S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Well , ready or not , the era of driverless cars is here. By now , you've probably seen one on San Diego streets. The self-driving company Waymo gets the okay to bring its service to San Diego. We take a ride in one and look at what riders can expect. We're going to go to one of my favorite music venues , the Casbah. Then recent revelations paint a grim picture of National City's finances. All while the South Bay city prepares for a big change in leadership. Plus , the Padres are starting a new six game homestand this weekend with new majority owners at the helm. That's coming up on KPBS roundtable. Earlier this month , state regulators allowed Waymo to bring its driverless taxi service to San Diego and throughout much of Southern California. And while you can't get a ride in one just yet. I got the chance to check one out yesterday.
S2: Here I am getting ready for my first Waymo ride. And I'm looking at the powder blue sort of soft edged minivan Waymo that you see on the streets. All right. So now we're inside the Waymo. And we're going to go to one of my favorite music venues the Casbah.
S3: We'll cover a few riding tips. This experience may feel futuristic , but the needs of buckle up is the same as always. So keep your seatbelt properly fastened and your seat upright. If you're traveling with little ones.
S2: It's a lot to take in. The ghost steering wheel is a.
S4: It's a So it'll.
S2: Take some getting used to.
S3: To check on writers , improve our product and more. But our microphones are only here.
S2: We are getting pretty close to the Casbah , making our way through a stoplight here outside of Balboa Park.
S3: Drop off if you hear that means a car or cyclist is approaching , please exit carefully.
S2: Here we are. And I'm gonna exit. Oh.
S1: Well , that was a little taste there. The experience of riding in an autonomous vehicle , also known as Avs. But we want to learn more about how they're working in other cities across the country. And Kirsten Korsak is a transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of a acast. That's a podcast all about this new world of driverless cars we're living in. And she's been covering this technology and companies like Waymo for a long time. Kirsten , welcome. Hello.
S3: Hello.
S5: Thanks for having me on. And I have so many questions for you. Actually , since you had. Congratulations. You just had your first ride. Yeah. And here's my question for you. I'm going to play. Interviewer. Um , so how long did it take until you the novelty wore off and you were like , hey , this is this is kind of normal.
S1: You know , I'm not sure I got there yet. And I should say , this is like a , you know , a preview , right? So there's a Waymo representative involved. It is sort of like pre constructed. So it's not the full Waymo experience. I didn't have the app on my phone for example. But it I did get a little relaxed in there. You know what I mean. And it was interesting to kind of see the process of , as I mentioned , the steering wheel moving kind of throws you off when there's not human hands on it. Um , but I did , you know , kind of got used to it and enjoyed the ride a little bit. Um , but now I want to turn to you. I mean , you've been writing these things for many years. How would you describe the experience for someone who's never been in one what it's like?
S5: Well , yeah. Backing up. I mean , I think my took my first Waymo ride when it wasn't even called Waymo. It was , I want to say 2015. And it was on a closed course at the Mountain View headquarters of Google. And even then , the experience that I had , I think is very similar to what other folks have now at a commercial stage , which is there's a lot of novelty in the beginning. And if done properly , it shouldn't be exciting. Really , once you settle in , it should be , you know , safe , planned , predictable. Um , that isn't always the case , right? In terms of the predictability piece of it. But I think for most folks , what they should expect is , um , it should be fairly straightforward. The actual ride the drop off and pick off points , I think are the areas where Waymo and other driverless companies are still working out the kinks a bit. Um , so sometimes you have to walk a little bit to get to your destination.
S1: I did notice that exactly. Like , you know , you might be a , you know , a few feet off or something like that. And I think you can kind of adjust those settings in the app. Right?
S5: Yeah , exactly. And and that has actually been a point of criticism actually , um , between , you know , against Waymo in terms of where it's dropping off , there are safety advocates , for instance , especially in the bicycling community , who do not like the fact that some Waymo is pulled over in the bike lane. And one could say , sure , human drivers do this. Maybe my Uber driver does this , but driverless cars are held to a higher standard , as they probably should be. Um , because there isn't that human in the loop , at least certainly behind the steering wheel. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And on that , I mean , what are some of the most common complaints that you've heard from folks in cities where these driverless taxis are already operating?
