Postal workers rally against privatization

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, March 21st.

San Diego postal workers rally against potential job cuts.More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines.

President Donald Trump is calling for major changes to the U-S Department of Education.

A new executive order instructs the Secretary of Education to take all necessary steps to facilitate the department’s closure, and return authority over education to states and local communities.

A full closure would require congressional approval.

Among those reacting to the news is the California Federation of Teachers – the union representing education workers in California.

It calls the executive order “illegal” and says that a super-majority of Americans oppose eliminating the Department of Education.

Another round of community open houses will be held next week by the city of San Diego on proposed trash collection fees.Monday’s event will be at the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park.

And Tuesday’s will be at the Linda Vista Library.

Both are scheduled for 5:30 in the evening.

Under the proposed plan, homeowners would be charged around 50-dollars a month.More open houses are planned for next month.

You can learn more about the potential fees at kpbs-dot-org slash public-matters.

Local transit systems now accept Apple Pay.

San Diego’s M-T-S and the North County Transit District are accepting the mobile form of payment that is now commonly used at many retail businesses.

The option comes as M-T-S recently started enforcing fines for those who don’t pay their fare.

Thursday is expected to be a busy day for the system, with the Padres season opener at Petco Park.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.

Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

Postal workers across the United States held rallies yesterday demanding the Trump administration abandon efforts to privatize the postal service.Reporter John Carroll went to a rally held in mira mesa.

((nats/bullhorn))

That’s the voice of Bob Waterhouse.

He’s the president of the american postal workers union, san diego local. Waterhouse led the rally Thursday morning at the mira mesa post office.

He says the postal service is under attack, like never before, by the Trump administration.

He’s calling on everyone to contact their members of congress and demand the administration keep their hands off the u-s-p-s.

He says if efforts to privatize the service are successful, the consequences will be dire.

“We're trying to stop him from kicking the door to begin with. so we need support from our lawmakers to tell the president and this doge that we need to keep the hands off the postal service and outside from the 650,000 workers that employees and the 169 million people we serve.”

Waterhouse says he and other local unionized postal workers will hold another rally on Sunday at the mira mesa post office.

John Carroll, kpbs news.

Change is in the air and it’s coming at breakneck speed.

Public Matters reporter Amita Sharma spoke to three San Diego congressional reps about what it all means for San diegans.

Congresswoman Jacobs, the Trump administration and Elon Musk have packed in a lot of cuts, layoffs, and orders into the past two months.Break down the impacts of all of this for San Diegans.“Whether it's the immigration raids that we are seeing happen. You know, there was just one last week in City Heights where a man was deported in front of his small kids while he was taking them to school, whether it's the cuts we're seeing to NIH, which is going to have a huge impact to our ability to do research and science at UCSD, at SDSU, at other places. Here in San Diego, we're already seeing prices go up from the uncertainty around tariffs and especially around, you know, the things we need to build housing, like lumber and steel that come from Canada, which, you know, the last thing we need here in San Diego is for our housing costs to go up when we need to be bringing them down.”Congressman Vargas, you're a trained lawyer, a student of history.

Really, how significant is the Trump administration's defiance of that court order to turn around two planes full of alleged Venezuelan gang members last weekend?“Usually when it gets to a court order, the obviously, the government, whomever is in power, doesn't like it, but they abide by it. I mean, that's sort of the separation of powers. That's kind of the game, the rules of the game. But here you see Trump really trying to get to a confrontation with the judiciary. And that's why I think you see even someone as mild mannered as the chief justice saying, hey, you know, that's not what you do. You know, you don't try to impeach the guy. That's a judge. You appeal it. That's the way we've done it for 200 years. But in this instance, you see that Trump really does want to, I think, get to this constitutional issue.”If this all goes to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court rules against the Trump administration, President Trump has said he will abide by a court order. Do you believe him?“No, I don't. I think it's the old, you know, you know, the courts made their decision. Let's see how they enforce it, the old historical rule. So I don't think so. I think he may say, oh, yeah, we're abiding by it, but they don't. I mean, in history, this is a big deal. When you have a president like this thinking he's a king, and you have the Congress sort of sitting on their hands. Not all of us, obviously, we're not, but the People who are in charge of Republicans are. It's very dangerous.”So more on the rule of law and court orders.

