Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>> AMITA: Coming up next on KPBS Evening Edition we talk with Mayor Jerry Sanders about pension
reform, San Diego's broken roads and a lot more.
>> DWANE: Also we will show you how protecting solders on the battle field is important.
>> Thanks for joining us. I'm Dwane Brown
>> And I'm Amita Sharma. The chargers are taking on the raiders right
now. >> A new stadium is slated for the downtown village,
we will talk with the mayor about the stadium and other issues regarding the city.
>> The trolley service for MTS continued today, heritage security services is not bargaining
in good faith. The agency says replacement guards were on
stand by and took over when the union members walked out.
>> A tide of financial troubles has washed away the U.S. open sand castle competition.
About 4,000 people went to this year's event, organizers say they're cancelling it because
of about $45,000 in grants to pay for security.
>> Next year 10 qualified vets will get mailbox franchises.
The company says starting January 1st honorably discharged vets can apply.
>> In combat the armed services want to do everything in their power to solve the problem
of wounded veteranses. We got a look at a contractor who wants to
better protect our troops. >> DWANE: Human error is often the mistaken
of shooting at the wrong target. The combat rifle scope works with this optic
Cal tag imbedded inned a soldier's helmet to identify friendly forces or potential targets.
It's all about simplicity, a solder in the soldier in the field looks through the scope
and can identify whether the target is friendly or unknown.
>>> What we've got is a built in GPS, we have elevation sensors inside, we have a lacer
for range finding and for communication purposes and it's all done with really the simple weapons
design. One touch of the pressure pad gives you all
the information from inside the scope. >> DWANE: It was recently tested with combat
soldiers and got rave reviews. It's equipped with blue tooth to send back
target info to headquarterses. >>> The A WAC S aircraft was tracking where
our troops were on the ground simply by carry this gone scope.
>> DWANE: The final steps to make this gone all a reality is getting the military to fund
it. Cubic hopes to have it in the field for ground
troops within two years. In a few minutes ago we told you about Mayor
Jerry Sanders' meeting with the NFL. Amita is talking to him about that at the
round table. >> AMITA: Mayor Jerry Sanders has had pickup
lift about publicity about bad financial reviews. We have a lot of territory to cover.
>>> I'll be brief. >> AMITA: The idea of guaranteed pension with
401(K) style plans for new city hires except police officers has now qualified for a ballot
measure but as you know is in for a heck of a fight by labor union and democratic council
members. What is your pitch to voters to pass this?
>> My pitch is this was designed, this system in the 40s and 50s and people were supposed
to retire at age 65 and you didn't live very long and you had a small benefit.
Over the years people retire earlier, they live longer, they pay less into it and the
pension costs have escalated and you have to cut city services just to pay the benefits
and I don't believe that's sustainable and I don't think voters think that either.
>> AMITA: Labor unions say this initiative may not be legal, the fact that it freezes
city workers' salaries to calculate pension costs at points and the fact that you didn't
negotiate with them directly these changes may make it open to a challenge in court.
How confident are you that voters aren't going to be situated by those arguments?
>> This is part of a campaign that's started and lane is going to throw out a lot of issues
and try to confuse the public. We followed the law, it's a voter initiative,
which means signatures were gathered which means you don't have to negotiate that, that's
state law and I believe the voters will see throughing this and there will be a public
education campaign by the taxpayers' association and others.
>> AMITA: You are proposing to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to make road Lee pairs.
But budget analysts say you can't use that money to fix pot holes and contraction in
the road. What is the solution?
>> The solution is we're using a couple hundred million to overlay streets, anytime you can
use it for 20 years you can bond it out. So we will do over 100 miles of roadway with
overlay, another with slurry sealing, which is temporary and it keeps it in place and
we'll be borrowing another 100 million to continue with the overlays and the other capital
improvement projects. >> AMITA: On to the chargers, you met with
the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell and you have hired a financial analyst to help pay
for a stadium, I think one of the factors is $38 million in budget money.
What do you think the public's appetite is given the financial status of our city right
now? >> I think it depends on how you pay for it,
and if we can use assets to leverage and that's what they will help us figure out, we won't
go out for an increase, because I don't think there is an appetite for that.
High rise construction will go up around it it, building new property tax, interat the
same time that builds in new sales tax you can share the benefit to everybody and that's
what we will be doing. >> AMITA: How was the meeting with the NFL
commissioner today? >> It was great.
He likes to see franchises stay in the cities that they have been in, Dean Spanos wants
to stay here, we want the chargers here and what we have to do is put together a business
deal that makes sense to the citizens and the chargers that's what we have Lizard working
on. >> AMITA: Let's talk about occupy San Diego
protesters, you know they have been going on for a month, you know the grievance ises,
they are upset about wage stagnation, income despairity, government bail outs of corporations
and staggering student loans. What do you think about their complaints?
