Southeast San Diegans lose a half-century fight over an Emeralds Hills property
<<<HEADLINES>>>
Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson….it’s THURSDAY, JULY NINTH>>>> [ HIGH DENSITY HOUSING IS COMING TO ONE OF THE ONLY MAJORITY BLACK, BROWN AND LOW-INCOME NEIGHBORHOODS IN SOUTHEASTERN SAN DIEGO ]More on that next. But first... the headlines….########
SAN DIEGO COUNTY IS MOVING MORE PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS INTO PERMANENT HOUSING THAN EVER BEFORE
HOWEVER, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PEOPLE STILL WITHOUT HOUSING HAS MORE OR LESS REMAINED UNCHANGED
THE 20-25 DATA AND PERFORMANCE REPORT ON OUR REGION'S HOMELESSNESS SERVICES LOOKS AT FISCAL YEARS 20-23 THROUGH 20-25…
THIS DIFFERS FROM THE POINT-IN-TIME COUNT, WHICH ONLY MEASURES HOMELESSNESS ON A SINGLE NIGHT, ONCE A YEAR
THE REPORT ALSO FOUND FEWER PEOPLE FALLING BACK INTO EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS THAN PREVIOUSLY SEEN.
ALTERNATIVELY, THE LENGTH OF TIME PEOPLE SPENT UNHOUSED, INCREASED OVER A THREE-YEAR PERIOD EQUAL TO ROUGHLY SIX MONTHS
########
THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO WILL BE ROLLING OUT NEW RULES FOR E-BIKE RIDERS IN EXACTLY 28 DAYS FROM TODAY.
THE NEW REGULATIONS REQUIRE THAT E-BIKE RIDERS BE AT LEAST 12 YEARS OLD TO OPERATE A CLASS 1 OR 2 E-BIKE
THOSE ARE E-BIKES THAT HAVE A MAX SPEED OF 20 MILES PER HOUR
ALSO, HELMETS ARE REQUIRED AND YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO TRANSPORT
A PASSENGER IF YOUR E-BIKE IS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED WITH A SECOND SEAT
YOU ALSO NOW HAVE THE OPTION TO COMPLETE AN E-BIKE SAFETY COURSE TO AVOID A 25-DOLLAR FINE.
########
FOUR RARE WESTERN SPOTTED SKUNKS HAVE BEEN RELEASED BACK INTO THE WILD AND HOPEFULLY NOW ARE LIVING THEIR BEST LIFE!
THE HUMANE SOCIETY SAYS THIS COMES AFTER WEEKS OF REHAB AT THEIR RAMONA WILDLIFE CENTER
THEY SPENT THEIR DAYS DIGGING, SLEEPING AND EXPLORING TO HELP THEM BOND AS A UNIT
ONCE THE SKUNKS WERE ABLE TO REACH A FEW DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES AND A HEALTHY WEIGHT ... THEY WERE RETURNED TO A REMOTE HABITAT IN VALLEY CENTER
A WILDLIFE OPERATIONS MANAGER SAYS WESTERN SPOTTED SKUNKS ARE RARE BECAUSE THEY ARE MORE RECLUSIVE THAN YOUR AVERAGE STRIPED SKUNK
S-D-H-S SAYS THIS REQUIRES EVEN MORE SECLUDED AREAS FOR THEIR RELEASE TO ENSURE THEY REMAIN WILD
########
HEADS UP SAN DIEGANS!
THERE IS ANOTHER EXTREME HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT RIGHT NOW FOR OUR SAN DIEGO COUNTY DESERT AND MOUNTAIN AREAS INCLUDING JULIAN
The HIGHS IN OUR DESERTS COULD HIT THE TRIPLE DIGITS with little relief tonight
The LOW TEMPS will be in the 80'S
It won’t be any different IN THE MOUNTAINS--- where FORECASTERS SAY TO EXPECT HIGHS IN THE UPPER 90'S AS WELL
THE EXTREME HEAT WARNING IS EXPECTED TO LAST THROUGH 8 o’clock Friday night.
