San Diego State To Open COVID-19 Vaccine Site In Viejas Arena Tuesday

Speaker 1: 00:00 A new vaccination site opens up at VA has arena Speaker 2: 00:04 With a focus and prioritization and dedication of sites for those communities that have been hardest to reach Speaker 1: 00:11 I'm Jade Hindman with Maureen Kavanaugh. This is KPBS mid-day edition. A proposal for a solar project is getting resistance in the back country. Speaker 3: 00:29 Resistance has been building since it was first proposed. Most recently people have sent in letters to the County. There's been at least a hundred letters from residents opposing this project Speaker 1: 00:40 And a years long effort to save the most endangered Marine mammal on earth. The vaquita plus, how many are turning to gardening for produce that's ahead on midday edition Today, the County and San Diego state university announced the opening of a new vaccination side at VA Hoss arena. Here's San Diego County supervisor Nathan Fletcher this morning. Speaker 2: 01:10 This is a broader community site available to all with a focus and prioritization and dedication of sites for those communities that have been hardest to reach. Speaker 1: 01:20 Also San Diego County joined blue shield statewide vaccine program, and AstraZeneca is expected to apply for emergency use authorization soon after promising us trials of its COVID-19 vaccine. So how will all of this impact where and how you get your vaccine San Diego union Tribune biotech reporter Jonathan Rosen is joining us to talk about it. Jonathan Speaker 4: 01:43 Welcome. Thank you for having me. So while Speaker 1: 01:46 The Petco park vaccination site has closed, as we just heard, another site will open the County and SDSU or teaming up to open VA HASA arena as a vaccination site. What can you tell us about that? Speaker 4: 01:58 Well, this should be happening Tuesday. Tuesday is going to be the first day site will open. It'll stay open from Tuesdays through Saturday, about nine 30 to three 30. Uh, they're going to start out pretty slowly, depending on vaccine availability, vaccinating about a couple hundred people on the first day scaling up to around 750 on the second day, which would be Wednesday, but then ultimately once the supply comes in and once the site's really up and running, it's going to be around 1500 doses a day, uh, to San Diego moms who were in the many, many eligible groups that we have for vaccine right now. Speaker 1: 02:36 And we just heard supervisor Nathan Fletcher referred to equitable distribution of the vaccine. Remind us how the County has been doing to make sure the vaccine distribution is equal, Speaker 4: 02:47 Right? So the County has got more than two dozen vaccine sites scattered throughout San Diego from the South Bay to North County. And basically all of these sites are in or near health equity regions areas that based on certain metrics from the state are socioeconomically disadvantaged. We also know the County is setting aside certain doses for community health workers to be able to make appointments in certain communities of color refugee communities, groups like that. So they've, they're trying to build out this infrastructure where you have vaccine sites and you have partner organizations that are helping them in various parts of the region. The only thing we need now is a consistent supply of vaccine, which obviously is the key to making this whole thing run. Speaker 1: 03:36 And also, you know, as a new site opens, the County is also announcing a partnership with blue shield to distribute vaccines. How does this new agreement with blue shield statewide vaccine program affect when, where and how people can actually get their shots? Speaker 4: 03:53 Yeah, that's a good question. Especially given that the County was in discussions with blue shield for many, many weeks, along with almost every other County in the state, but what came out of that was, uh, at least on the surface, seems like it won't change things locally, too much. The County is still going to have the ability to take its vaccine supply and reroute that to local health healthcare systems that are helping vaccinate the general public. Uh, basically what's happening now is that the County is formally part of this statewide network of vaccine providers and blue Shield's man role is essentially going to be in figuring out exactly where the vaccine is at every point in the process. So how much vaccine each provider has, how much they're using, how quickly they're using it. And then based on that kind of data, there'll be making recommendations to state about what providers should get more vaccine or less vaccine or ways to really tweak the rollout. But at least on the surface, it seems like despite all the delays around this deal that, uh, the vaccination program is going to be relatively the same, um, you know, in San Diego Speaker 1: 05:06 And as you reported, the county's vaccination system seemed to be working pretty well with about 41,000 doses given out per 100,000 residents as of last Thursday. So why was this deal necessary? Speaker 4: 05:18 I think it goes