New Exhibition Shows a Lost Tijuana And More Local News

Speaker 1: 00:00 It's Monday, February 10th I'm Deb Welsh and you're listening to San Diego news matters from KPBS coming up, a new exhibition shows a transforming Tijuana and school board races often don't get much attention, but candidates for the San Diego unified school district say the stakes are high. I think a lot of people don't pay attention to it because they don't know exactly what the school board does. That and more coming up right after the break Speaker 2: 00:29 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 00:37 a new photo exhibition gives us a look into daily life and Tijuana over a half century ago. KPBS reporter max will then Adler has a preview. Speaker 3: 00:46 In 1964 Harry Crosby had left his job as a science teacher at LA Jolla high school to pursue photography full time when he was given a magazine assignment photograph parts of Tijuana that went beyond the beat and tourist trail. Crosby went on to capture over 700 photographs of a city that's strikingly familiar and it's lively street scenes, but still mostly foreign to modern viewers. Heath Fox is the executive director of the LA Jolla historical society where the photos are now on display. Speaker 4: 01:16 It's interesting. If you visit today what you see that was in there in 1964 and what has evolved and change the city has grown tremendously. The population of Tijuana in 1964 was about 235,000 people. Today it's over 1.8 million. Speaker 3: 01:33 The photos capture a city in transition with dirt roads leading to informal housing and new buildings meant to serve a growing population. The exhibition is on display through may max with Linda Adler, K PBS news. Speaker 1: 01:47 A real estate expert says the San Diego market has been flat for at least a year, but it's still expensive and there are no signs of home prices dropping. KPBS editor Tom fudge explains Speaker 5: 01:59 some home price index is still shows strong increases in the cost of San Diego homes, but nor Miller, a real estate finance expert. A USD says those numbers don't account for how size and if you look at price per square foot, prices have only risen about 1% over the past year. He says that's surprising given the strong economy and low interest rates. I see this a economic uncertainty, trade war, tariffs and other things kind of moving us sideways. We should be going up, but we're moving sideways. In fact, Miller says home prices among bigger expensive homes have actually dropped. He thinks this is due to new tax laws that limit the deduction of property taxes that boosts the after tax cost of owning a big home and consequently drives down the home price. But when it comes to the overall housing market, a lack of supply means homes will still be expensive. We tend to veto every single legislative effort to increase density or or housing supplies. So just given what I see at the dog park in the morning, in terms of the California culture towards new development, um, I don't say it, Tom fudge K PBS news, Speaker 1: 03:11 a new marketing campaign, say no to winter was launched last week by the San Diego economic development corporation. KPBS a Sarah [inaudible] says this is a short term campaign to get people to move to San Diego. Say no to winter is the campaign slogan that encourages people not only to just visit San Diego, but to stay and pursue a career here, especially those who work in science and technology. But San Diego still has its work cut out just attracting tourists. Mural Kobek was San Diego state and bottom line marketing says visitor numbers flattened out in 2019. That's why San Diego's tourism authority increased their budget by 25% Speaker 5: 03:52 that are targeting key cities. They're really making a national campaign, uh, with 32nd spots on TV, on cable networks. They're looking at social media and other streaming platforms like Hulu. Speaker 1: 04:03 This national advertising campaign is a record for the San Diego tourism authority spending 25 million this year. Sarah gets Yannis KPBS news. A federal judge has postponed a decision on giving final approval to a class action settlement over motel six, which shared guest information with immigration authorities from the front terrorist desk in Phoenix. Matthew Casey reports there are still a handful of claims left to be checked. Speaker 6: 04:31 The settlement created a $10 million pot of money. As much as five point $1 million has already been claimed, but more payouts may still get approved. Some cash leftover would go to groups that help immigrants, but the Arizona attorney General's office wants motel six and a Latino civil rights group to reroute more money back to people contacted by immigration authorities. Thomas signs says the Mexican American legal defense and educational fund wanted motel six guests to get more money to, Speaker 5: 05:00 but it was a negotiation and we ultimately arrived at what we believe to be a fair amount. Speaker 6: 05:06 A spokesman for the attorney General's office says it's all right for the outside groups to get some money. The agency just wants more of the pie to go to the quote. Victims in Phoenix. I'm Matthew Casey. Speaker 1: 05:17 More than does filled air could be plaguing residents around the quickly evaporating salt and sea and Imperial Valley. KPBS science and technology reporter Shalina Celani says new UC Riverside research shows toxic aerosols could also be filling the air. The problem is agricultural fertilizer, which has caused areas around the Salton sea to be rich in the elements. Millennium UC Riverside toxicologist, Sabir Ahmed says, plants digest this mineral and release it into the air as an aerosol, which is filled with liquid or a solid particles. Speaker 7: 05:50 We found it can lead to the inflammation. It can lead to the lung cancer. Even Julie, the type two diabetes, this kind, it's already Speaker 1: 05:58 known. This soil and aerosols produced from it are toxic for birds and fish. But now this study shows they're also toxic for humans. Um, and says this preliminary study shows there needs to be more research on the soils around the salt and sea and how it could be affecting the population. Shelina Chut Lani KPBS news, diversionary theater