S1: Welcome to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. This fall , San Diego voters will be weighing in on several new tax measures. We take a closer look at what they would do and explore some of the complicated rules for sales tax in California.
S2: Ice is subject to sales tax , but bottled water isn't. Soda is subject to sales tax , but candy isn't. Aspirin is subject to sales tax. But diapers aren't. It's notoriously complex and confusing.
S1: Then , as a new school year kicked off , San Diego Unified fired its superintendent earlier this month after an investigation into misconduct involving female staffers. Plus , we talk about other stories from the week on the roundup. That's all ahead on KPBS roundtable Taxes in all their different forms can be confusing , and sales taxes in California can be especially so. Understanding them , though , will prove helpful in the run up to this year's election , as San Diego voters will be weighing in on nearly a dozen sales tax measures here to help us better understand sales tax rules and how they may be changing with this year's election. Is David Garrick , he's a reporter with the San Diego Union Tribune. David , welcome back to roundtable.
S2: Thanks for having me.
S1: Great to have you back. So before we dive into the local measures that voters will have a say in this November , let's talk about sales tax as a whole. In California , you write California has confusing tax rules.
S2: Soda is subject to sales tax , but candy isn't. Aspirin is subject to sales tax , but diapers aren't. It's notoriously complex and confusing , and I think most people think the reason is because politics ends up determining what the legislators in Sacramento decide should be subject to sales tax and should not be subject to sales tax.
S1: So you mentioned a few examples there.
S2: Yes , because , uh , restaurants , everything is pretty much taxed. And then grocery stores , most of it isn't. But stuff that's , you know , the sin taxes , you pay tax on beer and wine and then soda and certain other things in a grocery store. And the odd thing is , if you go to Costco and you buy chicken breasts that you're going to grill at home that are cold , those aren't taxed. But if you buy a warm rotisserie chicken that is taxed , so you're buying two kinds of chicken at Costco and one is taxed and one isn't.
S1: So very , very particular technicalities there. And then another one you mentioned , I think you mentioned aspirin earlier and kind of a lot of medicines. It can be confusing , you know , with medical products and medicines like some get taxed and some don't.
S2: But there are definitely some exceptions to that. But that's the general rule. But it still confuses people because some of these medicines , you could get it either prescribed or you could get over-the-counter. And so at one time it's not taxed. And then if you get it over the counter it's it's taxed again. So it's very confusing.
S1: So with all that I mean how did these exemptions come to be then.
S2: Well , one thing I'll give you an example of is in 2020 , there was a big battle over tampons and feminine hygiene products and diapers. And the thought was Viagra , which is prescribed , is not taxed because it's prescribed medicine. But you'd have to. Women were having to pay for feminine hygiene products. They would have to pay sales tax. And people said that seems like a really unfair contradiction. And so that was used as sort of a motivation to repeal sales tax on feminine hygiene products , which had been taxed in California up until 2020 , but no longer are now , since that change.
S1: So yeah , you mentioned back in 2020. But what about going back further into these exemptions. Is there other examples of how these became more commonplace in California sales taxes.
S2: Yeah , the sales tax has existed here since 1933 , and I haven't been able to trace back every decision. But when you look into them , it's always been sort of a fight , like the one I mentioned with Viagra and Tampons , where people thought I shouldn't be taxed and bottled water should. Bottled water is healthy , ice is used for drinks. I don't think that makes that much sense to me , but I can see , I guess , what the thinking was and they all sort of are like that. There was an argument made and the legislature decided to go one way or the other and each individual argument. One thing I should mention is there's a 61 page document that the state puts out explaining it all. It's not really for folks like you and me. It's more for retailers and restaurant owners. But folks like you and me can go check out the document and see what is and is not a subject to sales tax. And it's 61 pages , which is a testament to how complicated the thing is , if it takes 61 pages to explain it.
S1: So yeah , can you.
S2: And so there's some weird exemptions in there too. Uh , I mentioned in the story that I wrote , San Diego's subject to one of them , the Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park. They can sell stuff that they used to have in displays , and after they no longer have it in the display , they can sell it with no sales tax. It seems like a weird one. And there's there's lots of those across the state , weird little exemptions and carve outs that you sort of imagine must have been the result of legislative battles in Sacramento.
