Paid parking coming to a Zoo near you

Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson….it’s TUESDAY, September 9th >>>> 

WHAT MAKES ONLINE COMMUNITY GROUPS SO EFFECTIVE WHEN IT COMES TO LOCAL NEWS? 

More on that next. But first... the headlines….

########

SAN DIEGO HAS CLEARED THE WAY FOR PAID PARKING AT THE SAN DIEGO ZOO. THE CITY AND ZOO HAVE BEEN NEGOTIATING OVER PAID PARKING FOR MONTHS. THE CITY IS PURSUING PARKING FEES IN BALBOA PARK TO AVOID DEEPER CUTS TO ITS PARKS AND REC BUDGET AND IT INTENDS TO OFFER SAN DIEGO RESIDENTS A DISCOUNT. BUT THE ZOO'S LEASE DOESN'T ALLOW FOR TIERED PARKING RATES…

ADAM DAY IS TREASURER FOR THE ZOO'S BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

ZOOPARKING 2A 0:16

AD: Today's action will allow us to charge city residents less than non-city residents, in essence. Without that change, we wouldn't be able to do so. And the need to do so today is so that we can begin to start charging for parking roughly October 1, in alignment with the city's plans.

THE CITY PLANS TO CONTINUE TALKS WITH THE ZOO OVER SHARING PARKING REVENUE. THE COUNCIL IS SET TO VOTE ON PARKING FEES IN THE REMAINDER OF BALBOA PARK NEXT WEEK.

########

THE PORT OF SAN DIEGO IS  PLACING OVER 2 THOUSAND CUBIC YARDS OF NATURAL SAND AT KELLOGG BEACH IN POINT LOMA

THIS IS DONE TO MAINTAIN AND PROTECT THE BEACH FROM NATURAL EROSION.  ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF POINT LOMA – THERE ARE ALSO EROSION CONCERNS AT SUNSET CLIFFS LIKE WE MENTIONED LAST WEEK

THE KELLOG BEACH PROJECT WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SEPTEMBER 26TH AND SPANS TWO BLOCKS BETWEEN KELLOGG AND MCCALL STREET 

#########

AS ONE BEACH IN SAN DIEGO GETS HELP TO PROTECT FROM  EROSION, A FEW OTHERS ARE NOW OPEN ONCE AGAIN AFTER WATER QUALITY SAMPLES MET STATE HEALTH STANDARDS 

SILVER STRAND SHORELINE AND THE DOG-FRIENDLY PART OF OCEAN BEACH HAD BEEN CLOSED SINCE COUNTY HEALTH OFFICIALS RECORDED HIGH BACTERIA LEVELS IN THE WATER 

NOW WHILE THOSE BEACHES ARE OPEN ONCE AGAIN, THERE ARE STILL OTHERS WITH BACTERIA LEVELS THAT EXCEED STATE HEALTH STANDARDS 

ADVISORIES REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR BAYSIDE PARK IN CHULA VISTA, LAWRENCE STREET IN POINT LOMA, NORTH COVE AT VACATION ISLE, FIESTA ISLAND, NORTHWEST SHORELINE AND A CHRONIC ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT AT LA JOLLA’S CHILDREN’S POOL

#########

THE ROAD THAT CONNECTS THE EXISTING TERMINAL 1 WITH TERMINAL 2 AT SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL IS  CLOSED 

THIS IS IN AN EFFORT TO BEGIN THE NEXT PHASE OF CONSTRUCTION FOR THE NEW TERMINAL 1 

THERE ARE CURRENTLY SIGNS IN PLACE ALONG HARBOR DRIVE MEANT TO REDIRECT DRIVERS 

YOU CAN ALSO GET BETWEEN THE TERMINALS ON FOOT BY USING THE PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

<<<UNDERWRITING BREAK>>

######

<<<MUSIC BUMP INTO A BLOCK>>

##########

A RECENT STUDY HAS FOUND THAT OVER HALF OF YOUNG ADULTS USE COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUPS AS A SOURCE OF LOCAL NEWS. WHAT MAKES THEM SO EFFECTIVE? GLORIA PENNER FELLOW MIKA (ME-ka) ELLISON SPOKE TO ADMINISTRATORS AND EXPERTS ABOUT THE UPS AND DOWNS OF RUNNING A LOCAL FACEBOOK GROUP. 

ONLINEGROUPS TRT: 3:46 SOQ

______________________________________

Wake Up Carlsbad was started in 2015. Today, it has more than 5,000 members and its own team of administrators. This isn’t a club, or a sports league — it’s a Facebook group. It focuses on local Carlsbad news.

Diane (00:09:22.07)

There really has been a dearth of local news.

Administrator Diane Bedrosian says it's filling a gap.

I know you guys can't cover the entire county in-depth, so that's why I think a lot of local people stepped out. And so we share what we see that people may not have seen in their busy lives, that there's an article here or a news story there so that people can still stay informed.

Katherine Haenschen is an assistant professor of political science and communication studies at Northeastern University. She studies the way digital communication can affect political participation.