S5: So it's interesting. So let's use San Francisco as , as a , as a point to talk about and for what um , folks in San Diego can probably expect , which is , uh , once you use it , the people who use it love it. Right. Um , they tend to be a frequent users of it. Uh , certainly there's that novelty piece of it , but then it shifts over to using it to go out to the concert or maybe to the airport , which is a big unlock for Waymo. The folks who tend to complain about Waymo are the ones who are located or live near some of the depots , or are in neighborhoods where a Waymo , a bunch of Waymo's , are queuing up because that neighborhood happens to be close to an area where maybe there's going to be a lot of activity. And so Waymo has dealt with this in pretty much every city that it's launched. I'd like to say that it's getting better at that. But you still hear it because , hey , this is a new technology coming into your neighborhood or city. And if you're not the user of it , maybe you're going to be a little bit more critical of it.
S1: And on those depots , I mean , is that where the vehicles get , you know , charge? And I think I've seen there have been some sort of like viral videos around those. Right. Like where these vehicles , I mean , they kind of do make noise , right? Um , you know , talk to me about how that works and. Yeah , like what other cities have experienced. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. So , um , the depot question is actually kind of an interesting one because it is evolving , but the standard was to have these large video depots in city or maybe just outside of city center because of the space that was required. And you might have hundreds of these vehicles being charged , cleaned , maintained. And in San Francisco , there's kind of a famous one in which the Waymo's were honking at each other as part of a sort of , um , let's say , warning to each other. But if you happen to be in the apartment next door to it , there was a lot of honking at 3:00 in the morning , and people didn't exactly like that. Um , that has since been , you know , mostly addressed and corrected. But I think what where you're seeing this evolution is can you have more depots but smaller. So the footprint , um , puts them closer to where the action is , meaning customers. And you don't necessarily have hundreds of these vehicles coming and going adjacent to a neighborhood. So noise lights , um , you know , those are the types of complaints that Waymo seems to be working to address , but still definitely comes up.
S1: All right. So you know , those are some of the complaints. But I want to turn to kind of what I think is , you know , possibly the biggest question around. Autonomous vehicles more generally , you know , how safe are they? What do we know about safety?
S5: Well , there are if you were to listen to the robotaxi companies and what I should say is call them autonomous vehicle technology companies , because not all of them are doing robotaxis , right? They're self-driving trucks. There is delivery. Um , these companies have long professed that. Listen , this is safer by far , than a human. The question is , we don't have a , let's say , call it a federal driver's license that says these companies with various different approaches to automated driving are safe. There isn't one of those things. There is a federal framework that is being worked on right now , but it really falls to the companies to make this decision. And also the states through regulatory action. And California is probably one of the most robust in terms of regulatory requirements for these companies. They do have to go through numerous stages to be able to deploy. And then the company is like Waymo , do tend to publish these safety frameworks that lay out the case that to prove , hey , we think that this is safe enough and here's why. And they they have these published on their website. There's a number of companies. Zoox. Another company , which is owned by Amazon that operates in California , recently published their framework , for instance. So that is how they're addressing it. But there is no federal. Hey , I got a driver's license for my robotaxi that says this is 100% safe. And this is why. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. Um , you know , another big objection that a lot of people are raising is impact of technology like this on workers. And , you know , as you mentioned , autonomous vehicles cover , you know , a range of services. But , you know , here we're talking about robotaxi specifically. And yesterday , my colleague Jacob Eyre spoke with a member of the United Taxi Workers of San Diego , Peter Zichy. And here's a little of what he had to say about this news of Waymo coming to San Diego.
S6: Well , this is really a public issue. It's like we're just sort of the most obvious , uh , visual here of what AI can be like with a robotaxi. But really , it could be what happens when they show up at your workplace.
S1: And I think that captures , you know , a lot of , a lot of concern people have about the future of work. How have I don't know , you've been seeing tech companies respond to concerns about this? Yeah.
