CALL IN WITH QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS: 619-790-KNSJ (5675)
Mike’s Guest is KIM MOORE, Education and Training Director with the United Domestic Workers Labor Union in San Diego
United Domestic Workers is a statewide union representing over 200,000 home care and child care providers in California.
Kim Moore has been a community organizer for 20 years in San Diego working on various campaigns related to policing, mass incarceration and immigration. In 2018, she co-founded the San Diego bail fund with several other local organizers.
Kim has spent the last 11 organizing workers through her job at UDW, where she is the Education & Training Director.
Labor Day is only a few weeks away. Mike and Kim will be in conversation about the history of labor, the strength in organizing, having a seat at the table, the responsibilities of domestic workers, and more.
STOP & TALK with Grant Oliphant and Crystal Page Fri 8am
Thoughtful conversations and a good way to start the day! STOP & TALK dives deep into the themes of purpose and opportunity, guided by the insights of leaders in the arts and culture, health, philanthropy, finance, and innovation fields. Together, we celebrated local achievements and envisioned what’s possible in San Diego County.
NEWS AND INTERVIEWS ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS.
Tonight Patricia is in conversation about UNRESTRICTED BUILDING IN SAN DIEGO
Patricia talks to Pamela Begeal, Current Administrator, ADU Bonus.
______ ABOUT PAMELA______
I have been a resident in the City of San Diego since 1965.
In 2025 segments started appearing on television and articles in print media about egregious sized apartment complexes being built in the back of single family homes in our City.
Calling themselves accessory dwelling units, ADUs or granny flats as they were commonly known
However no one had ever heard of 10, 12 or 18 being built in backyards but the pictures of what was springing up was undeniable.
After some investigating I found that starting back even before Covid, City and State planners were looking at increasing housing in the State of California by loosening restrictions on building and passing laws favorable to these larger developments.
In October 2020, the City of San Diego created the ADU BONUS program and the race was on. Developers quietly started buying up single family homes in anticipation of these more relaxed building laws. Commercials started appearing on television stating we will buy your home, no closing costs, etc.
In 2023 some of these smaller ADU bonus projects started appearing as 4 or 5 units in a backyard. By 2025 the floodgates were opened and these massive 10.12, and 18 units in backyards started appearing and citizens like myself noticed.
Grass roots organizations like Neighbors For A Better San Diego had been sounding the alarm since 2020, but now there was no longer any way to ignore it as these were going in on residential streets, two stories high, ruining neighbors’ privacy and creating absolutely no parking on already minimal parking area streets like cul-de-sacs.
Neighbors to these egregious projects were being bullied by the developers and turning to our City for help fell on deaf ears.
That is when I started ADUBONUS.org to help people who are fighting right now for their home’s value and their neighborhood.
We have information on how to contact the City and contractors with issues and complaints, map to show where the next set of large backyard complexes may be built, what to do before, during and after construction, neighborhood groups forming, protests and lawsuits.
KNSJ MONTHLY INTRODUCTION AND COMMUNITY MEETING THURSDAY, 8/7, 6:30 PM
THURSDAY, 6:30 PM, ON ZOOM. WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU TO JOIN KNSJ TO HELP RUN A VOLUNTEER RADIO STATION. CALL 619-283-1100 FOR ZOOM INFO.
YES, YOU! ALL AGES (WELL, ALMOST). SCHOOL STUDENTS TO ???
NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED, JUST A PASSION FOR RADIO AT THE GRASS ROOTS LEVEL, COVERING NEWS FROM YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS, OUR RICH HOMETOWN CREATIVE ARTS COMMUNITY, SOCIAL JUSTICE, SCIENCE, THOUGHTFUL CONVERSATIONS, POP CULTURE AND ??? YOU LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK NEEDS TO BE COVERED IN YOUR COMMUNITY. KNSJ, INDEPENDENT RADIO BROADCASTING IN SAN DIEGO, THE BORDER REGION, RURAL COMMUNITIES, FEATURING VOICES AND STORIES NOT HEARD ON STATIONS CONTROLLED BY MEGA CORPORATIONS WHO HAVE NO TIES TO OUR NEIGHBORHOODS.
