try and do this drive and experience as opposed to just broadcasting it again. Yeah, Speaker 11: 42:02 Yeah. And again, that, that gives people in the safety of your car. So the people that you're with in your car or people that, you know, you can be safe with and you're parked four or five feet away from another car. And so, as I said, at LABA wham, and when I was on stage before turn and wave to the people next to you, because they are in effect your seat mates, like if you were in a theater, um, but you're experiencing this with them together. So there is a sense of community when you have a driving experience Speaker 12: 42:33 And how was it for the opera as a company to have to deal with this constant pivoting, because not only have you come up with the solution of, Oh, let's do a drive and that's safe, but then we have this increased lockdown, which changes it yet again. I mean, you guys have to move fairly quick. Speaker 11: 42:51 We do. And so I think with like all arts organizations, our time horizon for planning has become, you know, daily and weekly, as opposed to long range planning. And, you know, opera is inherently sort of a long range, uh, planning activity. We tend to book our main operas two to three years out, right with the artists. And we make commitments to the San Diego symphony of the dates. And so we've had to learn to adjust. Now, I will say that coming out of the near closure that we experienced five almost six years ago, now we've learned to be adaptive and nimble. That's actually, that's actually one of our core values that the company created, that it says through nimble adaptation to the changing marketplace, we preserve the future of San Diego opera. And that was written as a response to the near closure. And I think in terms of, was really thought about financial changing marketplace, but boy are those words never more true than they are right now. And so we have to learn to be nimble and the word pivot is right. We just have to constantly be comfortable with pivoting. Speaker 12: 43:55 All right. I want to thank you very much for talking about this drive in version of all is calm. Speaker 11: 44:01 Thank you. It's going to be a wonderful experience. Speaker 12: 44:04 Let's go out with some of the music. Speaker 3: 44:15 The San Diego opera is driving presentation of all is calm takes place December 21st at the Del Mar fairgrounds parking lot. [inaudible] [inaudible].