S1: Hey , San Diego , it's Jade Hindman here in for Andrew Bracken. This city of San Diego revised its annual budget. Will tell you what's getting more funding and what's not. Also , we look at Governor Gavin Newsom's call for cities across the state to ban homeless encampments. Details on that and how much it will cost. Then on the roundup , we'll tell you about a few other stories that caught our eye this week. The KPBS roundtable starts now. This week , San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria released a revised budget proposal for the next fiscal year , starting July 1st. The plan has more modest cuts to animal control services , and it restores some funding for the police department's Northwestern Division. But cuts to libraries and recreation centers remain unchanged. Wondering what all this means for the city will help you make sense of it. Joining me now is Andrew Bowen , KPBS Metro reporter. Andrew , welcome.
S2: Hi , Jade. Thanks. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So. Okay. Several weeks ago , uh , the city of San Diego released a draft budget. It seemed no one was really happy with that. Lots of controversy there.
S2: So , a bit of background. The deadline for the first draft budget is due. It's April 15th. That's the statutory deadline the mayor has to meet. So thinking back six weeks ago , Trump's President Trump's tariffs had just been announced. The stock market had taken a nosedive. The economy looked very unstable. So the mayor's office had been calling this April 15th budget a sort of a placeholder. And that , you know , as economic forecasts up are updated in May , that this second draft budget would be the real budget. Turns out the forecast didn't really change much , and the mayor didn't really have much room to take back some of these service cuts and fee increases that were in the initial budget. Now , as far as actual changes between April and May , the mayor is no longer proposing this consolidation of police operations in the north of the city. Last month , he had proposed merging the Northwestern Division , which is in and around Carmel Valley , with the Northern Division. So he said it wouldn't impact police patrols , but there would be some savings from supervisory staff. So that's no longer happening. Uh , also , he said that , uh , the the changes to the city's animal services contract with the San Diego Humane Society. There are some changes in this May revision. So last month , he had proposed cutting that contract by $3.5 million , which is about 20% of the total contract value. Pretty significant cut. Now he's proposing a cut of about 1.5 million , and he's also offering $1 million to improve the roof of the building that the Humane Society occupies , which is owned by the city. Wow.
S1: Wow.
S2: We're certainly since the Great Recession. That's what a lot of folks are saying. Last November , it was estimated that the deficit would be $258 million. Now they're saying it's somewhere between 300 or $350 million. And that's due to continued inflation. So rising expenses and also falling revenues separate from the budget. There was also a very important report that was released this week that monitors the current spending in the current fiscal year. And what they found is that the city has been overspending on , on , you know , expenses and under Are collecting in revenues compared to the plan , which is the budget. So this will require the city very likely to dip into its stability reserves , just to pay all of the expenses that it's committed to through June 30th. So this is a really serious budget situation , and there truly is no way through this without some really hard choices.
S1: So what areas were they under collecting on. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Sales tax revenues are , uh softening. Um , the hotel tax revenues. Uh , I don't I can't recall if they're reduced , but they're certainly not growing. Uh , and also , interestingly enough , um , folks cutting the cable. So , um , the city of San Diego gets revenue from cable companies because the cable companies are using the public right of way to lay their cables and connect to homes so that they can , you know , watch their , their TV. So more folks cutting the cable means that those cable companies are , are paying less of those fees to the city , and that means less revenue coming into city coffers.
S1: So interesting. Okay. So. Well , a couple of weeks ago on roundtable , we heard about a new trash fee for single family homes that's expected to save the city millions of dollars. There's also new parking fees in Balboa Park.
