As rain hits San Diego, residents are wary of flooding

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz. It’s Thursday, February 13th.

Rain has hit San Diego and residents are wary of flooding.

More on that next. But first, let’s do the headlines.

The El Cajon City Council approved a resolution earlier this week that says they want to help the federal government deport people with violent criminal convictions – but will continue to follow California’s sanctuary laws.

The council voted 3 to 2 in support.

Their decision follows two previous meetings where they discussed the item. And, it sparked public pushback.

The resolution also directs city staffers to ask the California Attorney General's office for guidance. Asking how much they can cooperate with the federal law enforcement.

The city of San Diego is proposing charging for trash service.

Currently, it’s free. But city officials are considering a monthly full-service rate of 53 dollars per single family home. Customers willing to use smaller trash bins would pay $42 per month.

The San Diego Union Tribune reports that would be the highest rate of any city in Southern California, except for Long Beach.

The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District is rolling out a new program to distribute 10 thousand air purifiers and filters.

The purifiers filter odors caused by the pollution of the Tijuana River Valley.

Their distribution is currently focused on families with children and elderly people who are affected by the pollution smell.

They’re targeting the communities closest to the Tijuana River.

This program is intended to be a temporary measure while the International Boundary and Water Commission and other groups work on permanent solutions.

To register for a purifier, visit s-d-a-p-c-d dot org.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

An atmospheric river is expected to bring about two inches of rain to San Diego's inland valleys and up to six inches to the mountains by Friday. Reporter Melissa Mae says some community members are thinking about last year’s flooding as they prepare for this big storm of the season.

The National Weather Service warns there could be localized flooding in low lying areas. Skyline Resident Charles Demley picked up sandbags from the Martin Luther King Jr. Rec Center as a preventative measure. “Because of what took place, last year around about this time.” The flood didn’t damage his home, but many others lost theirs. Leslie Reynolds is executive director of Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek. She says residents around the creek are traumatized from the flooding. “We do know that many, many people are still struggling. They're not back in their homes.” She says the watershed has been underinvested for decades, but the city of San Diego is now prioritizing maintenance of the creek. Melissa Mae KPBS News.

San Diego Congressman Scott Peters is now speaking out about executive orders that could hinder local scientists. That’s weeks after the Trump Administration suggested freezing federal funding and banning words that could threaten research. Public Matters reporter Amita Sharma has details.

To the tune of nearly one billion dollars, Peters’ congressional district receives the most National Institutes of Health money in California. It is home to four world-class research institutions: UC San Diego, Scripps Research, the Salk Institute and La Jolla Immunology. Their focus includes cancer treatments, drug discovery, vaccines and immune disorders. The Trump Administration announced funding cuts to NIH that would deprive researchers in California of $800 million. A week later, Peters and other congressional lawmakers fired off a letter to NIH urging it to reconsider. Local scientists have questioned whether Peters and his congressional colleagues are even fighting to safeguard their funding. Peters says he is, “The United States of America elected Donald Trump to be the president. They elected a majority of people in the Senate and the House who apparently are not going to cross him, so we're in a tough position here.” A federal judge has ordered the administration to delay NIH cuts, calling them flagrantly unlawful. Amita Sharma, KPBS News.

San Diego county is projecting a budget deficit of nearly one hundred 40 million dollars next fiscal year.

Facing possible program cuts from Washington and uncertainties on how tariffs would affect the regional economy, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer wants to explore options to raise revenue.

She says the county is trying to get ahead of the situation and make a plan, which could include a sales tax.

“We’re being a lot more open-minded. We're going to have focus groups. We're going to do some community surveys, maybe some community forums, and just really find out what people's priorities are. And what tradeoffs people are willing to make given what's going on across the country.”

Lawson-Remer has introduced a resolution to instruct the county’s chief administrative officer to conduct a study, and report back to the board on some possibilities for raising revenue.

The Board of Supervisors will vote on this at their next meeting in two weeks (Feb. 25).

Imagine a subway line that could take you from City Heights to Kearny Mesa in just 8 to 10 minutes. That's the latest concept behind the purple line, a long-imagined transit line connecting the south bay suburbs to job centers in northern San Diego. Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says it's a grand vision — with a price tag that has even supporters wondering whether it will ever become a reality.

