Filling vacancies on San Diego’s Privacy Advisory Board

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Monday, July 22nd.

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The San Diego city council is looking to fill vacancies on the privacy advisory board. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

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Today (Monday), the San Diego City Council will consider Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed lease of a warehouse in Middletown.

Mayor Gloria wants to turn the warehouse into a one-thousand-bed homeless shelter.

San Diego's independent budget analyst last week issued a critical report on the proposal.

The report found the warehouse lease would be at least 25-percent above the market rate.

If the deal goes through, the warehouse would get new bathrooms, a kitchen and an H-VAC system.

It would cost taxpayers about 13-million-dollars.

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The county's unemployment rate was on the rise last month, compared to May.

The rate increased almost one percentage point to 4-point-5-percent.

But the county is still performing better than the state, which is seeing 5-point-3-percent unemployment.

This time last year, less people in the county were unemployed, when the rate was 3-point-9-percent.

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We can expect more hot weather for this week.

Today (Monday) in the inland and mountain areas, temperatures will be in the mid 80s, by the coast, temps will be in the mid 70s, and in the deserts, it’s expected to reach 113 degrees.

But the sunny skies won’t last in all parts of the county.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), in the mountain areas, there’s a chance of showers and thunderstorms.

The National Weather Service says average temperatures will return this weekend.

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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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San Diego's city council is hustling to fill vacancies on the privacy advisory board, because mayor Todd Gloria hasn’t acted.

Investigative reporter Scott Rodd says the board serves as a watchdog that monitors the city’s use of surveillance technology.

The Privacy Advisory Board has nine seats…and less than half of them are filled. That means the board can’t even hold meetings…because it doesn’t have a quorum. “Not being able to meet is actually quite harmful for the city. You’re not getting that expert input.” Pegah Parsi is vice chair of the Privacy Advisory Board. She says San Diego created the board two years ago so it could review the city’s use of surveillance equipment and give recommendations. “We saw the need to have solid safeguards, solid controls around these technologies so that we can use them to benefit the city.” KPBS recently uncovered how the board’s vacancies had sidelined surveillance oversight in San Diego. Days later, City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera sent a memo to council members. It called for nominations to the board within a week. Typically, Mayor Todd Gloria is in charge of appointing members to the board… but so far, he hasn’t filled any vacancies. A spokesperson for Gloria said the strict qualifications for board seats make it difficult to find replacements. SOC.

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Public transit passengers in San Diego can now pay their fares with the tap of a credit card or smartphone.

Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says the change came just in time for Comic Con and San Diego Pride.

AB: Transit riders have long complained about paying fares with the PRONTO app. Setting up an account and loading money can be cumbersome, and using it requires scanning a QR code that doesn't always work. Connor Proctor is vice president of RideSD, which led the campaign to allow fare payment with credit cards and mobile wallets like Apple Pay. He says it'll be useful for both locals and tourists. CP: They won't have to learn a new system, they won't have to Google and figure out how transit works in San Diego. It's going to be super fast, it's going to really show them a good time and hopefully get them out of a rental car, get them on the bus, get them on the trolley, get them using public transit. AB: Contactless credit cards are accepted on all buses, trolleys and trains in all of San Diego County. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

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A unique summer camp is teaching San Diego high school students about public health career options and issues impacting their peer group.

Health reporter Heidi De Marco has the story.

Nearly 40 high school students are taking time off from their summer vacation to be part of a one week public health advocate camp. It’s a collaboration between the San Diego County Office of Education and County Public Health Services. They’re discussing topics such as mental health, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis. The students design their own public health campaigns. Targeting women of color and addressing cervical cancer. Jesse Altamirano, a junior at Crawford High School, is in the HPV group. JESSE ALTAMIRANO So we’re studying how the vaccine can prevent that. Kind of get the message out to parents who might be hesitant to give their kids the vaccine. The program is free and will run again next summer. Applications for public and charter high school students will open in April 2025. As camp comes to an end, Jesse says he’s leaving with a valuable lesson. JESSE ALTAMIRANO Your health is always something you should take seriously. And I want to make sure that me, my peers, and just generally people in my generation know to take that seriously, especially with what we’ve been through with the pandemic. Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.

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When it comes to museums, there are a lot to choose from in the county.

But far away from the city, there’s one you might not have heard of, even though it’s been around for 45-years.

Reporter John Carroll takes us to an auto museum with hundreds of rare, classic cars.

