Exploring San Diego veterans' challenges and contributions

S1: This week on Kpbs roundtable. It's Veteran's Day weekend.

S2: Where we're really lucky in this area here because there's so much of a military , military influence kind of in the fabric of our community.

S1: A conversation about what the military and its veterans bring to San Diego , as well as some of the issues impacting them today.

S3: 15,000 people get out of the military every year in San Diego. Now , how many of them can afford to stay here ? Plus , a proposal.

S1: For an income based fixed electric charge and how it involves California's climate goals.

S4: What the CPUc is saying. Look , if we continue on the road that we're on right now , where the price of electricity just continues to go up and up and up and up , that will act as a disincentive for people to use more electricity.

S1: Don't go anywhere. Roundtable is coming up next. Welcome to Kpbs roundtable. I'm Matt Hoffman. It's Veterans Day this weekend. Parades and ceremonies are happening across the county , including the San Diego Veterans Day parade on Sunday. Our region has long been considered a military town. In fact , one report says nearly a quarter of San Diego's economy comes from military related spending. San Diego County is also home to some 200,000 veterans , and that's in addition to over 100,000 active duty service members. We wanted to have a conversation about what the military and its veterans bring to San Diego , as well as touch on some of the issues impacting them today. Here to talk more about it , we're joined by Kpbs military reporter Andrew Dyer and freelance military reporter Gidget Fuentes. And so , Gidget , we mentioned this up at the top. But San Diego is often referred to as a military town. And we know that there's a lot of history here , too. And maybe one of the most obvious displays of that is the USS Midway Museum. And that's over near downtown. Major tours attraction.

S2: We have a lot of military , a lot of families , a lot of government workers. You know , who , you know , spend their their workdays in and around the military. You know , driving around downtown , you see the military , right ? The Navy ships on the waterfront , the helicopters and aircraft in the air. You know , the fighter jets flying over UTC by Miramar. And I think that's a constant reminder of the military presence and veterans in our area commemorating them. You know , it's funny you mention the midway. You know , when the midway was first proposed , there was an outcry over its location. I remember hearing a lot of talk about and folks talking about , well , the ships going to block the bay views and kind of why do we need it ? We have the military here , but it reportedly went profitable that first year , and now it's among the , you know , one of the hottest tourist spots around. Remember any veterans around ? You know , I made a trip out to Mt. Soledad recently. And , you know , the organization there is continuing to expand the panels. And I went there and it was a beautiful , sort of clear day. I chatted up a retired naval aviator , and we were actually watching the Blue Angels zip over UTC during the Miramar Air Show , which was packed from the distance that we can see. And a lot of people gathered up at Mount Soledad , you know , to to to see the jets and to see the views. And a few of us walked around and really , you know , took the time to look at the panels and sort of an appreciation for the veterans in our area , but also organizations that that honor veterans , many by employing them and just honoring their service and sacrifice. You know , I think about in how you commemorate veterans outside of the holiday weekend , and we're lucky enough to be in an area where that sort of we get that reminder all the time.

S3: Oh , yeah , I think we kind of take it for granted even , because I think San Diego is. So it's just so normal to be a veteran here. It's so normal to have sailors and Marines as your neighbor. And like you just said , all of the activity , it just becomes so normalized that you it almost just becomes part of the background of the daily , the day to day. Right. And it's only when you kind of stop and reflect that you realize like , oh , you know what a big what a big part of the community it is. But I think people in San Diego are kind of fortunate to be exposed so much to to the military and people in the military because , you know , it just makes the community more diverse to have all of these folks from all over the country here.

S1: And you certainly mentioned some of the benefits there , but I wonder if you guys see if there's any , you know , sort of unique challenges that come with having such a large military and also veteran presence in San Diego.

