County Supervisor plans to challenge corporate landlords
Good Morning, I’m John Carroll ….it’s Tuesday, July 16
San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer is leading the charge against corporate landlords. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….######
The National Weather Service says dangerous ocean swimming conditions and increased risk of rip currents at San Diego beaches are predicted this morning through Thursday.
Waves could reach up to 7 feet today and tomorrow (Wednesday).
Southwest facing beaches in northern San Diego County will see the highest surf.
The weather service recommends remaining out of the water to avoid hazardous swimming conditions.
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More than ten thousand amateur athletes are competing in the State Games of America in San Diego this week.
The State Games of America is a biennial Olympic-style youth competition that features medalists from State Games throughout the country competing in more than 20 sports.
In 20-20, The California State Games and San Diego Tourism Authority partnered on the successful bid to bring the games to San Diego.
Opening Ceremonies are scheduled for Friday at Pechanga Sports Arena.
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Winston, a western lowland gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park has died due to a string of age-related conditions.
He was 52 and was recognized as one of the oldest silverbacks in the world, the zoo says.
Winston was born in the wild and later came under the care of a private owner in England.
The zoo and safari park took possession of Winston in 1984.
His caretakers described him as representing "the best of us," and said his contributions to gorilla conservation will continue to improve the lives of great apes around the world for generations to come.
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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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Some San Diego renters say they’re fed up with Blackstone, a private equity firm that owns thousands of local units.
Now one County Supervisor is asking the board to take the company on.
Reporter Andrew Dyer has more.
In front of the Bay Apartments in Pacific Beach the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment march against the building's landlord Blackstone. Signs say things such as “housing is a human right” and “gentrification kills.” San Diego County Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer says in the three years since Blackstone acquired thousands of San Diego units rents in some have increased 200 % and that the company is engaged in illegal price-fixing.she says it’s time for local governments to fight back. “We’re looking at basically bringing litigation against Blackstone, bringing legal action for their illegal behavior.” On Tuesday the board will take up Lawson-Remer’s proposal. “We’re also gonna be doing a deep-dive to better understand exactly where and how many homes have been purchased and are being purchased looking forward by these big institutional investors.” In a statement to KPBS Blackstone denies doing anything unlawful and says on average their San Diego properties rent for 20% cheaper than the market average. Andrew Dyer, KPBS news
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State officials are requesting to rescind the Poway placement of a man designated as a sexually violent predator.
Reporter Elaine Alfaro says residents gathered to protest the placement last Friday.
[“KEEP POWAY SAFE” chanting] A crowd gathered at Garden Road Park, two and a half miles away from the man’s proposed home. Signs echoing their chants reading “Keep our kids safe. No SVP” lined the street. The San Diego Sheriff’s Department says state officials requested to rescind that placement on Friday. It’s unclear why the state made that decision. Poway Mayor Steve Vaus called it a victory. Mayor Steve Vaus: What we thought would be protest is a day of celebration. This would be the third time the man’s placement for housing, after serving time and receiving treatment, has been withdrawn. His attorney was not available for an interview. Vaus organized Friday’s rally. Pro bono attorneys have also volunteered to represent Poway to stop the placement. Jacumba resident Tanya Wilkins wishes her community had the resources for a similar effort. Tanya: we should be able to have big signs up around town like the other places do, because we would. Three of the 14 people designated as sexually violent predators on conditional release in San Diego County are in Jacumba. Elaine Alfaro, KPBS News.
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One plan to re-route the train tracks along the North County coast would take them through the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
North County reporter Tania Thorne says the agency that runs the fairgrounds met yesterday (Monday) to voice their opposition.
SANDAG calls the plan Alternative A. It starts at the Solana Beach train station, and runs through the Del Mar Fairgrounds, before running next to the I-5 freeway. It's the route many Del Mar residents support. But it’s opposed by Solana Beach and now by the Del Mar fairgrounds. Carlene Moore is the CEO of the fairgrounds, She fears construction of this route could halt the county fair and horse races for 7 to 10 years. We have about approximately a $680 million economic impact on this region, and we comprise about 40% of the city of Del Mar sales tax revenue base at the fair and other events would do would be drastically impacted if even operable just through construction alone. The fairgrounds is also telling SANDAG they’ll have to pause discussions of affordable housing on site… until Alternative A is removed from consideration. The city of Del Mar is discussing their response on Tuesday during a special meeting at 2pm. SANDAG is taking public comments through Friday. TT KPBS News
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North County lifeguards got some much-needed skin cancer screenings yesterday (Monday) at San Elijo State Beach.
As North county reporter Alexander Nguyen tells us, it’s a reminder to put on sun protection.
