Thank you for joining us for this.

Look at some of the best stories from Kpbs news this week.

I'm John Carroll.

Coming up, an emotional debate at San Diego City Hall.

How an item on anti-Semitism sparked hours of discussion from the public and city council.

Transportation costs are rising, especially for drivers.

The latest in our Price of San Diego series looks at the cost of owning a car and San Diego's role in the world Cup C, where two international teams will set up camp for this summer's tournament.

We start with shocking revelations this week in a story from The New York Times.

Their investigation it documents what it says are numerous instances of civil rights icon Cesar Chavez sexually abusing women and girls.

Now, the labor movement and cities across the country are weighing how that will change his legacy.

At an event in San Lorenzo, California.

Governor Newsom was asked about the revelations about Cesar Chavez.

We're just going to have to reflect on all of that and, you know, reflect on a farm workers movement and a labor movement that was much bigger than one man.

The governor spoke of the inspiration Chavez has been in his life, and he's far from alone.

Statements poured in from leaders of the labor movement and political leaders, all with a similar message, that the actions of one man should not define the larger movement he helped create.

Perhaps the person who was at Chavez's side creating that movement more than anyone else was the now 95 year old Dolores Huerta.

She issued a statement that says, in part, that she'd kept a secret because to have revealed it would have hurt the farm worker movement she'd spent her life fighting for.

Then she talked about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Chavez, saying initially she was pressured into having sex with him, someone she admired, and that the second time she was raped.

Where to?

Says Chavez, his actions don't diminish the improvements won for workers, and that it's more important now than ever to continue advocacy and activism.

There's another aspect of the fallout that is now just starting streets, not just in San Diego, but across the nation.

Bear Chavez's name.

Schools due to the governor said today.

Some three dozen in California are named after him.

There are the murals in places like Chicano Park and statues in 1973.

Probably is when I've got to know Cesar.

Perhaps this sudden news is most disturbing to people who knew and worked with Chavez, including Linda and Carlos Leger at the San Diego, who were at his side as he worked on labor issues here.

They're featured in the documentary that has aired on Kpbs called Linda and Carlos A Chicano Love Story.

They founded the Cesar Chavez Service Clubs of San Diego.

I loved and respected Cesar Chavez so much, while we were there, just as, you know, as a as a person, as the hurt settles in for people like the larger threats, decisions will now have to be made here and across the state and the country.

This is a world we're living in.

And, we're for justice.

We're for the truth.

We're for transparency.

We want to have the backs of our victims.

But it's a sensitive, sensitive moment.

Cesar Chavez died in April of 1993.

The memories people who admired him have had for the last nearly 33 years now changed forever in a painful way.

We have seen a lot of local reaction, including from San Diego city leaders.

Council member Vivian Moreno is requesting the removal of Chavez's name from city property.

There has been no formal announcement of any changes.

This is something Kpbs will be following as it develops.

This week, the San Diego City Council passed a controversial resolution defining anti-Semitism.

Kpbs reporter Katie Hyson says that followed for hours and hours of heated public comment and a lone no vote by a Jewish council member.

Anti-Semitism has been rising in San Diego and across the country.

That's according to Jewish organizations and hundreds of speakers at Tuesday's San Diego City Council meeting.

Leah Cohen Reece directs a local anti-Semitism task force.

She says defining it is the city's first step to better fight it.

Well, we need language.

We need in order to understand what something is.

We need a definition.

We need the language.

Nearly everyone who spoke agreed anti-Semitism needs to be combated.

They disagreed on how to define it.

The city adopted the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, or IHRA.

It's been adopted by dozens of countries and cities across the US, including Los Angeles, Chula Vista and El Cajon.

It says anti-Semitism is, quote, a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred.

It includes 11 examples, seven of them involve the State of Israel.

Critics say the language has been used to silence criticism of Israel and support for Palestinians.

One of those critics is Jewish Council member Sean Rivera.

He says people must be allowed to both love Jewish people and speak freely against actions by the Israeli government.

A definition that cannot hold both of these things at once is not a tool for fighting anti-Semitism is a tool for silencing people who care about everyone.

