Banning software that sets rental prices
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, October 31st… Happy Halloween!>>>>
How the San Diego City Council is responding to software used to set rental prices.
More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….######
A DEL MAR-BASED NONPROFIT IS WORKING TO REMOVE TRASH FROM TIJUANA RIVER TRIBUTARIES BEFORE IT ENTERS THE OCEAN.
TRASH BOOMS ARE FLOATING BARRIERS THAT CATCH SOLID WASTE AND LET WATER FLOW THROUGH.
WILDCOAST INSTALLED ONE IN LOS LAURELES [lao-RELL-es] CANYON IN TIJUANA IN 20-21.
THIS WEEK, THEY ADDED A SECOND ONE IN MATADERO [ma-ta-DERR-o] CANYON.
THEY SAY THE TWO TRASH BOOMS WILL STOP MORE THAN 160 THOUSAND POUNDS OF TRASH FROM ENTERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN EACH YEAR.
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A RE-OPENING DATE HAS BEEN SET FOR HARBORSIDE PARK IN CHULA VISTA.
AFTER BEING CLOSED FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS BECAUSE OF AN INCREASE IN CRIME AND HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS, THE PARK WILL RE-OPEN ON DECEMBER 16TH.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS MADE BY CITY OFFICIALS EARLIER THIS WEEK DURING A MEETING AT HARBORSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
CHULA VISTA MAYOR JOHN MCCANN SAYS THE PARK WILL ONLY BE OPEN DURING CERTAIN HOURS OF THE DAY.
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Tonight’s (Thursday) weather is going to be chilly.
So if you’re planning to go trick or treating for Halloween, don’t forget a jacket.
The National Weather Service says today and over the next few days, we can expect temperatures well below normal for this time of year.
In the inland and desert areas, temps will be in the 70s during the day, and will drop into the 50s by night time.
By the coast, it’ll be in the 60s most of the day, then in the 50s at night.
And in the mountains, during the day it’s expected to be in the high 50s, and in the 40s at night.
And here’s a few safety tips before you head out the door this evening: be aware of your surroundings when walking and driving, make sure kids are accompanied by an adult, and check your kids candy before they eat it.
The city of San Diego also suggests that kids carry a flashlight.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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The San Diego City Council is moving to ban software used by landlords to set rental prices.
Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says supporters argue it amounts to 21st Century price fixing.
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AB: Some landlords in San Diego subscribe to RealPage, a company that collects private data on rental housing and feeds it through an algorithm to help landlords charge the highest rent possible. The US Department of Justice is suing the company under antitrust laws, though the lawsuit will take years to be resolved. City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera says in the meantime, San Diego should declare the practice illegal. SER: I won't pretend like this law will solve the housing crisis by itself. It won't. We need more housing to be built, especially for low- and middle-income San Diegans. But that does not mean that we shouldn't do all we can to lower housing costs every way that we can. AB: A council committee advanced the proposal Wednesday, directing the City Attorney's Office to draft an ordinance to be considered by the full City Council. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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LAST MONTH, MORE THAN 13-HUNDRED PEOPLE BECAME HOMELESS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY.
JUST OVER A THOUSAND PEOPLE WERE RE-HOUSED.
REPORTER JACOB AERE TAKES US TO A MEETING OF THOSE TRYING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
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Interfaith Community Services holds a meeting every year to talk about what’s working and what's needed to help those who are unhoused.This year – officials from escondido, carlsbad , san marcos and Oceansdide took part in the discussion inside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones says her city is providing rental assistance and other forms of help.“In San Marcos we have been very intentional about our affordable housing. We have about 10 percent of our housing stock, 3300 units, that are deed restricted affordable. So that's how we have actually really helped people not get into homelessness.”Both the North County Coastal and North County Inland regions saw an increase in homeless individuals over the past year according to 2024 Point-in-Time Count Data. Jones says a key to addressing the homelessness crisis will be collaborating with other cities. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.
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PUBLIC OPINION POLLS ARE OFTEN IN THE NEWS THIS ELECTION SEASON.
SO HOW DO POLLSTERS SURVEY ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE IN THIS ERA OF CELL PHONES, TEXTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA?
SCI-TECH REPORTER THOMAS FUDGE HAS THE STORY.
POLLING (tf) 4:31 …soq.