S5: Yeah. There's , um , this is actively happening. It's probably one of the more interesting components of it , which is how is AI going to create jobs or displace jobs? And we are in this sort of disruptive moment. I know that term is tossed around a lot in the tech world , but it is. And drivers , I think are on the front lines , if you will. You have companies like Waymo and others. Um , Tesla , for instance , that will argue that not only will there be , it'll be safer on on public roads , but there will be job creation because we will still need humans to monitor these vehicles , clean , maintain , charge them and things like that. That's a very different job than , let's say , driving. Um , you have in California , the Teamsters labor union , actively lobbying against and trying to push for rules around specifically self-driving trucks , because that delivery driver element , um , feels the most at risk. Um , so there is a lot of pushback from labor unions. Uh , Uber is an interesting case. This is a company that is not developing autonomous vehicle technology. However , it is partnering with more than 30 companies , including Waymo , including Zoox and others. They have argued and actively lobbied for a model that would be a quote unquote hybrid model in which it would require , if you're going to launch a ride hailing network , you have to have humans and you have to have robotaxis. Of course , anyone looking at that and really thinking about it as well , that really benefits Uber. But that is their argument. And I think that's how they're trying to appeal to workers and sort of assuage some of their concerns.
S1: So finally , you know , we have about two minutes left. But , you know , as a tech reporter , you know , with these debates around technology , I think there's a lot of discussion about what the limits , you know , should be in place around them. I'm thinking about , you know , artificial intelligence , but also there are a lot of concerns being raised about surveillance. I don't know if you saw this recent viral video this week from here in San Diego , a man dressed as Darth Vader objecting to these flock cameras. and he brought these objections up at a San Diego City Council meeting this week. But , you know , a lot of folks are just asking questions about what limits should be in place for technology. How do you think that debate will impact the conversation around whether things like Waymo , these driverless cars end up , you know , taking hold?
S5: Well , the debate is happening. And you see in cities that tend to have a culture around anti surveillance. So I think of Portland where Waymo isn't being welcomed maybe as enthusiastically in other areas. You know unfortunately I think what's going to happen is a lot of this is going to play out once the technology is in our cities , meaning people might be asking questions about surveillance. And Waymo has said and I've asked them about this , we don't just turn over everything actively to and tend to push back against law enforcement that have asked for that. But , you know , we don't know every single case in which they do decide to give over. Um , you know , surveillance video. Uh , so I think that it's a real concern. But in San Francisco , for instance , these vehicles , there's hundreds of these vehicles that are around. And I think the surveillance question is ongoing and will continue to be ongoing when there are thousands of robotaxis in these cities. So , you know , we're not building out regulations or let's say , guardrails prior to these , um , robotaxis entering our cities. So I think it's a real concern , um , especially with what we've seen happening with blocks and how it can be misused.
S1: I've been speaking with Kiersten Kawasaki. She's a transportation editor with TechCrunch and co-host of the Acast podcast. Kirsten , thanks so much for being here.
S5: Thanks for having me.
S1: Up next. National city is facing some serious financial challenges and looking at a change in leadership. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. And.
S3: And.
S1: Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. National city is facing a money problem. The current budget outspending the city's revenue. And with the funding gap that funding gaps predicted to grow. Cities facing urgent calls for change and questions about its future. And meanwhile , a major player in national city politics is stepping aside. Joining me to talk about what's happening in National City is Jim Hinch. He covers South County for Voice of San Diego. Jim great to see you. Always good to have you on. Thanks. So help us understand National City's financial picture right now. How big of a deficit is it facing?
S7: They have about a this year or this coming this this current fiscal year , about a $13 million deficit. Out of an 89 roughly $89 million general fund budget. So that's very , very large. That's like larger than 10% of the budget next year. That deficit , if they don't do anything , is forecast to grow to 30 million. And then , more alarmingly , the city manager recently informed the city council that if they did nothing and current trends continue , the city would be insolvent by the year 2030. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And you reported on that that announcement from the city manager really seemed to surprise a lot of folks in National City. So how did it get to this point?
S7: Yeah , it's been building for a little while , and it's not as if the city council was flying blind into this. There have been warnings from watchdogs and even the mayor himself , who was sometimes at odds with the the rest of the council members over fiscal matters , had been warning that the city was on an unsustainable financial course. Those warnings were dismissed by some other council members who kind of Pooh poohed what they called a scarcity mentality and said , the city has a lot of reserves. We're fine. But , uh , I think that one of the main drivers was over the past few years , in an effort to bring their city employees up to parity with other city employees in the county , and also kind of in response to demands from the public employee labor unions who play a pretty big role in city elections. The council members gave pretty much all employees some very large raises for some employees whose pay had been much lower than the county average , they saw raises of like 10 to 20%. The average was around 2 to 5% for most employees , and it's great for the employees , but it has put the city on an unsustainable financial trajectory.
