The Crime Blotter Hits Close to Home

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And we continue at two oh five in the afternoon on the John and Phillips Show. Mister Randy weggs across the glass, John, April is almost over, which means we're getting really close to the month of nine and in fact election day is in what way? Well, thank you for that update, Randy and Cecily. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number one. Eight hundred two two two five two two two. And right now it's time to open up the California Crime Blodder.

00:00:37
Speaker 2: It's happened yet again.

00:00:40
Speaker 3: Nice see time for the California Crime Blodder.

00:00:46
Speaker 1: And the first edition involves the world's oldest profession. We're going to Oakland for this story where they say they're finally going to start cracking down on rampant daytime prostitution on international boulevards.

00:01:01
Speaker 4: Wow Wow.

00:01:03
Speaker 1: For more, here is Kuran four.

00:01:09
Speaker 5: Welcome back our top story. This half hour, Oakland leaders are trying a new approach to crack down on sex trafficking in East Oakland. The city is looking to block off certain side streets near a known hotspot.

00:01:21
Speaker 1: Wait, it's this again. This is the same thing San Francisco did with cap straight all those years ago. Forget arrests. What we need to do is block the roads for access. You know, I'd like to call them the ladies of the night, but they're selling it at high noon.

00:01:37
Speaker 5: The city is looking to block off certain side streets near a known hotspot. Crowan forors Eara Snson, has a closer look at the plan and explains the.

00:01:47
Speaker 6: Sex work primarily happens on International Boulevard, but because it's such a major throwaway, the city plans to install barricades along certain avenues like this one so that they can help police in their efforts to reduce sex trafficking in Oakland. Drive along International Boulevard on a Sunday afternoon and you'll likely see it, sex workers out in the open.

00:02:11
Speaker 1: And of course, because we can't actually arrest prostitutes, that's just allowed. Well, and now that you can't go to a Raiders game, or an A's game or a Golden State Warriors game, I guess this is what people have to do with their time.

00:02:27
Speaker 6: And we still got our Oakland A's Baby night out. This stretch of East Oakland, known as the Blade, has long been a hotspot for sex trafficking. Now the city plans to launch a pilot program installing barricades on three side streets that intersect with International.

00:02:44
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess these are the side streets. After you pick up a lady on International Boulevard, you pull into the side street to conduct your transaction. What do you think the cleanup is like on those side streets?

00:02:56
Speaker 6: City council Member Charlene Wang, No relation. The strategy is to disrupt access for sex buyers or John's.

00:03:04
Speaker 1: Sorry about that. Why do they have to call them.

00:03:07
Speaker 6: John's access for sex buyers or John's.

00:03:13
Speaker 7: Actually to prevent people from being able to enter those side streets, which actually forces the behavior to be concentrated on International Boulevard and them to something.

00:03:24
Speaker 1: If you're going to do it, you're gonna do it right here on the main thoroughfare. Yeah. Is it any better if they're doing it in front of everyone in town.

00:03:32
Speaker 7: It's actually to prevent people from being able to enter those side streets, which actually forces the behavior to be concentrated on International Boulevard and them to supplement opd's ability to actually enforce against the human trafficking.

00:03:50
Speaker 6: A new state law that took effect in January allows police to arrest people loitering with the intent to buy sex. Wang also authored an ordinance that directs fines from buyers and traffickers to support survivors.

00:04:03
Speaker 7: Intending to purchase someone or has purchased someone for sex. The first time offense is four thousand dollars.

00:04:11
Speaker 1: And oh boy, okay, you know what's going to happen here. OPD is not going to arrest anyone. They want you to fill out a form if someone drives a stolen Kia through a wall. They certainly don't have the resources to go after prostitutes or john's. So what's going to happen is they're just going to eliminate the discretion. So instead of doing it on a side street, people are just going to do it out in public and the kids are all going to see it. There is a school on International Boulevard right near a prostitution filled homeless encampment for sex.

00:04:51
Speaker 7: The first time offense is four thousand dollars and then every subsequent offense is eight thousand after that, and it one hundred percent of it goes to exit services for.

00:05:03
Speaker 1: You know what we need. We need digital billboards that will straight up post the mugshot of everyone that gets picked up for getting a prostitute on International Boulevard. I don't think you have enough billboards.

00:05:18
Speaker 7: After that, And one hundred percent of it goes to exit services for those who are being trafficked on the blade. Part of the ordinance that also.

