San Diego County’s annual point in-time-homelessness count
Good Morning, I’m Katie Anastas, in for Debbie Cruz. It’s Friday, January 31st.
A look at the annual point-in-time homelessness count in North County.
That’s ahead next. But first, the headlines.
The Association for the City of La Jolla is moving forward with their plans to turn the La Jolla community into its own city.
The San Diego Union Tribune reports that the association submitted a cityhood application to the San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission on Wednesday.
The association raised more than 100 thousand dollars to pay for the application deposit fee and legal fees.
The Union Tribune says in the coming weeks, the association will meet with consultants to gain insights on how to proceed.
Parking meter rates in the City of San Diego are doubling today.
The rate increases from a dollar-25 to 250 per hour for most meters.
The change follows a resolution passed by the city council earlier this week.
The city says the fees help fund the maintenance of transportation infrastructure.
It’s been at least 20 years since parking meter fees have increased in the city.
Thousands of volunteers walked the streets yesterday (Thursday) for this year’s point-in-time count of people who are homeless in the county.
Ketra Carter is the program manager for homelessness strategies and solutions with the city of San Diego.
“This is so important because we need to have a snapshot. We need to understand what is going on within our communities. The populations for which we are serving and the needs that they have and the only way to do that is to collectively do that in one point in time.”
The city says it received about 17 million dollars in federal grants for homelessness this fiscal year.
Coming up, reporter Tania Thorne will take us to North County where she covered the count.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
The number of people experiencing homelessness in the North County has grown and service providers are trying to keep up with the demand for services. The point in time count data that is collected is pivotal for future funding. North County reporter Tania Thorne joined volunteers as they hit the streets yesterday (Thursday).
It’s 4 in the morning… and volunteers at Interfaith Community Services in Escondido are getting ready to head into the streets to connect and speak with as many people experiencing homelessness as possible. The data they’re collecting helps with funding for shelter and supportive services. Interfaith CEO, Greg Anglea says those funds and data are critical. "We provide mental health services through licensed behavioral health clinicians. Those robust wraparound services are really critical to helping people overcome so many challenges that they experience when they're homeless. But they do, they do come at a cost." While there is a need to create more shelter space, Anglea says that just solves a temporary problem. "We also need to work on creating affordable housing for people to move out of shelters into. That's the ultimate solution to homelessness Is housing." The results of the point in time count will come out later this year. Tania Thorne, KPBS News.
The White House lifted a freeze on federal funding Wednesday. But as Public Matters reporter Amita Sharma says, the reversal left researchers on edge.
It’s been a stressful and chaotic 48 hours for researchers at UC San Diego. They interpreted the Trump Administration’s pause on federal grants Monday as a shock and awe effort meant to warn them that the direction of their work could be changed or stopped altogether. And that’s why UC San Diego infectious disease doctor Davy Smith says he and his colleagues are greeting the reversal to the spending freeze cautiously…and critically. “Is it a show of power that I can do this? Is it a show of putting you on notice? Is it a distraction from something else? I don't really know,” UC San Diego received about one billion dollars in federal funding last year. Smith says the university is one of the top institutions in the country, making strides in cancer treatments, vaccines, AI and health technology. UC San Diego public health scientist Rebecca Fielding Miller says this week’s federal funding saga has some of her colleagues and students rethinking their careers. “Seeing this ongoing push and pull is really Concerning for folks who are early in their career.” Next time, she hopes there’s a “bi-partisan, constitutional” process with input from scientists. Amita Sharma, KPBS News.
The Trump administration is attempting to ramp up immigration enforcement to fulfill the president's signature campaign promise.
The push has raised concerns about accountability, enforcement tactics, and the impact on local communities right here in San Diego.
Border reporter Gustavo Solis spoke with John Carroll to break down the latest developments.