S1: So with all that kind of backstory now , in addition to California's base sales tax rate of 7.25% , there are also additional city and county taxes. And San Diegans will be voting on several new tax measures this fall. Tell us about those.
S2: Uh , yeah. So the the local county sales tax has already risen from 7.25 to 7.75 because we had the Transnet half cent sales tax for , for transportation projects. That's been in place for a long time , but the new stuff that's coming up this year is the county would then add another half cent , so that will be county wide also for transportation. So that would bring it to 8.25 at least everywhere. And then there's six cities that are individually asking their voters to approve increases. The city of San Diego , which has never had one before. Escondido , San Marcos , Encinitas , Santee and Lemon Grove. And I should mention that there's four cities that have already increased their sales tax. Voters approved these in the past , and but they had sunset clauses. So they're actually being asked to extend those beyond their expiration date. And that's Chula Vista , El Cajon , la mesa and Oceanside.
S1:
S2: The cities talk about how they're going to fund fire and police and they're going to fund infrastructure projects. And for the most part , I think they do. But obviously they don't advertise that we're going to pay for pensions and we're going to pay for employee raises , because that would be a much less popular way to describe it , but a lot of times the money does go to employee raises and pensions because like 75% of most city's budget is for personnel costs.
S1:
S2: I'm almost certain it is. It seems like a huge big rush , and I'm not sure if it's a post pandemic thing. I don't know if this is why this trend is happening , but I mean , to have a 12 on the ballot that there's never been nearly that many in the past.
S1: And these sales tax measures , they only require a simple majority to pass , not the two thirds.
S2: And I think that's a key reason why cities are going to them. So that may be part of the reason. But I don't understand why this year , 2024 is the magic year. But yes , they are much easier threshold than the two thirds in California , which is , you know , since prop 13 , two thirds , it's very , very difficult to overcome.
S1: And there are critiques of increasing sales tax as opposed to other ways of raising revenue , like property taxes , for example.
S2: They'll say that a sales tax falls more on low income people , whereas property tax is more of a wealth tax because low income people don't tend to own property. So sales taxes are not considered by economists to be the very best way to raise money. But because of the 50% approval , they tend to be the go to method for cities to get more revenue.
S1: And you've mentioned , you know , that there seem to be more this year than in years past. We have seen , you know , governments at both state and local levels facing deficits recently. Inflation has been you know , it's made a big impact on people's pocketbooks in recent years.
S2: And so once they give their workers raises , they need more money to balance the city budget. So I'm sure that's definitely part of it. I would also note that I think San Diego sort of behind the rest of the state , maybe because we used to be a more conservative area , because the highest rates in the state right now , it's already 10.25% in Long Beach and Santa Monica. Los Angeles is over nine. So in a sense , San Diego's maybe just playing catch up to other parts of California that have already gone through this process years earlier.
S1:
S2: I mean , we're talking a few hundred extra dollars you're going to be spending , uh , you know , obviously it's only a $0.01 increase in most of these cases. So when you're paying for , um , you know , a bottle of soda , it's going to be an extra penny , so you probably won't feel the pain as much there , although it'll probably add up over the course of a year. But it's those big ticket purchases that weren't going to be noticeable the most.
S1: Got it. So I mean , what are we expecting from voters on these measures ? Again , these require a simple majority. Not that sort of overall two thirds.
S2: Well , El Cajon is in the past and it's on the ballot. So it doesn't appear to be sort of a blue red thing. So I think most of them are probably expected to pass. You know , Escondido will be an interesting one. That's sort of a weird mixed city of conservatives and liberals. So it'll be interesting to see whether the Escondido one passes. That's probably the one I'm watching.
S1: The closest I've been speaking with David Garrick , reporter with the San Diego Union Tribune. David , thanks so much for being here. Appreciate it. When roundtable returns , the school year is just getting underway. But San Diego's largest school district has already seen major upheaval this year when it fired its superintendent , Lamont Jackson.