00:05:27
Speaker 1: Part of the issue here is that when we consider every single street walker a victim, and a lot of them are, but some of them are part of this problem, we cannot arrest them, and a lot of times they refuse to cooperate even when we arrest their pimp because they know the pimp's gonna get out, and that pimp pand is mighty strong, and some of those women are real mean too.

00:05:52
Speaker 7: Part of the ordance that also does find for the traffickers themselves at ten thousand dollars per victim per day.

00:05:59
Speaker 1: Well, we're gonna give the pimps a ticket. Can you imagine what that line must look like when they show up to city Hall to pay that fine.

00:06:11
Speaker 7: Does fines for the traffickers themselves at ten thousand dollars per victim per day and then twenty thousand dollars per subsequent victim per day.

00:06:20
Speaker 6: The city tried a similar approach with barricades in twenty twenty three on East fifteenth, but Wang says the problem simply shifted elsewhere.

00:06:28
Speaker 7: Hoping not to displace it, but actually just make it easier for OPD to do its job.

00:06:33
Speaker 6: If this time proves to be successful, the program could expand to other parts of the city. Wang is also asking for community input at a meeting Monday night.

00:06:41
Speaker 7: Which are the streets that you think are most important to shut down or maybe there's some that you think are critical too.

00:06:47
Speaker 1: It's not we're going to arrest the people that are doing this. We're going to make traffic so impossible that you can't even get to your prostitute. Okay, as we sit here listening to what she's saying, how is this now going to make every aspect of life worse for residents? Which are the.

00:07:04
Speaker 7: Streets that you think are most important shutdown or maybe there's some that you think are critical too.

00:07:09
Speaker 1: And you remember they did this in San Francisco on Cap Street and they put up these barriers for all these side streets, and people were smashing into the barriers and destroying them. The drive to get the prostitute was that big. Oh yeah, no, they'll go right through a boulder to get to two of them in Abra, which are.

00:07:27
Speaker 7: The streets that you think are most important to shutdown or maybe there's some that you think are critical to remain open Because you know this is an important through way.

00:07:36
Speaker 6: Community members can hear the plan directly from the Department of Transportation and provide input at a meeting on Monday night at six o'clock. It's at twenty twenty five East Twelfth Street. I'm Sarah Sinson, reporting in Oakland kron for News.

00:07:51
Speaker 1: There you go, Oakland's latest plan to crack down on rampant daytime prostitution. Make traffic really bad so the Johns can't get there. You know, John's and Karen should unite because our names have been turned into slurs.

00:08:08
Speaker 3: Karen, why are you doing this?

00:08:10
Speaker 1: All right? Randy, It's time to reopen the blodder.

00:08:14
Speaker 2: It's happened yet again.

00:08:15
Speaker 8: This wow, Wow, what's up you? Dun dun dunk, dundun dun dun.

00:08:20
Speaker 9: Dunk reads the Califonia crime Blodder.

00:08:23
Speaker 2: With John and.

00:08:27
Speaker 1: Randy. This one takes us too well. Your exact neighborhood. Yep, home sweet home. I think I actually walk past this house every day when I walk my dogs. Well, now you'll all have something to see. The twentieth home burglary in the valley in the last fifteen days. I'd call that a crime spree. At this point, I think we have to change our town's name back to Van Eyes. Here is NBCLA.

00:09:04
Speaker 6: Burglaries continue to plague the San Fernando Valley.

00:09:07
Speaker 9: Another break in happened last night, this time at a home in Lake Balboa.

00:09:11
Speaker 10: More than twenty homes have now been burglarized around the valley in just the last few weeks. NBC forts Keenan Willard joins us Live now after speaking to the homeowner whose house was broken into last night.

00:09:20
Speaker 1: And by the way, most of these have occurred after Karen Vass held that press conference with Chief McDonald's saying we're going to crack down on this. Good job, Karen.

00:09:30
Speaker 11: A few weeks.

00:09:30
Speaker 10: NBC forts Keenan Willard joins us live now after speaking to the homeowner whose house was broken into last night. Keenan, we understand understandably he is shaken up.

00:09:40
Speaker 11: You can imagine how shaken up after walking in here just after nine o'clock last night, finding broken glass at the back of the home, finding so many of their valuable stolen. What is just the latest in this series of approaching now two dozen break ins reported across the valley and the nearby areas over the last fifteen days. At this point now, the family we spoke with today says that this has been very difficult for them, not just because of the thousands of dollars of belongings that they lost, but also losing their sense of security.

