Sales taxes could get harder to pass, one decision is already coming in November
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Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson, it’s MONDAY, JUNE 29TH>>>> [ ONE MEASURE ON YOUR UPCOMING NOVEMBER BALLOT COULD MAKE IT HARDER TO PASS OTHER MEASURES IN THE FUTURE ]More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….########
AFFORDABLE HOUSING MANDATES ARE NOW BECOMING A REALITY IN THE UNINCORPORATED PARTS OF OUR COUNTY…THAT WAS FIRST REPORTED BY THE UNION-TRIBUNE
LAST WEEK, THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PASSED A MEASURE RULING THAT A PORTION OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS IN UNINCORPORATED AREAS MUST BE SET ASIDE FOR LOW INCOME RESIDENTS
THE CONCEPT IS KNOWN AS INCLUSIONARY HOUSING POLICY
THE U-T SAYS THE NEW REQUIREMENTS APPLY TO ANY PROJECTS WITH A MINIMUM OF TEN UNITS IN UNINCORPORATED AREAS… THAT INCLUDES SPRING VALLEY, BUENA CREEK, VALLEY CENTER AND LAKESIDE
ADDITIONALLY, IT REQUIRES ANY FOR-SALE OR RENTAL UNITS TO SET ASIDE FIVE PERCENT OF THEIR TOTAL HOUSING FOR THOSE EARNING FIFTY PERCENT OR LESS OF OUR AREA'S MEDIAN INCOME
IT'S ALSO WORTH MENTIONING THAT DEVELOPERS HAVE THE OPTION OF PAYING A FEE OR DONATING LAND TO THE COUNTY AS AN ALTERNATE TO BUILDING AFFORDABLE UNITS
SUPERVISOR MONTGOMERY STEPPE CALLED IT QUOTE A TOOL TO REDUCE HOUSING DISCRIMINATION SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY
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LAST FRIDAY WE TOLD YOU ABOUT THE RECENT SUPREME COURT RULING THAT THAT FOUND THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CAN BLOCK ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM ENTERING THE U-S
WELL, THE SAME CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY THAT VOTED 6 TO 3 ON THAT CASE ... VOTED THE EXACT SAME WAY REGARDING A CASE FOCUSED ON TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS OR T-P-S FOR SHORT
THE SUPREME COURTS RULING ALLOWS THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO END THE TPS PROGRAM
THE TEMPORARY U-S IMMIGRATION PROGRAM WAS INTENDED TO GRANT PROTECTION FOR PEOPLE COMING OVER FROM COUNTRIES EXPERIENCING ARMED CONFLICT OR ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS.
TPS TERMS TYPICALLY RUN FOR SIX, TWELVE OR 18 MONTHS AT A TIME
THOSE OF HAITIAN DECENT ARE SAID TO BE THE SINGLE-MOST REPRESENTED GROUP IN THE T-P-S CATEGORY AT MORE THAN 300 THOUSAND
A 20-25 NEILSBERG POPULATION COUNT FOUND ROUGHLY TWENTY-THREE HUNDRED HAITIANS LIVING HERE IN SAN DIEGO
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FOLLOWING FEDERAL FUNDING CUTS, THE COUNTY IS STEPPING UP TO HELP FEED THOSE IN NEED
COUNTY SUPERVISORS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED OF A PILOT PROGRAM THAT PARTNERS WITH TWO OF OUR REGIONAL FOOD BANKS; FEEDING SAN DIEGO AND THE SAN DIEGO FOOD BANK
THE PROGRAM WILL SERVICE AREAS WITH THE GREATEST NEED
THE COUNTY SAYS THEY’VE IDENTIFIED SIX QUOTE HIGH IMPACT AREAS WHERE
FAMILIES HAVE BEEN HIT THE HARDEST BY CALFRESH ELIGIBILITY CHANGES
THE MEASURE LOOKS TO SPEND ONE MILLION DOLLARS OVER ONE YEAR TO EXECUTE THINGS LIKE…
ORGANIZING EMERGENCY DISTRIBUTION EVENTS, CREATING PROGRESS REPORTS ON THE NUMBER OF IMPACTED HOUSEHOLDS AND COLLECT DATA TO QUOTE FIND THAT PAYING FOR EMERGENCY AND HUNGER-RELIEF SERVICES IS NECESSARYFrom 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 MEASURE TO INCREASE THE SALES TAX ACROSS THE COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO IS ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER. BUT ANOTHER ONE WOULD MAKE THOSE MEASURES MUCH HARDER TO PASS. IN THIS WEEK’S WHY IT MATTERS SEGMENT, VOICE OF SAN DIEGO’S SCOTT LEWIS EXPLAINS HOW SOME LAST MINUTE NEGOTIATIONS COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING ABOUT PASSING NEW TAXES.