back to a couple of months ago to late January, which was when governor Newsome announced it. And at that point we really didn't have much good data on how many vaccine doses were in San Diego, how many vaccine doses were being used in San Diego. And that was the case pretty much statewide. So, you know, and from what we were seeing, it actually didn't look good and look like California was using administering right around 25%. So about one out of every four shots that were doses that were coming into the state. So there was definitely a lot of, there's a big push to make the vaccine more efficient. You know, there weren't nearly as many vaccine sites and the data visibility was poor. And that was around the time that the Newsome announced that blue shield was coming in. So to some degree, it kind of goes back to that early, earlier period of the rollout. Speaker 1: 06:15 And with this, will there be changes, uh, in how people are able to schedule their appointments? Speaker 4: 06:21 Well, the main change is going to be that every vaccine site in the region is, or soon will be moving to my terms. This is my turn.ca.gov, the vaccine notification and appointment scheduling tool that, that the state has launched earlier in the year. So we're already seeing, for example, UC San Diego setting up appointments through my term for its sites, including the Rimac vaccine, Superstation on UC San Diego's campus. So, you know, there is going to be an emphasis on getting all the data flowing through one system, as opposed to having it scattered to the point where it's actually hard to tell how much vaccine is being used at these different sites for these different providers. Speaker 1: 07:09 Let's talk about the AstraZeneca vaccine. It had promising results in us clinical trials. The company says it showed a 79% efficacy rate at preventing COVID-19 symptoms and 100% effective at preventing severe symptoms. But are there still questions about this vaccine safety? Speaker 4: 07:27 Yeah. So in terms of AstraZeneca vaccine, I think there are still some questions around reports over the past couple of weeks about people getting the vaccine and then getting blood clots. And in Europe, uh, you know, European medical authorities, regulators have taken a closer look at that and seeing that there wasn't any clear evidence of a link there it's always difficult for vaccines because when you vaccinate a large number of people, tens or hundreds of thousands of people or more, some of them will have certain medical conditions that arise just by chance, not because they got the shot, but, but, uh, simply because those are things that happen to people. Um, so there's, no, they didn't say that there's no possibility of a link, but there's no clear evidence of a link between the vaccine and blood clots. Uh, the vac in the U S trial about 30,000 people, including here in San Diego. Speaker 4: 08:23 Uh, you know, the company reported that the vaccine was also safe and also effective here, as you mentioned, 79% effective against people getting sick with COVID-19 and a hundred percent effective against severe disease. So ending up in the hospital, ending up in the ICU, or even dying from the coronavirus, all of the vaccines that are currently authorized, do a good job against fear disease. So Pfizer Madonna Johnson and Johnson's vaccine. And basically this announcement today sets the stage for AstraZeneca to apply for FDA authorizations, possibly in the coming day is, or about a week from now. Once they actually submit that packet of information, the FDA will probably take a couple of weeks to review it and convene an independent panel of researchers to take a look at that data. And at that point recommend whether or not the agency, uh, authorized the vaccine. So I think we're talking potentially about a few weeks, maybe roughly three weeks until the vaccine could be authorized. And then the first doses could go out. Speaker 5: 09:27 I've been speaking with Jonathan Rosen, biotech reporter with the San Diego union Tribune. Jonathan, thank you. Anytime. A tiny town in extreme South Houston, San Diego County could be the home of the region's next big solar energy project, but many of the residents are fighting against it. A Cumba hot Springs located near Boulevard is home to just about 500 residents. If the plan project moves forward, it will also be home to 650 acres of solar panels at the edge of town. The panels would provide clean energy to more than 20,000 homes, but critics say it will also ruin the culture and heritage of the town. Joining me is I new source investigative reporter come me Vaughn canal and Comey. Welcome. Thank you. Tell us more about this proposed solar panel project. Where is it located and who would build it? Speaker 6: 10:28 Right? So the developer is a German company. That's actually already built one solar project in nearby. Um, and it would be located on this big field, right East of the town, um, along old highway 80. So it's this 13 acre 13, it's this 1300 acre field that's between interstate eight and, uh, the border with Mexico. Um, and the field