S3: The district used a pretty indescribable phrase , which was unwelcome sex based behavior consistent with a romantic interest. I think kind of an easier way to think about that would be maybe sexual harassment.
S1: That's ahead on Round Table. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Just before the start of the Labor Day weekend , San Diego Unified School District fired its superintendent , Lamont Jackson. His termination followed an investigation that revealed he more likely than not engaged in unwelcome sex based behavior against two former staff members. This latest news is part of a bigger trend in the district regarding sexual harassment complaints. We're joined now by Jacob McWhinney. He's the voice of San Diego's education reporter and also the first journalist to report on the investigation back in May of this year. He's been following developments on the investigation of former Superintendent Jackson since then. Jacob , welcome back to roundtable.
S3: Hey , Andrew , thanks for having me.
S1: So the lead up to the firing of former San Diego Unified Superintendent Lamont Jackson , it began earlier this year , which you reported on.
S3: One of the board members was at a luncheon sort of event and was kind of speaking offhandedly with somebody and and heard a story that potentially Superintendent Jackson had engaged in misconduct with the staff at that time. I don't think it was very clear exactly what that consisted of. But shortly after that I got a tip and started to chase it down. Eventually was able to confirm that , you know , an investigation had been launched. But again , at that time , for me , it was rather unclear exactly what was being investigated. And it took some time to figure that out. But eventually we got there.
S1: And over the past few months , I mean , what was found in this investigation.
S3: Uh , so last week , I got notified by some sources that the investigation had concluded and that allegations of misconduct with female staff who had had since left the district had been confirmed. A day later , the the district released the findings and terminated Jackson without cause. As you said up top , um , the district , as you referenced , used a pretty indescribable phrase , which was unwelcome sex based behavior consistent with a romantic interest. I think kind of an easier way to think about that would be maybe sexual harassment. I think that would be translating it to English if we want. The investigation also failed to substantiate two other allegations. One was that Jackson had promoted with women with whom he'd had sexual relations , and that he'd engaged in what the investigation referred to as offensive and sexually charged behavior.
S1: So you mentioned he was terminated without cause.
S3: So per Jackson's contract , that means that he will still receive his salary and health benefits for the next six months. In total , he's set to receive about $215,562 somewhere around there. Um , over that period of time , when I spoke to board members about why they'd chosen to go this route , they basically said that this was kind of a balancing act , right ? And they had to balance a bunch of factors to determine what was in the best interest of the district. I think ultimately we can look back to cases where educators have been accused of misconduct. Um , for guidance about why the why the district chose to go this route. In many of those cases , the district enters into resignation agreements or retirement agreements that allow educators to , you know , leave the district without necessarily the sort of bad look of firing in exchange for not suing the district. And I think that this may be likely what what moved the board to act this way , that it was more expeditious and less potentially financially costly. Right.
S1: So definitely some legal wrangling going on. So zooming out a bit here , you've been following not only this particular case of misconduct , but also misconduct across the district as a whole. Specifically , you've done , you know , multiple stories on a report from the US Department of Education , which , you know , called into question how San Diego Unified has handled sexual misconduct complaints What did that report find ? Yeah.
S3: Andrew , that report was a pretty big deal for Voice of San Diego. You know , we've been reporting on sexual misconduct complaints both against educators , mostly against educators at San Diego Unified for a long time. And so for a lot of us , for especially the reporters that came before me that put in years of hard work Ashley McGlone , Kayla Jimenez , Will Hansberry this was kind of a vindication because the federal investigators really slammed San Diego , Unified's , handling of sexual harassment complaints. The office for Civil Rights investigated 253 reports of sexual harassment that took place from 2017 to 2020 , and the investigation found the district failed to properly respond on kind of a slew of fronts. I won't belabor the exact findings because it's kind of complicated and there's a lot there. But chief among them were that the district failed to meet obligations laid out by federal sex based discrimination laws. Those are called kind of title nine And laws and our why. All schools are required to have title nine offices that ensure that they're meeting their obligations there. Investigators also found that the district failed to equitably respond to allegations. So whether that was keeping everyone up to date on what was happening or ensuring that that potential victims felt that there was kind of recompense in those instances and that it also in many instances , almost all instances failed to follow its own board approved guidelines about how to handle sexual harassment complaints and that it failed to keep records of a lot of these instances. Ultimately , uh , I'll read from the report now , quote , these failures led to serial perpetration of harassment with insufficient district response , leaving district students vulnerable to sex discrimination in school. It's I mean , nuff said there. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I mean , pretty serious , uh , system wide problem there. You know , given all of the report's finding , how does this case with now former Superintendent Jackson fit in.