S3: Well , the cost of living for one is I mean , that's not that's not limited to veterans. I mean , that's that's everybody. You know , it's an expensive place to live. Recent , you know , these real estate folks , you know , somebody is now saying that it's the most expensive city in the US. I don't know about their methodology , but it's definitely not cheap. So yeah , I think I did see another another study recently come through about veterans actually have it a little bit easier time getting financing for homes , even though prices are up and interest rates are up because of the VA mortgage program. So they actually kind of get a little bit of a leg up as far as financial stability goes. So yeah , they do continue to contribute obviously to the economy and like the housing market. But I think one of the big things about San Diego and I talked with the mayor , Todd Gloria. A couple of days ago , and he was saying , 15,000 people get out of the military every year in San Diego. Now , how many of them can afford to stay here ? When I got out , I was. I love San Diego , and when I got out , I was scrambling to figure out how I could afford to stay here because I loved it so much , you know ? And I think a lot of service members kind of go through that , like , okay , if I want to stay here , I need to plan for it. I need to get ready , whether it's through retirement or regular separation. And that's why the city is trying to do I don't know how much they can do , but they are trying to do something to help retain veteran talent.

S1: And we might touch on that a little bit later.

S2: You know , military families , active duty troops , whether they're single or they're married , get some sort of compensation , a housing allowance. If you're junior and single , you're probably living on base in the barracks. So housing is provided to you at no cost. The housing allowances that the military families received , you know , vary by location. San Diego is one of the higher areas , so the monthly allowance that they get is higher than , you know , less expensive places around the country. I checked today , and it's actually still lower than San Francisco , where junior enlisted personnel , you know , could probably draw $4,500 a month in housing allowance , let's say , if they're doing recruiting duty up there. So I think for some veterans , when they get out of service , it's a shock when they realize , oh , wait a minute , now I got to cover my housing expenses and still earn some sort of salary.

S3: It kind of reminded me , you know , whenever I got out of the Navy , I had a three year old child and all of a sudden my child care subsidy went away. But we really liked our provider. It was a home provider. And so we had our instantly overnight , our child care costs doubled because the Navy subsidizes child care. So there's a lot of cost of living elements that , you know , service members get benefit , get the benefit of. But then you have to find a way to replace that if you want to stay here once you get out. Interesting.

S1: Interesting. That's something I really hadn't thought about before , even some of those subsidies. But I think both of you sort of alluded to this earlier , sort of the cost of living or how you make it in San Diego. And we know being a military town , there's a special focus on hiring veterans , you know , different job fairs that happen all the time , sometimes even like on base.

S3: You know , like any job , it's all kind of who you know. Right. And , you know , your buddy got out two years ago and , you know , maybe he's a General Atomics or something. And so he kind of tells you , hey , this job is opening up whatever. So a lot of the skills transfer over. So I think a lot of people find work that way. It's definitely a challenge to find. I think one of the difficulties is translating your military experience into what a job like that looks like outside of the military. But , you know , the the DoD , they give a class. When I did it , it was like two weeks long. The Tap class , which is where they try to teach you how to write your resume and translate it for everyone else. But that's always one hurdle that that you come across. Of course , I think another hurdle that I encountered was just education , because I didn't have a bachelor's degree when I got out , and I was really relying on my work experience , which was actually kind of limiting for a lot of the jobs in the region , because , you know , without a bachelor's degree , it is just that much more difficult.

S1: And I know we both went to San Diego State together. So you're an Aztec and Gidget , do you have any additional thoughts on maybe how our region does in trying to support , you know , military members transitioning into veterans and transitioning into civilian life ? Yes.

