La Mesa, Encinitas leading local climate change efforts

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, June SEVENTH.

LA MESA AND ENCINITAS ARE LEADING LOCAL EFFORTS TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines…

Today, the San Diego City Council is discussing its suggested changes to Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 20-25.

The council is scheduled to take a final vote on the budget on June 11th.

Gloria has said his budget prioritizes alleviating homelessness.

This includes expanding the Safe Parking Program and funding a shelter and service program that could serve one-thousand people at a time.

Gloria’s November election challenger, Larry Turner, criticized the mayor’s budget for making cuts to current homeless programs, while creating new ones.

SCOTT WAHL WILL BE SWORN IN AS SAN DIEGO POLICE CHIEF TODAY [Friday].

OUTGOING CHIEF DAVID NISLEIT [NISS-light] LEFT POLICE HEADQUARTERS FOR THE LAST TIME AS CHIEF YESTERDAY [Thursday].

HE’S RETIRING AFTER 36 YEARS WITH THE DEPARTMENT.

MAYOR TODD GLORIA SAYS NISLEIT [NISS-light] HAS DEDICATED HIMSELF TO THE JOB.

Gets up every morning at 4 a.m. and is rolling through watch commander reports, sending information that I need to know to me, work a full day, go home, respond to emails, return phone calls, be out in the community. This man has given the entirety of his life for nearly four decades to this city.

THE CEREMONY INCLUDED A FINAL RADIO BROADCAST THANKING NISLEIT [NISS-light] FOR HIS SERVICE.

THERE WAS ALSO A SYMBOLIC CHANGE OF COMMAND TO INCOMING CHIEF WAHL [wall].

S-D-G-and-E is sounding the alarm about a text-message scam that’s trying to defraud its customers.

The scammers pose as S-D-G-and-E and send potential victims texts about fake work orders, meter changes and more.

The customer is prompted to call a scammer-run call center to confirm the order.

Then they’re asked to pay with non-traceable forms of payment like bitcoin and zelle.

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

A HEAT DOME IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST IS BRINGING VERY HOT TEMPERATURES TO PLACES LIKE PALM SPRINGS AND PHOENIX. SCI-TECH REPORTER THOMAS FUDGE SAYS ITS EFFECTS IN THE SAN DIEGO AREA DEPEND ON WHERE YOU ARE.

If you live near the coast in San Diego where it's in the lower seventies you may wonder where the heat dome is. But meteorologist Alex Tardy, with the national weather service, says it’s there, it’s just high above you. He says that hot air is pressing down on the atmosphere, creating fog and low clouds. But the mountains and desert are unusually hot. “Heat domes are what magnify temperatures. Make them a lot more than they normally would be, even in the summer. Even what they should be in the desert.” He said our desert regions are about 15 degrees above normal. He said Idlewild, which is at the high altitude of 5500 feet, was in the mid-nineties on Wednesday. Heat domes do move and migrate. But some are more persistent than others. And Tardy says forecasters are expecting a hot summer for 2024. SOQ.

A NEW REPORT HAS FOUND LA MESA AND ENCINITAS ARE LEADING LOCAL EFFORTS TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE. METRO REPORTER ANDREW BOWEN HAS MORE ON THE LATEST CLIMATE ACTION REPORT CARD.

Transportation remains the largest source of local greenhouse gas emissions. The nonprofit Climate Action Campaign says cities need to pick up the pace of building more compact, walkable neighborhoods with good public transit access. Anthony Dang is author of the watchdog group's Climate Action Plan report card. He says the city leading the pack in those efforts is La Mesa. They are building dense infill housing, including affordable housing, near businesses and transit. They've also made significant progress on planning their La Mesa Boulevard complete streets project, ensuring this area is safer to encourage more biking and walking. AB: The city of San Diego ranked in the middle of the pack. The report found the city needs to double down on efforts to shift travel behavior away from cars. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

PLANS TO RELOCATE TRAIN TRACKS FROM THE CRUMBLING CLIFFS IN DEL MAR ARE CHUGGING ALONG. NORTH COUNTY REPORTER TANIA THORNE HAS AN UPDATE ON WHERE THE TRACKS MIGHT GO.

David Atayee is the acting director of engineering and construction with SANDAG. He says three routes came out of the public’s feedback and analysis conducted by the agency. And each route comes with its own benefits and challenges. one's the alignment, that's, you know, kind of goes through the the middle of Del Mar. One is another alignment. That's that's, you know, closer to the ocean, but still inland. And then the the alignment that goes closer to the I. 5, which is an alignment that we heard straight from the public. The route along the freeway is also the longest one… Meaning it will cost more and take longer to build. And eventually, the travel time will take longer too.  Route B, the straightest route, cuts travel time. And route C has the shortest tunnel -which could mean a cheaper cost. The next steps are to gather community feedback on the three options. SANDAG will hold an in-person community meeting on June 18th at the San Diego Marriott Del Mar. Comments can also be submitted online or by mail until July 19th. Once public comments are in, SANDAG will still need to do more studies on the sites. TT KPBS News

Coming up.... San Diego County wine sales have increased. We’ll have that story and more, just after the break.

