New affordable housing complex opens in Downtown San Diego
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Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson, it’s FRIDAY, MAY EIGHTH>>>> [WE’LL TELL YOU ABOUT A NEW AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMUNITY THAT JUST OPENED DOWNTOWN]More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….########
THIS MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND, AS SAN DIEGO IS A BORDER-REGION, CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION IS REMINDING ANY TRAVELERS COMING FROM MEXICO TO DECLARE ALL FLOWERS AND PLANT MATERIALS
C-B-P SAYS THE WEEKEND LEADING UP TO MOTHER'S DAY LIKELY BRINGS AN
INCREASE IN PEOPLE TRAVELING WITH GREENERY AND BOUQUETS
THE AGENCY SAYS EVEN A SINGLE PEST COULD CAUSE WIDESPREAD DAMAGE TO
AGRICULTURE. AND PLANT, FLOWERS AND SOIL MUST BE SCREENED BY AGRICULTURAL SPECIALISTS
THEY SAY TYPICALLY, FLOWERS LIKE ROSES AND CARNATIONS ARE GENERALLY ALLOWED BUT TO DECLARE ALL ITEMS TO AVOID POTENTIAL PENALTY
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A LEARNING PLATFORM CALLED CANVAS WENT DOWN THURSDAY AT UNIVERSITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
SCHOOLS USE IT TO MANAGE ASSIGNMENTS AND COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENTS.
THAT INCLUDES ALL CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES…WHERE STUDENTS ARE STARTING TO TAKE THEIR FINAL EXAMS.
ZOE [ZO-ee] SHANK IS A FRESHMAN AT SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY. SHE WAS PLANNING TO TAKE ONE OF HER FINAL EXAMS ON CANVAS THURSDAY.
CANVAS2A [14s]
Our main source of communication with our teachers, and how we submit all of our assignments, being down is a little stressful. And I have friends back home, I’m out of state, and everyone’s dealing with it. And I think it’s just like not what we need right at this finals time.
SAN DIEGO STATE SAYS THERE IS NO EVIDENCE HACKERS HAVE OBTAINED SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS OR BANKING INFORMATION.
THE UNIVERSITY ASKED FACULTY TO BE FLEXIBLE WITH STUDENT DEADLINES.
STUDENTS AT U-C SAN DIEGO ALSO REPORTED NOT BEING ABLE TO ACCESS CANVAS THURSDAY.
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A WARMING TREND CONTINUES TODAY AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK
HIGH TEMPERATURES SHOULD LAND 7 TO FIFTEEN DEGREES ABOVE AVERAGE FOR OUR INLAND AREAS
DOWNTOWN'S HIGH TEMPERATURE IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR 73 ON FRIDAY AND 76 ON SUNDAY WITH LOW'S LANDING AROUND SIXTY DEGREES
AN EXTREME HEAT WATCH IS IN EFFECT STARTING SUNDAY MORNING AND CONTINUING THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING
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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A NEW AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPLEX IN DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO OFFICIALLY OPENED ITS DOORS (THURSDAY).
AS REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN TELLS US, IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL DAY FOR ONE FORMERLY HOMELESS RESIDENT.
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JACARANDA 1(an) TRT: 0:55 SOQ
Natpop “When I moved here, I couldn’t believe it (sniffles) It was a dream.”
Choking back tears … Isabelle Fuentes recounts her story from homelessness to moving into Jacaranda on Ninth.
It’s an affordable housing complex in Cortez Hill. The 88-unit complex is for households earning less than 25% of the area's median income.
14 units are reserved for formerly homeless individuals.
Those residents also receive wraparound services from PATH or People Assisting the Homeless.
Tyler Renner is with PATH.
“The idea is to really get self-sufficient and learn financing, budgeting, grocery shopping, how to manage their lives, how to work towards their goals.”
To qualify for a home here, people need to enroll with a service provider, such as the Housing Commission, to be added to the waiting list.
Fuentes was on a housing waitlist for six years before moving in. AN/KPBS
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ICE HAS RELEASED DETAILS ON THE THOUSANDS OF ARRESTS AGENTS HAVE MADE IN SAN DIEGO AND IMPERIAL COUNTIES DURING PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SECOND TERM.