S2: But it will definitely help. And they would make , you know , without those extra revenues , these cuts would be a whole lot worse. So the trash pickup fees are expected to save the city's general fund about $74 million. And and what this means , essentially , rather than everybody paying into the city's general fund that then pays for trash pickup only at single family homes. Uh , the fees that the single family home residents will then be paying , fees that are directly associated with that trash collection. You know , I think this is objectively a fairer system. I live in a condo building and I have to pay the same sales taxes , property taxes that everybody else does. So I'm sort of paying for the trash collection at my neighbor for my neighbor's houses , but they're not paying for our trash collection , where we have to pay a private company to pick up our trash. So , you know , it's really about equity and fairness. The parking fees in Balboa Park is expected to generate about $11 million , and that's assuming that they start on January of next year. So if you look into the future , you know , if a full year of of parking fees at Balboa Park could generate about $22 million. Both of those things , the parking in Balboa Park and the trash fees require a separate approval from the city council. So first , the council will vote on the budget , and that budget will assume these fees will be charged later. And then later the council will actually vote on charging those fees. So there could be a scenario in which the council approves the budget , assuming that they'll get that revenue in the future , but then that revenue doesn't materialize because it can't get passed the vote at the city council. So that will be a , you know , a challenge if that happens. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , I mean , so back to this budget that was just released.
S2: So all libraries across the city would be closed on Sundays and Mondays. They're also proposing to reduce rec center hours to 40 hours per week. Currently , uh , the rec center could be open for up to 60 hours a week , depending on the size of the facility. Um , so the budget also assumes higher fees for using rec centers. So not only are they reducing the amount of time that they're open , they're also going to be charging folks more money to use those fees. Um , there are closures of public restrooms and fire pits at the beach. You might wonder , well , how is that save money ? Well , the city has to pay people to go and clean them , to maintain them. And so by keeping them closed , you save those salary expenses for having folks maintain those facilities. And there's also a cut to arts and culture organizations. So the city gives grants to nonprofits that , you know , put on plays and , and do , you know , performances , arts and culture events. And those are being cut by about $2.3 million.
S1: I've never been to a bathroom at the beach that was clean.
S2: It's it's a fair complaint. I will I will not argue that the city bathrooms are not ideal. Um , but , you know , they do pay people to clean them. Maybe not enough and maybe not often enough. Um , but , uh , you know , that's that's the cost of doing business. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Okay. Well , uh , you know , you mentioned the libraries , and I know a lot , a lot of families and people depend on the programs there.
S2: I mean , if you can imagine being a single parent working multiple jobs just to pay the bills. You know , the library is one free place where , you know , you can drop your kid off and they're going to be safe. Libraries also have homework assistance programs that help kids , you know , after school. And , you know , it's it's helpful for families that can't afford private tutors or to pay for after school programs. So , you know , these , these public services that , that a lot of folks rely on. Um , you know , it's going to be hard for those families to figure out how to cope. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , our colleague Katie Anastas heard from community leaders in City Heights who voiced concerns about losing library funding and recreation centers , too. Here's Jaime Figueroa , the Chicano Federation's director of advocacy and community organizing.
S3: We cannot afford to lose funding in spaces where hope and opportunity still exists. For families who cannot afford private camps or after school programs for their children.
S1:
S2: He represents , uh , City Heights College area , Talmadge Kensington. And after the revised budget was presented this week , he put out a statement with some of the harshest words that he's had for Gloria that I've ever heard from him. Say , and I'll just read. He said , quote , unfortunately , Mayor Gloria's revised budget continues a troubling trend of overlooking communities that have long been neglected. Basically , I think what he's arguing for is we need to focus these budget cuts more on wealthy communities that are less dependent on city services , and then use that savings to maintain more of services in lower income communities. He hasn't really offered any specifics , but you could imagine , let's say the La Jolla Library is closed Sunday , Monday , Tuesday , while the City Heights Library is only closed on Sunday. That's is my first , for instance , not his. Gloria addressed this at a press conference on Wednesday when he was presenting the May revised budget , and he said many families live in one neighborhood , but use city facilities in another one , and that he just prefers more consistent citywide schedules so that people can understand , you know , they know when a library is going to be open regardless of where that library is. And overall , regarding equity , Gloria had this to say.