He urged the council to consider other definitions, but he was outvoted 8 to 1.

For more on this debate and to read the full definition, visit kpbs.org.

Katie Hazen, Kpbs news.

Tuesday's episode of Kpbs Midday Edition features an in-depth conversation on this topic.

You can find Midday Edition wherever you get your podcasts.

It also bears live weekdays at noon on Kpbs FM.

A North County boarding school for foster youth has seen its population shrink over the last few years.

Now, San Diego County wants input on its future.

Kpbs education reporter Katie Anastas says changes in the foster care system have prompted the county to reimagine how to use the campus.

San Pasqual Academy has provided housing, a high school, mental health services and more for foster youth since 2001.

Shane Harris went there after leaving a foster home at age 16.

Nobody wanted to take a, someone who was close to graduating high school in.

So San Pasqual Academy was the only place and the only option for me.

He says the Escondido campus, surrounded by orange groves, was a safe haven.

My high school GPA had been failing, and there was a lot that was going on in San Pasqual.

Sort of gave me the chance to reground myself.

Enrollment at the school peaked at 195 students in 2009.

Now, the county says there are 44 students.

The number of children entering the foster care system is down, and more of those who do enter the system get placed with relatives.

That's according to Alfredo Guardado.

He directs San Diego County's child and family well-being department.

San Pascal Academy mimics what we've seen at the larger child welfare level.

He says state and federal law have shifted foster care away from group care and toward placing youth with relatives or foster families.

That shift nearly led to San Pasquale closure in 2021.

The state said it would no longer direct federal funding to the school.

Supporters filed a lawsuit and the county board of supervisors kept it open.

Guardado says the school is now almost entirely paid for with local funds.

As the number of students declines, he says there may be other ways to use the campuses.

238 acres.

What are some of the potential options we have here and some place called Academy, right.

Well, we're keeping the focus on you maximizing the entirety of the campus and and making something that's fiscally sustainable.

In 2022, the board approved a plan to add more services to the campus.

That included a foster family agency and transitional housing.

Harris says he'd like to see the transitional housing stay.

Once I got into transitional housing, my whole life changed.

And I think for a lot of kids that year or two years that you're in transitional housing where you can pay a pro-rated rent, where you can accrue savings, where you could go to school, work a job without worrying about the stress of paying the rent.

That San Diego pay, is a tremendous opportunity of value for someone who went through all the challenges of the system.

Harris has also proposed providing housing at the campus for foster families.

The county's online survey closes on March 30th.

Katie Anastas, Kpbs news.

Housing is the number one expense for most San Diegans.

Number two transportation.

That according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In our latest installment of Price of San Diego, Andrew Bowen looks into why transportation is so expensive here and how some are finding ways to save.

Monica de la Cruz rides the bus almost every day, but when she moved back to San Diego in 2017, she figured she needed to buy a car.

She settled on a black 2012 Honda Civic.

I only had the car for maybe six months.

I just started making payments on it and then, just as we moved back to San Diego, actually, I got in a crash.

The car was totaled.

Suddenly, what had been an expense costing hundreds of dollars a month turned into a pretty big check.

Money was tight at that time.

I had this decision where I got the full value of the car for my insurance.

But we had just moved to North Park.

I had just accepted a job, actually, that week, in Balboa Park in our new apartment was maybe a mile from my new office.

And so I just thought, let's see how long we can make this work.

De la Cruz put the insurance money into savings, bought a bike off Craigslist, and decided to become car free.

That was eight and a half years ago.

And she has no regrets.

She still shares a car with her husband, Alex Gerlach.

But since they both got remote jobs in 2022, neither spends much time behind the wheel.

Gerlach says it helps living in a walkable neighborhood with decent access to public transit.

The benefit, or the biggest change that I see is just spending more time either at home or near home, instead of feeling like, oh, I can go anywhere at any time because I can drive there.

And now there's a lot more thought.

And is it worth driving there?

Is there an alternative method like going to North Park, Hillcrest, like any, any places within five miles?

I don't really want to drive there.

And we don't most of the time.

And in terms of dollars and cents, being a one car household has helped them feel more financially secure.

