vosdpodcastnetwork201707

SD101: A Short History of San Diego Politics

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 12:00:00 GMT

Episode 6

We're going to go back about 18 years — roughly when the region's newest voters were being born. In this episode of SD101, we'll guide you through the scandals that shaped San Diego, explain how the region's leadership shifted from predominantly Republican to Democrat and share tales of those who have risen to power and shaped the region.

This episode features VOSD's Scott Lewis, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher and San Diego City Councilman Chris Cate.

Learn more at sd101.org

Support the project at vosd.org/give

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Our Favorite Immunologist Explains Omicron

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 22:55:19 GMT

Shane Crotty, a lead researcher at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology, has helped us out here on the VOSD Podcast throughout the pandemic.

He laid out the science of COVID vaccines when they were new. He explained the Delta variant as it swept the country. And this week, he’s back in an interview with Scott Lewis to talk about Omicron — the latest variant that demonstrates, as Crotty put it, “this virus is more clever than most anyone expected.”

The interview starts around minute 33 of the podcast.

Also: The hunt for San Diego Unified's next superintendent. And a court ruling puts the Midway area's future in jeopardy.

Support VOSD — and this podcast — today! Give at vosd.org/podcast2021

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A Roadtrip to the New City Council President

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 19:54:33 GMT

Buckle up and grab a snack. We're hitting the road.

This week, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña are taking you on a drive through the week's local news.

We start at the bathroom shortage the city says it'll fix by putting one within five minutes of anyone downtown. Then, we're on the roads of SANDAG and some major hiccups the transportation agency is having to finalize its plan by year's end. And finally, we arrive at the the San Diego City Council chambers, where this week, Councilmember Jen Campbell was replaced as president by Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera.

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SD101: The Housing Crisis

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 12:00:00 GMT

You’ve probably noticed that San Diego is a really expensive place to live. The city has a large homeless population, the cost of rent eats away our paychecks, and for most people, buying a home is out of reach.

For years, we’ve been hearing about the housing crisis in San Diego and throughout the state of California. But how has it gotten so bad?

In the latest episode of our San Diego 101 series, we're going to explain how we got here — and how a long legacy of racist housing policies made the crisis worse for communities of color. Plus, we're going to build some affordable housing right here in the podcast.

Learn more at sd101.org

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Death Records Show How COVID Hit Communities Differently

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 20:50:15 GMT

Last year, Voice of San Diego sued the County of San Diego to get death records for local residents who died directly or indirectly from COVID-19.

A few months ago, we won.

Since then, a team of reporters has blazed through thousands of these records to assemble the data and reveal trends — to show the true impact of COVID, how our region works for different populations and who was most affected by the pandemic. Reporter Will Huntsberry joins the show this week to share the insights.

Also: Scott on football drama and Andrea on sidewalk vendors.

Join us! Our year-end fundraising campaign is on now. If you support the show now, your gift will be matched. Head to: vosd.org/podcast2021

We appreciate all our listeners and supporters.

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Friendsgiving

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 20:51:18 GMT

This week on a special Friendsgiving edition of the show, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña are joined by local journalists Alain Stephens and Cristina Kim to talk about happy holiday things like bathrooms, racist deeds and guns. Happy Thanksgiving!

Follow Cristina @Cristinakim830

Follow Alain @AlainStephens

Support the show at vosd.org/give

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The Fight for Representation Is in Redistricting

Fri, 19 Nov 2021 21:57:57 GMT

This week, we jump into the fray of redistricting and discuss how new changes in the city’s population affect how people are represented in politics. Plus: Palm trees, a park tax and a new trolley line.

Support this podcast by sharing it with a friend! Send them to vosd.org/pod

Or tag us on social media @voiceofsandiego

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SD101: City Versus County Government

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 12:00:00 GMT

Episode 4

Local government can get complicated. But there's one major distinction you need to understand in order to follow it all: the difference between the city government and the county government.

In this episode, we spoke with a few government experts to help us understand what the city does, what the county does, who the representatives are for each — and what you need to know to make it work for you. Let's roll some School House Rock music!

Learn more at vosd.org/sd101

Support the SD101 project at vosd.org/give

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The Most Ambitious Climate Plan Ever Still Isn't Enough

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 22:35:15 GMT

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria released a draft of the city’s updated Climate Action Plan — with an ambitious new target of net zero emissions by 2035.

This week, we look back at the previous Climate Action Plan, which didn’t do all it set out to do. And now, even if the city does everything outlined in its new, super ambitious plan, it still falls short of its own goal.

Plus: Public comments and their place in democracy. And the Great Resignation hits San Diego schools and parks.

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Here's How Many Toxins We're Allowed to Breathe

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 21:21:33 GMT

San Diego’s Air Pollution Control District is forcing industries to reduce cancer risk in San Diego.

There was a major change this week in how many canceer-causing toxins local industries were allowed to spew in the air. We sat down with environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer to talk about what goes into these standards, what local industries had to do to alert residents of the risks and what changes are coming.

And a San Diego-based nonprofit Saved in America says they save people from human trafficking. But do they?

Follow all our big stories and investigations with our newsletters: vosd.org/newsletters

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SD101: How Redistricting Shapes Your Community

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Episode 3

Throughout San Diego – and across the country – there are lots of meetings happening, in which communities are talking about how they can maximize the power of their vote by creating new maps.

This is because every 10 years all sorts of political entities from cities to school districts to state legislatures go through a process called redistricting.

In this episode of San Diego 101, we're going to explain how this process works, who's drawing the maps, and how normal people get sucked into the process to harness political power.

Learn more at vosd.org/sd101

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Rep. Scott Peters' Big Moment

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 19:15:07 GMT

San Diego Rep. Scott Peters is in front of an enormous choice. It's one that could sway one of the most consequential legislative dramas in decades that includes tax credits, child care and education, climate change and — importantly — pharmaceuticals.

This week on the show, we wonder: What is the point of Peters? This choice could determine that.

Plus: St. Louis got a billion dollars when it lost its football team. What did San Diego get?! And we look ahead to 2022 ballot measures starting to take shape.

Check out all our newsletters at vosd.org/newsletters

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It's All About Law and Justice

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 19:56:00 GMT

This year, we dedicated our annual local news summit to: law and justice. Politifest 2021 happened this week and it was full of great, though sometimes difficult, conversations about surveillance, criminal sentencing, the trauma of incarceration and more.

This week, we're giving you the short and sweet summaries of a few panels. And we'll discuss some of the most crucial moments that spotlight how directly law enforcement can shape society.

Plus: A local labor leader got money he wasn't supposed to and the CDC and New York Times are wrong about San Diego's vaccination rates.

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SD101: Who Polices the Police

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Episode 2 of VOSD's new series

Warning: This episode mentions suicide and contains graphic descriptions of killings by police officers.

In light of several highly-publicized killings by police officers in recent years, more and more people have started demanding change to how law enforcement do their job and how they interact with society. Cops have the ability and authority to take life. So, who keeps them accountable? We'll explain that and what you need to know now about the state of law enforcement and police reform.

Learn more at sd101.org

Support SD101 at vosd.org/give

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Another City Real Estate Deal Doesn't Measure Up

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 19:48:24 GMT

Four years ago, former mayor Kevin Faulconer signed a lease for the city to take over a warehouse in Kearny Mesa where crews could repair fire trucks. No fire trucks have been repaired there ever.

And now, the city wants to spend $15 million to rebuild the facility it may never own. This week, we discuss all we know that's gone wrong so far.

Plus: Redistricting drama is heating up. One commissioner resigned abruptly this week as the once-a-decade process to draw political maps is upon us.

Hang out with your new favorite podcast at vosd.org/101podcast

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It's a Raid

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 19:52:32 GMT

There was a major development this week in one of the most dramatic stories VOSD has followed the last couple years. Say it with me: 101 Ash St.

On Tuesday, VOSD’s Lisa Halverstadt broke the news that district attorney investigators were raiding the offices of Hughes Marino, Cisterra Development and the home of Jason Hughes.

Halverstadt joins the podcast to recap all the steps that led us to this week — and where things may go next.

Plus: San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s quest to kill the People’s Ordinance.

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New Podcast Alert!

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 11:00:00 GMT

We're excited to share our newest show we think you'll really like: San Diego 101.

We adapted our popular video series by the same name for podcast feeds. These stories are all new and each episode is made to teach something new about how the San Diego region works.

Episode 1. Your Role In Local Government

Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts: vosd.org/101podcast

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Homelessness in San Diego Is Like a Rubik’s Cube

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 21:53:19 GMT

This week, VOSD's Adriana Heldiz saw a large-scale operation by the city of San Diego to clean a homeless camp that had been growing for months in the Midway District; it recently grew so large it was spilling into the street, according to the city.

Staff loaded tents and tons of belongings into a trash truck to try and sort out the area. Officers offered shelter to the people living there and cited those who rejected the offers.

It put a spotlight on a lot of the issues at play for one of the region's biggest problems: homelessness. This week, we talk with Heldiz and VOSD's Lisa Halverstadt about what's going on with homelessness right now.

Plus: The video that got Mayor Todd Gloria in trouble this week.

Subscribe to our new San Diego 101 podcast! The trailer is out now. Subscribe to "San Diego 101" wherever you listen. And tell your friends. vosd.org/101podcast

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The Water (Rate) Is Rising

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 19:12:10 GMT

It's expensive to live in San Diego. You know this already. But it's about to get worse.

As housing prices balloon, another basic need is getting costly: water. This week, we reported that the San Diego County Water Authority predicts the cost of water could swell up to 10 percent starting in 2023.

Scott and Andy review everything you need to know about San Diego water and these rate hikes. And in the second half of the show, the latest San Diego Housing Commission drama and why it matters for the local housing crisis.

Check out San Diego 101: How We Get Our Water vosd.org/sd101

Support VOSD and our future at vosd.org/give

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The 101 Ash St. Dumpster Fire Just Got Hotter

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 21:11:51 GMT

Buckle up, folks. There's another major revelation in the 101 Ash St. saga this week. (That segment starts around minute 30 in the episode if you're antsy.)

It turns out the city's real estate adviser, Jason Hughes, got paid about $9.5 million dollars (as a volunteer) for the deals he facilitated. The scoop this week by VOSD's Lisa Halverstadt was that Hughes made an agreement with Cisterra Development (the city's eventual landlord) to earn a profit off the deals or be held financially accountable if they fell apart.

Also this week: Some cops refuse to get vaccinated. A vaccine expert gets real about the Delta variant. And a local hotelier makes a splash at the Elizabeth Holmes trial.

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Bonus: ‘You’re Either Vaccinated or You’re Going to Catch Delta’

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Shane Crotty and his team at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology have been studying viruses for a long time. We wanted to talk to him again.

He first joined our podcast in March when vaccines were first becoming available and we knew a lot less. Now, after a few months and a few major variants of the virus, we have new questions. Like, why is Delta so much worse? Is it OK to go to concerts and ball games? What’s the deal with booster shots? Crotty and host Scott Lewis get into it.

The post from March: voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/bonus-podcast-its-all-a-race-interview-with-an-immunologist

Keep up with the region's most important news at vosd.org/newsletters

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Total Recall

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 19:12:20 GMT

This is our last podcast before the recall election on Sept. 14.

So let's review the candidate we know most about: former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer. On the show, Scott and Andy review Faulconer's trajectory over the last few months and how that squares with his mayoral tenure. Also, we discuss his weird ballot title.

Plus: The city and county struggle with COVID-19 testing for homeless residents.

Check out our recap of the Faulconer Administration here: voiceofsandiego.org/faulconer

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School Is Back! And so Is the Schools Guide

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 23:19:42 GMT

This week, San Diego Unified — the largest school district in the region — opened up for in-person classes.

Also back this week is our Parent's Guide to San Diego Schools. It's a tool we furnish every year to help parents make informed decisions for their kids' education. In this episode we preview an uncertain school year and highlight the biggest stories from the guide. Check out the guide at vosd.org/schools

And the drama keeps coming for the county Board of Supervisors. This week, there was tension involving the locally beloved Bitchin' Sauce and a vote to declare misinformation a public health crisis. See our podcast on the local company here: voiceofsandiego.org/topics/economy/i-made-it-in-san-diego-the-battle-behind-a-familys-secret-sauce

Support the Parent's Guide and all our work at vosd.org/donate

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The Mayor's List of San Diego Specials

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 10:50:00 GMT

A couple years ago, then-Assemblyman Todd Gloria wrote an op-ed for VOSD. In it, he coined the term "San Diego Special." We immediately became obsessed.

Its definition is rough but essentially aims to label a persistent problem in local government that should be solvable but has stuck around due to lack of vision or leadership. Think vacation rentals, the Convention Center expansion or scooters.

Now, as mayor, Gloria joins the podcast to discuss these very regionally-specific obstacles. He came prepped with a list of his top-five San Diego Specials to compare to our own.

Read all about San Diego Specials at vosd.org/specials

Thank you to everyone who's joined our fundraising campaign this week! If you haven't donated yet, now's your chance. Support this show and all our reporting at vosd.org/give

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Police and Public Health Falsehoods

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 20:44:26 GMT

This week, we're giving you a comprehensive look at the years-long case of Fridoon Nehad, the man who was shot and killed by a police officer in 2015. Since the start, this case has been marked by secrecy and misinformation. Now, we think we have the full story.

Plus: Public comments got wild at a Board of Supervisors meeting and schools are already scrambling to keep up with COVID-19 cases.

Scott wrote something about Sara this week. Here it is.

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The Sheriff Department's Crazy Week

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:34:55 GMT

It has been quite a week for the San Diego County sheriff.

Sheriff Bill Gore and his team are getting backlash from across the country after they shared a video of a deputy they claimed overdosed from fentanyl simply by encountering it.

The thing is, toxicologists say that’s impossible.

That's not the only reason the agency is experiencing blowback. The sheriff told San Diego police last month they could resume booking people accused of misdemeanors into local jails, but they wouldn’t tell us what crimes can get you booked into jail.

And finally, this all comes out after the sheriff announced he wouldn’t be running for re-election and a bunch of prominent Democrats pounced on the chance to endorse his chosen successor.

Hosts Scott Lewis, Sara Libby and Andrew Keatts explain why that happened and more on this week's VOSD Podcast.

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COVID Cases — and Mandates — Are Climbing

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 20:51:17 GMT

Not long ago, we were all obsessing over the state-mandated tier system. If were were still in the days of tiers, San Diego would be in the most restrictive purple tier, which mainly allowed only outdoor activities. Oh, how far we've come. And also kind of not.

This week, we discuss the state of COVID in the region, our case for county data and new mandates for vaccines.

Plus: San Diego Housing Commission Cliffs Notes and a ballot measure for parks and libraries.

Follow all our stories and takes on local news with The Morning Report: vosd.org/newsletters

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A Better Way to View Test Scores

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 19:35:08 GMT

Standardized testing has long been derided as an imperfect way to measure a school’s performance. But it’s a metric that’s easy to access and easy to understand.

This week, education reporter Will Huntsberry explains a new metric for understanding and evaluating test scores. It takes into account poverty levels, a crucial factor that heavily influences a school’s test scores.

Plus: Climate change, local vaccination requirements and city real estate problems can't stop, won't stop.

Find Will's newsletter, The Learning Curve at vosd.org/newsletters

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Bad Infrastructure Is Killing Cyclists

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 19:06:00 GMT

It’s been a devastating month for San Diego cyclists — four have lost their lives after being hit by drivers. The most recent was this week, when a driver hit and killed a bicyclist on Pershing Drive.

KPBS's Andrew Bowen (@acbowen) joins the show this week to talk about the state of bike safety in the region, where and why safety plans are failing and the sacrifices needed to achieve the city’s “Vision Zero” goal, which is to have zero traffic-related deaths by 2025.

Plus: The deal with former mayor Kevin Faulconer's recall ballot title and the San Diego city attorney's hands-off approach to infractions.

Keep up with all of our stories and investigations with The Morning Report: Get it at vosd.org/newsletters

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It's Weird Out There for Restaurants and Recalls

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 19:00:00 GMT

The city is coming for all those fancy outdoor dining structures. Or is it? We'll discuss what's really going on with those structures that happen to have a wonderful name in local political circles.

Plus, a sudden local political resignation fits into a larger trend. From various local school boards, the failed effort to recall San Diego City Council President Jen Campbell and even the recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom, tensions over how and when to reopen seem to be driving conflict.

Keep up with all our local news coverage with the Morning Report: vosd.org/newsletters

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Are you involved in local government as an elected official or passionate citizen? Then we want to hear your origin story! Tell us how you got started as part of a new special project from VOSD. voiceofsandiego.org/originstory

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Meet the New Community College Chief

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 18:51:32 GMT

Carlos Turner Cortez was on the job for one day when VOSD education reporter Will Huntsberry called him up for an interview.

Cortez's new gig is chancellor for the San Diego Community College District — overseeing roughly 100,000 students and 8,000 employees. This week on the VOSD Podcast, Cortez lays out the state of the district at the tail end of a pandemic and some big ideas he has for serving the most vulnerable San Diegans through community college.

Plus: The latest on 101 Ash St. and police oversight.

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Everything We Know About 101 Ash Street

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:09:42 GMT

This week, we explain the 101 Ash Street saga from the beginning and why it matters.

*****

In January, VOSD’s Lisa Halverstadt wrote a long piece on the role Jason Hughes, a commercial real estate broker, had in the mess the city has faced related to 101 Ash St., the building it was never able to move employees into.

Hughes had been an unpaid volunteer advising mayors going back to Bob Filner and helping the city renegotiate leases. But he also helped the city lease two large towers, 101 Ash St. and Civic Center Plaza.

This week, we learned Hughes had, at some point, stopped being a volunteer and had instead gotten one of the most lucrative commercial real estate gigs in the city: representing the city itself. He revealed it himself. The company that bought the two buildings so that the city could lease them from it paid him $9.4 million.

He revealed it because the city attorney was about to make public the results of its subpoenas and new lawsuits meant to unravel the two deals based on the theory that Hughes had violated state conflict-of-interest laws and thus the lease-to-own arrangements were void.

It’s all very complex. We have two important pieces on it: Why what then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer knew matters and how we wouldn’t know any of this without asbestos.

And now, we now have this podcast.

Bonus: Housing Is Everything for California's Big Cities

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 22:38:36 GMT

Housing dominates California politics. It will shape big cities like San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco this year and in the future.

Josh Stephens is the author of a book dedicated to this issue, "The Urban Mystique," which focuses on the potential of such cities — what they are and what they could be — through the lens of housing and development.

Host Andy Keatts interviewed Stephens at an event put on by the San Diego-Tijuana Urban Land Institute. The folks at ULI were kind enough to lend us the audio of that discussion for this bonus ep.

Keep up with all our housing stories with The Morning Report: vosd.org/morning

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The Homelessness Crisis Is Still a Crisis

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 18:14:41 GMT

Homelessness in San Diego is officially “near crisis level.”

We’ve been calling it a "crisis" for a while now, but new reporting lays out how big the problem really is — and how much money local leaders are ready to throw at it.

Plus: The debate over how to implement police oversight and another local defection from the GOP.

Send Scott your receipts! He wants to see whatever "pandemic surcharges" restaurants are pushing these days. Send 'em to scott@vosd.org or on Twitter @vosdscott.

Thank you to all who gave during our most recent campaign! We appreciate you all. If you missed your chance, become a member anytime at vosd.org/donate (plus you'll get access to Scott and Andy's Politics Report).

