Poway City Council looks to fill newly vacant seat

Good Morning, I’m Andrew Dyer in for Lawrence K. Jackson….it’s Monday, Nov. 10.

How will Poway fill its vacant council seat after the resignation of Tony Blain?

That’s coming up. But first... the headlines….

San Diego’s SNAP recipients are getting their November benefits.

SNAP, or CalFresh, in California, is the federal food assistance program.

Benefits are issued on E-B-T cards, but were delayed because of the government shutdown.

But late last week a federal court ordered the benefits be paid in full.

The county says about 400,000 residents receive the income-based benefits.

Get out of the way … mo. The autonomous ride-hailing service is coming to San Diego next year.

The company already operates self-driving taxis in L-A, San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta and Austin. It announced expansions into three cities last week — Las Vegas, Detroit and San Diego.

The company says its driverless cars navigate by first creating detailed maps. The car uses these maps, real-time sensors and A-I to know its exact location on the road at all times.

The company says its A-I detects pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles and is able to anticipate what each may do.

There have been issues. Just last week in San Francisco a Waymo struck and killed a well-known and well-loved bodega cat named KitKat. The incident has riled the community and led to calls for stricter permitting for the vehicles.

Finally, if you are a fan of tall ships like the Columbian Navy’s Gloria that was in town over the weekend, you won’t have to wait long to see another one.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), the Norweigan tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl (Stawts-rod Lame-Cool)sails into San Diego for a five-day visit.

The ship is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning between 7 and 9 o’clock. It will be escorted by ships from the Maritime Museum.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.

Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

POWAY COUNCILMEMBER TONY BLAIN RESIGNED LAST WEEK … ONE DAY AFTER VOTERS RECALLED HIM.

BUT HIS RESIGNATION IS STILL REVERBERATING IN THE CITY.

THE CITY COUNCIL HELD A SPECIAL MEETING FRIDAYTO DECIDE WHAT’S NEXT IN FILLING HIS NOW-VACANT SEAT.

REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN HAS THE DETAILS.

His photo is no longer on the wall. His seat is empty and his nameplate removed from the dais.

But Tony Blain’s presence is still being felt in the Poway City Council chambers.

“I didn’t expect to be here this soon.”

Mayor Steve Vaus had expected to have this conversation in December, after the Registrar of Voters certified the election.

Namely … how best to fill Blain’s seat.

“We made a commitment back in April that if we had a vacancy in the first 18 months of a term, we would hold a special election.”

The question now is when would the election be. The earliest the city can hold the election is mid-April … and the latest is June 

Which would coincide with the Primary election.

“I would like to know the cost.”

Cost is a concern, and with six weeks separating the would-be special election from the primary, the council voted to get more cost information from the registrar by their December 16th meeting.

Alexander Nguyen, KPBS News

FAMILIES THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA ARE HAVING FEWER CHILDREN. THAT MEANS FEWER STUDENTS IN LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS. IN SAN DIEGO, THE SOUTH BAY UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT IS PLANNING TO ADJUST BY CLOSING SCHOOLS IN THE COMING YEARS. EDUCATION REPORTER KATIE ANASTAS HAS NEW DETAILS ON HOW IT MIGHT WORK.

The South Bay Union School District is shrinking.

The district expected to lose more than 100 students this school year. That meant losing nearly $2 million in state funding.

New data show it lost even more students – and more money.

And these are ongoing losses. This isn’t money that's coming back. It's just an, it's an ongoing loss. So having less kids than projected is even a bigger impact than we had previously thought. 

The district’s enrollment has dropped by nearly half since 20-11. And it’s expected to continue. Zach Worthen described just how much the district is changing.

A number as high as 8,000 students in 2017-18 to potentially as little as 3,790 by 2034.

In May, the district’s school board voted to close Central Elementary School after this school year. On Wednesday, they will decide where those students go next. 

Worthen presented two possibilities to the board last night. 

One would send Central’s students to neighboring schools. The other would redraw school boundaries throughout the district to balance out the number of students at each campus…

…Taking the opportunity to address less serious enrollment challenges at other schools. 

Along with redrawing boundaries, Superintendent Jose Espinoza says the district needs to focus on keeping the students it has.

What's within our control? Well, the low birth rates, that's not within our control. But the way that we serve the community, that is within our control. 

The district plans to close two other schools by 20-31. Those two schools haven’t been chosen yet, but administrators have proposed Sunnyslope and Berry Elementary Schools. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.

SCRIPPS RESEARCH HAS BEGUN RECRUITING PEOPLE TO TEST A WELL-KNOWN OBESITY DRUG AS A WAY TO TREAT LONG COVID. SCI-TECH REPORTER THOMAS FUDGE SAYS PERSISTENT COVID-19 SYMPTOMS AFFLICT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WORLDWIDE.

Fatigue, joint pain, and cognitive problems, sometimes called brain fog. Those are the symptoms. And so far there’s no proven treatment for Long COVID. But tirzepatide, a drug used to treat diabetes and obesity has shown a lot of promise. In fact, one survey of about 300 long COVID sufferers showed the drug gave relief to 60 to 90 percent of them. Scripps Research programs director Julia Moore Vogel lives with Long COVID, and she says that’s very promising. But more proof is needed, especially for insurance companies to cover the cost of the drug.

“The challenge and barrier for a lot of people is the insurance coverage piece. Where an insurance company of course is going to require more rigorous data before they’re going to pay for it, especially given how expensive these drugs are.”