S2: You know , the area out here , as Andrew mentioned , you know , we have so many defense contractors around. And , you know , we see them and a lot of the military members , whether you're in a Navy on a ship or marine out in the field of Camp Pendleton , you know , we'll run into the contractors , you know , who help them , you know , doing their military training , learning , maybe some of the high tech systems like drones and computer networks. So there's a lot of that civilian military interaction. And it's a great opportunity for I think. A number of service members , as I've seen over the years , to see themselves probably in that next career , in the future job and make those connections. We're really lucky in this area here because there's so much of a military , military influence kind of in the fabric of our community. Right ? And so it pays off for I think those those service members who are transitioning out and looking for that next job. It's not always easy , but there are plenty of services both offered through the military , like in Andrew mentioned with the transition assistance classes. Unfortunately , oftentimes Marines and sailors will describe those as trying to drink from the fire hose because there's so much information provided to them. And let's face it , oftentimes their mind is elsewhere , you know , thinking of getting out of town , going back home , doing something else other than wearing a uniform the next day. But at some point , reality will set it right. A nice thing that I've learned out here recently , just doing some of my work , is that there's a growing emphasis among the colleges out here to include Palomar College and Cal State San Marcos , and I know Sdsu as well to expand their veteran services. That includes all kinds of things from networking with companies , you know , lining up student veterans with internships or apprenticeships often paid ideally. And I learned of a of a more recent and growing effort to help service members translating like their work experience in the military to something civilian , but actually turning some of that work experience and professional military education into college credit.

S1: And it's great to hear that those options are available. And up at the top. We mentioned that there's hundreds of thousands of veterans who call San Diego home. And to help support them in terms of health care , we have the VA. There's a hospital up near La Jolla , Andrew , and we've seen an effort in recent years to reduce barriers for care , especially when it comes to crisis care.

S3: The VA is very aware of its obligations , and it's also aware of its own shortcomings. So anytime you talk to folks at the VA , you know they are I do give them they get a lot of grief from veterans and people do have negative experiences. But when I talked to people at the VA like they are trying , they are trying to to see everybody. They are trying to , you know , provide the best outcomes. I think in San Diego , we're very fortunate once again , because we do have a really great VA medical center here. There is a actually a mental health , kind of like an emergency room just for mental health emergencies there , which is , you know , just another thing that is offered here that maybe veterans living in other places don't have access to. So not to mention all of the stuff that VA , there are VA satellite clinics in North County , Chula Vista , there are. And there's also the VA will get out in the community and reach out to veterans. So and you know , not even to get started on all of the non governmental organizations that they partner with. So there is a robust network and infrastructure in San Diego to support veterans from people who have advanced degrees and are looking to get more education to some of our less fortunate veteran brothers and sisters who are , you know , living on the streets. But services exist for for veterans of every every stripe.

S1: Yeah , we know that there's been efforts underway in San Diego County to try and reduce the veteran homeless population. Also kind of alluded to their veterans and their families as well , too.

S2: Like Andrew mentioned , you know , there are a lot of nonprofit organizations that do help out. There's a growing awareness and some changes within even a local city and county services to include the police departments , you know , to do outreach. I know up here in Oceanside , there is a homeless outreach teams that go out. I see their vans driving around the neighborhood at times. And , you know , we have a pretty active veterans veterans group and , you know , Veterans Center up here in North County in Oceanside that do all sorts of activities and have a pretty good presence. And they're pretty well known. I mean , even within the even when speaking with the local colleges , they they team up with not only the vet centers , but some of these nonprofit groups to help out. One of the things , you know , in terms of homelessness is that among , you know , the the military , the homeless veterans , you know , there's a smaller population that , you know , are. Trying to , you know , get out of that situation. And , you know , much like college students who are homeless , you know , some of the colleges out here are trying to provide services and that connections to resources to help them get out and find housing and a stable place so that then they can further their studies or get employment and , you know , work their way out.

S1: And as we sort of wrap up the show here , you know , we're talking about veterans. It is Veteran's Day coming up this weekend. But what about military families or veteran families ? I mean , they're along with them throughout this whole entire process , right ? That maybe sometimes isn't easy. And sometimes I think of people who you meet and they maybe have traveled crisscross the country as their parents get deployed.