00:10:09
Speaker 12: Do you walk into your house's trash?

00:10:11
Speaker 11: A Lake Balboa family says they're struggling today after the latest valley break in hit home.

00:10:16
Speaker 1: Lpeds, it's gotta be incredibly violating. This didn't happen to me, but it happened to a house a couple of blocks away from me, and I'm freaking out. Well, you could be next. Well they go after me. All they're gonna get is a really old cat. I don't have a lot of material goods. They gonna get my Nintendo. I'll get another one.

00:10:43
Speaker 11: Lped says it happened on Shoshoney Avenue around nine thirty last night.

00:10:47
Speaker 12: I opened the door, I realized it's unlocked. I looked inside. The house was completely trashed.

00:10:52
Speaker 11: The homeowner tells us he arrived with his wife and baby to find their glass back door smashed.

00:10:57
Speaker 12: So I told my wife to get in the car. I got in the car with her. We were just really freaked out. We don't want to We didn't even want to go inside and just kind of check it out until the police came.

00:11:08
Speaker 11: Police tell NBC four the thieves got away with fifteen thousand in jewelry.

00:11:12
Speaker 1: WHOA, that's a lot of money. That could be like one ring.

00:11:19
Speaker 11: And at least ten thousand dollars worth of other.

00:11:21
Speaker 12: Items, bags, jewelry, cologne.

00:11:24
Speaker 1: So the police said the cologne is cologone worth that much. It's a little strange.

00:11:37
Speaker 3: Cologne.

00:11:38
Speaker 12: So the police said they most likely shut off the Wi Fi before coming in because the cameras didn't catch anything.

00:11:44
Speaker 1: NBC fours. Yeah, that's the new thing, whether it's a Wi Fi jammer or they just cut your power. None of your security cameras are even going to work when these guys take over, because these are professionals. But let's just say they had the video. Would the LAPD do anything with the video? No, they would not.

00:12:00
Speaker 11: NBC four is tracking at least twenty one reported break ins at homes in and around the San Fernando Valley since April tenth, the series of crimes causing multiple neighborhoods to increase security. LPD says, as of.

00:12:11
Speaker 1: Last night, now, do you think the NonStop crime is going to have any effect on the upcoming mayor's race. You would hope so, but we've been disappointed so many times. Who knows?

00:12:23
Speaker 11: LPD says, as of last Saturday, reported burglaries in the valley are down forty two percent.

00:12:29
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, don't you dare with a straight face try to tell me that burglaries in the valley are down. There's a new one reported every single day. They always do that, Randy. Whenever we do reports about crime going on in a specific neighborhood, they go, well, if you were smart enough to understand statistics, you would know that we are safer now than we were in the nineteen fifties.

00:12:58
Speaker 11: LPD says, as of last Saturday, reported burglaries in the valley are down forty two percent compared to the same time last year. Still, police and the mayor's office say they're increasing patrols of the.

00:13:08
Speaker 1: Valley and it hasn't done a damn thing. Nope. Also have not seen any evidence of increased patrols crack down on break ins.

00:13:17
Speaker 12: And the first thing that goes through my mind is that I'm blessed because my wife and son are safe, but we're also kind of shocked and scared.

00:13:25
Speaker 1: I think he's moving to Orange County understandably.

00:13:29
Speaker 11: So Now, up to this point, LAPD says they don't have any description of the suspect or suspects who may have carried out this latest break in here in Lake Balbo will continue.

00:13:37
Speaker 1: We've got over twenty one of these things. They're obviously being committed by the same cruise and we've got nothing. All you need is want a rest to make this problem go away, and you can't get it.

00:13:48
Speaker 11: Nope, this latest break in here in Lake Balbo will continue to follow this situation and the more than twenty others that have played out in recent weeks from Lake Balboa. Keenan Willard, NBC four News.

00:13:59
Speaker 1: There you go, So just the latest and yet another San Fernando Valley home burglary and Randy, it's time to reopen the blotter.

00:14:08
Speaker 2: It's happened yet again.

00:14:12
Speaker 1: Nice see.

00:14:13
Speaker 9: Time for the California crime bludder.

00:14:17
Speaker 1: And this one takes us to Covena where a restaurant got broken into. That's a little different. For more, here is Fox eleven, the.

00:14:25
Speaker 13: News signe of family run restaurant in Cavena hit by burglars twice in the past month, one of several businesses in the area recently targeted. Fox eleven's Rachel Aragon.