The clinical trial, run by Scripps Research, will examine 1,000 people with Long COVID. Half will take tirzepatide and half will take a placebo. 

Thomas Fudge, KPBS News. 

THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO IS CURRENTLY BUILDING PHASE ONE OF ITS PURE WATER PROJECT. THE FACILITY WILL RECYCLE 30 MILLION GALLONS OF SEWAGE INTO DRINKABLE WATER EVERY DAY. IN OUR WHY IT MATTERS SEGMENT, VOICE OF SAN DIEGO CEO SCOTT LEWIS DISCUSSES WHY THE NEXT PHASE MAY BE PUT ON HOLD.

It is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the region. And it’s just phase one. 

But after a tumultuous few months at the city of San Diego, officials may rethink the more ambitious Phase 2.

To understand why, you have to accept a strange fact about San Diego right now: we actually have too much water. 

Now a fight between city of San Diego leaders and regional leaders has broken out about whether the city should keep creating more water through recycling before we are able to sell off the excess supply we already have. 

These tensions overflowed last week when the city of San Diego’s City Council debated and approved a compounded 32 percent water rate increase over the next two years. 

County Water Authority officials warned the city that if they went forward with Phase 2, it was going to be even worse. 

County officials are working hard to sell water to cities around Los Angeles or even in Nevada and Arizona. But if they are not successful and if we go forward with Phase 2 of the water recycling plan, we’ll have even more water we do not need and even higher bills to pay it off. 

I’m Scott Lewis for Voice of San Diego and that’s why it matters. 

FROM ELABORATE STRUCTURES TO SIMPLE BACKYARD TREE HOUSES… BUILDINGS HAVE BEEN BUILT AROUND TREES SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL.  BUT WHAT ABOUT A HOUSE - BUILT AROUND A ROCK?  THERE IS SUCH A PLACE IN JAMUL… BUT AS REPORTER JOHN CARROLL TELLS US, THIS IS NO ORDINARY HOUSE, AND IT IS DEFINITELY NOT JUST AN ORDINARY ROCK.

Video from a drone shows the mustard-colored house… perched atop a hill in Jamul…  looking similar to other custom homes in the area - but from the ground, this home’s unique-ness begins to reveal itself.

“I had never heard of anything like it. It was It's an incredible concept.”

The concept?  To build a house around a boulder.  A 14-foot boulder.  The house is now for sale… the voice you just heard is Jeannine Savory… she’s the real estate agent in charge of finding its next owner… Savory’s been in the business for 25 years… but this is the first time she’s seen anything like this….

“Although I hadn't heard about it. As I started marketing it, so many people came forward and said, Oh, I remember this. I've seen it in the past. I had someone say that they came and helped build it. It was like a community build when it was being done.”

That was in 2000.  Architect Drew Hubbell designed the home… and if that name sounds familiar… it’s because Hubbell is the son of famed San Diego artist James Hubbell.  The younger Hubbell says the original owners had some very specific ideas… and at the center of it all - the boulder.

“They came with a book of about 20 pages of building program, which is unique for a client.  //CUT TO 21:48//  And one of them was the Boulder behind me. It was really a spirit to the property for them. There was history of Kumeyaay being around the area and evidence of fires being lit underneath the Boulder.”

The boulder sits in a shallow moat… a small waterfall providing a soothing sound throughout the great room on one side… 

The primary bedroom on the other.  But the boulder and its moat provide more than an imposing presence… 

“The moat serves another purpose in that it mediates the temperature swing along with the thermal mass of the boulder. So it keeps it in that low 60s range of temperatures.”

Thermal mass is defined as the ability of a material… in this case the boulder… to store heat and release it naturally when the interior temperature dips.  On the flip side, it provides a cooling effect during hot weather.  The house has an old-fashioned cast iron stove for extra heating if needed… but there is no central heat or air…….

There’s something else unique about this home that is out of sight… almost.  Its walls are made of straw bales.  The home follows a tradition of straw bale construction with a framed opening on a wall… it’s called a truth window… a way to see the actual straw.  It helps the boulder and moat in regulating the interior temperature.

“We worked on this home throughout the summer when the temperatures were up to 100 degrees outside. When you came inside the home, it was always a real comfortable 78-ish. The cooling properties of it, combined with the heating from the exterior and then the superior insulation of the straw bale, it really did self-regulate to a nice, comfortable temperature.”

At nearly 3,500 square feet, the home is not huge… there are two guest bedrooms, and the kitchen is part of the great room.  But then - there are the outside spaces… 

Small courtyards with fountains and seating areas on different sides of the house.  A pool and jacuzzi were added several years ago… and a Spanish style arcade… that’s on the west side of the home.  From there, you can see all the way to Point Loma - on a clear day.

Back inside… there’s something else… more subtle… a nod to the house’s creators…  James Hubbell lent his artistry to various colored rock inlays found throughout the home… a vibrant touch from one of San Diego’s most revered artists.

“Color was very important, and really nature was the inspiration, and so many beautiful colors come from nature. So that was his biggest inspiration.”

Sitting on its perch above Jamul - the house is not too far from urban San Diego.  But it’s also certain to retain its rural flavor.  That’s because it’s adjacent to the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge and the Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve…  a place rooted in the ancient history of what we now call San Diego county… with a boulder bringing benefits seen and unseen to whoever’s lucky enough to live in it next.  John Carroll, KPBS News.

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, Lawrence K. Jackson will be back tomorrow. Thanks for listening. Have a great Monday