Tariff whiplash and a new KPBS soccer series

S1: Hey , San Diego , it's Andrew Bracken. Coming up on KPBS roundtable. Tariff whiplash and trade war talk have dominated headlines this week as new tariffs put in place earlier in the week are now paused. We hear how the day to day changes in tariffs are impacting the San Diego Tijuana region , leading to uncertainty along the border and beyond.

S2: The tough thing about it has been recently , a lot of times what I call a business to say , how will this affect you ? A lot of times they don't know then.

S1: A new series tells the story of soccer in the San Diego Tijuana region , plus a look at other stories we've been following on the roundup. That's all ahead on KPBS roundtable. On Thursday , President Trump paused tariffs on most goods coming from Mexico until at least April 2nd. That news comes just two days after a new 25% tariff went into effect on Mexican and Canadian goods. It's the latest twist in this tariff story in a week that has seen quite a lot of them , new tariffs or threats of them have dominated headlines in recent weeks , leading to uncertainty for many industries and businesses in the San Diego Tijuana border region. Philip molnar joins us now. He's a senior business reporter with the San Diego Union Tribune. Hey , Philip , welcome back to roundtable.

S2: Thank you so much for having me.

S1: So yeah , a lot going on with tariffs this week. Where do we stand right now. And you know as of early afternoon on Thursday okay.

S2: So the Canadian tariffs are still on the board 25% tariffs across the board for Canada. There's a bit of a carve out for energy 10% for gas. But yeah that 25% for Canada Pretty intense for our homebuilding industry. I can get into it more , but then the Mexico tariffs are basically paused for a month , according to President Trump. So that's where we're at right now. Mexican tariffs were probably going to be the biggest hit for Americans , especially here in San Diego County , because we get so much of our produce from Mexico. So you would have really seen that at the grocery store. So that's probably the most immediate , probably feel some relief or some calmness there. If you're a San Diegan who does grocery shopping or a restaurant that has to buy a lot of foods , so that's what's going on right now at the moment.

S1: So we've been hearing so much about these tariffs recently. I think for a lot of people , myself included , sometimes it's hard to I don't know. The word tariff can even feel pretty obtuse. Can you help us understand why this issue around tariffs and why it's important and why we should care ? Okay.

S2: So our three largest trading partners are China , Mexico and Canada. So that means a lot of stuff we use , a lot of stuff we buy comes from all three of those nations , and it has a really significant impact on , say , auto manufacturing. But here in San Diego County , other ways , such as we use primarily Canadian lumber to build houses , we use steel and aluminum from all over the place that we used to build all of our skyscrapers and buildings. And of course , we rely on a lot of Mexican produce. Something that doesn't usually get a lot of attention is there's a lot of materials that are very high paying biotech industry uses from China. So they get a lot of stuff that way. So that's where a lot of this rub is. Were a very interconnected market here in San Diego. We're not like some island , you know , that can produce all of its own things. So that's why tariffs are a big thing. How they came about. It depends on who you ask. Well it depends on what day you ask. President Trump basically Lately , he said that the pretext for tariffs were stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. However , he has given a lot of speeches in the past and even alluded to it on Tuesday night to Congress that a big part of the focus here is trying to get manufacturing back in the United States. So if you put all these tariffs on all these different companies trying to bring goods into the United States , it may create more jobs here , uh , stateside.

S1: So , you know , you've been doing a lot of reporting on tariffs and the potential impacts. And one recent story , you went to visit a business in Otay Mesa.

S2: Big time. I had a great time where I learned so much. I went down to JD Group Logistics in Otay Mesa , and if you're not familiar , that's like right next to the border. And I talked to the vice president there , Mauricio Diaz. And he was a great help. So basically what happens is there's more than 30 customs brokers in Otay Mesa. This industry has really grown a lot. And what they do is they get materials such as resin , plastic , bits of aluminum , little things , and they get that shipped to their facility in Otay Mesa. So that goes into a big warehouse. They've got 200,000ft² of space , just this one company , and that goods are shipped south across the border to Tijuana , to all parts of Mexico where they're assembled. Then the trucks , once it's all assembled , come flying north and it goes to another warehouse that JD Group logistics has , and those are all assembled parts. When I was there the other day , it was stacked to the roof with everything you can imagine hearing aids , electric door openers , just every little thing you can imagine that was assembled in Mexico , stacked to the ceiling. Then those hop on trucks and head to all over North America , not just the United States , but also to Canada. So yeah , that's how intricate this this , you know , process works.