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Big Questions for the Reopened World

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 21:30:07 GMT

Now that the state has officially reopened, it’s time to look forward.

On this week’s VOSD Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Sara Libby go through several questions looming for the second half of the year.

Schools will be open in the fall, but how many students will choose to stay home, and why? Every elected government agency is redrawing the lines for voters, which will have big impacts for upcoming local races. Speaking of upcoming races, how will the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom ultimately shake out? Finally, the mayor says homelessness may get more visible soon. How long are we talking?

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About That Housing Plan

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 18:33:19 GMT

We need more housing. A lot, lot more.

This week, the San Diego City Council approved changes to a housing plan it submitted to comply with a state housing law. San Diego was the first city to go through the process this cycle, which attracted interest across the state.

On the show, we review what happened the last time the city went through this process, how those numbers actually shook out (spoiler: not great) and some glaring issues with the plan.

Plus: The latest at Lincoln High, what's up with redistricting and three reasons to party on June 15.

Watch our video that breaks down redistricting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoZ5xFkdW8g&ab_channel=VoiceofSanDiego

And here's our panel about what it could mean for communities: https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/politifest-2020/redistricting-for-our-community/

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Lincoln Fight Escalates While the Campbell Recall Fizzles

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 20:02:00 GMT

On Thursday afternoon, as we sat down to record this podcast, a proverbial grenade was lobbed into our virtual podcast studio in the form of this letter.

School Board Trustee Sharon Whitehurst-Payne released the letter in response to San Diego City Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe’s own letter from a few weeks ago requesting answers about Lincoln High.

This week, we read the letter with fresh eyes and unpack its implications. Plus: A whole heap of housing politics.

Read Scott's take on the letter here: voiceofsandiego.org/nonfeature/school-board-member-escalates-war-of-words-over-lincoln-high

Keep up with Capitol news, politics our daily news takes and more! Subscribe to your interests at our newsletter hub: vosd.org/newsletters

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Three Investigations in One Podcast

Fri, 28 May 2021 18:13:29 GMT

This week, we discuss the response to a San Diego city councilwoman's open letter about the troubles at Lincoln High. And we’ve got three major investigations to unspool about about potential fraud at Volunteers of America, conflicts of interest with the San Diego Housing Commission and harassment at a local university.

Keep up with all our investigations with The Morning Report: vosd.org/morning

Catch our explainer series, San Diego 101: vosd.org/sd101

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On Records and Retweets

Fri, 21 May 2021 22:48:19 GMT

This week, we discuss a public records failure by San Diego Unified, a high-profile callout of Lincoln High and some spicy public agency Twitter drama.

School up on the region with San Diego 101: vosd.org/sd101

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City Could Dash Outdoor Dining

Fri, 14 May 2021 19:30:59 GMT

A lot of parking spots were taken away last year when the city of San Diego let restaurants move their business outside temporarily to keep customers around safely.

Now that we're moving to an increasingly maskless and virus-less region, what's the deal with those patio structures? This week, we discuss the mixed messaging that's coming from the city on the structures' future.

Plus: The latest on 101 Ash St., Cindy Marten's new job is official and other local news.

Watch San Diego 101 – A user's guide to the region: vosd.org/sd101

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Fraud, Facial Recognition and Bears, Oh My!

Fri, 07 May 2021 21:14:32 GMT

The recall election truly earned the criticism this week that the effort is a circus.

One San Diegan in the race, John Cox, is pushing some wild tactics that feature an actual bear. The other San Diegan running is former Mayor Kevin Faulconer, a key player in a new investigation by Voice of San Diego.

This week, we talk the race, the investigation and a story of potential fraud at a powerful charity.

Plus: San Diego 101 is back! We'll break down the latest series of explainers and how you can use it to learn about the region — and change it.

Watch them all at voiceofsandiego.org/sd101

Tell us what you want to know at voiceofsandiego.org/contact

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Rehashing the Recall

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 19:21:11 GMT

The recall is on.

Enough signatures have been gathered to trigger an election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, likely sometime in November, just before the next gubernatorial election in 2022. This week, we review the mechanics of a statewide recall election, like what you'll see on the ballot and how you'll be able to vote.

Plus: Andy Keatts tells the story of the rise of Reform California, a conservative political advocacy group.

Keep up with all our political coverage with the Politics Report: vosd.org/politics

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A Closer Look at the Police Budget

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 18:20:50 GMT

Last week, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria released his proposed budget for the city's next fiscal year.

Since then, Scott, Andy and Sara — along with a lot of other folks in the city — have been digging into it to suss out where the mayor stands on police and other major city services. This week, we're getting in to the police funding argument.

Plus: Rent relief money could get left on the table. High Tech High is set to unionize. And... a new rendering! (Check it out here.)

Watch our recent members event unpacking the city budget at vosd.org/events

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Teacher and Police Pay Under the Microscope

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 19:48:31 GMT

This week, we review some of the latest efforts by elected officials to change policing, from budgets to bills. Plus: Schools are back! And the Convention Center is changing as much as the rest of us.

Keep up with all our investigations and news analysis with The Morning Report: vosd.org/morning

Join us Wed., April 12 for a happy hour to discuss the San Diego city budget: vosd.org/events

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Weber Won and Measure C Sort of Did Too

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 20:03:00 GMT

Akilah Weber is poised to clinch the 79th Assembly District seat vacated by her mother, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, and become the newest state legislator. We're going to conduct a postmortem on this special election (the rules of which we learned in real time) and how some nasty politics shook out leading up the vote.

Plus: Next week marks the start of what will totally catch on as “The Great Reopening.” June 15 is gonna be a big deal. And Measure C is back.

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What's Grinding Our Gears

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 21:10:00 GMT

On this week's podcast, Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Sara Libby ran down three items in the news that were pushing their buttons.

First: Several local Republican politicians seized on a local agency's call for teachers to volunteer to conduct some lessons for the migrant girls being temporarily housed at the Convention Center to try and stoke resentment and anger toward the girls. In doing so, they also publicized some outright falsehoods.

Meanwhile, as vaccinations continue and life starts inching back toward normal, scooters are making a comeback. We recalled how, pre-pandemic, this was an issue that many San Diego civic leaders actually took seriously.

And finally, VOSD's Will Huntsberry reported this week that Lincoln High's leadership team is being shaken up once again. The district responded to the story by doubling down on the narrative that everything is great at Lincoln and that suggesting otherwise demonstrates something sinister, a kind of gaslighting that benefits no one.

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Bonus: Stop Calling it a Surge

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 22:18:08 GMT

The current migration from Central America to the U.S. is one of the biggest national stories right now — often referred to as a "surge."

In this podcast, Tom Wong, UC San Diego professor and director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center, is going to explain what’s really happening and how it all fits within longstanding patterns.

Wong and host Andrew Keatts are going to get into the data, how it's captured and how pent-up demand from the 2020 pandemic is catching up to us.

Keep up with immigration news with The Border Report: vosd.org/border

Support local journalism: vosd.org/donate

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Marten and Migrants in the National Spotlight

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 20:26:50 GMT

When San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten sat in front of a U.S. Senate committee this week as part of the process to confirm her as deputy education secretary, many senators got to ask questions we've been wanting to ask for a while. We're gonna get into those questions now.

Plus, the San Diego Convention Center — which has sheltered homeless San Diegans during the pandemic — will soon house migrant children seeking asylum.

(Keep an eye on the feed for a bonus episode with a local expert who will zoom out on the longer migration trends and how this moment fits in.)

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Bonus: It’s All a Race — Interview With an Immunologist

Sat, 20 Mar 2021 00:34:00 GMT

This week, Scott Lewis got to talk to Dr. Shane Crotty, an immunologist and vaccine expert who leads the Crotty Lab at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology at UC San Diego.

They broke down some of the science of COVID-19 as it tries to thrive in the world — and the race between us and the virus. Plus, Crotty answers listener questions.

Support explanatory journalism at vosd.org/parkermatch

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Another Dark Week in the Homelessness Crisis

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 20:18:00 GMT

San Diego’s homeless residents have been struck by yet another horrific and deadly tragedy. On the show, we put this week's events into context and discuss the major roadblock to any real homelessness solutions: a lack of truly affordable housing.

Plus: San Diego schools are about to get an unprecedented amount of money. So what now?

Bonus episode coming soon! Make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss our upcoming interview about vaccine science and the race against COVID.

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Schools, Streets and Sweet Federal Cash

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 20:36:14 GMT

Educators are scrambling to decide when and how to reopen. But what does "open" really mean?

This week, we get in the middle of haggling that's going on between school district officials and the teachers union.

It's been three months since Mayor Todd Gloria took office. We check on his progress and promises about homelessness. Plus, a windfall of cash is coming to the region thanks to federal coronavirus relief. So, what next?

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Some Weird Takes on Leadership

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 20:55:31 GMT

Let's talk about leadership. This week, an interview by KPBS's Andrew Bowen caught the attention of Scott, Andy and Sara.

He was interviewing San Diego City Council President Jen Campbell, and she voluntarily rehashed the contentious battle she fought to become Council president. We get into that and a brief history of Council presidency.

At the state level, California's leadership is trying to wrap up this whole virtual schools nightmare. But former Mayor Kevin Faulconer thinks he can lead better.

Plus: VOSD's MacKenzie Elmer joins the show to unpack a binational sewage crisis.

Support explanatory journalism! Join now and your contribution will be matched by the Parker Foundation: vosd.org/parkermatch

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Bonus: 79th Assembly District Debate — Police

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 21:13:00 GMT

If you live in the 79th Assembly District, you’ve got another election coming up. That’s because Shirley Weber, who represented the area for nearly a decade, was recently appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to be California’s new secretary of state. VOSD held a debate with the five candidates running for that seat.

This is part two of the debate — police, criminal justice and reform.

Keep up with state Assembly news with the Sacramento Report: vosd.org/sacramento

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Bonus: 79th Assembly District Debate — Schools

Sat, 27 Feb 2021 01:18:03 GMT

This is part one of the debate — schools and education.

Keep up with state Assembly news with the Sacramento Report: vosd.org/sacramento

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One Less San Diego Special

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 20:22:59 GMT

This week, San Diego took an actual step toward solving the years-long political puzzle of vacation rentals. But before we go popping bottles over fancy new rental regulations and permitting procedures, our Scott, Andy and Sara assess what the new rules could look like in real life and whether they may have the desired effect anytime soon. Plus: The latest story on San Diego Police mishandling rape kits and a school reopening date is on the horizon (or so it seems).

Watch the debate with the candidates running to replace Shirley Weber in the state Assembly: vosd.org/79th

Keep up with all our politics coverage with The Politics Report: vosd.org/politics

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Vaccine Episode IV — A New Hope

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 19:55:47 GMT

Recently, our hosts volunteered at a local vaccination super site. On the show, they recount how that experience went, what they saw and heard and the emotions some folks experienced after getting their shots. While a new crop of local vaccination sites and the promise of more adults getting shots continues, we've still got normal problems like weather getting in the way; insufficient supply forced local vaccination sites to close recently. With all this news, we discuss what it could mean for schools. (Scott Lewis has some ideas for San Diego Unified.) Plus: The race to replace Shirley Weber in the state Assembly is on.

Get the details for our town hall for the 79th Assembly District special election at vosd.org/79th

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Happy V-Day (Vaccines and Vacation Rentals, That Is)

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 23:36:07 GMT

This week, we review the short, dramatic history that led to the recall effort of City Council President Jen Campbell. Plus: County Supervisor Joel Anderson tried to get COVID-19 vaccines for cops but was blocked by the Democrat majority. We try to figure out why.

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Budget Hits and Learning Loss

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 23:16:14 GMT

San Diego's budget is in trouble. This week, we pin down what's going on with the city's books — especially hiring that happened under former Mayor Kevin Faulconer and infrastructure mandates the city must soon comply with.

Plus: Faulconer's officially running for governor.

Keep up with all our stories and local takes with The Morning Report: vosd.org/morning

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Vaccines Are Complicating School Plans

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 19:58:19 GMT

The road back to in-person schooling is filled with some high hurdles. Teachers and their unions are increasingly demanding that educators be vaccinated before officials re-open schools. But mandating vaccines is tricky business. This week, we try to piece together the vexing vaxx puzzle.

Plus: San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber is set to make history as secretary of state while the scramble to replace her gets going.

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Cindy Marten Gets a Big Promotion

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 22:04:10 GMT

The news came down this week that San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten was tapped to be the deputy education secretary for the Biden administration. It's another major bump for a local leader. On this episode, we dive deep into her tenure and stories we've done while she's led the district.

Plus: COVID vaccinations, tests and data cops are getting from the county.

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Bonus Podcast: QAnon Anonymous with Travis View

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 14:00:00 GMT

Now for something totally different.

This week, host Scott Lewis spoke with Travis View, a writer, researcher and co-host of the podcast QAnon Anonymous. It’s a show dedicated to understanding, debunking and explaining the conspiracy theory group QAnon, which was instrumental in the insurrection at the Capitol last week. You can find that show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Get Scott’s newsletter, The Politics Report, at vosd.org/politics

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The State of San Diego Is 'Fragile'

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 22:31:00 GMT

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria gave the first State of the City address of his new administration this week. It was a big deal — not just because it was his first as head of the city. It was also the first (and hopefully last?) of the pandemic, and the first since former Mayor Kevin Faulconer launched his exploratory committee for governor. Let's talk about it.

And VOSD's Jesse Marx joins us on the second half of the show to talk about his story detailing how the San Diego City Council approved funds for a secretive law enforcement group to purchase surveillance tech.

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The Capitol Riot's Ripple Effects in San Diego

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 22:34:02 GMT

As the insurrection at the Capitol dominated the news this week, we surveyed what San Diego's congressional delegation was up to.

On the state side, Gov. Gavin Newsom started a political domino effect by appointing Assemblywoman Shirley Weber to Secretary of State. Plus: some troubling local news about domestic violence prosecutions and support.

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The COVID Data We've Been Fighting for

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 21:36:00 GMT

This week, Scott Lewis interviews the two local reporters who got their hands on the COVID-19 outbreak data that the county fought to keep under wraps. KPBS's Katy Stegall and Claire Trageser join the show and share what they found, how to read the data and important points to keep in mind when absorbing it all.

Support this show at vosd.org/podcast2020

See the KPBS investigation at kpbs.org

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Thinking About Rethinking San Diego

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 20:53:25 GMT

This week's show is dedicated to the way things could be. We're examining some of the biggest issues and institutions in San Diego — from our Rethinking San Diego series — and discussing what major changes could really mean for the region. Talking points: Defund the police. A school year redo. San Diego power. The U.S.-Mexico border.

Read the series at voiceofsandiego.org/rethink

Join VOSD and support your favorite podcast hosts by giving here: vosd.org/podcast2020

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Jen Campbell Is Council President

Fri, 11 Dec 2020 19:47:00 GMT

Late Thursday night, after hours of public calls and several tech hiccups, the decision was finally made: Dr. Jen Campbell is San Diego's new City Council president. On the podcast this week, which was recorded as the Council meeting was still playing out, we took stock of all the moving political parts that are setting our new San Diego public stage.

Plus: an interview with Joel Day, senior adviser for COVID-19 response and recovery for the city of San Diego under former Mayor Kevin Faulconer.

Support the podcast today at vosd.org/podcast2020

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A Look at Faulconer's Legacy

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 21:19:42 GMT

This is our last podcast of the Faulconer era.

After this week, Mayor Kevin Faulconer will step down and Todd Gloria will take the job. On the show, we reflect on the last seven years of Faulconer's mayorship. Plus: With the most powerful Republican in the region out of office, what's next for the local GOP?

Love the show? Support us now! We're in our year-end fundraising campaign, and you can show your love for the show directly by giving here: vosd.org/podcast2020

Get the newsletter for this show at vosd.org/newsletters

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Why Montgomery Steppe Wants to Be Council President

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 22:46:55 GMT

This week, we assess Mayor Kevin Faulconer's possible path to governor. And City Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe joins the show to talk about why she should be City Council president.

Keep up with all our political takes with the weekly Politics Report: vosd.org/politics

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New Leaders, New Problems

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 21:43:00 GMT

The election tidal wave is about to crash down. There's a bunch of change coming to San Diego city and county governments. This week, we preview what's coming for the city of San Diego and the County Board of Supervisors as newly elected officials get ready to take their seats.

Keep up with it all by subscribing to The Morning Report: vosd.org/morning

If you're a political junkie, then The Politics Report is for you: vosd.org/politics

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The Election Finally Happened

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 13:00:00 GMT

This is our election night results show. We reviewed the biggest races we were tracking throughout 2020. Hear the big takeaways and results as they stood late Tuesday evening. Some contests and candidates were surprisingly decisive while others still need to sweat it out.

Keep up with all our election coverage with The Morning Report: vosd.org/morning

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It's Election Draft Day

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 22:08:59 GMT

Three editors. Three rounds. No mercy.

Well, some mercy. Scott Lewis kinda cheated toward the end of the draft.

The Voice of San Diego Podcast Election Draft is back! And coming at you this week as our final episode before the election. (The draft starts at minute 31 in the show.)

The first half of the show is dedicated to The Voice Poll and what we found from a scientific survey of San Diegans.

See more from The Voice Poll: vosd.org/voicepoll

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Changes Ahead for Schools and the Board of Supes

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 20:07:35 GMT

This week, we assess the current state of school inequities as San Diego Unified makes plans to open further. Plus, how the Board of Supervisors may change after November.

The Voice of San Diego election draft returns next week! Get your picks for local races and measures ready.

Subscribe to Scott, Andy and Sara's newsletters at vosd.org/newsletters

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The Local Ballot Measures, Explained

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 21:24:00 GMT

You asked for it, so here it is.

This week, we review the five local ballot measures for the city of San Diego — A through E.

Ballot talk starts at minute 12 in the podcast. What precedes is discussion about the Pete Wilson statue and Scott's recent story about plexiglass and how to safely reopen schools and other things.

Get the newsletter for this podcast at vosd.org/newsletters

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Bonus Podcast: What Would Democrats Do With Control of the County?

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 22:11:19 GMT

Here's another highlight from Politifest 2020.

After the election, Democrats could control the County Board of Supervisors for the first time in a generation. VOSD host Scott Lewis leads a discussion with Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and candidate Nora Vargas — both Democrats. They're going to talk about what could change if they were in control.

Watch more Politifest panels at politifest.org

Get Scott's weekly politics newsletter, The Politics Report: voiceofsandiego.org/politics

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Bonus Podcast: San Diego Mayoral Debate

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 14:00:00 GMT

More highlights from Politifest 2020 coming at you. In this episode: San Diego mayoral candidates Barbara Bry and Todd Gloria join VOSD host Scott Lewis for a debate about the future of San Diego. They cover a lot of ground here.

Watch more Politifest panels at politifest.org

Get Scott's weekly politics newsletter, The Politics Report: voiceofsandiego.org/politics

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It's Political Mailer Season

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 20:31:26 GMT

The San Diego mayor's race is responsible for a lot of bulging mailboxes and dead trees right now. This week, we sift through political mailers and how each camp is using it to their benefit. Plus: The latest chapter in the 101 Ash St. epic and Politifest memories.

