Marchers Protest Beach, Park Closures In Encinitas

Speaker 1: 00:00 As we start a second month of quarantine to slow the spread of covert 19 governor Newsome began his press briefing today by focusing on students who are struggling to keep up with their education online. Speaker 2: 00:11 Uh, even though the schools are closed, learning and education must continue. Distance learning can be operable in the state of California. It just needs to have an equity lands, rural small districts and those from a socioeconomic perspective, uh, that deserve our support. Speaker 1: 00:28 Governor Newsome said hospitalizations are beginning to flatten but are still growing. He said, we are still not seeing the downward trend that we need to see before we start the road to recovery. The latest figures show the number of those who've died from the virus in California so far is 1,208 the governor said the state is ramping up testing, which is an essential component to reopening the economy and he will address progress on testing on Wednesday. Meanwhile, unrest is now bubbling up from those who want coronavirus restrictions lifted immediately. Protestors took to the streets in cities around the country, including in Encinitas and downtown San Diego. Over the weekend. Speaker 3: 01:10 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 01:10 this morning there was a backlash against those protests. Joining us now is KPBS reporter Matt Hoffman. Matt, welcome. Hey Alison. So now the sound we just heard of was from the protests in downtown San Diego on Saturday, and that was not the only protest in San Diego County over the weekend. What were they calling for? Speaker 4: 01:29 Yeah, there was another smaller one in Encinitas, a on Sunday, but yeah, the one on Saturday downtown was the largest one by far. Well over a hundred people down there. And they were basically calling for the shutdown to end and to reopen California. There was a lot of people down there with signs, you know, recall governor Newsome, you know, and the quarantee now we need our jobs back. Um, but it's worth pointing out though that, um, there was a lot of, uh, president Trump's supporters there, you know, Trump Pence, 2020 signs. Um, so, you know, it's, it's, it's sort of unclear if, you know, some of these people were pro Trump and maybe not necessarily anti closure. Uh, but keep in mind too, you know, we had a few hundred people out this weekend. Um, out of a County of 3.3 million people, um, that's not too many, but obviously they capture the news headlines too. Speaker 1: 02:11 Well, yes, president Trump has defended some of the protestors and he's argued that some of the governors had gone too far with restrictions. Do you get the impression that the, any of these protests were coordinated in any way? Speaker 4: 02:22 And remember us, at least one member of the white house, a coronavirus task force has praised California governor Gavin Newsome for implementing some of these restrictions. Um, in terms of them being coordinated, you know, it's sort of unclear and we're sort of hearing that some of these people are hearing about this through like event pages on Facebook. So it seems like that they're leveraging social media, uh, to kind of help, uh, organize these rallies Speaker 1: 02:41 and the people protesting over the weekend, were they wearing masks and practicing social distancing? Speaker 4: 02:46 But we're, but most not. I mean, you said you saw some people with masks, some people with face coverings, but most people, you know, holding their signs side by side. Uh, there was, uh, men, women, children, there, elderly people too. Um, all sort of packed in down there on street corner Speaker 1: 03:00 and presumably law enforcement was around how were they reacting to the protestors? Speaker 4: 03:04 Yeah, they were sort of driving around and monitoring. Um, we know we didn't see, you know, any, you know, by any means, any police come out and write gear or anything like that. Um, to take a sort of a aggressive approach to enforcement here. Uh, San Diego police, uh, for the protest downtown. They didn't issue any citations, uh, for violating the governor's order or any social distancing guidelines. Um, you know, police sort of saying that this is an unprecedented situation and, uh, that they're just sort of gonna let it play out and hopefully fizzles out with no problems. Speaker 1: 03:32 Now that approach didn't please everybody at turns out. Shane Harris, who's the founder of the people's Alliance for justice, held a news conference this morning. What's he calling for? Speaker 4: 03:41 Yeah, so sort of a few things. I mean, first he's demanding answers from San Diego mayor Kevin Faulkner about why these protesters were not cited. Uh, you know, why there wasn't a stronger police presence. Um, and basically he's saying that for a couple of reasons. One, obviously public health, you know, these people could go and they could infect other people. You know, a lot of them weren't wearing masks, they weren't in their six feet social distance. Uh, but then he also talked about fairness to, you