S1: You kind of mentioned some products there , you know , hearing aids , things like that. But can you kind of delve into that a little bit more and make it real for us. Like if we were trying to build , you know , try to make a bicycle , for example , you know , how would that work and how would we have to navigate these different tariff rules and these different logistics to make a product ? Right.

S2: So right now we're under what's called the Usmca , which was a new trade thing. It's kind of like NAFTA 2.0. People call it , uh , passed under Trump during his first term. And the way it would work for , say , like a bicycle. So you might get like aluminum from the United States. It may be a few other parts. And you say , okay , it's cheaper for me to produce in Mexico. So all that goods goes down to say , let's say it's JD , group goes down there , get shipped and it's sitting in a warehouse. Then it goes across the border , goes to some factory where they assemble the bicycle , and then the bicycle goes across the border again , and then it gets shipped to whatever company ordered it in Kansas City or whatever. So that's sort of how it works. And the crazy thing about the Usmca and tariff law is each item , like you can think of that's ever been created. It has certain percentages , like with 75% of it from North America. Did 50% of the materials come from United States ? Everything. Everything. You can think of a toothbrush. Every little thing has their own percentage that they need to keep to stay ahead of this tariff law.

S1: And so these different tariffs being enacted , being paused , you know , shifting around that must make it quite complicated to kind of track all this.

S2: I talked to JD Group today and it was like , so what happened was they have all these. It's so funny being down there. There's all these semi trucks. They're they're park and they're docking. They're taking off. It's just like it's like a mini city of semi trucks. And what happened this week is their volume for truck traffic across the border dropped by 70% from the week previous. So what happened was all these companies they do business with from around planet Earth basically decided , I'm just going to hold off a week to see if Trump backs off again. So the ones that did that , yeah , they're kind of coming out ahead within a week. But a lot of companies still went ahead and they paid the tariffs. This gets even complicated and very wonky. Hold on to your butts. So when a truck goes across the border and it has to pay a tariff , what happens is with a custom broker is basically an invoice is sent to the custom broker. Then that custom broker has ten days to pay it. Okay , fine. Who cares ? Seems pointless , right ? Except those 25% tariffs were enacted from , say , 12 a.m. Tuesday to about 8:30 a.m. this morning. So what happened at JD Group is all these people are calling into him today. Clients are saying , well , hang on , do I have to pay those 25% tariffs for that , say 48 hour period , 48 hour period ? And he didn't know. And at this moment , you know , Thursday we're talking I don't know either. I mean I'm trying to find out. But that's an open question.

S1: So a lot of just ongoing uncertainty. It sounds like. I mean how has this environment , these tariffs , how have they ultimately been impacting local businesses.

S2: Well , the biggest thing is creating a sense of uncertainty , which creates a lot of anxious , you know , thing. I know I have heard a lot of companies trying to stockpile what they can. You know , I talked to one of our biggest builder downtown. His name's Nat Bosa from Bosa Development about the steel and aluminum tariffs which are coming next week. And you know I was like well why don't you just you know get a warehouse and put all this steel in there before they come. And he was arguing. He's like you know , he's very frank with me. And he's like , you can't warehouse enough steel for $300 million , you know , project downtown San Diego.

S1: It's not that easy. Yeah.

S2: Yeah. It's ridiculous. And of course , there's another issue. But basically , U.S. companies , since Trump first announced steel and aluminum tariffs in the beginning of February , have raised their prices nearly every week , the price for one tonne of steel is up like $65 in just a month. So even without the tariffs officially started , the price of steel has jumped. Uh , very much so.

S1: Earlier you mentioned the Usmca. That's the US Mexico-canada agreement. goods covered under that agreement is what has been paused in this latest Trump announcement on Thursday. One important issue that I know you've been covering is , is this idea of near shoring and its role in the tariff story. Can you explain that ? Yeah.

