Mayor Gloria addresses the cost of living in San Diego
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, March 13th.
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San Diego’s Mayor talks about what’s being done to address the cost of housing in the city. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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More money is on the way to families impacted by January's floods.
County Supervisors yesterday voted unanimously, to provide additional aid for flood victims.
It includes nearly 7-million-dollars to continue paying for hotel vouchers, and 3-million-dollars to provide three meals a day for 60 days.
More than 22-hundred people have participated in the temporary lodging program, but the county says more people continue to apply everyday.
Supervisors also voted to continue the local emergency declaration and approved a property tax relief ordinance.
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A San Diego jury delivered a multi-million dollar verdict yesterday (Tuesday) against the Coronado Unified School District.
The jury said the district was negligent in hiring a coach, who later admitted to having a sexual relationship with an underaged player.
The parents of the 17-year old student also claim the district did not properly supervise the coach, Jordan Tyler Bucklew.
KPBS spoke with the father of the victim.
“This wasn’t her fault. She was groomed, manipulated..she was not protected by a system we all are supposed to trust…the school.”
The jury agreed and awarded the victim 5-million dollars in damages.
The Coronado school board will meet in private session tomorrow (Thursday) to discuss a possible appeal.
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There’s a slight chance of light rain this morning, then the skies will start to clear up and we’ll feel some warmer weather today.
But that won’t last long…
The National Weather Service says there’s a chance of more showers on Friday and Saturday.
Today, temperatures in the inland and coastal areas are expected to be in the mid to high 60s.
In the mountains, temperatures will be in the low 50s… and it’ll be warmest in the deserts, with temps in the high 70s.
In both those areas, winds could gust up to 30 miles per hour tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday).
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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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San Diego mayor Todd Gloria joined Jade Hindmon on KPBS Midday Edition yesterday (Tuesday).
They discussed the city's flood response, the cost of living, homelessness and the city's streets and roads.
Here's the part of that interview that focused on housing.
TAG: To hear the full interview, search for the KPBS Midday Edition podcast.
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National City is planning to consider its own ban on homeless encampments.
That's according to a top city official.
South Bay reporter Kori Suzuki says the decision comes as many cities are taking a harsher stance on homelessness.
City Manager Ben Martinez says the City Council asked staff to explore a possible encampment ban. Similar to the controversial ban that San Diego passed last year.That law made it illegal for people to sleep and set up tents on the street if there was room in the city’s homeless shelters. Martinez says National City’s move is partially because more unhoused people are being pushed into the city from San Diego. Some homelessness researchers and advocates say they’re not surprised. “All cities in San Diego County, you know, they're all at certain different levels exploring these camping bans.” Rosy Vasquez is the founder of Community Through Hope, which has been one of the South Bay’s largest homelessness providers. “I do hope and have vocalized that each city really look to its own issue [...] and at least try and design its own unique policies and not adopt these large scale city policies that would virtually make it impossible for someone to lay their head somewhere at night.” It’s still not clear how effective these bans are at actually reducing homelessness. And Vasquez and many other advocates say they’re overly cruel to unhoused people. A ban in National City would have to be approved by the City Council. Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.
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In other efforts to get people off the streets… The county is developing an affordable housing complex in Chollas View.
The neighborhood sits at the southeast intersection of the 94 and 805.
Reporter Katie Hyson looked into why area residents are pushing back.
