Teamsters union members walk off job on CSU campuses
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, November 15th.
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Teamsters union members walk off the job on C-S-U campuses.
More on why they’re striking next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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Rain is headed our way today.
Forecasters say we can expect occasional heavy showers and fast winds.
The county’s inland areas today will see temps in the low 70s.
Temps in the mountains will be in the high 50s, in the deserts, it’ll be in the low 80s, and by the coast, it’ll be in the high 60s.
The National Weather Service says we can expect rain on and off through the rest of the week.
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The San Diego City Council this week rejected Mayor Todd Gloria’s Housing Action Package.
The housing bill was supposed to support previous housing initiatives adopted in early 20-22.
It aimed to allow construction of more new homes near transit, provide protections to existing residents and increase the supply of land available for new home development.
The package failed with only 3 votes for and 5 against it.
Some council members said they couldn’t vote for the package unless affordable housing was built alongside market-rate units in an attempt at community integration.
The bill will return to committee for further discussion.
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San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit this week announced he’s retiring next year.
That means the city is looking for a new Chief of Police and the city says the recruitment process will be open nationally.
After that Mayor Todd Gloria will appoint a candidate to be confirmed by the city council.
San Diegans have a chance to weigh-in.
Community forums will be held in each city council district beginning in January.
There will also be an online survey available.
Nisleit joined SD-PD 36 years ago, and was promoted to the top position in 20-18.
He will wrap up his service this June.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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Teamsters union members went on strike at SD-SU and other C-S-U campuses yesterday.
Their one-day walkout was to protest stalled contract negotiations and alleged unfair labor practices.
Education reporter M.G. Perez says they’ve been without a contract since June 30th.
“People want to know! Teamsters!” There are 80 skilled labor Teamsters working at San Diego State…who joined 11-hundred union members on C-S-U campuses across California in walking off their jobs… as plumbers, electricians, painters, and other support for the university’s facilities. The teamsters are frustrated that months of negotiations with the Cal State system… has not led to agreement on higher wages and better benefits…including a new salary pay structure…Anthony Barbagello is chief teamsters steward at S-D-S-U “right now, nobody’s taking care of the buildings…nobody’s fixing the problems or performing maintenance…it’s a shame that the C-S-U …our employer isn’t willing to negotiate with us.” A C-S-U spokesperson told us they are at an impasse in their contract negotiations with Teamsters…but are still engaged in the bargaining process under state law. MGP KPBS News.
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San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler died yesterday.
He was 63 years old.
Reporter Matt Hoffman says Seidler was a fan favorite and wanted to bring a championship to the city.
Seidler joined the Padres ownership group in 2012 before becoming majority owner in 2020.. He was beloved by fans.. Investing hundreds of millions of dollars in star players to try and bring a championship to San Diego.. Longtime fans like Keri Park went to the ballpark Tuesday to pay their respects.. She brought flowers and a card for Seidlers family.. Calling him the best owner in team history. Keri Park, mission valley resident & lifelong padres fan He loved san diego and i think he put everything he had into the team and the fans and that doesn’t happen very often anymore.. A very sad day for our community Seidler was a two-time cancer survivor.. He and his wife Sheel donated to numerous medical charities. People can come to the home plate gate from 6am to midnight today to pay their respects. MH KPBS News.
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A cybersecurity attack on Tri-City Medical Center is having ripple effects on the health care system in the North County.
Reporter Jacob Aere has a look at what it could mean for other hospitals and patients.
Tri-City Medical Center has declared this “an internal disaster” and is still diverting ambulance traffic to other hospitals while its systems remain offline. Since last Thursday, Scripps Health C-E-O Chris Van Gorder says they have received 20 to 25 more ambulances per day – primarily in Encinitas. They normally receive around 35 each day at that location. “We are on code what we call code ABC – which is all bed crisis – meaning that our hospital is absolutely full … it could be a significant number of patients waiting to be admitted to hospital beds. Or we even have to transfer some of those patients to other Scripps facilities.” Tri-City management says they’re still serving patients with emergency needs… but they’ve halted all elective medical procedures. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.