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>>
##########
SOUTHEASTERN SAN DIEGANS LOST A HALF-CENTURY FIGHT THIS WEEK. REPORTER KATIE HYSON SAYS A HOUSING DEVELOPMENT WILL PROCEED ON A HILLTOP THEY WERE HOPING TO SAVE FOR A PARK.
EMERALD 1 s/s trt 1:19 SOQ (kh/mb)
The Emerald Hills property offers a panoramic view from La Jolla to Mexico.
It’s precious land in a neighborhood overburdened by pollution, heat and lack of green space.
Neighbors have wanted a park there since the ‘70s. Including Mary Young.
SOT :07 We are asking for a space to honor our legacy and to show our greatness.
123 homes are coming instead. The project relies on a footnote in city code that allowed for much denser housing, only in the majority Black, brown and low-income neighborhoods in Southeastern San Diego.
The council repealed that footnote after community members discovered it. But the city had already marked this development’s application complete.
On Tuesday, the council rejected the neighbors’ appeal.
District Four councilmember Henry Foster III.
SOT :06 Home ownership, the building of generational wealth is critical.
The development includes 13 “affordable units.” They will be priced above what a typical household in the area can afford
Raul Campillo was the only councilmember to oppose the development.
Protestors made their next step clear.
Vote them out! Vote them out! *fade under*
Katie Hyson, KPBS News
##########
MORE DETAILS ARE AVAILABLE ABOUT THE IMPACT OF LIVING NEAR THE TIJUANA RIVER. A NEW SURVEY VALIDATES CONCERNS ABOUT EXPOSURE TO SEWAGE.
ENVIRONMENT REPORTER TAMMY MURGA SAYS RESEARCHERS HAVE A MESSAGE FOR RESIDENTS.
TJSEWAGE 1 trt: 00:55 soq
San Diego State University researchers spent the last year and a half speaking to residents living near the sewage-laden Tijuana River.
Paula Stigler Granados is one of the lead researchers behind the survey.
*Nat* “Nausea, headaches … a lot of this has been reported by people taking the health survey.”
She says a year and a half worth of data show trends. And it confirms that even very low levels of sewer gas can affect people’s well-being.
TJSEWAGE 1a 00:07
“People feel a one-minute spike in hydrogen sulfide just as much as they feel an elongated one-hour.”
The results show patterns: when more pollution spills into the river, more sewer gas is detected. And more people feel ill.
Granados says sharing results with the public now can empower residents to take action.
TJSEWAGE 1b 00:04
“Talk to your school principals about, you know, making sure the filtration systems are working.”
She says the findings are being peer reviewed and should be published soon. Tammy Murga, KPBS News
##########
SDG&E THIS WEEK [7/7] BRIEFED ENERGY STAKEHOLDERS ON THE UTILITY’S PROPOSAL TO INCREASE MONTHLY BILLS BY MORE THAN 8 PERCENT, IN 2028.
PUBLIC MATTERS REPORTER KEVIN TREVELLYAN [TREV-UH-LYN] HAS MORE.
SDGERATES1 TRT (0:57) SOQ
-------
TREVELLYAN: HOW MUCH MONEY DOES SDG&E SPEND RUNNING AND MAINTAINING ITS SYSTEM? THAT’S THE QUESTION SDG&E, ENERGY REGULATORS, AND RATEPAYER ADVOCATES WILL HASH OUT OVER THE NEXT 18 MONTHS.
IT’S CALLED A GENERAL RATE CASE. AND THE COMPLEX PROCESS WILL SET THE STAGE FOR HOW MUCH SDG&E’S 3-POINT-7 MILLION CUSTOMERS WILL PAY FOR ENERGY DURING A FOUR-YEAR SPAN STARTING IN 2028.
