S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Today we bring you a reporter's roundtable all about San Diego's North County. How are cities they are doing and creating housing and meeting state goals. From new housing projects to school board meetings , we hear more about their reporting and what it's like to cover the range of communities and cities across North County. Plus , we hear about a new KPBS series that takes us inside some of San Diego's finest and most fascinating museums. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. San Diego's North County isn't exactly known for its housing affordability , but one North County city is exceeding in its state mandated housing goals. And we're going to talk more about that. Today , we're talking with reporters covering San Diego's North County. Target Lane covers the North County for Voice of San Diego and writes the North County Report. Katie Futterman also joins me. She's the North County community reporter with IE News Source. And finally , Alexander Nguyen's Here. He covers the North County here at KPBS. I want to welcome you all here , but just to get things started , you know what would be your top North County headline this week ? Take us.
S2: Um , well , I just wrote a story a few days ago about San Marcos and how its , you know , the headline was literally , it's crushing its housing goals. Um , but yeah , San Marcos is doing really well toward its state mandated , state mandated , um , housing goals. And it's something where I was looking kind of at all of the cities there. This is the time of year where they have to release their , um , they call them progress reports toward these goals that they have to create housing for very low income , low income , moderate and above moderate housing. So San Marcos is doing really well. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And I want to dig more into that. We'll get to that. But Alex , what for you is the North County headline this week ? Well , top of mind.
S3: Well , for me the biggest one is , I think , the city of Carlsbad , and especially with the fireworks ordinance ban that they just enacted , that basically put more fines on people purchasing or put or possessing illegal fireworks. Um , it's already illegal in San Diego County. They're just adding more to it. And then , of course , the new , um , e-bikes ordinance is about to be enacted in Carlsbad. I believe it's already is enacted a few days ago. But yeah , that's the biggest headline.
S1: So I think something similar is already in place in Encinitas and it's being considered in San Diego. You're right. That's kind of like a. Everywhere.
S3: Everywhere.
S1: Bellwether all around the county. Katie. What ? You know , what's top of mind for you around North County right now ? Yeah.
S4: So following the theme of housing , I wrote about a housing development out in Poway , and the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians is calling on the city to , like , halt progress on the project because they say it is an ancient burial site and they found a human remains there. And so I wrote about that this week.
S1: So just , you know , such a range of topics you cover and it's , you know , just a lot of cities and a lot of different communities. So take us let's go back to this , you know , story you mentioned. Tell us about North City and San Marcos and what their approach is on housing production. As you mentioned , they're doing quite well when I think most of the headlines we're familiar with are maybe cities not meeting these state housing goals.
S2: Yeah , exactly. Um , yeah , it's pretty unique. Um , right now to see a city doing this. Well. Um , each city has these goals that they're supposed to meet , and a lot of cities say they're kind of unattainable.
S1: And can you talk a little bit more of what those goals are ? Because there's different levels of affordability. Just paint the picture for us. What what a city is , you know , supposed to do from the.
S2: City for sure. Yeah. So each city has to have a housing element , which is just like a plan of these are the types of housing we're going to make way for. And each city has targets called arena targets , where it's a specific number in each income category that I mentioned earlier , very low , low um , moderate and above moderate. So these are income categories. And in each category every city has to set aside a certain number. So you know 530 low income units for example. Um , and it's all in this span of nine years , 2021 to 2029. Um , so cities have to kind of show every year how they're progressing toward their goals. Um , and typically what we see is most cities are kind of like way behind.
S1: The curve.
S2: Very behind. And by now they should be kind of at least halfway to each target. So San Marcos is the only one in the county that I've seen. Um , that is half at least halfway in every category and they've surpassed , um , they're above moderate category. So.
S1: And I mean , can you talk a little bit about why or Alex , I mean , you're familiar with this area of , of , uh , North City is the is the kind of like that downtown range.
S3: Basically , it's surrounded by urban city. So it's so they can't have the argument that says , well , this is traditionally farmland. We wanted more open spaces. They do have a lot of open spaces , to be sure , but I think it's because they're , you know , in between two urban areas that they can't do these things. And of course , um , I believe Mayor Jones. Rebecca Jones , the outgoing mayor of San Marcos , took a different approach. She , you know , worked with developers , developers to bring more , um , development into the city. I mean , it is once the one of the fastest growing cities in North County in that regard. So they have more people moving there. More homes being built. I mean , Discovery Road , you know , when I started covering North County was just , you know , a patch of land , uh , very rural , you know , not rural , but very , um , undeveloped. Yeah. Um , you know , shrubs , shrubs everywhere. But now it's , you know , you go there , you can't even recognize it now. Just homes being built , hospitals being build. Sharp. Not sharp. I believe its scripts. Scripts had a parcel of land on that road for 30 plus years , intending to build a hospital , and now they are doing it because the population demands it.