Goodwin Pompa spends most of his time outdoors as a state lifeguard. “Our uniforms can be bathing suits only.” He works 40 hours a week … and that’s a lot of sun exposure. “We’re always outside.” Too much exposure to U-V light is the cause of most skin cancers. That’s why he participated in Monday’s free skin cancer screening by Scripps Cancer Center. Scripps has been offering this service for more than 25 years. Doctor Benjamin Kelly is a dermatologist at Scripps Cancer Center. “This is just a small token of our appreciation to our lifeguards.” He says San Diegans get a lot of sun exposure because of our love for the outdoors. “We're pretty much always in the sun in some respects. So it's really important to, first of all, be somewhat protective with the sun. So wear your sunscreen as much as possible.” He says people should also get checked for skin cancer by either their family doctor or dermatologist once a year. AN/KPBS
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Coming up… A film that finds humor in grieving. Arts reporter Beth Accomando chats with the director. We’ll have that story, just after the break.
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Filipino American filmmaker H-P Mendoza screened The Secret Art of Human Flight at the San Diego Asian Film Festival last year.
It’s returning to San Diego this Friday.
Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando spoke with the filmmaker last November.
BETH ACCOMANDO: Now, this film deals with death and grief and trying to work through that grief, but it's a film that is remarkably funny. Also, how do you tackle a film like this and play with those tonal shifts and make people laugh so much at something that can also be so difficult to deal with?
HP MENDOZA: Well, I think there's a difference between making a comedy about death and making a movie about death that has comedic elements. I never want to be the death guy. I don't want to walk into a room and say, hey, everybody, let's commiserate about how horrible the world is. I will always attack everything with humor. I'm not making fun of anything. I think I'm honoring real feelings, but in that way that, you know, you're gonna be okay when you're at a funeral and somebody cracks the first joke. I mean, the movie opens with awake. It opens with a shiva, and within, like, three minutes, people are laughing. And I'm thinking, you know, if people laugh within those first three to five minutes, then we're doing something right.
“Tell me what you're feeling. Bad. You feel bad. I feel bad. That's good. It's good that you feel bad.”
ACCOMANDO: Ben's just lost his wife, and his wife's friend comes over, and her advice to him...
“You need to find a thing. Something. Anything. It can be mundane or it can be insane, but you just need to find a thing and see it through. Okay? Find a thing and see it through. Find a thing and see it through.”
MENDOZA: And what's great is that wasn't actually the line that was written. Maggie Grace showed up on set in just being able to sit with Maggie Grace, talking about this. You know, she was talking about her losses, and we were all talking about our losses, and we were all talking about how, you know, the only way out is through. Yeah. The idea that the only way out is through is accepting that there is another side to this. Right. So in the meantime, do something else. Sometimes these things that may seem cliche end up resonating in a viewer's mind maybe decades later. Right. Like, if you are too cool for school, you might watch that scene and say, like, oh, yeah, sure, whatever. That's probably out of some self help book. You know, Oprah probably said that. But when you get there, when you experience your loss and you do pick that thing and you see it through, hopefully it'll resonate.
ACCOMANDO: And how would you describe this film to people? Because you mentioned the idea of genre, but it's a film that kind of crosses genres, mixes genre, genre bends, whatever you want to call it, right?
MENDOZA: After a while, when people would say, like, you know, is this a horror film? Is this a comedy? What is this? The answer was just yes. Whatever you think it is in the moment, it's that. Because the truth is, if you just say it's a comedy drama, that's fitting. But there are some supernatural elements to it and there are some really trippy things to it. And I think instead of saying that this is a genre film, I like just saying that it's a comedy drama. Because there are some people who probably would never watch a genre film that will get introduced to elements like that for the first time.
ACCOMANDO: It is hard to find adjectives to describe your film because it feels unique. But there's also something that comedy doesn't quite cover, which is this sense of whimsy.
MENDOZA: It's true. Because the secret art of human flight, I don't think it's a laugh out loud comedy. I think it's funny. Yeah. The whimsy that makes people chuckle or laughter isn't necessarily comedic. Right. Like, I think a lot of this is. It's a kind of unexpected lightness that you wouldn't expect to feel amongst all that death. So, yeah, I think, yeah, thank you for that. I'm gonna take that from you. I'll attribute it to you, but I think you kind of gave me the language to talk about that now.
ACCOMANDO: All right, well, I wanna thank you very much for talking about the secret art of human flight.
MENDOZA: Thank you for having me on
The Secret Art of Human Flight opens Friday at Digital Gym Cinema in East Village.
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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 me tomorrow to learn more about what’s going on in your community. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