Gorge yourself on politics with your Politifest Youtube playlist. Get it at politifest.org

Subscribe to our daily newsletter at vosd.org/morning

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Bonus Podcast: CA Ballot Measure Crash Course

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 15:00:00 GMT

Starting this week, we're dropping bonus episodes featuring some of the best conversations from Politifest 2020. In this episode: An overview of each measure on the statewide ballot, from rideshare drivers to affirmative action. VOSD editors Sara Libby and Jesse Marx will help you understand what each measure would do and who’s lining up for and against them.

Watch more Politifest panels at politifest.org

Get Sara's weekly newsletter, The Sacramento Report: voiceofsandiego.org/newsletters

We'll be back on Friday afternoon, as usual, with your weekly debrief from Scott and Sara.

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Bonus Podcast: Police Reform with Xavier Bacerra

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 15:46:00 GMT

Starting this week, we're dropping bonus episodes featuring some of the best conversations from Politifest 2020. Up first is a conversation about police reform with California Attorney General Xavier Bacerra and Alain Stephens, reporter from The Trace. In this interview: racial discrimination, the future of policing and realistic reforms.

Watch more Politifest panels at politifest.org

We'll be back on Friday afternoon, as usual, with your weekly debrief from Scott and Sara.

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The Navigation Center Lost Its Way

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 21:08:00 GMT

This week, we hash out San Diego's new homeless planning woes, a suspended City Council campaign and the fluidity of reality around Prop. 15.

Check out some of our free Politifest panels, including Sara Libby's ballot measure crash course, at https://www.youtube.com/user/voiceofsandiego

Share us with your friends! www.vosd.org/pod

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Pre-Gaming Politifest

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 20:44:00 GMT

This week on the podcast, we're gearing up for Politifest 2020: Pick Your Future. We'll preview some of the most exciting panels, interviews and discussions to look forward to during the week-long virtual conference, including Sara Libby's ballot measure crash course and Attorney General Xavier Bacerra on policing.

Plus: A couple hot stories from the 'Jesse Beat' and the Port of San Diego has to pay up.

Get your tickets to Politifest at politifest.org

Keep up with all our stories with the Morning Report: vosd.org/morning

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Are Students People?

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 18:05:00 GMT

San Diego State University is not an island. That may seem obvious, but Gov. Gavin Newsom had to say so explicitly after county supervisors asked the state to exclude SDSU's COVID cases from the county's overall numbers. At the time of our recording this week, San Diego was poised to head to the most restrictive purple tier, which would tighten rules for businesses.

This week on the VOSD podcast, we stewed over these arguments from the county and how one could slice up numbers to navigate the less-than-intuitive color scheme that determines what counties can and can't do.

Register for Politifest 2020 today! We have a full schedule of events at this year's virtual, week-long summit. Check it out at politifest.org

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Ash Street, Ash Street, a Story Goes Down

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 18:54:00 GMT

We discarded the first podcast recording we did Thursday and recorded a new emergency episode after NBC 7 retracted its bombshell story about Assemblyman Todd Gloria and the 101 Ash St. scandal.

Read our latest Politics Report to catch up on the scandal.

Come for a breakdown of the unfolding drama. Stay for an exploration of how journalism works and the dilemmas this development opens up.

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Seven Stories We're Following

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 22:07:25 GMT

Even by the standards of this new, weird world in which the pandemic and President Donald Trump combine for seemingly a hundred major news items a week, it was a big news week.

VOSD alone had major stories about MTS's draconian fare policies, an explosive account from a Sheriff's employee of what she says really happened leading up to a suicide in the Vista jail, two possible ethics violations by Council candidate Kelvin Barrios and more.

In this episode of the VOSD Podcast, Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and I ran down several of these big developments. (And in a shocking twist, Scott talked about schools.)

One programming note: Perhaps bigger than all of these big stories is the drama that unfolded after NBC San Diego published a new story on the 101 Ash St. scandal. That piece broke as we were recording, and the ensuing fallout happened afterward. For more on that, check out this week's Politics Report.

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Living Single (Family)

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 21:43:14 GMT

In San Diego, single-family zoning reigns supreme. So supreme, in fact, that in a whopping 70 percent of the land where it's legal to build housing, only single-family housing is allowed.

That jaw-dropper and how we got to it was the subject of a deep dive into the origins of San Diego's single-family zoning laws by Andrew Keatts this week.

On the podcast, he gave a rundown of how San Diego's original single-family zoning law came to be and how it's defined life in San Diego ever since.

KPBS, VOSD Join Forces in COVID Lawsuit

Speaking of how life in San Diego is being defined, we have new updates on our effort to force San Diego County officials to provide more detailed information about coronavirus outbreaks locally. KPBS has joined our lawsuit to compel the county to provide records under the California Public Records Act.

County Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten drove home the importance of that effort when she was pressed for details about how the county addresses community outbreaks. She said only, confusingly, that the county would "monitor and continue doing the same thing we've always been doing" to address them.

Drama in D9

Also on the podcast this week, we broke down the scandal that bubbled up this week involving Kelvin Barrios, a City Council candidate hoping to replace his former boss, Council President Georgette Gómez, in District 9.

Barrios is the subject of a criminal investigation through the DA's office and previously paid a fine levied by the state Fair Political Practices Commission related to his spending of campaign funds. Gómez told us this week she's "pausing" her endorsement of Barrios' campaign, which is a tier of endorsement that's new to us.

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Pumping the Brakes on Rideshare Companies' Dramatic Exit

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 20:01:07 GMT

This week, we are trying to keep up with the ever-changing drama of rideshare companies' fight against state labor law. Plus: SANDAG head Hasan Ikhrata makes big waves with small donations to local campaigns. And this November, one race could change transit in the region.

Catch Scott Lewis's interview with the guy who's going to run San Diego's election, Michael Vu: voiceofsandiego.org/athome

Keep up with our biggest stories and local news updates with The Morning Report: voiceofsandiego.org/morning

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Mailing it in

Fri, 14 Aug 2020 21:49:00 GMT

On this week’s VOSD Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Sara Libby break down the confusing fight that played out this week over whether candidates should be allowed to tout the Union-Tribune’s endorsement in their ballot statements, and what those endorsements actually mean.

The crew also details why it’s such a reversal that Republicans are suddenly warning of the dangers of mail voting. Not only have high-profile Republicans, like San Diego GOP Chairman Tony Krvaric, consistently utilized mail voting themselves, the party as a whole has pioneered outreach efforts to those voters and relies on party members who take part in mail voting.

We also hosted a town hall event this week laying out the issues involved with the new crop of private schooling options that have come up in the absence of physical schools. The conversation was great, and we’ve included a snippet of it during the second half of the show.

To listen to the entire town hall event, go to vosd.org/schoolsyoutube.

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Back to ... Schoolnastics?

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 22:11:17 GMT

This week, we assess the latests city attorney news, a weird yet commonly used language law and a new wave of for-profit school programs.

Plus: An interview with a scientist hoping to open things up with open air solutions. Kim Prather is an atmospheric chemist working with schools around the country to develop plans to reopen schools safely.

Keep up with our livestream series, Voice of San Diego at Home: voiceofsandiego.org/athome

Subscribe to the Morning Report: voiceofsandiego.org/morning

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101 Ash St. Is a Fiery Mayor's Race Issue

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 21:33:00 GMT

This week, we unpack the story behind a major building purchase flub by the city of San Diego — and how it fits into the mayor's race.

Our livestream show is back! Voice of San Diego at Home streams at 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. Find it on social media and vosd.org/athome

Subscribe to Scott, Andy and Sara's newsletters at vosd.org/newsletters

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Cops and Cameras, Cameras and Cops

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 20:16:00 GMT

This week, we review the 2015 shooting of Fridoon Nehad — an illuminating story as San Diegans face a November ballot measure that could give a police oversight committee more power. Plus: when body-worn cameras fail and streetlight cameras that police are watching.

We have 10 regular VOSD newsletters. Follow your interests at vosd.org/newsletters

Give your local business or nonprofit a boost. Learn about how we can help at vosd.org/boost

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Inequality Everywhere

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 21:42:00 GMT

This week, we review what COVID testing problems mean for schools and other normal-life things. Plus: Housing advocate Ricardo Flores argues for dismantling single-family home zoning, and thus, racism.

Keep up with all our stories and local news with the Morning Report. Get it at vosd.org/morning

If you have a local business or nonprofit that needs a boost, we have a project made to help. Find out more at vosd.org/boost

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Land Use Policy Talk Makes Us 'Complete'

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 20:53:00 GMT

This week, we discuss Mayor Kevin Faulconer's Complete Communities plan and the debate over whether to ramp up coronavirus testing in schools.

Keep up with all our stories and the latest San Diego news with the Morning Report at vosd.org/morning.

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Troubles Inside Schools, and Will We Ever Go Back Inside Schools?

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 23:41:00 GMT

This week, we revisit a simpler time. A time in which San Diego politicians were embroiled not in dismantling racism in policing or containing a global pandemic, but regulating short-term vacation rentals.

Plus, we've got a trio of school stories: sexual misconduct at Westview high; black suspension rates; and how schools could ever reopen.

And on the second half of the show, city attorney candidate Cory Briggs discusses his history suing the city, police and how he would run the office.

Keep up with all our big investigations and daily stories with The Morning Report. Subscribe at vosd.org/morning.

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A Zombie Development Project Dies Again

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 19:42:00 GMT

This week, our hosts are triggered by the county’s triggers. Plus: We sift through new local police reforms and examine the remains of a seemingly dead development project, Lilac Hills.

Get Scott, Sara and Andy’s newsletters at vosd.org/newsletters. (Scott and Andy write the Politics Report. Sara does What We Learned This Week.)

Buy our most popular photo of the year and support Black journalists in San Diego. Go to vosd.org/buyprints

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An Un-Fare System

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 20:53:08 GMT

We finally got some updates on what schools will do this fall. San Diego Unified School District officials unveiled the plan this week. But in their effort to provide answers, they raised a lot more questions. Plus: How criminal justice issues are playing out in the San Diego mayor's race and MTS fees are hitting poor families hard.

Keep up with all our stories with the Morning Report. Subscribe at vosd.org/morning.

Our virtual happy hour is next week! Become a VOSD member to get access. Do that at vosd.org/member.

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This Is as Wild as City Budgets Get

Fri, 12 Jun 2020 22:14:09 GMT

These are wild times for city budgets. Thus, a wild, livestreamed, simulcasted, super-sized interview seemed an appropriate response for the podcast. That's what we put together on the show this week, featuring San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez.

Before we dive in with Gómez, we laid the groundwork on typical city budgeting, plus some of the trickier nuances around police funding.

Keep up with local politics with our Politics Report. Subscribe at vosd.org/politics.

Want to learn some stuff? Head to vosd.org/sd101

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Bonus Podcast: Monica Montgomery's Next Policy Push

Sat, 06 Jun 2020 13:00:00 GMT

San Diego City Councilwoman Monica Montgomery spoke with VOSD's Andrew Keatts about the recent police brutality protests, the death that sparked them and how two of her longstanding priorities may now become reality.

This bonus episode is dropping along with our weekly newsletter, The Politics Report: an insider's guide to politics and policy for San Diego.

Get it at vosd.org/politics.

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San Diego Police Reform, Past and Future

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 22:40:09 GMT

This week, we unpack what makes a protest "unlawful," a brief history of recent police reform efforts and the future of one effort currently on the table.

Our interview this week is with Andrea St. Julian of San Diegans for Justice on the proposed ballot measure to reform San Diego Police.

Keep up with local news and all our police stories with The Morning Report at vosd.org/morning

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Special Episode: Weekend of Fury

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 22:29:29 GMT

"We did not have any kind of warning."

From our "Voice of San Diego At Home" series, this is an interview with La Mesa City Councilwoman Dr. Akilah Weber. Weber spoke with VOSD's Scott Lewis about the George Floyd killing, and the unrest in La Mesa over the weekend.

The livestream series airs at 1:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Find it Facebook, Twitter and Youtube @voiceofsandiego

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Happy SDSU Deal Day

Fri, 29 May 2020 22:31:17 GMT

This week we previewed the deal between SDSU and the city for Mission Valley's stadium land. Note: The podcast was recorded on Thursday, the day before the City Council made its decision. Plus: An Encinitas homelessness solution is working despite some residents' fears.

Get our podcast newsletter at vosd.org/newsletters

Join the podcast Facebook group. Find us as "VOSDPodcast"

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The Blurry Lines of Stage 2 Reopening

Fri, 22 May 2020 20:49:42 GMT

This week, the California Department of Health gave the OK for San Diego County to open restaurants for dine-in service, among other changes.

So, you can go to restaurants now. But the question is: Will you?

We discuss that in this episode. Plus, an interview with UC San Diego epidemiologist Rebecca Fielding-Miller on risks and tests.

Keep up with all our stories with the Morning Report newsletter. Get it at vosd.org/morning

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S2 Ep 7 - Breaking Down Barriers for Homeless Youth

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 19:16:36 GMT

The San Ysidro School District in Southern California has reported as much as one-third of its students are homeless — the highest concentration in its region. In 2019, the district kicked a homeless student out of school over a paperwork issue. Voice of San Diego reporter Lisa Halverstadt got a tip and followed the story.

This is our last episode of the season! Thanks for listening. You can keep up with other Voice of San Diego podcasts at vosd.org/pod

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S2 Ep 6 - School Safety in the Age of Gun Violence

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 01:26:08 GMT

The mindset around school shootings is changing. They were once so horrific to comprehend that they seemed like freak occurrences – not events that would happen regularly. In this new normal, schools and students must ask difficult questions: Not if a next school shooting will occur, but when and where.

This week, we hear from students, a parent and a VOSD reporter on how things are changing in the age of gun violence, what's working in local schools — and what's not.

vosd.org/learningcurve

vosd.org/schoolspod

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Teaser - In the Age of Gun Violence

Fri, 06 Dec 2019 22:39:51 GMT

We're working on our next episode about school safety in the age of gun violence. It'll drop next week and you still have a chance to help us make it.

If you have experienced a shooting incident, taken part in a school shooter drill, or have a related story to share, here's how you can do that:

Email producer Nate John at nate@vosd.org

Leave a voicemail at our podcast line, 619-354-1085

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S2 Ep 5 - How To Choose A School in 10 Days

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 20:00:57 GMT

One parent found out that she could choose a different school for her child just two weeks before the deadline. This week, we hear how she scrambled to make the best decision for her family in time.

You can follow all of our school stories at vosd.org/learningcurve.

Talk to us onTwitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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S2 Ep 4 - A Charter School Empire

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 20:11:15 GMT

We break down the story behind an alleged charter scam that cost California $80 million. In this episode of Good Schools for All, Will Huntsberry sits down with host Scott Lewis to unveil the culture and mechanics behind A3 Education.

You can follow all of our school stories at vosd.org/learningcurve.

Talk to us onTwitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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S2 Ep 3 - How Predatory Teachers Stay in the Classroom

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 18:32:10 GMT

Voice of San Diego has been investigating sexual misconduct in schools for two years now. It all started with one teacher at one school in La Jolla. Kayla Jimenez and Ashly McGlone, who've been reporting the series, sit down with Will Huntsberry to talk about the case that kicked things off.

You can follow all of our school stories at vosd.org/learningcurve.

Talk to us onTwitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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S2 Ep 2 - Universal Pre-K Is Still Far From a Reality

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 20:44:33 GMT

Pre-K is more important than ever. But access to it remains elusive for many parents. In this episode, Will Huntsberry visits a preschool and its parent organization to try to get some answers about the future of universal pre-K.

You can follow all of our school stories at vosd.org/learningcurve.

Talk to us onTwitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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S2 Ep 1 - The Problems Plaguing Porter

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 19:30:50 GMT

This year, Will Huntsberry revealed some serious problems plaguing an elementary school in San Diego's South Bay. We take a close look at the school after it was put on a list of California's lowest-performing schools.

You can follow all of our school stories at vosd.org/learningcurve.

Talk to us onTwitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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Season 2 Trailer

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 23:10:50 GMT

We're back! In this new season of Good Schools For All, Voice of San Diego's Scott Lewis and Will Huntsberry dig in to the biggest stories our team has uncovered in the last year.

Plus, we're accepting your ideas for new episodes. Tell us your story — or what you want to hear — at vosd.org/goodschools

New episodes start Sept. 25. Subscribe now.

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A Back-to-School Crash Course

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 22:56:48 GMT

Schools are back in session.

Good Schools for All hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn introduce Voice of San Diego’s new education reporter Will Huntsberry, and the trio unpacks the latest education news you might have missed over summer break.

Huntsberry discusses the misuse of Associated Student Body funds in San Diego Unified schools, new developments in the district’s 2016 graduation rate controversy and offers his take on what makes education reporting in San Diego unique.

The crew also discuss teacher misconduct and the slow-moving state system that allowed two Poway Unified teachers to continue working in education even after being forced out of schools for having romantic relationships with students.

What's Working

Immediate Access: It's a new program at San Diego State University that allows students to access course material, such as e-textbooks, for free by the first day of school. If students decide to stay in the class for the rest of the semester, they can buy the material at a reduced price. SDSU officials estimate the new program could save students close to $2 million.

Number of the Week

10 percent: That's the percentage of educators who rent out their homes on Airbnb. In San Diego alone, educators reportedly made $2.7 million using Airbnb.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

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Districts Struggle to Stay Afloat Despite Increased State Funding

Thu, 19 Jul 2018 22:48:09 GMT

At first glance, California schools seem to be doing well.

The state plans to steadily increase education funding through 2022, giving school districts with higher numbers of low-income students, English-learners, foster youth and homeless children more money and control over how to spend it.

But despite the cushion of financial support, school districts across the state, including San Diego Unified, are preparing to make big budget cuts to stay afloat.

Jason Willis and Kelsey Krausen, education researchers at WestEd, say the rising cost of pensions, declining enrollment and increased special education costs are some of the reasons why school districts are being forced to cut back. They joined the Good Schools for All podcast to discuss their recent study.

“While the state of California has made significant strides over the last four or five years to make investments in K-12 education … it's making it more and more difficult for school districts to continue to stay focused on investments that will enhance the education of kids,” Willis said.

In the first part of the podcast, hosts Laura Kohn and Scott Lewis go over San Diego Unified's pitch for a new $3.5 billion bond. If approved, the measure will be the school district's third multi-billion bond in 10 years.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

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The After-School Care Gap

Thu, 21 Jun 2018 21:24:40 GMT

After-school programs are crucial for many families. From the time school gets out around 2 or 3 p.m. to the time most parents get off work at 5 or 6 p.m., after-school program providers offer kids expanded academics and enrichment activities like arts or physical education.

But while the need is clear, many state and federally funded after-school programs are struggling to survive. Almost all of the quality after-hours programs in the county are have long waitlists, and not every family can access them.

On the latest Good Schools for All podcast, Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talk with Brad Lupien, CEO of after-school program provider arc, and the San Diego County Office of Education's Daymon Beach about the importance of such programs and the issues impacting them.

Also on the podcast: an update on local school board election results and a quick look back at Cindy Marten’s five years as San Diego Unified’s superintendent.

What’s Working

Proposition 49: Prop. 49 is a California law passed in 2002 that set aside funding for after-school programs. While many of the programs need more funding, the state was still rated No. 1 in the country for its after-school offerings by the Afterschool Alliance.

Number of the Week

8.8 percent: That's the state’s increase, from $7.50 to $8.16, in the daily reimbursement rate for each student in after-school programs. If the number kept up with inflation, it should be $9.32.