S2: So near shoring is one of those wonky business terms. But basically it just means that under this new version of NAFTA , which was signed in 2019 , we gave benefits , tax breaks , tariff breaks on , for the most part , US and Canada businesses that instead of offshoring to China , they moved it to say Mexico , Tijuana all around there. So we've seen a big build up in their manufacturing capability in Mexico to meet this demand , because , you know , even if it was cheaper before to send your stuff to Vietnam or somewhere in Southeast Asia , there was specific tax incentives to say , hey , we will reward you if you just build it in Mexico instead. So that was a way for us , our three nations here , to sort of have better ties and , you know , get rid of that reliance on , say , China and other countries. We might not be as aligned with culturally and other reasons. So that was the whole aspect of it , which makes this last two weeks particularly , you know , frustrating to a lot of the businesses we've seen on the US side of the border in San Diego , a massive growth at Otay Mesa. There's all these customs brokers that getting more and more square footage. There's building like so crazy down there. It's amazing because even if you just went down there a few years ago and you saw , like a dusty , vacant field , you know , it is it's expanded so much when we talk about Otay Mesa. It used to be a neighborhood in San Diego. It's gone so far east that now goes into unincorporated San Diego County. We're just going to head around. So these industries grew in San Diego to handle this volume. This new trade agreement and the the factories in TJ also grew exponentially just because of this new arrangement. So the the 25% tariff , particularly on that between our two nations , is , you know , very troubling to them and frustrating.

S1: And on the flip side , you know , a lot of this tariff discussion is around businesses in industry , markets , things like that. But , you know , there are people impacted by this ultimately. And the way the economy works , it will ultimately affect workers and people who live along the border. Can you talk a little bit about what we might be seeing , or what economists feel might be coming from some of these impacts ? Yeah.

S2: So a lot of economists hold the idea. There are those occasional economists that are , you know , pro growing manufacturing here in the United States. And it's more of a long term thing. I mean , not a lot. But , you know , one of the things we're going to see is a lot of people like to say tariffs are taxes. and in a sense they are , because often those tariffs on whatever good is coming into our country , that whatever business is bringing and paying to bring it in and use it in their products , they pass that on to customers. So that could be one of the things we noticed first , especially when we're talking about produce. That's a little more simple. But when we're talking about Canadian lumber , for instance , that's used in home building. And we all know the cost of homes are very expensive in San Diego County. The majority of it is the land , by the way. But a big part of it is those building materials. So you're looking at , you know , potentially developers don't tend to eat those costs. They pass it on. So if you're buying a new , say , townhouse in San Diego County built with Canadian lumber , I mean , it's going to have an effect. So you can look at that sort of aspect. Another aspect to consider is , you know , one of the beliefs with tariffs being a tax is that it will cause prices to go up. That means less discretionary income for your average San Diegan. Maybe they're going to restaurants less. Maybe they're buying , you know , getting fewer newspaper subscriptions , you know , something like that , you know , so that would be a major concern that inflation would do that. And , you know , it has ripple effects through the economy earlier.

S1: You know , you've kind of talked about your own reactions to all these changing stories , and you kind of have to keep up. And , you know , we've been emailing the last two days and you sent me an email , I think , this morning that just , you know , it began with the words , my head hurts.

S2: So there's so much uncertainty right now with these tariffs that people , you know , don't really understand. When I've talked to businesses in Otay Mesa , they'll mention to me how people are calling them from all over the world to try and understand what this means for their goods at the border and the the people that answer. A lot of times they're they're pulling their own hair out because they don't know exactly what is going on. You know , in in the president's mind. So that's been frustrating. You know , obviously , as someone that reports on the economy in San Diego and I've written a lot about tariffs , even back in 2018 when the first Trump tariffs happened. I'm still like learning more every day. And but really I had to laugh yesterday because I heard a new business term , which you may hear and it's called on shoring. Okay. That just means you're building something in the United States and not offshore. But like , to me that doesn't make any sense because you've got like , where's the shore ? You know , we're talking about beat on land. I asked one of my coworkers without telling her. I said , hey , what do you think on shoring meant ? And she said , well , I think it's probably like when a boat , like crashes into the shore and then lands on the surface , which is a good thing to say. So I mean , there are so many wonky sort of things. And you know , when you man , tariffs are complicated , especially considering that first deal , like I mentioned before , every single thing has its own sort of. If I could mention to one thing that the tariffs have now is something called a de minimis , uh , exception. And that is for goods that are under $800 , you don't need to pay a tariff for. So we're talking about like cheap iPhone cases and all that stuff. So , you know , last night one of my friends was complaining , he's got this new dog rider who's so cute but can't stop biting. I have a cut on my finger right now. So he decided he went on Amazon and he bought an electric shock collar for for a rider to try and teach him not to bite. Now it was produced in China. And what happened last week is the government did not include that original carve out for de minimis things from China. So the Post Office decided we can't accurately tell if a good coming from China is actually something that should be tariff. So they stopped all goods from China. So every piece of letter coming into the United States. So my friend Carl , he didn't get his electric shock collar now okay. It's from China. And it said it was like lost in translation or delayed in transit or something like that. So I mean , I'd like to sit here and tell you , well , here's a real world example. But , you know , I don't know , did somebody steal his package or was it the whole de minimis thing. So sometimes I'm at a loss , you know. And the other thing too , with steel prices. So steel prices , the US company started raising steel prices as soon as they heard Trump say he was going to do tariffs. Now steel prices have exploded since then. But I can't actually say it was the fault of the tariffs because the tariffs don't start until March 12th. So it's kind of a weird , you know , really to be alive really.