ICE arrests nationwide skyrocketed this week. We've seen agents targeting migrants in Chicago, New York, and Miami. Gustavo, can you give us details on the nature of the raids and what is, if anything, is happening here in San Diego? Well, as you mentioned, the raids are happening all over, but they're hard to track, hard to verify. ICE isn't being super transparent. And as you probably know, there's a lot of concern and news and a lot of misinformation being floated out there of raids that aren't really raids and things like that. But I think for context, the numbers are significant. Right at the tail end of the Biden administration, ICE averaged about 100 to 200 arrests a month. The Trump administration is doing way more than that in a single day, some days close to 1000 arrests. So that increase is legitimate, and we have seen it in the numbers. What we haven't seen is the arrests translate to deportations. So that hasn't happened quite yet. Deportations take time. You gotta go through a court process. They are getting a lot of people right now, and some have been controversial, I should say. The rhetoric from the White House is that they're targeting hardened criminals, convicted felons. Even just in the first week out of New Jersey, they arrested a veteran who's a U.S. Citizen. So there are a lot of innocent folks getting caught in the net. And I saw somewhere that we have had some in San Diego. Is that right? Yeah, yeah. It's hard to verify which, like, how many and which ones are legitimate. But there was a video out of Escondido in the north county of a woman who refused to open the door for an ICE agent, exercised her rights to ask for a warrant. They did not have a warrant signed for it, signed by a judge. So they did not enter that building. So we've also heard about how the Justice Department is ordering federal prosecutors to investigate state or local officials who they believe are interfering with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. How have San Diego officials reacted to that bit of news? I did speak with some folks from the city attorney's office who said they are in conversations with their counterparts in other cities and counties throughout California. They're talking to the state attorney general who was actually here last week. So we asked Rob Bonta about that, keeping tabs on it. You know, he says that they're willing to protect the citizens and the municipalities of California. And right now, the Justice Department, it's just a threat from the Trump administration. They haven't followed up. They haven't identified which specific law local officials would be breaking. So I think it's a wait and see. Let's see how much of this is actual policy and how much of this is just, you know, threatening hot air political rhetoric. Now, as you've reported, officials in Tijuana have said they're prepared for an influx of deportees. Is there anything new to report on what's happening there? Officials in Tijuana say they are prepared. Folks that run migrant shelters have a different opinion and say they aren't as prepared as they're letting on. Our colleague Matt Bowler, over the weekend went to Tijuana to take a tour of the facility. It does look very nice. I think they had room for close to 2,500 people there. But like I said, we haven't seen the mass deportations yet. So the system in Tijuana hasn't been tested. So it'll be curious to see if and when those start, how long the system will be able to take it until it's overwhelmed. So I know this is asking a bit of a crystal ball type question, but what might we be expecting from the Trump administration in the days ahead? Something I'm keeping an eye out for is what happens when some of these orders are challenged in court. Right, Because Trump can announce them, he can begin implementing them, but they can be stopped before they even get started. The birthright citizenship was a good one, right? A federal judge. Actually, he was a Reagan appointed judge out of Seattle. Stopped that one right there. There are groups like the ACLU who have already filed some lawsuits and some of the other orders. So it'll be interesting to see how they play out in the court and just how much of Trump's agenda can be implemented and how much of it is just stopped before it even got started. Gustavo Solis, thank you so much. Thank you.
That was John Carroll speaking with border reporter Gustavo Solis.
At least five fires have forced evacuations and displaced families across San Diego county in the last week alone. Health reporter Heidi De Marco says that for people with Alzheimer's or other forms of cognitive decline, the chaos of an evacuation can be especially overwhelming.
Kaiser psychiatrist Sarah Simmons says an emergency can worsen dementia symptoms. Signs to watch out for include changes in sleep, increased pacing, or wandering. “They might be eating less or drinking less. They might be more irritable with the people that help them. They might be suspicious of new people.” Being in an unfamiliar environment can also cause confusion. “So you put them in a place like a shelter where there's chaos, there's noise, there's lights…it can really throw a person with dementia off and create that agitation or that anxiety or that feeling of overwhelm.” Simmons says a calm approach and simple communication can help. “So, for example, things like you are safe, I am staying with you, we will be together.” Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.
The city has a new poet laureate. Arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans introduces us to San Diego’s latest official literary artist.
Paola Capó-García is the city of San Diego’s third poet laureate since the program began in 2020. A former journalist and educator, she most recently taught high school English at High Tech High Media Arts. Now, she trains future educators at High Tech High's Graduate School of Education. As a teacher — and as poet laureate — she aims to make poetry more accessible. "Poetry has a way of winning anyone over if you are exposing them to anything beyond their misconception or stereotype of poetry. If you're showing them that a poem can look and feel and sound like anything. That there's humor in poetry. That decoding a poem can feel like a game that you do with friends … right? Analyzing all those writerly decisions in community can be a really beautiful experience to show people, this is what poetry is." Capó-García begins her two-year term with an inaugural reading and panel discussion at the San Diego Central Library on February 18. Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS news.