Speaker 1 (00:20:04.04)

It is increasingly hard in many places in this country to get adequate coverage of local government… It's not a surprise to see groups emerge to try and provide some of that information and fill that vacuum.

But with these groups sometimes comes misinformation.

Haenschen says that can be hard to reverse. Administrator Kris Wright says fact-checking posts in the group is one of her most important responsibilities.

admin (00:12:58.14)

I think that you learn to recognize when people are not telling the truth because that's it. You just say, if you make a statement like that, you need to prove what you're saying. We can't get away with that. That's just not what we're about. That is part of moderating, is trying to keep the site honest.

But these smaller, focused groups can encourage people to speak about themselves, dialogue with others, and even change their minds.

Speaker 1 (00:06:15.12)

There's way more self-disclosure that happens in these closed groups than in an open forum.

Sophie Bowles is a professor at Chapman University and a positive media psychologist.

Sot cont

I mean, it can obviously be related to almost sitting in a living room and having a conversation with people, like everybody that loves cats. Everybody is way more willing to share than if they're sitting in an auditorium and they don't really know who likes cats and who likes dogs.

Of course, groups that are focused on single topics can also become echo chambers, where opposing points of view are excluded or unheard. In Wake Up Carlsbad, administrators spend time both encouraging dialogue and enforcing rules against name-calling.

Despite the pitfalls, these groups can make it easier for people to become more civically engaged, by sending emails to government leaders and reading posts and articles about local politics. And messaging or signaling on social media has been shown to affect political participation, like voting rates.

Haenschen (00:04:37.19)

Most of the time, local elected officials are operating without a lot of attention on them. People should pay more attention.

Communications professor Haenschen says groups like this can also be much more effective on the local level.

SOT CONT

When local elected officials realize that the public is paying attention to them and watching them on something, they will at least think about that a little bit. It may cause them to reevaluate their actions or at least justify what they're doing.

Carlsbad Councilmember Priya Bhat-Patel agrees. Even if people aren’t always quite getting the right information. She says as long as they’re showing up, they’re doing the right thing.

Speaker 1 (00:12:39.14)

We really want people to be engaged and be a part of the process. Even if sometimes maybe the message is not exactly where it needed to land, I think it still allows people to have the opportunity to be heard and be engaged.

Even the administrator Wright has changed her mind because of the group. There was a local council member she had disagreed with. But recently, she realized they had several values in common.

Wright and other administrators hope that dialogue, even over the Internet, can give people the opportunity to feel engaged in their community and listen to one another.

Kris (00:47:55.11)

We're not going to definitely agree on everything… I know we won't. But we find common ground and we agree on a lot.

Mika Ellison KPBS News

##########

THE U-S SUPREME COURT HAS RULED THAT IMMIGRATION RAIDS IN LOS ANGELES CAN CONTINUE.

 JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH SAID ETHNICITY ALONE CANNOT FURNISH REASONABLE SUSPICION REGARDING IMMIGRATION STOPS, HOWEVER, IT CAN BE A RELEVANT FACTOR.

CALIFORNIA STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA WAS ASKED IF MONDAY'S DECISION SURPRISED HIM.

LARAIDS 1A (:14)

"Surprised these days is pretty relative. Disappointed - I think the rationale articulated by Justice Kavanaugh is dangerous and wrong but he's a Supreme Court justice and I'm not."

THE COURT'S 6-TO-3 DECISION CLEARS THE WAY FOR FEDERAL AGENTS TO CONDUCT SWEEPING IMMIGRATION OPERATIONS FOR NOW IN LOS ANGELES.

IT'S THE LATEST VICTORY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION AT THE HIGH COURT.

AND IT COMES AS ICE AGENTS AND THE NATIONAL GUARD TAKE PART IN THE STEPPED UP POLICING OF WASHINGTON D-C AMID TRUMP’S FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF THE CAPITAL CITY’S LAW ENFORCEMENT.

##########  

A STATE PROGRAM OFFERS LOW-INCOME STUDENTS SCHOLARSHIP MONEY TO HELP PAY FOR COLLEGE EXPENSES. 

FIRST THROUGH TWELFTH GRADERS CAN QUALIFY FOR UP TO FIFTEEN-HUNDRED DOLLARS.

CASSANDRA DIBENEDETTO [de-be-ne-DET-o] OVERSEES THE CALKIDS PROGRAM. SHE SAYS STUDENTS CAN ACCESS THOSE FUNDS ONCE THEY’RE ENROLLED IN A UNIVERSITY, COMMUNITY COLLEGE OR TRADE SCHOOL. 

CALKIDS2A [13s]

They can be used to pay for tuition, books, equipment. It can be used nationwide. It doesn't have to be used in a California school. If you get into a school in Tennessee and you go there, you can take your money with you there.

FAMILIES CAN LEAVE THE MONEY IN THEIR CALKIDS ACCOUNTS, WHERE IT CAN EARN INTEREST.  