>> I agree with some, I disagree with a lot of them.
There is a lot of factions, there, they get into international issues, other countries,
those are things that I have no control over but I believe everybody has the right to proceed
test peacefully. They have been peaceful protests, the police
department has worked with the occupy movement and I think we're trying to protect their
right protest but on the other hand you can't just take over a piece of property and occupy
it with tents that deny that use to other folks and that's where the basic issue is
and I think the police has done a great job and I think occupy has been responsible.
>> AMITA: What are the issues that you agree with?
>> We're seeing the greatest recession any of us have seen in our life times and I think
people are angry, unconcern, I think people are frightened, they don't know about their
future, about jobs, student loans are extremely expensive, having daughters that have been
through college I know how expensive that is and I think people are looking for some
answers on that and I'm not sure they're going to get them but it's good to have an outlet
to talk about it. >> AMITA: There is a crowded field of candidates
who want to succeed you, you're in the last year of office, these big names of candidates
include Bonnie Dumanis, and others, what is your advice to them as they move forward in
this campaign season? >> I guess my advice is you have to work really
hard, I think all of them are working hard but at the end of the day you don't want to
look back and say I missed an event which could have been pivotal.
You can't take things personally and it's hard not to.
When you are a candidate you put a target on your back and people will say things to
you that you never dreamed you would hear. You have to understand that it's a point of
view or it's a political issue and a lot of these political things aren't apparent from
the outside but they are from the inside. >> AMITA: Mayor Jerry Sanders thank you for
speaking to us today. >>> Thank you.
>> DWANE: It's been a busy week aboard the U.S. S. Carl vincent they are getting ready
to host president Obama on the flight deck for a basketball game.
And from our community desk going back to boot camp after getting out of the military,
we will tell you about the reboot program. This is KPBS Evening Edition
>> DWANE: As the military winds down its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of active
duty members are returning home, this year the White House honoreded a San Diego program
as a national model. Alison St John introduces us to "graduate
reboot" which helps their families and themselves adjust to being outside of the military.
>>> Once you're in the military you have to follow orders, they are the most important
thing. If there are no orders you just kind of have
to ask somebody for what they want you to do.
Being out of the military you don't have those orders.
You kind of have to figure out what you need to do.
No one is going to tell you what to do. >>> Security for yourself, for your family,
the Navy has provided that to me for 20 years so I knew I was getting a paycheck, medical
care, things of that nature. Security for my family and myself are a big
issue. >>> One of the biggest father's is you know
your job in the military, even though every two to three years you're going to change
it and go into an unknown situation, your basic job structure is known.
The biggest father I had was translating, you know, the jobs that you do in the military,
translating that to being a civilian. >>> It's a major transition, a cultural shift.
Here in this empty classroom 360 people have gone through a transition and came out more
ready to face life in the civilian world. >>> Good morning!
>>> Good morning. >>> These workshops are run by the national
veterans transition services a San Diego nonprofit. >>> Our goal it to enhance your transition
or rehe integration back into civilian life. >>> The program began over a year ago, classes
are booked through Mr. Of last year. >>> What are your fears?
>> Being home. >>> Being homeless, thank you.
>>> The class of $2,500 has been covered by private donations.
>>> What are your strengths as a service member? >> Adaptability.
>>> That's right, and discipline. >>> The first week is on controlling thoughts,
how to manage those, how to create a new set of beliefs, how to turn off unwanted images
inside their heads and refocus energy on success. >>> The success is not just about finding
a career, reboot graduate Otto De La Cruz found a job and he encouraged his wife to
go through reboot, too. >>> I started to change the dynamics in my
household and everything change starts are you.
>>> Otto and his wife have been married for 11 years but when she knew he was retiring,
she felt panicked and depressed. >>> When he went through reboot there was
a lot of stress going on, because of transition and everything he brought back, every day,
everything that he brought home, new information, his attitude, it came to the house.
It came to the house and we started talking a little bit more.
>>> Your confidence changes significantly as you kind of go back to the person that
you were when I first met you. I understood the struggles of military life
took a toll on you, having to raise three kids, sometimes by yourself and I knew that
wasn't easy and you kind of lost sight of yourself.
>>> For 11 years all my attention was to him, what he needed, my kids, also, of course.
But next deployment we are going to prepare for, what he going to need, what is he going
to do. Right after graduating, I got a job, at a
hospital, and I'm there and it's very exciting, we are starting all over again and we are
starting together. >>> The best way to do this is what we call
prevention and intervention, prevention says get 'em before they get out of the service,
reboot their brains and culture so they can go out and be successful versus after they've
been out. You can still do it after they've been out
but it's much more effective to reboot them before they get out of the service.