137 apartments for low and extremely low income seniors, with on-site childcare and a community garden. That’s the plan for the Market Street lot that used to house health and human services and now sits empty. The county’s housing director, David Estrella, says the project meets a dire need. For our seniors that are on fixed income, that are struggling to meet their daily needs . . . a property such as this one will provide them the kind of stability that they need. The county has a housing crisis. A spokesperson says it’s short about 120,000 homes. They plan to build at least ten thousand affordable units on government land by 2030. State law requires them to use no longer needed, surplus land for affordable housing, whenever possible. There’s 11 such sites so far, most in the San Diego metro area. Including this lot in Chollas View. Area neighbors say it’s a great plan – for somewhere else. Here, they say it’s worsening issues the Civil Rights movement tried to address. The same problems that we had in 1963 is the same conversations we're having now. Poor schools, segregation, the concentration of poverty. Marry Young sits on the planning group for the area, which the state defines as “low resource.” It has higher poverty and lower education, employment and home values. Residents argue locating this development here would raise that poverty level. Young says the county’s land use choices are making disparities worse. They make these decisions to continue layering poverty on top of poverty on top of poverty, and thinking that the outcome may be somehow different. Research indicates this issue is racially skewed. Poor white families tend to live in communities with lower poverty levels overall. Poor Black and Latino families more often live in communities with higher poverty overall. And face hardships that result from personal poverty colliding with community poverty. Less resourced schools, less safety, more police violence, lower quality housing. Chollas View is mostly Black and Latino. Young says small decisions – like where to locate one affordable housing complex – chip away at the residents’ long term growth. Whatever wealth that everybody is talking about that we should be building, it doesn't happen because it's chiseled away. Years before news of this complex, the planning group published priorities for development in their neighborhoods. They said the ground level of mixed use lots should be for things like retail, offices, grocery and drug stores. There should be affordable home ownership opportunities, not just rentals. For middle income households, to help alleviate the community’s overall poverty. They ask why the development doesn’t follow these goals, and say the county didn’t consult them before hiring a developer. Jacinta Hinojosa, who lives near the lot, says the affordable housing complex was news to her neighbors. A lot of people don't know things are getting built around your community . . . because some people don't have the time to attend, are working, or they don't have the right language. She and her son Alonso want to see the lot used for a park. There are few green spaces in Chollas View that aren’t schools or cemeteries. Planning group members argue the land didn’t have to be declared surplus. It could have been used for something like a park. The affordable housing could be located somewhere with more resources. Housing director David Estrella says he understands their concerns, but he also hears from people who need affordable housing. We balance the needs of the region and the community within itself. The developers plan to break ground as early as December of next year. Community members say they may also be there with picket signs. Katie Hyson, KPBS News.
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San Diego and National City have been selected for a state grant to help reconnect communities that were divided by freeways.
Metro reporter Andrew Bowen has more.
AB: A generation ago, the state and federal governments collaborated to build San Diego's network of freeways. The infrastructure devastated many low-income communities of color, who were left with depressed property values, pollution, noise and division. The state’s "reconnecting communities" grant is meant to help heal those wounds. Janice Luna Reynoso is executive director of Mundo Gardens, a nonprofit that will help determine exactly how the funds will be spent. JLR: I look at my granddaughter that hopefully she'll benefit and it'll be a legacy of healing, of economic justice, of vitality. A legacy of what we're going to do to leave this place better than we found it. AB: Caltrans has not yet said how much money the region will get in grant funds. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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This week marks the start of the annual San Diego Latino Film Festival.
Films from San Diego and Tijuana will be featured.
South Bay engagement producer, Marielena Castellanos has the story.
Official selections in this year’s festival include movies filmed throughout baja california. two of those, incomplete lovers and still with me explore mourning and losing loved ones. they include road trips with captivating landscapes of baja california. there’s also a documentary by cross border filmmaker, alejandro tamayo about the iconic tijuana guitarist, javier bátiz, who taught the legendary guitarist carlos santana how to play. shelly ro is a filmmaker born and raised in tijuana. at the festival she’ll show “carly,” a sci-fi dystopian short film she stars in and helped write. she explained her character, carly, and the movie’s themes. she's very creepy, but she is convinced that she is really doing this to save the world, and how many atrocities? and how many decisions, and how many? awful things and fights and negativity, are we okay with? or we're sharing, or we subscribe by, because we think that we are in the right. the san diego latino film festival runs through sunday, march the 24th. mc/kpbs.
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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 Wednesday.
