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This week on the VOSD Podcast, hosts Andrew Keatts and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña discuss how former mayor Kevin Faulconer is testing the waters for a new citizens initiative to address homelessness that could land on the November 2024 ballot. As it’s so far out, the details remain unclear.
While Faulconer has championed his legacy on the issue since leaving office, current mayor Todd Gloria has been calling for a reformed approach since his campaign. Now, in the thick of it all, Gloria’s administration is falling back on familiar tactics to fight our most intractable problem.
And on the housing front, Keatts had the news this week that just one year in to the state-mandated eight-year plan, the city of San Diego is way behind on its housing development goals. On the show you’ll hear how we got here and what it’ll take to catch up.
Old Problem, New Trend
It’s tragic to internalize but nonetheless true: Veterans die by suicide more than the rest of us.
Such stories are well documented. But as VOSD’s Will Huntsberry reported this week, there’s more beneath the surface. Young men in the military are almost twice as likely to die by suicide than civilian men of the same age.
Huntsberry joined the pod this week to talk about the new trends he found in the data and what the military is (and isn’t) doing about it.
If you or someone you know might be considering suicide, please call: 800-273-8255. More resources are available here.
The Cost of Police Response
Our final segment this week features NBC San Diego’s Alexis Rivas and her recent story about a local woman’s murder.
The real story was the phone calls from across the street. As Rivas and the NBC team reported, the victim’s neighbors called 911 for nearly two hours — begging for help and relaying what they saw.
In this interview between Rivas and Keatts, they discuss the details of that June night, the San Diego Police Department’s response to the scrutiny, and what seems a systemic lack of police capacity and slow response times to critical calls.
You can see the full story, timeline of events and details on SDPD’s response times at NBC7.com/policescrutiny.