There’s officially a new county supervisor and so there’s a new chair of the board of supervisors and they’re wasting no time making big changes. El Cajon police have stopped responding to calls when a person says they’re going to hurt themselves. They blame lawyers but it’s complicating the response of civilian teams as well, we’ll explain. And we talked about school enrollment plunging across the county but there are a couple schools in particular seeing major surges in enrollment. How two cha...
Jul 25, 2025•41 min
The mayor is just flat ignoring the budget the city council passed and will not fire the top managers the Council cut. And you thought budget drama was over. Local water managers are demanding an apology from one of their colleagues. Apologies after demands for apologies are always the best apologies. We’ll explain why this matters. And Jakob published an extraordinary analysis and maps this week of how many fewer kids there are in San Diego schools. Why that is. SHOW NOTES SEGMENT 1 Meet the Be...
Jul 18, 2025•51 min
We’re drowning in education news this week. The Trump administration’s grant freeze has put millions of school funds in jeopardy. The decision has some school leaders scrambling. Our Jakob McWhinney got nerdy and figured out just how much money San Diego County stands to lose. Also, a San Diego Unified Board Trustee is calling it quits after one term. We’ll explain why. And, meet our new City Hall reporter, Mariana Martinez Barba! SHOW NOTES INTRO 00:00:44 SEGMENT 1 00:01:33 - Support VOSD SEGME...
Jul 11, 2025•46 min
The county is back in the hands of Democrats. Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre is set to fill the vacant seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. The county has so much going on – there are big questions around the sewage crisis, homelessness, housing, budget, immigration. The list goes on and on – and South County reporter Jim Hinch joins us today to dish on what Aguirre’s victory means for the direction of the county. San Diego Unified is doubling down on its restorative justice e...
Jul 04, 2025•40 min
The city has a new budget. There was a veto. A veto override and then an Instagram slam. We have a special guest, Councilmember Vivian Moreno is here. She’ll give us the insider take. And the push to raise the minimum wage for hospitality workers is going forward. And, the mayor has a new job! SHOW NOTES INTRO 00:00:00 SEGMENT 1 00:00:39 - Support VOSD SEGMENT 2 00:06:39 - Vivian Moreno SEGMENT 3 00:11:06 - Mayor’s IG Story “Today, some on the City Council attempted to fully override my veto—and...
Jun 27, 2025•59 min
The mayor does not want a chief operating officer gosh darn it! The most dysfunctional budget cycle in the city of San Diego continues with a big list of vetos from Mayor Todd Gloria. And the biggest political battle in San Diego is finally nearing its end. Our reporter Jim Hinch went to a debate between Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and he’ll tell us how the race is looking. SHOW NOTES INTRO 00:00:00 SEGMENT 1 00:01:14 - Support VOSD :) When we hired Tigi...
Jun 20, 2025•46 min
Federal immigration agents are trying to hit their quotas of people to arrest and deport and it’s causing some distressing scenes across California. On the eve of big protests, where are we headed? We’ll grapple with it. For the first time in more than 100 years, owners of single family homes in the city of San Diego will have to pay for trash pickup. It almost didn’t happen. We’ll go through the tense meeting. And with that, the city balanced its budget, sort of. The Council wants to take some ...
Jun 13, 2025•54 min
An immigration raid in the early dinner hours at a popular restaurant in South Park has led to a week of backlash among local leaders. We’ll talk about what we know. We’re in the final days of this epic budget process at the city of San Diego. Will the beloved fire pits survive??? And finally, the giant water agencies based in San Diego and Los Angeles have resolved their 15-year legal dispute. We’ll explain how interesting it is and a fascinating little fight they started right after it. See om...
Jun 06, 2025•52 min
It’s memorandum time in the city of San Diego’s budget saga. Councilmembers may be headed for a historic standoff with the mayor. We’ll do a little history lesson to show how interesting it could get. Only 58 percent of San Diego Unified high schoolers are on track to graduate. Rather than get them on track, they’ve decided to create a new track See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 30, 2025•53 min
There had been some controversy about whether the Mayor and San Diego City Council would have to dip into reserves to handle their budget deficit – now it appears they have no choice. We’ll explain how bad the city’s finances are getting. South County is now home to a massive hotel and convention center many years in the making. The mayor of Chula Vista like all south bay officials was proud. But he quickly distanced himself from his real estate company that appears ready to cash in on an adjace...