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Good Schools for All: Serving San Diego’s Most Vulnerable Youth

Fri, 25 May 2018 22:57:45 GMT

The San Diego County Office of Education has its hands in lots of things. But one of its biggest tasks is making sure the regions's most vulnerable students don't slip through the cracks.

On the latest podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talk to Paul Gothold, the new superintendent of the San Diego County Office of Education, about efforts to get underserved students the tools they need to succeed.

Also the podcast, Lewis and Kohn discuss San Diego Unified's recent decision to move forward with deleting all emails older than a year and the upcoming Board of Education races.

Number of the Week

15 percent: That's the percentage of public schoolchildren in San Diego who attended charter schools this school year. That's an increase from 12 percent in the 2014-2015 school year.

What's Working

Superintendent Paul Gothold: He's only held his post for a year and has already started to repair broken trust between the county office and school districts across San Diego.

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A Lincoln High Success Story

Thu, 10 May 2018 22:46:08 GMT

Lincoln High is a struggling school.

A string of administrative problems and increasing violence between students at Lincoln continues to prompt many families to send their kids to schools outside their neighborhood.

But Karly Van Holten saw something she liked about Lincoln. Despite having other high school options, she told her mom she wanted to stay in her neighborhood and go to Lincoln.

"Everything about Lincoln screams community," she said. "I learned how to be in a community and how to be one with others rather than just being a high school student."

The Lincoln High senior has excelled at the school. She's been accepted to more than 30 colleges.

Van Holten joins Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to talk about her experience at Lincoln High and how it shaped her for success.

Also on the podcast, Gina Gianzero, executive of Diamond Educational Excellence Partnership, joins Lewis and Kohn to talk about how the nonprofit is helping kids in southeastern San Diego stay in the educational pipeline.

"We emerged with a common understanding of the problem," she said. "Which we say are leaks in this pipeline that runs from cradle to college to career. And we focus on stopping those early leaks."

She said one of the common hurdles families face is the months of learning students lose during summer break. More commonly known as the "summer slide," research shows kids from low-income communities usually suffer the most during this time.

That’s why every summer, DEEP gives students from southeastern San Diego the opportunity to continue their education outside of school by offering literacy support, field trips, arts activities and more.

“The research shows that all these kinds of enrichment activities are pretty critical to making this an experience for these children that will ultimately empower them,” Gianzero said.

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'I Found a Way to Keep Reporting'

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 20:22:03 GMT

Voice of San Diego education reporter Mario Koran is leaving his post.

His reporting on San Diego schools over the past five years has pulled back the curtain on several policies and practices that affect local families.

He’s tackled everything from school discipline, graduation rates, administrative scandals, bilingual education and more.

Koran sits down with hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to look back at some of his most impactful work and the hurdles he had to overcome to report those stories.

Koran said one of the biggest challenges education reporters face is access to students and faculty. Having a good idea of what happens inside classrooms isn’t just essential to knowing how a community can improve their schools, but it keeps those in power accountable.

When local school districts start denying reporters access, transparency fades.

After Koran unveiled a series of scandals involving former board trustee Marne Foster, the San Diego Unified School District began shutting out Koran, making it difficult for him to get the information he needed.

“That was the moment where I had to sort of chart my own course,” he said. “I think that took me some time to try to navigate that, but eventually I think I found a way to keep reporting, to keep doing my job."

Koran went on to break important stories, including the district's practice of sending parents to collections when they don't pay school bus fees, he covered an alleged rape of a student at Lincoln High and the torment it caused a teacher there, and he dug into how San Diego Unified counseled some struggling students to transfer to charter schools.

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The Making of a Local Music Legend

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 23:17:51 GMT

If you listen to local music, then you’ve heard of Tim Mays. Mays is the cofounder and co-owner of San Diego’s mythic music venue The Casbah. On this episode of "I Made it in San Diego," Voice of San Diego's podcast about local businesses and the people behind them, hear how Mays went from a kid handing out concert fliers to an indie music legend. Mays started booking and producing shows in San Diego in the early 1980s as a way to make sure his favorite bands came through town. By the mid '80s, Mays and some of his friends also wanted to open a bar more geared toward his generation – with their music in the jukebox. Mays' side gig promoting shows and the bar he helped open, The Pink Panther, both found quick success. He quit his day jobs and became a serial entrepreneur with a knack for opening businesses that grew to be local icons. "I never said, 'I don't want to work for the man,' I just was lucky enough to not have to after a certain point." After the birth of The Casbah, Mays continued to open new bars, restaurants and businesses in San Diego – Starlite restaurant, Vinyl Junkies record store and Krakatoa coffee shop among them. He's created opportunities for dozens of local bands and artists, helped turn neighborhoods into thriving communities and still finds time to think about what business he might open next.

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An Announcement

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 22:17:40 GMT

A quick announcement about the future of Culturecast.

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Good Schools for All: Reaching Out to Disconnected Kids

Fri, 06 Apr 2018 23:50:15 GMT

Adulting can be hard.

Many kids have difficulties navigating the transition from high school to the "real world." Lots get stuck in limbo.

There's a snappy new term for these 16-to-24-year-olds who don’t attend school or have a job — "opportunity youth." On April 12, the San Diego Workforce Partnership is hosting a summit to talk about why there's an estimated 41,000 young people in San Diego county who aren't in school or working. The hope is to come up with solutions about how to make a dent in that number.

On this week’s Good Schools for All podcast, Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn, who works for the Workforce Partnership, talk with Jahir Castelo and Ana Lomeli, two members of the Workforce Partnership's Opportunity Youth Leadership Council.

Castelo and Lomeli discuss their personal struggles transitioning into independent adults. Both are DACA recipients, or Dreamers, who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents, a status they said adds an extra layer of distrust and instability to their transitions.

"Walking around and going to school was a bit of a challenge because you're so used to hearing that people got picked up from Border Patrol and taken back," Castelo said.

Castelo wants to go to college and get a job, but he said he is still trying to find a stable place to live and he's building his interview and resume skills. He said even when he's offered an opportunity, sometimes he has a hard time believing it's real, or that he deserves it.

Lomeli is working and going to school, but she said it took a lot of support from her high school teachers and others to get to where she is now. She said she, too, often had a hard time taking advantage of opportunities because she felt they either weren't real, or weren't meant for her.

"When you come from a place where you haven't been given a lot, sometimes things sound way too good to be true," Lomeli said.

Castelo and Lomeli are still working on building their own lives, but both said they want to get to a place where they can help kids like themselves find better lives.

"As I start getting enough money, I want to be able to open up my doors to ... opportunity youth and open a bookstore, a tattoo parlor and a barber shop and offer that opportunity to teach them skills, Castelo said. "Give them a little bit more hope."

What’s Working

Cuyamaca Community College: The school's rate of student success in college-level math shot up to 68 percent after it decided to slash its placement exams. Cuyamaca now uses a student's high school records to decide whether they're ready for college-level math classes.

Number of the Week

41,000: That's the number of opportunity youth in San Diego who don’t attend school or have a job. That's 9.4 percent of all 16-to-24-year-olds in the region.

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The Raging Demand for More Computer Science Education

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 22:54:22 GMT

Tech jobs abound.

Our education system isn't churning out enough students with computer science training to meet the voracious demand for high-skilled tech workers. But schools in San Diego are trying to catch up.

Locally, only 10 percent of San Diego County high schools offered computer science courses as recently as 2011. This year, closer to 40 percent of high schools here have computer science curriculum.

Behind that jump in numbers are educators like Art Lopez, a computer science teacher at Sweetwater High School and a curriculum specialist for the Sweetwater Union High School District.

In the podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talk to Lopez about local and state efforts to get computer science education to more — and more diverse — students.

Seven years ago, a student asked Lopez why La Jolla High had computer science courses and Sweetwater High didn't. Meanwhile, the number of jobs requiring tech skills was exploding.

“We wanted to change that landscape," he said.

He wasn't alone in his effort. In 2015, the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego was awarded a three-year, $1 million National Science Foundation grant to help Sweetwater and two other local school districts develop and sustain up-to-date computer science courses.

Now, more than 1,000 Sweetwater students are enrolled in computer science courses.

Lopez's work, though, is far from done. He said he's continuously working to get more girls interested in tech, and he'd eventually like to see computer science education offered to kids starting in kindergarten. Currently, he's a member of the Computer Science Standards Advisory Committee, a group appointed by the State Board of Education that's working to get all California schools on the same page when it comes to computer science mandates.

"I think that computing and computer science is just as important for kids to learn as it is for them to learn how to read, write and do math," he said. "They're going to use these devices all the time."

What’s Working

TechHire: In collaboration with the city, the San Diego Workforce Partnership is leading TechHire San Diego, a program that pairs people who are underrepresented in the tech field with local tech jobs. Employers in the region can get a paid intern at no cost to them.

Number of the Week

10 percent: That's the percent of students in the world who have gone through Code.org's "Hour of Code" program giving kids a taste of computer science education.

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Homeless Choir Sings for Change

Tue, 20 Mar 2018 18:59:23 GMT

Steph Johnson says there's a perception problem when it comes to homelessness.

The local jazz musician founded Voices of Our City Choir in 2016. In the beginning, Johnson simply wanted to provide an artistic outlet for people sleeping on the streets. She found a rehearsal space and invited homeless people to sing with her once a week.

The project, though, has since morphed into an advocacy group that works to humanize homelessness, build empathy for people experiencing it and advocate for change.

In a new episode of Culturecast, Voice of San Diego’s podcast covering arts and culture in the region, I talk to Johnson and three choir members about how the chorus has become a powerful voice for homelessness in San Diego.

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When Running a Hotel Isn't Enough

Fri, 16 Mar 2018 00:00:43 GMT

Entertainment and hospitality is one of the top 10 industries in San Diego.

Because hotels play such a big role in our region, their owners have some political power.

In a new episode of I Made It in San Diego, a VOSD podcast about the people behind the region’s businesses, I talk to hotelier Elvin Lai about how running a hotel has led to his involvement in several business ventures, city politics and the community.

After his father’s death, Lai was unexpectedly handed his family’s hotel when he was just 21. During the first few months of running Ocean Park Inn, a 72-room boutique hotel in Pacific Beach, he slept under his desk while he learned the ropes.

He turned out to be an astute businessman. But running a hotel was never enough for Lai. He’s become a serial entrepreneur and an active community member. Currently, he’s a member of a few hotel trade associations, he’s on the San Diego Convention Center board, and he helps run a program addressing homelessness in Pacific Beach.

“If the community is not succeeding and thriving, then there’s no business to be had,” Lai said. “You have a responsibility to the community that you’re doing business in.”

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How Redhorse Became One of the Fastest Growing Companies in the Country

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 00:32:02 GMT

Last year, $9.4 billion flowed to defense contractors in San Diego.

At the helm of one of those local private firms getting some of those military dollars is David Inmon, the CEO of Redhorse Corporation.

In a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, a VOSD podcast about the people behind the region’s businesses, Inmon talks to Scott Lewis about how he built a fast-growing business that provides program management and technology services to the military and other clients.

Almost exactly 10 years ago, Inmon and his business partner opened Redhorse Corporation. They had no capital besides a $50,000 loan from the small business administration.

Inmon is from Oklahoma, a descendent of Choctaw Indians – a minority status that helped him get his foot in the door on government contracts.

Redhorse grew quickly. By 2016, the business had revenue of $57 million and was among the 1000 fastest growing companies in the country, as ranked by Inc. 5000.

In the world of government contracting, small businesses get a big boost. Redhorse is not longer a small business, so Inmon says that shift has been a challenge.

"We made it, but now we've got to sustain it," he said. "We're no longer a small business and that changes the calculus quite a bit, particularly in the federal market space."

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Comic-Con's New Balboa Park Digs

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 18:22:21 GMT

A Comic-Con center is starting to take shape in Balboa Park. In a Q-and-A, Adam Smith, the organization's new director, and David Glanzer, a long-time Comic-Con staffer, talk about what we can expect from the new home of popular arts.

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A Parent’s Guide to Public Schools

Fri, 23 Feb 2018 00:58:26 GMT

Finding the right school for your kids just got a little easier. Voice of San Diego has launched an inaugural issue of A Parent’s Guide to Public Schools.

On the podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talk about the guide and arm parents with the information they need to find a good school.

Last year, we released a map of San Diego County schools with crucial data about each. Our print guide features an easy-to-read version of that map and builds on the data by including explainers about topics like charter schools and transitional kindergarten, a roundup of the region's most innovative schools, a list of the key questions to ask when looking at schools and more.

Look for A Parent’s Guide to Public Schools at your local library or download a copy in English or Spanish.

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Creating a Future Through Music

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 00:44:43 GMT

For music engineer Justin Watson, music has always been a part of him.

Growing up in Detroit was tough. He lived near the stretch of highway known as the 8 Mile Road, in a neighborhood where everyone and everything was about work. Watson, who goes by Jay Wat, had to grow up fast. Music kept his family tight.

Wat's parents would put on basement parties that got the whole neighborhood dancing to Roy Ayers and Sly and the Family Stone. In the sixth grade, Wat's mom bought him his first boombox, and he'd play his cassette tapes on repeat.

In high school, Wat got a hip-hop education in Detroit’s "school of hard knocks," where DJs spun records, b-boys breakdanced to the beat, and emcees battled with freestyle rhymes.

In a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, a VOSD podcast about the people behind the region’s businesses, Wat talks about how he turned his love of music into a career.

“It just became a point to where I wanted to really do this full on,” Wat said. “I didn't make a conscious decision yet that I wanted to be a producer, a music producer. But I just felt like I wanted to be involved in music some way. Somehow, destiny guided me.”

Today, Wat is busy with more than 100 clients at his La Mesa studio, Jay Wat Production Studio. A lot of the artists he works with are young and come from inner-city communities like southeastern San Diego. Many of them mirror his own experience growing up in Detroit: Getting in trouble with friends, struggling in the classroom, and feeding a voracious appetite for music.

Wat views music as a way to offer the guidance and mentorship that was often missing during his childhood.

“I feel like I am a part of these kids lives,” he said. “And I just want to see them do so much better and succeed.”

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A Place Maker Builds a Business

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 00:54:19 GMT

Ilisa Goldman thinks it should be easy for a group of neighbors to spruce up a vacant, city-owned lot with seating, shade, art and other simple amenities.

Instead, they often end up having to claw through a series of bureaucratic barriers and many simply give up, or avoid the ordeal entirely.

Goldman is the landscape architect and planner behind Rooted in Place, a firm she started to help clients – mostly nonprofits and community groups – create public spaces and outdoor learning environments for kids.

In a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, a podcast about the people behind the region’s businesses, I talk to Goldman about the community gardens, outdoor classrooms and other projects she's designed, and her ongoing struggle to make it easier for people to improve their neighborhoods.

Jargon like "tactical urbanism" and "placemaking" have gained popularity in recent years. Both concepts refer to the kind of work Goldman does – quicker, easier, more affordable urban projects, often in historically underserved communities.

Goldman said the placemaking movement is gaining popularity, in part, because once one community builds a successful project, other people take note and feel empowered to do it, too.

"I think that communities were sort of tired of waiting," she said. "They were waiting for improvements to happen in their community and trying to go through City Council and trying to go through governance and realizing it was really hard."

Goldman has successfully completed several placemaking projects across the county, both with her firm, and during her stint with the city of San Diego’s short-lived Civic Innovation Lab, a pet project of then-mayor Bob Filner who envisioned it as an incubator to help the city do quicker, more affordable, neighborhood-driven projects.

"I saw firsthand what the real issues were inside the city, and outside of the city with community organizations," she said. "What were the biggest challenges, why was it hard to do these placemaking projects. I had really come to understand that our development services [department] was geared toward developers who had money, not toward communities that wanted to make their own change."

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Poway Unified's New Leader

Fri, 02 Feb 2018 01:06:56 GMT

The Poway Unified School District is one of the highest regarded school districts in the state. Its schools are good and its students are high-performing.

But the district's sterling reputation has a few big dings. Poway Unified's leadership has been under a cloud of suspicion since 2011 when Voice of San Diego broke a story about a strange bond that allowed the district to immediately borrow $150 million, but then required it to pay back $1 billion by 2035.

That financial scandal shook the school and resulted in lots of negative attention from the media and the families inside the district. California lawmakers changed laws preventing other districts to do what Poway did, and the San Diego County Grand Jury scrutinized the deal.

But former Poway Unified superintendent John Collins downplayed the whole issue and kept his job. But in 2016, he was fired amid another financial scandal. This time, Collins was charged with five felony charges for allegedly misusing public money, vacation, sick and leave time − charges he denies.

As that case plays out in the courts, Poway Unified has moved on, naming Marian Kim-Phelps as its new superintendent. She's the district's first women and the first person of color to serve in that role.

On the podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talk to Kim-Phelps about her leadership style. She said transparency is extremely important to her and that being open moving forward is the only way to leave the past turmoil behind.

“I believe that I am a transparent leader,” she said. “People forget, we’re public education. Nothing's private. Nothing's a secret.”

Kim-Phelps also talks about how she wants to find funding to expand the district's multi-language programs, she discusses the innovation relationship between the Poway teachers' union and the school leadership, the district's innovative Design 39 school, the big change in school board elections and more.

Also on the podcast, Lewis talks about how his 5-year-old daughter, who just barely missed the cutoff dates for transitional kindergarten, is already advocating for universal TK for all 4-year-olds.

What's Working

Dual-language programs in Chula Vista: An education think tank recently released a report report showing how, despite legislation that made bilingual education difficult to implement, the Chula Vista Elementary School District has successfully built 21 Spanish-English dual-language immersion programs that now reach over 4,000 students.

Number of the Week

95 percent: A new report shows that 95 percent of Latino youth in California were born in the United States. Latino students continue to face barriers in our country's education system that make it harder for them to succeed. These are American children, and the educational system needs to get better at educating them.

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The Future of Teachers Unions

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 01:27:28 GMT

It's a particularly important time for unions.

Locally the San Diego Education Association, the teachers union at the San Diego Unified School District, does not have a contract. It is working on contract negotiations with the district right now.

They may support a measure to raise taxes and bring more money into the district while also pushing for wage increases. They're also working with the county on a new evaluation system for teachers that they may consider putting into those negotiations in the future.

And nationally, there's a huge Supreme Court decision coming that could end forced union fees for government workers. It would have a major impact on teachers unions and politics at all levels.

On the podcast, Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn lead a roundtable discussion about the future of teachers' unions. What are the role of unions? What is the best way to evaluate teachers? Are administrators and unions necessarily adversarial? What goes on during contract negotiations and bargaining?

Both union representatives and a superintendent who negotiates with unions joined the show. Guests:

Christopher Prokop, president of the Cajon Valley Education Association
David Miyashiro, superintendent of the Cajon Valley Union School District
Lindsay Burningham, president of the San Diego Education Association
Matthew Schneck, a teacher and member of the San Diego Education Association

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Moving Doesn't Have to Be Terrible

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 22:30:40 GMT

Moving sucks. Mike Glanz went all in on that basic premise and ended up running an online moving business in Oceanside that now pulls in about $8 million in annual gross revenue.

A decade ago, most people were either renting their own trucks or hiring full-service companies and paying them thousands of dollars to do everything.

Glanz and his roommate Pete Johnson started seeing the rapid emergence of a new type of move. More and more folks were renting their own moving trucks and then finding movers to hire by going online to sites like Craigslist, or swinging by Home Depot to pick up day laborers. Glanz and Johnson called it the "hybrid move," and they decided to build HireAHelper.com, a website that would make it easier.