S1: Really hard to track all this. And as a dog lover I say maybe I hope the the shock collar remains lost. But that's a story.

S2: That's another I know I never heard of it. I never had one. I've got cats though.

S1: So I think you mentioned steel tariffs coming next week. What else can we expect or what are you following on the story.

S2: Well the biggest thing to watch for right now is if there is a pause in the Canadian tariffs , just because we rely on them so much for wood I know you're going to say , oh , why don't we just build wood here , cut it down here. Well , you know , especially in California , we have a lot of environmental protections for trees. I don't think anyone here really thinks it's a good idea if we just start chopping down redwoods and , you know , the US South is producing more wood than they did before , but it's not enough to meet our demand for home building. So Canadian tariffs are a big one because they have a lot of you know they're they're fighting back with other tariffs. And that could hit American goods going over there. I guess the big one is coming with the aluminum tariffs 25% aluminum tariffs imports for the entire Earth. So it's not specific for an industry. All aluminum and steel at this moment is going to be taxed at 24% , 25% coming into our nation starting March 12th. So I am curious to see if there's going to be a reprieve there because , you know , people are already losing their minds. But I think everyone's so focused on the Canada Mexico thing , they kind of forgot about steel and aluminum. So we'll see how it goes.

S1: Well , I appreciate you coming in. I know it sounds like you got a lot going on , and we appreciate you kind of not only talking about tariffs but making it fun to hear about tariffs. So yeah , thanks so much. Philip molnar is a senior business reporter with the San Diego Union Tribune. Philip , thanks for being here.

S2: Thank you for having me. And.

S1: And. When we come back , as the region welcomes its latest professional soccer team , a new KPBS series explores the San Diego Tijuana region's rich soccer history. That's next on roundtable. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Whether you call it soccer , football or football , the beautiful game is having a moment in the San Diego Tijuana region.

S3: What a chance. The first goal for San Diego FC.

S1: San Diego FC's first season is now underway. They played their first home game last Saturday , welcomed by a record sized crowd at Snapdragon Stadium. While a major milestone , the fact is soccer has a long and rich history. Across the San Diego Tijuana region , and that's the subject of a new KPBS video series called soccer a la Frontera. Joining me is KPBS reporter Jacob Ayer , who produced and created the series. Hey , Jacob.

S4: Andrew , thanks for having me on.

S1: Great to have you here. So tell us about the series. What made you want to delve into San Diego and Tijuana's soccer culture here ? Yeah.

S4: So soccer a la Frontera is really kind of both a a journey through the history of soccer in our region , while also showing the cultural growth in both San Diego and Tijuana , of the sport of soccer. Um , we touch on everything from people who play in the streets and parks to the professional teams that have come and gone , and some of them stuck around over the years. So we really cover all our bases , whether it's professional teams in Tijuana , the women's game , or even the early days here in San Diego with the team like the Soccers.

S1: And , you know , the stories you're telling here cover decades of history in the region. Tell us about the first episode you dive into. Like you said , the sport in the streets and on the soccer fields , not just , you know , the pros , but kids and everyday folks , right ? Yeah.