00:14:35
Speaker 1: Shows us at Cedar guesting in the anchorchair. Not used to him in a suit?

00:14:41
Speaker 3: Is that so?

00:14:42
Speaker 1: Was it jarring for you? Used to him with the shirt and the jeans, standing in some kind of sewer, sometimes in a gas mask.

00:14:50
Speaker 13: Fox eleven's Rachel Aragon shows us how the community is rallying behind these small businesses.

00:14:56
Speaker 14: Two local restaurants rund here next to each other in Covena say they were we're both broken into last week, but both are standing strong and grateful for the community's support.

00:15:07
Speaker 9: Diego Durand in.

00:15:07
Speaker 15: His family have been serving up homestyle approving food since twenty nineteen.

00:15:11
Speaker 16: Right before the start of the pandemic, and it really helped us evolve, adapt as the business and overcome.

00:15:17
Speaker 1: Boy, that is not good luck you open a business in December of twenty nineteen. Boy, this guy's hand to cards just gets worse and worse.

00:15:26
Speaker 16: Right before the start of the pandemic, and it really helped us evolve, adapt as the business and overcoming hurdles.

00:15:32
Speaker 15: But the family has recently had to overcome a series of break ins.

00:15:36
Speaker 16: The first time they hit us pretty hard, they took money and they just made a mess.

00:15:41
Speaker 15: Then last week, Diego says, the suspects.

00:15:43
Speaker 1: Probably part of that Ahi verdae everywhere. That's got to be a bitch to clean up.

00:15:49
Speaker 15: Then last week, Diego says, the suspects struck again at Sabora Peru. Well, the family made sure not leave cash inside the register after the first break in. They say that didn't stop.

00:15:59
Speaker 14: The crooks are ransacking the restaurant's back office and smashing their family heirlooms.

00:16:04
Speaker 1: Oh that's just rude. These burglars are so destructive.

00:16:10
Speaker 16: So if they didn't have any value to them, just but mental world to us, because there are our grandmother's values and they're.

00:16:18
Speaker 7: Just not Now.

00:16:19
Speaker 2: Second time that this occurred is when I came by.

00:16:21
Speaker 14: Just recently, regulars have been coming by and droves to support the family run business.

00:16:26
Speaker 7: This family is here working every day.

00:16:30
Speaker 3: They take one day off a week.

00:16:32
Speaker 15: These guys do a really good job.

00:16:34
Speaker 17: So I keep coming back.

00:16:36
Speaker 14: Employees aberis, He's Mexican Food and Pizza which is in the same shopping plaza at Sibor al Peru.

00:16:41
Speaker 1: And Great Mexican Food and Pizza. That's an odd combination.

00:16:47
Speaker 14: Employees aberis, He's Mexican Food and Pizza which is in the same shopping plaza at Sibor al Peru and Town Fox eleven, they too were broken into last week.

00:16:56
Speaker 15: Their doors well boarded up, also remained open to customers.

00:17:00
Speaker 16: This interative community, I could say, is thank you and that we're happy and we're here to serve you.

00:17:04
Speaker 1: Want to support them, Get a chaloopa and a pepperoni.

00:17:09
Speaker 16: Nothing's gonna stop us. God willing, We're going to be here, just continue to serve a community and trying to spread the positive message.

00:17:17
Speaker 14: And we reached down to Covina Police Department. Earlier a bounties were put of break ins and are still waiting to hear back. Reporting in Covena Richelie, we're gone Talks eleven news.