Understanding what most people really like or want is not something you can figure out by just talking to your friends. Polling the general public requires a practiced, scientific approach. And a lot of people see it as a crucial part of our democracy. Political science professor Marisa Abrajano, at UC San Diego, uses surveys in a lot of her research. MARISA1 1:19 “Oftentimes what elites, our elected officials, care about can often be very different from what the public cares about. So we want to make sure, as a representative democracy, that legislators are being responsive to the needs of their constituents and this is where public opinion plays a valuable role in understanding those needs.” An opinion poll is a set of interviews with a finite number of people, chosen at random, whose views can represent a much larger group of people. Likely voters, for instance. The invention of the telephone made the job a lot easier. But today that’s not the only way to reach people. Political scientist Thad Kousser, also at UCSD, hearkens back to telephone polling in what he calls the old days. THAD1 3:32 “Now, in the old days to do that you’d use random digit dialers to pull a random subsample of the phone numbers. But who answers their phone now? Or people have multiple phones. Maybe a few cell phones in a family but no landline.” In other words, welcome to the 21st century of telecommunications. People do still call people, for surveys or anything else. But they also text. They email. They communicate through social media. With so many ways of contacting people, what do you do? Pollster John Nienstedt, President of Competitive Edge Research and Communication, says you have to use all the tools that are out there. NIENSTEDT1 5:44 “Currently the best way to do polling and survey research is using a multi-mode approach.” Different people communicate in different ways, depending on their age and levels of education. So if you are not using multiple ways of reaching out, you’re not reaching a random, representative public. NIENSTEDT2 6:21 “You have to understand the sample methodology so they all balance out. You don’t want to have 90 percent of your surveys done by a text or 80 percent of your surveys done by a land line. You have to have the mix and the proportion that would be reflected in the population.”Pollsters sometimes give people incentives to be part of a survey.Gift cards are a common one. Some people are more accessible. You know, easier to reach. NIENSTEDT3 12:12 “Typically older folks who’ve voted a lot are reachable. Renters. Younger people. Very busy people are less reachable.” Every group of respondents are going to fall short of fully representing the general public. That’s why pollsters use a process called weighting. If you don’t have enough demographic diversity in your sample, you give certain groups, and their opinions, a greater statistical weight when you sum up the results. Kousser says statistical weighting can expand your polling options. Let’s say, you have a group of people who want to be part of a survey and they’re willing to take it online. THAD2 4:13 “We know about their demographics, their education level, their race and ethnicity. Where they live. Their age. And we can pull people from those buckets and then if we have too many people in one bucket we can down-weight their survey responses to get a fairly good estimate that’s representative of the population as a whole.” Back in the good old days of polling, when almost everyone had a telephone landline, getting a random sample of opinion was a bit simpler. Today, the hard work of pursuing a random opinion sample means you can’t rely on people to opt-in to a survey with no incentives and no encouragement. There's a big difference between just putting a survey on a website and hoping someone will fill it out, and proactively pursuing every respondent and learning who they are. Kousser says in the end, all respondents have to decide whether they want to be part of an opinion poll. THAD3 7:44 “Every survey is an opt-in survey, right? There’s no law that says they have to pick up the phone when someone calls you or you have to respond to that email.And that’s why even the best survey is bound to get it a little bit wrong. SOQ.
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ONE BORDER ARTIST IS REIMAGINING ABANDONED BAJA BUILDINGS AS LOST SOULS.
ARTS REPORTER JULIA DIXON EVANS EXPLORES HOW '46 RENACIMIENTOS' REFLECTS REMEMBRANCE AND LOSS.
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At the height of the 2008 housing crisis, 46 high-rise construction projects were abandoned from Tijuana to Ensenada. Architectural artist Alvaro Alvarez says the developments were meant to bring pride to the Baja region, and affordable luxury housing for Americans. "Three billion US dollars in sales, 12,500 homes, 65,000 jobs, and it all became halted because of the financial crash.… So for 15 years they've been sitting on the beach as concrete and steel skeletons." He's created 46 'sculptural paintings' to honor each abandoned building. Using discarded construction materials, trash and papier mache, he renders the buildings and landscapes in grayscale — even the Pacific ocean. Alvarez will memorialize the buildings — and their promise of eventual completion — in a Día de Muertos exhibit. "Day of the Dead was very important because it sort of put on this project, these 46 buildings on the same plane as something as heavy as loss. As much as we discuss this as a rebirth, as a celebration, a lot of people suffer(ed) financial loss on this, and it's a difficult part of our history." Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS news.
TAG: THE EXHIBIT IS ON VIEW FOR ONE DAY ONLY, THIS SATURDAY FROM NOON TO 5 P-M, AT BLACK BOX GALLERY IN SAN YSIDRO.
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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. In tomorrow’s podcast, the Executive Director of Susan G. Komen San Diego joins us to talk about this weekend’s More Than Pink Walk and breast cancer awareness. Join us again for that, plus the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening. I hope you have a Happy Halloween!
