Camping ban causes challenges for Father Joe’s
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Tuesday, August 29th.
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A Father Joe’s team faces challenges as the city of San Diego enforces its unsafe camping ordinance. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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An excessive heat warning in the county’s inland valleys and desert areas has been extended to 8 P-M tomorrow.
Temperatures are expected to reach close to 100 in the county’s inland areas today.
In the deserts, temps could reach up to 118, and in the mountains, temps will be in the low 90s.
It’ll be a lot cooler in the county’s coastal areas, where temps will be in the high 70s.
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The city of San Diego's Commission on Police Practices will hold its first meeting tonight.
The Commission will review complaints about police misconduct, officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths.
It will also have the power to launch independent investigations and subpoena witnesses.
The commission is the result of an initiative aimed at increasing independent oversight of police.
It’s taken nearly three years for city council members to seat the new commission.
Meanwhile, an interim commission has struggled to keep up with reviewing complaints against officers.
There's a backlog of more than 100 cases.
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A boil water advisory that was in place late last week for areas in the south bay was lifted over the weekend, but affected residents are being asked to still take some precautions.
The advisory was issued for Coronado, Imperial Beach, and parts of Chula Vista and San Diego, after E-Coli was found in the drinking water system.
California American Water is the private company that runs the south bay water system.
Before the advisory was lifted, an official with the company said they think a contaminated faucet was to blame for the positive E-coli test, and are confident the water was not actually contaminated.
The company is now advising customers in impacted areas to flush the plumbing in their buildings or homes by running all cold-water faucets for at least five minutes.
And ice from ice makers should be discarded and replaced.
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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 Street Health Team from Father Joe’s Villages is a small, but trusted group of outreach workers and medical professionals.
They provide care and support to the unsheltered community in downtown San Diego.
Reporter Melissa Mae says as the city enforces its unsafe camping ordinance, the team faces even more challenges.
On a recent afternoon in downtown San Diego, the Father Joe’s Villages Street Health Team gets ready to head out in their van, nicknamed “Florence Nightingale” to check in with their homeless clients. Jennifer Wilkens Father Joe’s Villages “I know that my team is out there doing good work and helping people connect the dots to get the care they need.” Monday through Friday, twice a day, Supervisor Jennifer Wilkens and her team work on building relationships with the homeless community by showing up and following through, with the goal of getting them into shelter. Jennifer Wilkens Father Joe’s Villages “When they tell Michelle, ‘Hey, I’m considering getting into shelter, can you tell me what that looks like? What are my options?’ That’s success.” Jennifer Wilkens Father Joe’s Villages “When we start having those meaningful conversations about what they can do to start making some progress, that’s success.” You wouldn't know it when you meet them but both Wilkins and her street health teammate Michelle LeFever overcame addiction themselves. Also formerly homeless, LeFever says her outreach work is a way of living amends for her past. Michelle LeFever Father Joe’s Villages “I understand my clients. I’ve been where they’ve been. I understand what it means to, that need to hide the pain, use substances as a solution. I get all that, but now, also what I get is I get that there is life after that, if you work hard for it and I think that’s what makes me bond with my clients.” According to the San Diego District Attorney’s office, homeless San Diegans are 118 times more likely than the general population to die of a drug overdose. Each member of the team carries a backpack. One has medical supplies as well as narcan and other medications to reverse overdoses. Another carries more basic necessities which they call tools of engagement. Michelle LeFever Father Joe’s Villages “When walking up to people they look at us and they're just like don’t bother me right? But I mean, how does that look if I walk up carrying a water and a snack. So sometimes this could be the We want them to give their COVID shots, but this could mean whether or not they stick their head outside the tent or whether they're just like go away.” Those tools and connections go a long way. They can eventually lead clients to reveal personal information that makes it easier for the team to follow up and track their progress. Jennifer Wilkens Father Joe’s Villages “So that we can get people registered and into the system so that we can document on them later.” Father Joe’s psychiatrist Dr. Safi Ahmed says many unsheltered residents have anxiety, depression and likely experienced some form of trauma… He credits the team’s ability to break down barriers. Dr. Safi Ahmed Father Joe’s Villages “They're the hero for building those connections. That's probably the biggest issue, trust and building that rapport. I mean some of these people have been really hurt and abused their whole lives and trust is hard to build and so the outreach team does that. Once that's built, that's when I come in.” In the last year, the team has helped move about 20 people into permanent housing and almost 60 into shelters. But thousands more still live on the street… And with the city’s new unsafe camping ordinance, the team says it’s made their job more difficult. Michelle LeFever Father Joe’s Villages “This was supposed to be a solution to help, not to hinder and when clients are actually willing to receive that help and that’s not the first thing that is being offered, it’s heart wrenching. And so for us as a street health team, it’s hard to find our clients. It’s been hard to find our patients.” The city of San Diego did not respond to a request for comment about this. Seeing the homeless crisis on an intimate level day after day, the street outreach team says the first step to solving homelessness is getting more “boots on the ground” to build that trust and ultimately move people off the street and into housing. Melissa Mae KPBS News.