S1: So you mentioned the mayor there. Um , so I think that we can kind of start talking about this , this picture. But first before going into that , I mean , um , you recently wrote that South County politics just in general can be a , quote , tribal , bare knuckle , unsentimental political arena. How have you seen that in national cities specifically?
S7: I would say in some ways , National City might currently be the poster child for that style of politics. It sort of has a little bit of everything over the past year or two , year and a half. The city Council has been consumed by what is both a personal and political drama. It started over a kind of controversial gas station development , and for reasons that are too complicated to go into in full detail , it just metastasized into a larger debate over allegations of corruption against the mayor , the mayor making his own accusations that council members were leaking information to attorneys opposed to the city. Um. Kind of everything in between. Council members , uh , arguing with each other , raised voices on the city council , public speakers coming in to lambast either members of the council or the mayor. For a while , it seemed that this kind of ground city government not completely to a halt , but it really consumed a lot of time. It's been a ton of turnover in City Hall. They've had multiple city managers over the past few years. Other top officials have left. Um , there's just been a kind of a general sense of paralysis and even maybe a little bit of chaos in City Hall. And on the council in particular , the relations are very bad and have broken down. People who were once friends now are , uh , opponents. Often they keep it civil , but not always. It's an election year this year. People are posturing and positioning themselves for those races , and there's been a lot of behind the scenes activity of council candidates. Trying to damage opponents behind the scenes prevent them from getting endorsements.
S1: So there's a lot of drama there.
S7: It's a lot of drama.
S1: All right. Well , a figure , you know , at the center of it. You mentioned the election. It's National City mayor Ron Morrison. He's been just a mainstay in national city politics for decades , but he announced his retirement. Tell us about that decision , what reasons he gave and what that means.
S7: Yeah , it kind of came as a surprise. I believe the deadline to file to run for re-election in National City like to file to be in the city council or or mayoral race in the city was August 7th. The mayor waited all the way up until the next day to announce his intentions. He let the deadline pass without filing , and then held a press conference the following morning to say that after 34 years in city politics , he has served continuously , either on the city council or as mayor for 34 years. Several city council members have said we were children when he first , you know , was involved in city politics , and they remember him coming to their elementary school classroom to talk about civics. So he's been involved in national city politics for that long. And indeed , in countywide politics. He served on a lot of regional boards , and he's a very , very well-known figure. Um , it was widely assumed that he would run , in part because sort of partly stemming from the drama that I was just talking about. Um , one of the city council members who has already announced his intention to run for mayor , Jose Rodriguez really has emerged as kind of a constant opponent and antagonist to the mayor. The two of them disagree on policy , but also on a personal level. They really seem to not have a lot of respect for each other. They have each said very , very negative things about the other one to me in conversations and I think in public , two two is widely assumed that the mayor was going to run simply because he views Jose Rodriguez as bad for the city , and he would want to try to stop him from becoming mayor , whether out of a policy difference or maybe even just out of a certain level of personal spite. But as he said when he made his announcement , he's been in politics for a long time. He's in his mid 70s. He said that when he ran in 2022 , he said back then , I'm not sure whether that's true. I wasn't here reporting on the city at that time , but he said that , he said , and he fully intended that , um , that that the term that's ending now would be his last in politics and that he would retire at the end of that , um , as he put it to me. No one is irreplaceable and I'm replaceable , which , if you look at it from a different perspective , there's been a lot of debate just kind of in our wider culture right now about older political figures holding onto power for too long. You could commend him for realizing that it's time to step aside and let a new generation of leadership come in. At the same time , the city is really facing a lot of problems as we were just talking about , and some people accuse the mayor of kind of stepping down so as to avoid taking responsibility for those things which occurred on his watch.
S1: And there are definitely questions around the timing. As you said , it was just right up at the deadline. During his retirement announcement , he also made an effort to kind of anoint a successor in a sense that's , uh , national City Council member , um , city council member Marcus Bush. How does his. You know? He's announced his entry into the mayoral race. Now , how does that change things for the election this year?