S4: So the episode actually starts out in Chicano Park where you have this group called Chicano Futsal. They put on these basically like blacktop soccer games. It's a different style of soccer , but essentially the sport is the same bit of a smaller court , heavier ball , and people will go out there and play. And the big thing with an organization like that is that it's free , which is an issue in San Diego. There's this pay to play model , not just here but across the country. Um , and it's also something that , you know , anyone is welcome to come out to. It's not just you have to be of a certain age or certain gender background. Anyone's welcome to come out. And , uh , it also hits on the issue of field space and the use issues that can come up with that. They're literally playing on a basketball court. So that's kind of where it starts. It then melds into where we go to Estadio Caliente and Tijuana , and we see the youth scene there. And just there's hundreds of kids that play on this massive complex right next to the big professional stadium , both boys and girls. We see the passion for the game that's so common throughout Mexico really come to life , and then it comes back here into Mira mesa , where we talk with ASU United players. This is the club side of what's the largest youth soccer organization in the nation. We talk to young girls , parents and everyone in between. But really , you know , this is spanning hundreds of kids that are in the background. And then we talk to some of the central characters.

S1: One interesting thing I hear a lot about with youth soccer , that maybe is different from other youth sports that I'm familiar with is , you know , we hear about these academies or club soccer. Can you talk a little bit about the youth sport here in the region ? Yeah.

S4: So what I've kind of talked about in this series and learned from other folks , is that you have this really strong youth soccer scene in San Diego for both boys and girls , so that can maybe start out at the recreational level. And then for the players who are good or have a passion for it , maybe move up to the club level. One of the issues that comes up when you hit the club level is cost to play. There are people who have opportunities , maybe get scholarships , but not everyone can. So that is a big issue. And then on the other side of the border , you have a slightly different system where they don't have like a YMCA or an ISO. So they might be playing in school or just with friends pick up in the street. And then what might happen is they play in an academy type or a club type situation , like they did at the close Academy , where we went out and talked to these players , but they're a bit older , so maybe around 10 to 17 years old.

S1: Got it. And moving now towards the professional world of soccer , I think the history of soccer in the U.S. has had a fair share of booms and busts , with professional soccer taking hold.

S4: There was this one year team called the San Diego Toros that came here. They were actually really good. Um , but they just couldn't really make it work. They were in a league that was having some financial issues. So even though they had a great record and made it all the way deep into the playoffs , they left , took about another half decade. We had a team that came back and they were unironically called the San Diego Jazz , alluding to the movie that came out the year prior , similar issue. They actually didn't play as well , but they were gone after a year. But when it really took hold was 1978. This was two years later that jaws team went away to Vegas. They came back and reformed as the San Diego Soccers. This is a name some people might be more familiar with.

S1: They're still around today.

S4: They're still around today. Exactly. But this team really had their heyday through the early 80s and then all the way through the early 90s , where they just want championships on championships , and they were drawing thousands of fans every game.

S1: And earlier you mentioned futsal , which is sort of like a variation of soccer. It's played harder surfaces and smaller spaces. Right. And one unique thing about the soccer's and this , this era of soccer in the US was it was indoors , right. Can you talk about like what ? How did that change the game and why ? Why did that kind of take hold at that time , do you think ? Yeah.

S4: So I just want to clarify that futsal and indoor soccer are different. They do have some similarities , but they're played on different court sizes and there are various other differences. But the game was originally outdoor in the United States. When that first team was here at the Toros , they played outdoor , they played at Old Balboa Stadium. The jaws were also playing outdoors , and even the early soccer's actually played outdoors. What ended up happening was that league couldn't really hold their own. The outdoor game was fading , so they slowly started to transition to an indoor game where they found that they could actually draw a pretty good crowd size , whereas maybe some of the outdoor games had too big of venues. They weren't really , uh , able to keep up in terms of revenue. But this indoor game slowly started to take off and the early 80s , and then it really exploded for about a decade and beyond. And the team still plays indoor soccer.

S1: And I think also there was like an action to it that may not have existed in the outdoor game. Right ? Because you have the walls and it kind of there's more goals , right ? I think that's always the complaint that I hear from people that , you know , may object to soccer , may not connect with it is the lack of scoring. And this was sort of like a high pitched , fast paced version of the sport , is how I remember it. Right ? Right.

S4: Very much so. If you can kind of envision like a hockey box or like a lacrosse box type setting , you have walls around the side. Uh , players can use the sideboards to kind of play the ball off , but really you have a high goal scoring scenario. It's fast paced. You're very close to the action compared to maybe traditional outdoor soccer. Um , so yeah , there's a lot of passion and flair that came with the soccer team back in the 80s.