has been a farm most recently. And, um, it's also been abandoned and empty for a little while, but at some point it was considered for housing. Speaker 5: 11:03 How has there been resistance building in tacumba to this project? Speaker 6: 11:07 Yeah, so resistance has been building since it was first proposed in, um, 2017. Um, most recently people have sent in letters to the County. There's been at least a hundred letters from residents opposing this project. Um, they've signed petitions. They've tried to hold meetings, um, against the project with the solar developers. Um, the main, the main concern is that it would change the aesthetic of the place. It would add noise and glare and sort of an industrial feel to this value that residents like for its rule, natural feel. And then tourists go to, to escape the city and get more in touch with nature Speaker 5: 11:48 And what cultural sites in and around her combo, hot Springs to critics say are threatened. Speaker 6: 11:54 Hookah hot Springs has been a destination for tourism since the 1920s. So there's a sort of like a historic hot Springs hotel and resort that's right in the middle of town. Um, there's these old dairy buildings on the proposed site that would be torn down for the solar panels, um, and sort of larger than that. The whole Valley has been occupied by native Americans for a long time. Um, and so there's, uh, archeological resources kind of buried there. Um, there's, uh, sacred sites surrounding the field and four of the local tribal governments are consulting with the County on the project because of this now Speaker 5: 12:36 Residents, I believe are also worried about potential ecological drawbacks from the project, including fire danger and risks to local wildlife. Can you tell us a bit about that? Speaker 6: 12:48 So how come that is in a high fire risk area? So, uh, this project would have to come with a fire services agreement with the County fire services to either add fire personnel to the area or at a fire station, um, because with all the electrical equipment, um, it's an even higher fire risk. Um, and on the, uh, wildlife front, there is biological monitoring required with this project because it could disrupt the habitat for birds, including the burrowing, owl and other wildlife. There's lots of birds in the area. On the other Speaker 5: 13:23 Hand, though, won't the project bring jobs to Speaker 6: 13:25 The region. So it is expected to bring around 500 construction jobs to the area for around 13 months. They would most likely be from out of town from San Diego or Imperial Valley. And then after 13 months, the project would be unmanned. So there'd be no long-term local jobs. Speaker 5: 13:46 Okay, then, so the environmental impact report on this project has been made public, but some residents say public comment on the project has been hampered by the pandemic. Tell us about that. Speaker 6: 13:58 Absolutely. Usually as part of this public review process, there are meetings with the community. Um, the meeting was held online and by phone only. And so some residents are concerned that that didn't lead to access to everyone in the community. Um, and the local library has been closed on and off throughout the last few months because of the pandemic and that's where residents access public records and the internet and the computer. Um, so there is, there's a concern that, uh, not everyone has been well-informed about this project and not everyone has been able to participate to their full capacity. Speaker 5: 14:36 It's the solar panel project in terms of County approval. What has to happen to get the project going? Speaker 6: 14:43 The County has wrapped up the public review process, um, the draft environmental impact report. So what's left is, uh, it has to go before County planning commission sometime in the summer for a recommendation of some kind. And then it would have to be voted on by the board of supervisors sometime in the fall is what is expected. Speaker 5: 15:03 And what do residents who are opposed to the project? What do they say their next move will be? Speaker 6: 15:08 One of their major moves actually happened last week. The local planning board voted to ask the County for a much smaller project that would be set kind of further away from homes and businesses. Um, one of the major property owners in town has hired a lawyer with expertise in environmental land, use law to help them navigate the process. So we'll, we'll see what happens. They're continuing to, um, be as involved in the public review process as possible and, and bring attention to this project. Speaker 5: 15:41 And I've been speaking with a news source, investigative reporter come Von canal and Comey. Thank you. Thank you. This is KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade. Heinemann the death of a Mexican fishermen may be the final straw in the years long effort to save the most endangered Marine mammal on earth. The vaquita porpoise in the Gulf of California this week, a group of Mexican agencies will issue recommendations on limiting the protected zone for the remaining of