The tie-breaking vote on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is up for grabs by the winner of the District 1 race. And, hear from an Afghan man in San Diego who says his father, who worked with the U.S. during the war, has been left behind in Afghanistan. Then, how California’s new environmental regulatory rollback will affect housing construction. Also, a San Diego political scientist says he has a roadmap for how you can affect change. Finally, carpool lanes on Interstate 805 in the South Bay will let you ride solo — for a price.
Key county decisions hinge on South Bay election
July 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM PDT
Good Morning, I’m Andrew Dyer in for Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, July 2nd.
How the new supervisor could change how the county responds to federal cuts.
More on that next. But first... the headlines….
Paloma Aguirre leads in early results from yesterday’s special general election for district 1 county board of supervisor.
Early results include mail-in ballots received before Election Day and votes cast at vote centers that were open from the 21st to the 30th.
Aguirre, a Democrat, leads with just over 53 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, Republican John McCann has almost 47 percent.
As it sits the board has two Democrats and two Republicans, meaning the winner of the election will tilt the balance of power on the board of supervisors.
Check KPBS dot org for the latest election results.
Today the city’s land use and housing committee is meeting to discuss a proposed redevelopment deal for the 101 Ash Street high-rise downtown.
The Union-Tribune reports the committee will consider a 60-year lease with developers MRK Partners and Create Dev L-L-C to convert the building into low-income housing.
The conversion will reportedly cost about a quarter-billion dollars, funded in-part by tax credits and a deal with the city to delay payments for 15 years.
Sharp HealthCare says it’s laying off more than 300 employees.
The company says senior executives are included in the cuts and most others are non-clinical and will have minimal impact on patient care.
CEO and President Chris Howard says rising costs outpacing revenue are partially to blame.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.
Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
VOTERS IN SOUTH COUNTY VOTED YESTERDAY TO FILL A VACANT SEAT ON THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
HEALTH REPORTER HEIDI DE MARCO SAYS WHOEVER WINS COULD BECOME THE TIE-BREAKING VOTE ON HOW THE COUNTY RESPONDS TO POSSIBLE FEDERAL CUTS TO SAFETY NET PROGRAMS.
Last week, Supervisors Tara Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe proposed a plan directing county staff to prepare for potential federal funding cuts threatening food, housing, and health care programs.“We're looking at hundreds of millions of dollars of shortfalls and cuts from the federal Government.”Rick Wanne oversees self-sufficiency services for the county. He warns new eligibility rules and requirements would impact residents and the staff helping them.“Folks will sometimes not submit their paperwork, they can fall off the program…reapply and these create significant paperwork challenges for our customer recipients, as well as for our staff.”But with the board still down one seat, some proposals like a motion to notify CalFresh recipients of upcoming changes, ended in a tie.“That motion fails due to a tie vote.” The new District 1 supervisor could be the deciding vote on what happens next.Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.
COUNTLESS AFGHAN NATIONALS AIDED U.S. FORCES DURING OUR 20-YEAR WAR IN AFGHANISTAN. THEY RISKED THEIR LIVES TO PROVIDE INTELLIGENCE, TRANSLATION AND OTHER VITAL SERVICES. REPORTER GUSTAVO SOLIS HAS THE STORY OF ONE AFGHAN FAMILY THAT FEELS FORGOTTEN AFTER WORKING FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT FOR MORE THAN A DECADE.
