Options abound for paid parking systems in Balboa Park meant to help the city’s budget shortfall. And San Diego County is also looking for budget solutions, this time toward its reserve. Also, part one of a two-part story looking at the Trump Administration’s fixation on birthrates. Then, an East County school is helping kids eat healthy away from school by sending food home with them on the bus. And relief is here for tens of thousands of Anthem-Blue Cross customers unable to access Scripps Health due to a contract dispute.
Is this the end of free parking in Balboa Park?
May 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM PDT
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, May 7th.
The days of free parking at Balboa Park could be coming to an end.
More on that next. But first... the headlines….
What does it take to afford a home in San Diego?
A new study says you’ll need north of a quarter million dollars in annual income.
A household needs to gross almost 260- thousand dollars a year to afford the median San Diego home. That’s according to Realtor- dot- com.
The report’s authors made two assumptions: first, that a home buyer would make a twenty percent down payment. And second, that monthly mortgage costs would need to stay below thirty percent of a household’s gross income.
The median home price in San Diego County is around 886 thousand dollars. In the city it’s just over one million.
The Supreme Court says the Pentagon is clear to enforce President Trump’s ban on transgender service members.
Yesterday’s (Tuesday) six-to-three ruling lifts a national hold on the policy imposed by a federal judge in Washington. The case is one of three lawsuits challenging the ban.
The ban on trans service members was one of several anti-trans policies imposed by Trump in the first days of his second term.
On his first day back in office he signed an executive order declaring the federal government would only recognize binary sex assigned at birth. The order rejected the idea that people can transition.
One of the lawsuits was brought by L-G-B-T-Q-plus rights group Lambda Legal. In a statement the group criticized the Supreme Court for allowing the ban to proceed while the legal challenge continues.
After twenty years, this time, it’s for real. Starting today, travelers over age 18 at San Diego International Airport – and across the country – will need a government-issued REAL I-D.
The REAL I-D Act was first signed into law in 2005 and was supposed to take effect in 2008.
The deadline was repeatedly pushed back due to several implementation challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other forms of identification are also acceptable, such as passports and military I-D cards. A complete list is available online at t-s-a-dot-gov.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.
Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
SAN DIEGO'S BUDGET DEFICIT IS PROMPTING MORE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PAID PARKING IN BALBOA PARK. METRO REPORTER ANDREW BOWEN SAYS MULTIPLE OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE.
AB: Mayor Todd Gloria's proposed budget includes $11 million in revenue from paid parking in Balboa Park. City officials say they're considering keeping free parking in parts of the park while charging in the most high-demand lots. Michael Zucchet is head of the Municipal Employees Association, the largest union of city workers. He told the City Council on Monday that visitors should pay a higher parking rate than residents. MZ: The model that we have with our municipal golf courses, where residents pay one fee and nonresidents pay a fee that is two or three times as much, is a good model and should be thought of as we embark upon these fees. AB: The council will vote first on the mayor's budget, then later on whether to implement paid parking in Balboa Park. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
IN THE MIDST OF FUNDING CUTS AND TIGHTER BUDGETS, THE SAN DIEGO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CONSIDERED TAPPING INTO THE COUNTY'S RESERVES TUESDAY. REPORTER TANIA THORNE SAYS THE IDEA FAILED… BUT ITS BACKERS SAY IT’S NOT OVER YET.
Backers of the “Reserve Reform” proposal say it would help fund services to vulnerable communities during an economic crisis. Supervisors Terra Lawson Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe authored the proposal amid federal cuts to housing, health care, and supportive services. Greg Anglea, the CEO of Interfaith Community Services says county funding like this helps expand services to people experiencing homelessness. Interfaith recently expanded our withdrawal management service programs here in Escondido.That expansion was made possible by additional funding from the county of San Diego. Supervisor Jim Desmond voted against the idea saying the County’s reserves are for true emergencies like wildfires, natural disasters, or severe economic downturns. Lawson Remer and Montgomery Steppe said they would bring the idea back in a future session after budgets are finalized. Tania Thorne KPBS News
PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS PROCLAIMED HIMSELF THE QUOTE “FERTILIZATION PRESIDENT.” IT MIGHT BE TEMPTING TO CALL THAT DECLARATION HYPERBOLIC. BUT TWO UC SAN DIEGO RESEARCHERS ACTUALLY FOUND EVIDENCE THAT BIRTH RATES CLIMBED EIGHT YEARS AGO DURING TRUMP’S FIRST TERM. PUBLIC MATTERS REPORTER AMITA SHARMA JOINS ME TO UNPACK THE RESEARCH.