S4: If you talk about equity , make sure that you bring up the fact that programs like our Eviction Prevention program , that are Housing Instability Prevention Fund , that employ and empower , that no shots fired , these are absolutely equity programs. All of them are funded at or higher levels than last year. So sometimes people like to pick and choose. Sometimes people want to oversimplify. Sometimes people want to overlook other things that are going on or advance an agenda or priority they may have. But bottom line is this budget was built with equity at the center of it , and I'm very proud of what is in here. And I believe that's one of the reasons why the City Council will adopt this budget.
S1: And the budget will also eliminate the city's first Office of Race and Equity , which was created just five years ago in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
S2: There are two positions in this office that are currently vacant. One is the department director. The current or the previous director resigned last year and also a program coordinator. So those would not be backfilled. As these these positions are transferred into the HR department. So you would have a net reduction in funding and staff dedicated to this issue. The mayor says equity work will continue. You have to kind of assume , though , that not having a high level , high authority position that's focused specifically on this issue will have no impact on on how it's addressed in the city operations.
S1: Well , we talked about what is getting cut.
S2: So we're seeing a baseline increases to the police and fire departments. Gloria says public safety has to remain the number one priority of the city government. That includes increasing overtime for the fire department. And it's you know , the city says this is just a more closely align with actual historical overtime spending. So in the past they might cut overtime in the budget. But then you have some emergencies , you know , and the department ends up exceeding their overtime budget. So it's an effort to be just more honest at the start of the budget year to say this is how much we actually expect to spend on this. There are increases to funding for stormwater infrastructure and road repair. Some of those increases may not necessarily represent a big increase in service levels , so they simply represent inflation. You're doing the same amount of work , but that same amount of work costs more money. So it's sometimes hard to to to suss out at this point in time what the actual service levels will be , you know , depending on how much those services cost. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S2: And that would would definitely impact how much the city takes in. So if more folks are unemployed or underemployed , they would likely pull back on spending. That means less sales tax revenue , less revenue coming into city coffers. Hotel tax revenues also could be could be softening in a recession. Even the cuts to federal government spending. So , you know , reduced travel budgets for government agencies. And , you know , San Diego's kind of a destination for a lot of conferences and conventions. So that could reduce the hotel tax revenues. And , you know , just fewer people having a disposable income to go on vacation. The bottom line is we don't know where this economy is headed. It's a very uncertain , unstable time. And it's it's certainly an awkward time to be planning for the next 12 months. This budget does not bank on economic growth. So , you know , if if there is a recession , a negative economic growth , the picture will be even worse.
S1: Well , it seems like an impossible job to plan the budget , but what comes next ? Is this the absolute final budget , or does the public still have an opportunity to voice concerns. Absolutely.
S2: Absolutely. There's still opportunities to make your voice heard. The budget is essentially now in the in the hands of the city council. They can change the mayor's budget , but they need six votes to overcome a veto of the mayor. And the city charter requires a balanced budget. So if they want to if they want to add funding somewhere in the budget , they have to cut an equal amount from somewhere else. The May revised budget was presented will be presented to the City Council on Monday. The council's also holding a 6 p.m. public hearing to discuss that budget. So that's to allow folks who have day jobs basically to attend and give their input. And then the first two weeks of June are really the crunch time. So June 10th is when the city council is supposed to have a final vote on the budget. And , you know , if they can't make it that week , they certainly have to do it before the end of that week , because then , you know , they're basically breaking the law by not having a budget approved on deadline.
S1: Oh , well , Andrew , I know you're going to continue to cover this. Thanks so much for your insight on it.
S2: My pleasure.
