State Law Puts Sport Arena Development On Hold

Speaker 1: 00:00 A new state decision puts midway redevelopment on hold. Speaker 2: 00:04 Not only was no one in city council voting on it, but mum was the word coming out of city hall about whether negotiations were progressing at all. I'm Maureen Kavanaugh. This is KPBS mid-day edition inside the military's effort to root out racial extremism. It's a slow going thing. It's not something that's going to change immediately, and you have to influence people to want to be better. Our weekend preview ventures into the world of in-person arts events. That's ahead on midday edition. Speaker 1: 01:00 This week, the city of San Diego got some bad news about plans to renovate the midway district, a large area around the pitcher. Manga arena, formerly known as the sports arena is slated to become a new entertainment district with a new arena, parks, retail and housing voters even approved a ballot measure, raising the building height limit in the area to allow for the development, but a new state law has now been clarified and it would seem to put a hall to the city's plans instead of being able to lease the land to the chosen developer. The city may have to open up bids again for affordable housing on the site. Joining me is Andrew Keats, senior investigative reporter with voice of San Diego. Andrew, welcome. Speaker 2: 01:42 Thank you for having me. There's been Speaker 1: 01:44 Concerned for a while now that the new law called the surplus lands act could apply to the midway district proposal. Can you explain why? Speaker 2: 01:54 So this is an old law it's been in place for a while. There was recent legislation that altered it. And the specific change that is relevant here is that it now applies to long-term leases that cities might enter into for property that they have. So it used to be perceived as something that only applied. If you were actually going to sell public land to a private entity. Now it says, even if you're just going to hold, you're going to keep ownership of it, but you're going to do a ground lease and let some private company come in and develop on top of it and pay you money every year that still applies. And it is that interpretation of that new law that has, has caught the city off guard here and disrupted the plans that were already to some degree underway. Speaker 1: 02:37 Didn't mayor Gloria vote for that new law when he was in the Speaker 2: 02:41 Mayor. Gloria did vote for that new law when he was in the assembly. Yes. Yeah. Speaker 1: 02:45 Wondering housing is a part of the midway district proposal. Speaker 2: 02:49 Isn't it? Housing is, is a part of the midway district proposal. And that is actually quite relevant here. It, because the new law stipulates an amount of affordable income restricted housing, that's going to need to be a part of this project, regardless of what happens going forward. Speaker 1: 03:06 And would that housing part of the proposal that's already on the table, would that suffice this new act Speaker 2: 03:13 Basically the way, and this is, there are some moving parts here, so we could learn that this isn't quite right, but the way it's understood right now is that the city is going to need to most likely offer this land up to affordable housing developers for about 60 days. If no one responds, presumably they would be able to go back to the developer that they chose last year and renew negotiations with them. That's if no one responds, if, if an affordable housing developer does respond, then all bets are off. We sort of go down a different divergent path and things are potentially very different, but if no one responds, you can go back to the previously chosen developer. But even in that case, it would now stipulate that at least 15% of the housing in that project be restricted to people with, for people with low incomes. Speaker 2: 04:06 I think mayor Gloria in his negotiations was going to try to secure some amount of affordable housing above the 10% bare minimum legal requirement that any development has to has to provide. And this sort of moves that bottom line number from 10% to 15%. So there's no reason it has to just kill the project. The only reason it would have to kill the project is if the developer that was selected, Brookfield had no desire ever, and is still unwilling today to build 15% affordable units as part of that project instead of 10%. So, you know, it's a change, it's a 50% increase, but it still leaves, you know, the vast majority of the, of the project to be built for, uh, market rate housing. Speaker 1: 04:49 How far along was the city and finalizing the project with Brookfield? Speaker 2: 04:53 Well, that's part of the thing that's interesting here is that they don't appear to have been all that close. Now, when the previous administration put this project out for bids from developers, they laid out a timeline that was pretty aggressive, that suggested that the mayor's office, and they did acknowledge that the new mayor would be the one to finalize the deal, to make some agreements and come to a project, a project management deal. They thought that that could happen at the beginning of this year and that the city council could be voting to give final approval by spring. And frankly, that's how this story came about is spring crept around. And not only was no one at city council voting on it, but there was the mum was the word coming out of city hall about whether negotiations were progressing at all. Um, and it was when I, when I inquired into the status of those negotiations that I found out there was this, this big bump in the road, the bump in the road being the surplus lands act. And it seems that essentially, uh, the developer and the city sort of put negotiations on hold until they got some clarity on what this new law was going to mean. And now it's on hold again, because they're going to have to put this project out to see if any affordable housing developers want to build on it. That'll be for at least 60 days. And then best case scenario after that negotiations could renew Speaker 1: 06:06 This interpretation