San Diego On The Edge
On Wednesday Governor Gavin Newsom announced new restrictions for 19 counties on the state's so-called Covid-19 watch list. Counties on the list must close indoor operations of specific businesses to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. San Diego is NOT on the list BUT county supervisor Greg Cox said we likely will be on it soon, which means we should prepare for dialing back reopenings. the recent comeback of this virus is pushing us closer to that watch list. And we want to avoid that if we possibly can, if your car is speeding down the road toward a cliff, you hit the brakes. We're hitting the brakes now to avoid going over that cliff. There were 474 new COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday out of 7,825 tests for a positive rate of 6%. An additional seven deaths were reported, bringing the total to 372. Also on Wednesday, the county has recorded 10 community outbreaks and the percentage of people traced and contacted after a known infection dropped below 70 percent... Those are two of the 13 metrics monitored by the county that can trigger reinstated restrictions. Unless the numbers change, San Diego County could be forced to restrict more indoor business activities as soon as Monday. *** A fifty-car long caravan in La Jolla was part of a statewide protest yesterday. It was meant to draw attention to the disparate impacts that the economic downturn has had on low-income people and their wealthy counterparts. Members of two unions called out UC San Diego leadership for laying off staff members at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has stretched wallets thin. Shaun McCollum is an organizer for AFSCME (AF-SMEE), which represents some of those workers. We're seeing this all across the country, people are realizing that the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. During this pandemic, people are losing their jobs, their livelihoods, their incomes, yet we're seeing the billionaires in this country raking in tens of billions of dollars in profit while everyone else is suffering. According to the groups, California's 161 billionaires have increased their wealth by more than $180 billion since the start of the pandemic in mid-March. *** From KPBS, I’m Kinsee Morlan, and you’re listening to San Diego News Matters, a podcast powered by our reporters, producers and editors. It’s Thursday July 2nd. . Stay with me for more of the local news you need. African americans are disproportionately represented in the county's foster system and local leaders are working to fix that. KPBS reporter Matt Hoffman was there as county officials pledged to make changes. The County of San Diego is partnering with the People's alliance for justice promising to address inequalities in the foster care system. Shane Harris leads the people's alliance for justice and was formerly in the foster care system himself. 04;23;58;01 Shane Harris, The People's Alliance for Justice We need to get african american children back to their families. The goal of the system was always to rebuild stability Only about 5 and a half percent of San Diegans identify as Black or African American, yet 20 percent of children in the foster system are Black.. 04;19;37;09 Harris Disproportionately represented The county is committing to hosting three town halls with the goal of recruiting volunteers and parents of color to become foster families and are also looking to diversify their own staff. The first community recruitment event will happen virtually in August. *** Thousands of sailors and officers' relocation plans have been held up while the Navy tries to cope with the coronavirus. KPBS Military Reporter Steve Walsh talks to one of several military families caught mid-move. Kellie Kopec is a military spouse. Her husband is a petty officer first class in the Navy. They were just about to leave San Diego for Virginia -- then the Pentagon halted most travel due to the pandemic. They already sold their house. 00;04;55;01 "Just like most families in this situation we have to find out what's best for them. And yea, we had to finish moving out of our house. We had to finish selling our house and make sure we had a roof over our head." Two months earlier they had just had a baby. They got creative and bought an RV. So now they're living in a mobile home park in El Cajon. The Navy estimates roughly 42,000 sailors and their families are stuck mid-move -- a backlog that may not be cleared away until early next year. California is one of 11 states where movement is still heavily restricted. *** San Diego officials are optimistic that a long-term fix to stop persistent cross-border sewage flows is close. KPBS Environment Reporter Erik Anderson says there is money available and more than two dozen projects are already vetted, but it could still be years before the majority of the flows stop. There were plenty of handshakes and polite applause on a sun-splashed January morning in Chula Vista. 09:46:37 (clapping) Most of the region's congressional delegation fronted by congressman Mike Levin, delivered good news to a region increasingly frustrated by massive cross-border flows. 09:04:19 -- 09:04:32 "Along with my congressional colleagues and our local elected officials. I'm proud to announce once again that we have successfully secured 300-million dollars under the border water infrastructure program." It was welcome news to a community enduring cross border flows ranging from 25 million gallons to more than 70 million gallons a day. (09:22:05- megaphone…) It got so bad this winter that frustrated residents picketed the Mexican Consulate. Amy Sutton lives in San Diego and she wants the poop to stop. 09:36:51 -- 09:36:57 "It's unbelievable that nobody thinks this is not a crisis" Imperial Beach mayor Serge Dedina has fought for years to stop the cross-border transgressions. 