Sayed Sadat came to San Diego three years ago. Because he worked for the U.S. government during the war in Afghanistan - he was eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa. His father - who also worked for the government - is eligible for the same visa. But Trump-era funding cuts and bureaucratic delays have left him stranded in Afghanistan. This is how Sadat describes his father’s situation.“So he is suffering from that service.”The family feels betrayed.. “My parents, my father has worked for the U.S. government for almost 12 years and he is now in Afghanistan. All his documents has been completed.”Sadat says his father was approved for a transfer out of Afghanistan to Qatar more than a year ago.“After the program paused, he’s still in Afghanistan. He don’t know what will happen next. I don’t know what will happen next to him.”Meanwhile, his life is becoming more perilous. Neighbors back home know that the Sadat family worked with the U.S. That makes him a target.“He doesn’t go out. He just stay at home as much as he can. Even most of the time, he doesn’t use the same road when he’s going out. Change your clothes. Change your style so people cannot target you.”Sadat found work as an immigration assistant for PANA - an organization that helps refugees and new immigrants adjust to life in San Diego. He works with Maria Chavez PANA’s immigration legal director. She says the Sadat family’s story is all too familiar … an example of the different ways the Trump administration has tried to limit legal immigration from Afghanistan.From cancelling CBP One asylum appointments, to eliminating Temporary Protected Status of people admitted into the U.S. And more recently, a new travel ban barring most people from Afghanistan from coming to the U.S.“To me, it goes to show that it was never really about things quote unquote the right way. These are individuals who are following the rules, they are doing what they can to be in the United States lawfully because their country is falling apart. It’s not a safe place to be.”Chavez is particularly upset at the administration’s decision to eliminate humanitarian parole programs for people already in the country. She says these are people who followed the rules, came with legal status, and now face the possibility of being deported. “It essentially creates just a whole sub-status of people who are in legal limbo. They don’t know what to do.”The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.PANA hosts regular know-your-rights workshops to support immigrants impacted by Trump’s policies. But Chavez says the rapid-fire nature of these policy changes create a lot of confusion and uncertainty.“My biggest advise would be to talk to a lawyer. That’s because even though we may not have all of the answers and we can’t necessarily protect you the way we used to be able to we can at least help you navigate all of the constant changes.”But more than anything, Chavez believes it is important for San Diego’s Afghan community to know that someone here has their back.“I just want the Afghan community just to remember that things are scary. I get that, I understand that. We are also afraid and feel hopeless at times. But there’s a whole community of people here who are willing to fight for you and support you in any way that we can.”Sadat says there’s been a dramatic shift in the way Afghan immigrants are viewed in the United States - they were invited in because of their contributions to the American war effort. But now it feels like those contributions have been forgotten.“My message for the lawmakers is don’t leave behind people who helped you in the hard time. When we were in the hard time, those people helped us. So now when they are in a hard situation, let’s help them now.”He hopes those in positions of power do not forget his people’s sacrifice.Gustavo Solis, KPBS News
GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM HAS SIGNED NEW LEGISLATION THAT HAS ROLLED BACK THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT, OR CEQA (SEE-kwa).
IT’S A 1970S LAW THAT REQUIRES STRICT EXAMINATION OF ANY NEW DEVELOPMENT FOR ITS IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT.
SEAN KILKENNY IS A DEVELOPER WITH NOLEN COMMUNITIES IN SAN DIEGO.
“I think over the 50 years that CEQAs been implemented it’s been used for various reasons and by various sides, various factions – to slow down and otherwise frustrate development.”
NOW, CEQA REQUIREMENTS WON’T APPLY FOR URBAN “INFILL” HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS – that’s HOUSING BUILT IN AND AROUND EXISTING DEVELOPMENT.
THE LOOMING QUESTION AFTER THE NO KINGS NATIONWIDE PROTESTS LAST MONTH WAS…NOW WHAT? LONGTIME SAN DIEGO POLITICAL SCIENTIST CARL LUNA – WHO HAS WRITTEN EXTENSIVELY ON PRESIDENTIAL POWER AND CIVIL CIVIC ENGAGEMENT – HAS AN ANSWER. IN FACT, HE HAS A ROADMAP. REPORTER AMITA SHARMA SPOKE WITH HIM THIS WEEK. HERE’S THAT INTERVIEW.