S3: You know , I put that to a couple board members , and they felt that there wasn't a whole lot of connection. They said that the cases were very different , and the district had already made big strides in the way it approaches such reports. Um , even before the federal report and the resolution was released. But I really I don't think that's quite right. I think for many in the public. Transparency and accountability has been in very short supply at San Diego Unified for years , and seeing its leader now go down for similar reasons as as why , you know , the federal government slammed the district is just further proof of a lot of the suspicions that many folks have had. Um , ultimately , I really think it's up to the district to have an honest discussion with the community that acknowledges things have not been all right. And most importantly , for there to be some sort of decisive action that that really leans heavily on accountability. Our editor in chief , Scott Lewis , wrote a recent story , time for a Reckoning at San Diego Unified , that really lays out a lot of these things. I mean , he's been , you know , helming our organization for years as as a series of reporters have dug into these reports. And I think that he has a good long view on that. I would really recommend listeners to give it a read. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Agreed. He did have some some tough words there in that piece. Yeah. I mean , as you touched on earlier the years , this US Department of Education report , it covers it predates Jackson's tenure as superintendent and goes back to the former superintendent , Cindy Martin. She's now a deputy secretary of education in Washington , D.C. , and she was actually at the helm during this report timeline. She was superintendent until about 2021. So how long has this culture of sexual misconduct been a problem for the district ? Yeah.
S3: You know , I think it's important to kind of take a step back and just think about that moment. Right. The deputy Secretary of Education is , you know second in command at an organization that slams the way that your district under your control handled sexual harassment allegations and sexual misconduct. I mean , that's a I think that must have been quite a moment for her , and I hope that she understood the gravity of it. Um , she was leading the district during the the period this investigation covers. But , you know , ultimately she was still approved as deputy secretary , which I think leads to a lot of questions that need to be answered. Right. You know , all that being said , I think it really goes to show that the way that the district has handled sexual misconduct allegations has been insufficient , to say the least , for years. You know , preceding the Jackson debacle and even preceding Cindy Martin. I mean , I think that this is something that has been around a long time , and the district really needs to own up to it.
S1: And you've covered , you know , several of these misconduct cases you've reported on , you know , a former assistant principal at Hoover High , a Roosevelt Middle School teacher , one involving a La Jolla High physics teacher among those. What can you tell us about those stories and how they're playing a role into to , you know , what we're seeing now ? Yeah.
S3: So the vast majority of the coverage of , of the high physics teacher , Martin Teacher occurred before I was I was an education reporter at Voice of San Diego. But I think that it it really is kind of the most instructive of all of these instances , partly because it's what really got Voice of San Diego interested , and our reporters committed to covering a lot of these cases. You know , ultimately it involved a teacher who for years racked up complaints from students and at one point was even accused of a crime. And , you know , the district found evidence that it may be true that he committed a crime. But despite all of these complaints piling up , the district allowed him to continue teaching for over a decade. You know , and when our reporter at the time , Ashley McGlone , sort complaints , they they said they didn't really have any. And it wasn't until they miraculously found a bunch of complaints in a desk that was stored in a shed or a storage container , I can't remember which that we actually got those complaints via a lawsuit. So ultimately , Teacheth , like many of these , these individuals were allowed to retire. Uh , and victims of Teacheth ended up settling a lawsuit against the district just last year , which is the story you're referring to. Um , and I think that it's that story in particular is a prime example of the district failing in its duty to keep an abuser out of the classroom. Um , you know , the other two cases you mentioned were more recent ones. The Roosevelt case , uh , dealt with the teacher who , though many of the complaints were less kind of serious than teachers , they were still very serious. And complaints were racked up for years. Um , both from coming from students and from teachers , his coworkers. And it wasn't until he attempted to lure a sixth grader to meet him off campus that the district suspended him. And then shortly after , which is a theme that you'll probably be seeing a lot here. Uh , they entered into an agreement to allow him to resign , and agreed not to share the details of why he would. He would resign with any future employers. Eventually , that teacher pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and admitted to willfully causing mental suffering to a child. Um , the last case you mentioned , the most recent one is involves Charles de Freitas. In March , voice broke the news that he'd been arrested , and prosecutors alleged he'd possessed child pornography , sent pornography to a minor , and contacted a minor with intent to commit sexual offenses. Um , you know , as you can hear , there are themes throughout all of this. So I got curious and I wondered if there were past instances of complaints against him. Did a public records request and turned out there was there was a parent who two years earlier had complained , sent a complaint to then Superintendent Lamont Jackson , um , alleging that potentially this this teacher was trying to groom their student. Nothing came of that investigation. And shortly after that , that that teacher was promoted. Wow.