>> DWANE: That was Alison St John reporting. 87% of those who graduate have gone back to
school or found a job. San Diego has the largest number of post 911
veterans in the country. The president is heading to San Diego, Amita
has the story. >> AMITA: Tomorrow on veterans day president
Obama will land at North Island air station to witness a first of its kind event a college
basketball game on the flight deck U.S.S. Carl Vincent instruction of a full basketball
court has been underway since November 1st. Planners were ready to take the game under
the deck in case of rain but the storm is not expected until Saturday so it should be
a spectacular scene on the bay. Erik Anderson was on the Vincent earlier today
and he joins me. Welcome, Erik.
Who are the teams and how big of a rivalry is it?
>> The rivalry is not that huge but they are skilled teams, North Carolina is ranked preseason
No. 1 best team in the land and the Michigan state Spartans always do well in the march
madness tournament so both getting together on the deck of a U.S.S. Carl Vincent tomorrow.
>> AMITA: The U.S.S. Carl Vincent has been through a lot in the past couple of years.
That are the significant things that its been through?
>> The last couple of years have been the ride for the crew of the Vince sent.
I talked to a sailor today and he said once they came out of a refueling stop that they
had that lasted for four years they went on their first deployment and were sent to Haiti
in the wake of that large earthquake there, they provided relief, flying supplies in and
out, bringing those who needed surgery on board the aircraft, then they sailed around
the south American tip of the continent there and took a couple of months off, went back
to the Persian Gulf where they were involved in a small way with the demise of bin Ladin,
he was buried at sea off the deck of the U.S.S. Carl Vincent and they came back here.
>> AMITA: In addition to president Obama who else gets to attend this event?
>> A lot of sailors, about 800 or so of the crew and other military personnel from camp
Pendleton and the surrounding military bases and he was talking to captain Lindsey today
and he said it's been an amazing transformation for him as he has washed the deck of his floating
airport to be turned into a basketball court. >>> For an aviator, it's awesome to see the
transformation, I've seen airplanes launch and recover, date, night, stormy weather and
to watch this operation build this stadium is impressive.
But it it also goes to show that the Navy and the military at large knows how to do
logistic and operations to pull this off and this does not affect our operational schedule
one by the. >>> And that, of course, is important because
by the end of the year the U.S.S. Carl Vincent will be back out on deployment.
>> AMITA: Entertaining on ships is nothing new, Elvis Presley performed on the Hancock
back in 1956. Let's look.
>>> It's down at the end of lonely street at heart beak hotel.
>>> These events reach all the way back when the U.S.O. Oregon organizations would sponsor
interat the same time for our troops and sailors, and this was a popular place for intertakeners
to come down to. There are a ton of examples, Henry Fonda,
the Andrews sisters, marx brothers, that type of entertainment came down to San Diego, came
down to camp Pendleton as well. >>> This is not that kind of an event but
it's something the Navy wants to highlight because it involves competition and physical
fitness, both things important to the Navy. >> AMITA: Can we expect another game like
this next year in. >>> There is plans for another game probably
not in San Diego, I suspect it might be on the east coast but UCONN is signed on to do
the next year's event and the University of Arizona will sign on to play against them.
National television broadcast, starts at 4:15. >> AMITA: Thanks for speaking to us.
>>> My pleasure. >> DWANE: Tomorrow is a day off for a lot
of people but some are working more hours than every before, that's coming up in our
public square in just a moment. This is KPBS Evening Edition.
>> AMITA: Welcome back to the public
square on KPBS Evening Edition, a recent report says 40% of workers in San Diego are working
more than nine hours a day. It's a national trend that has workers doing
more for the same or even less pay. You had a lot to say about this subject.
Here are your responses. On Google Mark says he works about 60 hours
a week at his own business and he says that probably means he's at the low end on Twitter
Kyle says he vows not to work more and on Facebook container a teacher writes manufacture
my students work 10 to twelve hours a day, they clean houses, work in factories, what
about you? Are you working more since the recession?
You can weigh in by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook and email us.
Now Dwane has a recap of tonight's top stories. >> DWANE: San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders met
with the NFL commissioner to talk about a proposal for the chargers, he wants the NFL
supports keeping the team in town. The U.S. open sand castle event has been called
off because of rising costs and fund raising problems, and president Obama comes to San
Diego tomorrow and will watch a college basketball on the deck of the U.S.S. Carl Vincent.
You can watch and comment on the stories you saw tonight on our web site, www.kpbs.org/news/evening
edition thanks for joining us. Have a great night, we leave you with a look
at the forecast. "Captions provided by eCaptions"