S1: Jade Andrew Bowen is the KPBS Metro reporter. When we come back , Governor Newsom lays out a controversial plan for cities and counties to address homelessness. Roundtable is back after the break. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. I'm Jade Hindman in for Andrew Bracken. Earlier this week , Governor Gavin Newsom called on California cities and counties to restrict homeless encampments. He released what he's calling a model ordinance. It lays out policies like a ban on camping in one place for more than three nights in a row. It also requires officials to offer shelter before clearing encampments. Newsom also announced $3 billion in new funding to address the crisis. Here's what he said Monday at a press conference.
S5: It is time to take back the streets. It's time to take back the sidewalks. It's time to take these encampments and provide alternatives. And the state is giving you more resources than ever.
S1: All 18 cities in San Diego County have some form of camping ban. And last week , the county Board of Supervisors gave initial approval to a camping ban for unincorporated areas. So what does all this mean for people experiencing homelessness ? Here to break it down for us is Marissa Kendall. She covers homelessness for Calmatters. Marissa , welcome.
S6: Thanks for having me.
S1: So glad to have you on. All right , so walk me through this model ordinance. What are some of the things Newsom wants to impose ? Yeah.
S6: So Newsom basically called on every city and every county in the state to immediately adopt a camping ordinance. And he laid out an example of exactly what he wants. He wants encampments banned. And that take up too much of the street or sidewalk and impede people's right of way. He wants makeshift shelters banned. So think , you know , like makeshift shacks that people talk together out of tarps and plywood , things like that. And he also wants sleeping on the street in one place for more than three days. Banned. But he did have some caveats. He said that cities should not ban camping everywhere if they have no shelter beds available , if there's nowhere else for people to go. Um , he wants cities to give people 48 hours notice before they clear encampments , and he wants cities to properly store people's belongings so they can come and collect it later after an encampment sweep.
S1:
S6: Um , you know , if you are telling people that they cannot sleep in one place for more than three nights in a row , but you still don't have enough shelter to offer them. I mean , essentially what that means is you will be forcing people to move every three days. And a lot of , you know , advocates for the rights of unhoused people and people who provide services for people living on the street , really latched on to that point and said , you know , without more investments in shelter , you know , that is essentially what cities will be doing is just making people move more frequently.
S1:
S6: You know , these big encampments are really the most visible sign of the state's homelessness crisis. Last year , he issued a similar executive order. He told state agencies that they have to come up with policies to clear encampments , and he urged cities to do the same. And then later on , he threatened to withhold state homelessness funds from cities that don't do something about encampments. And clearly that didn't do what he wanted it to do. Clearly , cities didn't respond the way he wanted. So he's coming back again now with , uh , with this extra thing , which is this model ordinance.
S1: Well , Newsom's been , um , governor for a while.
S6: You are seeing more of this heavy handed approach now. Um , and I think , you know , maybe some of that just comes from the fact that , uh , his voters are not really seeing much progress being made on the streets , and homelessness continues to be , you know , people's sort of number one complaint. Mm.
S1: Mm.
S6: San Diego , of course , as you mentioned , you know , already has a camping ordinance in place. They were , you know , one of the early cities in this wave to adopt something back in 2023. Um , but cities also came out , uh , the League of California cities , the coalition of big city mayors , which Mayor Gloria is part of. They also came back at Newsom and said , okay , it's one thing for you to tell us to pass ordinances , but where's the money to help us , uh , clear encampments and house people and get them services ? Uh , the budget that Newsom has proposed for the upcoming fiscal year doesn't have any money for the main source of homelessness funds that city and counties rely on. So they're really asking , you know , what are we supposed to do without that funding ? Where where is our money to solve this ? Mhm.
S1: So last summer , the Supreme Court ruled that cities can make it illegal to camp on public property. And that's even if there's no shelter available.
S6: Um , he supported that. He said , uh , the way things were before , before that ruling , um , it tied city's hands too much , you know , forcing cities to have a shelter bed available for everyone before they cleared an encampment. Um , he said that was limiting the way that cities respond to the health crisis on their streets. Um , so he supported , um , the change. Um , but he has said that he does not believe in blanket encampment bans that prohibit camping Being everywhere at all times throughout an entire city if there are no shelter beds available. So he's sort of trying to , uh , you know , do this , this tightrope walk in between the two extremes. Mm.