00:17:26
Speaker 1: There a little break from the valley home robberies to some good old fashioned Covina restaurant burglaries. And Covina is an independent municipality that's not part of the city of Los Angeles. So in theory, you're more likely to get caught and arrested in a place like Covina than in Los Angeles. And Covina you have an eighty five percent chance of getting away with it. In LA you have a ninety five percent chance of getting away with it. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is a telephone number one eight hundred two to two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com and Randy. We made a big announcement at the top of today's show. We have announced that we just signed a three year extension to continue to bring the John Phillips Show noon to three on KABC in Southern California, KSFO in the Bay Area and one hour on KMJ and Fresno, as well as the podcast and the streaming all of it. We're not going anywhere anytime soon, and we've got a lot of great plans of how to expand this thing even bigger in the next year. So stick around with us and make sure you subscribe to that podcast. And tomorrow we're going live to Claremont because Randy, We're gonna be in attendance for the big gubernatorial debate at Promote to College. CBS News California is hosting the next big debate, and we just learned that Katie Porter's gonna be there. Please, So if you want to watch that debate, it's going to be on all the local CBS stations, so Channel two, Channel nine in southern California, kpi X five in the Bay Area, CBS thirteen, CBS Sacramento in obviously Sacramento, CBS eight in San Diego. Check it out because I'm sure there will be lots of it. Teams are only going to get more tense, especially after that first debate. So we're going to be in attendance and we'll let you know all the drama that goes on inside Pomoter College tomorrow. If it feels like the only thing you ever see on TV or Tom steierrads, it's because the only thing you see on TV or Tom styrads Tom Steier every single Friday seems to pump another ten million dollars into this campaign for governor. And I'm telling you right now, it's the one of the reasons why that Billy Inner tax has just made the November ballot, or it sure looks like it is. Is because you look up at the TV you see Tom Steyer spending ungodly amounts of money trying to become governor, and you're like, yes, I want to take his money away. Boy, those consultants are taking him for a ride. Tom Steyer, as well as Matt Mayhon, we're campaigning in Los Angeles over the weekend, so for a look into their campaigns and how much money tom Steyer is spending on all this. Here's NBC LA all.

00:20:30
Speaker 18: Right, turning it out to Decision twenty twenty six and the race for California's next governor. Two of the gubernatorial candidates we're in Los Angeles today talking to voters about some high profile issues. NBC Force Carbon Dickerson joined US Live with what they shared. Hey, Karma, So lose.

00:20:46
Speaker 19: Candidates were in town and really what they wanted to focus on is how they were going to use their statewide platforms that they're thinking to try to tackle some of our local issues and they make their cases to the entire state gubernatorial candidate if Matt Mayhon and Tom Steyer took on some high profile LA issues today. Mayhan, the Mayor of San Jose, spend time in MacArthur Park discussing.

00:21:07
Speaker 1: Oh no, oh yeah, he was over at Langers having some corn beef talking about bums.

00:21:15
Speaker 19: Mayhan, the Mayor of San Jose, spend time in MacArthur Park discussing homelessness, public safety, and mental health.

00:21:20
Speaker 1: They saw that giant fence around the park.

00:21:24
Speaker 19: His visit included a meeting with housing, neighborhood and business groups hosted by Langers.

00:21:29
Speaker 8: Delhi and I just walked through the park, spoke with a number of the people who were in the park.

00:21:33
Speaker 1: And the truth is how many of them were speaking back to you in tongues. Remember when we had a cop call in who said that when they would have to bring someone in for an outstanding warrant and they wouldn't have time to go through the list at the station, that they would just show up to MacArthur Park and pick a person at random, and they would almost without question, have an outstanding warrant out for their.

00:22:02
Speaker 8: We need an approach that is compassionate and includes accountability. We need every city in every county to build that shelter and treatment and get people indoors. These conditions are inhumane.

00:22:13
Speaker 19: Around the same time today, Tom Syer was holding a roundtable discussion about challenges facing LA's entertainment industry. The meeting was held at an AATZI office that's the Stage Employees Union. He expressed general support for expanding and uncapping film tax credits and lowering costs for production companies through measures like adopting single payer health care.

00:22:31
Speaker 1: Oh, here we go. I'll tell you this guy out of that whole bunch might be the worst, but Sarah's the dumbest. But stire would be the most destructive. So what is Katie. Well, she's a whole separate animal.

00:22:51
Speaker 15: Sorry for the noise, I'm cutting carrots.

00:22:54
Speaker 3: When asked about some of the details, I know those are all really important questions, and I also know that they're camplicated.

00:23:00
Speaker 1: And so this is him being asked, how are you going to implement single payer healthcare? Oh, we'll get to that. I'm a billionaire and no one can say no to me. I'm a big ideas guy. We'll hire someone to figure this out when I'm in there.

00:23:14
Speaker 3: I know those are all really important questions, and I also know that they're complicated, and so in my opinion, in all of those really complicated, detailed.

00:23:23
Speaker 1: Questions, I really can't do four years of him. No, it hurts my voice just hearing him talk. You might need to reopen that contract.

00:23:32
Speaker 3: God is in the details.

00:23:34
Speaker 2: I know that.

00:23:36
Speaker 3: And you know when you say when you do single payers, like exactly what are you going to do?