Knowing that you have a cushion.

Yeah, you can go out a little bit more often or know that a little higher expense here and there is not really going to hurt you.

Hurt your bottom line.

Car payments, maintenance, insurance and gas take up almost a fifth of the average household budget in San Diego.

The most recent consumer spending survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found San Diego has the third highest transport cost burden in the country.

Household auto debt has been going up for the past several decades.

It's been rising dramatically.

Nicholas Klein is a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell.

He says cars can definitely increase a household's earnings potential, but they come with hidden costs as households take out longer term auto loans, more of their money is going toward interest rather than paying off the vehicle.

And the cost of repairs can hit you like a truck.

We can expect they will happen, and maybe we can cross our fingers and hope that transmission doesn't break and cost us $2,000 or whatever to repair, but it probably will at some point.

But we don't know when.

And for households who are who don't have a ton of money, that can be very difficult and challenging.

Klein says San Diego's high transportation costs are likely because people here own more cars than their peers in other cities and drive longer distances.

Building a city with lower transportation costs, he says, requires investing in alternatives to car ownership, like biking and public transit.

And that takes a long time to rebuild our landscapes, to rebuild our built environment, our cities and neighborhoods is not a quick fix.

But sort of setting that in place and being able to sort of begin investing in that, can have long term benefits for people's budgets, for the city's budgets, for public health.

For transportation outcomes.

Monica de la Cruz now lives in Golden Hill, right on a bus line and within walking distance to the trolley.

I have an e-bike as well as a traditional bike.

Alex has an e-bike as well.

These are our car replacers.

Living Car Free has gotten a lot easier in recent years and doesn't really feel like a sacrifice to her.

As much as it's helped her finances.

She says one of the greatest benefits of riding the bus is feeling more connected to her community.

I love how often you know there will be a young a parent with a young child, and I get to see like a baby, and there'll be other passengers on the bus that try to make them laugh.

And it's just really nice to to see.

And it's just like a spontaneous thing that you don't really expect in your commute, as you're going to do errands and going to the grocery store, but it just feels way more like you're part of a community.

And these little interactions all make it feel worth living here, and that I am a part of San Diego.

So much more so than, when I was alone, stuck in a car.

Andrew Bowen, Kpbs news.

You can find that story and others in our Price of San Diego series on our website, Kpbs morgue slash price of San Diego.

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Here are some from this week.

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How San Diego concert ticket prices got out of control.

That's another story from our Price of San Diego series.

San Diego County urges residents to act before New Cal Fresh and medical rules take effect, and the San Diego region is awarded $171 million for behavioral health treatment.

Encinitas has a public art program that places temporary structures on pedestals around the city.

But some of those pedestals sat empty for months because officials and residents couldn't agree on what qualifies as art.

Kpbs Arts reporter Audie McCarthy tells us how new guidelines set up by the arts Commission aim to change that in 2024.

Artist Bella Bowman submitted a piece for the Encinitas Public Art Sculpture Loan program.

Her piece features two mushrooms of faces hanging off a flower painted in greens, pinks and reds.

She calls it fun guys, a play on the word fungi.

She says her sculpture met all the initial criteria to be considered a finalist, but that did not guarantee a spot.

It was already installed in the city of Vista for a few years prior by a city arts commission as well.

So I thought, hey, let's get and see this on the map.

When it came down to the final vote at a council meeting.

The piece was rejected using a five star rating system similar to Amazon.

Reviews.

Bowman received three stars.

Encinitas Mayor Bruce Eilers, then a council member, opposed the piece.

Here's what he said at that meeting.

It's right next to the road.

It's right next to a beautiful native oak tree that's probably about 25ft tall.

I mean, within ten feet of it.

And that's the backdrop to this, sculpture.

You know, I'll be polite.

So in this case, the colors wrong.

It, it doesn't belong there.

As an artist, Bowman is not new to rejection, but she felt the comments were unconstructive.

I think sticking to.

Hey, these are the criteria we put.

This doesn't align with that.

I think leaving all sort of emotion out of it because a lot of personal comments were made, like describing it even existing as a piece of art, like, no, this isn't art.