S1: Mm.
S6: Um , you know , cities all up and down the state since that ruling came out last summer. So it's been almost a year now , and we've seen many cities throughout California , um , either adopt new camping ordinances or , um , dust off old camping ordinances that they hadn't been enforcing or make their ordinances more punitive. And we're seeing , you know , the types of things that are banned range across the board. You know , Fresno , for example , bans camping everywhere at all times. Um , the San Jose mayor recently proposed , um , starting to arrest people if they decline shelter , uh , more than three times. So you really see this range. But we have seen a lot of movement.
S1: Well , Newsom said his office did get $3 million in prop one funding to create more residential treatment beds. Remind us what prop one funding is for.
S6: So that's really supposed to target the people who are the sickest on our streets. You know , people who , um , are , you know , are living on the streets , are really struggling with with their mental health , are addicted , need somewhere to go. But not only that , need some sort of intensive treatment. Um , and this is supposed to help them. Um , you know , the problem with that , of course , is it's it's not going to be enough to come close to meeting the needs of , of everyone in that situation. And also , you know , not everyone who is on the street is in that situation. Plenty of people who are on the street don't need that , that type of intensive behavioral health treatment. Um , so , you know , while it is addressing one facet of homelessness , you know , that that $3 billion isn't going to , of course , immediately get everybody off of our streets. Right.
S1: Right. And so , you know , given all the reporting that you've done on homelessness , do you think that more should be done on the front end in terms of preventing homelessness ? Um , as opposed to putting so much focus on encampment bans ? Yeah.
S6: I mean , the experts I talked to really emphasize the need for prevention. Um , it's easier and much more cost effective to keep someone housed rather than , you know , maybe giving them a couple thousand dollars if they've missed a rent payment or they had an emergency medical come up , medical bill come up or something like that. Um , you know , that's way easier and cheaper than waiting for them to end up on the street and then trying to get them back into housing. And you know , the experts I talked to , they always caution that law enforcement and arrests and camping bans , they never actually solve the problem of homelessness. You know , all they do is maybe move encampments along , move them into places that are less visible. They don't actually get people housed , and they can actually have really detrimental effects on the people who are living on the streets. You know , every time an encampment is swept by police , you know , people lose their important belongings , their medication , their medical equipment , the paperwork that helps them get into housing. And they also lose their connections with their , you know , social workers , their mental health workers , their doctors. And it can make it harder for outreach workers to find them and actually get them the help that they need.
S1: Well , talk to me more about the mental burden of all that and what it would be like for someone to move their encampment every three days under this new ordinance.
S6: Yeah , I mean , that can be incredibly traumatic , you know , not having anywhere to really be able to , um , to , to be and to just , um , just relax. It can make people be , you know , hyper vigilant , hyper alert , which can really , uh , have an impact on their mental health. Um , and then , you know , one of the other problems is , um , when someone's living on the street and they're in an encampment , people often form really deep bonds with the people they're living in community with. Um , they have these sort of street families. Um , and that's important not only for their mental health and their well-being , but it can really be important for , um , for safety and survival. People are less likely to overdose when they are , you know , using with other people and not just by themselves in a tent. Um , and they might be , you know , more protected from , from attacks from things like that. So breaking up these camps and making people , um , scatter into sort of less , uh , less visible locations , um , you know , can can really be hard , hard in that way.
S1: So , you know , obviously these are things that the model ordinance does not address.
S6: Um , it also doesn't include any sort of teeth. Um , you know , nothing about this actually forces any city to adopt this ordinance or any other camping ordinance. Um , Newsom has suggested that he could withhold state homelessness funding from cities that he doesn't feel are doing enough. Um , but that's , you know , a bit of a vague threat , and it's unclear. You know , if a city right now just chooses to ignore this and does not adopt a camping ordinance. Um , you know , it's unclear if , if anything will happen to them.