00:23:40
Speaker 1: And it's like, oooh, if I have to listen to that every single day to cover stuff for this show, I need hazard pay, well, you would have to reopen the contract.

00:23:52
Speaker 3: We're going to make sure we have it right. And you know that means that instead of me winging it here and answering your questions in the way that I think is right that I'm eighty percent sure we're going to get it ruged. And look, I have been building businesses and organizations for a long time. The key is going to be having someone in charge of this program who is really good and is going to answer those questions with all of the nuance.

00:24:18
Speaker 1: So how are you going to get single dollar healthcare? I'm going to hire someone to do it. Okay, think about that answer for a second. He's acting as if the question is out of bounds. How are you going to implement single payer healthcare? Well, I've built many successful businesses in my life. I can't give you the details because I don't know them, but I'm going to hire someone who can figure it out, and.

00:24:44
Speaker 3: He's going to answer those questions with all of the nuance that is necessary.

00:24:50
Speaker 19: According to campaign finance reports, since January, the billionaire environmental advocate has raised one hundred and five million dollars, almost all his own money.

00:24:59
Speaker 1: It's so discuss you know, maybe I'm looking at this wrong, and maybe of all of the non mayhand via ghosted Democratic candidates, he's the one that would be the best because single payer is just not doable. You would bankrupt the state immediately. How about his other big promise, breaking up PG and E. Yeah, Well, he's gonna hire a bunch of people who are gonna tell him it's not doable, and then he's gonna fire him and yell at him, and then he's gonna bring in a new batch of people, and then they're gonna tell him you can't do it. And if he wastes all his time and energy on doing something that you know is can't be done then. I don't know, maybe maybe he would be less destructive than the others.

00:25:50
Speaker 19: Other top fundraisers this quarter include Mayhan but thirteen point five million. The next closest Steve Hilton, with four point two million dollars and time to spend all of that campaign cash is quickly dwindling down. Those ballots would be arriving in people's mailbox in less than two weeks. Farmer Dickerson, NBC four News.

00:26:09
Speaker 1: There you go, Tom Steyer with his one hundred plus million dollar governor campaign. Now, speaking of the run for governor, one of the things that so many of the candidates have done in this race is take a pilgrimage to the Tiajuana River. I believe that Steve Hilton was the first one to go down there, but the one that really won us all over was America's sweetheart, Katie Porter.

00:26:37
Speaker 2: You can smell it right here.

00:26:41
Speaker 1: And then Styer went there last week, didn't he He did?

00:26:44
Speaker 3: He did, and you can literally see it, smell it, and feel it.

00:26:53
Speaker 5: Well.

00:26:55
Speaker 1: Even though all the good editorial candidates are taking a dip in the Tijuana River, there still is not enough awareness about this issue, not on the state level, not on the federal level, and that has one local taken to TikTok so people can be aware of just how stinky this river is. Here is CBS eight.

00:27:16
Speaker 20: Every year, billions of gallons of toxic pollution pours across the US Mexico border straight into Sandiego's coastline. Sewage, chemicals and trash flowed down the Tikwana River, forcing beach closures and raising serious health concerns.

00:27:30
Speaker 9: Today I caught up with a resident who was using her social media platform to speak out about the Tijuana River sewage crisis, with hopes to see action taken soon.

00:27:41
Speaker 1: A Sunday at the you know, they usually have like for different kinds of categories of influencers. If you're really into books, they call that book talk. If you're really into pets, that's pet talk. So I guess this is smell talk. Well, if I were naming that particular TikTok channel, I'd name it. You can smell it right here.

00:28:00
Speaker 2: You can smell it right here.

00:28:02
Speaker 1: We're never getting to have a Drop of the Year contest. This year contest is over. I think we have a runaway winner.

00:28:10
Speaker 9: A Sunday at the beach with no people in the water. It's become the norm at Imperial Beach.

00:28:17
Speaker 21: As you can tell by the whole ocean, just being lonely in the sand, being dead with downy people. It speaks volumes about the situation.

00:28:25
Speaker 1: That's Jessica, Prime beach real estate that nobody goes to because of all the toxic pollution.

00:28:34
Speaker 9: That's Jessica fierroa a South Bay native and English teacher at a local high school. She tells me the stench caused by the Tijuana River sewage crisis has become unbearable.

00:28:45
Speaker 21: I'll be in the classroom bell rings, I'm teaching and I get a weird whiff of something.

00:28:57
Speaker 2: You can smell it right here.