Amiha, this is an intriguing finding.Tell me about it.Well, there are these two researchers at UC San Diego, economics professor Gordon Dahl and assistant professor of finance, William Mullins.They decided to gauge the link between presidential elections and fertility rates in the United States.So they looked at birth certificate data in Republican dominated counties as well as Democratic majority counties.And they found that after voters elected Trump to his first term as president in 2016, there was a distinct jump in birth rates in red counties, and there was a simultaneous drop in births in blue counties.Here's Mullins with more.We get a range of estimates that range between about 1, 1.5% of the US fertility rate, all the way up to about 3% of the US fertility rate, just rough order of magnitude.That's essentially saying that the Republican county saw a big increase.Relative to Democratic counties and that the size of that difference is about 3% of the US national fertility rate in our main analysis.And it is important to emphasize that the size of that difference did not change the entire decline in fertility.And Dahl does make the point that Republican women have always had higher fertility rates than Democratic women.Trump's election widens the gap between Republicans and Democrats by about 17%, so that's one way to think about it.Another way to kind of think about how big this effect is, it's about the same shift in births that happens when you have a 1% increase in unemployment.So fertility is fairly responsive to the overall economic conditions.And when unemployment rate goes up by about 1%, that's about the same magnitude we're talking about here.So not going to change the entire decline in fertility or reverse it or change it completely, but not terribly small either.What do Mullins and Dahl say about why Republican women had more babies than Democrats during Trump's first term?Well, the reasons are fascinating, and they really just reveal something about the nature of the difference in outlook between Democrats and Republicans.But the biggest one, according to Dahl, is hope.There's economic optimism, like where's the future of the economy going?There's also optimism about, you know, where's society going.And so if you look at the election of Donald Trump, which was a surprise, most people, including the New York Times poll or betting markets, predicted Trump was not going to win.He wins unexpectedly, and what you see in terms of measures of economic optimism is they flip almost overnight.So in a flash, Republicans become optimistic about the future, and Democrats become pessimistic.What about other voting blocs?Well, I know Latino voting patterns have definitely changed since 2016, but soon after that year's presidential election, Mullins says there was a change in birth rates.You find that Hispanic fertility in the counties in which he made campaign visits actually fell relative to non-Hispanic fertility, and that lasted for about 3 to 4 months after each campaign stop.And I did ask Dahl and Mullins if they expect another bump in birth rates during Trump's current term in the White House.Dahl says he does.Trump is trying to get women to have more kids.His efforts are actually the focus of my piece tomorrow.Amiha, looking forward to that piece tomorrow.Thank you.Thank you.
MANY FAMILIES IN RURAL EAST COUNTY LACK ACCESS TO HEALTHY FOOD. EDUCATION REPORTER KATIE ANASTAS SAYS A SCHOOL FOOD PANTRY IN BOULEVARD IS RESPONDING BY SENDING FOOD HOME WITH KIDS WHO TAKE THE SCHOOL BUS.
The Mountain Empire Unified School District covers more than 650 square miles in Southeast San Diego County. Hannah Hong has two kids in the district. HONG We have just 2 or 3 liquor stores and then one small grocery market…So it takes, like, at least 30 minutes to get out and get food. In Boulevard, students and their parents can now pick up food at Clover Flat Elementary School. Feeding San Diego has put on a school food pantry there twice a month since November. At their other school pantries, parents get the food when they pick their kids up from school. In this district, 97% of the kids take school buses. That means the amount of food they can take home is limited by what they can carry. Gary Brannon is the district’s director of student services. BRANNON They do a really good job by bringing kids out of the classroom on a one by one basis. They're able to select what they want, figure out what they can carry, and then they go back to their class. Brannon says the food pantry is one of many ways schools are acting as community hubs. BRANNON It's beyond just taking care of the kids. It's taking care of our community. Clover Flat Elementary is one of two rural schools with Feeding San Diego food pantries. There are more than 60 others in the county, and more schools on the waitlist. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.
SOME RELIEF FOR ANTHEM BLUE CROSS MEMBERS IN SAN DIEGO. HEALTH REPORTER HEIDI DE MARCO SAYS SCRIPPS HEALTH IS BACK IN NETWORK AFTER MONTHS OF CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS.
Anthem Blue Cross customers in San Diego can once again access Scripps Health with in-network coverage. Scripps announced it is temporarily extending its previous in-network contracts through September 20-26. During this extension period, the two sides say they will work to reach a new, long-term deal. Scripps went out of network with Anthem Blue Cross back on January 1st. Scripps went out of network with Anthem Blue Cross back on January 1st after months of failed contract negotiations. The change affected more than 125,000 San Diego patients.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. For your next listen, download the midday edition podcast. The show this afternoon takes a closer look at the challenges faced by working mothers. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.