Akita critics claim. The Mexican government has been more interested in saving the endangered porpoise and appeasing foreign environmentalist's then protecting local fishermen. Meanwhile, environmentalist fear that relaxing protections for the vaquita could mean extinction joining me a San Diego union Tribune reporter, Wendy fry, Wendy, welcome to the program. Speaker 6: 16:37 I'm Marine. Thanks for having me. Now we've Speaker 5: 16:39 Reported on the efforts to save the vaquita on a number of occasions on this program and none of those efforts sounded like they would endanger anyone's life. So how did the death of this fishermen Speaker 6: 16:51 There's been clashes that have been intensifying for a couple of years now, they're in the sea of Cortez between the fishermen and the environmentalist and the sea shepherd. Um, you know, the, the Mexican Navy is embedded with them. And so they often capture video of what's going on when they go to try to remove these huge gillnets out of the ocean, they encounter pushback. Um, and those that pushback has been getting increasingly violent over the past couple of years. And so it's not quite a hundred percent clear exactly what happened, but there was a collision between a very small panga boat and the larger sea shepherd vessel that resulted in one, one Mexican fishermen being very severely injured and mother passed away from the injuries. Speaker 5: 17:45 Can you remind us why are the fishermen so opposed to the protections in place to save the vaquita? Speaker 6: 17:52 So they use gillnets there in the sea of Cortez as their livelihood to, to catch fish. One of those fishes is the totoaba, which is a very, um, high, high price. It gains them a big profit, right? So they, they, but there's a lot of other fish too, that they, they catch there and that's their, that's how they feed their families. That's how they live, um, off the sea there. And so their objection is to the economic problem with having the environmentalist remove their gillnets basically they're trying to support their family is what their point of view is. And, um, they don't like this for an intermission intervention over the vaquita Speaker 5: 18:35 House and fishing for the totoaba have been illegal for many years. Speaker 6: 18:40 Yes, it's um, decades it's been on Mexico's own, um, endangered species list as well. And so that has been endangered for many years. There's been an effort to, to farm the species, um, and bring it back. So they're considering a range of different recommendations that they plan to make later this week. And one of those is just going ahead and allowing and, and making it legal to fish. Uh, the total GLA Speaker 5: 19:06 Now, besides banning the use of gillnets as the Mexican government had in the past, has fishing also been limited to certain areas to try to protect the vaquita Speaker 6: 19:17 Right. So in the more Northern area of the sea of Cortez, that's where the protection zone is. Um, right now it's very large, but they, they believe that the Paquita the last remaining, but key just stay up there to the North. So they're considering just reducing the amount of area in the sea. That's protected to more where they believe those last remaining 10, but keep that live. Um, and so of course the fisherman went, the whole place opened up to where they could, you know, use their gillnets wherever in that area and the, the environmentalist and the protection agencies want to keep as much of that area, uh, banned for gillnets as possible. Speaker 5: 19:58 Why is the use of gillnets a problem for vaquita? Speaker 6: 20:03 So they get caught in these fisherman's net and they drown in large numbers so that they, they feed off fish that live close to the fish that the fishermen is trying to catch. And then they get caught in the gillnets and drown Speaker 5: 20:17 Of information. The vaquita porpoise is a species that exists only in the Gulf of California. It's small, it's exceptionally cute and is present population is dangerously low. Can you tell us again, how many Nikita are left? Speaker 6: 20:33 Right. So it's not, you know, they don't go check in anywhere, so they don't have a total exact count, but even the environmentalist estimate that they're down to dozens, maybe even as low as 10 left. So that's very mean on the brink of extinction, this species, and yes, they are very cute. Um, Marine mammals, and they're very dangerously close to extinction. I think that the, the estimate that they gave the Mexican government, the environmentalist gave the Mexican government is 10. Now a lot of them Speaker 5: 21:03 Time and money has been spent trying to keep this species alive. Some estimates are up to $100 million. Why is it important to keep the key to in the Gulf of California? Speaker 6: 21:14 So the, the species that they feed off of below them and the food chain, like the small fish in the squid and the crustaceans and stuff, they, they keep those species in check. So anytime that you lose, uh, an entire species, it has all these domino, um, impacts on the rest of the environment. And the, of does. So that's