S1: So and I guess the question is , take us one question I had is , you know , how does what San Marcos is doing contrast with other North County cities ? You mentioned ? They're doing ? Well , a lot of other cities aren't. You know , I think , you know , Alex mentioned some of the geography questions , I'm guessing , like up against the coast , maybe they have less land to develop. But tell us more about how this contrasts with other cities.
S2: Yeah for sure. Yeah , Alex mentioned it for sure in my story that I wrote , we had I talked to , um , Eric Berwald , who's the CEO of the San Diego North Economic Development Council , and that was one of the things he mentioned was San Marcos had a lot of undeveloped land , which makes it easier to build on land that previously didn't have development. So that was one of the factors. And then North city is this downtown that San Marcos is creating. So Rebecca Jones mentioned to me , like we were able to plan around that and concentrate a lot of the heavier density projects in North City because it didn't previously have a downtown. Um , and then that , you know , compared to other cities. Yeah , the definitely the geography plays a factor. Um , and then , you know , a lot of cities on the coast , smaller cities , they believe that they don't have the room to build. So like Solana Beach , for example , is a very small coastal city , and they have been critical of the state mandates because they say we don't have the room. Yeah.
S1: Katie , you reported on , you know , the lack of lack of available affordable housing in Encinitas around section eight housing.
S4: Like the politics in the city is very much around housing. And it's a little bit of a different attitude , um , about , you know , building more housing and viewing that state mandate. Yeah. I wrote about section eight waitlists around the whole county. Um , and , uh , those are , you know , the that's the federal program that provides housing vouchers and basically found that , um , a lot of San Diego County and the city serves a lot of areas , but a few places have their own housing authorities. And I saw that of those places. Um , Encinitas is one of them. And they were either like closing their waitlists or they were basically stopping altogether. Uh , that was in large part because the federal spending hasn't necessarily kept up. They've all of the housing authorities said that they've had to spend more and more on , you know , the cost of rent has increased , so the amount that they have to spend has increased.
S1: So yeah , a lot going on there. Alex , last time we spoke on roundtable we talked about another affordable housing project , this one in Del Mar. Seaside Ridge. Can you kind of remind us what that project was. And maybe we can chat about where it is now because it's still facing challenges , right ? Yeah.
S3: So that project is on the South Bluff on in Del Mar above a dog's dog beach.
S1: So right near the the racetrack , that whole kind of.
S3: Yeah , yeah. It's like right next to Solana Beach. Um , and , uh , what happened is that a , you know , property owner wants to build affordable housing on that bluffs. And the city says , oh , no , you didn't fill out the correct paperwork. So therefore it considered incomplete. And the developer is arguing , no , this you know , we filed everything we needed. And plus , at the time when we were filing this , you guys didn't have a affordable housing plan. So therefore it qualifies for a builder's remedy , which cuts a lot of the red tape. And it's back and forth , back and forth. And then the attorney general stepped in and says , guys , I think Del Mar , you are in violation of the new law that went into effect earlier this year that says cities are supposed to , you know , cut a lot of the red tape to get affordable housing built. So that's where we are at. Um , the , uh , I mean , you know , Del Mar has sat down with the representative of the California attorney general , and they haven't come to a resolution yet.
S1: And tickets. Yeah. You know , talking about Seaside Ridge , I think there is inherently a lot of these this push pull with , you know , the cities and the state. Um , yeah. Tell us more about how Seaside Ridge kind of fits into these housing stories are covering what it says about North County.