of this new addition to the surplus lands act, create problems for other leases on city owned land. Speaker 2: 06:16 There are exceptions built into the law. So certain small projects are exempted. There are ways you could structure a project that would mean you sort of skate right by it. If you agree to have a certain amount of affordable housing. So there are still ways around it. But yeah, theoretically, the entire way that the city handles its real estate and not just the city of San Diego, all the cities in the County and the County of San Diego and MTS and North County transit district, any public agency that has some sort of real estate arm that does development agreements with private entities now falls under the auspices of this law and needs to change their policies to comply with it. Speaker 1: 06:53 All right. Then I've been speaking with Andrew Cates, senior investigative reporter with voice of San Diego. Thank you so much. Thank you, Marie. Speaker 2: 07:01 Yeah. Speaker 1: 07:07 In the wake of the January 6th capital insurrection, the Pentagon ordered all service branches to conduct a stand down to discuss racial extremism. They were supposed to be finished by the beginning of April. And in the past couple of weeks, there has been a rush to complete them. KPBS, military reporter, Steve Walsh talked with a group of Marines as many wonder whether the military is serious about rooting out extremism. Speaker 2: 07:33 Yeah, that was, that was, that was tough. As a service member to see Speaker 3: 07:36 Lieutenant Madeline Hoffman remembers watching the January 6th events at the Capitol on TV. Speaker 2: 07:41 I take that very seriously and I want to make sure that our Marines understand that like that type of activity like is directly in contrast, Speaker 3: 07:54 Hoffman leads a Marine infantry logistics unit at 29 palms. We initially talked just before she conducted the required down on extremism. She was required to review the oath Marines, take to support and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic Speaker 2: 08:11 Were pushed this a week ago. Um, all the, the source materials specifically for the extremism stand down. Um, so I've been taking the last week to really educate myself and be prepared to, to give this training. Speaker 3: 08:24 Terry of defense Lloyd Austin gave all branches of the military 60 days to conduct stand downs rather than having top commanders fill large lecture halls. The Marines pushed the task down to small unit commanders. It's Hoffman's first real training on the topic Speaker 2: 08:40 Specifically extremism. Hasn't been a major training point Speaker 3: 08:44 Experts who follow the militaries, checkered history with tracking extremism. Aren't surprised that leaders on the ground haven't been given the tools to look for it in the ranks. Heidi Barrick is of the global project against hate and extremism. Speaker 4: 08:58 They need to make sure that anybody who's in a position to report this stuff is doing so that that information is captured their own investigators. Have it seemed clear, uh, in hearings earlier in 2020 on what the rules are. I mean, there is a lot that needs to be done to fix this problem in the military. Speaker 3: 09:17 Eric is concerned that if the stand down isn't backed up with tangible changes, it will send the wrong message to rank and file members of the military. Speaker 4: 09:25 I think of the standout as being a good wake up call to everyone. And hopefully there'll be serious conversations in every branch in every level about these issues. But I mean, that can only be perceived as one tiny piece of an overhaul and a massive change in the way the military is managed. Speaker 3: 09:43 She says, investigators in each branch need to work together. They still don't have a database of extremist tattoos in symbols. They are still working on a policy to monitor social media for extremist activity, often relying on the FBI. How did it go Speaker 2: 09:59 Training? I thought actually it went really well. Yeah. Speaker 3: 10:01 After the stand down first Lieutenant Hoffman says they went longer than she expected mostly because of the number of questions. One thing that came up a lot is that technically Marines are allowed to belong to extremist groups. As long as they aren't active members, Speaker 2: 10:17 You walk a very fine line moving from active to passive membership. So it's something as simple as sharing an article from an extremist organization on your Facebook page is grounds to move from passive to active membership. Speaker 3: 10:32 Two Marines under Hoffman's command. Say the military is a political reputation has been under siege for awhile. The stand downs were a chance to right. This ship says, Lance corporal, Alan Hough. Speaker 2: 10:42 If you can receive this knowledge about this class and be told that it's a relevant issue and still somehow look away from it, then that's kind of a personal issue. Speaker 3: 10:50 Brene corporal David Dorsey says he found the stand downs informative. He hasn't encountered people in extremist groups, but as an African American, he's seen bigotry and racial stereotypes among his fellow Marines. He says, there's no quick fix. Speaker 2: 11:05 It's not going to be a quick turnaround. Usually nothing ever is when you're trying to change, you know, a wide range of people. Um, do we work on trying to fix it? Yes, but it's, it's a slow going thing. It's not something that's going to change immediately. Speaker 3: 11:18 The Pentagon did not compile data on the extremist activity that may have been revealed during these closed door sessions preferring to let troops speak off the record. Next step, making sure troops feel comfortable saying something when they see it. Steve Walsh, KPBS news. Speaker 4: 11:43 [inaudible]. This is KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Kavanaugh. This weekend, the arts world is testing the of in-person Speaker 1: 11:54 Live events. There's an art exhibition, opening reception and live theatrical performances in a beautiful outdoor setting. Plus plenty of virtual options to joining