By Megan Burks
City Can No Longer Afford Added Library Hours
The city’s pension board made an unexpected decision last week. It won’t reduce the city’s pension bill despite a five-year labor deal the mayor thought would yield instant savings.
What that all means for neighborhoods: the added library hours the mayor and City Council budgeted for won’t go through, according to Voice of San Diego.
Follow Voice of San reporter Lisa Halverstadt @LisaHalverstadt.
For Central’s New Principal, Coming to Work Means Coming Home
Former Central Elementary School Principal Cindy Marten officially took the helm of the San Diego Unified School District as superintendent this week. But on her first day on the job, she found herself on the familiar Central campus to introduce Elizabeth Castillo-Duvall as her predecessor. Castillo-Duvall, like Marten, grew up in City Heights and is an Edison Elementary alumnus.
You can see photos from the hand-off assembly and the rest of Marten’s first day as superintendent on her blog.
Follow Cindy Marten on Twitter @BeKindDreamBig.
The Challenges of Reporting on the Undocumented Community
You may remember our story last year on what health care reform will mean for mixed-status families. In that story, we introduced you to Norma Navarro, who struggles with her children getting unequal health care because one is a U.S. citizen and the other is in the country illegally.
This week, author Heather Boerner shared some of the challenges she faced when reporting that story. She discusses how she found sources in a community that is, for all intents and purposes, invisible in our society. She also talks about respect.
| I’m already aware that an interview is an act of generosity on the source’s part, and I try to show my appreciation. But when the source is at a power disadvantage or may not understand how the American system works, I tried to be doubly respectful. What this meant is that I tried to carefully read a source’s tone, inflection and body language to see what they were comfortable talking about. Sometimes, I would preface a series of questions with, “Do you mind if I ask about…” And I often reminded people that they didn’t have to tell me anything they didn’t want to. And I really meant it. |
Follow Heather Boerner @HeatherBoerner.
Visualizing Poverty and Race in San Diego, Then and Now
This cool tool from Metrotrends lets you see how the face of poverty has changed in San Diego since 1980. Then, a large proportion of the city’s residents living below the poverty line was Hispanic. It appears many Hispanics were lifted out of poverty over time, while the African-American community remained about the same and the number of Asians struggling with poverty grew.
Follow the folks behind Metrotrends, The Urban Institute, @urbaninstitute.