S2: Yeah , for sure. It definitely tells like a larger story about , you know , the tension between the state's policies and what cities want to do. And a lot of North County cities are or city leaders are more in favor of local control , even San Marcos leaders. Um , so that's , you know , it's definitely an example of that. Del Mar doesn't want to approve this project. They've said that they have enough , um , housing planned already. They don't need this project. They're trying to get an affordable housing project going on the Del Mar Fairgrounds , which has been a little bit , like shaky at times. Um , the fairgrounds board has , you know , almost pulled the plug on the project a couple times. Um , so we still don't even know if that's going to be , um , to ever come into fruition. So yeah , it's definitely interesting to see like Delmar leaders want to stick to their plan. And then these developers are coming in and saying , no , we have a project and we actually can move forward with it because of state housing laws. Um , so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. And the developers suing the city. So , um , that's definitely going to be something to watch out for.
S1: Katy , earlier you mentioned some of your reporting about this housing project in Poway called Hidden Valley Ranch. Tell us more about what's happening and what you're following there. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. So I'm sort of just following to see what the city's reaction will be. The city of Poway and also the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. You know , this project was first approved back in like 2003. And then I think there's been , um , some changes in meetings since. But it's a it's definitely a long time in the making. And this is , you know , just something that the , um , Tribe has been , you know , calling attention to now. They found , um , they knew it was a they say they knew it was basically a some sort of sacred and special site. But then they actually , you know , did find the evidence of , of human remains. And they're calling for a stop work order. There's been some partial stop work orders so far , but they're calling for a total stop work order. So it'll be interesting to see how that unfolds.
S1: Alex , you know , just kind of wrapping up this housing piece.
S3: The citizens did , uh , who are very pro housing and installed three who aren't who wants more local control. So you kind of see this push back and forth , especially in coastal cities or wealthier cities , that you see this happening. And also that's kind of interesting about Poway , because Poway is is , you know , more inland and they do actually have the room to grow. So I'm really interested into seeing how Poway deals with this housing issue as well. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And it's really interesting. I want to talk after the break a little bit more about , you know , the different communities because we say we say North County , but we're talking about a lot of different places , right. So we'll continue in just a moment. This is KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Today we're talking with reporters covering San Diego's North County. My guests are Tejas Lane from Voice of San Diego , Katie Futterman from IE News Source and KPBS. Alexander Nguyen. Alex , I want to move over to the Palomar Airport in Carlsbad. There's been some news about new flights there , but tell us what's been happening and how community members are feeling about it.
S3: Well , you know , that airport has been there for ages. And , you know , some of the people who are living near the airport do not want commercial airlines to fly out of that airport. They say it's because of noise pollution. And what's interesting is that the county says this airport has always had , you know , commercial flights. But for the past , I believe , ten or so years , there haven't been any commercial flight out of the airport because American Airlines pulled out and then United pulled out. But now they're back. And the county says that has always been a part of the master plan for the airport. But community community members just say it's too noisy for them. They you know , the flights are constantly flying at all hours of the night , even though the commercial airlines only have four flights out of Palomar at this point. And then American Airlines recently just wants to add more flights into Carlsbad. I believe it's just two more flights. Um , flying into , uh , Carlsbad Airport and a group called citizens for Friendly Airport , uh , has sued the county and the airlines over this issue. And right now it's still in the process in the courts.
S1: Katie , I think , you know , for folks that live like myself who live closer to downtown San Diego , we're familiar with what it's like to live near an airport. Yeah. What jumps out to you ? Because I think it's also United does some flights there , right. Tell us more about Palomar and what's going on there. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. So one of the interesting things about the airport is that unlike the San Diego airport , it doesn't have a mandatory noise curfew. So it can't , um , legally like enforce , um , a mandatory curfew. It only has a voluntary curfew. And we've already seen with the airlines , both in multiple leases , the airlines have basically proposed , um , flights that are outside their voluntary curfew. And the new proposed , um , American flights will be landing after 10 p.m.. And , yeah , the residents who live nearby are pretty upset , the county says. And the FAA also says this , that basically the county has no ability to like , say no to the lease because as long as they're deemed safe , it's not up to the county. They say it would be basically discriminatory to say no to any lease. Uh , the residents nearby dispute that. Also notable is that the city of Carlsbad also joined one of the lawsuits and is suing against it. So it's going to be really interesting because there's now like multiple lawsuits and they're kind of changing as new leases , um , come through. Um , also important to note that a lot of people , you know , are excited about these flights. If you live in North County , you don't have to commute down to San Diego. Airport's a lot easier. So it's definitely a contentious issue. Um , if you ask different people , they're gonna , you know , feel differently. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. For people in North County , um , what they're looking at is either flying , going all the way down to San Diego International or going to John Wayne or going to Ontario. Those are the three options to fly out. Now that Carlsbad , even though it doesn't fly to a lot of cities , it does fly to , um , you know , a few of the hubs. So , you know , they can fly to Phoenix and then catch a flight , uh , from Phoenix anywhere. Because that is one of the hubs for the airlines.
