New law could allow ADU subdivision
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Tuesday, December 26th.
A new state law lets people subdivide ADUs into separate properties and sell them.More next, on what would have to be done, to allow it in San Diego . But first... let’s do the headlines….
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The city’s annual Christmas tree recycling program starts today and runs through January 23rd.
Residents can drop off their trees at 16 locations.
They’ll be turned into compost, wood chips and mulch.
All tree decorations, of course, must be removed first.
And no artificial trees are accepted.
If you can’t make it to a pickup location, you can use the green curbside bin for organic waste.
But, be sure to cut the tree to fit first.
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The MTS Holiday Bowl will return for its second year at Petco Park tomorrow.
The free parade begins at 10 a.m., and will have marching bands, floats, drill teams and giant balloons.
The football game will kick-off at 5 pm.
The U-S-C Trojans will face the Louisville Cardinals.
Tickets start at $60.
And there’ll be fireworks after the game.
MTS is anticipating a crowd of over 35,000 for the game, and more than 100,000 for the parade.
To avoid traffic and parking, they recommend taking public transit.
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SANDAG now predicts the county’s population will peak at 3.4 million in 20-42, before dropping back to current levels.
That’s according to the Union-Tribune.
That would make it one of the slowest growing metro areas in the country.
Their prediction is based on the high cost of living, especially housing. And low birth rates.
Demographers say without allowing more immigration, an aging population could strain services and tax revenue.
Even at the current population, the county is still short at least 100 thousand housing units.
SANDAG also predicted the county will become more diverse, with the Asian population growing the fastest.
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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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A new state law would allow the sale of accessory dwelling units … or a-d-u’s … separate from the main house on a property.
Reporter Scott Rodd says if San Diego adopts the program, thousands of newly eligible homes could hit the market in the coming years.
ADUs are smaller units built on the property of an existing home…but currently, they can not be sold separately from the main house. That could change in San Diego if the city adopts Assembly Bill 1033. ADU construction is booming in San Diego. So far this year, the city has permitted more than 1,500 — nearly triple the number permitted in 2020. Could making them available for sale solve the city’s housing crisis? Doubtful, says Ricardo Flores. he’s the executive director of LISC San Diego…a housing nonprofit. “It is a piece of the puzzle, but it’s a very small piece of the puzzle.” The San Diego City Council would have to approve an ordinance adopting the state law before the units could be put up for sale.
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The metropolitan transit system is planning to increase the frequency of its buses and trolleys.
Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says that's thanks to an influx of state funding.
Like most transit agencies, MTS had to cut back service during the COVID-19 pandemic. And it's still recovering. The state legislature stepped in to help, providing more than 5 billion dollars in one-time funding to transit agencies across the state. MTS plans on using its share of about 284 million to reduce wait times at transit stops. Manny Rodriguez is the transportation and planning program manager for the City Heights Community Development Corporation. “Here in City Heights, for example, the 1, the 7, 10, the 215 and 235 buses will be seeing increased frequencies and increased hours of operations. That means less waiting at the bus and that you can use the bus earlier in the morning and later at night.” Most of the bus and trolley improvements are slated to take effect in the summer of 2025, though the MTS board of directors asked staff to accelerate that timeline. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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Customs and Border Protection is adding to its surveillance capabilities along the southern border.
The agency plans to acquire more than 250 new surveillance towers.
Border reporter Gustavo Solis spoke to privacy experts about this expansion.
San Diego has one of the most militarized sections of the border. It has two border walls – a primary and secondary fence.It also has dozens of surveillance towers. “In some parts of southern San Diego County, there’s one of these surveillance towers every mile and a half. So it’s quite a dragnet that they are putting out there.” That’s Dave Maass, director of investigations at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation. He and other privacy advocates say the towers collect data on everyone, not just bad actors. Now Customs and Border Protection wants more surveillance. The agency recently awarded multi-million contacts to three companies to build new towers in the region. Maass says there’s a lot of potential for abuse. He cites a lack of oversight, and a history of misconduct by Border Patrol agents. Gustavo Solis, KPBS News
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2023 has been a deadly year in San Diego for pedestrians and cyclists.
Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says the city council this month adopted a so-called "complete streets policy" that advocates hope will put safety first.
Complete Streets policies are meant to balance the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and motorists when cities are designing streets. But advocates for safe streets said the policy initially presented to the City Council had too many loopholes, and city staff would be able to ignore it for almost any reason. Councilmember Kent Lee said he thought they had a point. “I know we need to maintain flexibility, but I do want to caution staff in overutilizing the exemption process. If we're serious about meeting our climate action goals, we need to be serious about implementing our policy aspirations as well.” The council adopted the Complete Streets policy with amendments meant to increase transparency around when the policy isn't followed. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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Coming up....KPBS staff offer their picks for the best songs of 20-23. Hear their recommendations, just after the break.
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While 2023 was a year for great full-length albums, there's no denying the power of a single track — that one song we listened to over and over.
From girl supergroups and E-D-M to new releases from long-time legends, here are some of our favorite songs of 2023.
I'm Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS arts producer and editor, and my favorite song this year was Boy Genius’ “Not Strong Enough.” Everything about the song is fantastic, from this intimate, raw songwriting and then these imagined tragedies in the verses to the way it builds up to this refrain that you can't help but sing along, that “always an angel, never a god.” It's in three-part harmony, and it just repeats until the end. And this song feels like such a gift every time I listen to it, which is a lot. It's really powerful and it's lovely and it's anthemic.
Hi, I'm John Decker. I'm the senior director for content development here at KPBS, and my nomination for single of the year or song of the year for 2023 is “Whole Wide World” by the Rolling Stones. Now, look, I get it. As soon as I heard that the Stones were releasing a new album, I thought the same. Right, again, really, these guys are octogenarians. But I changed my mind. The whole album is very good. And this particular song is, I think, the best amongst them. It's autobiographical, on the part of Mick Jagger, and I like to hear a musician or an artist of his stature reveal his earlier creative life. And that's one of the reasons why I like it. I also like it because it's just a really good rock song and it meshes well with my playlist, and I happen to listen to it quite a bit, especially when I'm nearing the end of a long run on a Saturday morning. This song is the one I will fast forward to right now.
Hi, I'm Brendan Tuchinardi. I'm a web producer at KPBS, and my top song of 2023 is “Deadbeat Gospel” by Barry Can't Swim. I haven't stopped playing this song since it came out. I think it's the perfect hype song, but at the same time it's strangely reflective once you listen beyond the infectious EDM beat. The lyrics are by poet and spoken word artist Some Deadbeat, and they were recorded on Barry Cant Swim's phone after a night out, essentially like a sermon on the euphoria of creation and artistic appreciation. And I know it's not rare for a song to extract such an emotional response, but for some reason that's difficult for me to put into words, deadbeat gospel is just different.
My name is Marielena Castellanos, and I'm the South Bay engagement producer here at KPBS. For song of the year, I picked “DJ Play a Christmas Song” by Cher. I picked this song because I'm a big fan of Cher, and I like the lyrics of the song and the rhythm. It gives me good positive energy.
For more of our picks for top songs and top albums of the year, visit kpbs.org.
That’s it for the podcast today. Join us tomorrow for the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Tuesday.