S3: So it's it's just you can't really separate it from the fabric of this community. Because everything in San Diego , San Diego's growth , its economy , that is the the linchpin. That's how San Diego grew. Whereas today it's a lot more biotech stuff. But the growth of San Diego and the thing that brought all of the development here was the military at the beginning of the last century. But , you know , it goes back to to the same thing because of this robust military infrastructure. Military families and veteran families do kind of have a leg up over those in other regions , I'd say , except for , you know , Northern Virginia , you know , the capital area. You know , this is the highest concentration of services for both military families and for veterans. So those that are here that are looking for some help is definitely out there if you need it. And there's a very robust network of veterans in the community , not just in the kind of veteran services community , but like , like in the news media and in other more pedestrian kind of career fields. So there's always kind of a mentor and a network out there that is accessible if you if you look for it.

S1: And Gidget , like Andrea , we know that the military is something that you also have a personal connection with.

S2: I used to live in the Washington , DC area. As Andrew said , that's a large concentration of military and government workers and families and retirees and veterans out here. It's very similar , albeit a bit younger because of the large number of active duty troops out here. Um , my husband's a retired marine and spent almost this whole career based out here at Camp Pendleton and on the West Coast with the few trips overseas. And I've been here 24 years and. You know , the military community out here , I think. I think some forget that because of all the facilities that we have here , you know , there's so much collaboration both for helping resolve veteran homelessness , but also caring for military service members and caring for their families. And I think that comes from that personal connections that we all have. And I think , you know , building on that , even as you know , the veteran community overall will will decrease in time , you know , as a World War two and Korea era and Vietnam era veterans age , it'll be interesting to see how these programs can be sustained to support the veterans and support the military troops in our area. For me personally , my dad was in the Army before my time. He did several years with the army during Korea but was serving in Europe. You know , we always had a US flag at our front door as a kid , and I still have one at my front door by my garage today. I've had a lot of military friends over the years , and particularly living out here in Southern California , as Andrew mentioned , our neighbors or friends or military members , military veterans , military families. So I think , you know , every Veterans Day around here , we kind of can look at each other and think , okay , it's Veterans Day every day to a degree , unlike other places in the country. But it's nice for everyone to sort of get that reminder every year.

S1: Well , that was a great Veteran's Day conversation. I want to thank you both. I've been speaking with Kpbs military reporter Andrew Dyer , along with San Diego based military reporter Gidget Fuentes. And both of you. Thanks so much for being here.

S3: Thank you.

S2: Thank you for having me.

S1: Just ahead on roundtable , a move toward an income based electric charge.

S4: The legislature is mandating that the Public Utilities Commission develop a system of flat utility fees. These are fees that would be unavoidable and would end up on your bill every single month.

S1: How that could impact your electric bill. Coming up next. Welcome back to Kpbs roundtable. I'm Matt Hoffman. San Diego residents charged up about high electricity prices. That headline came from Kpbs environment reporter Eric Anderson earlier this week. And that was after power regulators were up in Escondido discussing a new rate proposal for San Diego Gas and Electric. But during that meeting , a separate yet also related issue took center stage a proposal for an income based fixed electric charge. Joining us to dive into it all is Kpbs environment reporter Eric Anderson. Eric , welcome back to roundtable. My pleasure. Great to have you here. We're going to need your help explaining all this. But before we get into this fixed charge issue , which there's a lot of opinions about , let's start up in Escondido earlier this week.

S4: When a utility like San Diego Gas and Electric makes a rate increase request every four years , the utility has to kind of project into the future how much money they need to operate. This last request the SDG made was for $3.6 billion. But this meeting wasn't about that money request. This was actually something that , like I said , was a little technical issue. What they were doing was deciding how the revenue that they collect is divided between the asset classes. So for residential or small , medium or large commercial or industrial or lighting districts or or agriculture , how much of that revenue is is gotten from each of those sources ? So it didn't really involve a discussion about revenue , but as you may have already figured out , one thing that did happen as a result of the CPSC coming to San Diego was that a lot of other issues kind of bubbled up to the surface. And because the CPUc doesn't have regular meetings here , it was a chance for people to to speak up about a lot of different things.

