The Morning Report
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Need to catch up on our investigation into police curfew sweeps? Our Keegan Kyle compiled a six-step guide with videos, graphics and what to look for next so you can understand the issue and weaknesses we’ve uncovered.
Here’s an excerpt:
The program aims to cut crime by deterring kids from the city’s nighttime streets, where police say youth are more likely to become victims or perpetrators of violent crime.
But whether the program has actually achieved that goal is unclear. To date, police have never conducted a full analysis of the program’s impacts on crime. They’ve relied instead on anecdotes and isolated statistics to justify the effort. And some of proponents’ biggest claims are just not true.
Plus, check out what some young people in City Heights think about the sweeps in a Media Arts Center video.
You’re reading our roundup of news from Speak City Heights, a collaboration between KPBS, The AjA Project, Media Arts Center San Diego and us.
Here are the rest of the stories from the last two weeks:
• With redevelopment dead, what will happen to the more than $200 million in redevelopment projects in City Heights?
A new oversight board recently approved the remaining projects in the city. Speak City Heights looks at some caveats involved going forward, and has a list of redevelopment plans in the community.
• In the wake of the death of a local bicyclist after he was hit by a car, KPBS reports on how the local bike community would like to see San Diego’s streets made safer for their own.
We recently talked with City Heights bike activist Sam Ollinger about the rise of the bike community’s influence.
• City Heights Life chronicles the history of one of its local establishments, Tortilleria Lily. Though business has declined in the past few years, the business would attract early morning lines over the years for its fresh tortillas.
Here’s more on the popularity of the tortilla store in City Heights, from our 2010 dispatch:
Tortilleria Lily is one of those City Heights institutions that has become part of the daily lives of this community’s Latino population. From 5 a.m. until 2 p.m., men and women, young and old, stream through with push carts and strollers and plastic bags to pick up their daily few dozen, still warm from the oven. If you can’t make it to the store’s sales counter, you can find its tortillas for sale at the fruit bar across the street and at the corner market a block away, where you can also get your taxes done.
• A store’s application for a beer and wine license in City Heights has drawn some Somalis in the community to protest it, reports KPBS. Though the store’s near a mosque, it’s not about religion, a Somali community leader said. He said the number of liquor stores nearby was disheartening.
Speak City Heights’ Megan Burks had looked at why there are so many liquor stores in City Heights in 2010 for HealthyCal.org.
• The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is changing a rule: It won’t think about deporting someone who is arrested just for a minor traffic violation if the person doesn’t have a criminal record otherwise, reports KPBS.
• The chairman of the Somali Youth League of San Diego participated in a panel on famine in the Horn of Africa at the yearly meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University. The local group will focus on partnering Somalis who will go to college with students in Africa in order to find long-term solutions to problems there.
• The AjA Project teamed up with students at Monroe Clark Middle School to understand bullying. Check out their video that features kids’ voices on being different.
• In a video from the Media Arts Center, the host of the recent San Diego Latino Film Festival reflected on the importance of seeing Latinos in mass media. In another video, young people shared from a recent discussion on how to better their neighborhoods.
• This week’s Twitter news roundup included links on our story on business improvement districts, including the one in City Heights, a neighborhood resident’s letter about his street getting ripped up shortly after it was repaved and more.
• In last week’s Twitter news roundup: Links on the fate of drivers who kill or injure cyclists, a march calling for justice and survey results on the future of San Diego.
Want more news on City Heights? Sign up for Speak City Heights’ weekly email.
Dagny Salas is the web editor at Voice of San Diego. You can contact her directly at dagny.salas@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5669.
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