OR, THEY CAN PUT IT IN A 529 ACCOUNT ADMINISTERED BY THE STATE AND CONTRIBUTE TO IT.    

STUDENTS AND THEIR PARENTS CAN FIND OUT IF THEY QUALIFY AT CAL-KIDS-DOT-ORG.

##########

VOICE OF SAN DIEGO’S …ANNUAL POLITIFEST IS SLATED FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER  4TH AT U-S-D. VOICE OF SAN DIEGO CEO SCOTT LEWIS SPOKE WITH AMITA SHARMA TO SPOTLIGHT WHAT’S ON TAP FOR THIS YEAR’S PUBLIC POLITICAL SUMMIT.

POLITIFEST (as) 4:53 last words "thank you for having me"

---------

KPBS:So, Scott, this year's Politifest is called Solutions Showdown. What does that mean? And why did you decide to format it that way?

Lewis:Well, we normally have a bunch of panels, discussions and speeches and such. And what we really wanted to do this time is focus on the problems and confront the problems, but offer solutions. So we're asking every panelist now to give a presentation on what they would do to solve the problem that their panel is about. And then we're going to have them discuss after a little bit of moderated discussion. Then an actual vote. We're going to have the live audience and the audience online vote on which one they think was the best solution for that. At the end of the day, we'll have a little gathering of all of the winners and see what the best solution presented that day was.

KPBS:What might be some of the local issues that solutions will be discussed on, and what might those solutions entail?

Lewis:That's a great question. So one of them will be the crisis in the Tijuana River Valley, the sewage crisis. We want to hear from solutions. We've heard about the problems at length, ad nauseam. But what are some things we could hope for to happen? I think a lot of those solutions are very expensive — infrastructure improvements south of the border. But there's maybe some... There's one guy who has an idea to build a jetty all the way out into the ocean to block it. Child care crisis. What are we going to do about the access and affordability of childcare? KPBS is helping us with that one. The cost of electricity. There's a guy who's going to propose that the city or a nonprofit associated with the city take over what SDG&E does here in San Diego. And then there's a couple of other people who have more market-based solutions that are going to present. So I think it's a real chance for people to grapple with these problems that we're all worried about. But we're really looking forward to the hope that solutions discussions offer.

KPBS:So there is a ton of political cynicism out there for obvious reasons. What do you hope people take away from Politifest this year? And what do you hope elected officials get from it?

Lewis:Well, I hope that people... I think people get hope. Honestly, I think that we're really good, a voice in San Diego, at talking about the problems. And I think people get like, Oh, man, here they go again. There's another big problem we have to deal with. We believe San Diego is strong enough to face its biggest problems. One of the panels is going to be about what the future or how you can get the city that you want to get in San Diego, the city of San Diego. So Shani Lo Rivera, a council member, is going to offer his vision. And then Amy Fawcett, from maybe the more right-of-center perspective, is going to offer her vision of what would happen and what kinds of things need to happen to make San Diego work better. So I think it's just a chance to hope because solutions are fun. Problems are tough. Problems make you worry. Solutions actually make you hopeful.

KPBS:Politifest has been going on since 2011. So this is what, 14 years now?

Lewis:Yeah, we missed a couple of years here and there, but we used to not do it on off-election years, and now we do it every year.

KPBS:So how has Politifest evolved over the years?

Lewis:Well, you and I remember the first few we were doing them in Liberty Station in a park. We had a dunk tank. It was supposed to be a festival with a little politics aside. Now we realize most people just wanted to see the debates and the panel discussions, and that's what we focus on now. So it's a daylong discussion and a chance. And this, we think, gamifies it a little bit, adds a little bit of interest and competition, because we do want people to focus on the future. And so we'll see if this works. I think people are excited about it.

KPBS:There is widespread belief that civic discourse is unwell in this country. Do you think that Politifest disputes that or contradicts that?

Lewis:I think local disputes that. I think there is a lot of cynicism out there, and I think there is a lot of reason for despair, frankly. But I think local politics, local public affairs, local journalism is a chance to break through that because we can see each other. We can talk to each other. We can humanize each other. We can go up to the mayor or the board of supervisors or the Congress members here, and we can see that they're real people and have to deal with them right or wrong on the things that they're excited about or advocating for. We can see potholes, and we can see schools. We can see and tangibly deal with the things that we're talking about. I think that's a lot easier for civic discourse to happen as compared to a national discourse, where you can't meet the people, you can't humanize them, and you can't even really conceive the problems as well. And so that's the advantage we have locally, but also the mandate we have to make sure we take advantage of that and force people to talk about what they're going to do to make this a better place.

KPBS:Scott Lewis, thank you so much for speaking with me today.

Lewis:Always an honor. Thanks for having me.

TAG: THAT WAS VOICE OF SAN DIEGO'S SCOTT LEWIS SPEAKING WITH AMITA SHARMA.

<<<SHOW CLOSE>>>

That’s it for the podcast today. As  always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Lawrence K. Jackson. Thanks for listening and subscribing by doing so you are supporting public media and I thank you for that. Have a great day!