Mayor Todd Gloria’s $4.6 Billion Budget

Good Morning, I’m Annica Colbert….it’s Friday, April 16th. >>>> San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria unveils the next city budget We’ll have more on that next, But first... let’s do the headlines…. ######## All Californians 16 and older can now get vaccinated, no questions asked. Though officials are warning that appointments may be hard to find, and they’re asking for your patience after a rush on thursday. County Board of supervisors chair Nathan Fletcher received his first dose of the vaccine on Thursday. He says he understands there is still some hesitancy out there, but he’s encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. ########## Legoland California officially re-opened its doors on Tuesday morning after being closed for more than a year. Eric Portillo of Orange County was at the park on Thursday with his family. He says the park opened just in time for them to celebrate his son’s third birthday. “Oh man, it means so much, we are here celebrating my son’s birthday. It just means a lot to finally be able to enjoy some time at the amusement park… We’re just really excited to see the smiles on their face and their excitement really.” Capacity is currently limited to 25% in the orange tier. If you want to go, you still have to reserve a ticket online. ########## A homeless encampment in Oceanside was cleared out recently, with 28 people given motel vouchers. In the encampments’ place now -- a big pile of rocks. Using bulldozers, city crews moved large rocks to the site along South Oceanside Boulevard earlier this week to prevent homeless encampments from forming again. A few tents remain as there were not enough vouchers for all the people living along the road. ######### From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria released his first budget proposal on Thursday, totaling 4.6 billion dollars in spending for the 2021-22 fiscal year. KPBS metro reporter Andrew Bowen says federal stimulus funds save the city from major cuts. Gloria plans on spreading out the aid included in President Biden's American Rescue Plan over the next two fiscal years, since the economic recovery will likely take at least that long. There are cuts in the mayor’s budget -- but he says they could have been much worse. "Without the over 300 million dollars that President Biden, Vice President Harris and the Congress has sent to cities like ours, we'd be in a position of decimating neighborhood services, of laying off city employees, of asking folks to take pay cuts — asking them to take pay cuts after they have spent the last year doing what it takes to knock down this pandemic." AB: Libraries shuttered at the onset of the pandemic would reopen, but only for five days a week, staying closed on Sundays and Mondays. That would save the city 6.9 million dollars. Gloria also proposes cutting the police overtime budget by 4 million dollars, which he says he'll reinvest in community programs to prevent gang violence and the city's new independent police oversight commission. TG: The commission will hold bad actors accountable and it will provide the public with increased transparency on police disciplinary actions. And by working closely with the police department, we are reimagining policing in San Diego to focus more on stopping crime before it starts. AB: Homelessness is often cited as the number one concern among San Diegans. Gloria proposes consolidating the city's homeless services into a new department and spending $10 million on crisis intervention and housing strategies. Over the next month, the City Council will review each department's budget, leading up to a final vote in mid-June. That was KPBS Metro Reporter Andrew Bowen ######### Vaccine clinics across San Diego were mobbed on thursday with eligibility opened up.. KPBS’ Alexandra Rangel (Rahn-hell) has this report from National City. With vaccine eligibility expanding in California for people 16 years of age and older...Thursday’s vaccine line at National City’s weekly vaccine clinic was longer than usual. Many families waiting for their turn showed up with their children to get vaccinated making it a family affair. We spoke to Karla Nava, a resident of National City who was there with her husband and two children. She was grateful to be one of the 300 people vaccinated at the walk-in clinic. Karla Nava, Vaccine Recipient “We’re one of the highest hit areas. we wanted to make sure that as soon as we could get it, that we were here.” National City’s Mayor says the city is on track to vaccinate 48-thousand people by June, which is 75% of their population. Alexandra Rangel, KPBS News. ########## A North San Diego Catholic school is apologizing this week after members of its football team circulated racist photos directed at Lincoln High School. But school district officials say the incident goes deeper than this one incident. KPBS Education Reporter Joe Hong has more. A photo shared on social media in the past week by a football player at Cathedral Catholic High School in Carmel Valley depicted someone wearing a shirt that read “Catholics versus Convicts.” Another showed several players mimicking gang signs with their hands. The photos targeted Lincoln High School in Southeast San Diego, Cathedral’s opponent in football last Friday. Officials from both the school and the San Diego Diocese condemned the behavior. DoWe’re accountable, and we need to do something about this and we will. Kevin Eckery is the spokesman for the San Diego Diocese. KEVIN ECKERY /// SPOKESMAN FOR SD DIOCESEThis is something that has to get addressed and really open a sincere and authentic dialogue. There’s nothing here that’s unique. Go ask someone of color every day. There’s nothing here that was particularly unusual. The unusual thing is we were able to flag it, condemn it and hopefully do something about it. Cathedral Catholic issued an apology to the entire Lincoln High School Community. San Diego Unified School Board President Richard Barrera said this racist incident is unfortunately nothing new for Lincoln High School. BARRERA.mp400:01:22:19RICHARD BARRERA /// SD UNIFIED SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENTWe appreciate the apology, but the early comments we’ve seen focus on the inappropriate actions of students, but there also has to be some examination at the institutional level of… what kind of culture makes some students feel like this is an OK thing to do?Barrera said Lincoln High School has invited Cathedral Catholic students to the campus to discuss the racist behavior. Barrera says he hopes a silver lining from this incident is that the greater San Diego community learns about how accomplished Lincoln High School students are, both on the field and in the classroom. Joe Hong KPBS News. And that was KPBS Education reporter Joe Hong. ########## Coming up.... The Pac-Arts kicks off its 10th spring showcase next week. We’ll have a preview, and a look at local jazz artists as part of our influential music series. Pac-Arts kicks off its 10th Spring Showcase of Asian films next week. Once again the festival will take place completely online. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando has this preview. Pac-Arts’ virtual Spring Showcase runs April 23 through May 2. ########### Jazz pianist Joshua White thrives on improvising and working out music with other musicians during performances. He had to shift gears a little during the pandemic and look internally for inspiration and even embrace virtual platforms. But as performers are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, White is looking forward to the thrill and ephemeral essence of live jazz. For our Influential music series, we asked him to make us a playlist, and he picked 5 iconic local musicians whose work has impacted him and the jazz scene in San Diego and beyond. Here's Joshua White, in his own words. That was local jazz pianist Joshua White. He performs Saturday night in the Anthology Series livestream, alongside Holly Hofmann and Gilbert Castellanos. You can find more details, as well as a playlist of all of these tracks, on our website at KPBS dot ORG. That’s it for the podcast today. Be sure to catch KPBS Midday Edition At Noon on KPBS radio, or check out the Midday podcast. You can also watch KPBS Evening Edition at 5 O’clock on KPBS Television, and as always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Annica Colbert. Thanks for listening and have a great day.