KPBS REPORTER ELAINE ALFARO SAYS THE NEW INFORMATION COMES FROM MEMBERS OF SAN DIEGO’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION.
IMMIGRATIONDATA 1 (1:10)
ICE agents arrested nearly 10,500 people in the two counties between January 2025 and April. More than 1,400 of these arrests were in or near sensitive locations, including schools, churches and hospitals.
ICE released these numbers in April after Congressional Representatives Scott Peters, Mike Levin, Sara Jacobs and Juan Vargas sent a letter last July asking for transparency on ICE’s tactics. Here’s Peters.
“It's very clear once again that this effort is not what Trump promised, which was to get rid of the worst of the worst.”
The representatives asked how many detained and deported individuals did not have a violent criminal record? That question remains unanswered.
“There's a reason that they didn't give it to us. If they had been just deporting felons, that would have been the 1st sentence in the letter. Of course they're not.”
Peters said he doesn’t expect answers unless and until Democrats win the majority in the House of Representatives this fall.
“At that point, I think we'll have more tools to do oversight.”
ICE did not respond to questions from KPBS.
Elaine Alfaro, KPBS News.
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THE ESCONDIDO PUBLIC LIBRARY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BACK HOME BY MARCH, BUT THAT DEADLINE HAS COME AND GONE.
THE LIBRARY IS STILL OPERATING OUT OF A TEMPORARY SPACE IN THE NORTH COUNTY MALL AS RENOVATION CONTINUES ON ITS REGULAR LOCATION.
OUR MEDIA PARTNER KGTV SPOKE TO ESCONDIDO LIBRARY DIRECTOR RINO (RENO) LANDA.. WHO SAYS PROGRESS IS BEING MADE.
ESCOLIBRARY 1A :13 We're at the point of carpeting being installed, lighting being installed, final touches, final changes as we find in complete areas. The main work that's left to be done is going to be the exterior of the building.
THAT INCLUDES A SOLAR PANEL PROJECT IN THE PARKING LOT.
THE LIBRARY IS NOW EXPECTED TO OPEN IN AUGUST.
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NEXT WEEK, THE SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL RETURNS FOR ITS 14TH YEAR TO CELEBRATE UNCENSORED CREATIVITY FROM HERE AND ABROAD. THIS YEAR, IT EXPANDS ITS FOOTPRINT AND PREPARES TO WELCOME GLOBAL LEADERS FOR THE WORLD FRINGE CONGRESS. HERE WITH A PREVIEW IS ARTS REPORTER BETH ACCOMANDO.
FRINGE (ba) 4:13 SOQ
TAG: SAN DIEGO FRINGE LAUNCHES MAY 12th WITH A FREE PREVIEW NIGHT AND CONTINUES THROUGH MAY 24th AT MULTIPLE LOCATIONS. BETH WILL HAVE HER LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS ON MONDAY AT K-P-B-S-DOT-ORG.
TZFRINGEComing up on KPBS, prepare for the uncensored creativity of the San Diego International Fringe Festival…
HOLLY LOMBARDO: The more you immerse yourself into it, the more you will get out of it. (:07)
This year the festival expands its footprint and welcomes the World Fringe Congress.
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San Diego International Fringe has faced obstacles over the years. Its earlier home base, the Spreckels Theater, was sold so it had to relocate. Then COVID forced a closure and reboot. But this year is about growth and expansion.
KATA PIERCE-MORGAN … We're here for our third year of the International Fringe Festival based at 49th and Logan Multicultural Complex. And so Shaun, I can hardly wait to show you the third venue…
Kata Pierce-Morgan is an artist with a show at Les Girls Theater but she’s also the owner of a Lincoln Park property she rechristened the 49th and Logan Multicultural Complex where she just added a new venue for producing director Shaun Davis to use.
KATA PIERCE-MORGAN … And it's called Golden Corpse Theater. Where there's art, there's hope.
SHAUN DAVIS This is incredible. It's an incredible space, and I can't wait to be able to start using it and inaugurate it for the San Diego International Fringe Festival.
Davis is also excited about returning to San Diego State University to add venues.
SHAUN DAVIS They are partnering with us. So we've got 3 venues there. We're doing the SDSU Main Stage, formerly the Don Powell, the Prebys Theater, and the Experimental there.