TAXVOTES 1 (vosd) TRT :58 SOQ “why it matters”
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Voters across the county of San Diego will decide on a half-cent sales tax increase in November. Proponents promise it will fix the tijuana river sewage crisis and provide child care options.
But on that same ballot, voters will also decide whether these kinds of initiatives should require two-thirds of voters' support to pass.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association qualified that measure with the support of real estate developers. But then the governor, legislature and cities started talking to those real estate developers.
They were mostly mad about Los Angeles’ so-called mansion tax. It adds a big fee on the sale of super expensive homes – but also on apartment complexes.
So in marathon negotiations, the developers won. They’ll get some changes to the mansion tax in exchange for dropping their support of the statewide initiative making it harder to pass taxes.
Now those real estate developers have pledged to try to kill the initiative they put on the ballot.
For Voice of San Diego, I’m scott lewis and that’s why it matters.
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SAN DIEGO COUNTY SUPERVISORS LAST WEEK [6/25] APPROVED A NEW POLICY INTENDED TO MAKE GOVERNING MORE TRANSPARENT.
KEVIN TREVELLYAN [TREV-uh-lyn] REPORTS.
COUNTYADHOC 1 (kt/qo) TRT 1:00 SOQ
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TREVELLYAN: Supervisors have long been able to form two-member temporary subcommittees to work through one-time issues. For example, how to deal with recent federal cuts to the food assistance program CalFresh.
Unlike the full Board of Supervisors, though, subcommittees hadn’t been subject to public transparency laws.
Supervisor Joel Anderson thought that was a problem.
ANDERSON [0:09] - “Frankly I’m missing out as a board member when these things come before us and I have no way of knowing how that decision was made.”
TREVELLYAN: Anderson said supervisors have in recent months used subcommittees to do major work that should be under the purview of standing committees.
He introduced a policy mandating subcommittees post public notices, agendas and meeting recordings.
It passed – but not without an exemption.
Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe introduced an amendment, saying subcommittees need flexibility when dealing with sensitive issues tied to juveniles, for example.
MONTGOMERY STEPPE [0:03] “It just gives us the latitude we need.”
TREVELLYAN: Supervisors Anderson and Jim Desmond opposed the exemption as too broad, but ultimately supported the new policy.
KT, KPBS
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NEARLY TWO YEARS AGO, SAN DIEGO POLICE SHOT BEANBAG ROUNDS AND RELEASED A K-9 ON AN UNARMED MAN.
REPORTER KATIE HYSON SAYS ON FRIDAY A JUDGE ORDERED THE CITY TO RELEASE THE FOOTAGE AND REPORTS TO THE PUBLIC.
EVANS 1 trt :52 SOQ (kh/jg)
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The City paid nearly 900-thousand dollars to Marcus Evans to settle allegations of excessive force. The District Attorney declined to prosecute the officers involved.
But despite public outcry and public records laws, the City never released the incident records.
So the First Amendment Coalition sued.
David Loy is their legal director.
SOT :18 Whether you agree that this use of force was justified or unjustified, there's no question it was a highly significant and controversial event. And this is precisely why the people have a right to full disclosure. Because in a democracy, the people depend on telling the full truth to be able to hold the government accountable.