S1: Now , in the last few years , the San Diego Wave FC have really , you know , jumped on the scene here. They've had a big impact on soccer here locally. But your series shows that women's soccer in our region goes much further back. And in the series you spoke with a former US soccer player , Shannon McMillan. And here's a little of what she had to say in your series.

S5: We were fighting to put women's soccer on the map. We wanted to have a professional league in the US. We wanted to be able to say this is the next step. And that came after the 99 World Cup.

S1: So yeah. Tell us more about women's soccer before the wave came to town.

S4: Well , Shannon in particular is an extremely impressive individual. She's from Escondido , so she's a local who kind of worked her way up. Um , there wasn't a lot of a game back when she was coming up , but she found herself going into college and she's now a National Soccer Hall of Famer. But our series goes all the way back to kind of talking about title nine and in the 1970s , which allowed women to start playing sports across the board. And then our local team here , there was a lot of rec and pickup leagues. But in 1988 there was a team called the Sea Lions. They were originally called The husbands , but they were kind of like a step above a rec league. They were an amateur team made up of mostly like college players , and they kind of held the scene for a while. Flash forward to 1998. They helped found the Women's Professional Soccer League , still the longest running women's soccer league in the United States. And then , as you heard in that clip , 99 was really this like breakthrough year. Once they won the World Cup , it put soccer on the map. And then just a few years later , San Diego Spirit was one of the inaugural teams for the first ever paid women's soccer league. And I don't know how many people know about that , but that's a big deal because there's a direct line from that league to what you see today. With the wave and their 30,000 fans that show up to some games.

S1:

S4: You have huge fan bases , tons of people who still play , and the professional team here , the San Diego Wave , they're drawing crowds well into the tens of thousands almost every home game. Um , you can see the excitement. People support this team passionately. They have a supporters group called the Sirens. The games are exciting and fun. You go across the border , the uh , todos feminist team. They're the Club Tijuana team for the women's. They don't have quite as big of a fan base , but they do have some big notable players on the Mexican national team. So I think maybe as that team continues to improve their on field success , you might see a growing fan base for the team as well.

S1: So a major component of the story of soccer in our region , it , you know , involves two different countries in And Mexico. As many people know , soccer is not just a sport , right ? It means a lot. It's really important.

S4: We talked to people who are from Theresa's , from Theresa's. They grew up on both sides of the border. I think that's really important to talk about the shared identity of soccer between San Diego and Tijuana. Um , where we shot the series was also intentional. We did it throughout San Diego County , but also in Tijuana and I guess throughout. While there is an episode that does specifically look at Mexico's impact on our region's soccer scene and Tijuana's impact by extension. Throughout the series , you'll kind of notice that it's not so black and white , but rather this this gray area where you do have Tijuana's influence in Mexico's influence coming into San Diego's , you know , whether it's pickup scene , youth soccer scene , women's scene. It's throughout. And on the flip side , you could say to some degrees , you see San Diego seen rubbing off on the cholos. I mean , they have they have tailgates at Estadio Caliente. That's not normal for most Liga and Mickey's teams , you know ? So you kind of have this sharing of cultures that is inevitable , like many things in our border region.

S1: And really , really unique to it , as you mentioned there. Yeah. And , you know , in the series , you spoke with a trehalose player , Myra Pelayo Bernal , and kind of illustrates your point.

S6: Soccer is something that really brings people together. And how we say here in TJ in solos , there's no there's no borders. So we're all we're all one.

S1: Another player you spoke with was Joe Corona , who plays for Carlos in Tijuana , but also has a relationship on this side of the border too. Right. Mhm.

S4: Mhm. Yeah. Joe and Myra both uh , kind of grew up between both cultures. So Joe was a local kid who grew up in Tijuana and San Diego. South Bay kind of climbed the ranks , ended up playing for Sdsu , had some family emergencies you had to deal with , and then kind of just took a leap of faith with this team. Uh , told us at the time when they were not a Premier League division team , and he started playing for them , and he kind of climbed the ranks with them as they were also climbing the ranks as a team. And he has this kind of amazing hometown hero story where he scored , you know , the goal that helped put them into the First Division. And then once they were First Division , he was the first person to score. It's it's really an amazing story. And then whereas someone like Myra , uh , she's Mexican-American , her family grew up in Compton area in Southern California. So she , she got the youth soccer scene of the US. But culturally , her family's still very Mexican. So she played for the Mexican national team. Now , proudly , she scored this incredible goal against the US national team. Please go look it up. It's insane. Um , and they both kind of have this , you know , shared identity where they're not from one place or the other. They're from both.