May 23, 2025•51 min
The city of San Diego is officially at legal war with La Jolla separatists. Why a ballot measure push a couple years ago is related. The mayor’s revised budget is still pretty ugly and still gets rid of beach bonfire rings. And finally the budget also has set up an nasty little standoff between the city and county over a homeless shelter in the Midway area. They have stopped letting people into the tent and the operator is furious. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 16, 2025•39 min
This week the crew brought their notes and their game to Soda Bar where they recorded the podcast before packed house, as Scott, Andrea, Jakob and Bella welcomed Keene Simonds, the Executive Officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission, to the lively LIVE podcast recording session. Recorded live at Soda Bar, Wednesday May 7, 2025. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 09, 2025•1 hr 12 min
This week we sat down for an in depth interview with San Diego County Water Authority General Manager Dan Denham. He filled us in with some deep water knowledge during this week’s show. SHOW NOTES: (Links to VOSD articles mentioned during the show and links for further reading) VOSD: San Diego Council Bashes County Water Authority Over Costs Councilmembers say they want to see steep cuts in spending by the region’s major water buyer. One suggested refusing to pay the city’s water bills. by MacKe...
May 02, 2025•1 hr
We have another guest this week. Hot off her state of the county speech, County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer is joining us. Our South Bay reporter did a deep dive into what happened after Chula Vista Mayor John McCann helped secure the release of a woman convicted of fraud several years ago. She’s being sentenced today on another charge. And we had a story this week out of Encinitas where a homeless service provider is being attacked online and blamed for the increasing visibility of homelessne...
Apr 25, 2025•51 min
We have a guest co-host today, Congressman Mike Levin is here with some reports from D.C. where things are normal and not very interesting at all. He was supposed to bring a hot take. Jakob did a story about how some classrooms in local colleges are filled with fake people. We’ll break down how that works and how much it’s costing. And we have more trash talk. The new fee for San Diego homeowners is probably coming but it’s got to go through a big hurdle. SHOW NOTES: (Links to VOSD articles ment...
Apr 18, 2025•1 hr 8 min
The South Bay County Supervisor runoff is set. Two mayors will race for the future of the county. An effort to set aside an area for homeless residents near the airport has hit another snag as the developer of Liberty Station takes the city to court. And the U.S Secretary of Education was in town. Jakob went to see her. All that and another Dear VOSD. SHOW NOTES: (Links to VOSD articles mentioned during the show and links for further reading) INTRO 00:00:00 SEGMENT 1 00:55:20 VOSD Beer Launch Pa...
Apr 11, 2025•48 min
On Sunday, March 31st, 1985, a group of young Black men drove back to southeastern San Diego after visiting Balboa Park. It was just after 6:00 PM and the sun was retreating into the horizon. As a truck driven by 23-year-old Sagon Penn pulled into a driveway on a quiet street in Encanto, they were followed by two police cars. What happened next would leave one officer dead, another officer and a civilian ride along severely injured, a young man in a years long legal limbo and a city reeling. On ...
Apr 09, 2025•50 min
Coming up on the show, we are in the final stretch of the District 1 County Supervisor race. The mailers are getting SPICY, and one especially pissed off a lot of people. Last month, Mayor Todd Gloria announced he was eliminating the position of chief operating officer and taking over the gig himself. Now, former COO Eric Dargan is suing Gloria and the city for discrimination and for breaking promises in his contract. We’ll break it down. Finally, why are officials at Chula Vista Elementary scho...
Apr 04, 2025•49 min
The Padres are playing their opening game as we record. We’ll explain a new minimum wage increase they are fighting. We’ve got a few updates on what the city is doing to get you to pay for parking. Why San Diego is on the hook for monthly rent payment on an empty homeless shelter. And the historic San Diego Taxpayers Association has no leadership. Also, the hospitals are fighting. Palomar Health is borrowing money from friends and that never goes well. SHOW NOTES: (Links to VOSD articles mention...
Mar 28, 2025•42 min
We’ve got a Dear VOSD response finally on the city’s history of charging for parking. Grossmont Union School District has had some very tense meetings. We’ll talk about a hot mic moment that went viral. And as part of our 20th anniversary talk, we have reflections from several of the journalists and former writers at Voice of San Diego who made a difference here. SHOW NOTES: (Links to VOSD articles mentioned during the show and links for further reading) INTRO 00:00:00 SEGMENT 1 00:02:16 SD Coun...