00:29:00
Speaker 1: I wonder if she teaches Shakespeare in a gas mask.

00:29:03
Speaker 21: Weird w of something and immediately I really know what it is.

00:29:07
Speaker 9: It's a pungent, rotten egg smell as hydrogen sulfide bubbles up from the polluted Tijuana River. As the sewage crisis can.

00:29:14
Speaker 1: Isn't a story that we did last week where the acceptable amount of that. Currently the Tijuana River has about seven hundred times the acceptable amount. It's so gross.

00:29:25
Speaker 9: As the sewage crisis continues, South Bay residents report health issues ranging from rashes, asthma, brain fog, and headaches.

00:29:34
Speaker 1: When I speak to a lot of what do you think property values are like at Imperial Beach? They're probably giving it away thanks.

00:29:41
Speaker 21: When I speak to a lot of people, they have the same issue going on.

00:29:44
Speaker 9: She tells me she gets agonizing migrains, an issue she says she never once experienced before the crisis began. The health effects of long term exposure to hydrogen sulfide are not fully understood.

00:29:58
Speaker 21: If I date, babies aren't getting poisoned, and pregnant women are getting poisoned. Children are getting poisoned, the elderly are getting poisoned.

00:30:05
Speaker 1: With a large following up, well, she's not even doing a dance. That's just straight up the facts. It sounds like everyone's getting poisoned down there.

00:30:12
Speaker 9: With a large following on TikTok.

00:30:14
Speaker 21: You don't even have to go to the beach to smell.

00:30:16
Speaker 9: St end She's start.

00:30:19
Speaker 1: You can smell it right there.

00:30:22
Speaker 2: You can smell it right here.

00:30:27
Speaker 1: It tickles you pink every single time you hear it. Oh God, I love it so much.

00:30:32
Speaker 9: With a large following on TikTok.

00:30:34
Speaker 21: You don't even have to go to the beach to smell st end.

00:30:36
Speaker 9: She started creating videos talking about what residents are experiencing.

00:30:41
Speaker 21: So I feel like if I'm able to educate an eight year old or a forty year old as to what's going on, I'm doing my job in spreading awareness and helping on my community.

00:30:51
Speaker 9: In a recent TikTok, she called on Governor Newsom's office to declare a state of emergency for the two one a river sewage crisis earlier this month is a public health christ. San Diego County Supervisor Poloma Aghiri also urged Governor Newsom to declare a state of emergency.

00:31:08
Speaker 1: Governor Newsim zone, why does Gavin ignore this? I don't know. My guess would be, if you're going to fix it, you have to be mean to the Mexican government, and that would be racist. So you can't do that. But if you don't fix it, then you let all the Mexicans on this side of the border get cancer.

00:31:29
Speaker 9: Governor Newsom's office tells me they understand the frustration of the community, but because this is an international issue, it's under the jurisdiction of the federal government, not California.

00:31:41
Speaker 1: I suppose if that's really the case there, Then how is it that Gavin's not using his bully pulpit to go after the feds on this. He'll talk about every other federal issue, but not the one that's poisoning a portion of the state. It's so strange to me. You're exactly right, this is an opportunity if it's the federal government's job to go after Trump. Or when Biden was there and you had a Democrat in the White House and a Democrat as governor of California, and you were one of the biggest campaigners on his behalf, why not call your buddy and go, hey, I've got an environmental disaster going on here. Can you help me with it?

00:32:21
Speaker 9: A spokesperson tells me they have urged the federal government to take action quickly to address the crisis.

00:32:29
Speaker 21: Unfortunately, in my opinion, I really think it's because we're Latino, we're low income, because I feel that if this crisis were to be happening somewhere else where there's wealthier areas, I feel like they would be listened to immediately.

00:32:41
Speaker 1: If a whole bunch of toxic sludge ended up in Laguna Beach, it would be on it would be national headlines everywhere every single day.

00:32:50
Speaker 9: It would be last year Governor Gavin Newsom secured funding to tackle Tijuana River pollution. His office tells me he's now pushing the Trump administration to fund, repair and fast track infrastructure to protect public health and end the crisis.

00:33:05
Speaker 1: It's just such a strange thing where, you know, for as loud as he wants to be and his press office wants to be, here's an issue that you could be hammering every single day at saying, look at this crisis, and he doesn't want to touch it. Well, because what would happen is is he would get bitchy with that female president down there in Mexico and then she would call him a racist. There you go, your latest update from the sewage crisis at the ever worsening Tijuana River Valley.