S1: And another thing that comes through , I think , in your series here is also the multigenerational love of the sport , right ? You talk to , you know , kids playing the sport , but also their parents. And it it really kind of spans generations.

S4: I think when you hear people talking about soccer in the San Diego region , you hear about , you know , this , this sleeping giant , how there's always been this deep passion for soccer here , which makes sense. We're so close to the Mexican border and in Mexico is so passionate about soccer. It's part of part of the life there. It's part of your identity. Um , so even though soccer and the way it's grown and changed in San Diego , whether it's the San Diego soccer , whether it's wave FC spirit , whoever it is , the passion has always been there. And now finally , they have the stage and the financial backing and the community backing them up to really put that on in front of eyeballs for everyone.

S1: So now I want to kind of turn to more reporter specific questions here. One interesting thing about this project is it's releasing , at least initially , on social media , um , meaning the episodes , you know , they're curated for , for platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

S4: You couldn't just approach it like a standard , uh , video news story that we would put on television or radio here. There had to be a little bit extra thought that goes into the editing style , into the shooting itself. You kind of have to frame it in a certain way. So whether it was being intentional about framing what we knew would fit for a vertical video on Instagram and TikTok or , uh , having a fast piecing or trying to have kind of an extra strong hook. Um , we were very intentional about doing these kinds of things , making it a bit more , uh , emotional in the storytelling than maybe is is just plain and simple fact based. So kind of trying. And it's a big experiment. It's really what it is. So hopefully people like it.

S1:

S4: I learned a lot. Um , I myself am someone who grew up kind of adjacent to soccer culture. My my passion is sports and culture reporting. But I was a baseball player growing up , so my my brother played soccer , uh , his whole youth. My dad is a very passionate soccer fan. He grew up in an immigrant Italian household where similar to Mexico , it's it's part of the lifestyle , part of the culture. Um , but I learned a lot about whether it's supporter groups and how they have this kind of unique connection to clubs that you don't see in other sports. Um , or just the depth of an extent of the history of professional soccer in San Diego , or whether it's the expansive network of different football and pickup , uh , organizations that exist in San Diego and continue to grow to this day. It's just it's so spread out across all of San Diego and all of Tijuana. And the more you really start to look around , the more you're going to realize soccer is everywhere here.

S1: Well , I think the series does a lot to illuminate it. It's the perfect time with San Diego FC catching a lot of even national attention right to soccer in our region. Again , the series is called soccer a la Frontera. First episodes out now , with more coming out weekly throughout the month. I've been speaking with KPBS reporter Jacob Air. Jacob , thanks so much for joining us.

S4: Thanks for having me on.

S1: Up next , we catch up on other stories from the week on the roundup roundtable returns after the break. Welcome back to roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. It's time now for the weekly roundup. And joining me today is KPBS producer Ashley Rush.

S7: It's good. How are you ? Great.

S1: So , what stories have you been reading ? What's been catching your eye this week ? Yeah.

S7: So first a story out of Axios. This came out earlier this week on Wednesday. Looks at LGBTQ+ youth and their mental health challenges. You know , they're still facing a lot of barriers to mental health care , of course , especially with the state of national politics. Um , so this piece looks at research specifically out of the Trevor Project. That's a group that runs crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ plus people under 25. And one of the big takeaways from this was that 88% of LGBTQ plus young people surveyed reported that recent politics negatively impacted their well-being. Um , you know , and if we look at that in San Diego County , 1 in 6 teenage students identify as lesbian , gay , bisexual or queer. And then breaking that down a little bit more , 2.3% identify as transgender. So obviously , a big portion of our population here in San Diego is affected by this. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. And in the story , they kind of go into a little bit about some of the barriers to mental health care , but actually saying it's not all about access. And one thing that surprised me about the story was that it mentioned that , you know , um , LGBTQ teenagers in California or young people in California experienced symptoms of depression similar to those in red states such as South Carolina or South Dakota. It mentions. Um , and that that's something that surprised me a little bit. I have one story , and it's kind of shifting to the workplace. I think we've heard so much about return to office mandates from companies. It's become a big thing over the last year or so , and we're hearing more and more about it. And wired , Sophie Carrara from wired published a pretty interesting article about , you know , kind of how the workplace is a lot of workers are returning to , uh , maybe different from before , and that there's like an increase in sort of surveillance tech and there's this industry around it. It cites statistics. About 70 to 80% of US employers are now using some type of monitoring of their employees. And I thought it was really interesting. I mean , there's like this culture war in our workplaces about returning to the office. But now also , you know , with this increase of technology and how much data can be tracked about us. Um , it's bringing up a lot of interesting discussions about what our rights to privacy are in the workplace. Um , a lot of the companies they cite , you know , they track biometric data and like all kinds of stuff , um , to track where workers are , how , you know , maybe how fast they're going , different things like that. And it's not just in warehouses is what this is kind of showing. It's also showing up in office spaces.