S1:

S4: Just to give you a sense of what that is. You know , the legislature is mandating that the Public Utilities Commission develop a system of flat utility fees. These are fees that would be unavoidable and would end up on your bill every single month. That system is kind of being discussed right now. It's the flat fee system that's unavoidable. And lawmakers or regulators rather are sort of looking at all the different things. And there's an administrative law judge who's looking at about nine different proposals for this. And sometime probably early next year , they'll come out with a proposed decision , a proposed way of going in this direction. Okay.

S1: Okay. So stepping back for a second in terms of the bills that every single San Diegan sees from SDG , every month , you know , aside from this fixed price thing , how are we build now ? Like there's sort of like all these different pieces that add up to a larger , bigger bill pie , right ? Right.

S4: What we basically do now is something that they call a volumetric approach to energy charging and energy usage. And that basically just means that the more energy you use , the more you pay for. So California has those high rates. You know , we've got pretty high rates here in San Diego. And as people use more electricity , their bills get larger and larger and larger. The fixed fee is kind of a departure from that. What I think the legislation is asking the regulators to do is to come up with a fee based on income that will allow the the utility to charge , you know , a regular recurring fee , basically stabilize finances in that stream to the customers. And and that fee then is combined with a smaller volumetric fee. So if you have a small monthly fee , like 5 or $10 , the volumetric fee is not going to come down very much. If you have a large flat fee , like 70 or 80 or $100 , then that volumetric rate will come down. And I think what the driving force is for regulators is they want to encourage people to move away from fossil fuels , to move toward electrification. And they feel like that because the prices are currently so high , they can't do that. So so this might be a way where you can lower the volumetric price and still give the utilities the revenue they need to operate their business and maintain the grid.

S1:

S4: I think a lot will depend on just how large the flat fee is and who pays what. Those are all questions that are being debated now by the administrative law judge. And just to kind of give you some perspective. The utility San Diego Gas and Electric is looking at for rate fee structure for rate. Their initial proposal included four different rates for different income levels that range from 24 to $128 a month , $128 a month. That's close to $1,000 over the course of the year. Before you figure in any electricity that you may use. Now they are. These rates are not necessarily all tied to what they call distribution , right ? The utility would like to have all of their disparate distribution and transmission costs in that flat fee. But there are other proposals that are called for smaller flat fees that don't do that that way. And this is something that regulators will have to decide. But as sort of a starting point , the idea is , yeah , transportation and transmission of of the electricity is in the flat fee and all the other costs are in the volumetric fee.

S1:

S4: The way that the bill is broken out now is really , in essence , a bookkeeping change. So you currently pay a bill that includes transmission , public purpose programs , taxes and the cost of the commodity in that kilowatt hour charge. And what you're doing is , is you're removing some of the costs that are in the kilowatt hour charge and putting it into a flat fee and lowering the kilowatt hour charge. But overall , the bill is very much the same. The overall bill doesn't change that much. Now , for some customers , the bill will be lowered. If you're a lower income customer. Yeah , it's going to be great because you're going to get support. The people who are at the top end of the income scale are going to be paying more. And the people at the bottom end of the income scale , as Anthony Wagner of San Diego Gas and Electric told me , will be paying less.

S5: We think that the fixed charge ultimately helps secure the people who can least afford electricity.

S4: And so that's the contention from from regulators as well as they're looking to make electricity more affordable for those who can least afford it.

S1: And you know , Eric , all of this sort of reminds me of a story that we've covered at Kpbs a lot , that you've covered a lot. It's that whole thing where SDG has said that , you know , solar customers pay less for distribution of power , and other residents who do not have , like , rooftop solar have to pay more to make up for that cost of distributing all the actual power. So like is increasing solar use.