S1: Um , you know , we heard about cities and how they're reacting , but how are community members and housing advocates responding to all this ? Yeah.
S6: You know , there's there's been a big outcry from , um , you know , housing advocates and the people who , um , you know , provide services for and support people living on the streets. You know , just , um , just the sense that , uh , criminalizing homelessness , you know , in , uh , increasing enforcement , uh , passing ordinances , none of that actually solves the root problem of homelessness. And it doesn't address , you know , why people are out on the streets , um , which , you know , experts will tell you is generally a lack of housing that people can afford. So you know nothing about making an encampment illegal addresses any of that. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. Well , what should we expect to come out of this ordinance from here. What will you be watching and reporting on.
S6: I think it'll be really interesting to see if , uh , we do see cities just copy and paste this ordinance and adopt it. Um , I'm not sure. It'll be hard to say. It'll be hard to say if we will see that. Like I said , we've already seen so many cities adopt their own ordinances. I think the Grants Pass Supreme Court case really gave cities the green light to do so. So if they were interested in that , you know , we've already seen a lot of cities take advantage. It is possible we'll see some cities change their existing camping ordinances to be more in line with the governor's vision. Um , you know , maybe if they have a stricter ordinance , they will add some of newsome's suggestions , such as the 48 hour notice or something like that. So yeah , that'll be really interesting to see going forward.
S1: I've been speaking with Marissa Kendall. She covers homelessness for Cal Matters. Marissa , thanks so much.
S6: You're welcome.
S1: After the break , we'll catch up on other stories from a very busy week in news. Stay tuned. The roundup is next. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Jade Hindman in for Andrew Bracken. All right. So it is time now for our roundup of other stories from this week's news. Joining me is KPBS producer Ashley Rush. Ashley , how's it going ? Good.
S7:
S1: It is Friday.
S7: It is Friday.
S1: All right , let's get into it. Let's do it. So I want to start with this story Jeff McDonald did for the UT. It is about the dozens of lawsuits San Diego County is facing involving its foster care system , specifically the Polinsky Children's Center. The plaintiffs , who are now adults , say when they were taken out of their parents custody and placed in the system , they were sexually abused , some even drugged by staff , to make it easier for them to be molested. In addition to repeated sexual assaults , some of the plaintiffs say they were also verbally and physically abused. According to the suits. This went on for decades , and when the children reported this and pleaded for help , they were told to be quiet by staff and administration or their complaints were just completely ignored. And according to the UT article , the suits accused social workers , both men and women , of sexually exploiting children as young as eight years old. It is just horrific , Ashley. And the article goes on to point out the county is facing more than 100 of these lawsuits , which could cost more than $100 million. Similar cases were settled in Los Angeles County just last month , and officials there agreed to pay billions of dollars to resolve thousands of allegations there. You know , but really , there is no dollar amount you can put on the trauma these people allegedly experienced as children. Ashley.