Earlier this month, Lips celebrated 25 years as San Diego’s drag palace. Arts and culture reporter Beth Accomando looks back on some of its history and its activism.
Pass through the double doors of Lips San Diego, and enter another dimension. “Once you get in here, it looks like a drag queen threw up in here.” “Whatever this is, I love it. Chucky cheese for adults.” “Lips is an experience. It's a destination.” “Lips is an escape. You can leave everything outside once you cross our double doors and just give yourselves over to the place.” The place vibrates to music played at full blast11 and is covered in so much glitter that the term gaudy pales under the brightly colored lights bouncing off multiple disco balls. Tootie has been thriving in this sensory overload since Lips began, serving as show coordinator. “For me, 25 years means an incredible amount of fun and fabulous work. It means an incredible wealth of goodwill between the audience and my cast. It means that we've created something that we can all be proud of.” Lips was born out of the club culture of the late '80s, early '90s. Its first location was New York City followed by San Diego where it first opened in Bankers Hill. San Diego at that time, it was a small town playing dress-up. But Lips raised the bar, eventually moving to its current home on El Cajon Blvd. “Lips is what I consider one of the jewels on the Boulevard. We have lines outside every night. We have limousines pulling up here. That was not this neighborhood before. So Lips has transformed this part of the boulevard.” “We've got more queens than Europe, let me tell you.” Earlier this month mayor Todd Gloria attended the Lips birthday party and paid tribute to both the establishment and what it stands for. “To this day, our drag performers are our best ambassadors. They are the folks who take a bridal party and turn them into the fiercest LGBTQ advocates you've ever, ever met.” That’s because Lips offers more than just dinner and a drag show, says general manager Sean MacArthur. “It's a bit of a gateway into each and every person that comes here and sits in the chair and opens themselves up to the experience. As I tell everybody, nobody leaves unhappy here.” And that’s part because drag queens know how to entertain. “We do a lot of comedy here at Lips. And so I think that people drop a lot of their walls and barriers because of the comedy.” “I think it's a good way for people to interact and come and visit and get a taste of the queer or trans experience.” Lolita Von Tease has been performing at Lips for ten years. She first came in as a 16 year old customer discovering drag for the first time. “I am very lucky to work at a place where when I come into work, I know that I'm going to leave feeling better about myself and everything going on in my life.” Paris Sukomi Max has been with Lips for 18 years and always ends her brunch show with a question. “I just ask that if you enjoyed our show this morning, please remain an ally to our community all year long…And every time I say that, everybody's standing up in applause for it. And the cheer at that very end of that show gives me goosebumps.” But then drag itself is a form of activism adds Tootie, who stuns in a purple off the shoulder mini-dress and a wig that adds inches to her height. “Stepping out of the house looking like this is activism. I mean, I am confronted immediately, and the public is confronted immediately with who I am on the inside. I think that it's part of our thing. We live openly and honestly and authentically, and that is activism.” And that’s part of Lips’ history. “Just our visibility as a company in itself is activism and showing folks that at the end of the day, we're just entertainers doing our thing and representing for our community. It's not as scandalous as folks think it is.” So make a point to stop by Lips not just to celebrate a quarter century of entertainment but also its legacy of activism. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
Lips is open daily for drag dining with a dragalicious brunch on Saturdays and gospel brunch on Sundays.
San Diego Restaurant week wraps up this Sunday.
More than 100 local eateries are participating in the week-long event.
One restaurant participating in the countywide event is Temaki Bar, a sushi restaurant in Encinitas.
Sebastian Sevilla is the executive chef there. He shares how to get the most out of the variety of dining experiences.
“Enjoy yourself. Sit down with the open mind, you know. Don't go in with an expectation, expect nothing, and experience it for what it is. You're there for each restaurant to put their best foot forward.”
For a list of participating restaurants go to san diego restaurant week dot com .
That’s it for the podcast today. This week’s podcast episodes were produced by Brenden Tuccinardi, Elaine Alfaro and Lara McCaffrey. It’s edited by Brooke Ruth. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org.
I’m Katie Anastas. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