THE COMPANY OUTLINED A COUPLE KEY PRIORITIES IN ITS PROPOSAL FILED LAST MONTH. JAMIE YORK IS WITH SDG&E.
YORK [0:10]: “THIS INCLUDES MAINTAINING SAFE AND RELIABLE SERVICE, AS WELL AS COMPLIANCE WITH REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS. AFFORDABILITY, OR MANAGING COSTS WITH DISCIPLINE.”
TREVELLYAN: UNDER SDG&E’S PLAN… ELECTRIC BILLS WOULD RISE ABOUT 14 DOLLARS OVER 2027 ESTIMATES, WHILE NATURAL GAS BILLS WOULD JUMP ABOUT 8 DOLLARS.
RATEPAYER ADVOCACY GROUPS ARE PLANNING TO FORMALLY PROTEST SDG&E’S RATE REQUEST, SAYING THE PROPOSAL DOESN’T DO ENOUGH TO REDUCE COSTS.
KT, KPBS
##########
IT'S JULY, AND OFFICIALLY PRIDE MONTH IN SAN DIEGO. BUT LONG BEFORE THE PARADE BECAME ONE OF THE LARGEST IN THE COUNTRY, LOCAL ACTIVISTS WERE BUILDING THE MOVEMENT FROM THE GROUND UP.
DOCTOR T.J. TALLIE, A BOARD MEMBER OF LAMBDA ARCHIVES JOINED US TO TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE HISTORY SURROUNDING SAN DIEGO PRIDE.
PRIDEHISTORY (dc) (4:40) "...thank you so much"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TJ, welcome. Oh, I'm so happy to be here. So, when did people think of San Diego Pride? Sorry.
So, when people think of San Diego Pride today, they picture a large celebration with a parade and floats. Can you tell us what those very first Pride events actually look like in San Diego? Absolutely. So, yeah, we really think of a sort of slick corporate pride or one that feels all all encompassing. But San Diego Pride's journey is a lot more complicated than that. Um, first, it grows out of grassroots movements in the late 60s and early 70s.
Um, we see a chapter of the gay liberation front um starting uh here at San Diego State in, I think, 70 or 71. And the first sort of unofficial pride uh takes place in 1974. And one reason why it's sort of understood as the unofficial pride is that It's non-permitted.. Um, and by 1975, in the summer of '75, is when we have the first official um permitted um city-allowing um parade. Uh, so the origins are a little bit um rough and tumble. They are also directly out of community growth.
But how did organizers actually How did organizers actually pull pride together before it became officially pride? So that's great.
one of the ways to think about this is truly almost a a DIY sort of local community space in the early 70s.
It's word of mouth And it comes from a lot of simultaneous liberation and organizing movements. So, people in feminist movements or um uh racial civil rights movements um or uh economic equity movements are seeing this as a shared struggle. In 1998 was decided that Pride would be moved from June to July. Can you talk about why this was such a transformative year for SD Pride? 1990 is the last year that San Diego Pride is in June. It's June 9th and 10th.
And the biggest reason that we talk about why it changes is there was a torrential downpour that year. Yeah, so we're still safely within the San Diego rain belt, right? In May and June. And the June gloom turned furious that year. Um but the organizers saw and they looked around and they said, "There are multiple reasons why we perhaps should push this back.
So in 1990, Long Beach moves to May and San Diego really sees this as a moment. Why don't we move to July? It'll be dryer and it'll also give us a space to really make it our own. And that's one reason why July has been our month.
But one thing I love about 1990 as a snapshot is that it is a fundamentally interesting way to understand Pride's transformation. Just the board award for pride, first off in that year after Christine Kiyosaki had at her urging added two members of color to the organizing group, which had never been there before. And it was also the first year in which San Diego's Grand Marshals for Pride were two queer black people. Cynthia Lawrence Wallace and Fundi.
Can you tell me more about the impact that people of color have had on the local movement? I would love to.