S7: I think it makes it a very interesting referendum on very different approaches to solving the city's problem. All politics is personal in National City , and the race between Marcus Bush and Jose Rodriguez stands a chance of becoming personal. The two of them were friends when they both entered into politics. They both started on the National City Council back in 2020. I believe in won reelection to the council in 2024. Jose Rodriguez ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2022. He was narrowly defeated by Ron Morrison , so he's coming back for a second try at the seat. Rodriguez and Bush were friends and were ideological partners. They both identify as progressives and both of them were very critical of the mayor , who is more conservative in his leanings. He's not a Republican , but he registers as an independent , and for all intents and purposes , he he votes and often talks like a classic , old fashioned , fiscally conservative Republican. Both Bush and Rodriguez said the city needed to take a different approach and needed to embrace its diversity , pursue other avenues of economic development , pay attention to immigrants and its most marginalized citizens. Over the time they've served on the council , the two have drifted apart and then , in part because of this ongoing drama that I talked about on the council , they've they've done more than drift apart. I think they've kind of become opponents. And I think their opposition to one another exists on both a policy and a personal level. Bush has drifted a little more into Morrison's orbit , and he has said that he , even though he still disagrees with Morrison on many things , he feels like he learned a lot from Morrison about how to run a city. And he said that Morrison kind of opened his eyes or helped him to , you know , quote , enlarge his views about things. So he's kind of emerged as Morrison's successor in this race. And he's he has made a pointed effort to cast himself as a candidate who was willing to work with business interests , people with whom he disagrees ideologically , but who might have a good idea for helping the city to get out of its current jam , and who has kind of like taken on some of Morrison's claims about of Jose Rodriguez not always being on the up and up about things and , um , prioritizing himself over the welfare of the city. On the other hand , uh , Rodriguez , I think , has , um , maintained his identity as a progressive. He has very strong ties to the organized , uh , labor movement. And , and and he's very he's very proud of that. And He said his mom worked as a cleaner of hotel rooms for the Marriott Hotel hotel chain for pretty much her entire career. She was a non-unionized hotel worker , and he said she was exploited and watching her struggles and experience has really , he said , really kind of gave him a passion for representing the interests of workers and promoting the interests of organized labor , which he sees as a real advocate for fairer working conditions for workers who otherwise would be taken advantage of by large corporations. Um.
S1: Well , let me just jump in there. I mean , you know , the election's not too far away now. It's like 70 some days away , but I do want to kind of turn back on National City and ask you , you know , like , in about a little less than a minute we have here , you cover South County , you cover Chula Vista , you cover all these cities. They're what makes National City a unique community to cover.
S7: I think what's interesting about it is that it has economic struggles. It has budget struggles. And as we've been talking about , there has been a lot of dysfunction at City Hall. And in that way , you could say fits the classic profile of a lower income community with a dysfunctional government that's always running into financial problems. And all of that is true. But there's an underlying layer to the city , which is fascinating. It's more than 100 years old. It's a historic city. It has been an immigrant landing zone in San Diego County for a long time. It has a lot of residents who have been in the community for many , many , many years and have a huge stake in it and people in National City. For all that , people outside the city sometimes joke about it , are extremely proud of it and point to the many good things that are happening there.
S1: I've been speaking with Jim Hinch. He's a South County reporter and voice of San Diego. Jim , thanks so much for being here.
S7: Thank you.
S1: Up next. Well , it's now official. San Diego Padres have new majority owners. We'll talk about what it means for the team's present and future. Coming up next , this is KPBS roundtable. Stay tuned. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. The San Diego Padres are kicking off a six game homestand later today , when they'll face the Minnesota Twins down at Petco Park. And as the season heads into the final months of this regular season , the team , at least right now , is where it needs to be , and that's holding on to a playoff spot. But the team has seen some pretty big ups and downs this season , with a lot happening off the field as well. Earlier this week , Major League Baseball unanimously approved the sale of the team to an investment group led by José Feliciano and his wife , Kwanza Jones. The $3.9 billion valuation of the team is is a record price for an MLB club. Here with more is Ryan Finley. He's the sports editor at the San Diego Union Tribune. Ryan , welcome back to the show. Hi.
S8: Hi. Thanks for having me.