Nestled in the foothills of northern Escondido… right next to the Lawrence Welk Resort on Champagne Boulevard, you find The Deer Park Winery and Auto Museum… 15 acres of grapes, cars and a vast collection of memorabilia, Americana viewed through many different lenses.  “It started back many decades ago.” That’s Clark Knapp.  His Dad and uncle founded this place in 1979.  The experience begins in the first building you encounter after parking… it’s where you get your first taste of the magnificent car collection… and the wine. How did such seemingly disparate things as displaying classic cars and making wine end up in the same place?  Knapp says it happened when his Dad brought his love for cars together with his uncle’s love for wine… and the Deer Park Winery and Auto Museum was born. Clark Knapp Deer Park Winery and Car Museum Owner “One was in the collecting automobile end and generations of family were in the farming end of it, growing grapes.” Growing up in Mission Beach, Knapp’s father had an auto restoration and livery business.  He began to grow his auto collection in the 60’s.  Back then, Knapp says he parked the cars on Mission Beach streets until that became impractical. “So he found a property here and tied it together with the other branch of the family to put in a vineyard, so it complemented both aspects of the families.” Both aspects are brought together on the wine bottles… the labels all feature cars in the collection. When you visit this place, allow several hours as the collection is spread across three buildings.  We were lucky enough to have Knapp as our tour guide.  You realize from the get-go that there’s much more to experience here than classic cars and wine.  There are other unique items found throughout… like a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible… And this Victrola… Then you move into an indoor patio… an homage to Coca Cola and more. “Which now we’re thinking about maybe renaming our foreign car wing cause we do have our few foreign cars, that are mostly here as well as paying homage to Coca Cola, an American icon.” Next, you move outside… with a walk through the vineyard… “Which we frame in roses, roses, if you get the heritage roses, they also serve a purpose at the vineyard where they’ll be the first indicator of powdery mildew, which is one of the few things we have to worry about in the vineyard out here.” Knapp reminds me that San Diego County was the first county in California to grow wine grapes… “So we have a Petite Syrah and a Sangiovese… This will be the first harvest that we’re doing off of this vineyard.” Knapp says they’re going to produce a Rose style wine, and that it might be available as soon as the end of this year.  Through the vineyard and you encounter an old style gas station that used to be in Old Town. “Well how the heck did you get it up here?”  “We brought what parts were still salvageable and reconstructed it.” Around the corner from the gas station… you enter the second building on the tour. “Oh, OK Knapp’s Garage - there we go.” Inside - it’s a convertible lovers dream.  Knapp says Deer Park’s collection is one of, if not the largest collection of ragtops in the world. “And we also have various homages to a lot of the orphan cars.” Orphan cars… cars that were made by companies that no longer exist… like a 1961 Rambler American convertible and an odd looking little car called a Crosley Hotshot.  Crosley also made radios, televisions and various appliances… and alongside the cars, you see a dizzying representation of all of those… a collection that transports you back in time… no smart devices or computers, just example after example of American ingenuity. One more stop on the tour… a building at the top of the property… you can drive up or walk.  We decided to hoof it. “So what are we going into here?”  “Our Deer Park Winery building and new car showroom!”  “New car showroom…” (laughter) Here, you’re greeted with a dazzling array of neon signs from just about every car brand there was in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s… and some of them have special stories…“This car drove Marilyn Monroe in a parade.  We have a little clipping of it there.” “Do you still enjoy ever just like walking around here by yourself?”  “Oh yeah, this property is so fun to be at… very peaceful out here.” Before we leave the “new” car showroom, there’s something in the corner that is… well, very unexpected.  Iconic, like just about everything else here… it’s a small, very pink room with glass cases featuring many examples of America’s number one doll - Barbie! “When the movie came out, I assume you had a little bump in Barbie interest?”  “We did have people asking about the Barbie dolls, not always do we get people coming here to see them..” From Crosleys to Cadillacs - Rosés to radios, Buicks to Barbies… there’s really nothing like the Deer Park Winery and Auto Museum.  JC, KPBS News.

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The turf is meeting the surf once again.

The 85th summer season of the Del Mar Race tracks opened on Saturday and runs through September 8th- Thursday through Sunday.

Josh Rubenstein is president of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

“And the economic impact of horse racing at the fairgrounds is really significant this year. The projected economic impact for San Diego from horse racing here is over $300 million. And in terms of jobs of horse racing at Del Mar, this summer season will employ over 3000 people.”

Events this season include beer, wine and food festivals.

Attendance will be capped daily, and visitors are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance.

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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. Join us again tomorrow for the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Monday.