S4: This is something that came up in an energy bill that was passed in the last legislative session. There was no author. It was not debated on the floor. We don't know who actually wrote it into the language of the bill. So we can't really ask that question. What's the motivation behind it ? But it is related , but it's also not related. Let me explain to you what I mean by that. San Diego gas electric bills over the last ten years are up 105%. And the CPUc says that it's because of three things wildfire mitigation , transmission and distribution , investments , and rooftop solar incentives that are all paid for within the kilowatt hour cost of electricity. And what the state is saying is , is that this rising rate , kilowatt hour rate needs to be cut down. Otherwise people won't go out and buy electric cars , they won't install heat pumps , they won't make the changes in their daily lifestyle that will reduce the greenhouse gases that are going into the atmosphere. And so they're looking at this as as , you know , sort of related but not completely related. It's not an apples to apples comparison.

S1: And not everyone is on board with this idea of a fixed distribution charge. And Supervisor Jim Desmond is one of those very vocal critics.

S4: And that's what he wants to see changed.

S6: The way that we've always paid for energy before is the more you use , the more you pay. And that's and it's tiered that way with water , with gasoline and things like that. But now with the electricity , it's going to be based on your income. And to me , I think that's unfair. And people you , the users should have to pay pay for the cost of it. Not everybody else.

S4: And like he said , it's not the way we pay for any other commodity. But also it's not a choice that regulators say that they have. They say the state legislature is mandating that they pursue this. Where those rates fall , I think , is what the discussion is.

S1: You know , we have the CPUc public advocate's office also out here saying that , quote , new mechanisms just like this income based distribution charge are necessary to ensure that electrification is cost effective. And that's in order to meet some state climate goals.

S4: And. What what the CPAC is saying. Look , if we continue on the road that we're on right now , where the price of electricity just continues to go up and up and up and up , that will act as a disincentive for people to use more electricity , to use electricity for electric cars. The heat pumps. ET cetera. And what they are doing is trying to find a way to encourage people , find an economic way to encourage people to use more electricity. And I think that's where the where the heart of , of the California Public Advocate's office is. They want to make keep electricity affordable for people on the most part , and encourage people to put in the kinds of appliances and the lifestyle habits that encourage the use of electricity so the state can remain on track to meet the climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

S1: All right , Eric , so as we wrap up this segment , where do you see all of this heading or what are you going to be watching for next.

S4: Well , the rate case is probably going to be decided sometime next year. So we're going to find out how much more the utilities are going to be charging customers in the San Diego gas and electric service area. The decision on the flat fee will also probably come in the first quarter of next year. Somewhere around in there , the proposed decision and then the commissioners , five commissioners and the CPUc will decide when that will be. And that is expected to be implemented sometime in 2026. But that proposed decision is going to give us that kind of first peek into the size of these flat bills that we currently that that we would have to pay as customers of San Diego Gas and Electric.

S1: It sounds like a lot still has to be sort of fleshed out here. I've been speaking with Kpbs environment reporter Eric Anderson. And Eric , it's always great to have you here.

S4: Thank you , I appreciate it.

S1: When Kpbs roundtable returns , it's roundup time with producer Andrew Bracken. The San Diego Padres.

S7: They're looking for their next manager right now. An interesting story. Mexico's president , President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He basically has chimed in on who he thinks should be the Padres next manager.

S1: Roundtable is back in less than two minutes. This is Kpbs roundtable. I'm Matt Hoffman. It's roundup time. Producer Andrew Bracken is here with a list of some other San Diego stories that he's been watching. What's up ? Andrew ? Hey , Matt. Happy Friday. You know , as of today , we're less than two weeks away from Thanksgiving.

S7:

S1: It's coming up so fast. I still haven't even got my flight out to Sacramento yet , so hopefully my parents don't hear this , so I've.

S7: Got to get on that. Yeah. No.

S1: All right.

S7: Monica Montgomery , step one , the fourth district county supervisor race. She will replace the seat that was filled by Nathan Fletcher. And the Democrats now regain the majority of the county board seats. Also , there was the race for Chula Vista City attorney that will be heading for a runoff between Bart Masefield and Marco Verdugo.

S1: Lastly , the water divorce.