In a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, a podcast about the people behind the region’s businesses, I talk to Glanz about how and why he's helping to disrupt the multibillion-dollar moving industry.

By simply entering a date and zip code, folks can easily compare prices of local movers. With just a few clicks, the movers are hired and the deal, which typically ends up costing under $300, includes insurance, meaning anything that breaks in the process will be replaced.

When the website launched in June 2007, it grew steadily. By 2008, Glanz and Johnson were feeling confident they could turn HireAHelper into a very successful business. But then the mega-business U-Haul stepped in and served them with a lawsuit. U-Haul said they were infringing on the term "moving help," a term the company has trademarked.

The lawsuit nearly shut the business down.

"[U-Haul] didn't give us an option to go away or to close up shop or to just quit," Glanz said. "They seemed like they were out for blood."

Instead, HireAHelper doubled down and worked to grow the business enough to pay off the legal fees and make a profit. The lawsuit was eventually settled, and the website has gone on to become a solid business that helped facilitate over 65,000 moves across the country last year.

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A Grueling Game of Farmers Market Musical Chairs

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 19:19:03 GMT

Brian Beevers is the man behind the farmers markets in Clairemont, Serra Mesa and at Horton Plaza. He's also got a farmers market-inspired shop called Simply Local in North Park that sells goods made by San Diegans.

Becoming one of the region's biggest purveyors of local products, though, wasn't easy. The success of a farmers market relies heavily on finding — and keeping — the right locations. That means Beevers' businesses over the years have often fallen victim to the whims of landowners.

In a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, a podcast about the people behind the region’s businesses, Lisa Halverstadt talks to Beevers about his ongoing struggle to open farmers markets and sustain the interest.

“I've always known that I am at the mercy of the land owners, and it's something that you just have to kind of live with every day, that you just don't know for sure when somebody just might pull the plug on you," Beevers said.

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In 2017, the Border Was a Concept Nationally and a Canvas Locally

Tue, 02 Jan 2018 17:26:26 GMT

In this week’s Culturecast: Border art.

Though Trump’s aggressive border policies provoked an international conversation that lasted throughout 2017, for many of those involved, the border remains just a faraway political concept.

For the Californians and Mexicans who live near it, though, the border is a very real place.

That was driven home throughout the year as local and foreign artists used the border as a canvas on which they expressed opinions about Trump’s policies.

2017 has been a busy year for artist making work at or about the international border fence.

I asked three local artists and curators to join me to talk about border art in a roundtable discussion.

Alessandra Moctezuma, an artist who runs the gallery at San Diego Mesa College and who recently curated the “unDocumenta” border show currently on view at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

Jill Holslin, and artist, border activist and teacher at San Diego State University who recently took part in a big border art intervention.

And Perry Vasquez, a professor at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, the director of the art gallery there, and an artist who’s made iconic border art and curated shows by border artists.

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Chasing the Lucha Libre Dream

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:57:03 GMT

When Josue "Josh" Anival Salcido entered his first professional wrestling ring in 2009, it was as a last-minute fill-in for a few performers who didn't show up. His twin brother Jaime Salcido was by his side, and they tag-teamed in a Lucha Libre match.

They had been training for that moment for more than two years, and even though they thought they weren't quite ready, the fans disagreed. Their careers as Lucha Libre performers, Josh as Krazy Klown and Jaime as Rasta Lion, lurched forward. Sometimes the two wrestled on the same team, other times as rivals.

On a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, Voice of San Diego’s podcast about the region’s businesses and the people behind them, I talk to Josh about wrestling in Lucha Libre matches across Southern California and Mexico, his recent retirement and his new venture as a promoter for a Lucha Libre business that puts on matches in the South Bay.

Lucha Libre is more of an art form than a sport. It’s dripping with long-held traditions. Josh fell in love with those traditions – the colorful masks, the slick and high-flying maneuvers and especially the intense matches where wrestlers would wager their masks or even their own hair (losers have to submit to a haircut right there in the middle of the ring, and winners take the hair as a prize).

Josh remembers seeing a Lucha Libre match for the first time as his dad watched it on their home TV in San Ysidro. He knew immediately that's what he wanted to do with his life, he said.

"I just got mesmerized and fell in love with Lucha Libre," he said. "It's like poetry in motion ... everything flows and everything looks good and everything is like, wow."

But it wasn't until he tried to overdose on cocaine and alcohol that he realized he had to finally go after it.

Josh retired in October after a particularly bloody match.

He said he makes more money now as a promoter than he did inside the ring, but that money was never his motivation.

"I did it for the love and passion of the sport," he said.

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How a Kids Theater Program Grew Up

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 22:55:52 GMT

Back in the late 1970s, musical theater was growing rapidly from coast to coast. Semi-professional actors looking for a chance to perform on stage had several opportunities. But kids? Not so much.

On a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, Voice of San Diego’s podcast about the region’s businesses and the people behind them, Paul Russell talks about how he filled that niche and built a kids' theater side job into what he said is now the largest youth theater program in the nation.

In 1979, Russell got a job teaching drama at Christian High School in East County. The high school shows he produced were so popular in the community that the vice principal persuaded him to start Christian Community Theater. Christian Community Theater brought together dozens of churches and, for the company's first-ever production, kids and adults starred in "The Sound of Music" at an amphitheater on top of Mt. Helix.

The show was not great, but the community loved it – especially the parents of the kids who performed. The parents wanted more, and they asked Russell to put together a theater program for children – something after school that would teach kids how to act.

So in 1981 in his garage in El Cajon, Russell and his wife Sheryl officially started Christian Youth Theater. By the end of their first year, enrollment doubled. In their first decade, they grew from one location in El Cajon to eight locations all over San Diego County.

Early on, though, the nonprofit grew too much, too fast. More than once, the debt piled up so high, the company came close to shutting down. But Russell said big donors would step up to help, or they'd find other ways to keep things going.

"I am not a great businessman, but I always surrounded myself with a board that was way smarter than me," he said. "I didn't want 'yes' people. I wanted people to help solve my weaknesses. And so business people would come along and say, well, look at your profit centers. Expand on those and cut those programs that aren't able to support themselves."

In 1995, Christian Youth Theater opened a location in Chicago, and from that point on it expanded to other cities.

Russell’s passion for teaching kids the arts has never waned.

“I believe in it so much because I really do believe we're changing kids' lives and developing character one stage at a time," he said.

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An Architect's Big Break, and the Struggle to Live Up to it

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 22:16:38 GMT

Jennifer Luce has made a name as an architect who takes an artful approach to designing buildings.

Her firm, Luce et Studio, designed the Nissan offices in La Jolla, Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy and dozens of other award-winning projects in San Diego and beyond.

On a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, Voice of San Diego’s podcast about the region’s businesses and the people behind them, Luce talks about how she got an unexpected break early in her career, and how she has worked to keep the momentum going ever since, with varying degrees of success.

At her first job out of architecture school, Luce was tasked with designing prisons. She needed a creative outlet, so she entered a prestigious international design competition.

More than 500 firms across the world applied, including people three times her age, with decades more experience. She wasn’t even a licensed architect yet. But the jury saw something special about her design, and selected it as the winner, effectively putting Luce in charge of a multimillion-dollar project, the Center for Innovative Technology in Virginia.

"Winning a competition early in life is a really pivotal thing to happen to you because you're jolted forward even if you might not quite be prepared for it," she said.

The experience gave Luce the confidence she needed to strike out on her own. She always knew she wanted to be her own boss, but she had to rebuild her firm three times before it finally took hold.

Finally, though, her firm is landing the kind of clients she's always wanted. It's behind the redesign of the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park and is designing buildings for other arts and cultural organizations.

"Through that perseverance, the work that you're meant to have comes to you," Luce said. "And we are at a moment where we're just doing exactly what we want to be doing."

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'The Cockroaches of the Internet' on Their Online Empire

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 21:27:15 GMT

Back in 2001, the internet was a weird and wonderful place.

It was devoid of the much of the online entertainment and noise of today. It was a place where a couple of Santee kids could do silly but entertaining things like bring the video game Tetris to life by running around San Diego dressed as a Tetris block – that people noticed and enjoyed.

In a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, Voice of San Diego’s podcast about the region’s businesses and the people behind them, VOSD contributor Dallas McLaughlin talks to Rocco Botte, Derrick Acosta and Shawn Chatfield about how they turned their funny internet videos into Mega64, a successful online business with thousands of fans worldwide.

Botte, Acosta and Chatfield never set out to build a business. As theater geeks who grew up in Santee, they started out making free videos for fun. But the right people saw the videos at the right time, and set the trio on an unexpected trajectory that has lasted for more than 15 years. With over 400,000 YouTube subscribers, over 100 million views and over 70,000 subscribers to the Mega64 podcast, the three continue to ride the wave of internet success.

"We're even called the cockroaches of the internet," Chatfield said. "Because we're never like the biggest thing, but we're always around and not really going away, and you can't kill us. We can survive anything."

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After Battling for Her Life, She Built a Successful Battling Business

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 21:15:43 GMT

Diana Ocampo is a fighter.

In a new episode of I Made it in San Diego, Voice of San Diego’s podcast about the stories behind the region’s businesses and the people who made them what they are, Scott Lewis talks to Ocampo about the battles she's faced and the businesses she's built, then lost, then built again.

When mixed-martial arts first started getting big, matches were illegal in California. Still, Ocampo saw an opportunity, and launched MMA matches at a venue in Tijuana. Her events quickly took off, and she outgrew the space just in time for California to lift the ban on the sport in 2006.

The matches she organized at places like the Del Mar Fairgrounds, Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park and casinos across the San Diego region attracted thousands of fans. She was one of the only female MMA promoters in the nation, and her business became a big financial success.

But then she got cancer — and lost everything.

"Going from having been very comfortable to nothing was very shocking," she told Lewis.

What she didn't lose was her resourcefulness and resolve. She found someone who believed in her entrepreneurial ability, and got an investment that helped her open Total Combat Paintball. Without knowing anything about the game, she quickly built that business into a success, too.

"I'm like OK, let me figure this out," she said. "And I did."

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NASA Designer Makes One Giant Leap to Full-Time Artist

Tue, 24 Oct 2017 21:48:25 GMT

Melissa Walter had a job at NASA. She did graphic design, illustration and social media, mostly for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. She loved the job, but she also started obsessing over the fine art she was making at home in her spare time.

At the end of 2015, she decided to take the leap: She quit her full-time job so she could become a full-time artist.

"I was sort of having more confidence in what I was doing, and more excitement, and that's all I could think about," Walter said. "I realized, OK, this is it. This is what I should be spending my time on."

In a new episode of Culturecast, Voice of San Diego's podcast about arts and culture, I talk to Walter about her transition to full-time artist, and the science-based art that's been fueling her success.

Many artists who quit their day jobs flounder, at least in the beginning. But Walter has quickly flourished, scoring group and solo shows, plus residencies that have allowed her to explore large-scale installation work. She's also the subject of a new documentary by The Artist Odyssey, a San Diego production company that produces short films about artists for its subscribers.

The interest in Walter's art stems, in part, from her perfectionism. She's a bit obsessive-compulsive, which means she's able to intensely focus on her work and use time-consuming processes – like using thousands of tiny dots to create a shading effect – that result in attractive, detailed geometric images.

People also appreciate her exploration of astrophysics and astronomical objects. Because of Walter's background in science-based illustrations and graphic design, she's got a knack for turning complicated ideas into intriguing and meticulous minimalist drawings, sculptures and installations.

But even those who glaze over the dark matter, gravitational waves and other complicated concepts at the center of her art can still enjoy the clean images she creates.

"You don't have to know any of this to look at my work or appreciate it," she said. "I like the idea that people can connect to my work visually, and then if they take the time to learn about it more in depth, then maybe they'll be more curious or inspired."

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A Guide to San Diego Schools

Thu, 19 Oct 2017 00:12:48 GMT

Parents who want to choose the best schools for their kids often get overwhelmed wading through test scores and other metrics.

That struggle becomes especially real when San Diego Unified’s school choice window opens every year. From Oct. 3 through Nov. 13, families can choose to send their kids to a school outside their neighborhood.

To ease the process, Voice of San Diego, along with the San Diego Workforce Partnership and UC San Diego Extension Center, put together an interactive map that helps parents compare and research local schools. It includes crucial data on each school's performance, and filters through the ones that offer special programs like dual-language immersion.

On the podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn go through the ins and outs of our schools map and explain the school choice process.

“We’ve put together a lot of different data sets that are out there available to parents and the general public, but don’t show up in the same place,” Khon said. “It should be a great tool for parents.”

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The Battle Behind a Family's Secret Sauce

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 21:28:10 GMT

I had no choice but to try Bitchin' Sauce.

It was years ago, and Ryan Smith was at the farmer's market in Hillcrest. He was so enthusiastic and wildly upbeat about his "bitchin' dips, so I stopped to give them a try.

Yum. The sauces – which are sort of like hummus but made with ground-up almonds instead of garbanzo beans – are good. They're also vegan and fit other restrictive diets. And Smith had a whole charming farmers market schtick that sucked people in.

It didn't take long for Bitchin' Sauce to take off – both because of the flavor and Smith's knack for pitching the product. After making the rounds at local farmers markets, Smith and his sister Starr Edwards enlisted their family for help and started getting stores across the state to sell the product.

Bitchin' Sauce, based in Carlsbad, grew to about $2 million in annual revenue by 2015, Smith said. That's when the trouble hit. A small disagreement among the family morphed into an all-out legal battle that left Edwards with total control of the business. The rest of the family was left scrambling, wondering what to do next.

"Imagine going from a six-figure salary to nothing," Smith said. "Moving out of your house with your wife and baby, moving in with your brother and going, what are we going to do?"

In this week's episode of "I Made it in San Diego," VOSD's podcast about local businesses and the people behind them, I talked to Smith about how he picked himself back up and helped build a successful family business once again.

Edwards is now CEO of Bitchin' Foods. She declined to speak with me.

Rather than wage an all-out battle for the business, Smith and the rest of the family let it go.

A few months after the grueling split, they started building a new business called Good Lovin’ Foods, the cornerstone of which is a trio of healthy vegan sauces the family claims are better than the last.

Smith said the family is now making more than they were when they left Bitchin' Sauce behind. But the new business' growth hasn't come without challenges.

"It definitely was not easy," Smith said. "And it hasn't been without battles – like everything going wrong. ... It has been a battle, but we're growing."

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The Man Who Helped Sell San Diego on Fish Tacos

Wed, 04 Oct 2017 20:15:01 GMT

It's hard to imagine, I know, but there was a time when San Diego wasn't so sure about fish tacos.

When Ralph Rubio opened the inaugural Rubio's on Mission Bay Drive in Pacific Beach, people still expected a taco to have a crunchy shell and contain some sort of beef. It took some time before Rubio's original fish taco, with its soft, yellow corn tortillas and beer-battered fish, caught on.

"There was a lot of resistance. I was surprised when people would say, "What? Fish in a tortilla? What are you thinking?'" Rubio told me on the latest episode of "I Made it in San Diego," VOSD's podcast about the people behind the region's businesses. "That thought never occurred to me. And so I was I was ignorant of that, or that possibility. I didn't realize what a marketing challenge I was in for."

We all know how things turned out, though. San Diego ultimately embraced fish tacos so hard that they're now the thing people seek out when they visit the city.

In fact, Rubio's initial challenge of marketing the fish taco eventually morphed into the opposite problem: The company grew so much, so quickly, that it created a whole new set of problems.

And even though the fish taco is now a San Diego icon, Rubio said he's also had to pull items off the menu on occasion when they proved unsuccessful, including a calamari burrito and a cheeseburger taco.

The company has pivoted to recent years to focus on fresh seafood and healthier fare.

"People were looking for delicious grilled seafood options and it's hard to get delicious grilled seafood in a fast-casual setting anywhere in the United States. That was our market opportunity. And so that's what we went after," Rubio said.

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The Theater Company That Went From a Chicken Coop to Center Stage in Carlsbad

Wed, 27 Sep 2017 21:18:33 GMT

New Village Arts started as an idea Kristianne Kurner had for a theater company back in the late 1990s. At the time, Kurner was a member of the first graduating class of The Actor’s Studio in New York – an intense program led by James Lipton.

When Kurner graduated, she left New York for Los Angeles and started a family. But the theater scene in L.A. wasn’t doing so well at that time, so Kurner instead decided to make New Village Arts a reality.

In the latest episode of “I Made it in San Diego,” VOSD’s podcast about the region’s businesses and the people behind them, I talk to Kurner about how, with just a couple thousand dollars, she moved her family to Carlsbad and started a scrappy little theater company that eventually grew into one of the region's most respected (Disclosure: I've done some acting for New Village Arts).

The company's first production was inside an old chicken coop.

"It only had 25 seats, so we sold out every show," she said. "It was really a great way to start because it got us a lot of attention."

With more fans than it could pack into a chicken coop, New Village Arts had to upgrade.

Kurner struck up a friendship with Judi Sheppard Missett, the founder of Jazzercise, who offered the group a space to rehearse, hold classes and produce shows in the back of the Jazzercise warehouse. The shows filled up, classes kept getting added, and New Village Arts quickly outgrew that space, too.

It finally found a new home in the heart of what would become the thriving area known as Carlsbad Village. The company's shows attracted new people to the neighborhood and played a role in its transformation.

"What we always believed was that if we did really good, quality work then the people would help to support it,” Kurner said.

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'The Soap of a Generation' Started With a Soapbox

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 21:21:58 GMT

There aren't any slick commercials or campaigns advertising Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. And yet, you've probably heard of the product.

The soap is different – some might say a little weird. The most memorable feature isn't the soap itself; it's the labels, which are packed with over 3,000 words about “God’s Spaceship Earth,” Mohammed, Jesus, the Marxist welfare state, arctic timberwolves and more.

The quasi-religious rants on the labels were written by the company's founder, Emanuel "Emil" Bronner, an eccentric man who started by selling his liquid peppermint soap to people who would first listen to his soapbox lectures about uniting humanity. When he realized that more people were showing up to buy the soap than listen to what he had to say, he started printing the main tenets of his philosophy right on the labels.

In our latest episode of “I Made it in San Diego,” VOSD’s podcast about the region’s businesses and the people behind them, Emil's grandson David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner's, talks about how the family's company has grown from a quirky sideshow soap with a cult following to a multimillion-dollar brand that folks can find at places like Target.

David Bronner said the first big boom happened in the '60s, when the rising hippie counterculture embraced the soap, both for its messages of love and unity and for its sustainable, organic ingredients.

"My granddad's message just caught fire and became the soap of a generation," he said.

Tax problems caused some setbacks – Emil saw Dr. Bronner's as a religious, tax-exempt organization, the IRS did not – but the company, which has its factory in Vista, has continued to grow at a rapid pace.

David Bronner attributes the success to putting the company's progressive ethos and messages it champions at the forefront. Issues like fair trade, progressive employment practices and legal marijuana have become central to the business, garnering the company a lot of press.

"It's kind of the way my grandpa did it," David Bronner said. "We fight hard for the causes we believe in. And you know we're kind of like cause marketing 101, but way beyond it. People respect that we're not just doing it for the marketing bang, we're actually in our fights to win them."

David Bronner, for instance, once locked himself in cage filled with hemp plants in front of the White House in an effort to make the case for the legalization of hemp harvesting in the United States. Hemp is an ingredient in the soap.