S1: Wow. I mean , that's a lot to track there and and obviously it's that ties into Superintendent Jackson and the more recent news there.
S3: That can sometimes be hard to believe given , you know , the track record it has , though.
S1: So a lot of those cases you mentioned involve teachers , but the majority of cases district wide are oftentimes it's student on student misconduct , right ? Yeah.
S3: At least the the cases that the that the federal government investigated in that report. Yeah.
S4: Got it.
S1:
S3: She also noted that the district had voluntarily entered this resolution agreement that required it implement even more changes. Um , some of those changes , um , since that period include , you know , expanding its title nine office , which again , is the sex based discrimination office that , you know , complies with federal law , um , integrating a bunch of related offices into a centralized unit. So it's a little bit , you know , more easy to , to keep track of things. Um , creating partnerships with , uh , San Diego police departments and holding a , a campaign to increase staff and student awareness about how to complain about sexual harassment in October 2020.
S1: So now Fabiola Bakula is acting superintendent. What can you tell us about her ? And also about what we know about the search for a permanent replacement. Yes.
S3: Yes. So Bakula , like Cindy Martin and Lamont Jackson before her , has a long history at the district. She worked there for about ten years , first as a principal and then and then as an area superintendent , before moving over to the San Diego County Office of Education , where she worked for a period of years. Two. And then about two years ago , after Lamont Jackson took the helm of San Diego Unified , he hired her back as deputy superintendent. So his , his number two , um , and based on the conversations I've had with board members , it seems like they may have already found their permanent superintendent in L.A. they haven't explicitly said that , but they've , you know , edged up to that line and then not jumped across. Uh , for example , they have said that they think that Bakula will be their superintendent for the foreseeable future and that the board has no plans to launch a search for a new superintendent. So , you know , whereas last time we had this , you know , highly publicized national search that ended up hiring the guy that everybody thought they were going to hire to begin with. It seems like they may just stick with Pegula.
S1: Well , and that's interesting also because the last , you know , two SD unified superintendents , as you mentioned , they came up through the district , right ? Yeah. Um , and given these , you know , this track record of misconduct , is there maybe potential consideration of looking outside and doing another nationwide search ? You'd think that'd be an under consideration at least. Right ? You'd think.
S3: But I have gotten no , um , indication from board members that that is something that they are considering doing right now.
S1: Okay , so this investigation into Jackson's misconduct is it's now complete. What happens now ? Is there more legal action that could come ? Where do things.
S4:
S3: I haven't seen any lawsuits myself. So it may be too early to call that.
S1: What should students parents but also staff know when it comes to reporting sexual misconduct. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. I mean , I think that's an important thing to consider in all of this. I think parents and students and staff should know that their voices absolutely do matter , and that they should speak up if they have concerns about something. I mean , if the district doesn't respond. Try again. There are processes to follow and they can file , you know , uniform complaints. They can contact the district's title nine office , like I've mentioned earlier or its investigations , Compliance and Accountability Office. Um , you know , and I totally understand if people roll their eyes and say , you know , based on this track record , why would I bother ? But you should if for no other reason , to get that stuff in writing and to make sure that somebody on down the line can notice it. And if you know , you reach a point where you just don't think that you're being listened to. You can always email me Jacob at Voz Dawg. Jacob.