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Coming up.... Chula Vista's controversial decision to close Harborside Park has brought renewed attention to longtime disparities when it comes to public parkland.
“West of 805 has a park deficit, and we need to be able to find ways to be able to build new parks.”
We’ll have that story and more, just after the break.
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Two contagious pathogens are spreading among the dogs housed at the San Diego Humane Society’s main campus.
Reporter John Carroll says its overcrowding problem is making it worse.
For more than six months now, the san diego humane society has been dealing with a severe overcrowding situation when it comes to dogs. 18-hundred are currently housed across the society’s five campuses. society president and ceo, dr. gary weitzman says it should be half that. he says the overcrowding situation has made the spread of disease much worse. “we know that the same circumstances that caused it to happen in our quarantine building here can happen everywhere and at every shelter and in every dog kennel. it’s just too many dogs that are in one area.” three dogs have died at the humane society’s main campus since the diseases broke out, but weitzman says with antibiotics, they’re bringing the situation under control. he says the public can help by adopting or fostering a dog. jc, kpbs news.
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Chula Vista's Harborside Park has been closed for more than a year.
That’s renewed attention to the divide in who has access to parks.
South Bay reporter Kori Suzuki says many residents have been frustrated for years.
Harborside Park wasn’t on the agenda for the Chula Vista City Council meeting, late last month. But it was on residents’ minds. “It is amazing how much improvement are on these parks when you closed Harborside Park. Did you forget about people on the West Side?” The city council was meeting to discuss working with an LA construction company to explore some future park sites. But several residents took the podium to point out that a lot of people are also waiting for updates on the parks that already exist. West Chula Vista, they said, hasn’t been getting much attention. “It's not really fair for east side to get all these high quality parks. Everybody reattachments and see what they have. They have pickleballs, they have structure for tennis courts, they have basketball. They have everything you want. And what do you put in the west side? Nothing. Zero.” The city council made the controversial decision to close Harborside Park more than a year ago. They want to explore leasing or selling the land. But that decision has reignited a debate over the unequal way that parks are distributed across Chula Vista. The divide is between the newer, wealthier side of the city East Chula Vista. And the older side, West Chula Vista, where there’s less new development and more working class neighborhoods. When you look at a map, the west side is mostly gray. But East Chula Vista is covered in patches of green. In 2021, the east side had almost three and a half times more park space than the west side, according to data from the city. “There's a lot of research that shows that poorer neighborhoods have less access to safe parks Elva Arredondo is a professor at San Diego State University. She says that parks have a lot of benefits for people who live nearby. And not having access to them is a problem. So they may not have features that would make it easy for families to come and bring their kids, or they may have broken pathways, they may not have the greenery, or there may be lack of lighting or open space for people to sort of feel safe.” That’s not to say that West Chula Vista doesn’t have nice parks. Alondra Padilla says she comes to visit Hilltop Park every day. It has a beautiful, sweeping grass field, with play structures, a gazebo and a trickling river. Her son, Mateo is autistic, and loves the smell of the eucalyptus trees. She says the park relaxes him.“So this relax for my autistic boy. When we walk a little more there, my kids start to laugh. Yeah. So that's the reason we love to come in here.” But even still, Padilla says she also wants to see more parks on the west side. Because of Mateo’s autism, it helps to move from park to park during the day. “Sometimes when the park have a lot of kids we have to quit to go because my kid can start to scream like today. So we have to go to another park or change the activity.” The city says it’s a hard problem to solve. Lots of West Chula Vista was built before there were requirements to have certain amounts of park space. Newer building codes also require developers to fund new parkland as part of their projects – which means more parks in East Chula Vista, where most of the new construction is happening. But city leaders say they’re working on ways to bring more parks to the west side of the city. At that same meeting last month, the city council voted to explore several future park sites. Here’s Mayor John McCan.“As we know, I think many of the speakers talked about the west side of Chula Vista. West of 805 has a park deficit, and we need to be able to find ways to be able to build new parks.” That proposal, he said, could open the door for at least one new park on the west side. Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.
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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Join us again tomorrow for the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Wednesday.
