Changes to San Diego’s surveillance law causes backlash

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, January 25th.

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Privacy rights advocates are concerned over new changes to San Diego's surveillance transparency law. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

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The San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness has its 20-24 Point in Time count today.

The count provides a one-day snapshot of the minimum number of San Diegans living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, safe havens, on streets and along riverbeds.

It also collects data on the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness.

Tamera Kohler is the Task Force’s C-E-O.

“It gives us demographic information, it lets us know maybe increases in individuals who are say, 55 or older, it lets us sort of see what the landscape looks like of families experiencing homelessness, how people are experiencing homelessness.”

Kohler said more than 10-thousand people were homeless during last year’s count.

The official numbers for this year’s count will be released later this year.

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Student assistants working for the Cal State University system start voting today (Thursday) on whether they will unionize.

There are 20-thousand C-S-U assistants across the state, and most make minimum wage, with no paid sick leave or health insurance.

Elisa Mendez-pintado is a graduate student assistant at SD-SU working in the Latin-X Resource Center.

She’s encouraged by the recent strike and tentative agreement for the California Faculty Association.

“...goes to show what a collective effort and what a collective voice can do and the power that it can have within a large University system like CSU.”

Online voting continues through February ninth.

If a majority agrees, student assistants will become part of the C-S-U’s employees union.

KPBS employs student assistants from SD-SU.

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The county’s Registrar of Voters office is still looking for poll workers for the March 5th Presidential Primary Election.

They’re especially looking for people who are bilingual.

Poll workers are paid anywhere from 135 dollars to 160 dollars each day, depending on the assignment.

And on Election Day, that amount is higher because of extended hours.

You can find more information on sd-vote-dot-com.

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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

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The San Diego City Council this week approved substantial changes to the city’s surveillance transparency law.

Investigative reporter Scott Rodd reports that privacy advocates say the changes water down hard-fought reforms.

San Diego has had a rocky history with surveillance technology. In 2016, for example, the city rolled out so-called smart streetlights equipped with cameras…which police began to review, without the public knowing. So privacy rights advocates celebrated in 2022 when the city passed an ordinance requiring the review of all surveillance equipment—within one year. Fast forward to today…that deadline has been pushed back by several years, few technologies have been fully vetted, and privacy rights advocates sound like this… IRANI: “We are furious… Today’s vote is a time to show the people watching that you stand by your words.” That was Lilly Irani speaking during the City Council’s regular meeting  on Tuesday. The council voted to exempt technologies such as surveillance cameras and police databases from review. And the changes will likely keep coming. Here’s Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, who chairs the City’s Public Safety Committee.“I will bring this ordinance forward for amendments as often as we need, because we are gonna have to work to get this right.” Council members approved the changes with a 6-2 vote.  SOC.

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20-24 may turn out to be a good year for San Diego County farmers.

A new program aims to shift money the county already spends on food, to spending it on food grown by this county’s farmers.

Reporter John Carroll shows us how one San Diego business is helping the whole system work.

“99% of our farms are just right here in the county.” It’s a busy day for Kristin Kvernland at Foodshed Cooperative on Fairmount Avenue…  She’s talking about the farms Foodshed works with… the importance of sourcing food locally.  On this day, her team is packing up food deliveries…  mainly for low income people of color. Kristin Kvernland Foodshed “The more we invest like the better it is for the environment, the more nutritionally dense the food is and the more you can support small local businesses and keep your money circulating in the community.” Investing in the community… that’s what the county’s new Sustainable, Equitable and Local Food Sourcing Program is all about. Tara Lawson-Remer San Diego County Supervisor “It’s just vast, the number of different programs that we have that serve meals and that serve our communities.” County Supervisor Tara Lawson-Remer says shortly after being elected a supervisor, she discovered that the county’s way of paying for all that food largely left local farmers out of the picture.  So, she set about designing a program that utilizes what she calls a values based system that prioritizes San Diego County farmers. “We have the value of buying nutritious food.  We have the value of buying food that doesn’t exploit the workers and have people working and not getting a water break or getting them to go to the bathroom.  We gotta have the value of making sure that the food we buy for the county is not contributing to our stormwater runoff.” Those values have been part of the Foodshed operation for the last few years.  Kristin Kvernland says with the county program now in place, it will help Foodshed to turn the traditional system of procuring food on its head.  The way it works now is schools, jails and all sorts of programs that feed people decide what they need and then order the food.  Kvernland says with Foodshed… it’s just the opposite. She first talks to the buyers to find out what they need - so the farmers can grow what’s needed. “And then I create a collective crop plan and then I go out and I let the farmers know we need, you know, 15,000 bunches of carrots this year and 20,000 heads of lettuce.  Who can grow it?  And then we divide it up amongst all of our farms.” Kvernland says doing business this way also helps diversify risk, so if one farm has a failure, others can pick up the slack.  And that, she says, builds resilience in the local food system. In other words, what they do at Foodshed dovetails with the county’s new program. Mike Clark Rodriguez Family Farms It’s huge for our farm.  It’s huge for all the other local farms in this area.” Mike Clark of Rodriguez Family Farms in Valley Center is thrilled with the new county program… and he says Foodshed is an important part of the process. “Us farmers, you know we’re busy with farming and it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time to do the farming work so down there at Foodshed, they’re doing amazing work bringing that connection to us and to the schools and the correction facilities, you know, wherever this money’s going to be going to.” Along with the various types of squash, kale and strawberries, there’s something else to be found on Rodriguez family farms… this product is of the rhythmic variety… it’s Clark’s cousin Mongoyo Rodriguez… communicating a message about the importance of organic farming… in his own unique way. Goyo “Mongoyo” Rodriguez Farmer and rapper “Yo, last of a dying breed, protectors of a righteous creed, we need more non-GMO seeds, more chances to advance without politicians taking a stance against us…” In other words… just what the new county program is designed to do…  refocus the support of the county… of the taxpayer’s money to San Diego county’s farmers.  JC, KPBS News.