S7: No , there's really not. And I know the article also talked about lawsuits filed by victims who are in the county's juvenile detention centers. And we're going to do a whole deep dive on on those lawsuits. During our midday edition broadcast on Monday at noon , so check that out. Another story this week having to do with some big budget news. So earlier we heard about the City of San Diego's budget. This is California's budget. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the revised state budget for 2526. I read about this in Calmatters from Dan Walters. He reports that the state deficit grew by $12 billion. That's a lot of money. And Newsom blamed Trump's tariffs and general economic policies for that deficit growing so much. Um , and Newsom announced a bunch of plans to close the deficit. The big one I want to talk about is restricting Medi-Cal enrollment , specifically freezing new enrollments for people 19 and older who don't have permanent legal status. And that would start in 2026. And also all undocumented adults currently getting Medi-Cal will have to start paying $100 premium every month. So , you know , notably , this is the complete opposite of where Newsom was with Medi-Cal a year ago , when he granted Medi-Cal access to all low income immigrants without legal status. And people will remember that Newsom ran for governor on the promise of universal health care. So some people are upset. It's kind of a flip flop of that. Yeah. That promise. And about these Medi-Cal cuts , Newsom said. We're not cutting back those enrolled in our Medi-Cal system. We're just capping it. We're not letting anyone else in. Um , but of course , many social justice advocates and labor groups , they're proposing tax increases to balance the state's budget instead of cutting from these social services. So Newsom's resisted those calls. But you never know what will happen next. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. You know , all of this makes me wonder what his political aspirations are. Of course , it just seems like in recent times he's moved more towards the right to perhaps garner some support from there. You've got this. You've also got him speaking on a few right wing talk shows with podcasts , and also his more conservative approach to homelessness. Recently , across the state , it leaves a lot to question. And of course , we'll see where he goes with all of this. All right. But this this next one that I have is from NPR. It's about the TPS program and the newest group of people the Trump administration has fast tracked into the country. On Monday , the administration welcomed the first planeload of white South African refugees in the U.S.. Trump and Elon Musk allege Afrikaners are experiencing a genocide in South Africa , which is patently false. Currently , the government there is trying to fix some of the historical inequalities caused by apartheid policies , land reform being one of the ways they're doing that. The country aims to redistribute unused land back to the state. And right now , the land is mostly owned by white South Africans , who only make up about 7% of the population , while more than 80% of the population is black. And you may know due to colonisation and apartheid , black South Africans were removed from their land. So there's a little backstory on the 60 or so Afrikaners. Fast tracked into the US and given refugee status as part of a new resettlement program there. But meanwhile , also on Monday , the Trump administration announced it will end the Temporary Protected Status Program , or TPS. And that's for Afghanistan this summer. And that means more than 9000 Afghan refugees may soon be forced to the country now ruled by the Taliban and San Diego. You know , we're a military town here , and many of our veterans and active duty troops worked with Afghan soldiers who served as translators during the war. Some of them say sending these refugees back to Afghanistan could really be a matter of life and death. So we'll be talking more about that on Monday on Midday Edition as well. Yeah.
S7: Yeah. And it really , you know , speaks to who is considered a refugee , I guess , by this new administration who is being afforded these protections. And I know a couple months ago now , we did this panel with refugee resettlement organizations and just kind of how they're responding to the ending of the refugee resettlement program. And we're going to be hearing , like you said , from one of those folks on Monday's Monday's program as well. Right.
S1: Right. Looking forward to that conversation.
S7: I want to bring up another story from a colleague right here in our newsroom , Katie Hyson. She's the KPBS racial justice and Social Equity reporter. Earlier this week , she visited Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Logan Heights. They are joining a lawsuit against the federal government to keep immigration raids out of , quote , sensitive locations , end quote. That's places like churches , schools and hospitals. And previously , those were places kept safe from immigration raids. But in January , Trump revoked that policy. So Katie spoke to Reverend Scott Santa Rosa about this. He says one church member put it this way.
S8: She said , Padre es Como esta casado nos Como si fuera. Animals. As if they're hunting us. As if we're animals.
S7: And the church also had to suspend the migrant shelter. They ran out of their community room after Trump suspended the refugee resettlement program. We were just talking about. And I just really appreciated this story , because I think it's a great example of some of the up close impacts of these national policies we're hearing about. It shows the personal impact of what happens when , you know , a church isn't kept safe from an immigration raid , when a refugee resettlement program is ended , what happens to the people right here in our community ? And I mean , you can hear the passion in this reverend's voice about how concerned he is for the people in his congregation. Later in the story , he says there should just be certain places where people don't feel hunted. And that really resonated with me.
