New effort to support San Diego farmers
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, January 24th.
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A new county program aims to help local farmers. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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Members of the California Faculty Association are back to work after reaching a tentative contract agreement with the C-S-U.
The strike by Cal State lecturers, professors, counselors, librarians and coaches ended after one day.
Their union… the California Faculty Association managed to negotiate a tentative agreement, allowing the spring semester to begin.
Grace Liggan is a junior, happy to be back in class at SD-SU.
“The back and forth with classes being cancelled and then not cancelled anymore ..that was a little bit confusing…but if the strike served its purpose Im happy for the teachers.”
The tentative agreement includes a salary increase of 10-percent by July first, an increase in the base salary for the lowest-paid faculty, and an increase in paid parental leave from 6 weeks to 10 weeks.
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There’s another public forum this evening, where San Diegans can give input on what they want in their next chief of police.
The current chief, David Nisleit, is stepping down in June.
Today’s meeting starts at 5-30 P-M, at the Balboa Park Club.
If you can’t make the meeting but still want to share your thoughts, there’s also an online survey where you can share your input.
Search “san diego police chief survey” to find it.
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The annual Farmers Insurance Open at the Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla kicks off today.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 of the top 30 players in the world rankings will play at this year’s golf tournament.
The event is family-friendly, but pets aren’t allowed.
The event runs through Saturday.
Tickets start at 65-dollars and can be purchased at farmers-insurance-open-dot-com-slash-tickets.
Tomorrow, we’ll bring you a story about the open’s public outreach efforts.
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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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Think of what’s well known about our region … the weather, our beaches and fine dining might come to mind.
But did you know we have more than five-thousand farms?
In fact, we have more farms than any other county in the U-S.
In the first of a two-part series, reporter John Carroll tells us about a new effort by the county to support local farmers.
Most farms in san diego county are small operations… between one and nine acres. at 130 acres, rodriguez family farms in valley center is among the larger operations in the county. “we probably grow about 100 different items on our farm.” that’s mike clark… the fourth generation to farm on these picturesque hills. “kind of grew up on the farm. i’m 34, but all this here is grown, and the grower is jr, joe rodriguez, which is my uncle.” this is the slow time of year at rodriguez family farms. there are only about 50 crops in the ground right now. but, this is still a busy place. the day we were there, we saw a tractor tilling the earth, plowing under an old crop of lettuce, while just a few feet away, workers were planting a new crop of lettuce. clark will be the first to tell you… farming is not easy. so, when he heard about the new county effort to help local farmers, he was thrilled. “our costs are extremely high, so this is definitely going to help offset those costs by getting that money directly to the farm.” so, how does it work? for the answer, we turned to county supervisor tara lawson-remer. she was the driving force behind what’s called the sustainable, equitable and local food sourcing program. it launched in early december. tara lawson-remer san diego county supervisor “we’re the county. we’re here to be a partner. it’s millions and millions and millions of dollars of taxpayer money, of san diego taxpayer money we spend every single year.” to be clear, this is not an increase in spending. lawson-remer says the money would be spent anyway. the county buys a lot of food that feeds lots of people… everything from children in school to people in jail. what’s different now is a set of values that the folks who procure food for the county - will have to follow. “there’s a lot of different values that we gave them, but those are really the core ones around equity, and local sourcing and environmental sustainability and workers. and we said okay, now when you put a bid out for procurement, the most competitive bids are going to be the ones //cut to that can show that they treat their workers well. they can show that they have regenerative and organic farming practices that are local.” “it’s very hard to compete with mexico product and product from up north, so for us being able to work directly with these buyers is tremendous. they’re able to respect the fact that our cost is higher, being here in san diego and give us the money directly, that’s huge.” there is more to this new approach than the county and the farmers. tomorrow, we’ll take you to a san diego business that plays an important role in making the program work… here’s kristin kavernland of the foodshed cooperative. “we are multistakeholder, cooperative. we're owned by our workers and by our farmers. and we kind of came together in 2020, a couple of farms to try to collaborate and do emergency food relief during the pandemic.” and we’ll hear from one of mike clark’s relatives who has a unique way of getting out the message about the importance of organic, sustainable farming. “yo, last of a dying breed, protectors of a righteous creed, we need more non-gmo seeds!” yep, he raps about it. you don’t want to miss that! jc, kpbs news.
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Monday’s storm was surprisingly fierce.
The rain flooded parts of the region and even carried away parked cars.
Environment reporter Erik Anderson says it was particularly dangerous in San Diego's Southcrest neighborhood.