So, one of the things that I love is um pride, I think in many ways, has been critiqued for being commercial or has been critiqued for being sort of universalizing. But one of the things in San Diego historically is that people of color have continuously and consistently argued that they They are part of the fabric of pride. They are part of this experience. Their queerness is also part of their their lived reality.And so especially in the early 1990s, we have organizers organizing on a variety of topics from HIV/AIDS to battling racial policing, to housing. But the they say these are all queer issues because we are all multiple people with multiple lives.. Uh, what should community members and businesses keep in mind as we celebrate Pride? pride needs to be something that we not only find joy in and celebration, but we need to be attuned to the fact that it is a community-based movement. And so therefore should always be open to critique and response and recalibration. Just like in that 1990 moment where we take a look in the rain and the wind and say maybe we can do things differently.
So two, is pride a living organizational movement that needs constant input and response to the world around us. I think in this current political moment Pride is extraordinarily important to remind us that we are all connected in community and that we have something real to offer each other. All right. TJ, thank you so much for joining me and enjoy San Diego Pride. I know I will. Thank you so much.
TAG: THAT WAS DOCTOR T.J TALLIE, A BOARD MEMBER OF LAMBDA ARCHIVES
##########
CATCHING A DRIVERLESS RIDE IS ONE STEP CLOSER IN SAN DIEGO.
REPORTER JACOB AERE SAYS RIDESHARE SERVICE WAYMO ANNOUNCED TODAY (WEDNESDAY) THEY WILL SOON BEGIN DRIVING WITHOUT A HUMAN BEHIND THE WHEEL IN THE CITY.
_____________________________________________________
WAYMO 1 (ja) :53 SOQ
After being tested around the city in recent months… Waymo’s white and light blue vehicles with large cameras and sensors will soon roll out autonomously.
Sean Elo-Rivera is a San Diego city councilmember. He also heads up the Taxi Advisory Committee for MTS.
He proposed a resolution that passed in January urging the state to give cities the choice to use these driverless vehicles.
“I think it's fair for us to question why at the local level we don't have more control or say over where this testing is happening. San Diego is not a testing lab, San Diegans are not lab rats.”
Waymo says initially, the driverless rides will be available only to company employees. They plan to offer the rides to the public later this year.
Waymo says they're waiting for permission from the California Public Utilities Commission to charge fares for rides in San Diego. JA KPBS News.
##########
THE SAN DIEGO BLACK ARTS AND CULTURE DISTRICT IS BRINGING THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER IN ENCANTO WITH A BLOCK PARTY.
ARTS REPORTER AUDY MCAFEE LOOKS AT HOW THE EVENT REVIVES A TRADITION FROM THE 90s.
-------------------------------------------------------------
ENCANTOFEST 1 (1:07) SOQ
A streetfair that began as part of Encanto’s "Streetscape Art Project" in the 1990s once brought thousands of people together to celebrate the neighborhood.
Now, the San Diego Black Arts and Culture District is reimagining the event to uplift the community.
Derrick Banks is a chairperson with the district. He says the event reflects how Black culture continues to evolve.
“It's been about taking some flavors and adding some new spice to it. Um, and that's what I love about this event because you'll have our old school music there and you'll have the new stuff for the younger people. So, this is going to be a great event bringing the community together.”
The festival will also feature spoken word, food, and community vendors.
Banks says he hopes this gathering will shine a spotlight on Encanto.
“We call this Southeast, but it's also the Diamond District. This community is a diamond in the rough and it's produced some of the coolest, most talented artists and just brilliant minds ever. Um and we just hope that a light is shining on that diamond so that the rest of the world could see.”
The Encanto Block Party Music Festival is July 12th starting at noon in Marie Widman Park.
Audy McAfee, KPBS news.
<<<SHOW CLOSE>>>
That’s it for the podcast today. The podcast today was edited by Traci Tong and hosted and produced by me, Lawrence K. Jackson. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Lawrence K. Jackson. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