S1: Um , yeah. And a sign of just , you know , how much is happening there. You know , Carlsbad has become like a booming scene and other Oceanside scenes for food and other things. Um , I want to kind of just zoom out a little bit and talk about how you all kind of approach covering North County. As we mentioned , there's , you know , the coastal cities , there's inland. There's just such a range of different communities. And take us you've been covering this region for about four years now. Yeah.
S2: Um , because it's so vast and there's so many pieces to it that are so different. Um , I mean , I just when I talk to people about my coverage , you know , I explained that North County is a region , but there's so many. The cities are all unique. Um , there's such a difference between Inland North County and , um , coastal North County. Um , and even within that , like Escondido , is different than , like Vista and San Marcos like , these are all very unique pockets of communities. And even within the communities there's different neighborhoods and , um , just groups of people that are , you know , passionate about different things. So I honestly just my approach is to just try to be plugged in as much as I can. Um , I try to talk to different people in different cities and different neighborhoods , different people in different professions and sectors. Um , and I try to just like , keep my ear to the ground as much as possible to try to understand what each community cares about and what they're paying attention to in any given moment. But you know , it can be difficult. I constantly feel like I'm missing things and I'm sure you guys can relate to.
S1: Yeah , I'm seeing both of you nod. Katie , you're the newest one on this beat. And you grew up in New York City , which is quite different than , you know , North County. Tell us about your approach. I mean , do you agree with kind of. Definitely.
S4: Definitely. I'm echoing echoing that and definitely reading a lot of her stories when I came here , but I sort of described myself as like going on almost like a listening tour around the county and just driving around and trying to be as many I go to as many events and meetings as I can , even if I'm not like writing a story about them , just to sort of get a sense of the place. Um , and yeah , any given week I feel like I have a million stories I could write , and it's just sort of figuring out how to best spend my time and what to write about. But yeah , there's so many stories I want to write. And , um.
S1: But do you focus on , like , a particular city or. I mean , yeah.
S4: And , you know , I love writing those , like follow up stories that go beyond just the surface level decision. So I think I've sort of so far in my like seven months here , I've sort of found myself like maybe I'll spend a few weeks , um , going down sort of one path and then try to like shift over. Um , but yeah , it's really hard to cover everything.
S1: But one of those stories you covered , um , you reported on sort of these parents and their involvement in the local school board in Encinitas.
S4: And people , um , you know , different places are different , but there's a lot of , like , civic engagement. I really liked finding that. And so I started to look into I had done some education coverage in the past and started to look at the school board. And I saw this parent , this group of parents who go to every single , um , school board meeting. And I don't know how many of you guys have gone to a lot of school board meetings. They're not always the most entertaining and fun meetings , and they go to every single one. And they make these like , long. They make these Instagram Reels and like , they have a whole social media and they write about it and they try to , like , better educate other parents about it. And I just thought that was really cool. So I , um , wrote about that.
S1: And yeah , you really get a sense of just their engagement , like the level of , of of engagement. And we know school boards have become such like a , yeah , you know , such a space where people are kind of , I don't know , getting involved.
S4: And yeah , I think it definitely it definitely came to be out of a whole bunch of , you know , controversy and culture wars that were going on a few years back. Um , but has kind of morphed into , um , something sustainable.
S1: Alex , you've , you know , you grew up , spent much of your childhood here in San Diego. You've known North County even before you were covering it , which you've been covering for several years.
S3: So while it's interesting , we talk about , you know , some policy that's being passed and stuff like that. I sometimes have to skip over that and go into more something that's more visual elements so that we can cover it on air. But I also kind of look at different topics and issues , and also try to see if I can cover other parts of the county of North County that has not been covered a lot. For example , like lately , we've been covering a lot of Carlsbad because of , you know , the incident with the kid and the bicycle and all of that stuff. And then I noticed , like , oh , we've been covering Carlsbad a lot , so let's see what other cities are doing and see we can get more of that. And um , funny that Katy just covered Poway because I was looking at power and going , I haven't covered Poway in a while , ever since , uh , the controversy with the Poway councilman.
