The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has discussed a federal designation that would target pollution issues in the Tijuana River Valley. We unpack what that could mean for the region. Plus, we check out a new trolley line in East County.
VOTER HUB: Find explainers, an interactive virtual ballot guide and everything else you need to know to vote Nov. 5.S1: Welcome to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Cross-border pollution between Tijuana and San Diego has seriously impacted the environment in the South Bay. And now there are more accurate tools to measure it. We hear more about what researchers have found.
S1: So taking a step back now , can you give us the big picture here with the cross-border pollution along along the Tijuana River valley and at the beaches down in South Bay , when did the issue originate ? Because you've you've been on the story for ten years , it seems like. S1: You touched on this earlier and you've done some recent reporting on this , this sort of shift in the story of one being simply not about just polluted water , but also involving the air. Tell us about the significance of that.
S1: So you'd mentioned , you know , you've been covering the story since I think , 2019. I'm just curious how you approach , you know , covering the science behind what's happening , a very important issue , you know , bringing up issues of public health. And there's a lot of big questions there. S1: So finally , you know , we'll be keeping an eye , as I'm sure you're going to be watching where the Superfund push goes from here. You mentioned that vote's going to come back up.
S1: That's ahead on round table. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. We've been discussing the implications of the San Diego and Tijuana cross-border sewage crisis. Now we turn our attention towards another topic that affects a wide range of people across the region. And that's public transit. San Diego's Metropolitan Transit System , or MTS , recently opened a new trolley route for the East County.
S3: So you're having a lot of students who are now able to more easily access UCSD campus and maybe live in a more affordable part of town.
S3: Measure G would increase the sales tax rate across all of San Diego County , not just the city by one half of 1%. So if you go out at a restaurant , um , after measure G has been approved and the bill is $100 , you would pay an extra $0.50 in sales tax. The measure is a citizens initiative , meaning it was put on the ballot by a campaign gathering signatures , and that means it only needs a simple majority to pass.
S3: I would say that one of the biggest issues to keep watching is the development around these new trolley stations. So we've seen , you know , the city council pass some land use plans that allow for higher density around transit stops. That's been pretty limited in the area of Claremont , which is right next to the trolley , the Blue Line extension. I'd also like to see some better integration with the buses that the bus lines that feed into the trolley stations.
S1: Yeah , and it makes sense. It has been quite the week. There have been a lot of ups and a lot of downs. We saw game three just a lot of excitement in that victory , followed by game four on Wednesday night , which Petco Park was a lot quieter.S1: So I mean with that now it goes back to Dodger Stadium for Friday game five. This is the deciding game five.
S4: It's it's kind of cool to see the city come together over anything really. There's something positive like sports. Absolutely. S4: Yeah. Less than a month. Yeah. Actually that's crazy. Yeah. And if you see anything that you do have a question on that the voter hub isn't explaining. Um , there is a place where you can submit your question , and our reporters might include it in their reporting. So KPBS. Org backslash voter hub. Great.
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