00:05:16 – 00:05:24 "The stench of sewage that our residents have put up with and it is impacting people's health in south county, its just been horrendous." He's hopeful the 300 million dollars in the US Mexico Canada trade deal can pay for projects that attack the problem north of the border 00:04:00 – 00:04:31 "We're looking for those river flows to get down to almost zero, if not, we're always at the mercy of Mexico whether or not someone's on the job. Or it's a weekend or holiday and the sewer system breaks down then its what we have to do now. A round robin of calls emails or exchanges etcetera to get someone to turn on the sewer system and fix something." And San Diego County has options. The county has identified 27 separate projects that improve the ability to catch and treat those cross border flows. 00:10:46 – 00:10:50 "This is a priority that needs to be dealt with now not later." Supervisor Greg Cox says consultants have painstakingly vetted projects that all together cost more than 440 million dollars. Cox says together they improve the ability to catch and treat the tainted water. The cornerstone project is a new sewage treatment plant with a 370 million dollar price tag. 00:07:11 – 00:07:30 "That 163 million gallon capacity sewage treatment facility would drop the number of days of trans border sewage flows down to about 12 days a year. Over the last few years its been over half the year that we've had beaches closed in Imperial Beach and even encroaching into Coronado." Other projects will improve sewage collectors in several key canyons, build new storm water drains and install trash collection systems. 00:11:47 -- 00:12:02"We have specific projects that I think could be ready to go once the federal government, the EPA in particular decides okay these are the projects we want to focus on now. And again its probably going to be an incremental process." Those plans are all on the EPA's desk. John Busterud took over the EPA's region 9 office in February. 00:08:10 – 00:08:16 "I was quite surprised at the scope and severity of the issue and problem. Busterud's agency is already taking a hard look at the situation. He says the EPA has launched a value engineering study of the county's 27 projects so federal officials can make informed decisions on how to spend their 300 million dollars. 00:03:20 – 00:03:33 "What we want to do is not approach this in a piecemeal way but really to look at the region and look at what suite of projects or mix of projects will work the best." Busterud says he share's the county's sense of urgency but he concedes it'll take about ten months to finish the review. 00:05:56 – 00:06:20 "We won't be ready necessarily for shovels in the ground at that time. There will be additional NEP environmental review required at the end of the value engineering. (00:06:09) We hope to front end load a lot of that during this immediate time, the next ten months. But there will be a need for additional environmental reviews there." In the meantime, the EPA is spending a few million dollars to pay for some pipe repair projects in Tijuana. That's expected to help a bit, but it doesn't come anywhere close to the solution local officials want. KPBS environment reporter Erik Anderson. Coming up... HENRY WALLACE THE FIFTH WANTS PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE THE BLACK PANTHERS PLAYED IN LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR TODAY'S BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT… Plus...a go-to guide for to-go craft beer. Those stories after the break... George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police has prompted a wave of protests both in the U.S. and around the globe. But racism in America has prompted outrage before. KPBS arts and culture reporter Beth Accomando looks to the legacy of the Black Panther movement of the 1960s to provide context for today's Black Lives Matter. OPTIONAL TAG: Be listening for Beth’s Cinema Junkie Podcast this Friday for more of her interviews with David Walker and Henry Wallace the Fifth. TZBLACKPANTHERS Coming up on Morning Edition, Henry Wallace the Fifth wants people to understand the role the Black Panthers played in laying the groundwork for today’s Black Lives Matter movement. HENRY WALLACE: So this protest that’s going on now is the result of what’s been going on before. The seeds that was planted back in those days are fertilized now. They're turning into plants. (:14) The San Diego Black Panther Party chairman provides historical context for the current wave of protests over George Floyd’s death. NEWSREEL: I would like to make a statement with this respect, a statement of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense… In May of 1967, the Black Panthers arrived at the California State capitol dressed in black leather jackets and berets, and carrying guns. That made an impression on 15-year-old Henry Wallace V. HENRY WALLACE: They had muscle. They showed that they weren't scared of the police. NEWSREEL: …the racist California legislature, which is now considering legislation to keep the Black people disarmed and powerless at the very same time that racist police agencies throughout the country are intensifying the terror, brutality and repression of Black people. The Panthers appealed to young Black people. HENRY WALLACE: We were tired of getting brutalized and disrespected in our community. Wallace’s sister Shirley and her boyfriend, Kenny Denmon were approached by the Panther Party in 1967 and opened