JOIN US ON ZOOM THURSDAY, AUG. 7, 2025, AND FIND OUT ABOUT VOLUNTEERING WITH US FROM THE GROUND FLOOR, ADMINISTRATIVE, SOCIAL MEDIA, VIDEO, NEWS, INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES, WORKING ON A RADIO A SHOW WHETHER TALK OR MUSIC (DID I MENTION THAT WE HAVE A FANTASTIC MUSIC BLOCK AT NIGHT WITH LOCAL DJs?), AND A LOT MORE OPPORTUNITIES. AND, THE BEST PART, HAVE FUN WHILE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR COMMUNITY. CALL 619-283-1100 FOR THE ZOOM INFORMATION.
NEIGHBORS FOR A BETTER PACIFIC BEACH with Guest Merv Thompson
Patricia and her guest talk about the growth of housing in Pacific Beach, congestion, traffic, air pollution, the environment, proper management of development in, and protection of, San Diego neighborhoods, concept of ADUs, destruction of an important Kumeyaay village, neighborhood communities speaking up to city officials. and more.
CIVIC CIPHER Hosted by Ramses Ja and Q Ward Wed 4pm
GUEST – MELINDA GRISBY ON THE HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS AND LATINO POPULATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
Ramses JaQ Ward
– Civic Cipher is a nationally syndicated radio show and podcast hosted by Ramses Ja and Q Ward. The program was created to foster allyship, empathy, and understanding, and bolster social justice efforts in hopes of creating a more equitable society for all. This show seeks to directly engage with diverse populations across the country.
– Set in motion in early 2020 by the violent and egregious murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, Civic Cipher was created as a response to a desperate call to action, and an urgent need for change.
– Civic Cipher is intentionally, curated to be an invaluable, and timeless, resource for everyone. These conversations serve non-POC allies (as well as POC) who may not ot
Poet Jon Von Erb, new to San Diego, now resides here. Dubbed The Poet Laureate of University Heights, he is delighted in his new city. He mentors poets world-wide online. Professionally he recently retired from practicing therapeutic, medical massage therapy. His first career was that of a ballet dancer, choreographer and professor of classical dance techniques in America, including Alaska, and throughout Europe.
November 2019 marked the date of his 1st published book of poetry, Insights of a Dancing Poet. He now writes poetry for the University Heights Community Newspaper and occasionally the San Diego Union-Tribune. His poems have been published in many anthologies in San Francisco, Palm Springs and has a poem coming out in the San Diego Poetry Annual, 2023.
Following his desire to spread the joy of poetry, he offers his poems at three local coffee cafes and has a poetry box outside his residence in University Heights in the San Diego neighborhood.
Education advocates are launching a multi-year program to develop a game and to teach the Denaakk’e language in schools. That and another language teaching apps come at a time when almost all federal funding for language revitalization is eliminated. We’ll also talk with a man about his personal journey learning the Cherokee language, an undertaking that inspired him to learn more about his tribal language’s history and importance in maintaining culture.
Claudia Boyd-Barrett for KFF Health News, Suzanne Potter
CA Immigrants Weigh Health Coverage Against Deportation Risk
For months, Maria, 55, a caregiver to older adults in California’s Orange County, has been trying not to smile.
If she opens her mouth too wide, she worries, people will see her chipped, plaque-covered front teeth. An immigrant without legal status, Maria doesn’t have health or dental insurance. When her teeth start to throb, she swallows pain pills. Last summer, a dentist said it would cost $2,400 to fix her teeth. That’s more than she can afford.
“It’s so expensive,” said Maria, who often works 12-hour days lifting clients in and out of bed and helping them with hygiene, medication management, and housework. “I need money for my kids, for my rent, for transport, for food. Sometimes, there’s nothing left for me.”
KFF Health News connected with Maria through an advocacy organization for immigrant workers. Fearing deportation, she asked that only her first name be used.
Maria is among what the federal government estimates are 2.6 million immigrants living in California without legal status. The state had gradually sought to bring these immigrants into its Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal. But now, facing a state enrollment freeze, low-income California residents in the U.S. without legal permission — along with the providers and community workers that help them — are anxiously weighing the benefits of pushing forward with Medi-Cal applications against the risks of discovery and deportation by the federal government.
Seeking to close a projected $12 billion budget deficit, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed a balanced state budget on June 27 that will end new Medi-Cal enrollment in January 2026 for those over 19 without legal status.
Meanwhile, federal immigration raids — which appear to have targeted at least one health clinic in the state — are already making some people afraid to seek medical care, say immigrant advocates and health providers. And the recent news that Trump administration officials are sharing Medicaid enrollee data, including immigration status, with deportation authorities is expected to further erode trust in the program.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the agency, which oversees the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, had the legal authority to share the data to address “unprecedented systemic neglect under the Biden-Harris administration that allowed illegal immigrants to exploit Medicaid while millions of Americans struggle to access care, particularly in states like California.”