S7: Yeah , definitely. And it points to some different technology like Hyde's Omni Ki , which tracks when workers come and go. You're using meeting rooms like when you're in the parking lot. I think even when you're using the vending machine , if I read that correctly. So it just wants to know where you are at all times. Um , and obviously I have a lot of questions about this when I hear this story. You know , as in , who's going to be going through all this data ? What does this mean for employers , and how are their safeguards on this kind of data ? And then it pointed to a 2023 Pew Research study that found 56% of US workers were opposed to the use of AI to keep track of when employees were at their desks , and 61% were against tracking employees movements while they work. And to me , those numbers seem kind of low. Like why ? Why does half of the population think it's cool ? But anyway , that's a different conversation. Yeah , and some are calling for , you know , new protections over this as AI and tech surveillance evolves. Right now there's no federal labor laws about this. Some states have privacy protections , including California. But the question is , you know , can those laws keep up with the evolving technology ? And like you said , Andrew , how much right do we as workers have to our privacy.

S1: You know , and in the piece they kind of break down this use of using aggregate data versus personal data. And that's like a big kind of sticking point. But again , yeah , there's a lot of privacy concerns that will be coming up. And as you noted , there is no real federal law that would kind of answer any of that. So it'll be interesting to see a lot of this stuff. I mean , it also mentions other , you know , Cisco Spaces , this like cloud platform , but it's like apparently digitized , just wide swaths of businesses to kind of add data points to them. And it's it's pretty intricate and it brings up a lot of these privacy concerns. And again , we're sort of used to in this era of our lives , you know , we there's so much data being tracked about us online in various forms. We've we've in some ways become numb to it. But it'll be interesting to see how this shakes out in the workplace. Definitely.

S7: Definitely. And like one part that , you know , really stood out , I think to both of us is this idea of reciprocity between the employer and employee and kind of trust , um , you know , if you're being watched all the time , do you want to put out a good product ? Do you want to do a good job for your employer.

S1: Not only the potential on impacting your morale , but just your , like , motivation ? Yeah , there's a real interesting trust factor. Totally.

S7: Yeah , yeah. And it all reminds me of severance.

S1: Which you've been talking to me about for weeks now , and I still haven't watched it because it makes me I don't know , it sounds sad to me , but.

S7: It's it's I won't give anything away , but it's a little too close to home sometimes when you read stories like this , but , um. Yeah , it's it's creepy. It's. And it's it all feels very Orwellian. So I guess we'll see how this shakes out.

S1: And as we wrap up here , just mentioned one more thing. It is Daylight Savings time. So it's we're in the spring forward zone right. So we're going to lose that our sleep. But it'll be sunnier at the end of the day.

S7: So we're going to get those later sunsets. This.

S1: This. You like that. Yeah I recon.

S7: I'm pro the later sunsets but I'm switching back and forth. Just pick one. You know I'll get used to whatever you pick.

S1: That's a debate that's been going on for years , for sure. Well , that's the roundup. This week I've been joined by KPBS producer Ashley Rush. Ashley , thanks.

S7: Thanks , Andrew.

S1: That'll do it for our show this week. Thanks so much for listening to KPBS roundtable. You can listen to our show anytime as a podcast. Roundtable airs on KPBS FM at noon on Fridays again Sundays at 6 a.m.. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can email us at roundtable at PBS.org. You can also leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtable's technical producer this week was Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is Roundtable's senior producer , along with help from Quinn Owen. I'm Andrew Bracken , thanks again for listening and have a great weekend.