why the environmentalist have fought so hard to, to protect this, this, uh, Marine mammal, so that, so that they can keep the rest of the environment they're functioning. Like it's supposed to. Now what happens Speaker 5: 21:48 Happens after these Mexican agencies make their recommendations about the vaquita protections, what happens now? Speaker 6: 21:55 I asked two different lawmakers that, and they, they have two different perspectives or two different senators. And Mexico gave me two different answers on that. Um, one, you know, thinks that, uh, the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez, Obrador can just kind of unilaterally accept or not accept this decision, um, that this, uh, like it's like the EPA, it would be the equivalent of the EPA makes, uh, others think it has to come to a vote because they did vote initially to put those protections into place. So that is going to be interesting to see what exactly happens afterwards. But, um, generally speaking, the president will direct kind of where it goes next. And he, he has spoken in support of the fishermen, um, and, and started taking a pretty sympathetic, uh, view to their plight and, and saying that, you know, that it is important to protect their economic livelihood too. Okay. Speaker 5: 22:51 Hey, then I've been speaking with San Diego union Tribune, reporter, Wendy fry, Wendy. Thank you. Thank you. Thousands of former soldiers with less than honorable discharges might get upgrade. Soon this month, that federal judge is expected to approve a settlement that would force the army to possibly upgrade those discharges to honorable. If there's evidence of a mental health condition, Deseret Diorio reports, Speaker 6: 23:22 The agreement calls on the army to go back and look at thousands of less than honorable discharges for soldiers who served during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. If they had a condition like post-traumatic stress or a brain injury, they can become eligible to upgrade their discharges and get access to benefits through the department of veterans affairs. Joshua Britt is a school student at Speaker 7: 23:46 Yale university. He helped file the lawsuit at Yale's veterans legal services clinic to change how the army handles past and future upgrade requests, Speaker 4: 23:56 Opening up the possibility of receiving an honorable discharge for our class members can be a very positive thing for them. It opens up a wide range of government benefits. They may have been eligible for Speaker 7: 24:07 If approved the settlement would expand reapplication rights for some former soldiers and grant automatic reconsideration for others. The lawsuit started four years ago with Iraq war veteran, Steven Kennedy. He came home with depression and PTSD, which spiraled into alcohol abuse. And self-harm the army gave him a general discharge, blocking him from some veterans benefits and denied his upgrade applications until he sued Speaker 4: 24:35 You can't get the benefits you need to actually recover from the thing that got your discharged in the first place. Speaker 7: 24:40 VA estimates, as many as 20% of Iraq war veterans experience PTSD, honorable discharges are the gold standard among veterans. That designation comes with full access to veterans affairs benefits like healthcare, disability benefits, and higher education, but discharge status. Isn't just about benefits. Bart Stitcher is with the national veterans legal services program. He says, there's a stigma attached to less than honorable district. Speaker 4: 25:09 If you don't get an honorable, it's a ticket to underemployment because employers often ask if you served in the military. And if so, what type of discharge did you get? And if it's anything other than honorable, then it's very likely that they won't hire you. Speaker 7: 25:27 In 2014, the Pentagon directed discharge review boards to give liberal consideration to veterans with PTSD. Stitcher says the military tends to ignore it. Speaker 4: 25:38 That role post-traumatic stress disorder, TBI, uh, military sexual trauma, that existed while you were in service that is supposed to be considered as mitigating circumstances that warrant and upgrade the boards weren't paying any attention to that. Speaker 7: 25:57 The settlement would bring another big change. The army discharge review board could conduct upgrade hearings by phone Joshua Britt at the legal services clinic says the move will make the process much less burdensome for soldiers Speaker 4: 26:11 In the past. Veterans would have to travel to Washington DC to appear personally before the board. So the telephonic program should expand access. Speaker 7: 26:19 A federal judge in Connecticut is scheduled to hear public comments March 24th, before finalizing the settlement. The director of the army review boards said in a statement, the settlement was reached after months of negotiation and called it a fair way to address soldier's concerns. If it's approved, Kennedy wants to see similar changes made to discharge review boards in the rest of the military fact that the army is making Speaker 8: 26:44 This change. I think it's really hard to make the argument that the Navy shouldn't be doing the same thing for most of, you know, the Navy and the Marines are better yet Speaker 5: 26:50 Kennedy hopes to eventually break the connection that ties benefits to discharge status. I'm Deseret Diorio on long Island. 