Sun Vista Park is where Bowman's art would have been installed today.

Ayler says that regardless of his views on a piece, he doesn't think the location of the pedestal at Sun Vista was a good choice to begin with.

I quite frankly think this is set too close to the road.

It kind of detracts from the artwork.

It's kind of hard to enjoy it out here.

Back in 2024, when the council rejected Bowman's sculpture and couldn't agree on another piece, the pedestal remained vacant for ten months.

Taylor says it was better to leave it empty until the right fit came along.

And I know a lot of people will say that art's there to provoke thought and controversy.

And, you know, it's not it's not the job of the city to provoke citizens.

It's the job of the city to maintain the city, improve the city.

Katie Fox is the Encinitas Arts Commission chair.

She says they began asking the public broad questions about what role art plays in the community.

From those responses, a mission statement was created.

Public art in Encinitas tells a story that shifts the moment in an uplifting way that unifies us in new perspectives, and also reflects Encinitas as unique culture.

Another change to the sculpture program is how the public will interact with proposed art.

Fox says the city will place blown up images of the sculptures around Encinitas and display them in municipal buildings so that people can interact with them a bit over time and then send their their comments into the city.

And that's not just open comments.

It's really saying, here is a mission statement.

Do you think that these are fit?

Fox says the artists will no longer be anonymous, giving them a chance to explain their art at a council meeting before the final vote.

She hopes this new process will encourage more people to apply and allow those previously rejected to try again.

If you've ever felt like the door is being closed to you, the doors are really wide open right now.

Bowman says she would submit to the program again.

Until then, Van Guys currently stands at Carillo Pottery in Oceanside.

She advises other artists not to be discouraged by rejection.

Don't let it make or break you so a loss shouldn't make you win, shouldn't make you.

You just keep going in pursuit of something that is bigger than you as an artist.

That's why we create.

Audie McCarthy, Kpbs news.

We'll stay in North County for our next story.

Alexander Nguyen tells us about some new rules when it comes to visiting beaches in Del Mar.

Digging holes and building sandcastles is a poor memory for any kids visiting the beach.

But starting next week, Elmer will have a new ordinance that will put a damper on anyone looking to dig a big hole like this one.

The new law bans digging holes deeper than two feet on Sydney beaches.

Families come to the beach to play in the sand, and part of that is making paint, castles and digging.

And two feet isn't very deep.

Sarah Kolak is visiting from Las Vegas for spring break.

She was helping her daughter build a sandcastle.

She's four, so I doubt that she would even be able to dig that deep.

In addition to banning big holes, Del Mar will also require beachgoers to refill the holes they've dug, so cleaning up those holes or refilling them is more attainable than saying don't do it at all, and don't even think about burying yourself in the sand like Christopher White here.

The ordinance bans that two.

It's the beach.

Let people have a good time.

The city says it's for safety reasons, because grade tripping hazards and make it tough for lifeguards or emergency trucks to get through.

You don't want to be the then knowing guy saying no digging holes.

But if you're worried about the safety of the beach, just make sure it gets filled afterwards.

I think that's fair, and it's a very Del Mar thing to do, but I totally get it.

Taylor Lampa was a junior lifeguard in Del Mar, so he understands the safety concern.

I know the lifeguards have to, like, fill in the holes, and I remember them teaching us.

It was pretty sketch to have, like, deep holes, because all of a sudden, the lifeguard trucks, like, you know, hit them or somebody else, like, falls into it.

Del Mar says they are not the only ones with this type of ordinance.

Los Angeles County and the cities of Imperial Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach all have the same policies.

They say it's all about safety.

The city says this isn't about finding people.

They just want people to be safe at the beach.

So if you, your kids or your dog dig holes at the beach, just make sure you fill them up before you leave.

Alexandra Wynne, Kpbs news.

The land beneath Paradise Native Garden is perhaps unexpected to many.

That's because it was once a landfill.

Kpbs environment reporter Tammy Murga says the volunteer run garden is gearing up for its grand opening.

For so long, Paradise Hills native garden looked nothing like it does today.

Right here is the Pollinator garden, which was our first garden for a rite of passage.