S1: Well , you know , kind of on that. You've been following the story for months. Um , this latest news obviously is not even , you know , it's about a week old at this point.
S3: I mean , I think that , um , you know , San Diego Unified is , is is a big district , but lots of people know each other. And I think that for a long time there were whispers about whether it was about Jackson or about the way that the , the district handled , um , sexual misconduct allegations. And so I think much of the response has been first , frustration because , again , they many parents , many staff members feel that they no longer can trust the district. I received an email from a parent just the other day , who was appalled that the district chose to terminate Jackson without cause and thus , you know , pay him for the next six months. And I've heard , you know , a lot of frustration from district employees as to how they've responded to the ousting of Jackson , that there has been kind of this these gossamer words that don't really amount to much and that there's not a lot of owning up going on when that I think , is what really people want.
S1: And to your point , Jacob , I mean , this this is a really big school district. It's the second largest in California , right ? I think it's like around 100,000 students. So a lot of money , a lot of students impacted , a lot of families impacted and staff too. So finally , any final takeaways you're left with , you know , as you've been covering this story for for all this time now.
S3: Yeah , I mean , first off , I will say again , you know , based on conversations I've had with stakeholders , I think San Diego Unified has a serious trust issue and a serious transparency issue. I think building up confidence in its ability to be open , um , to be honest with the community is is paramount. And I don't think that can only consist of the district promising it will be more open and honest. I think it really needs to demonstrate its ability to do so. Um , and , you know , that means real accountability. Um , you know , this is a district , as you said , it's the second largest in California. It is a large urban district. It's , you know , this term for large school districts in urban areas. And in many ways it excels. You know , students perform at a at a rate that that's much higher than many , many other comparable districts throughout the country. But in this regard , the district has been falling short. And so I think the fact that , you know , confidence in its ability to safeguard kids , to safeguard staff for misconduct is so low , it doesn't have to be that way. It can do something about it. And I think it starts with accountability.
S1: Well , we appreciate you kind of coming in and getting us up to speed on your latest reporting , and we'll continue to follow your reporting there. And , you know , congratulations to you and all your colleagues of voice for , you know , keeping up with the story. Jacob McKinney is education reporter with Voice of San Diego. Jacob , thanks again for being here.
S4: Yeah , thanks.
S3: For having me , Andrew.
S1: When we come back , we catch up on some other stories we've been following this week , including a farewell from a legend of American soccer , Alex Morgan.
S5: I'm giving my all every single day on the field , and I did that , giving my all in the relentless push for global investment in women's sports. Because we deserve that.
S1: That's ahead on roundtable. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. It's time now for our weekly roundup. And joining me today , as always , is KPBS web producer Laura McCaffrey. Hey , Laura , how's it going ? Good.
S6: How are you , Andrew ? Good.
S1: But I mean , the big story of the week.
S6: It is hot. Hot heat , excessive heat warnings for the inland valleys. That's like , oh , Cajon , Escondido , la mesa , all that stuff. Mountains and deserts on the in the county. Um , that ends today , actually , Friday. But this week has been hot triple digits in some areas , and the coast has also been not so great. 85 to like 95 degree temperatures.
S1: And when you're on the coast without AC as I am , yeah , that does some damage to but definitely not as much. Right. Like you said in the deserts.
S6: Yeah , yeah. At least there's that. I've on , on Reddit I keep seeing a lot of conversations about people wanting to turn on their ACS , but those skinny rates , man , they're killing us. But there's like a bunch.
S1: I mean , I think the city and the county have a lot of places. They have , um , you know , cool zones , a lot of libraries throughout the county , throughout the region. And Imperial County , two are good places to go when those are open. Um , and even I think San Diego County's aging and independent services , they you can get a free fan for people , you know , because it's always I don't know if it can be expensive to get that stuff , but it's something that's really needed with these temperatures. So you can , um , get a free fan by calling (800) 339-4661. And a lot of this info is on our website at KPBS dawg as well.