sought out playwright Sylvan Oswald and just opened the world premier of his new play, a kind of weather this past weekend. KPBS arts reporter Beth Huck Amando has this preview. Imagine if your father turned up on your doorstep and asked to move in. That's the catalyst that starts Sylvan Oswald's a kind of weather. Needless to say, this cramps the main character sex life. And hampers the completion of his memoir about his gender transition. But gender transition plays, no role in the story says Oswald. And that's exactly the point. I'm trans and I feel like it's time to move on from that. Speaker 1: 06:53 So I want to move to pictures of transness and playwriting forward by focusing on a chapter in a trans person's life that has nothing to do with his transition. The play serves up a time jumping narrative about complex characters that anyone can identify with. There's something that happens in the play where it's playing kind of fast and loose with time. It's really driven by memory in a sense and the way that our experiences get layered on top of each other. And so we might start in one scene in one place, but go three different places within that whole scene. Uh, kind of weather runs through March 8th the diversionary theater. Pathic Amando KPBS news school board races often take the back seat during election years. But the 2020 candidates for San Diego Unified's board of trustees say the stakes are high. KPV has education reporter Joe Hong spoke to the contenders about how the responsibilities of school boards have changed Speaker 8: 07:49 what we teach children shapes who they become as adults. Speaker 9: 07:55 The wonder Richmond is amongst six candidates running in the March primary for one of three seats on the San Diego unified school board. Speaker 8: 08:02 How we treat children shapes how they become as adults. Let's say you're a business owner. When you're looking for people to come work for your company, you want the best people and the easiest thing to do is have people who live here already and are well qualified and that starts at schools. Speaker 9: 08:21 Despite the importance of school boards, many people don't understand the role they play. Speaker 1: 08:26 People don't pay attention to it because they don't know exactly what the school board does and it gets one of those mysterious kinds of entities with a necessary function, but yet what do they really do? Speaker 9: 08:35 Crystal troll is running this year to replace outgoing San Diego unified board president John Lee Evans, who represents sub-district EI, which covers the neighborhoods of mere Mesa university city and Claremont. Troll is a consultant for nonprofits. The mother of three public school students and a long time PTA board member, Speaker 1: 08:54 the school boards. This board of trustees Speaker 9: 08:56 sets the tone along with the superintendent. So if the board of trustees is, has a collaborative partnership with the superintendent, that trickles down the school sites, uh, we'll have a more collaborative partnership with the families and the teachers. Another candidate in the race to replace Evans is Steph gross, an entrepreneur and parent who lives in Claremont. He says he's most equipped to find alternative funding sources for the district. And the thing about education is ensuring we only have one direction. You know, we have one opportunity, there's no refunds. And so we have to make sure that our students in our K-12 system, ourK 14 system actually have the best opportunity possible, you know, for equitable opportunities so they can learn as much as they need to learn. The third candidate for district a is Sabrina Bazo. She's a health educator and parent who served as PTA president and the president of the foundation at Mira Mesa high school. She's also been endorsed by the teacher's union. Speaker 8: 09:51 So I've sat at the table and I've worked with the teachers, the classified staff, the admin staff and parents and I, you know, we've made, I've been there when we've had to make some of the hard decisions about teacher layoffs, um, site modernization plans, things of that nature. Speaker 9: 10:04 Well, district a serves largely affluent communities, schools in Southeast San Diego's district. He had the highest percentage of students in the district receiving free or reduced price lunch and come and trustee Sharon Whitehurst Payne says, despite the challenges facing district II, the district is doing a better job of serving its students. But she said she isn't afraid to criticize superintendent Cindy Martin as she did last year for the ongoing problems at Lincoln high school. Speaker 8: 10:29 Children come to our schools in and district ease community, not with the same set of resources that children in say districts see the coastal areas or district a as some of the other districts. They need to overcome a lot of barriers before you even get started. Speaker 9: 10:49 Whitehurst pain says the district has improved and how it meets the individual needs of students, especially in special education. She's afraid being replaced by a new board member would undo all the progress she's made in her first term. Her challenger in the district erases Lawanda Richmond and educational leadership expert at UC San Diego. She says she isn't satisfied with what Whitehurst pain calls progress. Speaker 8: 11:12 There is still a very big picture of haves and haves not have nots. Um, I feel like there are some areas in schools that are doing really well and there are some schools that are continuing to do poorly and I can just point to the data. Speaker 9: 11:28 Rich van is herself a graduate of Lincoln high school. She says she promises to keep students and families at the center of all her decisions if she's elected, whether it's trying new ideas or building off the successes. The past school boards, the top two vote getters from each sub district in March, we'll move on to an at large district election. November board member Richard Barrera is running unopposed to hold his seed for district D Joe hung K PBS news. Speaker 10: 12:01 That's it for San Diego news matters today. Consider supporting this podcast by becoming a KPBS member today. Just go to kpbs.org/membership Speaker 2: 12:19 [inaudible].