S1: Yeah , indeed. And , you know , the church is , you know , they've really been a big part of , you know , stepping up and a big part of the resistance , if you will , because , you know , this week , the Episcopal Church , um , said it's ending its refugee resettlement agreement with the federal government. Rather than comply with the directive to help resettle the white South Africans arriving in the United States as refugees that we spoke about earlier. And the church cites its steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation as the reason why. But back here locally , you've got something happening in Chula Vista. Yes.
S7: Yes. So the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center just had its grand opening yesterday. Um , this hotel is massive. It's 1600 rooms , 12 bars and restaurants , all with a view of the San Diego Bay. It sounds really big , really fun and exciting. And it's a big deal in the city's longtime vision to transform the Chula Vista Bayfront plan started all the way back in 2002 , and the California Coastal Commission approved the master plan ten years later , after that in 2012. And of course , now we are here finally in 2025. So people are really excited about this. It's expected to promote development in the empty lots next door to the hotel , and the Port of San Diego , says the $1.3 billion resort will generate around $475 million for the local economy each year. So I don't know about you , but I'm really excited by this lazy river and waterslides right here. There's a pool bar. So I'm really excited to go spend a summer day there.
S1: Right ? So I'm assuming they have day passes. Yeah.
S7: Yeah. So I hear I was doing some research and I couldn't find like how much they were , but I'm willing to drop some money on that. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Yeah. But and also though , like it's huge , I have a hard time , um , even imagining having that place filled out to capacity. But , you know , I know San Diego does bring a lot of conventions to town. And so we'll just we'll see how that goes. Yeah. Well , for people traveling to the Gaylord or anywhere else domestically , the time has finally come. We all must have a real ID to board a plane. Which means our driver's license or ID cards have to be government issued. So either a real ID or a passport will get you on a plane without any hiccups. But if you do not have a real ID , I'm hearing you can still board , but not without extra screening , which could take a lot more time.
S7:
S1:
S7: Do you have your real ID ? Nope.
S1: Oh , I'll be doing some extra screening. Good luck. But I do have a passport. Okay , so that that ought to work.
S7: Okay , so I'm going to close it out here with some food news. And that's my favorite beat as always. I read about this story in Eater San Diego. Four San Diego area restaurants , all in North County , made the Michelin Guide for California. They are as follows. Encinitas breakfast and lunch spot. Atelier mana Carlsbad restaurant. Lilo Oceanside burger and fries. Spot. Tanner's Prime burgers and 24 suns. The Chinese Find Cuisine joint in Oceanside. So these new additions are eligible to receive a michelin star at the Michelin Guide California ceremony this summer. That's on June 25th. I have to admit , I haven't been to any of these places. Unfortunately , I am adding them to my Yelp list now , but I can tell you , our colleague Jacob Air says , and I quote , Tanner's has some of the best burgers he's ever had. So okay , big review there. I don't know about you , Jade , but I don't get up to North County often enough , so I'm going to use this as my opportunity to do that.
S1: You must. Yes.
S7: Yes.
S1: Because , you know , we only go to places that satisfy the sophisticated palate of a five year old. Right now , Chuck E cheese is the spot. Mhm.
S7: She's really good taste , honestly.
S1: Sure , sure. Yeah. Well you know we , we dig into the salad bar there. So there's our adult taste. That's awesome.
S7: You get to watch all the fun little critters dancing around to. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Fun times. Oh my goodness. Well we've got a lot to. A lot to think about and a lot to follow up on from this round up. I've been speaking with KPBS producer Ashley Rush. Ashley , thanks.
S9: Thanks , Jade.
S1: Thanks for listening to KPBS roundtable. You can listen to the show anytime as a podcast. Roundtable airs on KPBS FM at noon on Fridays and again Sundays at 6 a.m.. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can email us at roundtable at KPBS. You can also leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtable's technical producer this week was Brandon Truffaut. This show was produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is roundtable senior producer. I'm Jade Hindman. Andrew Bracken is back next week. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