The judge ordered the city to release the records by July 17th.
SOT :04 If you don't want people to think you have something to hide, then don't hide it.
Katie Hyson, KPBS News
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ACROSS THE U.S., CELEBRATIONS ARE UNDERWAY MARKING 250 YEARS SINCE THE COUNTRY DECLARED INDEPENDENCE FROM BRITISH RULE. BUT THIS JULY FOURTH ALSO MARKS ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY… 80 YEARS SINCE THE U.S. GRANTED INDEPENDENCE TO A COLONY OF ITS OWN …THE PHILIPPINES.
REPORTER KORI SUZUKI SAYS THE DECADES LEADING UP TO THAT MOMENT, AND THE ONES THAT FOLLOWED, WOULD RESHAPE THE WORLD — AND SAN DIEGO.
MANILAHISTORY (4:50) SOQ
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It was the Fourth of July, and crowds had filled the streets of Manila. Planes thundered overhead. Soldiers marched through the Philippines’ capital city, carrying the United States’ flag.
The year was 1946. For half a century, the U.S. had colonized the island nation. Now, it was granting the Philippines independence. U.S. General Douglas MacArthur called it a decades-long promise.
MACARTHUR / TK
“America never wavered in that purpose. America today redeems this pledge.”
Of course, the moment was much more complicated than that. But it was, in many ways, a turning point. For U.S. immigration policy. For the growing Filipino diaspora. And for San Diego.
Today, San Diego County is home to one of the largest Filipino communities in the country. And those decades before and after the treaty have a lot to do with how that happened.
20260422_manila_josen diaz_zoom / 31:22
It really feels like you can see the movement happening when you when you trace each decade.
Josen Diaz (JOE-zen) is a professor of critical race studies at UC Santa Cruz. They say those decades are written into the fabric of San Diego.
20260422_manila_josen diaz_zoom / contin.
People literally coming to the shores and then ending up making the city their own. Like like San Diego feels like a very Filipino city to me.
The U.S. first took control of the Philippines in 1898. It was part of the peace treaty with Spain after the Spanish American War.
In the past, annexations had led to everyone becoming full citizens. But members of Congress quickly grew worried about the prospect of large numbers of new non-white citizens. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court created a new type of status for everyone in the Philippines — called U.S. national. Rick Baldoz is a professor of American Studies at Brown University.
20260417_manila_rick baldoz / 11:05
They weren't citizens, but neither were they aliens. They were nationals, right? So they belong to the US. They owed allegiance to the US, but they were not US citizens.
In the 1920s and 30s, young Filipinos took advantage of their new status and began moving to the U.S. for work. In San Diego, many of them worked on farms and in canneries.
Soon though, Filipino workers faced a rise in anti-Asian racism.
It was the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Congress had banned most Chinese and Japanese immigrants from entering the country.
White nationalist leaders organized vigilante violence against Filipino communities. They also started lobbying Congress to ban Filipino people from the country.
But it wasn’t as easy as they’d hoped …because the Philippines was part of the U.S.
20260417_manila_rick baldoz / 16:30
One of the main takeaways for the sort of nativists who are pressing for a kind of ban on Filipino immigration is that as long as the Philippines was a colony of the US, Filipinos would have the right to immigrate here. So nativists end up switching gears and deciding to focus their efforts on securing Philippine independence as the the really the only way to achieve their goal of exclusion.
The anti-immigrant activists started pushing for Philippine independence. In 1934, they got what they wanted. Congress passed a law called the Tydings-McDuffie Act. It laid out a decade-long pathway to independence. And it severely restricted Filipino people from moving to the U.S. immediately.
For a while, their plan worked. The Filipino community in the U.S. stopped growing. But then, in December 1941.. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor — and the Philippines.
20260417_manila_rick baldoz / 18:48
Japan attacks the Philippines just a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Uh, and within a few months, the Japanese armed forces had routed American and Philippine forces in the islands.