a San Diego chapter. Wallace and his whole family joined. HENRY WALLACE: I want people to realize that San Diego has never been the utopia that it claimed to be. There has always been racism in this city. But the Black Panther Party, when it came out, came out to fight the injustices of the system. David F. Walker has been researching the Black Panthers for a graphic novel coming out next year. That iconic image of non-submissive Black men with guns came to define the movement and it scared people. DAVID WALKER: It can be pretty terrifying to people and deservedly so, because the people that were most afraid were the oppressors, the people that were in charge of maintaining the status quo. What scared then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover even more were programs the Panthers sponsored. DAVID WALKER: Hoover is very clear that the breakfast program is the thing that he hated the most. He said in the documents and memos, if the Panthers succeed in winning the hearts and minds of the people, you know, we've lost. The Panthers wanted to teach self-reliance and that was perceived as dangerous. In San Diego, Wallace says the chapter’s programs came under attack of the government. HENRY WALLACE: Because they didn't want us to help. The Black Panther Party was trying to empower the community at the time and the government with our money, your money, used that to repress any progress that would happen in the ghettos of America. Today’s protests give Wallace hope but he sees them as the result of groundwork laid in the 1960s. HENRY WALLACE: The seeds that was planted back in those days are fertilized now. They're turning into plants, beautiful flowers and stuff, because the stuff that the Black Panther Party try to do back in those day was get all the people together, let them know that you're being exploited by the system. The FBI worked to systematically destroy the Black Panther Party yet Wallace insists progress was made, Blacks were able to get more access to education and to jobs. But injustices abound today, which is why he wants current protesters to continue to demand change. HENRY WALLACE: We got to go all the way to the core of the issue and get rid of this disease like this coronavirus. Get rid of the racism disease. Wallace is now chairman of the reactivated San Diego Black Panther Party and he has a message for the people. HENRY WALLACE: The Black Panther Party stand with those that stand on the side of justice and you've got to understand that everybody, you need to come to the table. You can't sit up there and say, ‘oh, those poor black people all day just brutalized,’ get off your ass and do something. Because if we work together, we're going to have a better society. Then you won't have to worry about people being killed in the street or people being discriminated against. America is a land of plenty and wealth should be share. And I'm talking to you capitalists out there. Y'all need to be more proactive in returning things back to the community so we don't have this situation. Power to the people. KPBS arts reporter and film critic Beth Accomando. *** Now, let’s hear from a local bartender who created a resource where people can find out which breweries and tasting rooms are serving what through the pandemic. Hi there, this is Maggie Brennan. And I work as a bartender in the San Diego craft beer industry and I was calling just to let you know about the spreadsheet that has been advertised all over Facebook and the San Diego craft Brewers Guild and pretty much the reason why I created the spreadsheet was there was no like Central resource when covet hit and everyone shut down whether or not they were still open for you know off to go services or they're completely closed not everyone is, you know, great at using social media as far as updating their their followers as to what's going on girl. So I took the initiative to start the spreadsheet and post it in a send you a beer industry focused Facebook group, where a lot of Brewers and people who And run and work at breweries can access the spreadsheets and it had everything from if they're open or not. If they deliver or ship across the state wage and it's grown from March to what it is today and we're still getting the run around with you know, the state and the county as far as what I can and cannot do and so this is kind of a central spot where everyone can kind of crowdsource their information and update and then also we you know, I post it. So people of the public can see it as well just so it's a One Stop Shop for everybody. It's not a perfect document because it needs to be manually updated but we try to update it as much as we possibly can. And it's expanded to not just breweries, but also to like me Therese cideries as well as distilleries just to you know for all flavors of Life whoever wants to age. It's all right there. So that's the main reason why I wanted to do it plus, you know, I love the beer industry. I've been involved in it for many years now and having been unemployed during all of this. I wanted to do something productive with my time. And that's a big reason why I wanted to do it and hopefully it helped everyone in return because it definitely gave me something to do at home, you know kept people informed of what's open and you know trying to support locally as much as possible during this crazy time and we're continuing to go through these crazy times with the scale back out. OK, so, the web address to get to the resource is kinda complicated, so I’m just going to put it in today’s show notes, so look there. I checked it out. And it really is a useful resource. Ok, that’s all for today...thanks for listening.