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 Pandemic related shutdown orders that started about this time last year meant most people were stuck at home and looking for ways to relieve stress. A lot of people turned to board games. The global games and puzzles market reached a value of $11 billion in 2020, according to one market research company with 2021 set across 12 billion cap radio. Steve [inaudible] spoke with Ron Peterson who owns the game getaway in the Sacramento suburb of fulsome Speaker 8: 27:52 During the pandemic, people have been looking for ways to, um, maintain connections. Speaker 9: 27:59 And what kind of games are they buying Speaker 8: 28:01 A lot more requests for two player games for like couples at home and such. But a lot of it was about like a jigsaw puzzles, oddly enough, that saw a big shot in the arm worldwide. Well, the most popular brands was a Robbins burger puzzles. The CEO said basically they saw their puzzles sales being right up there with total paper and sanitizer during lockdown, people are playing over zoom. There's a lot of games like say anything or wits and wagers, a lot of party games, which you almost turned into a game show host type of format. Speaker 9: 28:35 Even before the pandemic board games were growing in popularity and not the games you might remember seeing advertised on TV in the sixties, seventies and eighties, Speaker 3: 28:56 [inaudible] Bradley. Speaker 8: 28:56 We still get people that come in and they get all excited. Oh, I might've just love board games. I can tell immediately they're talking about monopoly and Scrabble and all that stuff. And then I get other people to come in and say, he must have every game ever made. And I have to tell him it's just a drop in the buck. What's actually out there. I mean, when you've got a game in here about dining and Paris, you know, in the S how ridiculous, how many different types of themes are, are Speaker 9: 29:23 Those heavily themed new role playing games that are often complex and can take hours, are the preference now of younger players. Although last year saw a boom in the popularity of a board game. That's not new at all. Speaker 8: 29:35 Chess that caught the entire game engine. She off guard. There's usually one game during Christmas that everybody's running out to get in this year, it was chess and it had everything to do with the Netflix show, queen scam, Speaker 1: 29:47 Chess. Isn't always competitive. Chess can also be [inaudible] Speaker 8: 29:53 Is kind of funny to like such a ancient game was like on their base, must have list. I mean, that show really crated a big interest in playing chess. Again, when the pandemic Speaker 10: 30:05 Forced you to shut down your store, what kind of changes did you have to make to stay in business? Speaker 8: 30:09 During the initial lockdown? We did not have a light store at all. So what we ended up having to scramble to get as much as we can online and so be able to sell and deliver it to people on the curb while we're doing that, we had to take like pictures just to get people occupied in PLC. What we got, we took pictures of the entire store while were putting it up and trying to adapt and trying to get people to see what we have. Some, they put orders on as on the fly. So we really had to be on our toes. Well, do you think board games will Speaker 10: 30:40 Still be popular when the pandemic ends? Speaker 8: 30:42 I think once everything goes back to normal, a lot of people are going to be coming out to play more board games in person rather than just their family. So yeah, it'll keep growing. Cause more games bring, you know, that socialization Speaker 1: 31:04 This time, last year, some items on grocery store shelves were in short supply this and having fewer reasons to leave the house because of the stay at home order led to many people deciding to try their hand at gardening. Speaker 8: 31:16 I think what's happening is that this pandemic is forcing people to reassess their lifestyle and consumption choices. And a lot of people are realizing how dependent we are on others for just our basic food means. And so I think what they're trying to do is reclaim some of that control Speaker 1: 31:31 With summer cardiac, who we spoke to last April, when many San Diego ans were growing their own food for the first time, what were some of the challenges people encountered? Have they stuck with it? Well, joining us to answer these questions is master gardener, Maria Mata welcome Maria. Speaker 10: 31:47 Hello. Thank you for having me speak to your audience. This is great. Speaker 1: 31:52 So glad to have you, you know, at the start of the pandemic, what was the increased interest in gardening like for you as a master gardener, Speaker 10: 32:00 It was overwhelming