Mar 21, 2025•1 hr 3 min
There was a surprisingly tense conversation about water rates at the city. The reality that they’re going to soar is starting to set in and we’ll discuss. Finally, we’ve got a guest, I have been on his show many times but he’s never been on ours. Darren Smith, the best unemployed radio guy in town is here to explain us some sports and more. We’ll go through some headlines with him and get into it. SHOW NOTES INTRO 00:00:00 Intro SEGMENT 1 00:01:48 San Diego Football Club opening day drama KPBS S...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 11 min
What exactly happened at City Council this week? We have one of them here, Councilmember Henry Foster joins us to talk about housing, ADUs, land use, the city’s deficit and more. SHOW NOTES INTRO 00:00:00 Intro SEGMENT 1 00:02:09 San Diego Football Club opening day drama AXIOS SDFC confronts fans' homophobic chant that's plagued soccer for years NBC San Diego Homophobic chant at San Diego FC's inaugural home match condemned by coach, sporting director SEGMENT 2 00:11:13 Mailers D1 County Superin...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 6 min
SHOW NOTES INTRO 00:00:00 Intro Parent’s Guide on Instagram! SEGMENT 1 00:00:57 Parent’s Guide on Instagram! The wait is OVER This year’s A Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools is here and ready to help answer all your local education questions! The Guide explains school choice opportunities and enrollment deadlines, what’s available for after-school care, school performance data in an easy-to-use format and much more — all for FREE!!! Donor Thank You’s Ways to Give Women Leading The Conversation...
Feb 28, 2025•50 min
If you listened last week, you were set up for the big news this week. The mayor is flexing his muscles. We’ll explain the difference between eliminating a position and firing someone and what happened to the now former top bureaucrat at the city. And the parents guide is coming out. Jakob and Andrea here have been working hard on it. We’ll talk. SHOW NOTES INTRO 00:00:00 Intro What our supporters have to say. SEGMENT 1 00:03:00 The Reader and Alt Weeklies KPBS: San Diego Reader ends print editi...
Feb 21, 2025•51 min
It’s the 20th anniversary of the launch of Voice of San Diego, the greatest nonprofit news organization go live in 2005. We launched before YouTube. We’ll reminisce a bit with a sort of special guest. The city of San Diego’s budget deficit has provoked some tense conversations. A City Council budget committee hearing last week had some great clips. And where are the kids? San Diego Unified School District is going to have to deal with another drop in enrollment. SHOW NOTES INTRO 00:00:00 Intro S...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Coming up on the show today, a special interview with San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez. She is ready to talk about deaths in county jails, local law enforcement’s relationship with federal immigration agents and more. SHOW NOTES 2017 California Senate Bill 54 , commonly referred to as "SB 54" and also known as the "California Values Act" is a 2017 California state law that prevents state and local law enforcement agencies from using their resources on behalf of federal immigration enforce...
Feb 07, 2025•1 hr
Is it the end of San Diego’s decidedly pro-housing majority? There was an earthquake at City Hall this week about ADUs At the same time, Poway City Council has reached a telenovela level of drama, we’ll break it down. SHOW NOTES 00:00:00 Opening 00:04:15 Controversial Encanto ADU Policy From KPBS San Diego City Council repeals controversial footnote targeting Southeastern neighborhoods Encanto neighbors say their infrastructure can’t support the ‘granny towers’ coming to backyards Gloria 'explor...
Jan 31, 2025•47 min
Our annual Parents Guide to San Diego Schools is almost done. We have added a new metric this year and it reveals how well schools recovered, or didn’t, from COVID. Jakob here took it and turned it into a story. It’s a bit of a downer. Another local government is promising to protect people from Trump’s immigration action. We’ll review the supposed protections. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 24, 2025•54 min
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria gave his state of the city speech. If last year was the everything is awesome speech, this year was the everything is definitely not awesome speech. This was the tough conversations speech. The we can do hard things speech. The dynamic PowerPoint that went with included such rousing lists like refocus, reimagine, revisit and re-evaluate… SHOW NOTES 00:00:00 Opening January 28th Event: Meet the Beat: South County January 28 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm Free Have you met our new...
Jan 17, 2025•47 min
We are going to go through some updates to stories but we’ve got a special co-host today, San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo. We’ve got some questions for him and he said he’s come up with a contribution to our hot takes segment at the end. SHOW NOTES Segment 1 00:02:15 Updates 00:06:28 Fletcher Nathan Fletcher’s Accuser Drops Sexual Assault Claim — for Now 00:08:13 Vargas South County Report: Supervisor Race Takes Shape Segment 2 00:11:17 She Said What? County Supervisor Candidates Have...
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr 14 min