S7: The water divorce. We have spoken with Alexander Winn a couple of times on this issue , and I remember the last time we had him on , we talked about , you know , what the predictions were. And he said , you know , there hadn't really been polling on it. Well , now we know. And it was like more than 90. It was like 95% voted yes to leave the San Diego County Water Authority. So this means residents in Fallbrook and Rainbow , they'll be getting their water from Riverside and are leaving San Diego counties.

S1: Where they say they could get for cheaper. Right.

S7: Right. And that's the thing. And Alexander spoke with Eileen Delaney of the Fair Water Rights Campaign about the result of the vote. And this is what she had to say.

S8: It's a win for the farmers who have had to pay astronomical water rates , and they've lost so many trees and so many groves. It's a win for the little guy. It's a win for local control , and it's a win for families that are struggling to pay their bills.

S7: So again , that just plays into what you said. You know , just that they're going to save money. And again that's affects the Fallbrook and Rainbow districts there and where they get their water from.

S1: And we'll have to see what impact that has on other residents. Because I know Alexander's reporting sort of alluded to that people have to pay more outside of those districts. Okay. What else you got ? Kpbs.

S7: Amita Sharma published a story about the sale of the Union Tribune , which happened this summer , being bought by Alden Global Capital. And it was just kind of taking a look at the experience of another newspaper that went through the same thing. And this is the Riverside Press Enterprise. So she spoke with former Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge and just kind of documented sort of the , you know , the downward spiral of that paper and its importance in the community. And it's something that's just like a warning to to San Diego , to us here and what a community can lose if enough of the resources of a newspaper , you know , go away.

S1: It's really a fascinating read if you look at it. And I know Voice of San Diego had a similar piece , kind of more sounds like speaking to people inside as this was all unfolding. But we know , and maybe we're a little bit biased , but definitely having less journalists covering our community is not a good thing. And one of those quotes , I don't know if you have it , but from that mayor really stood out to me. Yeah.

S7: Yeah. He said , quote , there was a sense that the paper was the guardian of our future , and now it's just simply a kind of silent passenger. And again , he was just referring to this , how the newspaper was when when I think when he was mayor and just the importance it had in the community. I think so many reporters he like , you know , the first thing I would do , I would read that paper when he was mayor and just how it sort of changed. So looking at what's changed with newspapers , there's a lot to it , but it's definitely an interesting read. Definitely.

S1: Definitely. So if you haven't seen that , go check it out over on PBS.org. Okay.

S7: I think they're calling it a hiatus right now , but they're stopping. So there's no more of those.

S1: Electric scooters or.

S7: Scooters that you rent right now. And so , yeah , he just kind of talks about it. So then it's just a question of what happens. There's like almost a thousand of these like spots where the scooters are supposed to go. So the little.

S1: What do they call them , like Garrett. Cartridges.

S7: Cartridges.

S1: Corral corrals. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's painting with scooters. You're supposed to park them there , right.

S7: There's also city agency that kind of manages the scooters , but now there's there's no more. So kind of they're left with nothing to do. We had a.

S1: Bunch of those companies here , like there was lime , there was Uber Bird.

S7: San Diego put in place some some particular restrictions. I think Garrett's piece refers to one. Saying it's like the strictest in the nation or something like that. But they wanted to prevent scooters on sidewalks , make them safer. So I think there's like if they're detected to be on the sidewalks , the speed is capped at like three miles per hour , things like that. So there's some I don't know. Again , in the piece brings up , there's some discussion on whether they're going to , you know , rethink some of these rules or ease restrictions to bring back some of these companies , because as we know , we've talked about it on this show , you know , reaching these climate goals is an important step. And this kind of transportation is , you know , kind of important for San Diego. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. Like the final mile from like getting off a trolley or something like that. Yeah. But you say that there is a chance that they could come back.

S7: They call it a winter snooze. So and again it's a hiatus. So we'll have to see.

S1: Well we know we have the infrastructure for it okay. What's next.