San Diego may be the capital of craft beer … but that’s not the only fermentation creation in town.

The San Diego wine industry is growing with record high sales this past year.

But as North County Reporter Alexander Nguyen says, things might not be as rosé next year.

Industry-wide … sales have been growing for the past two years. According to the San Diego County Vintners Association … county wineries saw about 54-point-5 million dollars in gross sales last year … an 11 percent jump over 2022. That’s also a record high for the industry. Mike Weber is the president of the San Diego County Vintners Association. He’s also the Orfila winery’s finance director. “It was a good year here for Orfila as well. We did grow our staff count by, I think it was three or four.” The Vintners Association Economic Impact report shows that Newer and expanding wineries added nearly 100 jobs last year … a 13 percent increase. Despite year-over-year growth, Weber says there are some challenges for the industry ahead, such as fire insurance. Orfila is now paying 200 percent more for fire insurance than it did a few years ago. AN/KPBS

THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR COULD MEAN THE BEGINNING OF A NEW CAREER FOR SOME STUDENTS AT HIGH TECH HIGH.

THEY HAVE JUST COMPLETED A MONTH-LONG INTERNSHIP DEVELOPING VIDEO GAMES.

EDUCATION REPORTER M.G. PEREZ TELLS US THEIR MENTORS INCLUDE A COUPLE OF THEIR CLASSMATES…AT A SCHOOL WHERE STUDENTS THINK WAY OUTSIDE THE BOX.

“OK, Let’s do one of Pirate’s first lines….Argh! It’s a hot day.” Hands-on …project-based learning …is flourishing with these students who have created huge paper mache bird puppets made with beach balls, hot glue, paint, and bamboo… “Who’s doing the lines of Curly?” …this group of freshmen and sophomore students bring characters to life and act out the storybook titled ODD BIRD. It’s their end-of-the-year project here at Jacobs High Tech High in Point Loma. Down the hall, there’s even more year-end creativity happening… “I think that change makes it much easier to play.” 17-year-old Axel O’Brien…and 18-year-old Lorenzo Ametrano…are graduating seniors who share a passion for computer coding and designing video games…skills they both started learning in elementary school.  They also shared a solution…to the problem of finding an unpaid, 4-week internship, not offered by a family member. It’s a graduation requirement for every student in their junior year. Lorenzo struck out… “Game development has and always will be my passion…and so I emailed and called every single game development company in San Diego County…and they all ghosted me.” He ended up interning for a local architectural firm. His friend Axel was eventually able to find a web-related internship…but together…they wanted to help future High Tech High juniors passionate about programming…and mentor them in meeting their internship requirement ……but there was a short circuit in that plan… says Lorenzo… “We can’t be official mentors since we don’t have that college degree yet…we have the expertise and we’re able to share it…but to fulfill that requirement we had to team up with an organization.” “This is visual video code except it’s running in a browser.” ..they teamed up with The League of Amazing Programmers…a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that teaches coding to kids and teens in 5th through 12th grade. One of the League’s professional programmers has guided the senior duo in their internship program offered to six of High Tech High’s best and brightest students. “So can you tell me, what you’re working on here..and what that is?” Axel says his teaching career is off to a great start. “We ended up covering what we had planned to be two weeks of material in two days.” “Everyone is super enthusiastic and they all bring something to the table.” “We are taking all the skills that we learned and combining them into one large game.” The game is called the Sahara Corporation…a shipping company taken over by A-I controlling robots…except for one remaining loyal human worker named Dave. It’s up to the High Tech High interns to create and code all that happens…for players trying to keep Dave alive when the robots go rogue. “We wanted to design him like a basic human being.” ”I just made a grabbing cosmetic…before Dave’s hand was like this and couldn't move. Now it can close. (she gives thumbs up)” 17-year-old Tiger Reis hopes this internship will inspire his plans for a career in screenwriting… he’s one of Lorenzo’s close friends……getting life lessons…and learning…“He’s totally coming forward and ready to help. It’s cool. We’re still friends…we’re even more friends now.” “I just sit with all the moving parts until I can find a way to put it all together…make it compelling…and have characters go through a journey personally and physically.” In the fall, Alex’s journey takes him to Dartmouth to study computer science …Lorenzo will attend U-S-C for a career in entrepreneurship. “I love having an idea and then seeing it come to life.” This idea will live on…programmed for the future. MGP KPBS News

San Diego Comic-Con is right around the corner. The annual convention runs July 25th to July 28th at San Diego Convention Center.

It’s a huge event. Last year’s con had more than 2,000 hours of programming and 1,000 exhibitors.

All that can make Comic-Con a little hard to navigate.

That’s why KPBS wants to know how you make the most out of the big event. Do you have tips for transportation, parking or the best places to eat? Any tips for finding the best panels to go to?

Go to KPBS dot ORG to share your comic-con hacks. We might use it for a future story.

That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast is produced by Emilyn Mohebbi and edited by Brooke Ruth. We had help this week from editors Joe Guerin and Megan Burke, and web producer Lara McCaffrey. 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 weekend.