Carl, you have said that America's democratic backsliding requires mass leadership. What does that look like at the local level in San Diego, and who needs to be involved?What it looks like, Amitha, is you get the leaders of all the major social and political institutions, the university presidents and chancellors, the church leaders, the bishops. You bring together the social activist community, the labor unions. You get their leaders in a room to hammer out a clear agenda for what you want people to be protesting for. And that becomes the political power to try to move this forward.How does this coalition fight back against anti-democratic moves, given that some of the checks, that is the courts and Congress, have been weakened?The idea of mass mobilization is you're creating a political army. Today we protest, tomorrow we vote, and then the people in power better pay attention or they'll lose their job. If that's not changing it, you do more protests. And ultimately you have to be willing to paralyze the country until you get your say — national strikes become an option.What you're describing takes will, a clear goal, and a detailed plan. You talked about this coalition coming together and needing a crystallized agenda. What do you see as the agenda?Right now, the number one cornerstone of any agenda is to restore checks and balances so the executive branch can't subvert democracy, can't do whatever it wants. That's the definition of authoritarianism. That means you have to hold the Congress and the courts accountable, and the people in them who are not defending democracy — you have to remove them from office, through the ballot box, through new appointments.Much of President Trump's agenda so far is inspired by Project 2025. Does the opposition to the administration have a similar blueprint for what it wants?I think the problem was the opposition to the administration never really treated Project 2025 seriously. Its playbook is what happened with Viktor Orban in Hungary — how the executive branch takes over government and becomes basically a competitive authoritarian regime. It's not really a democracy. So the leadership of the various different factions of the progressive movement had their own agendas they were pursuing. They never realized unless you get together to defend democracy first, dealing with the environment, dealing with trans rights, dealing with immigration — it's never going to be accomplished.How urgent is your action plan? How much time is left before you believe the country will have crossed fully into authoritarianism?Well, the problem is, Amitha, that we're not sure. How long does it take to dismantle a real democracy? The next election is in November of 2026. Do we have a democratic election? In which case the party in power should lose a lot of seats in the House, maybe even the Senate, because of the problems in the administration's policies? Or are you going to see an action over the next year to basically rig the next election? If that's the case, if the election looks like it's going to be rigged, then you have to really take to the streets to protest, because democracies can disappear in a very short period of time.How hopeful are you that what you have prescribed can actually happen?If people of goodwill come together with a simple agenda — we want our Constitution and checks and balances to be protected, and we will work to remove from office people who do not — then we have a shot to try to protect American democracy. If you get bogged down in, "Yeah, but I want to look at car emissions" or other specific policies, then the opposition starts fighting with itself and the administration will just steamroll right over them.Do you think that that's what's happening now?Right now you don't have a coherent voice in opposition to what many perceive as threats to democracy. Until you get that coherent voice, the number one task is to hold the administration accountable and the people who support it. Then everything else is just a distraction.Carl Luna, thank you for speaking with me today.Thank you.
THAT WAS KPBS’ AMITA SHARMA SPEAKING WITH POLITICAL SCIENTIST CARL LUNA.
THE STATE GAVE CALTRANS 40- MILLION DOLLARS LAST WEEK TO UPGRADE THE H-O-V LANES ON THE 805 FREEWAY IN THE SOUTH BAY.
THE PROJECT WILL GIVE SOLO DRIVERS THE CHANCE TO PAY A TOLL TO ACCESS THE FREEWAY'S EXPRESS LANES.
JEANIE WARD-WALLER IS THE INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR CLIMATE PLAN, A STATEWIDE COALITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS THAT SUPPORTED THE PROJECT.
JWW: So your alternative is to drive for free in the other lanes on the freeway that still exist. But you'll be stuck in traffic. So if you want to drive this way and not have to be stuck, you pay the toll. And that's really the benefit that you're getting, is to get out of traffic.
THE TOLL AMOUNTS HAVEN'T BEEN SET YET, BUT THE MONEY WILL BE INVESTED IN ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL OPTIONS SUCH AS THE SOUTH BAY RAPID BUS FROM OTAY MESA TO DOWNTOWN.
THE PROJECT IS SCHEDULED FOR COMPLETION BY 2030.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Andrew Dyer. Thanks for listening and have a great Wednesday.