David Bronner was hesitant about joining the family business, but the activism that's become a big part of his job has made running the company about a lot more than just soap.

"It turns out you can write soap into all kinds of interesting, fun, adventurous things," David Bronner said. "And so I'm never bored."

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The Fitness Franchise That Started it All

Wed, 30 Aug 2017 17:13:29 GMT

I take three separate fitness classes a week to supplement my running workouts, including one at Barry's Bootcamp in Hillcrest, a franchise with locations across the country. San Diego has lots of similar options for the fitness-inclined: CorePower Yoga, OrangeTheory Fitness, CrossFit.

One fitness franchise helped pave the way for all of them, and it started with one woman teaching classes out of rec centers in Oceanside.

Judi Sheppard Missett, who is still Jazzercise's CEO and continues to teach classes, didn't set out to build a fitness empire. When she moved to Oceanside after college, she was trying to make it as a theater actress and singer, and just wanted to teach classes — a modified jazz dance workout she invented — on the side.

"But as luck would have it, or karma, or whatever — the universe had something else in store for me," Sheppard Missett tells me in our latest episode of "I Made it in San Diego," VOSD's podcast about the region’s businesses -and the people who made them what they are.

At one point, Sheppard Missett was teaching so many classes, she developed nodules on her vocal cords, and lost her voice. That seeming setback ended up being a game-changer for Jazzercise: Sheppard Missett decided to enlist other instructors whom she could teach her routines to, and they ended up fanning out around the county, expanding the reach of the classes.

When instructors moved away, they brought the classes with them, which opened the door to franchising the business.

After that boom, though, came challenges, including a lawsuit over how instructors were required to look, and eventually, stigma about Jazzercise as being old-fashioned.

"Sometimes when you're a pioneer, you develop a little stigma because people say to themselves, 'Gosh they were a big hit. We remember when back in the '80s, and they still around, what's going on?' And of course we we are still around," Sheppard Missett said.

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If the Shoe Fits, Build a Business Around it

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 20:57:18 GMT

Finding shoes that fit perfectly can be hard.

After a particularly frustrating day of shoe shopping at a mall, Lucy Beard had a big aha moment while drinking her Starbucks latte. Beard happened to pick up an article about 3D printing technology and she thought, if these machines can create one-of-a-kind objects, couldn't they be used to make customized shoes?

"I could have any kind of coffee I want from two little machines, and yet I couldn't get a pair of shoes that fit," she said. "And that was where that light bulb moment came off."

Beard decided right then and there to get into the shoe business.

In the latest episode of I Made it in San Diego, a podcast illuminating the stories behind the region’s businesses and entrepreneurs, I sat down with Beard to talk about Feetz, the company she launched last year that uses a smartphone app and a warehouse filled with 3D printers to create one-of-a-kind shoes for its customers.

Beard knew nothing about 3D printers when she decided to build a business around them, but she found local resources like Fab Lab, a nonprofit that teaches people how to build things using new technology, and quickly got herself up to speed.

Once she understood the technology, which essentially melts down strings of plastic and turns it into shoes or any other object you program it to, she taught herself the business side of things by signing up for programs and classes for entrepreneurs.

Beard struggled early on to get funding. She said it's harder for women to get male investors to believe in them, but she eventually found her way. The company's gotten investment money from big-time players in the shoe industry and is garnering national attention for its sustainability efforts – the shoes are made with recycled and recyclable material, and 3D printing is a lot more environmentally friendly than traditional shoe manufacturing.

And recently, the shoes, which Beard admits were a bit ugly in the early stages, started getting folks from the fashion industry's attention.

Beard said she's still figuring out the next big innovation for Feetz. She's thinking about how to build a shoe-subscription service sort of like Netlfix.

"That's the future where footwear's going to go," she said. "It's going to be very different than how we think about it today."

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A Big Bet on Solar That Paid Off

Wed, 02 Aug 2017 20:44:47 GMT

The first time Daniel Sullivan was introduced to solar, he was hooked. He said he knew right away that it would take off, even though it was an expensive and somewhat obscure technology at the time. He was an electrician, so he brought the business opportunity to his employer.

"I went to my boss and I said, look, this is something that I think is going to be a big deal," Sullivan said.

His boss shut him down. And that was just the first time someone told Sullivan that his big solar bet was a loser.

In the latest episode of I Made it in San Diego, a podcast illuminating the stories behind the region’s businesses and entrepreneurs, Voice of San Diego’s Lisa Halverstadt sits down with Sullivan to talk about how and why he went all in on solar despite the naysayers' warnings.

Sullivan got a slow start, but his persistence eventually led to the creation of a solar company that now pulls in $50 million a year and operates in San Diego, Orange County and the Inland Empire. He says his main motivation to build the business was the California energy crisis, the oil and gas industry and his newborn son.

"So it all came together for me that this is what I need to do," he said. "This is what makes sense and we can't continue to be beholden to an industry that wreaks havoc all over the world."

Sullivan's road to success wasn't smooth. He explains how he went from sleeping in a garage and living paycheck-to-paycheck to running a multimillion-dollar business.

"It was really a sink-or-swim situation," he said. "You know when you don't have a backstop, when you don't have a safety net, when you don't have a means to provide for yourself unless you succeed at every stop, you're very mindful of every decision you make. ... There's no room for error."

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Pioneering the New Frontier of Legal Pot

Wed, 26 Jul 2017 22:41:22 GMT

James Slatic is a marijuana business pioneer.

One of his past business ventures set the standard for packaging medical marijuana. Another innovated vape cartridges and other products.

The successful businesses he's built and his highly publicized ongoing legal battles with the district attorney’s office have made Slatic one of the most recognizable faces of the green rush that's sweeping the state as entrepreneurs jostle one another to find their place in the newly legal industry.

But before all that, Slatic was a serial entrepreneur who made lots of money, and lost lots of money, time and again.

In the latest episode of I Made it in San Diego, a podcast illuminating the stories behind the region’s businesses and entrepreneurs, Voice of San Diego's Scott Lewis sits down with Slatic to talk about the ups and downs of building his many businesses.

Slatic's helped build restaurant software, started an internet business that helped unsigned bands get record deals, ran an organic spice company and started a company that made and installed official signs for the California Lottery.

He says he can't help but spot business opportunities and go after them with everything he's got.

"In an entrepreneurial business we say, 'In niches there are riches,'" he tells Lewis. "The entrepreneurial bug doesn't really go away."

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An Early Pact Set the Stage for Deering Banjo Company

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 19:10:14 GMT

From its factory in Spring Valley, Deering Banjo Company has made more than 100,000 banjos since the business launched in 1975.

In the debut episode of I Made it in San Diego, a podcast illuminating the stories behind the region's businesses and entrepreneurs, I talk to Greg and Janet Deering about how they grew their small family business into a company that's made more banjos than any other instrument-maker in existence.

Musicians all over the world now play Deering banjos and the business continues to grow, but finding success wasn't easy. The Deerings said they barely squeaked through some of the recessions, and describe how one early business partnership fell apart and forced them to start from scratch. Their eventual popularity was powered, in part, by Deering banjos' appearances in pop music and on "The Price is Right."

Even in the toughest times, though, Greg Deering said he always knew Deering Banjo Company would work. Early on, he made a pact with his wife that they'd never give up, no matter what. That stubborn confidence paid off, and now Deering is the largest manufacturer of banjos in the country.

"It was this underlying sense of certainty that I can't explain," he said. "There were times when we didn't necessarily know where the rent or the groceries were coming from, but somehow we always managed."

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The Untold Story Behind the Sweetwater Schools Scandal

Mon, 26 Jun 2017 19:21:08 GMT

“The culture of the district was basically based on retaliation, intimidation. Those are the two words that I can think of,” said former Sweetwater school board member Bertha Lopez.

Exactly six years have passed since Sweetwater schools superintendent Jesus Gandara was terminated at 2 a.m. on June 21, 2011 following seven hours of closed door meetings.

A raucous crowd of 500 people gathered in a high school gymnasium the evening before to attend the Sweetwater Union High School District board meeting, many to demand better from their school district leaders. Some hoped Gandara’s departure would close a dark chapter in the district’s history dominated by stories of malfeasance.

But what was supposed to be the end was only the beginning of the end for leaders of California’s largest secondary public school district, which spans from the city of San Diego to the U.S.-Mexico border.

An investigation of Gandara’s activities, as well as the Sweetwater school board and contractors by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office would last a few years and end in various criminal charges, including felony bribery and conspiracy. A couple Sweetwater leaders landed behind bars.

Much has been written about the DA’s case, the outcome and the troubling decision-making that occurred on Gandara’s watch.

But there is a story behind all those stories that has yet to be told, about the six individuals who set the whole thing in motion by demanding accountability from their local school leaders and going to the district attorney for help.

“I felt like if we didn't do it, nobody else would, and these folks would continue to get away with crimes,” said parent Stewart Payne.

“The public has more power than they think that they do,” said parent Maty Adato.

“Did I think justice was served? No. Not only no, but hell no,” said grandparent Kathleen Cheers.

Payne, Adato and Cheers were part of a group of mostly parents and concerned community members who spent years faithfully attending public school board meetings, scouring documents and sounding the alarm when students were shortchanged by district leaders.

To mark the six-year anniversary of Gandara’s termination, we put together a special podcast to allow them to share their story, their motivations, challenges and the sacrifices made along the way. They also have advice for others who want to see change at their local government agency.

Read the full transcript of the podcast interviews here.

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Helping Students Get Unstuck

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 19:57:28 GMT

Entering the real world is difficult for many young adults, but for some that transition often leaves them stuck in limbo.

The term "opportunity youth" is now being used to describe the growing number of 16- to 24-year-olds who don't attend school or have a job.

A few institutions in the region have started noticing the problem of disconnected youth and new programs serving the population are in the works. San Diego Continuing Education, a school that provides adults with different job and education alternatives, is one of the organizations testing out a few different solutions.

On this week’s podcast, cohosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn sit down with Carlos Cortez, president of San Diego Continuing Education, to talk about how the school is helping guide students who struggle with the transition into the so-called real world.

"Many [students] have so many gaps in their educational development that it really requires simultaneously providing foundational skills and support, while also providing them with the job training that's going to help them to land a job that pays a livable wage," Cortez said.

Number of the Week

9.6 percent: The percent of 16- to 24-year-olds in San Diego County who are considered opportunity youth. That's almost one in 10 of the 43,000 students in the county.

What’s Working

The International Rescue Committee: An organization that helps refugees settle in cities across the country, but also makes sure young adults have the tools to succeed in American schools.

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Introducing I Made it in San Diego

Fri, 09 Jun 2017 20:09:15 GMT

There’s a personal story behind every business. Some succeed. Some fail. Many do both. I Made it In San Diego will introduce listeners to the stories behind the city’s small and well-known businesses, and the people who made them what they are today. It’ll delve into the triumphs, tough times and lessons learned along the way – as well as stories unique to San Diego’s technology and border economy.

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An Update, a Teaser and a Conversation with Keep the Channel Open

Wed, 07 Jun 2017 23:58:32 GMT

Host Kinsee Morlan explains the silence, plays a trailer for Voice of San Diego's new "I Made it in San Diego" podcast and runs an episode from the Keep the Channel Open podcast in which she's interviewed by San Diego writer and photographer Mike Sakasegawa.

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What Works Best for English-Learners

Mon, 01 May 2017 17:52:53 GMT

There's no one comprehensive strategy behind educating English-learners in California. Instead, it's a mishmash of programs, many of which leave students struggling to learn English for years.

This week, cohosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn discuss what research is showing to be the best ways to educate English-learners.

Author and education expert Ruby Takanishi joins the show to talk about a recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that examined the most effective ways to educate English-learners.

Takanishi said that even though more and more educators and researchers are promoting multilingualism at schools, school districts in several states are still lagging in providing adequate resources for students who don't speak English.

"It is very clear that (English-language learners) in all states throughout the country are really at the bottom of the charts," she said. "They have widest achievement disparities among different groups, including racial ethnic groups and economic groups."

Takanishi chaired the committee behind the report, which found that it takes an average of five to seven years for a student to become proficient in English. On top of the academic challenges that presents, the report showed that many English-learners continue to struggle once they enter the workforce.

Number of the Week

1 in 7: That's the number of long-term English-learners in California. Long-term English-learners are those who enter kindergarten as English-learners and don't speak English fluently for more than six years.

What’s Working

Chula Vista Learning Community Charter School: A local trilingual immersion school highlighted was in the report for its effective multilingual education program and its sophisticated approach to instruction, which includes problem-solving and project-based learning.

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How Cajon Valley Is Killing it

Thu, 16 Mar 2017 16:49:16 GMT

The Cajon Valley Union School District has nailed personalized learning.

The approach gives more control to students and lets them build on their own strengths with the help of technology tools and a flexible curriculum.

This week, hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talked to David Miyashiro, superintendent of Cajon Valley, about how the district is working to meet individual students' needs.

Miyashiro also discussed his district's refugee demographic. He said roughly 900 refugee children entered the Cajon Valley District last year.

"The newcomers to our district and the diversity of our community really add to the experience of every student and every person in our city," he said. "I think the strength in diversity has made us stronger, has allowed us to open our eyes to bigger things that just standardized test scores and I think we're better because of it."

Lewis and Kohn also dug in to the layoffs happening at the San Diego Unified School District.

About 1,500 district employees will be cut, but not much is known of what comes after and who will take on all the responsibilities of the educators and other staffers who are being pushed out.

Number of the Week

13: That's the number of meetings students who sign up for TED-Ed Clubs go through. The meetings help students identify and research ideas, then put them into a quick TED-style talk.

What’s Working

Community: Miyashiro said getting city and community leaders together to talk about important issues is what works best when building strong schools and neighborhoods.

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Revisiting Balboa Park's 'Fruit Loop'

Tue, 07 Mar 2017 17:32:57 GMT

On a recent Friday night, a few dozen people gathered at Marston Point, a parking lot and lookout perched at the southwestern end of Balboa Park.

It was a particularly cold night, so some folks huddled around a portable fire pit gripping hot cider, others jumped in and out of about 15 parked cars spread across the lot. Inside each car, audio stories played on repeat. Each was a memory of Balboa Park's gay cruising culture.

Things have calmed down considerably in recent years, but Marston Point and the road leading to it were once an epicenter of gay culture in San Diego. Especially in the '50s and '60s, gay people pushed underground by the reigning mores of the time used the secluded area as a meeting place. Some folks, gay men mostly, used the dark pocket of the park to meet for anonymous sex. A few still do.

The area eventually earned itself a nickname: The Fruit Loop. And especially after the sun went down, the illicit activity cranked up. Things got so wild, city officials permanently closed the nearby public bathroom, and the two-way street leading to the Marston Point parking lot was made one-way to cut down on opportunities for drive-by eye contact.

The stories playing in the cars that cold Friday night were collected by artist Kate Clark and Lambda Archives, a nonprofit that collects and preserves the history of the local LGBT community. The event was part of the offbeat programming Clark produces through her public art series called Parkeology.

Clark embeds in urban parks and unearths long-buried stories, forgotten sites and other stuff kept out of public view. For the last two years, she’s been entrenched in Balboa Park.

In this episode of Culturecast, Voice of San Diego's podcast covering local arts and culture, I crawl in and out of the cars parked at Marston Point and take listeners along for a ride through the diverse stories Clark collected about The Fruit Loop and the gay culture that flourished in Balboa Park.

"You could think of that era of cruising as a negative but the fact of the matter is, people were coming here because it was a time when being gay was illegal," Clark said. "I think this history is actually really important because it speaks a lot about an era and the way people socialized and connected."

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Credit-Recovery Charters In, DeVos Out

Thu, 23 Feb 2017 19:44:43 GMT

The controversies surrounding Betsy DeVos' strong support for school choice hit home just as she took office as secretary of education.

When Diane Ravitch, an education researcher, suggested that DeVos visit successful school districts like San Diego Unified, local teachers unions were furious to find out that the invitation was actually extended on behalf of the district's board of trustees. Outcry from local teachers eventually caused that invitation to be rescinded.

In this week's podcast, co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talk more about DeVos and concerns about funneling education funds from traditional public schools into private schools and charter schools.

Voice of San Diego's education reporter Mario Koran also joins the podcast to explain how San Diego Unified's impressive 92 percent student graduation rate brings up concerns about the district's connections to credit-recovery charter schools.

"If a kid is coming up to graduation time and they're not on track to graduate, we see a number of those same kids leaving the San Diego Unified schools and going to these credit-recovery high schools," he said. "It gets those students off the San Diego Unified graduation rolls. So they don't count anymore. They're virtually excluded when they go to the charter school."

Koran said this leads to a bigger question – how prepared are students when they graduate and what is the district doing to help those who are struggling?

Number of the Week

Five: That's the number of states that provide school choice vouchers just for low-income students.

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Street Performers Fight for Their Rights

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 15:38:12 GMT

In this episode of Culturecast, Voice of San Diego's podcast covering arts and culture in the region, I talk to buskers who think city policies need to change so San Diego's street culture can thrive.

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Breaking Down Betsy DeVos

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 15:13:41 GMT

Hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn discuss Betsy DeVos and what her nomination as Secretary of Education could mean for in California. In the second half, Lewis and Kohn speak with Miles Durfee, Managing Regional Director of the California Charter Schools Association.

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The Art of the Women's March

Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:53:54 GMT

A special Culturecast episode focused on the recent Women's March in San Diego.

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What Does It Mean to Graduate?

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 00:08:31 GMT

Hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn speak with Dr. Sandy Husk, CEO of the college preparatory program AVID, Jill Anderson, Principal of O'Farrell Charter's Middle School Academy and Chuy Gomez, an AVID student at O'Farrell.

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Inside a San Diego Sound Booth

Thu, 12 Jan 2017 14:57:24 GMT

Chelsea Allen, the manager of community engagement at the San Diego Symphony, said she thinks San Diego's art and culture crowd is ready for new, exciting things.

"It seems from what we're learning that it's very brave," she said. "And it's willing to accept some new sounds or looks, so we're happy to be doing that here."

The symphony is shaking things up with its new Our American Music festival, a month-long concert series that includes shows by hip-hop legend Talib Kweli and folk singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash alongside chamber and classical music performances.

The festival also includes temporary public art installations – sound booths and a community quilt – that invite audiences to interact and create some art and music of their own.

For the first episode of Season 2 of Culturecast, Voice of San Diego's podcast covering arts and culture in region, I stepped inside a sound booth and talk to Allen and Brandon Steppe, the founder and director of the David’s Harp Foundation, a nonprofit that works with at-risk and homeless youth by providing free music education. The kids in Steppe's program collaborated with the symphony and helped produce the music for the booths.

All of the music and sounds you hear in this episode, by the way, are by David’s Harp students. The track I let play for a few seconds at the very end is called "Parade of History" by Nathaniel Randle.

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Episode 5: Softening Gentrification's Blow in Barrio Logan

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 14:12:38 GMT

Anna Stump and Daphne Hill are leaving their Barrio Logan art studio. Their rent went up, and while that wasn't the only thing driving their decision, it hastened it.

Artists are often part of the first wave of a neighborhood's gentrification. Attracted to the big, open warehouses and affordable rents found in overlooked and forgotten urban neighborhoods, they move in, making the neighborhood cooler and in turn, attracting developers. Often, artists and other residents eventually find themselves priced out.