S1: It's like a lot of synergy. You guys are all kind of filling the pieces. I mean , Alex , just to call out , one of you mentioned this , like , you know , importance of visual storytelling. One recent story you did was , you know , we all know North County is famous for its beaches , but you did this story on Del Mar and a new ordinance on , on , on beach holes. I think this clip just kind of really , I don't know , is an interesting piece of the story.
S5: It's a very Delmar thing to do , but I totally get it.
S1: I just love that part of the moment. But it is a very visual story. But tell us about the problem of beech beetles. We have about a little over two minutes right now.
S3: Well , I mean , it's kind of funny the way that Delmer approached it , but it is a serious issue in that , you know , Delmar is banning people from digging holes bigger than two feet or deeper than two feet because they don't always fill them up so that , you know , lifeguards when they run to rescue somebody. And if the surf is high up over the tides , high up , they can't see those holes. So the trip and fall or the or their trucks get caught in those things. So it is a , you know , legitimate issue. It was just funny that they say , well , you know , the whole story is about kids going to the beach and digging holes and parents going , well , you know , kids , they dig holes at the beach , but it is a serious issue. So I think , you know , Delmar specifically saying , no bigger than two feet or deeper than two feet is a legitimate.
S1: But there is a real reason behind it. Yeah , I think. But it is a fun story. Just to kind of sum up the range of how you all cover. You know , we're kind of closing in the end here. So just real briefly.
S2: I think , um , it's interesting to see how officials keep , you know , covering that and how they're evolving with their thought processes on that.
S1:
S4: I know that's not not necessarily next week , but.
S1: It's coming up. I'm glad you mentioned it. Yeah. It's not far off , is it ? Yeah.
S4: There's a lot , a lot going on in this election season. So it'll be cool to to fall.
S1: Alex , more beach holes.
S3: And I'm looking into a story where , you know , people who own these land that used to be farm and they do not want it to become another development. So they wanted to , uh , make it continue to be farmed. But but obviously , some kids who grew up say , I don't want to be a farmer anymore. So they're looking at ways in which they can , you know , pass it on to somebody who wants to farm and keep the land producing food. And there's a program called Farmed Linking , which basically says , you own this farm and there's some people who wants to farm. So let's link you guys together and let's make that work.
S1: We'll look forward to all your future reporting. I've been speaking with North County reporters Katie Futterman from eNews source , Alexandra Nguyen from KPBS , and Guest Lane with Voice of San Diego. And we'll have links to some of the stories we've been talking about on our website , as well as on our show notes today. Katie , Alex , thanks so much for being here. We really appreciate it.
S4: Thank you. Thanks. Thank.
S1: Thank. Up next , we hear about a KPBS series introducing us to some of our region's best museums. Stay tuned. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. What are the essential ingredients that make a city truly world class ? Is it the restaurants vibrant nightlife ? Maybe it's architecture. All good choices. But my next guest might offer another suggestion to a great city. To be a great city. You need great museums. John Carroll is a reporter and anchor here at KPBS. He's also the creator of the Museum a month series on KPBS. And John , welcome to roundtable.
S6: Thanks , Andrea. Good to be here.
S1: Great to have you here. So what makes museums so special to the makeup of a city or county like San Diego ? Hmm.
S6: Well , I think that museums do a lot of things. They sort of , in general , inform us and connect us to our past. They can speak to things happening in the present , and in some instances , they can give us an eye into the future. They also just bring lovely experiences that maybe slow us down from the hectic pace of life nowadays. And that's worth a lot. So yeah , a lot of things.
S1: It covers a lot of ground. I mean , yeah. Tell us about the inspiration behind this series.
S6: So it's called Museum a month. I am friends with Bob Lehman , who is the past executive director of the Museum Council , and we were talking one night about the museums. There's a lot of them , dozens of them in San Diego County , and I had for a number of years done a story every year in February where they have the half off during the month promotion. And I was saying , you know , there are just so many amazing museums in San Diego , San Diego County. And I think especially that the KPBS audience is has a higher level of interest than maybe the greater society in that. And I said , let's think of something where we can do more regular stories , regularly occurring stories on museums. So we kind of hatched this idea for a museum. A month. I went to the Powers That Be here at KPBS and pitched it , and they were happy about it. And so we began last October. And kind of the idea behind it , generally speaking , was to highlight the existence and the stories of museums that really aren't on people's radar , that are not the big 18 in Balboa Park , because there are many , many , many more museums that are not in the park.
