San Diego will tap reserves to fill budget shortfall through fiscal year

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, May 30th.

The city of San Diego is tapping its reserves to finish out the fiscal year.

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

THE SOUTH BAY UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT PLANS TO CLOSE AT LEAST ONE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AMID DECLINING ENROLLMENT.

THE DISTRICT’S ENROLLMENT HAS DROPPED BY 40% SINCE 20-11.

THE SCHOOL BOARD VOTED UNANIMOUSLY WEDNESDAY TO CLOSE CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN IMPERIAL BEACH AFTER THE NEXT SCHOOL YEAR.

DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS SUGGESTED PLANNING TO CLOSE SUNNYSLOPE AND BERRY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS BY 20-31.

BOARD MEMBER JOSE LOPEZ EGUINO:

If those are the schools that need to close when we reevaluate, so be it. but if it turns out there are other schools that need to close, then we can go that route. or, ideally, we don’t close any of the schools.

DISTRICT LEADERS SAY THEY’LL SPEND THE NEXT YEAR PLANNING STUDENT TRANSPORTATION, STAFFING AND WHERE CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS WILL GO AFTER THE CLOSURE.

Thousands of area grocery store workers could be on strike this summer.

The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union – representing more than 30,000 workers across Southern California – alleges Vons, Albertsons and Ralph’s are engaged in unfair labor practices.

In an email to KPBS, Albertsons says it’s committed to productive discussions with the union and are negotiating in good faith.

Members will vote on whether to authorize the strike the second week of June.

UFCW says it has about 72-hundred workers across 87 stores in San Diego County.

The San Diego Humane Society is opening its doors for longer hours over weekends throughout the summer.

This is the second summer the Humane Society is expanding its hours for adoptions. It says last year more than 600 animals found homes during extended weekend hours.

There are more than 700 animals currently ready for adoption.

Extended hours begin Saturday at the El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside and San Diego Humane Society shelters.

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

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

SAN DIEGO'S BUDGET PICTURE IS WORSE THAN ANTICIPATED.

METRO REPORTER ANDREW BOWEN SAYS THE CITY IS HAVING TO DIP INTO ITS RESERVES TO COVER EXPENSES IN THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR.

AB: Over the past six months, San Diego has seen a drop in sales tax revenue and fees paid by utility companies. The police and fire departments also overspent on overtime, leaving the city's general fund roughly $10 million in the red. At a City Council meeting last week, Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera expressed frustration, saying the mayor has dragged his feet on creating new revenue, such as charging visitors for parking in Mission Bay Park.

SER: I have a really hard time hearing things like we've done all we can, because we didn't even get the car started to get to where we need to go to generate the revenue we want to run this city in the way we want to run it and the way our residents want to run it.

AB: The council is expected to vote June 10 on whether to use its reserves to balance the current fiscal year's budget. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO IS GETTING READY TO OPEN ITS FIFTH SAFE PARKING LOT. THE GOAL: HELP HOMELESS SAN DIEGANS SLEEP IN A SECURE PLACE OVERNIGHT IN THEIR VEHICLES.

REPORTER JACOB AERE SAYS THE H BARRACKS SITE IS THE BIGGEST ONE YET.

The new 190-space safe parking lot is located west of San Diego International Airport.

Kohta Zaiser is the city of San Diego's Community Engagement Lead on the project,. He says the lot will allow the city to help more people experiencing homelessness.

“We’ll nearly double our entire system's capacity. We’re repurposing city-owned land that was formerly part of NTC naval base, was used by SDPD and SD Fire for several years, but then has sat pretty much abandoned.”

Jewish Family Service will operate the overnight safe parking lot. Participants will receive help with housing, medical issues and signing up for government assistance programs.

A lawsuit filed by real estate developer McMillin NTC arguing homeless parking, sheltering, and services are not legally permissible on the site goes to trial in February. 

The city expects the site to open by the end of this month. Jacob Aere KPBS News.

THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS GRADUATED FROM SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY THIS MONTH…INCLUDING 21 WHOSE PATH TO A DEGREE INCLUDED A PRISON CELL. EDUCATION REPORTER KATIE ANASTAS BRINGS US ONE OF THEIR STORIES.

I went to five different high schools in San Diego County. I was getting kicked out of school, going to juvenile hall, fighting, you know, those kind of things.

Chris Burroughs never thought he’d live to 20, or 30, or 40.