So how can artists help keep the same old cycle from playing out?

"I don't know how to solve the problem," Hill said. "Do you have an answer?"

I don't, but I talked to a few people who offered up some suggestions.

For episode five of Culturecast, VOSD’s podcast covering the intersection of arts and gentrification in Barrio Logan, I headed down to Bread & Salt, an arts space inside an old bread factory on the border of Barrio Logan and Logan Heights. I sat inside the warehouse for an entire day and talked to artists, architects and developers about what people are, or should be doing to address gentrification.

John Mireles is a commercial and fine art photographer who doesn't think gentrification is actually such a bad thing. He lives in Logan Heights, shows his art in galleries and coffee shops in the neighborhood and he’s also a landlord who owns and rents out property in the area.

Photo courtesy of J Raymond Mireles

At one of his recent art shows in Barrio Logan, Mireles told me he wanted to make a T-shirt that said "gentrifier" because he's proud of the work he's done to be part of and improve his neighborhood. Last year, Mireles took photos of some of his neighbors and community members, blew them up and hung them on his wooden fence.

He said as long as people who move into the area are respectful of the community, newcomers can be a good thing. Plus, he said, change is inevitable, so he wonders why people would want to try to stop it when a neighborhood’s property values are at their lowest.

"So often when people talk about gentrification, they're talking about a process of change as if it's this evil, horrible thing," he said. "If change is bad, when do we want this process of change to stop? Is it OK to stop when it becomes a very low-income neighborhood? Can neighborhoods only change from higher income to lower income and never reverse course? Can we only change from white to black to Hispanic to some other segregated ethnic group, or is it possible to have multicultural neighborhoods?"

Mireles thinks Barrio Logan is headed toward becoming a more multicultural, mixed-income neighborhood, and that's a good thing.

Musician Bill Caballero isn't as comfortable letting gentrification run its course. He agreed that change can't be stopped, but said artists and residents should work toward softening its blow.

Photo by Kinsee Morlan

"The only way that we can stay and not be pushed out is for the artists to buy their own goddamn building," he said. "You get a co-op of artists to buy a four-story building ... and they share the building and they say, 'This is what's it's going to be and we're intractable.'"

Quick note to listeners: This is the last episode of what I’m calling Season 1 of Culturecast. I’m going to veer away from Barrio Logan for a while, but that doesn’t mean I won’t circle back.

I’ve heard from several listeners, and the one thing I keep hearing is that y’all wish I produced more episodes more often.

So I’m going to try to do that. I’ll do it by opening up the podcast to any story related to arts and culture in San Diego. The stories will probably be shorter and not serialized. I hope you’ll dig the new format. If you have any ideas for future episodes, shoot me an email.

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Lincoln High and the Challenge of School Turnarounds

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 20:51:09 GMT

A special episode of Good Schools For All.

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How Children's Brains Learn to Learn

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 18:48:54 GMT

Effective learning strategies can vary from child to child — but youth brain studies reveal new clues that can help educators improve students' academic achievement.

On this week’s podcast, Timothy Brown, assistant professor of neurosciences at UCSD's School of Medicine, joined co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to talk about youth brain development, the impact of childhood trauma and technology's role in brain studies. Brown said increased collaboration between neuroscientists and educators can lead to information breakthroughs.

"If you can capture some of these problems early, you might be able to develop programs that help kids," Brown said. "With certain targeted training programs that just focus on these lower-level sound discrimination tests, it has been shown some kids get better. They become better readers, they become better speakers."

Lewis and Kohn also play a speech by Patricia Kuhl, professor and co-director at the University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, in which she explains how brain studies can predict when a child is ready to learn to read.

Lewis and Kohn also discuss the benefits of encouraging bilingual youth to use their language skills when they're at home and school — instead of switching languages based on location.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

25 percent, 70 percent and 92 percent: Those are the percentages of how much a child's brain weighs from birth to age 5. At birth, a baby's brain weighs 25 percent of its adult brain weight, then increases to 70 percent of an adult brain weight by age 1 and reaches up to 92 percent of an adult brain weight by age 5.

What’s Working

Home Visiting Programs: San Diego-based programs Nurse-Family Partnership, First 5 First Steps and Project Concern International send visitors to homes of babies, toddlers and pregnant mothers to help parents understand how they can support their child’s development, including brain development.

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The Schools Issues on Your Ballot

Thu, 20 Oct 2016 19:47:18 GMT

It's almost Election Day, and thousands of students are counting on voters to make good decisions.

On this week’s podcast, co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn discuss state and local ballot measures connected to education. Locally, Measure I, for instance, allows voters to help choose the fate of San Diego High School, which is located on dedicated parkland.

"If you don't care that San Diego High School is there, and you don't care about this broader principal about whether we should be able to change the charter to hand over parkland, then just vote for it," Lewis said. If Measure I is voted down, however, the school will have to move by 2024 and the land where the school sits now will return to Balboa Park.

Meanwhile, Proposition 58, a statewide measure, focuses on bilingual education. If it passes, it'll restore flexibility to school districts so they can choose the most effective approach to teaching English-learners.

Lewis and Kohn also discuss San Diego Unified trustee candidates for District E, LaShae Collins and incumbent Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, as they campaign to win over voters citywide.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

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When to Consider Special Ed

Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:29:16 GMT

When it comes to giving students with disabilities the best education possible, early intervention and early detection are crucial – but not all families are equipped to access the resources they need.

On this week’s podcast, Shana Cohen, assistant professor of education studies at UC San Diego, joined co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to talk about how children from different cultures sometimes receive varied levels of services for developmental disabilities.

"A lot of times, it's an issue of advocacy," Cohen said. "So a lot of white middle-class families, they know where to go to get the services that their child needs. A lot of Latino families or African-Americans families might not know where to go."

There's also an information gap when it comes to looking out for symptoms of developmental disability, Cohen said.

Seth Schwartz, an attorney who works with families of children with disabilities, also joined the podcast, and Lewis and Kohn discuss a study by the National Center on Education Outcomes that found special education students can perform at grade level with adequate accommodations.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

12 percent: The percentage of K-12 students in San Diego County receiving special education services, an increase from 10 percent over the past five years.

What’s Working

Healthy Development Services, through the American Academy of Pediatrics, sends providers to engage with San Diego County families and identify and treat children with mild to moderate disabilities.

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Out With the Old Test, in With the New

Thu, 08 Sep 2016 16:15:32 GMT

A couple years ago, the state got rid of the California Standards Tests and opted for a new way to check in on student progress.

On this week’s podcast, Steve Green, senior director for assessment, accountability and evaluation at the San Diego County Office of Education, joined co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to talk about the Smarter Balanced Assessment System, the state's new standardized testing system. The test aligns with Common Core Standards and is more rigorous than the older California Standards Tests, Green said.

"The standards we had before and the way we were assessing was through multiple choice," he said. "The new assessment really does get at critical thinking and application. There are open-ended items where students have to write a response in. There's the performance task, which is very sophisticated. That's where students are truly demonstrating what they know and are able to do."

Since implementing the new assessment standards, San Diego County increased student performance in math and English language arts and literacy at a rate matching the rise seen across the state. The county is ahead of the state in overall performance, Green said.

Lewis and Kohn also discuss achievement gaps between high- and low-income students and between different racial groups.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

62 percent and 49 percent: The percentages of Chula Vista Elementary School District students who met or exceeded English and math standards, respectively, on recent standardized tests. The district outscored San Diego County and the state.

What’s Working

EdSource is a California news and research organization focused on education. Their online source provides snapshots of academic performance data for schools and districts across the state.

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'Your ZIP Code Is Not Your Destiny'

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 16:18:58 GMT

High school graduation rates are up – but students' access to quality courses still varies from school to school.

Last school year, the San Diego Unified School District touted a 92 percent high school graduation rate – an increase despite the district's new, tougher graduation requirements. The new standards mean students must successfully complete the same high school courses required for admission into California State University and University of California schools.

But it seems not all students in the district receive equal support to succeed within and beyond the new standards.

On this week’s podcast, Andrea Guerrero, executive director at Alliance San Diego, a social justice organization, joined co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to talk about education inequity across San Diego Unified and how her organization pushes the district to raise expectations for more students.

"Your ZIP code is not your destiny and we needed the school district to understand that," she said. "There's still a disparity in AP and IB course offerings ... these are the courses that go beyond making you eligible for the UC and CSU [colleges], these are the courses that make you competitive. You can have a high-performing school ... look inside and understand that not all of the students are getting the same kind of access to programs."

English-learners and refugee students are most at risk, Guerrero said.

Lewis and Kohn also discuss the pros and cons of measuring school success by graduation rates.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

952: That's the number of students last school year who passed San Diego Unified School District's multilingual test as an alternative to the requirement of passing two years of language courses –four times more students than the previous year.

What’s Working

California State University San Marcos signed an Alliance to Accelerate Excellence in Education, which guarantees admission to students from 10 school districts who meet admissions requirements. San Diego State University offers a similar admissions guarantee to local students.

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Episode 4: New Stadium, Old Concerns About Artists Getting Pushed Out

Wed, 31 Aug 2016 22:14:39 GMT

East Village isn't the thriving arts district it once was.

When Petco Park was built 12 years ago, lots of the artists and galleries taking advantage of cheap rent and large warehouses there were priced out.

East Village has been gentrifying since the ballpark went up. High-priced condos and nice restaurants are popping up, but the neighborhood's also home to the region's largest homeless population,

In episode four of Culturecast, VOSD’s podcast covering the intersection of arts and gentrification in Barrio Logan, I talk to people who are worried that Barrio Logan's development will mirror East Village's if the Chargers get their new downtown stadium. They say the arts scene that's been flourishing in and around Barrio Logan will die if the stadium's built.

Brent Beltran, who lives in Barrio Logan and is part of the Barrios Against Stadiums group, said he's concerned that both the very poor and the very rich will come to their neighborhood if Measure C passes in November. He said he and his neighbors have already seen an influx of homeless people, and he thinks more will come if the measure passes.

On the flip side, Beltran said he's already seen an uptick of real estate investors swooping up properties.

"There are people that support the Chargers in this neighborhood," he said. "A lot of people in community may not understand the impact of what the stadium's going to do on them. They don't know anything about gentrification. Some people don't know the rising property values are going to go up and they're going to be pushed out – they don't understand the correlation between that."

The Chargers are asking voters to approve an increase in the city's hotel-room tax to help pay for the new stadium, which would also include a Convention Center annex.

The San Diego Building & Construction Trades Council, a coalition of 22 local construction and trade unions, has come out in support of the proposal, but Carol Kim, the council's director of community engagement, said the support comes with strings attached.

Kim said she's been talking to people in Barrio Logan and the other neighborhoods surrounding East Village about their stadium concerns. She said her conversations almost always stray toward the community's more deep-seated problems.

"That's really where it gets tricky because these concerns they're dealing with, things like gentrification, things like parking and traffic, environmental concerns, health concerns, other mitigation, all of those things are things that are really big, complex issues and they're the culmination of basically decades of neglect," she said.

Kim took the community concerns she collected to a meeting with the Chargers and walked away with a letter signed by the team's owner Dean Spanos. In it, he commits to a community benefits agreement, or a contract with community groups from Barrio Logan and surrounding communities. Nothing is set in stone yet, but the letter lays out a framework that says the Chargers will consider doing things like starting a public land trust and pitching in money to help build affordable housing, help create a parking district, put on job fairs and outreach events to hire folks from those communities to work at the stadium and offer job-training and apprentice opportunities.

Of course, everything is contingent on whether the ballot measure passes in November, but Kim said she thinks the opportunities the Chargers are offering are the only set of solutions available.

"Right now it seems very apparent that there's a lack of leadership at the city level to address these problems," she said. "So absent that leadership, here's an opportunity for us to actually try and do something, and we've got a stakeholder here who's willing to contribute some significant resources toward doing something about these problems, where, what else is on the table right now? There's not a lot."

When I contacted the Chargers, the team’s spokesperson put me in touch with Marcela Escobar-Eck, principal of Atlantis Group Land Use Planning. Escobar-Eck, who was brought on as a local land-use consultant, said the team is interested in working with Barrio Logan and the other nearby neighborhoods to soften the negative impacts of a new stadium. She said she thinks the Chargers can do things to ensure the arts community isn't pushed out.

"I think there are definitely going to be opportunities to not only bring the Barrio art movement to East Village, but to continue to have the East Village art movement there," she said.

Escobar-Eck said the land trust could be used to build affordable space for artists and galleries, and ointed out that the current stadium plans include a space for a museum. She said it's too early to say, but it's possible the museum could serve as a resource for Barrio Logan and all of the Greater Logan Heights neighborhoods.

When Beltran found out about the letter and the possible community benefits agreement, he voiced his complaints in a Facebook post.

“No matter how many benefits are given by the Chargers and the city in a community benefits agreement they won't be enough to stop the displacement of renting residents and small businesses from Barrio Logan, Sherman Heights and Logan Heights,” he wrote. “The barrios might get some new shit but will the new shit be enough to make up for getting pushed out? Nope. That new shit will be for the gentrifiers.”

Logan Avenue Is Blowing Up

Also on the podcast, I talk to Alan Cassell, a real estate investor and consultant who's working on three new projects (here's a peak at one of them) on a block of Logan Avenue in Barrio Logan that's seen an explosion of new businesses, art galleries and redevelopment.

I also pop in on artist Chris Martino and chat with his business partner Paul Basile about their new galleries and creative spaces they're building on Logan Avenue.

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Where Are the New Teachers?

Thu, 25 Aug 2016 16:26:38 GMT

We need a lot more teachers.

Fewer folks want to be teachers, even as the demand increases. In San Diego County, about 32 percent of teachers are 50 years old or older. As more teachers retire, we have to replace them.

On this week’s podcast, Heather Lattimer, associate professor at the University of San Diego's School of Leadership and Education Sciences, joined host Laura Kohn to talk about ways to recruit students into the teaching profession.

Lattimer said the education field is in a battle to attract students – despite financial concerns and stigma surrounding the career choice.

"The larger issue that I hear over and over is, 'Why do you want to become a teacher?' I hear that from students," she said. "I also hear it from students' parents. Often the students that we encounter who are interested in teacher education and becoming teachers have to combat their parents who are concerned that, 'Hey, this isn't going to be something where you'll be able to A, earn the money, but B, have the respect that we think you deserve.'"

Only about 5 percent of nationally surveyed college-bound high seniors say they're interested in entering the education field, the lowest percentage in decades, Lattimer said.

Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn also discuss the 30 percent decline in teacher credentials by San Diego County's higher education institutions between 2010-2011 and 2014-2015 fiscal years.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

22,000: The total statewide teacher shortage California school districts anticipate for the upcoming 2016-2017 school year.

What’s Working

The San Diego Unified School District created a teacher pipeline task force a few years ago to improve teacher recruitment, retention and evaluation methods. The pipeline is designed to encourage and support students in the district to enter the education field and return as teachers.

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Getting Superintendents and Students to Stick Around

Thu, 11 Aug 2016 16:08:46 GMT

Superintendents don't stick around for long.

A 2014 analysis by EdSource, a nonprofit advocating for public school improvement, found that two-thirds of superintendents at California's largest public school districts served three years or less.

Increasingly, though, it's up to these newbie superintendents to persuade more students and their families to stick around at traditional schools, and resist the urge to transfer to one of the growing number of charter schools in the state.

On this week’s podcast, Luis Ibarra, superintendent of Escondido Union School District, joined host Scott Lewis to talk about competition between traditional and charter schools. The Escondido Union School District serves about 17,000 students, down from previous years. Ibarra is in his second year as superintendent.

"We're starting to look at, 'What are we doing systemically throughout our district to make [traditional schools] more appealing, reach our students more and make education innovative and creative for our students?'" Ibarra said.

The district recently created a task force to find out why parents are taking students from traditional schools and enrolling them in charter schools.

Lewis and co-host Laura Kohn also discuss an interview with Louis Freedberg, executive director at EdSource, about the huge turnover rate of superintendents and whether those changes impact students' quality of education.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

11: The number of San Diego County school districts that will have new superintendents in the 2016-2017 school year.

What’s Working

Superintendents Kevin Holt of the San Marcos Unified School District and Francisco Escobedo of the Chula Vista Elementary School District are long-serving superintendents in the county. Holt began in 2008, Escobedo in 2010.

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Marrying College Prep and Career Prep

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 18:46:34 GMT

Thanks to a funding surge, more California schools are launching career academies, or programs that combine academic and technical skills.

On this week’s podcast, Rob Atterby of ConnectEd joined co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to talk about “linked learning,” a strategy to prepare students for both college and career.

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Plugging the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Thu, 21 Jul 2016 16:52:19 GMT

There's a link between school discipline policies and students who enter the justice system. Folks call it the school-to-prison pipeline.

Mid-City Community Advocacy Network, or Mid-City CAN, is a City Heights-based organization that advocates for restorative justice, a new approach to school discipline that hopes to disrupt that flow.

On this week’s podcast, Diana Ross, executive director of Mid-City CAN, joined co-hosts Laura Kohn and Mario Koran, who sat in for Scott Lewis, to talk about the organization's efforts to keep more students in school.

"The kids who continue to get expelled and suspended are still majority kids of color. ... There's a huge disparity," Ross said.

She said San Diego Unified School District recently announced its plan for a districtwide rollout of a restorative justice program.

Kohn and Koran also discuss a speech about school discipline that Nancy Hanks, chief of elementary schools in Madison, Wis., gave to Teach for America alumni.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

34 percent: That's how much suspensions in San Diego County dropped in three years, between the 2011-2012 school year and the 2014-2015 school year.

What’s Working

The National Conflict Resolution Center and the Old Globe Theatre partnered to bring Anna Deavere Smith to San Diego for a preview performance of her stage show about the school-to-prison pipeline. Also, a quick correction, Kohn says Deavere visited Lincoln and Crawford high schools. The visits actually happened at Lincoln and Hoover.

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Putting Teens to Work

Thu, 14 Jul 2016 17:34:30 GMT

Fewer young Americans are working summer jobs than in decades past, and fewer of those jobs are going to the teens who need them most.

San Diego Workforce Partnership is a nonprofit organization that funds and operates youth employment programs.

On this week’s podcast, Andy Hall, vice president and chief program officer at San Diego Workforce Partnership, joined co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to talk about the nonprofit's approach to assisting youth seeking employment skills and experience.

Hall said San Diego has "53,000 16- to 24-year-olds who are not connected to either education or employment."

Lewis and Kohn also talk about schools' role to prepare youth for careers.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

21.6 percent: That was San Diego’s youth employment rate in 2014.

What’s Working

McKinley Elementary School is a model for parent-led fundraising efforts. The money they helped raise saved the school's prestigious International Baccalaureate Program.

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Episode 3: The Keepers of Chicano Park's History

Fri, 24 Jun 2016 19:00:00 GMT

Most days, at least a couple of tour groups can be spotted making their way through Chicano Park, the park tucked under the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan.

Folks stop to snap selfies in front of the colorful, Mexican-themed murals as they learn about the park's history and significance.

Each mural has a story. Each artist who helped paint the murals has a story. And of course, the park itself has a story that's packed with politics, turmoil and community pride.

For now, volunteer tour guides - local educators, historians, longtime neighborhood residents and the Chicano Park muralists themselves – are the keepers of the park's history.