S6: Yes , keep you.org backslash weather.
S1: But you said it's kind of coming back down.
S7: For the. Saturday.
S1: Saturday. Yeah.
S6: Yeah. So it should be better. But we'll see. I always feel like September is kind of the hottest month Oh , yeah , in San Diego. So hopefully we won't have any more excessive heat warnings , advisories , all that stuff , and we can just chill in our non AC apartments.
S1: Yeah we'll see. Like you said I mean it's a beautiful time. It's local summer. But with that it's still summer right. Yeah I call it. Um , but I'm glad to hear , you know , at least the temperatures come down a little bit. Yeah.
S6: Yeah.
S1: And I think a lot of times , you know , we hear so much on homelessness and all that's going on. And this was a personal story about a father. I think he's in Washington state. His name is Bob garrison , and him searching for his son , almost like a detective trying to find his son , like his son had an accident , displayed signs of mental illness , and eventually kind of disappeared. and he had some clues where he was , but wasn't exactly sure. And it led him to San Clemente and kind of just happenstance. He did find him. He found his son , like on on the pier. And San Clemente ended up bringing him back home. But the story , you know , there's a lot of these stories. It's it's really difficult and there's not always a happy ending. And I think his son ended up going back to San Clemente or kind of leaving , leaving his home again. So it was just a really powerful personal story of , you know , an issue that we talk a lot about on KPBS and we hear a lot about. So I thought that was worth a read.
S6: Yeah , that that kind of reminds me of this podcast called lost Patience. And it's kind of about this. It's about like mental health and how patients are kind of stuck in this churn of , you know , getting into institutions , their family , trying to put them in institutions and them leaving it and heading back on the street. And there is one story about a mother trying to find her son. Um , and she kind of did some detective work , and she even looked at , like , city cameras to try to , like , find him and stuff. San Diego , we have a huge homelessness problem. Um , there's some news out of National City about that. So previously National city , they've kind of taken , like a gentler approach to homelessness , like focusing more on , like , outreach. And they have this homeless outreach team. It's two caseworkers and they're like trained in homelessness and how to reach people and connect them with housing rather than an approach a lot of West Coast cities have taken , which is criminalizing homelessness , encampment bans and whatnot. But because of this Supreme Court ruling kind of clearing the way for cities to enforce these encampment bans. National city is considering their own local encampment ban , and this was something they considered in April. But because of the legal questions around such bans , they didn't move forward with it.
S1: Yeah , absolutely. It seems like there was so much kind of hinging on that Supreme Court ruling. The city of San Diego obviously led the way in kind of , you know. Yeah. But once that ruling came in , it does seem like there's a shift in tone. And you definitely see it from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
S6: Yeah , yeah. That was like another reason why the City Council is considering this ban. It's because the pressure from Gavin Newsom and I don't know , it's kind of an interesting change , of course , for National City , like from this homelessness outreach program , which I hope they still do to a potential encampment ban. So that'll be interesting to see how that plays out. Yeah.
S1: And kind of like you said , I mean , it does seem to mirror sort of a statewide kind of approach from from the governor's office is kind of where a lot of it seems to be coming from. So another story that's kind of , you know , really impactful for the region is , you know , the ongoing problem with sewage along the coastal waters border. And that reached kind of an unfortunate milestone , thousand days of beach closures for for some of those coastal areas down in South County.
S6: Thousand days. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And Tammy Murga from the UT has been covering the story quite a bit. Earlier this week. The California legislature , they unanimously approved a resolution trying to get some federal action going. I know there's some more , you know , um , action from local Congressman Juan Vargas as well. But it's , you know , it's an ongoing problem. I feel like we've talked about it for for quite a while now , but a thousand days is sort of. Yeah , it's just a that.
S6: Is hard to believe. And it's just been an ongoing problem for like years. And some folks in the community kind of have felt like it's been ignored , but I feel like I had a thousand days. That's pretty hard to ignore at this point. Yeah , and we'll see.