Hundreds of thousands of Filipino people signed up to fight under the U.S. flag to liberate the country.
After the war, many Navy sailors and their families moved to San Diego. To places like National City, San Ysidro and Paradise Hills.
They started landmark community organizations. Like the Filipino American Veterans Association and the Filipino American Women’s Club.
20260609_ksuzuki_manila_judy patacsil / 17:00
That's when the community really began to flourish and so that's when um when families began
Judy Patacsil is a professor of Filipino Studies at Miramar College.
20260609_ksuzuki_manila_judy patacsil / 19:39
those that were here then brought wives back and brought family and started families. And that's when the community I believe actually started to grow.
In the decades afterwards, Congress ended strict racial limits on immigration. Opening doors for many more Filipino immigrants.
Families in San Diego started moving outward into other community hubs. To Chula Vista, Mira Mesa and Rancho Penasquitos.
Today, eighty years after the Treaty of Manila, Filipino Americans are the largest Asian American community in San Diego.
And you can still see all of that history here — almost like the rings of a tree. Diaz, the UC Santa Cruz professor again.
20260422_manila_josen diaz_zoom / 27:59
It almost feels like the Filipino Diaspora is consolidated in all of its in all of its complex and deeply layered histories. All of it is in San Diego.
This week, we’ll take a closer look at what it took for those generations of families to put down roots.
Kori Suzuki , KPBS News.
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SAN DIEGO COUNTY LEADERS ARE ASKING FOR ADDITIONAL PUBLIC INPUT ON THE FUTURE OF SAN PASQUAL ACADEMY. IT’S A RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM FOR FOSTER YOUTH WITH A HIGH SCHOOL AND THERAPEUTIC SERVICES.
CHANGES IN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM HAVE LED TO A DROP IN ENROLLMENT AND FUNDING.
LAST MONTH, COUNTY STAFF PROPOSED WINDING DOWN THE PROGRAM OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS.
COUNTY SUPERVISORS DIRECTED STAFF TO COLLECT MORE PUBLIC INPUT. SUPERVISOR JOEL ANDERSON ASKED THAT FUTURE DISCUSSIONS INCLUDE THE POTENTIAL CLOSURE OF THE ACADEMY.
SANPASQUAL2A [7s]
You did a robust outreach, which I'm very pleased, but I'm not sure people were framed up correctly.
IN-PERSON SESSIONS WILL TAKE PLACE ON JULY 15 AND 17.
VIRTUAL MEETINGS ARE SCHEDULED FOR JULY 20 AND 22.
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WORK IS NOW UNDERWAY ON A PROJECT TO BRING NATURE BACK TO A PART OF CITY HEIGHTS…. WHILE HELPING WITH FLOOD CONTROL.
TODAY (FRIDAY), GROUND WAS BROKEN ON THE PROJECT ALONG CHOLLAS CREEK.
IT WILL INVOLVE REPLACING AN EXISTING CONCRETE CHANNEL WITH A NATURAL CREEK…. ALONG WITH RESTORING HABITAT AND PLANTING 300 TREES.
SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL MEMBER SEAN ELO-RIVERA SAYS IT WILL BE A RETURN TO THE WAY THINGS WERE.
CHOLLAS 1A :17
the black kids and the Latino kids and the white kids from different neighborhoods would come together in, in nature here and play together. Before they were freeways and before the neighborhoods were separated. This is where bonds were built and where people from different backgrounds came to play and explore nature.
"GROUNDWORK SAN DIEGO CHOLLAS CREEK" PARTNERED WITH THE CITY ON THE PROJECT.
IT’S PART OF AN OVERALL EFFORT TO RESTORE THE CHOLLAS CREEK WATERSHED… TO IMPROVE THE ENVIRONMENT AND REDUCE FLOODING RISKS ALONG ONE OF THE CITY’S LONGEST URBAN CREEKS.
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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 day/weekend.