But those guides are getting older and some have already passed away. That's part of what's behind the push to turn a currently vacant, city-owned building that borders the park into a museum where the park's narrative can be stored and accessed by the public for decades to come.

In episode three of Culturecast, VOSD's new podcast covering the intersection of art and gentrification in Barrio Logan, I dig deep into the movement to open the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center.

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Assessing Teachers

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 18:40:41 GMT

Teacher evaluations are crucial, but also controversial.

The Poway Unified School District, though, has a new approach to its teacher evaluations.

On this week's podcast, Candy Smiley, president of Poway Federation of Teachers, and Michele Manos, a teacher and leader of the district's teacher evaluation system, joined co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to explain Poway's evaluation programs.

One part of the program, for example, pairs teachers with their peers.

"We wanted our focus on professional learning for teachers. How do we make teachers get the best opportunities for their students by improving their practice? That's really what our whole program is based on. It's a growth model, it's a strength-based approach, taking a look at multiple measures," Manos said.

Lewis and Kohn talked about the latest in teacher evaluations and what could change on the state level as well.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

1 out of 5 and 1 out of 17: A national survey out of Brown University and Vanderbilt University demonstrates how principals rate teachers. Principals said about one fifth of teachers were not proficient and needed assistance and support. But the same principals only gave one out of 17 teachers less than satisfactory proficiency ratings.

What’s Working

UC San Diego's CREATE center houses researchers, youth mentors and professional development experts who work with local teachers to help them get better at their craft.

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The Families That Can't Afford Summer

Thu, 09 Jun 2016 17:35:34 GMT

The Sweetwater Union High School District is the largest secondary school district in the state. A few years ago, the district decided to move its schools onto the same calendar system.

On this week’s podcast, Karen Janney, superintendent of the Sweetwater Union High School District, joins co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to talk about how she helped develop the district’s common calendar and the impact the change has had on families.

“Before 2007, we had families on up to three different schedules. So they could be at an elementary school district on one calendar, at a middle school on another calendar and at a high school on another calendar,” Janney said. “It just wasn’t good for families.”

Families faced challenges with calendar misalignments such as planning for varied bus schedules, attempting to transfer students to schools to make up credits and trying to plan summer vacations.

“A lot of time the older siblings take care of the younger siblings and if they’re on two different calendars, it makes it even that much tougher for families,” Janney said.

But under the common calendar system, the district provides students with an aligned school schedule and about six weeks of summer vacation.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

Two-thirds: According to a 2007 study by Johns Hopkins University, two-thirds of the ninth-grade reading achievement gap can be attributed to summer learning loss; the other third comes from gaps that arise in early childhood.

What’s Working

Diamond Educational Excellence Partnership, sponsored by the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, has worked with San Diego Unified to put in place a summer enrichment program for rising second and third graders that has been successful in sustaining and building reading skills for more than 90 percent of participants, according to an evaluation by UCSD.

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Disadvantaged Families Embrace School Choice

Thu, 02 Jun 2016 19:00:00 GMT

The Barrio Logan College Institute is an after-school program that serves low-income disadvantaged students from across the county and prepares them to go to college. One way the organization says it transforms students’ lives is by educating and empowering parents to exercise school choice.

On this week’s podcast, Barrio Logan College Institute Executive Director Jose Cruz joined co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn to talk about school choice and how to create a so-called college-going culture.

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Every Kid Needs Something Different

Thu, 26 May 2016 19:00:00 GMT

Every kid learns at his or her own pace. They each need something different when it comes to education. Personalized learning has emerged as a response to kids' individualized needs and their varied pace of learning. It's a radically different educational approach that's been gaining steam lately thanks to technology that allows teachers to better track students and provide them with personalized educational experiences.

On this week's podcast, co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talk to someone who’s putting the personalized learning approach into practice.

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Meet County Board of Education Candidates

Thu, 19 May 2016 19:00:00 GMT

Normally, the County Board of Education race isn’t one that makes it into headlines. But this year, four of the five spots on the board are up for grabs. And things are heating up.

The folks elected to the County Board of Education wield some power. They do things like approve the San Diego Office of Education‘s annual budget, select and choose the very powerful county superintendent. The board also serves as the appeals board for charter schools that have been denied the right to open by a district in San Diego County.

In this week’s podcast, co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn tried to put on a debate between District 1 incumbent Gregg Robinson and his challenger, Mark Powell. District 1 represents most of the city of San Diego on the board. Only Robinson accepted the opportunity to debate. But Lewis and Kohn got Powell on the phone after to ask why he wouldn’t face off with Robinson.

One hot topic in the race is charter schools and whether the candidates would support more of them in San Diego.

“I’m sure there are really good charter schools and there’s really bad charter schools,” said Powell. “I would give a fair evaluation if, in fact, an appeal does come to the county board.”

Robinson, a professor of sociology at Grossmont College, says he, too, supports charter schools, but only when they’re effective.

“Charter schools have been very helpful with low-income students in inner-city areas,” he said. “So I support them in those kind of circumstances if they’re doing the job they’re really designed for, but I’m not a rubber-stamp for charter schools.”

Number of the Week

1,600: The number of at-risk students currently enrolled in San Diego County Office of Education schools. About 12,000 at-risk students cycle through County Office of Education schools over the course of the school year.

We also have a Number of the Week correction. In our May 5 episode, we said 75 percent of middle and high school students are long-term English-learners. The correct number is 75 percent of middle and high school English-learners are in long-term programs.

What’s Working

John Spiegel, science coordinator at the San Diego County Office of Education: County schools are beginning to adopt dramatically different standards for teaching science. To help make the transition, Spiegel and his staff have provided professional development opportunities, online resources and more to teachers and schools. For more on this, listen to our March 31 interview with Trish Williams.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

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Episode 2: Is There a Right Way to Redevelop Barrio Logan?

Tue, 17 May 2016 23:14:23 GMT

The first episode of Culturecast, our new podcast that for its first season examines the tensions created by gentrification and the artistic renaissance in Barrio Logan, ended on a cliffhanger.

This week, we pick up where we left off and dig into the challenges local developer Greg Strangman faced after rehabbing a few buildings in Barrio Logan.

Strangman’s firm spruced up two apartment buildings and a few commercial units on Logan Avenue, a street that’s become the center of the artistic renaissance happening in the historically under-served, Latino neighborhood. Soon after the projects were finished, the grumblings from the community began.

Strangman opened the project with a bang in January by inviting two local arts nonprofits to take over the residential buildings for a night with a huge exhibition featuring almost two dozen San Diego artists. CityBeat arts reporter Seth Combs slammed the “Parallel” show. There were fliers and posters advertising the building’s available units hanging throughout the event, and Combs said that made the whole thing feel like a sham.

“‘Parallel’ wasn’t an art event,” Combs wrote. “It was a carefully staged marketing party that happened to include some art.”

Combs said the project itself was a bellwether of the onslaught of gentrification in Barrio Logan.

I sat down with Combs and Strangman to talk about the neighborhood’s transformation and whether there’s a right way to redevelop a neighborhood like Barrio Logan. Strangman defended his event, talked about his passion for art and culture and said he moved his company’s office to Barrio Logan because he genuinely digs the vibe there.

“After sourcing out North Park, South Park, Little Italy, Mission Hills, we kind of settled on Barrio Logan [and decided it] was going to be an ideal home for us because of some of the cultural history and the richness of the people that are here,” he said.

Also on the podcast, a real estate agent who grew up in Barrio Logan offers his take on gentrification, and a business owner who rents one of Strangman’s commercial spaces and has been in business for 16 years talks about the good and bad effects of the change he’s seeing. Strangman also directly addresses criticisms of an art installation – an old scoreboard alongside a controversial quote – that’s on the outside of one of his buildings, and details why he thinks the neighborhood is safe from big, bad development, at least for now.

“I think it’s going to grow really organically,” he said. “I really do. I just don’t see anything coming in here and tearing this place apart – I just don’t see it,” he said. “I could be wrong. … But who knows, maybe a Chargers stadium will come in and change the whole dialogue.”

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Speaking Up for English-Learners

Thu, 05 May 2016 19:00:00 GMT

Damian checked a little box when he registered his son Ethan for kindergarten. It indicated that the family predominantly spoke Spanish at home.

At the time, Damian had no idea his son would be classified as an English-learner, and that the designation would follow his son around, having a profound impact on his education.

It's been difficult, Damian said, to get the school district to recognize that, although his son still speaks Spanish at home, he's a smart kid who's excelling in many ways.

"That's my major concern is that I can't describe my kid to this bureaucracy in the right way," he said.

This week, hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn take a new approach to the podcast by weaving Damian and Ethan's story into the larger question of how our city, state and country is educating English-learners.

In November, voters will weigh the California Multilingual Education Act. The measure would essentially gut Proposition 227, the controversial statue that banned bilingual education in most classrooms unless parents specifically opt in.

Conor Williams, the founding director of the nonprofit New America's dual language learner national work group, joins the show to provide some statistics and context on the issue. Williams drops a bombshell when he shares which state is actually leading the way when it comes to its approach to English-learners.

"I'm amazed every time I say it – I can't even believe it myself," he said.

VOSD's education reporter Mario Koran also makes an appearance to talk about his New America fellowship and the future of his weekly column, The Learning Curve.

What’s Working

We've mentioned duel-language immersion schools in the past. There are 82 schools in San Diego that educate students in two languages. Two schools doing it well are the EJE Academies Charter School in El Cajon and the Chula Vista Learning Community Charter School. The two schools are recognized nationally for their efforts in providing a bilingual education to a diverse body of students.

Number of the Week

75 percent: That's the number of California students in middle and high school who are considered long-term English Learners, which means they've been designated as English-learners for at least seven years.

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Subscribe to Good Schools for All on iTunes or get the RSS feed here. Stream it here.

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When Kindergarten Slaps You in the Face

Thu, 28 Apr 2016 19:00:00 GMT

The move from play-based preschools to increasingly rigorous kindergarten classrooms is rough, for both kids and parents.

A Good Schools for All listener, Sally Cox, called in to share her story about a particularly jarring transition from preschool to kindergarten. She said she thought her son was well-prepared, but kids in his kindergarten class were expected to be reading by October, and her son quickly fell behind.

“I think the alignment issues between expectations in kindergarten and how children are prepared in preschool really need to be dealt with,” Cox said.

Hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn dig into the big transition problem, which is worsening thanks to a ratcheting up of academic expectations for kindergarteners. Transitional kindergarten, or TK, a public-school program offered to kids born between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2 as the first step of a two-year kindergarten class, has been one attempt at closing the early education achievement gap.

TK is great for the small number of kids who happen to be born at the right time, Kohn said, but as a public policy it’s pretty terrible.

“It’s this privilege, this entitlement that’s only available if you happen to get pregnant and give birth in a certain little window,” she said. “What we’re giving away is a free, extra year of public schooling to the oldest incoming kindergarteners.”

Kohn’s not the only one with a TK pet peeve. Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed combining three state-funded programs: preschool, transitional kindergarten and a rating system. He wants to strip away existing requirements and give local school districts more control over how they use the money as long as they prioritize providing early education services to low-income and at-risk kids.

One big problem with the proposal is the lack of any additional funding, said Matt Doyle.

Doyle’s the executive director of innovation at Vista Unified School District. He came on the podcast this week to talk about Brown’s proposal and share some of the things his district has been doing to help ease the transition between preschool and kindergarten.

“We have actually identified the transition from preschool into kindergarten as probably the single greatest transition the child can make as they develop their cognitive academic abilities for college and career,” he said. “So for us this is the No. 1 issue.”

Got thoughts, opinions or experiences with this? Call 619-354-1085 and leave your name, neighborhood and story so we can play the voicemail on future episodes.

Number of the Week

6,846: That’s the number of transitional kindergarteners we have in the San Diego region. The program just launched three years ago and it’s seen a big increase since its inception. There was a 67 percent increase in TK enrollment from the 2013-2014 to last year, and this year’s numbers are expected to see an even bigger jump.

What’s Working

The Quality Preschool Initiative: The program rates the quality of state-funded preschools and head start programs in San Diego County. It’s working because the San Diego County Office of Education is implementing the program effectively. The results of the program aren’t publicly available yet, but they will be soon.

Subscribe to Good Schools for All on iTunes or get the RSS feed here. Stream it here.

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Episode 1: Being the Change They Want to See in Barrio Logan

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 19:13:32 GMT

Milo Lorenzana and Teresa Montero are just two of the dozens of people who've been driving an arts renaissance in Barrio Logan. Their most recent project is the redevelopment of an old building on Logan Avenue where they've opened a coffee shop and leased out the rest of the space in the building to a record store, an art school, a vintage shop and other small locally owned businesses. Milo and Bucky are wary of all the outside developers setting up shop in Barrio Logan right now. But they, too, have stepped into the role of developers themselves now, so they're being extra careful with how they go about things. They want to be the change they want to see happen throughout the rest of their neighborhood.

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How Startups Aim to Shake Up Schools

Thu, 21 Apr 2016 19:00:00 GMT

Education technology is exploding. This week in San Diego some of the major players in technology companies, their investors and education leaders gathered in San Diego for the ASU GSV Summit to talk about disrupting classrooms. We grabbed one of the attendees on his way to the talks.

Tom Vander Ark, CEO of Getting Smart, an organization that advocates for innovations in learning, joins the podcast to talk about how technology is increasingly entering and improving the educational system.

He said the dubbed EdTech movement is finally ready for real, widespread implementation in schools across the world.

"That revolution started 20 years ago but we're finally beginning to understand how to incorporate all these new tools into schools," he said. "Both in K-12 and higher ed."

An example is the adaptive learning approach, he said, which uses computers or tablets and game-like software that, with just a few initial questions, understands a student's reading or math level then adjusts and makes follow-up questions harder or easier. The software also uses engaging graphics and makes the experience fun to keep students interested.

The result is a personalized learning experience for students and real-time data for teachers and parents who can easily track a child's progress and adjust accordingly. The ability to offer effective personalized learning makes the current obsession with making sure students are at the appropriate grade level in every subject seem outmoded.

The technological future of education Vander Ark describes sounds dreamy, but there's one big problem.

"The future is here – it's just not very evenly distributed," he said, quoting cyberpunk sci-fi author William Ford Gibson.

Not all schools are progressing at the same pace when it comes to using technology, Vander Ark said, and even when school districts do bring tech into classrooms, merely replacing textbooks with laptops isn't enough – there needs to be an entire tech ecosystem, which includes smart software, data tracking and innovative teaching techniques.

"That's the big challenge and a big reason progress has been relatively uneven," he said.

Also on this week’s podcast, co-hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talk about a recent parenting win, the seductive attraction of the project-based learning approach used by schools like High Tech High and the uptick in private startups looking to invest in education technology for public schools.

Number of the Week

4 percent: That's the projected proportion of private capital that's expected to be invested in education technology in the next decade. Right now, the number's just .4 percent, so that's a 10-fold increase in the next 10 years.

What’s Working

TEDxKids@ElCajon: Organized by the Cajon Valley Union School District, the annual event helps kids find what's unique and special about them and asks them to present to their community. Students from kindergarten through high school participate and it's become a successful, student-centric event.

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Neighborhood Schools, Do You Stay or Do You Go?

Thu, 07 Apr 2016 19:00:00 GMT

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Common Core Myths

Thu, 31 Mar 2016 22:25:10 GMT

You might not have any idea what the California State Board of Education does. I didn't.

That is, until we talked to Trish Boyd Williams, a member of the board.

Williams lives in San Diego and has a major role on the board and she explained it to me for the latest episode of Good Schools for All.

It was that board, of course, that is the reason Common Core was adopted in California so we took the opportunity to break down how it's going and how the board determines its standards. My co-host Laura Kohn was screaming at the TV during a recent Republican presidential debate as they went on about Common Core. Take a listen to hear what she says they got wrong.

Williams said it's having a major impact in the state.

"What’s different about the Common Core state standards in English, Language Arts and Math over the previous standards in English and Math is that it shifts the focus. There’s less memorization of isolated facts, and there is more focus on bigger ideas, and on discussion, analysis, arguing from evidence, and critical thinking skills," Williams said.

Williams is also spearheading the adoption of new science standards for schools.

What’s Working:

Devin Vodicka, the Superintendent of the Vista Unified School District, and was named Superintendent of the year by the California Association of School Administrators in 2015. Devon and his team are making thoughtful but ambitious changes in the schooling system. They are working from a “blueprint for educational excellence,” and are creating a very positive impact.

Numbers of the Week:

The achievement gap refers to the difference in educational achievement between different races or demographics. 72% of Asian students read at grade level last Spring, and only 30% of black students did. In 8th grade math, 73% of Asians students met grade level standards, and only 22% of black students did.

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'Most Likely to Succeed,' the Movie and Filmmaker Challenging Traditional School

Thu, 24 Mar 2016 18:00:00 GMT

I've always sensed a disconnect between school and life. For my own life, I came to understand it as a kind of convergence of lines — school is one of the lines, and if you follow it long enough and well enough, it will eventually converge with life and propel you forward.

In his film "Most Likely to Succeed," Greg Whiteley approaches the disconnect differently. As he tries to demonstrate in the film, the school line not only doesn't converge with the life line but is harmfully off track. Standardized tests and the so-called Prussian Method of education, where each subject — reading, math, social studies and science — is taught separately and aimed at building a base level of knowledge for everyone.

The movie centers on San Diego's High Tech High and its project-based teaching approach.

Whiteley is the filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed documentary "Mitt," an inside look with exclusive access to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. It turns out Whiteley and his wife and children live in Point Loma, and he dropped by for an interview with Laura Kohn and me for the latest episode of Good Schools for All.

If you enjoy the show, please consider searching for it on iTunes and rating it.

Number of the Week

503,848: That's the number of students enrolled in public school in San Diego County. That’s more students than 20 other states.

What Is Working

Del Lago Academy: A 3-year-old high school in the Escondido district that focuses on biomedical and health sciences for students. They use project- and work-based learning, integrate technology and are a great example of a school system that is delivering innovative and inspiring education for children in a non-traditional way.

Mentioned in the Show

"Most Likely to Succeed": A film by Greg Whiteley
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Start from the Beginning: The Early Childhood Challenge

Tue, 15 Mar 2016 04:35:20 GMT

Studies have shown that the first five years are the time that will define a child’s ability to constantly learn throughout the rest of their life. When children learn a lot and frequently at an early age, it lays down patterns in their brain that will continue to be repeated throughout their life, allowing them to learn more and more. This is why that time of life is so important.

Professor Heckman recently published results that at-risk children who don’t get high quality early childhood experiences are 25% more likely to drop out of school, 40% more likely to become teen parents, and 60% less likely to attend college.

Not only is this time pivotal in a child’s life, but the average cost of education between ages 0-5 is actually nearly the same as the amount spent on a child’s college education. But at that age, parents have had a lot more time to save for the expense, whereas parents of preschool-aged children are often caught off guard by the expense.

San Diego, and California in general, has done a lot to make federal aid available to the lowest income-bracket, but there are significant financial challenges to those upper-low income and middle range families that are looking to give their children the best possible start in the pivotal moment of their lives, and to make sure that there isn’t an achievement gap when children start kindergarten.

Number of the week:

$359: What San Diego County is investing in each zero, one, or two year old child. In contrast, we’re investing over $9,400 in every school age child, 6-12.

What is Working:

Educational enrichment systems: A non-profit provider of preschool and other early childhood programs for 1,100 kids across San Diego County, serving as a network of preschools.

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