“Right now we're in Kearny Mesa, and it's one of the top three job centers in the San Diego region.” I meet Colin Parent outside a large, nondescript office building at Balboa Avenue and Ruffin Road. “If you look around, you see similar kinds of things. There's a lot of people coming in and out of this area every day for a job, but it's also not very well connected to transit.” Parent is executive director of Circulate San Diego. The nonprofit has long been a supporter of the Purple Line, a planned high-speed transit connection from San Ysidro to Sorrento Mesa. The goal is to give a faster and more sustainable alternative to the thousands of commuters who drive that corridor every day. SANDAG, the county's transportation agency, recently completed a study that analyzes how the Purple Line might work as a heavy rail line — with faster speeds and higher capacity than the existing trolley. The study looked at only a portion of the corridor, and it didn't consider financing or real estate costs. Even still, the price tag is staggering. “The first thing I did is I paged through to find out what the budget estimate was, and it was a $20 billion project cost. And I said, well, they're clearly not going to build this because there's no way that SANDAG is going to have that much money. Even if they did have that much money, they wouldn't and certainly shouldn't spend it just on one project.” For comparison, this version of the  Purple Line would cost more than 10 times what San Diego spent extending the Blue Line trolley to University City. “It's like a double-edged sword, kind of like bittersweet, right?” Jesse Ramirez is urban planning director for City Heights CDC, another long-time supporter of the Purple Line. He says he's glad SANDAG did the planning study and is taking steps to move the project past the idea phase. “But at the same time, kind of bitter because I was kind of seeing through this study how hard and how complex of a project it is going to be and how long, potentially, it might take to make this project to make a reality.” One of the main cost drivers of the Purple Line are San Diego's topography. Tunneling is very expensive, and there's a huge elevation drop from City Heights into Mission Valley that a rail line would have to navigate carefully. Ramirez understands those engineering challenges mean this version of the Purple Line is cost prohibitive… at least for now. But he points out the status quo, which makes car ownership all but mandatory for most people, is also extremely expensive to consumers and taxpayers alike. “Yes, the price tag is high, but it's important to think about it in that context as well, how much we spend and our infrastructure as a whole. And that includes, of course, freeways, freeway expansions, and freeway maintenance.” Ramirez's job is to get regular people involved in urban planning. And he says a consistent challenge — especially with megaprojects that take decades to materialize — is something he calls planning fatigue. “You get them all excited. Like, hey, we have this idea of the Purple Line or a new rapid project. You get them all excited, you engage with them, and then the engagement fizzles out because we don't know what's going to happen with the project. You start getting community members or asking the question, well, why even participate to begin with?” “An awesome concept of a transportation project does not move people.” San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera represents City Heights and serves on the SANDAG Transportation Committee. He says he wants more focus on improving the speed and reliability of the existing transit network. “And that doesn't mean not dreaming big or hoping for great things for San Diego, but I do think that we need to center the goals and the needs of the community as we're charting the course forward so that we can actually deliver for folks.” SANDAG staff say they're also looking into a rapid bus version of the Purple Line that would be cheaper and faster to build than rail. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

Students at Chula Vista High School continue to protest a district decision to change class schedules beginning in the next school year. South Bay reporter Kori Suzuki says they've been pushing back against those changes for more than a year now.

Last January, Chula Vista High senior Katherine Aguilar remembers standing in the cold outside the offices of Sweetwater Union High School District. Asking the school board to give them a voice in how many classes they can take during the year. On Monday night, she was back again. “It's been a year. It's been a very long year. We've been fighting for it and they kind of ignore us. They put us aside. We ask questions. They don't give us any clear answers. And it's very frustrating.” The planned cuts would reduce the number of classes that students at Chula Vista High can take during their regular schedule. From eight down to six. Aguilar is one of hundreds of students, along with parents and teachers, who worry that the planned changes will hurt the school’s legendary arts program. And limit opportunities for other students. She says many of them still feel district officials have made the decision unilaterally, without explaining it or taking input from students.“We just want to know why it is that you're taking these decisions without any students like having a say in this.” District officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The planned schedule cuts are set to take effect later this year. In Chula Vista, Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.

If you tuned into our podcast yesterday, you heard Dave and Adam’s love story.

With Valentine’s day just around the corner, we bring you another story of San Diego love.

Sue Whitaker started dating her now husband the summer before her senior year of high school.

That’s when they both were at a big bonfire party at the bay. Sue had recently moved to San Diego and a tree near the bonfire reminded her of her old home.

“So I climbed up on the branch to take a look at the view. And then I decided it was time to get down, so I was gonna grab the branch and swing down. And unbeknownst to me, my now husband came up behind me to help me down. He thought he was being really helpful, so I swung down on this branch and I clocked him right in the lip.”

Sue felt terrible.

“And I think he he took advantage of the fact that I felt so bad. So we hung out together for the rest of the evening and we had the big bonfire and everything.”

That evening, he asked her out. A date turned into three, and they stayed together through high school and even ended up at San Diego State together.

But, all those years later – Still no proposal.

“I should tell you this, it took forever for him to propose. I guess I could have done it, but, so we were together eight years before we got married. The napkins at our wedding said Sue and Mark. It's about time.”

To read more about Sue’s love story or to read others, visit kpbs dot org slash love story.

That’s it for the podcast today. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Thursday.