S1: And , you know , let's I want to talk more about some of those that that you've introduced us to.
S6: But also it's just , you know , Bob and I will talk about different museums. Um , we will often try and link a certain museum to something happening. For instance , we did in February. The San Diego African-American Museum of Fine Art , a museum without walls because it was Black History Month. So if we can do a , you know , a connection , a tie like that , that's that's very helpful. But also some of it just comes down to things that I read about or he'll tell me about that I just find fascinating. And I think , okay , well , I want to I want to do that. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So in your latest episode , you introduce and introduce us to the Navy Seals Museum. And you spoke with Brian Drexler. They're executive director of that museum. Here's some of what he told you.
S7: The museum's job is to present facts and not opinions , but facts. When you look at Naval Special Warfare in 80 years of rich , adaptive , innovative history and telling that story accurately , I do think is very important.
S1: I mean , the Navy Seals capture such , I don't know , such a space in military , you know , in the role they play here. And we know many of them are here in San Diego. But tell us more about the museum and what you learned.
S6: So I want to first say that there is another Navy Seal museum. That's why we always call this one Navy Seal Museum San Diego. They're the big granddaddy is in Fort Pierce , Florida. So this is the second one. Um , it is downtown. Uh , it's two story building. It's where the Museum of Modern Art used to be. And then they moved up to. I think it's La Jolla. And so it's right across the street from the Santa Fe depot. Um , I'm fascinated by the seals and what they do and everything. And as I say toward the top of the story , it's lifting the veil on a formerly secret world because the Seals were not out for publicity. They don't like to be in the spotlight at all. But the museum has really done a really great job of taking control of the narrative and telling the story , um , about how they came , about what they do. And then there are different features inside the museum. Do you want me to talk about that a little bit ? Because that's interesting. Yeah. Okay. So , um , first of all , when you walk in , there's an immersive , uh , big three huge screens around you where you get a never before seen look at the the Seals in training off of Coronado. Uh , they had special permission to go shoot that. And it's just really , really interesting. Uh , there's a wall of remembrance , which is interactive screens where you can look at seals who have died in the line of duty and see the stories behind what they did. And then upstairs , it's , uh , more really interesting artifacts , equipment , different stories about different raids , like the Osama bin laden thing in 2011. And then what just really surprised me and I was so impressed by is. Before you leave , there is a display they call a call to service , and you hear stories from retired seals on a big video screen. And then right next to that is a smaller interactive screen where you can , uh , look at different ways to serve that have nothing to do with the military. And , and Brian really made that point that we want folks here to leave if they want to join the Seals or the Marine Corps or the Navy or the Air Force or whatever , fine. But the importance is to just do something to serve your community service above self.
S1: Your first episode in the series brought you to the Barona Cultural Center and Museum , and we have a clip here. You're talking to Raymond Welch , chairman of the Barona Band of Mission Indians. Let's listen to some of that.
S6: As he turns the layers of cellophane , we take a visual trip from the past to the present. Pre-contact.
S8: Pre-contact. This is where our people were.
S6: Welch turns a layer.
S8: As contact is everything , contact comes in contact with. Europeans say Mexico was when Mexico was California. Yeah.
S6: California became part of the United States in 1850. In 1870 , president Grant set land in the Paula and San Pasqual valleys aside for the tribe , but in 1891 they were forced to move.
S8: Let's see. There's the original reservation , Capitan. Grandee. Oh , yeah. Right there.
S1: So I like that clip because we hear some of the interaction and how you're kind of taking us on this journey to learn more about our history , more about , you know , the museum itself. Tell us more about how you approach telling the story of a museum like this one. Hmm. Um.