TAG: Tomorrow, in part two of this story, we’ll hear from a few of the team’s clients, including a formerly homeless woman who’s now in her own apartment.
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An S-D-S-U student reported being sexually assaulted on Sunday by someone the student believed was a rideshare driver.
Reporter Alexander Nguyen spoke with students on campus about how they stay safe.
students walking around campus with the semester just starting … the san diego state campus is bustling with activities. one thing that was top of mind monday for many of the students was the sexual assault over the weekend by someone a student believed was a rideshare driver. graciela garcia is a freshman at sdsu. she says the incident made her more alert when using ridesharing services. graciela garcia sdsu student “especially because it could be coming or going from school. and since i do that every day, it's like i could be at a threat sometimes, too.” sdsu says university police and s-d-p-d have increased patrol on campus and the surrounding area with the start of the fall semester. university police also advised students to use the sdsu safe app to share their location in real-time when using ridesharing services. officials say you should also trust your instincts and avoid poorly lit areas. an/kpbs.
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California is investing three million dollars in an effort to predict when and where ocean waters near Imperial Beach might be contaminated.
Environment reporter Erik Anderson says state officials and researchers gathered late last week in the south bay city, to discuss the initiative.
San Diego researchers are in the process of developing a forecasting tool that’ll predict when the ocean will be full of pathogens. The ocean off the coast of Imperial Beach has suffered decades of contamination that includes trash, toxic chemicals and untreated sewage runoff. Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Andrew Barton says the new model will incorporate how long target pathogens survive in the ocean. Andrew Barton Scripps Institution of Oceanography We’ll conduct regular water sampling at beach and coastal locations to pinpoint the types of pathogens that are present and their abundances. We’ll also sample extreme events such as heavy rainfall and associated runoff. San Diego’s state lawmakers got the funding for the project into the latest state budget. Erik Anderson KPBS News.
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Coming up.... What to expect at the airport if you’re traveling this Labor Day weekend. We’ll have that story and more, just after the break.
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A group of computer scientists at UC-SD say they have a way to repurpose the tens of millions of smartphones we stop using every year.
You put their computing power to work in the cloud or in company data centers.
Sci-tech reporter Thomas Fudge has the story.
How long do you keep and use your smartphone? An estimated two and a half years, on average. The battery wears out or there’s this new improved model you just gotta have. Thing is… there are parts of that old smartphone that are still working and useful. 00-4-15 So people are getting rid of these devices every couple of years or so and they still have a powerful processor within them. Jennifer Switzer is a PhD student at UC San Diego who was lead author of a paper that outlined a method of reusing Smartphone processors. Unwanted phones are clustered together with the same operating system so their combined computing power can create a small data center. This would extend the life of valuable hardware and reduce carbon emissions linked to building new computers. Computer science and engineering professor Pat Pannuto, at UCSD, is Switzer’s advisor. He says tests show the system is viable. 00-18-59 We’ve created a ten-phone cluster. We’ve proven it works. We’re proven you can distribute jobs across it. Now we want to go N equals 100. N equals 1,000.And say what happens if we start to run real workloads? So if you got an old Smartphone at home dozing in a drawer, it may have a future life. SOQ.
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It’s been a busy summer at the San Diego International Airport.
Reporter John Carroll says over the next week or so, things will get even busier.
Passenger counts at the airport have pretty much returned to pre-pandemic levels. airport spokeswoman nicole hall says as the labor day holiday approaches, the number of passengers traveling through the airport will be going up. “based on what we’ve seen during this summer, we will have about 80,000 people coming and going through the airport during the labor day holiday, each day.” the big numbers will happen at a time when construction of the new terminal one and terminal one parking garage is in full swing. hall says allow at least two hours to deal with construction delays… even more if you’re traveling internationally. she says the terminal one parking garage should be complete by the end of next year, the terminal itself - not until 2028. jc, kpbs news.
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A new, small Macy's will be opening up in Santee by the end of the year.
The department store chain has been hit hard, economically, by online shopping and the pandemic.
The small-format store, about a fifth the size of a typical Macy's, will open up in Santee's Trolley Square.
Its smaller size is meant to reduce rent and staffing costs, and provide a better place for shoppers to browse.
Miro Copic is the founder of Bottom Line Marketing and a business commentator for our newsroom.
“You know they’re really trying to make it more streamlined, more convenient. They’re trying to make it a more curated experience. So people can come in and kinda see everything that Macy’s has to offer. "
Macy’s has opened similar stores in a handful of locations around the country, mostly on the West Coast and the Northeast.
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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. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Tuesday.