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A former whites-only neighborhood could become San Diego's largest historic district to-date.

Reporter Katie Hyson looked into why critics say it would reinforce racial divides.

This is a very common feature of . . . these hacienda-style houses, is this kind of ornate woodwork on the garage door . . . That’s Laura Henson, president of the Talmadge Historical Society. She points out the house on Norma Drive’s distinct Depression-era features – tile roofing, an enclosed courtyard. It’s one of more than 400 properties that could be protected if the city’s preservation board votes to recommend Talmadge as a historic district. Henson says it’s important to preserve the history of these homes, financed by Hollywood elite and subsidized by Roosevelt’s New Deal. Critics say there’s another side to that history. Their films included racist portrayals. The subsidies almost never extended to Black homebuyers. And the neighborhood marketed itself as whites-only, boosting property values. Today, the city lists Talmadge as one of three racially segregated areas of wealth. Wesley Morgan says naming it a historic district would worsen this divide by increasing home prices, decreasing property taxes, and slowing housing development. He’s a member of the Mission Hills Historic Society. The historic resource board as a whole is definitely a forum of privilege where those . . . who have the resources to invest in spending the time to look at history and write reports, benefit from all of the privilege that they were able to put into that effort. He says that lack of diversity fails the rest of San Diego. The majority of people will never live in a historic district. They can't afford to live there. And those are our highest resource areas. Those are the areas with the best schools, with the safest streets. The board will vote Thursday at 1 p.m. Katie Hyson, KPBS News.

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Monday’s flooding damaged businesses throughout the county.

Reporter Melissa Mae spoke with a Mission Valley business owner about his next steps.

MM: The Grantville Station Business Park on Mission Gorge Rd. is right next to a part of the San Diego River and after Monday’s flooding water overflowed above the concrete barriers and caused major damage to all the businesses… Including TRVLR Coffee Roaster and One Season Brewing.  MM:  Owner Dan Romeo says his business had never really recovered from the pandemic and was actually in the process of selling some of its assets. DR  “But now, they’re worthless. Everything here just got destroyed. I’m in the middle of just trying to put the pieces together and trying to salvage whatever can be salvaged over the next couple weeks. I don’t have flood insurance, so this is all just a massive loss.”  MM: The Insurance Information Institute recommends reporting damages to San Diego county. The county is collecting a damage assessment survey so they can assess the extent of the damage and advocate to the state and federal governments for assistance. Melissa Mae KPBS News.

TAG: A link to the county’s survey is available on our website, K-P-B-S dot org.

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The Farmers Insurance open is underway at Torrey Pines.

Reporter Alexander Nguyen tells us, for a group of college-age young adults, the Farmers Open gives them an opportunity to explore careers associated with the golf tournament.

As golfers drive … chip and putt their way down the course at torrey pines … a group of underserved college-age young adults got a behind-the-scenes tour of the farmers insurance open. they got to see how the tournament is produced for television … how the length of each drive and each putt is measured. “seeing it in person was so amazing.” these young adults are part of the champions for youth career tour hosted by the century club. the club operates the entire farmers insurance open. jennifer cota is with the century club. “it is our way to give back to the community. and as a way of that, or as part of that, we're leveraging this tournament and sort of all those opportunities that come with it ” many of the 30 young participants are transitioning out of the foster care system and don’t have access to guidance or career mentors. cota says this is one way the century club is providing that support. an/kpbs.

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A local group called Stay Strange San Diego, is branching out this Saturday.

Arts and Culture reporter Beth Accomando spoke to a member of the group about their upcoming event.

Stay Strange San Diego is a noise music collective, record label, book publisher, YouTube channel, bike team, and now a film festival, says curator Sam Lopez. SAM LOPEZ What happens is someone will come up and say, hey, I've got this. And I'm like, what can we do interesting with that. So I did have somebody who came up, and they're like, hey, I've got a film, and I'd like to show it, and so I was like, tell you what, let's just build a film festival around it. And he did. He’s curated two dozen films for the inaugural Stay Strange Short Film Festival. SAM LOPEZ:  With Stay Strange, it's implied in the name that things are going to be kind of off kilter. Most of them are strange or weird in a nice way. Each of them has their own uniqueness to them, and you're going to find that they're somewhat abstract, absurd, some scary. So that's what's cool about it. It's going to be varied and eclectic. You can sample that diversity this Saturday starting at 3pm at the College Rolando Library. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.

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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Join us again tomorrow for the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Thursday.