S1: All right , so we've got to start with this new majority owner group here for the Padres. They were approved earlier this week. What can you tell us about these new owners?
S8: You know , they're interesting. Married couple met at Princeton together. Um , have sort of climbed the ranks. Uh , José Feliciano is a billionaire , uh , who is part of the ownership group for the English soccer team. Chelsea. Uh , he and Kwanza Jones , um , are really going to run this team as a partnership. Uh , Major League Baseball rules dictate that you have to name one quote unquote control person , which is sort of the person who will make decisions on behalf of the team. And that will be Feliciano. Um , so they have come in and they've bought , uh , the largest number of shares of anybody. Now , that's part of this ownership team. Again , it's very much part of a large group of owners. Uh , there is a coalition essentially underneath them. That includes many of the same minority owners who used to own the Padres , um , or who were part of the Seidler group. So , you know , Mexican billionaire Alfredo Palou is still part of it. For example , some members of the Seidler family will remain a part of it with minority shares. But you know who owns the Padres? Well , now it's José Feliciano and his wife , Kwanza Jones. I think that there are some big questions that come with this. They're scheduled to meet with the public and the media on Monday at Petco Park before the Padres game there. I think the thing that's on everybody's minds is will the spending that the Padres did under Peter Seidler continue under Jose Feliciano and Kwanza Jones? I think that the Padres really broke the mold of a quote unquote small market team by spending the way they did. And , you know , I think fans want to know if that will continue.
S1: You know , you covered a lot there in that answer. So I want to kind of circle back on a couple of things. I mean , you mentioned the San Diego being a small market team. This was not a small market price , right? $3.9 billion. Were you surprised by the , you know , the price tag here?
S8: Yes and no. I think that we've seen sports. The value of sports franchises explode lately. Look at the Los Angeles Lakers , right. The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold for the second time in something like 18 months. And at a $2 billion profit. Um , that's just the price of sports franchises continue to explode. Sports continue to become a larger and larger part of our lives. In the case of the Padres , I think they've proven that they can make money in San Diego , a quote unquote small market. So the price didn't necessarily surprise me. Whoever bought the Padres was going to spend a record price to do it. That's just kind of the price of poker now. What did surprise me was the timing of it. You know , Major League Baseball is looking at a potential lockout to start the 2027 season. There are so many questions in the air behind the finances and around the finances of baseball , whether that's a salary cap or a salary for , um , you know , salary structures , things like that , I was a little surprised that somebody would step up and spend that amount of money , when there are still so many questions about the finances of baseball that have yet to be answered.
S1: You mentioned José Feliciano and Kwanza Jones are expected to speak at a press conference on Monday. What are you looking to hear from them?
S8: You know , I think that this is one of those actions speak louder than words situations. I'm sure they will say all the right things. They are fired up about owning the San Diego Padres , right? I mean , they were at the Mexico City series when they played the Arizona Diamondbacks there in late April. Um , uh , our understanding of the newspapers , they've been at least made aware of big decisions that the Padres are making along the way , you know , including at the trade deadline. Uh , I think they're fired up. I think that this will be a very sort of low stakes , get to know you session with these owners where , you know , they will probably have some things to say directly to fans , and I think it will be a chance for us in the media and for fans there to to get to know these two people who you know. I believe they're from Los Angeles , live in Los Angeles. But these two people were mostly strangers to San Diego sports fans until they were linked to buying the Padres six months ago.
S1: This might seem , I don't know , a little bit of a silly question , but I mean , how much does an owner matter for the success of a sports team? I mean , you know , in your view , what differentiates a good owner from a bad one?
S8: You know , it's like the owner of any business. You know , I think that it's sort of doesn't matter on the granular day to day level. But then everything changes , right? When you get new , new management , new ownership , uh , at least that's been the case in my career. Somebody comes in and you're right , the day to day work doesn't change. But over time , I think that they prioritize the things that they want to prioritize. right? They they steer the company in the direction they think it should be steered in. And so , you know , wheel well. They show up on Monday and say , we hate the color brown. And the Padres are going to be navy blue again. Of course not. Um , but I think over time we'll see sort of how they want to run this. Will they run this as a business? You know , if you look at the Padres history of ownership , you know , John Moores ran it as a business , right? He ran it , um , that way. Ron Fowler ran it as a business , right? He ran it to make money with it , and he ran it smartly. He was a businessman. Peter Seidler ran it , I think , a little bit more as a family trust and as maybe a public trust as well.