S7: A related story. There was a study from Streetlight Data , and it found that walking has fallen considerable early since the pandemic began. And I think it found the average daily walking trips annually fell by 36% nationwide between like 2019 and 2022. And San Diego is kind of in that range. It was at 30%. So it's just sort of interesting. I think remote work plays a lot into this. Our lives changed so much during the course of the pandemic , but that's a that's a big number.

S1: It's a very interesting little statistic because I think you hit it on the head. The working from home has to contribute to that because like when you're in the office going to get lunch with coworkers , you're walking around , maybe even just on your break taking a walk. But definitely interesting. And I wonder if they could like , triangulate that with like , Apple Watches or Fitbits to see if it's matching up.

S7: Yeah , I don't know. You know , all the ins and outs of like how they came to this data. But it also had some more optimistic news for San Diego. And and San Diego was listed a second in increase in walking trips for 2022. That was up 14%. So that was second out of I think it was like the top 100 cities.

S1: Well , maybe weather plays into it to nicer weather. You know , if you're in a colder city like Buffalo , maybe you're not out walking as much. So. Okay.

S7: The San Diego Wave FC were playing in the semifinal match. We were optimistic. I think unfortunately they lost last weekend and they will not be playing in the final , which is this Saturday. The NWSL final is still being played in San Diego at Snapdragon , but the wave won't won't be playing in it. Unfortunately , they still had a great season. But you know , I know you love talking about it. When we've had conversations about San Diego sports in the past , you love bringing up the sports curse.

S1: Sports curse ? Yeah , the sports curse that no major championship has been won in San Diego. Now , we do have the soccer's. They've won many championships. But like , we're talking about like the Chargers , the Padres , the National Women's Soccer League , nobody's been able to get it done yet , but definitely a heartbreaker of a season for the wave. It was so cool to see again. Like 30 plus thousand people turning out in Mission Valley for that game. So this team in a short amount of time has got a lot of support from San Diegans , which is cool to see.

S7: No , I mean still like super bright future for the franchise and for soccer in San Diego.

S1: We got more of that coming. So more chances to break the San Diego Sports Championship curse. Right. And one more about the Padres.

S7: So the San Diego Padres , they're looking for their next manager right now. And there's been a few names thrown about. But an interesting story. Mexico's president , President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador , he basically has chimed in on who he thinks should be the Padres next manager. Here's a little of what he had to say.

S9: Lozano , S de Los Padres , the San Diego San Buscando manager.

S7: So basically he's in this statement. He you know , he points out that they're looking for a new manager , and he suggests the current manager of the Mexican national team , Benji Gil. They had a really good run in the World Baseball Classic and they made it to the semifinals there. But also interestingly , Gil is originally from Tijuana and he went to high school in Chula Vista. So he's like a local product. So I didn't know that. So I thought that was just an interesting thing , but it was just kind of cool that literally , like Mexico's president is even chiming in on the Padres managerial choice here.

S1: When you talk about looking for references for a job application , it's got to be a good one , right ? Yeah.

S7:

S1: And it puts you on a binational stage. So we shall see when that all gets resolved. I know that there's a long off season. We don't know when it's going to happen , but it would be cool to see a local guy getting that job.

S7: I think.

S1: So , yeah. Andrew Bracken , always great to have you here on the roundup. Thanks for being here. Thank you Matt. That's going to round out roundtable for this week. We appreciate you joining us and listening. If you have any questions or comments about anything you heard today , leave us a voicemail. (619) 452-0228. If you missed any part of our show , go ahead and check out the Kpbs roundtable podcast wherever you get your podcast. Our show airs on Kpbs FM at noon on Fridays and again on Sunday at 6 a.m.. Roundtable is produced by Andrew Bracken. Rebecca Chacon and Ben Reed Lusk are our technical producers , and I'm your host , Matt Hoffman. For all the veterans in San Diego and elsewhere. Thank you so much for your service. Enjoy the weekend.