Fringe is also extending the reach of its BYOV or Bring Your Own Venue north to Poway and south to Ensenada, where San Diego Fringe founder and CEO Kevin Charles Patterson is now living.
KEVIN CHARLES PATTERSON … and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to add a venue down in this expat community I live in. And we're just looking at it as a pilot to try it out.
This year San Diego Fringe is proud to host the World Fringe Congress. Holly Lombardo is the managing director of the international organization which turns 20 next year.
HOLLY LOMBARDO … And what we set out to do is connect fringe festival directors and producers all over the world together and support them with creating new festivals and to share knowledge between festivals, basically. And now we support 300 fringe festivals all over the world, all in different shapes sizes from the Edinburgh Fringe, which is the longest standing and largest in the world, to some of the smaller ones, you know, with 10, 15 events.
Attending an early World Fringe Congress was life changing for Patterson.
KEVIN CHARLES PATTERSON it was so inspirational that from that time and that visit, I said, this is what I want to do… But what it brings to San Diego and what makes it special for us having it in San Diego is it puts us in this global arts and culture spotlight.
But it’s doing so at a challenging time with the festival facing potentially severe budget cuts and artists facing obstacles to travel, says Davis.
SHAUN DAVIS We had one, one of our groups from Italy, not only were they denied a visa, they were told that they couldn't reapply for 10 years. So that was kind of shocking.
Davis also had to contend with the new paid parking policies in Balboa Park.
SHAUN DAVIS … I did not do daytime shows in Balboa Park this year. I've got one group that's doing some early shows, only because they can only be here for one day. But for all the other shows, we don't start Balboa Park until 6:00 PM so that we can kind of avoid having our audiences have to pay for parking.
Being able to creatively pivot is just one reason Lombardo loves Fringe and calls herself a Fringe-aholic.
HOLLY LOMBARDO …what excites me about them is the innovation and the forward thinking and the generosity of spirit that comes with the people that run them and the artists that take part in them and the venues that support them. It's lively, it's invigorating, the tickets are not expensive. It is a very exciting place to be, and the more you immerse yourself into it, the more you will get out of it, basically. And that goes for everybody— artists, festival directors, and audiences.
As a certified Fringe-aholic myself, I encourage everyone to at least dip a toe into Fringe and sample one show or spend an evening at one hub to experience the uncensored, audacious spirit that is uniquely Fringe.
Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
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AS WE DO FOR YOU EACH AND EVERY FRIDAY, HERE ARE SOME WEEKEND EVENTS HAPPENING ACROSS THE COUNTY THAT YOU AND YOURS CAN TAKE PART IN
ON FRIDAY, MIRACOSTA COLLEGE’S OCEANSIDE CAMPUS IS HOSTING TWO FREE LECTURES FROM 1 TO 3 P-M
THE FIRST IS CALLED “STORIES OF SAN DIEGO’S FOOD COMMUNITY” AND THE SECOND IS “THE U-S ROOTS OF CENTRAL AMERICAN MIGRATION” WHICH THE EVENT PAGE SAYS LOOKS INTO HOW U-S POLICY IN CENTRAL AMERICA HELPED TO CREATE THE MODERN REFUGEE CRISIS
STARTING ON SATURDAY, ALL FOCUS TURNS TO MOTHER’S !
IN NATIONAL CITY, ARTS AFTER DARK IS PUTTING ON MOTHER’S DAY PAINT NIGHT !
ATTENDEES WILL LEARN HOW TO PAINT A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER AND A HUMMINGBIRD SCENE
ALSO ON SATURDAY, IF YOU’RE SHORT ON IDEAS, YOU CAN CELEBRATE MAMA BY GOING TO A FLORAL WORKSHOP AT NORTH CITY
THE EVENT IS IN COLLABORATION WITH A COFFEE SHOP FOR OUR CAFFEINE LOVERS AND ATTENDEES WILL CREATE A GIANT PAPER PEONY {PE-UH-KNEE) FOR MAMA
INFORMATION FOR THESE EVENTS AND MORE CAN BE FOUND ON KPBS DOT ORG SLASH EVENTS
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That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast is edited by Brooke Ruth. This podcast is hosted and produced by me, Lawrence K. Jackson. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