people, as you stated, were desperate for information for our San Diego County area. San Diego County has a lot of different micro-climates and we were overwhelmed. We have a helpline at the master gardener website, and we were inundated to that. We responded by setting up a special website that people could actually go to. And, um, it's on our master gardener, uh, San diego.org website, Speaker 1: 32:34 Um, to respond to the increased interest in gardening. The master gardeners program created an online, as you mentioned to answer questions from newbie gardeners, how widely was that used Speaker 10: 32:45 The website let's grow together. San Diego had over 2000 hits the day that we launched it. And it's only grown from there. We have master gardeners that take phone calls and answer questions. We've got email. So it's just been constant demand for information, and we just continue to see it growing. Speaker 1: 33:04 And what were some of the common challenges San Diego has had Speaker 10: 33:07 Actually learning what your specific micro climate will support? Uh, we have, you know, a vast number of microclimates within San Diego County, from the coast all the way inland and some plant material does better in some areas and other areas. So people are challenged with, you know, what do I plant when, where do I plant it? And, um, those are two of the main challenges that they have to overcome. So we teach people that and we teach them how to find out what their micro climate is and what plant material will be successful for them. Speaker 1: 33:45 And in your experience have San Diego ones who started gardening at the beginning of the pandemic, um, stuck with it. Speaker 10: 33:52 I only see it growing. I think the demand, um, for people to continue is going to be long-term based on the number of questions and the number of hits that we're getting on our website. Speaker 1: 34:02 You have a program going on right now where San Diego gins can learn some new gardening skills. Can you tell me about that? Speaker 10: 34:09 Yes, it is the virtual spring seminar. So it's a series of 13 different classes that people can take from Saturday the 20th to the 28th of this month. It's 24 seven. They can launch any of the classes, uh, at any time to fit their schedule. It's $35 for the entire series of classes. And it goes from learning beginning vegetable gardening to, um, succulents, to, uh, ornamental plants. And it's just an incredible effort that we have put together. Speaker 1: 34:46 Right. I've been speaking to master gardener, Maria Mata. Thank you so much, Maria. I appreciate it. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for the opportunity. The San Diego County master gardener program is holding its spring seminar. Virtually this year, there are 13 classes and three workshops available online for $35 registration ends on Wednesday. And of course, for more information, you can check that out@kpbs.org. You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade. Heinemann a new Institute of contemporary art has formed in San Diego, merging the San Diego art Institute in Balboa park with the Lux art Institute in Speaker 5: 35:38 The new museum will keep both campuses opening in the fall with an exhibition by Mexican artists, Gabriele Rico luxes Andrew OOT will serve as the ICA San Diego executive director. And he speaks with KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dickson Evans. Speaker 11: 35:56 What is contemporary art? And what then is an Institute of contemporary art. Speaker 12: 36:03 Contemporary art is it's art. That is cutting edge it's art that is happening now. It is art that breaks the traditional boundaries of what you might experience. It's not just a painting. It's not just a sculpture. It could be an installation. It could have media, it could have sound, it could even have smells. So that's what contemporary art is for me at least. And then what is an Institute? Well, we might assume or interpret an Institute to be an educational institution. Uh, it is that in fact, uh, for both institutions, the San Diego art Institute and Lux art Institute, we see education as a very high priority in what we do. It means talking about what's happening in the world. It means talking about what art means, how culture can affect us. And so we educate in somewhat non-traditional ways about, uh, what's happening Speaker 11: 37:01 And why are these two established museums merging and why now in the middle of a pandemic and all the cultural upheaval of this last year? Speaker 12: 37:13 Well, I should almost put the question back to you, which is why not. Now this is a great opportune time to take advantage of the fact that we are coming together as humanity. We're looking towards a future that is positive. And, uh, we resolve many of our, or we're trying to resolve, I should say many of our global issues that we're dealing with, whether that is specifically the pandemic itself, uh, but also looking at more social justice issues or environmental issues, things that we're really trying to resolve in order to make a better world for all of us. So