S1: I mean , we've talked about it on this show. Obviously KPBS has talked about it quite a bit , but it's not an easy or cheap problem to solve. And there's a lot of yeah , a lot of work to be done there. Yeah.
S6: Yeah. And another San Diego topic that has been in the news for years and years is convention center expansion. So if you recall , in 2020 , voters passed measure C , which would raise the hotel room tax to fund expansion of the convention center. And then some other money would be earmarked for like road repair , homeless services. So there was a legal challenge to measure C , and a judge issued a ruling last week on it. Opponents of measure C , the Taxpayer Action Network , they brought on the case. Their main gripe with it was whether or not it was truly a citizens initiative or if it was sponsored by the government. And so they were saying it needed a two thirds majority to be a true citizens initiative. But more than 65% of city voters voted for it. So the judge ruled , yes , it is indeed a citizens initiative. And that kind of cleared the way for financing the convention center expansion. Right.
S1: And this definition of the citizens initiative , because that only needs the simple majority , right ? Not the sort of overwhelming two thirds. And the fact that it came in at 65% is pretty crucial. So , I mean , I know one thing we often hear , like you said , this has been going on for years and years. It also ties into things like Comic-Con , right ? Every year we hear about , you know , them kind of talking about leaving , going somewhere else that they convention centers not big enough to hold it. So there's a lot , you know , a lot kind of riding on it too , right. Mhm.
S6: Mhm. Yeah. I mean expansion could mean more tourism dollars , and that helps out the local economy. But it also.
S1: Sounds like this may not be the end of the road for legal action , right ? Yeah.
S6: So Corey Briggs , who's representing the Taxpayers Action Network. He said there will be an appeal. And so we'll see when that happens. The California Supreme Court could decide to take up the case , but some legal experts have noted the court has already declined to do so. In six other cases dealing with tax measures proposed as citizens initiative. So it sounds like maybe it might not get very far with this appeal.
S1: It's kind of like another , you know , part of the story. Earlier , we talked with David Garrick from the UT about how complicated some of these rules with taxes and the exemptions , but also with how they become , you know , how they get passed. Right. This technicality of the citizens initiative actually has , you know , some pretty big impacts here. Mhm. Yeah.
S6: Yeah.
S1: There's been a lot of news this week. The biggest news story for San Diego sports and beyond really sports across the nation. Alex Morgan announced her retirement Thursday. She's going to play her last match this Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium. But just to put in perspective , you know how important Alex Morgan has been not only to San Diego , not only to to soccer , not only to women's sports , but she's just been a really immense figure. She's won a couple World Cups , Olympic gold medal and has been at the center of this , you know , rise in women's sports. And it's something she talked about. She announced her decision to retire on Thursday. And here's a little of what she had to say in that announcement.
S5: Success for me is defined by never giving up and giving your all. And I did just that. I'm giving my all every single day on the field. And I did that I'm giving my all in the relentless push for global investment in women's sports because we deserve that.
S1: So again , a big announcement. She also mentioned in that announcement that she's also pregnant with her second child. So that may be playing into her role. She's 35 years old , so it's kind of getting to the end of that athletic career zone. Right. But still a big a big surprise and a big shock for for San Diego sports fans. But her last match will be at Snapdragon this Sunday , September 8th at 5 p.m.. Sold out or not , it's definitely going to be packed. It'll be interesting to see you know how that match goes and to , you know , give her the sendoff she deserves for sure.
S6: You know thanks , Alex.
S1: Lara McCaffrey , thank you to you , your web producer with KPBS , author of The Ketchup Newsletter. Thanks again for being here.
S6: Thanks for having me.
S1: That's our show for today. Thanks so much for listening. You can listen to the KPBS roundtable anytime. As a podcast. Roundtable airs on KPBS FM , noon on Fridays again Sundays at 6 a.m.. If you have any thoughts on today's show or ideas for a future one , you can email us at roundtable at PBS.org or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtable's technical producer this week was Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Jacob Air. Brooke Ruth is Roundtable's senior producer and I'm Andrew Bracken. Thanks and have a great weekend.