S6: I go in with as few preconceived notions as possible because I know I'm always going to learn things and be surprised by things when I'm in there. Uh , what he was doing there was turning these cellophane layers that lay on top of each other and show the history of the tribe through the years. And as he talks about when white Europeans came and all that ensued after that which was made by they have a school there right next to the museum , the Bruner School , and it was made by students , I think seventh graders. Hope I got that right. That was back in October. Um , but it's just wonderful how they tie in , um , the experience of children and making sure that the children know the story of the tribe and what has gone on over the years , the attempts to wipe them out and etc. , etc.. And then Andrew , there was another surprise for me. It bowled me over. Uh , when I was talking to you yesterday about this story , I couldn't remember the name of the architect. And I think it's Frederick Gill. I know someone out there is going to hopefully say yes , Yes. That's right. Um , he was very famous San Diego architect , and he built a lot of beautiful homes around San Diego as the architect of. And when he found out about Barona settling where they are now , he said , I want to help you build a design and build houses and a church. And so he has his own room dedicated to him. And it just when you find surprises like that on a story even beyond the museum stories , that's kind of , as a reporter , something that you want to make sure that you convey to the audience , like , whoa , you aren't going to believe this. This is really something.
S1: I think that's Irving Gill does that.
S6: Irving , thank you , thank you , thank you , thank you. Yes , I , I knew that Gil was right. Yeah. Okay.
S1: I mean , you cover a wide range of of different museums , but also kind of all over the county you take is kind of a window into the old West one , El Cajon one. I recommend people , you know , try that out , watch that episode. But you also can even push our image of what a museum can be. And I want to talk. One recent story you did , you took us into the former , the former home of the late artist James Hubble. Um , you know , it is a it is a museum in one sense , but it's I mean , it's like a piece of art.
S6: They don't call it a museum.
S1: Okay ? They're. Yeah. Tell us about. It.
S6: It. The executive director made that clear. Um , so when I discuss what this thing is. Museum a month , we use that because it's a catchy , alliterative phrase , you know ? But it's really about museums and cultural institutions. And Ellen Lyell , that's the name of it up. There is most assuredly a cultural institution , and it is just wild. I had looked at it online before I went up there with , uh , our photographer and , uh , I don't all I can say is watch the story and then go visit it because it's like , um , it's I've never dropped acid in my life , but I would imagine that. That's what it's like looking at buildings. They're wild out of this world. Remarkable.
S1: Beautiful structure and embedded into nature.
S6: That was his big thing.
S1: I mean , you talked about how much how you learned something from each museum you visit. But , I mean , are there any couple moments that stand out to you that you could share ? Hmm.
S6: Um , well , I'll tell you. Most recently , I knew this was part of the Navy Seal Museum , but I wasn't quite ready for it. They have a virtual reality , uh , exhibit where you accompany a Seal team on this mission to rescue hostages off of a tanker , and you're in a thing they call a 4D chair , and it kind of moves little , and there's rushing air and stuff , and it's. It's unnervingly real , but it's really cool.
S1: Yeah , and it's in your story.
S6: It's in there. And it is in the story. That's right. Um , boy , I don't know if we have enough time for me to sit here and contemplate. There have been so many moments. Uh , the , uh , the African-American Museum. Um , really cool thing that he did. It's a I would call it high tech , where it's a museum within a museum. Um , you put you aim your phone at these things on the floor , and they bring up virtual displays in front of you so you can walk around and you're seeing things virtually , but also the real displays there , too , and in a limited space that they had. I thought that was just a really interesting approach , and it really worked. And I could go on and on. Andrew. But it's uh.
S1: Yeah , we started talking about just , you know , the , the role museums play in our society.
S6: There's the Surf Museum up in Oceanside , down to whatever there is down on the. I'm blanking. I'm sorry. Along the border and all in between. Um , you started off this segment by talking about continually trying to lift San Diego County , San Diego City County to a world class place. And that just doesn't happen unless you have a panoply of museums and a wide offering of different stuff. So I really try to bring those forward to our audience and hopefully drive , uh , numbers for the museums. I want them to succeed. It's a struggle for even the biggies in Balboa Park. And so , um , especially these days with cuts and funding and whatnot. So they really need the support and they're so worth supporting if you just go take a chance , go see the Reuben H. Fleet. Go see the Miniature Museum of Engineering and Miniatures in Carlsbad. That is bold me over to. There are just so many different offerings. The Museum of Music up in the North County. It's almost never ending. And I hear music creeping in.
S1: Well , John Carroll , he's a reporter and anchor here at KPBS. You can find his ongoing Museum a month series on our website , KPBS. Org will link to that. John , thanks so much.
S6: Thanks , Andrew. A lot of fun.
S1: And that'll do it for roundtable this week. Thanks so much for listening. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can always email us at roundtable at KPBS or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtables. Technical producers Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Rooth is roundtable senior producer , and I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Have a great weekend.