S1: That and a little bit as a fan maybe too. Yeah.
S8: Yeah. And a little bit as a fan. And I think that he felt that it was his sort of obligation to the community to put a good team in , exciting team on the field to win some baseball games. And , you know , sort of the part of that contract with San Diego is , you know , if Peter Seidler puts a competitive , winning baseball team on the field , San Diegans will show up and maybe not , you know , maybe hold their nose and buy the $18 IPA at Petco Park , because that's part of the deal , right? Uh , I think that that's my big question for the Feliciano Jones ownership group , which is , are you going to run this like one of your holdings , or are you going to run this , as , you know , essentially a public trust as a , as a , as a civic , uh , organization that just happens to play baseball?
S1: Well , hopefully we'll start learning more next week as we get to learn , you know , hear more from these new owners. But I want to turn to another off field story. Um , this one , you know , quite concerning. A San Diego minor league employee named Oswaldo Perella was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Sunday in Texas. He's from Venezuela. His family says he has a valid work permit. You know , what can you tell us about the situation with that and what the teams had to say?
S8: You know , there's so much we don't know right now. The last we heard and were able to confirm he was being held in El Paso. He had flown from Peoria , the Phoenix area where he works at the Padres facility to El Paso because the Chihuahuas were home. Padres top prospect as a catcher , he's a catching coordinator. He was flying out there to , I think , check in on the Chihuahuas. And , uh , he's now being held in El Paso. Um , you know , if you look at Ice , officials say that , you know , essentially he he had overstayed. Um , but his family says that he had all the proper documentation. Uh , it is a concerning story. I think that there's still a lot that we don't know. Um , in all this , um , the Padres , you know , when we contacted them about this a number of days ago , you know , the Padres essentially said , yes , we're aware of it , and we're sort of gathering information. And there hasn't been much follow up from them since. Um , so we'll see. I mean , it's. There are so many things , you know , at stake there. You know , it's it's a the law be it's a political football. Not to mix my sports metaphors here. It's become a political football in America in the year 2026. And that's something um , yeah. Very curious to see how all this turns out.
S1: Well , also like when we look at Major League Baseball or look at the Padres , I mean , Latino players make up a large portion of , uh , you know , of of the players in the league , many from Latin American countries like Venezuela. I'm wondering if any of the players have reacted to this story.
S8: Not yet. You know , tonight , Friday marks the Padres first home game since this has happened. So my guess is there will be more , um , questions asked of players there. Uh , I do know this. You know , Parrilla is from Venezuela , and in light of the earthquake that hit there earlier this spring , a lot of the padres who were from Venezuela , uh , you know , have been wearing the initials VC on their hats. They've been , you know , raising money for , uh , earthquake relief in Venezuela. So , yes , not only is there a large Latin American contingent in Major League Baseball and certainly on the Padres , but there's a very large , disproportionately large Venezuelan contingent. Venezuela loves its baseball. And , you know , every every team in Major League Baseball has somebody who's Venezuelan or Venezuelan adjacent , you know , with the Padres. You know , you may notice Bradley Rodriguez , who's sort of their young relief pitcher star , um , you know , when he pitches , he'll have a yellow VC on the side of his hat. And that's his way of saying to the people back home in Venezuela , hey , I'm thinking about you in light of everything that's gone on there. Um , you know , first , uh , obviously with the earthquake and also just kind of the political unrest that's been there for the last number of years.
S1: All right. So now a little bit to what's been happening on the field this season. How would you describe the Padres season in a nutshell so far?