Further complicating matters, the Trump administration has threatened to withhold funds from states that provide health coverage to people without legal status. Currently, about 1.6 million people in the country without authorization are enrolled in Medi-Cal.
In 2016, California began opening Medi-Cal to low-income people lacking legal status, starting with children, then gradually expanded it to young people, older adults, and — in January 2024 — those ages 26 to 49. The state Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medi-Cal, partnered with community health clinics to help get eligible people enrolled.
It’s too early to tell what impact the latest state and federal developments are having on enrollment numbers, since data is available only through March. But many health care providers and advocates said they expect a chilling effect on immigrant enrollment.
Seciah Aquino is executive director of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, which supports community health workers — also called promotores — who help spread awareness about Medi-Cal’s expansion to adults lacking legal status. Just over half of public health insurance recipients in California are Latino, compared with just 30% of Medicaid enrollees nationwide.
Aquino said her coalition will tell promotores to disclose data-sharing risks so community members can make informed decisions.
“They take it very personally that advice that they provided to a fellow community member could now hurt them,” Aquino said.
Newsom condemned the data sharing, calling the move “legally dubious,” while U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, both Democrats, have demanded that the Department of Homeland Security destroy any data shared.
California’s Department of Health Care Services announced June 13 that it is seeking more information from the federal government. The agency said it submitted monthly reports to CMS with demographic and eligibility information, including name and address, as required by law.
Medicaid enrollee data from Illinois, Washington state, and Washington, D.C., was also reportedly shared with DHS. Jamie Munks, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the state’s Medicaid agency, said the department was “deeply concerned” by the news and that the data was regularly passed along to CMS with the understanding that it was protected.
In Sacramento, Democratic lawmakers found themselves in the uncomfortable position of rolling back health benefits for low-income residents with unsatisfactory immigration status, including people without legal status, people who’ve held green cards for under five years, and some others who are in the process of applying for legal status or have statuses meant to protect them from deportation. In addition to the Medi-Cal enrollment freeze for immigrants 19 and older in the country without authorization, all enrolled residents with unsatisfactory immigration status from 19 to 59 years old will be charged $30 monthly premiums starting in July 2027.
“What I’m hearing on the ground is folks are telling me they’re going to have a really hard time making these premium payments,” said Carlos Alarcon, health and public benefits policy analyst with the California Immigrant Policy Center, an advocacy group. “The reality is most people already have limited budgets.”
The legislature rejected a proposal from the governor to bar immigrants with unsatisfactory immigration status from receiving long-term nursing home and in-home care through Medi-Cal but went along with eliminating dental benefits starting in July 2026.
Health care providers said that without Medi-Cal coverage, many immigrants will be forced to seek emergency care, which is more expensive for taxpayers than preventive and primary-level care. Sepideh Taghvaei, chief dental officer at Santa Cruz County’s Dientes Community Dental Care, saw this play out in 2009 when the state cut adult Medi-Cal dental benefits. Patients came in with swollen faces and excruciating pain, with conditions so advanced that they required hospital treatment. “It’s not cost-effective,” she said.
State Sen. Roger Niello, a Republican who serves as vice chair of the Senate budget committee, said he believes California shouldn’t be funding Medi-Cal for people who lack legal status, particularly given the state’s fiscal challenges. He also said he worries that coverage of people in the country without authorization could encourage others to move to California.
“If we maintain that expense to the noncitizen,” he said, “we’re going to have to cut someplace else, and that’s undoubtedly going to affect citizens.”
Californians, too, are going through a change of heart. In a May poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, 58% of adults opposed the benefit.
For Maria, shifting health care policies have left her feeling paralyzed. Since she arrived here five years ago, the caregiver’s focus has been on earning money to support her three children, whom she left with her parents in her home country, she said.
Maria didn’t learn she might be eligible for Medi-Cal until earlier this year and hadn’t yet found time to complete the paperwork. After a friend told her that the state could freeze enrollment in January, she began rushing to finish the sign-up process. But then she learned that Medi-Cal data had been shared with immigration authorities.
“Disappointed and scared” was how she described her reaction.
Suddenly, she said, enrolling in Medi-Cal doesn’t seem like a good idea.