me for our weekend preview as KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dickson Evans and welcome Julia. Speaker 5: 12:13 Hi Maureen. Thanks for having me first. Speaker 1: 12:15 We have an actual art opening reception in person on site. Tell us about Lux art institutes, newest exhibition. Speaker 5: 12:25 Yeah. They're bringing best Sierra con to be the artist in residence for the next six weeks and kicking things off with a little COVID style party. Tonight, you have to get a ticket and a time spot in advance. They're doing 30 minute time slots. And while you're there, you can listen to live sets from DJ Omega Watts and get a preview of the art. What I've seen of Kahn's work is really incredible and it, it kind of restructures things like fashion or textiles, photography, and collage, and even multimedia performance art. It's all kind of to study identity con identifies as femme, Muslim American and their work hones in on these boundaries between assimilation and hiding. I love that the spots for this event are really limited, but if you miss it tonight, you can make an appointment to see it during their regular gallery hours too. Speaker 1: 13:18 But Sierra con's opening receptionist tonight from six to eight with advanced reservations required and will be on view at Lux art Institute in Encinitas through June 5th, next up of virtual performance, that pairs music for strings with dance. Tell us about that. Speaker 5: 13:35 Yeah. This is local dance company, lit VOC dance, and they've put together this program of seven short works, all set to music. The dances are by guest choreographers, Rebecca Margalick and Miley Okamura as well as their company dancers. And they create a new choreography for this program. The music ranging from Bach to klezmer, to improvisational, jazz, and also contemporary original it's like this piece by violinist Christopher APOE called Speaker 6: 14:05 Okay. Speaker 5: 14:17 These performances were filmed on stage with the mask musicians right there on stage with the dancers. So they're at the LA Jolla music societies, Baker bomb, concert hall, or also the LA Jolla historical society, wisteria cottage. So expect plenty of elegance and intrigue in these limited spot. Virtual screenings, Speaker 1: 14:37 dance presents dances to strings Saturday night at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM live performances are not only within reach. Now they're a feast for all the senses. Tell us about new village arts residency at the Carlsbad flower fields. Speaker 5: 14:54 Yeah, this weekend, the company will kick off a six month residency at the flower fields bringing outdoor performances with actual audiences each month through October. And this weekend, they'll start with something. They've done it a few times throughout the pandemic. It's a cabaret style showcase. So like a mildly scripted musical performance where the focus is really on the singing talent and the tunes that curation with this group, new village arts is always really fun. And this weekend's theme is carpooling songs, all songs that the actors like to sing on commutes or road trips, these performances are tonight and Sunday evening. And this opening weekend for the residency is sort of like a preview. So the ticket prices are reduced. It $33 masks are required, except when you're at the concession tables and the flower fields, strawberry snack bar will be open. And your ticket also lets you get into the flower fields, which are currently in bloom. So be sure to get there early Speaker 1: 15:53 New village arts commuting with friends, outdoor performances are tonight and Sunday at 6:30 PM at the Carlsbad flower fields. And now to the theater worlds, virtual spaces, what San Diego rep bringing to our screens this weekend? Speaker 5: 16:09 Yeah, they've partnered with company one theater and American repertory theater to bring a filmed production of address. Goodwin's 2018 play called hype. Man. I break beat play hype. Man's about a hip hop trio. It's fronted by the namesake hype man and also a white rapper and the script it's set against a backdrop of protest and escalating police brutality. And it tackles white privilege and the power and shortcomings of shared lived experiences, the performances and the music itself in this play are really fantastic. Here's Speaker 7: 16:47 So tickets, how many this year alone, we've got to do something. Well, what are we watching? Right. Nobody would see a cover like, like stop shooting us 18 times. Wait, hold up. Let's talk about this. I was trying to do can't tell me what I can and cannot say human lie height, man. We like one voice, you know, Speaker 1: 17:08 Hype man of breakbeat plays streams on demand with San Diego rep through May 8th closing later this month at Quint galleries, new space is an installment of a notable large-scale Lightbox work. Can you tell us about this and how we can see it? Speaker 5: 17:24 Yeah. So Quinn recently moved their main gallery into a space on Gerard and the first exhibition, there is this installation of a 1992 work by Chilean artist, Alfredo Yar it's photography. Lightboxes called walking on water and it depicts migrants crossing the border at the Rio Grande day. It's a series of relatively simple photographs, but they're so big and bright that just absolutely stunning. And the focus is on the feet in the water, which makes it anonymous. I think it really implicates the viewer into understanding your own culpability and also how these stories are told. There's rarely a face and a name to the full story of immigration. And of course the dangers of border crossing are just as relevant today. As in 1992, it's all viewable by appointment. You just send the gallery and email or, or make a quick call to set something up. Speaker 1: 18:17 Alfredo yards is walking on water closes April 20 fourth@quickgalleryfordetailsontheseandmoreartseventsgotokpbs.org slash arts, and you can sign up for the weekly KPBS arts newsletter there. I've been speaking with KPBS arts editor, Julia Dixon Evans, Julia. Thank you. Speaker 5: 18:38 Thank you, Maureen. Have a great weekend.