S8: UPS and downs. Uh , right. You know , what is it? You know the Belmont Park roller coaster. One of those roller coasters at SeaWorld. I mean , it's been that all year. You know , they started on this big high , um , you know , winning sort of , despite all the odds. Right? Lots of comeback victories early in the season. But , you know , they knew as , as early as late April that , that the way they were winning games was not sustainable and sort of the odds were going to catch up with them. And that's exactly what happened , right as spring turned to summer. Um , the Padres essentially ran out of starting pitching. Um , they really struggled to hit. Uh , and things got bad. Luckily , they played well enough in April and early May that they could survive that really sort of deep trench that they went through in the early summer. Uh , their season has really picked up here in the last , gosh , three and a half weeks. Uh , MLB's trade deadline came just as the Padres had won. I believe it was eight of ten. Uh , the Padres decided that they were going to be buyers instead of sellers at the trade deadline. Um , they went out and got , I would argue , two of the three best starting pitchers available in Robbie Ray , who they got from San Francisco , and Casey Mize , who they got from Detroit , and putting those two , you know , veteran professionals , starting pitchers in their starting rotation has really changed the entire outlook of the season. This is a team that finally here in late August , to me at least , looks not only like a playoff team for the first time all year , but looks like the kind of playoff team that could win a series that could make a run , could do something special. Um , all of those phases are coming together now in a way that they haven't all year.
S1: Um , how would you rate the job first time manager Craig Stanton has been doing in this his first season here?
S8: Well , I think you're great on a curve a little bit. The Padres started the season without starting pitcher Joe Musgrove , who hasn't pitched in almost two full years. Right. He's nearing a return , thankfully for them. Um , Nick Pivetta I think made four starts. He was their ace , their lead starting pitcher. He made four starts before he exited with an elbow injury. He has not pitched since. Craig Salmon had his work cut out for him , especially when it came to managing the pitching staff , and I actually think he's done a wonderful job. They were able to put together these quote unquote bullpen games , especially in the month of July , and just really get creative and think outside the box while they waited for pitching to get healthy and for the trade deadline to arrive. I think he's done a wonderful job there. I think he is well-liked and well respected in that clubhouse. The Padres clubhouse traditionally has been a little bit of a tough place to win over managers. I mean , there's been a lot of managerial turnover for this franchise in the last decade or so. Craig Salmon is certainly different from all of the men who preceded him. He's he's younger , very recently removed from a big league playing career and is , by all accounts beloved by the guys who play for him now. That dynamic has changed , right? Is he's the boss a little bit now , but I think he's done given. Given the circumstances , I think he's done about as good a job as you can hope for from a guy who had never managed a game at any level above Little League before this season.
S1: You know , Ryan , before I let you go. Sticking with baseball , I just want to shift gears slightly here. Um , you know , in addition to the Padres being back in town , we also have two local Little League teams playing right now in the Little League World Series. One from Tijuana , the other from Bonita. Right. Sweetwater Valley. Tell us about these teams and what it's been like covering them.
S8: It's really cool. You know , this is my first time as our sports editor here. First time in San Diego team has made it all the way to Williamsport. And since I've been here three years. And so it's really fun. You know , at the Union-Tribune , we've sent a reporter and a photographer to Williamsport to cover not only the Sweetwater Valley team out of Bonita , but also Tijuana municipal. You know , to me , the big story for San Diego in this is that Tijuana municipal Little League and Sweetwater Valley Little League are separated by 13.5 miles. They're traveling all the way across the United States to play in this tournament , featuring all the world's best Little League teams. Um , I think a it speaks to the quality of baseball and youth baseball in San Diego. I'm the parent of a couple of Little Leaguers. I can tell you firsthand it's pretty hardcore here , as you might imagine. But all of these kids who knew of each other and some of them actually knew each other heading into this tournament. They're all pulling for each other. And we had a story in the Union Tribune today , um , about that , which is the only way Sweetwater Valley and Tijuana municipal can play each other in the Little League World Series is if they make the championship game. And that is what all fans on both sides are rooting for , is that not only their teams win , but that the other team wins too , so they can have sort of an all South Bay Tijuana Little League World Series final. And what a cool story that would be if that's what ended up happening. Absolutely.
S1: Absolutely. We'll be rooting for both Tijuana and Sweetwater Valley for that to happen. Of course , the Padres to. I have been speaking with San Diego Union-Tribune sports editor Ryan Finley. He's also co-host of the Padres podcast Hot Lava. Ryan , thanks so much.
S8: Thank you.
S1: That'll do it for this week's roundtable. Thanks so much for listening. And to all my guests for joining me today. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can always email us at roundtable at PBS.org. You can also leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtables. Tactical producer is Brandon Rufa. The show was produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is roundtable senior producer. I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Have a great weekend and hope to see you at the KPBS San Diego Book Festival on Saturday.