know, um, uh, he believes that if these were black or Brown protesters that there'd be a much different outcome in terms of, uh, you know, police, um, citing them or, or what have you. Um, now I will say that SDPD has pushed back very hard on that saying that, look, you know, it's not about race at all. We would have let anybody protests. Uh, we, you know, we just sort of an unprecedented situation and, uh, it didn't matter whether they were majority white people or majority black people. Speaker 1: 04:29 What is Shane Harris his position on, on lifting restrictions? And was, was he wearing a mask at his news conference? Speaker 4: 04:35 He was not wearing a mask at his news conference. Um, but he was, uh, at least six feet away from the cameras and everybody else. And he was up at a podium by himself. I don't know necessarily know what his position is on lifting restrictions. I just know that he's calling for, uh, fairness. You know, he, he wants to see 'em you know, especially like when we see like the sheriff signing people up in Encinitas, um, for some, for, you know, not following the governor's order for being out for not socially distancing or seeing SDPD do that. Um, and a lot of its parks and beaches too. Um, so he's basically saying, you know, how come these people were not cited? Um, you know, they were sort of blatantly out there, uh, in violation of this and there was zero enforcement. Speaker 1: 05:12 That is a big question about how to enforce it, but also, right now there's this whole debate going on about how and when to lift restrictions and San Diego city council woman and mayoral candidate Barbara Bree has called for San Diego beaches to reopen a beginning of may. Plus you spoke, I understand that the mayor of Coronado who says he finds the restrictions somewhat arbitrary. What did he tell you? Speaker 4: 05:35 Yeah, he's a sort of pushing a, a campaign. Can we not make surfing illegal? He sort of saw a video, a viral video of a surfer being chased by a lifeguard boat, um, and him running out of the water and being applauded by a bunch of people up near the LA Jolla area. Um, and his whole thing is he's sort of saying, uh, mayor Bailey of Cornetto saying, look, you know, um, if, if people can, you know, go out on a run and that's essentially distancing, you know, why can't they go kayak in the Bay by themselves? Why can't they go fishing by themselves? Why can't they go surfing by themselves? So we created an online petition and he's planning to take some of these responses to County and state officials trying to see if there's any, you know, sort of wiggle room where, um, he says that, you know, social distancing is obviously very important. We need to keep that physical space, uh, to keep the virus away. But you know, there might still be some activities that we can do, whether it's golf, uh, whether it's kayaking, uh, where we can maintain our social distance and he's just seeing if there's any wiggle room, if officials, uh, might be willing to lack some of those restrictions. Um, because he basically says that, you know, the public is getting restless. Speaker 5: 06:32 Ultimately we need the public's trust, uh, if they are to remain compliant with these social distancing guidelines, uh, for the foreseeable future. So the best way to ensure that public trust is to put forward common sense policies, uh, policies that criminalize watching the sunset or kayaking on the Bay or fishing with your family. Uh, those erode the public trust. Speaker 4: 06:53 And I will say, at least in Cornetto, I mean, that position appears to be very, very popular. Just when I was out there interviewing him, uh, yesterday on Sunday, five or six people, Hey mayor, read your article. I loved that. It was great. You know, I love your policies so at least people in Coronado are seem to be behind him. Yes. So we're all waiting to see what actually happens. Matt, remind us what is actually being done in San Diego County to prepare for, for lifting at least some restrictions. Yes. So we sort of seen the governor lay out his blueprint, uh, with some other West coast governors for like what the West coast will look like opening up. And we know that, uh, locally San Diego, mayor Kevin Faulkner and County supervisor, Greg Cox, they're setting up a COBIT 19 task force with some community stakeholders. Basically looking at how we'll reopen the economy here locally, which obviously we know at least in the downtown area hinges a lot on these conventions that are being canceled right now. But it's really still unclear, you know, how much longer this whole thing will go on, how much longer these restrictions will last of. We're starting to see some of these summer events, cancellations that could be indicators, you know, the fair being canceled, a Comicon announcing its cancellation. These could be indicators that, you know, this could go through a good chunk of the summer. And so we totally unclear right now, uh, when we could start seeing, you know, pieces of the economy reopened. Matt. Thanks for your reporting. Thanks, Alison. That's KPBS reporter Matt Hoffman.