Evictions Set to Begin

For the second consecutive day on Thursday, the County's Covid case count has stayed below 100 per 100-thousand people. If we have a 3rd consecutive day below the 100 per 100-thousand people on Friday, we'll be taken off the state monitoring list. But County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher says that won't change anything when it comes to indoor activities like dining that are not currently allowed. "Those restrictions were put in place by the state. They are not automatically rescinded or lifted if we come off the monitoring list." If we do come off the list on Friday, a new clock begins. If we stay below the case rate trigger for 14-consecutive days, K-12 schools, following state guidelines, will be able to reopen. *** An appeals court ruled yesterday that Amazon can be held strictly liable in California for defective products sold on its website through third-party vendors. The ruling overturns a lower court's decision that the company was not liable when a laptop battery sold to a San Diego woman exploded, causing third-degree burns. *** 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 a very hot Friday, Aug. 14. And today is my last day as host and producer of this show and sound designer Emily Jankowski’s last day as well. From here on out, Anica Colbert will be taking the helm. You can find Emily and I over on KPBS’ border podcast called “Only Here.” We’re working on some big, exciting things over there, preparing for a relaunch in october….so subscribe now wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss a thing. Now, stay with me for more of the local news you need. San Diego is in the process of updating its 2015 Climate Action Plan. KPBS metro reporter Andrew Bowen says activists want a new goal to reduce the city's net carbon footprint to zero. AB: More than 100 people attended a virtual forum on Thursday — the kickoff of a campaign to get input on what should be in the city's Climate Action Plan 2.0. The current plan requires the city to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2035. But it shouldn't stop there according to Matthew Vasilakis of the nonprofit Climate Action Campaign. He says climate science has made clear the city needs to aim for carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest. MV: The climate crisis is bearing down on us today, and so this opportunity to kind of look at the climate action plan, understand how we need to elevate it, to set higher benchmarks and to create actual roadmaps to get things done — it's just so important. AB: The city aims to send its updated climate plan to the City Council for a vote in the first half of 2021. *** Speaking of the climate….San Diego County is getting a blast of heat this weekend. KPBS Environment Reporter Erik Anderson says hot air will settle over the region through the weekend. A high-pressure system is , pushing temperatures up in the backcountry and deserts. A weak monsoonal flow will also be moving into the region. National Weather Service meteorologist Brandt Maxwell says the heat is already building in San Diego County raising the risk of wildfires. FIREDANGER 1A :17 03:49 – 04:08 “And that’ll bring, starting Friday, a slight chance of thunderstorms. Right now that looks isolated, but sometimes that can be a problem isolated thunderstorms can produce lightening but with little or no rainfall.” An energy Flex Alert is being issued for Friday calling for residents to turn off their lights and help conserve electricity. The state’s power grid operators are calling for voluntary conservation because of worries the demand for electricity will outstrip the supply. *** Evictions are set to begin once again in California starting on September 1st. KPBS reporter Max Rivlin-Nadler tells us why housing courts are now set to reopen. Since April 6th, California's judicial council, which manages California's court system, has put a pause on all pending and new evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. The council said it was doing so until California's legislators could act, and find a solution for the over 40% of California tenants that are currently unable to pay their full rent and are at risk of eviction. But on Thursday afternoon, the council voted 19-1 to end the eviction moratorium at midnight on September 1st. In a statement, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, threw the responsibility of resolving this looming crisis to the state legislature, saying, " "The duty of the judicial branch is to resolve disputes under the law and not to legislate... " The city of San Diego has an eviction moratorium of its own through the end of September, but the county's moratorium will expire at the end of the statewide pause. *** And now to San Diego’s big annual celebration of tiki culture… SINCE TIKI OASIS CAN'T HOLD ITS IN-PERSON EVENT….IT'S HOSTING A FULL VIRTUAL WEEKENDER. KPBS ARTS REPORTER BETH ACCOMANDO EXPLAINS HOW YOU CAN ESCAPE QUARANTINE THROUGH ALL THINGS TIKI… TIKI OASIS IS ABOUT FASHION, COCKTAILS, KITSCHY FUN, AND MOST OF ALL ESCAPE SAYS CO-CREATOR BABY DOE VON STROHEIM. BABY DOE VON STROHEIM: IT'S ABOUT KIND OF FORGETTING THE EVERYDAY AND JUST GETTING TO HAVE A MOMENT TO JUST HAVE FUN AND JUST GET TO EXPERIENCE SOME DIFFERENT PARTS OF WHAT MAKES TIKI OASIS UNIQUE. LIKE THE ALOHA CAFTAN SOCIETY FASHION STROLL, THE SHOPPING IN PAJAMAS VIRTUAL MARKETPLACE, APE 'SUPERSONIC' RECORD RELEASE PARTY, AND MORE. CO-CREATOR OTTO VON STROHEIM SAYS THE ONLINE GATHERING WILL BE A MEETING PLACE FOR PEOPLE INTO MID-CENTURY POLYNESIAN POP. OTTO VON STROHEIM: SO IF YOU APPRECIATE ARCHITECTURE AND YOU APPRECIATE RUM AND COCKTAILS, HAWAIIAN SHIRTS AND ALOHA WEAR, THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE AND THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE GOING TO FIND YOUR TRIBE. SO TUNE IN TO THE VIRTUAL TIKI OASIS TV THIS FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. Check out https://tikioasis dot come for the full schedule of virtual events . *** Coming up… The Oceanside International Film Festival celebrates a decade of its existence with a bang...a virtual bang of course. That story after the break. The Oceanside international film festival had big plans for its 10 year anniversary, but they had to be scrapped as the festival was forced to move online. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accamando speaks with the festival’s managing director, Lou Niles about what to expect. Speaker 2: 00:17 The Oceanside international film festival has a anniversary, a milestone to celebrate this year. You are turning 10, but address some of the complications you've had with this particular year and the Corona virus. Speaker 1: 00:32 Yeah, absolutely. We were really excited to celebrate our 10 year celebration and we're even launching a sustainability and social consciousness related initiative, which would have been very timely. So we've had to go virtual explore different platforms. So we're lucky to found one and we're just about ready to go. We had to make the decision probably about maybe two and a half, three weeks ago. So we are just scrambling to get everything loaded in the platform and get it ready to deliver these great films to the public. Speaker 2: 01:10 So I have to confess the first film of yours that I went to watch was honor, and the opening kind of a drone shot of this gorgeous landscape. And I think being in quarantine and seeing that suddenly, I felt like, man, I really want to go outside or I want to go to a cinema and see these images on a massive screen. So a number of your films do have this really great sense of the expanse of the outdoors, which is quite enjoyable to be watching from inside quarantine. So talk a little bit about those choices. Speaker 1: 01:49 Yeah, we were lucky. I mean, every year we're really kind of at the whim of boom submit. Um, so, uh, you know, the programming team, uh, Sterling ADOT and Karlie Starview, the Niles, they really go through that. What do we have? And we really liked to have themed blocks. So we have these theme blocks of films that may not be just documented, just love stories. You know, there might be a Nixon there and they're tied together somehow by another thread, that's moving through the stories. Um, and we have some really beautiful films. So hopefully it'll be that kind of inspiring thing where you're trapped inside and you can live vicariously through these films and not be like, I wish I could get out there. Um, so just some beautiful films that are in our sustainable block or even in our lineup block, which is mostly about surf and skate. There's even some kind of social justice stories. That'll take you off on a trip. Photo journalist takes a trip from central America on the train, trying to come to America, following their children, trying to immigrate and get to America to be with their family. Then I learned that I can hide behind the camera only so long before I can't see through the, you find it because tears are coming down my eyes, but if I couldn't stand to do that, I would do something else. I shouldn't do it. It's not for everybody. Speaker 1: 03:23 The goal here is to teach viewers. This is what happened behind the scenes, the struggle of people in failing countries. It's just some amazing, um, you know, it's hard not to, to pick those beautiful films that have been done so well on independent budget, Speaker 2: 03:44 You talk about these theme blocks and sustainability is one of them. What are some of the other categories you have Speaker 1: 03:50 At eight different themed film blocks as we call them, there'll be four or five films in each blocks. Most of them are short, but we have, like I mentioned the lineup, which has a number of surf related films, or one film from Iceland that you talked about, and it's not really a surf film, but there's surfing in the thread. It's more about a man and his daughter and his love for surfing. Then in our sustainable block, we've got a lot of beautiful cinematic films, as well as films about the environment and sustainability coming of age and dark, kind of a dark comedy block. It features a short film that actually comes from San Diego. A Dick Shawn died on stage at the Playhouse and for a long time during the performance people thought it was part of the act and it wasn't. So it was a short film about that. Golden hour is a set of films that are the thread. There is the people on the films are in there. Kind of the older age groups change is a block of films just having changed in life. There's some really interesting socially conscious films. There are great independent short from Oceanside. Actually art house is another block with some, some of my favorites in it. And then culture has got some beautiful photos, really one of the special ones and the culture block is isolated in Stromboli. There's the eight blocks. And then we have four separate features, Speaker 2: 05:20 Particularly excited about any particular block or film that you're going to be highlighting. Speaker 1: 05:25 Really a tough one. We should probably answer the same, that question the same each year that, Oh, I really love these songs. It's really great. I'm really excited about the top rack, um, is an amazing film. And then one of my most favorites is eat the rainbow, which is kind of a musical short, but very deep social issue that they approach it in such an interesting creative way. So I guess we'll become some sort of a neighborhood melting pot [inaudible], but instead of a melting pot, think of it as a salad bowl with many different ingredients of all colors each with its own unique flavor. And that was Oceanside international film festival’s Lou Niles speaking with KPBS arts reporter Beth Accamando speaking withYou can find complete program information at osidefilm dot org.