Congressman Levin, you spent part of your career as a lawyer.

The Trump administration arrested a green card holder who led some of the pro Palestinian protests at Columbia University last spring and deported a Brown University med school professor to Lebanon.

And now we're getting news that a Georgetown University academic was picked up by masked immigration agents.

What's the message that the public should take from all of this?

“Well, I see it as a huge reversal from where Republicans were just a few years ago, when they were staunchly advocating for the First Amendment, when they were talking about cancel culture and saying that somehow their free speech rights were being impeded at universities and across the country. And clearly now they do not have that same desire to protect free speech for those whose views they disagree with. I was just on the phone earlier today with the daughter of a couple constituents of mine, Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez. They came to the United States in 1989 from Colombia. They were here for 35 years, and they paid their taxes. They never so much as got a speeding ticket for 35 years. Kids, grandkids. And the only mistake they made is they went to their recent immigration appointment, they'd gotten bad legal advice about their status, and they were just deported. These are people who have not committed any kind of crime.”And it seems that the people who are dispensing legal advice are a target.To Congresswoman Jacobs, the Trump administration is going after law firms that have defended its perceived enemies.

One of those law firms is Perkins Coie.

They've got an office here.

What does this mean for the Democratic right of defense?

“I am very concerned that what we are seeing is a systematic dismantling of our rights as citizens, citizens and as people living here in the United States, and a dismantling of the separation of powers, where we have three co equal branches of government. Co equal, but Congress is preeminent. That's why we are Article 1, and we are seeing the Trump administration just completely erode all of what has made American democracy what it is.”

ANCHOR TAG: KPBS also invited Darrell Issa and Scott Peters. Issa did not respond. Peters had a conflict. KPBS receives funding from the grandfather of Sara Jacobs.

A new report shows Chula Vista has issued permits on thousands of high-end homes over the last few years.

But South bay reporter Kori Suzuki says the city isn’t making the same kind of progress when it comes to more affordable housing.

In 2021, Chula Vista set a goal of building eleven thousand new homes by the end of the decade. With more than 40 percent of them aimed at low-income and very-low-income households. 

This week, a new city report found Chula Vista has already surpassed its goals for high-income housing. But is making much slower progress on more affordable homes. 

“It's very discouraging to see the numbers”

Jose Lopez is the San Diego director of the tenants’ rights group ACCE.

“To see that you know the housing that is getting built is housing that is not for the people who actually need the housing.”

City officials say it’s been a tough year to find funding for affordable housing. Stacey Kurz is the city’s director of Housing and Homelessness Services.

“Right now, there has been a lot of changes in that financial landscape. And so, it is much more competitive right now to get funding for affordable housing.”

Kurz says Chula Vista has taken some steps, including tightening its requirements for developers to include affordable units in their projects.

The city has another five years to meet those housing goals.

In Chula Vista, Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.

San Diego is preparing to update an important document called the street design manual.

The goal is to prioritize safety over speed.

But metro reporter Andrew Bowen says when it comes to installing new crosswalks, not much will change.

Walk around San Diego and you'll see them everywhere: No pedestrian crossing signs.

They're often at intersections where people want to cross the street, but where the city wants to discourage it.

The signs can force pedestrians into long detours just to get from one side of the street to the other.

“People are going to cross where it's convenient for them, and the street design should reflect where people are going to cross.”

Laura Keenan founded Families for Safe Streets San Diego after her husband, Matt, was killed by a driver while biking in 2021.

She says no ped crossing signs are a clear example of the city prioritizing cars over pedestrians.

“Pedestrians have just as much right to our streets and sidewalks as everybody else, and we want to make sure that they're staying safe.”

San Diego recently released a draft update to its Street Design Manual.

It has some new guidance on how to design crosswalks.

But it makes no changes to the city's policy on where to install new crosswalks. 

That policy has a complex point system and requires expensive and time consuming traffic studies.

And say a location has a history of drivers hitting pedestrians.

That doesn't matter.

San Diego's official crosswalk policy does not consider crash data.

Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

From the streets to the stadiums, professional soccer in the San Diego-Tijuana border region has come a long way.

Reporter Jacob Aere says a key aspect of that growth has been the rise of the women’s game.

Women’s soccer is having its moment in the San Diego-Tijuana region. With professional teams on both sides of the border and passionate fans. 

17-year-old Melanie Barcenas plays for San Diego Wave FC. 

“Not many people get the opportunity to represent your home team so when you do it, you take full pride in something special. You know, I just have a different connection to this club, this team, this city.”

And that same energy can be found south of the border. Here’s Club Tijuana Femenil Player Mayra Pelayo-Bernal.

“Soccer is really something that brings people together – and how we say here in TJ and Xolos, there's no borders, so we're all one.”

The explosion here is part of a much larger trend … across the world, the women’s game has never been more popular.

But National Soccer Hall of Fame player Shannon Mac Millan says it’s been a long and bumpy ride.

“We were fighting to put women's soccer on the map, we wanted to have a professional league in the US.”

Fighting decades of inadequate opportunities … unequal pay … and blatant sexism.

“At that point I didn't even know we had a US women's national team …so for me I didnt even see it as a vehicle to get me to college. I was just playing because I loved it, it was my time, my release.”

It started with the nationwide passing of Title IX in 1972  ... which prohibits sex discrimination in education programs, including athletics…

That paved the path for young women across the U.S. to play soccer in school … 

… by the late 1980s, the revolution in San Diego had begun. Tali Lerner is President of the San Diego Sirens Supporters Group.

“San Diego throughout the years has had a very big community of women's soccer. From the professional and semi professional teams that we saw here in earlier years, to the rec leagues.”

First came the San Diego WFC SeaLions … an amateur team featuring women who played in college. Mac Millan grew up in that era.

“The SeaLions allowed women that loved and just had an absolute passion for the game but maybe didn't have the opportunity – maybe the timing was wrong – it allowed them to continue to play.”

A decade later, they became a founding member of the Women's Premier Soccer League … still the longest-running active women's soccer league in the United States.

Then came 1999 – a watershed year for women's soccer in San Diego and beyond.

Finally, after the historic World Cup win … the Women's United Soccer Association formed as the first paid-professional league.

In 2001, at Torero Stadium, the San Diego Spirit took the field …

“To now think we’re on a stadium and there's little girls and little boys that are wearing our jerseys and cheering for us …  it’s like … if you see it you can believe it.”

The league only lasted a few years … but  it broke some major barriers. Here is Barcenas again.

“I want girls to know it is possible, because before it wasn't possible.”

Fast forward to 2012 and the National Women's Soccer League was born. This time, it was a women's professional league that was here to stay. Wave FC Player Maria Sanchez says it’s seen a rapid ascent.

“I think every single player can afford to have soccer be their career if they have a contract in the NWSL. I think in Mexico that's still growing.”

Mexico followed five years later with the founding of Liga MX Femenil.

It’s a women's league that's here thanks in large part to relentless advocacy in Tijuana. Pelayo-Bernal says the impact is already fueling a younger generation.

“As the Mexican national team for the womens has grown I think young girls literally saying ‘no, I want to play soccer, no I want to do this, I want to be like her.’”

In 2021, San Diego Wave FC landed north of the border … and has become one of the NWSL’s marquee franchises … they have a devoted following, that's helped to break attendance records.

Until her recent retirement, their star was World Cup champion Alex Morgan. An idol for many … including Barcenas.

“I remember asking her for her jersey at Qualcomm stadium. So to even be able to get the opportunity to share the field with someone you have a jersey of is just incredible. And I don't think it would have happened as fast if we didn't have people like her supporting and fighting for us.”

With thousands of fans cheering on their home teams on both sides of the border… the women's game has plenty of room to run.

Jacob Aere, KPBS News.

ANCHOR TAG: That was the third installment of “Soccer a la Frontera.”

Go to kpbs-dot-org to catch the full series.

San Diego Wave F-C play their first home match of the 2025 season this weekend.

They’ll host the Utah Royals at 7 Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.

The match will be broadcast locally on FOX 5.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 day.