Nancy Jensen lives in Paradise Hills.

She remembers how barren the city land was.

Remnants of its former life as a landfill.

It was a weed infested field.

And, being an advocate for my community, I said we deserve better than this.

The landfill was capped in the 1960s to prevent greenhouse gas emissions because of its former use.

Nothing was ever built.

But Jansen and her husband, West saw potential.

So they went to the city of San Diego with an idea pretty significant palette of plants has co adapted in our in our climate to, you know, live in this climate without an irrigation system.

We could establish a demonstration garden and make it a nicer place for the community to recreate.

The city liked their idea, but couldn't fund their vision at the time.

So the Johnsons and several other Paradise Hills residents built the garden themselves.

Along the way, they got grant funding from several public and private donors.

It's been five years since they began planting all sorts of native plants and trees that require little to no water.

It's now ready for a grand opening.

The whole idea of bringing our community outdoors into something that's just native.

I mean, look at the butterflies.

We don't see those, in our our concrete backyards.

The grand opening is scheduled for April 18th.

Tammy Murga, Kpbs news.

It's a busy time for sports in San Diego.

This weekend, the NC two, a march madness men's tournament, is back at Sdsu.

Eight teams from across the nation are in town for games at VA House arena.

Four games are happening Friday, with two more on Sunday.

One way to get there is the Green Line Trolley, which stops at Sdsu.

Next week, the Padres begin their 2026 season.

It starts with the home opener Thursday at Petco Park.

The game is scheduled for 1 p.m.. The opening weekend will also feature a block party in the East Village on Saturday.

The world's most watched sporting event kicks off in June and San Diego will be a part of it.

Jacob Air says two teams will set up camp here for the FIFA World Cup.

There won't be any World Cup games here, but two sites in San Diego have been selected as base camps for teams who are playing on the West Coast.

They'll use the sites for about a month.

They will be out here on the field training every day, preparing for for all of their events.

Switzerland will stay at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar and train nearby at the San Diego Jewish Academy.

Adam Moses is director of auxiliary programs for the K-through-12 Private School.

So they'll be arriving in San Diego on June 2nd.

Their first training will be June 3rd.

They will stay throughout the group stage.

He says he cried when he found out Switzerland selected their site, and it's an honor to host them.

Now they've started to upgrade the facilities to meet FIFA World Cup standards.

He says base camp fields cannot be used for at least four weeks before national teams arrive in order to protect the playing surface.

Every other week, we have the FIFA pitch department coming out here, coming to see the field, taking samples, doing tests, making sure that our maintenance schedule is on, on pace and that everything's going to be good and ready.

And as you can see back there, we're beginning construction to add even more field space.

So the team has a better training facility.

He says the school is no stranger to hosting professional soccer.

We've hosted some of the biggest teams in the world.

U.S.

men's and women's national team have both trained here.

Most of the MLS teams that play San Diego FC train here as well.

Say it again and again and savor every word.

New Zealand are going to the football World Cup.

Around 15 miles away, the New Zealand team will stay at the Hyatt Regency La Hoya in training at the University of San Diego's Torero Stadium.

Right now, we're planning on them being here on May 30th all the way to.

Hopefully they advance and are here through the beginning of July.

Usds Jessica Gorski says there were multiple teams interested in using the site for the World Cup.

Jordan visited us.

England did a virtual tour.

So really over zoom, we also got a chance to meet with Australia, Paraguay, those types of teams.

She says they're still finalizing plans for a community event, which is required for all base camps.

But due to strict FIFA security regulations, the general public will not be allowed to watch training sessions at base camp facilities.

Gorki says FIFA is particular about how each base camp is set up, including high privacy fencing, media areas and particular soccer gear.

FIFA is bringing in a lot of the equipment, so they're going to be bringing in dummies and goals, and a lot of the things that the team needs to train directly.

The teams will play first round games in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada.

FIFA has marked one other potential World Cup base camp in the region, but so far no team has selected that site in Tijuana.

World Cup games begin June 11th.

Jacob Ayre, Kpbs news.

We hope you enjoyed Kpbs news this week.

I'm John Carroll.

Thank you for joining us.