00:33:37
Speaker 2: You can smell it right here.

00:33:38
Speaker 1: If you thought that the California Bullet Train was the only boondoggle in the state of California, you would be wrong. Apparently there was an idea to build a bike lane on the Bay Bridge that is only half complete and has no funding. For these seven hundred million dollars they would need to fit of shits here is kpix in the Bay Well.

00:34:05
Speaker 22: The ability to get around the Bay Area by bicycle has become a major focus of transportation planners, but there has always been one major roadblock, the fact that we have bridges to get just about anywhere, including the Bay.

00:34:18
Speaker 9: Bridge, but that's not stopping cyclists from trying.

00:34:21
Speaker 1: John Ramos has got the story.

00:34:24
Speaker 17: The bicycle path on the Bay Bridge opened about twelve years ago, but it only got cyclists half the way to San.

00:34:29
Speaker 1: Francisco, just stops at Treasure Island.

00:34:34
Speaker 17: Now advocates are wondering when they'll be able to complete the journey. A group of about one hundred cyclists met at the West Oakland bart Station. Their destination the Bay Bridge to nowhere.

00:34:49
Speaker 1: And keep in mind the government wants us all to ride bikes.

00:34:53
Speaker 17: To work, or at least that's how it feels to them.

00:34:57
Speaker 23: It's, you know, the most important and larger gap in the Bay Area active transportation network. It's not a matter of if it'll happen, but when, and the more awareness we can raise about that gap in the needs to complete it, the sooner it'll happen.

00:35:12
Speaker 15: There's a growing movement.

00:35:13
Speaker 4: There's also right now an attack from the federal government against this type of infrastructure that wants to see. They're against building out bike lanes of the fact they're tearing out by glens in many communities. So we need more than ever right now for our constituents, for community members to say, like, this is something that we prioritize.

00:35:32
Speaker 1: Okay, but you've demonstrated that you can't get it done yep.

00:35:37
Speaker 17: So they took off on an excursion to the current end of the road at Urba Buena Island. The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge opened in twenty thirteen, with the adjoining bike and pedestrian path about a year later.

00:35:49
Speaker 1: That gets sib been working on this for twelve years. Do you remember the Big Dig in Boston and how that became a national story because it was set embarrassment. Now it seems like every public works project is worse than the Big Dig yep.

00:36:08
Speaker 17: That gets cyclist to Treasure Island where they can take a ferry to the city, but advocates want to be able to go the full route. Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission have a plan in place called the Bay Bridge Skyway that would add two new lanes on either side of the structure, one for bike and pedestrians, the other for bridge maintenance. But it won't be cheap, and an MTC representative was on hand to give the cyclists a gentle reality check.

00:36:36
Speaker 24: We haven't, you know, lost sight of in the future.

00:36:39
Speaker 9: We do.

00:36:40
Speaker 24: It would be great to have something on the West Band, but it is at least a five hundred million dollar project.

00:36:49
Speaker 1: This is why we can't build anything anymore. If everything is going to go over on time and over on budget, and maybe it'll get completed, maybe it won't. Why would you green light any project?

00:37:02
Speaker 24: It is extremely expensive.

00:37:04
Speaker 1: There's no uh, paint must be really pricey.

00:37:09
Speaker 24: Pathward for funding it right now. So we are excited to be making these improvements. We'll feed it and make it, you know, a useful path once it happens. But currently, you know, that is still kind of we're still waiting to see what happens with that.

00:37:23
Speaker 17: Actually, the price has gone up since twenty thirteen and it's now expected to cost well in excess of seven hundred million.

00:37:30
Speaker 1: Dollars, and they wonder why we're bankrupt.

00:37:36
Speaker 17: Where that kind of money would come from is anybody's guess, But the cycling community is determined to hold the transportation leaders to their commitments, and cyclist David Glazier says, every big project in the Bay Area seems to be impossible at one time or another, but they're people that are really.

00:37:53
Speaker 1: It didn't even take that long to build the Golden Gate Bridge back in the thirties. It doesn't have to be this way.

00:38:02
Speaker 25: We choose to live like this, that there are people that are really trying to make it happen. So I think because of that, it is going to happen eventually, because that's the way things are in the Bay Area.

00:38:14
Speaker 1: We used to be able to do really big things, but now even just getting a bike lane on a bridge is going to take about thirteen years and five hundred million dollars