The rain that drenched San Diego on Monday created an out-of-control torrent of water in southeast San Diego. Greg Montoya stood outside of his house on Beta Street. Greg Montoya, Southcrest resident “The water came up all the way, until about the four foot mark on the front door. The inside of the house is totally, totaled.” Montoya said the storm soaked his house and destroyed the gate on his chain link fence. “Every neighbor here got completely flooded. As you can see the water was so strong that it washed debris. Couches. It even lifted some cars as you can see.” The brown water raged along the concrete canyon, flowing over its banks. Trees were uprooted, fences were pulled down, and cars got tossed around. Some were dragged into muddy flood waters raging toward San Diego Bay. Liala Aziz shared video of the torrent in southeast San Diego. “You all, do not come down Atkins. Oh my goodness. Look at this car. Ohhhh. Do not come down Atkins in southeast.” The deluge overwhelmed Chollas Creek where houses sit next to the concrete channel. It is exactly the kind of thing Groundwork San Diego has been working to avoid. The group’s Vicki Estrada promotes environmental initiatives that would slow the flow of the creek when storms hit. Vicki Estrada, Groundworks “Chollas creek has many many branches and many of them do have concrete channels. And what happens is the water hits, when the storm water hits the street it goes into the storm drain. Into the concrete channel it wants to go out as quickly as possible.” The deluge came mostly on Monday morning with several inches of rain falling in the space of just a few hours. While homes nestled against the creek suffered, the southcrest recreation center did not. It sits in a wide green park next to the creek and it did not experience flooding like apartments on the other side of the rushing water. I “Look at the fence posts. I mean, for that to happen there’s got to be an awful lot of force. I mean, cars were carried away. Again, because the water was going too fast. And if we have the room, make it wider, slow down the water. It’s not quite as impactful.” The National Weather Service says storms like this are not uncommon in the region, but the intensity of the rainfall got people’s attention. Meteorologist Alex Tardy says San Diego has a long history of flooding but El Nino and climate change played a role. Alex Tardy, National Weather Service “All the climate change is really doing is making it a little more extreme. Sometimes it’s dry. Sometimes it’s wet. Sometimes it’s warm and cold. But it’s exacerbating a condition that’s already in place.” Even though the atmospheric river never actually came ashore, the storm pushed enough rainfall into the county to lift seasonal rainfall totals out of a deficit to just above normal for this time of year. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Julie Kalansky studies the Pacific Storm systems that fed Monday’s deluge. Julie Kalansky, Scripps Institution of Oceanography “Atmospheric rivers can be very beneficial because they bring up to about 50 percent of our precipitation. And we need that. We need water that fills our reservoirs. It’s good for the landscapes. But when they last too long or are too intense in periods, they can be hazardous.” Rain is moving out of the region for a little while. The next storm system is expected in early February. Erik Anderson KPBS News.
TAG: County residents and businesses who experienced flooding damage during Monday’s storm can report the damage through an online survey on the county’s website.
The information gathered will be used to determine if the county should request state and federal assistance.
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The storm didn’t just flood San Diego… it also wreaked havoc in Tijuana, which is especially vulnerable to heavy rain.
Closed roadways and flooded neighborhoods were the norm.
Border reporter Gustavo Solis has this dispatch.
“Mis queridos Tijuanenses muy buenos dias.” That’s Tijuana Mayor Monserrat Caballero. Giving us an update of how Tijuana weathered Monday’s storm. Telling people not to go outside unless they absolutely have to.“Seguimos sugiriendote que si no tienes que salir, no salgas.” Even mild storms can cause dangerous flooding in Tijuana, due to the city’s crumbling infrastructure … that made this storm especially scary. First responders rescued more than 70 people from flash floods. There were also several road closures, downed power lines, and cars swept away by strong currents. Tijuana Firefighter Chief Rafael Carrillo says it’s too early to know the full extent of the damage. That’s because entire neighborhoods lost power and road access – leaving them inaccessible to first responders. “Hay algunas colonias o algunas calles incomunicadas.” Gustavo Solis, KPBS News.
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And before you go… there’s a challenge going on this week to help kids practice acts of kindness.
Now through Friday, not only here in the county, but all across the world, kids are participating in the Great Kindness Challenge.
It was created by the nonprofit organization Kids for Peace, and started out of three schools in Carlsbad, 13 years ago.
Kids for Peace gives kids opportunities to volunteer, learn about other cultures and take care of the earth.
The goal of the challenge is to prevent bullying and create more connection, inclusion and compassion.
Jill McManigal is the co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit.
“The Great Kindness Challenge is all about kids practicing kindness and making it a habit and it’s having this concentrated week of celebration around kindness.”
There’s a checklist on “the-great-kindness-challenge-dot-com,” to help out with ideas for the week.
Some of the kind acts include smiling at 25 people, helping a teacher with a needed task and reading a book to a younger student.
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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, plus, we’ll bring you part two of the story about local farmers. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Wednesday.