I didn't really want to have anything to do with high school as far as education wise. I went there so I could play sports, and then even that fizzled out once the streets got a hold of me. 

He spent 14 years in and out of prison.

I was told before I went to prison one time by one of my elders that when you get locked up, nobody comes out the same. You're either going to come out worse or better and I didn't want to come out worse.

While incarcerated, Burroughs read a gardening magazine that sparked his interest in organic farming and sustainability. 

He was released in June 2018. He started community college a few months later, then enrolled in San Diego State.  

It's been very challenging. But Project Rebound has always been there for me. And I was kind of like my hub here where I knew that I could go, and get, you know, just some good love from, from and support from people. 

Project Rebound supports formerly incarcerated students like Burroughs throughout their time at SDSU. They help with the admissions and enrollment process and offer academic and financial advising. Fourteen California State University campuses have Project Rebound programs, including SDSU and CSU San Marcos.

David Durand directs SDSU’s program.

We've been growing at Project Rebound here at San Diego State for the past couple years by about 20 to 30 students each year. So we're at 90 students this year. We graduated our biggest class, 21 students. Half of those students are going to graduate school.

Staff meet potential students at jails, prisons and reentry facilities. They also partner with a similar program for formerly incarcerated students attending California Community Colleges.

According to California State University, less than 1% of Project Rebound graduates return to jail or prison. In California, nearly half of people released from custody return within three years. It costs more than $130,000 per year to incarcerate someone in California.

Durand says it costs about $500,000 a year to run Project Rebound at SDSU.

When you think about the cost to incarcerate someone during the long term, it's like over $1 million during the course of like the general incarceration term, where here it's a fraction of that cost to help someone actually get back and contribute to society.

Part of that help is building students’ confidence. While most CSU students are under 24 years old, most Project Rebound students are older.

The average age is about 40 years old. And so there's already an age gap. And so that that is a big piece of just the mental right, trying to overcome that and, and tell yourself you're worth it. You can do it.

Now 50, Burroughs says setting and meeting academic goals changed his perspective.

It's hard to think about doing crime when you're in a calculus two class, you know, or biology class or and you're learning something, right? It's like it opens up doors that a lot of us, I can speak for myself, like, I didn't want anything to do with school when I was a kid. I wasn't excited about learning, any of that, you know? But now that we made this commitment as adults, it's like we're excited to be doing these things.

Burroughs walked in SDSU’s commencement ceremony this month. He now has his bachelor’s degree in sustainability. He’s using that knowledge as founder of Garden 31. It’s a nonprofit that provides education and job training in the agriculture industry.

He says his classmates in Project Rebound are students SDSU can be proud of.

They know how to persevere and they know how to endure. And so when they come to a place like this, it's just like gratitude, like, you know, these walls are not gray. There's not bars, you know, on that door right there. So, you know, we had a commitment to do the time for the state of California, that, the commitment that was given to us because of our actions. But now this is a choice and this is our commitment that we made. It's a choice in a positive fashion.

At Garden 31, he’s helping other people make those positive choices. Next, he hopes to expand the organization’s apprenticeship program for formerly incarcerated people and at-risk youth. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.

SAN DIEGO HAS A NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART PUBLIC HEALTH LAB … READY TO DETECT AND RESPOND TO THE NEXT EPIDEMIC OUTBREAK.

REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN TAKES US TO THE RIBBON CUTTING.

“We designed the space for how we wanted it.”

San Diego County’s new 93-million-dollar public health lab in Kearny Mesa is nearly three times larger than the old lab in Point Loma.

“This is where we use to actually identify bacteria.”

Lab director Jeremy Corrigan says The bigger space means they can do more testing of samples. And more testing means quicker results and faster treatment.

“In the past, we might have had to send samples out to CDPH or CDC and rely on it on a weeks to months turnaround time for those results.”

Now … he says … the turnaround time is days.

But most importantly … this facility allows the county some independence from the Centers for Disease Control and the state Department of Public Health.

Because … Corrigan says … public health is local first.

Alexander Nguyen KPBS News.

That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. For your next listen, check out the KPBSRoundtable this afternoon. Today’s show features discussions on new proposed A-D-U rules and a San Diego Unified plan to lower high school graduation requirements. San Diego News Now was produced this week by Andrew Dyer and edited by Brooke Ruth and Quinn Owen. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.