this is that opportune time. It's, it's a time for us to come together as two institutions and ultimately have more impact, uh, across our San Diego County. And ultimately, uh, when we become an ICA together, it becomes part of a, a nationally recognized institution. Speaker 11: 38:08 And how might this change, how San Diego runs and people in this, this general border region experience art Speaker 12: 38:16 Art is traditionally experienced. When you walk into a museum, sometimes you might have it in your home. Sometimes you might see it in a gallery or in a store, some commercial space, or even in someone else's home. We want to challenge the ideas of what it means to experience art. And in fact, the mission of the new organization is literally to question everything. So when we question everything, we're also questioning what it means to have a museum space, what it means to have an experience with art. Ultimately, we want to democratize their relationship of experiencing art and to do that. We need to break out of our walls. So while we will have walls, because it's important to come into a space and experience, uh, that excitement and that joy of being around art and seeing something intriguing and engaging something that you'll walk away from and, and have that knowledge or remembrance of, but also we want to bring it into your home. We want to bring it onto the street onto bus stops onto billboards, uh, onto your screens at home. The pandemic has shown that we can really engage people through virtual means through technology, but how do we expand that into a broader array of, of our spaces, um, both outdoors and indoors. Speaker 11: 39:38 And this has been, uh, a volatile year for museum workers and for artists, well, things change for the staff of these, these separate institutes. Speaker 12: 39:49 Well, we're going to be adding more staff as a result of the merger. Uh, we have done things on a very slim staff. In fact, it's pretty amazing that, uh, for instance, Lux, we have been very focused on challenging the preconceptions of how you engage with art, especially in a technological way. And, uh, you may remember Julia, the, the app that we produced for the phone, where you could use augmented reality to bring artwork inside your home, or even walk through our gallery space, uh, through augmented reality. And those are some of the ways that we want to engage people, certainly with the pandemic. You know, we saw a lot of financial issues, not just with our institution, but across the board with all businesses. Um, we have been lucky enough to be sustainable during this time period. You know, that that's a huge thing to say to, to be sustainable during a pandemic, but we, we have been, which is amazing. And in addition to that, uh, we see ourselves flourishing with this new way of thinking about the world and about space. Speaker 11: 40:57 The first exhibition you'll hold in the newly inaugurated space will be work by Mexican artists, Gabrielle Rico. And I spoke to Gabrielle last week about his plans to initially start working with scientific institutions and cultural institutions here to get a sense of the anthropology of this place and the community. And here's what he said, Speaker 13: 41:20 Don, just work inside the ICA facilities. I want to cross the limits, the walls and make connections with these kinds of institutions, but make connections with the society because at the end, the great thing of a show, if it's a great show, that's my personal opinion, of course, is when the people, the city sense of that precise city start to believe in the museum or in the institution. Speaker 6: 41:52 Andrew, what is it about this artist and this approach that is perfect for the ICA San Diego? Speaker 12: 42:00 Well, I think Gabriela just hit it right on the nose there when he talked about building those connections between institutions and the people who live in the city. And that really is, you know, about how we can really challenge the ideas of what our walls mean. Uh, the other point is that Gabrielle is very contemporary in his work. He's really pushing the boundaries of what we experience and what we understand art to be. Um, he's using sort of non-traditional in the, in the sense of art means of using man-made objects or existing objects like taxidermied objects or Coca-Cola bottles, and then merging those with ceramic creations or, um, other objects that he has created to build these sort of environmental scapes. And we start to think about the environment around us and the objects that we consume and the objects that we dispose of. And so he starts to talk about some environmental impact questions that we have around the world. Uh, he's tackling some of those issues and wants to call attention to what those mean. And also the delicacy of them, what it means to throw a bottle back into the world and what that can do to the changing ecosystem. Speaker 6: 43:21 That was Andrew oof, the executive director of the new Institute of contemporary arts, San Diego speaking with KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dixon Evans.