On The Mark
KCAA: On The Mark with Mark Westwood (Thu, 10 Oct, 2024)
Visit your favorite Volkswagen store in Boulder. Wait a minute. What? That's right, there's a Volkswagen store in Boulder. [cheering] M-M-A-V-W of Boulder is the name you've come to trust. Right now, shop the 2024 Tiguan for 0% APR for 60 months, or lease starting at $269 a month. Find out more at m-A-V-W of Boulder.com. That's m-A-V-W of Boulder.com. [upbeat guitar music] Hey Amazon Prime members, why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus, save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. Two protecting the future of working families, Teamsters1932.org. [buzzing] [buzzing] [upbeat music] Here's the latest local news from NBC, KCAA Radio, 1050 AM and 106.5 FM. I'm Denise Magana. Ernie Michael Miranda, a 46 year old man, was arrested on suspicion of murder. Two days after 43 year old James Bailey was gunned down outside of Walmart. The Hemit Police Department said, "It is unknown whether the men knew each other or the circumstances of the attack." Albertsons and Vons are being called out for false advertising and unfair supermarket competition. Prosecutors in Riverside, Los Angeles, San Diego, and four other counties allege unlawfully charging customers higher prices than their advertised price. In a stipulated judgment, the grocers will pay $3.2 million in civil penalties and nearly $750,000 in costs and restitution to cover the investigation and support future enforcement of consumer protection laws. A crackdown on unlicensed contractors is underway in Menifee. A dozen individuals were served with notices to appear in criminal court. The others are being investigated by the district attorney's consumer fraud unit. Suspects were asked to submit bids for various construction projects, ranging up to $31,000 for alleged home landscaping, painting, and masonry projects. All bids exceeded the legal limit of $500 for unlicensed work. Weather wise, here's a look at Tocal and Lin Empire, mostly sunny with highs through Friday in the mid 90s. Sunrays lows in the mid 60s, mountains, sunny days and clear nights, resort level highs from 72 to the mid 90s, deserts, sunny and quite warm through Thursday, highs in the low 90s to 108 beaches, late night early morning low clouds, otherwise mostly sunny, highs in the mid 70s, surf one to four feet, water 59 to 68. And that's the latest from the KCAA NBC radio newsroom. - This is KCAA. - One of the best ways to build a healthier local economy is by shopping locally. Teamster Advantage is a shop local program started by Teamster Local 1932 that is brought together hundreds of locally owned businesses to provide discounts for residents who make shopping locally their priority. Everything from restaurants like Corkys to fun times at SB Raceway and much, much more. If you're not currently a Teamster and you want access to these local business discounts, contact Jennifer at 909-889-8377, extension 224. Give her a call. That number again is 909-889-8377, extension 224. - Real like Don Williamson is your county assessor. Some people run for office to serve themselves first. Others like Don Williamson run for office to serve you. He has a history of service as a former Marine and tax saver. When you're the assessor, you need real experience and knowledge to be effective. As a former three-term San Bernardino County assessor, Don has a wealth of information for the people. Now he's back running again because he wants to help people first, including seniors, veterans, mobile homeowners, and small business owners. Don's the only real experienced educated and certified tax professional from San Bernardino County who's actually done the job. He's a public servant. Don Williamson will cut your high taxes again and go to votedonwilliamson.com. That's votedonwilliamson.com. - I'm Don Williamson. Send for five. I want to help you save money by approve this message. - Paid for by the committee to re-elect Don Williamson 2024. - I'm Gigi Hannah and I'm excited to be running for District 3 U-Kipa City Council. - As a former elections official and city clerk, Gigi is the best qualified candidate with 30 years experience in municipal government, public policy, and team building. - We can work together for a brighter future. - She'll bring a strong logical expert voice to the table for the people. - I want to hear what you have to say as well. - Gigi wants you Kipa to be, you Kipa, not Baker's Field or Fresno. Gigi loves you Kipa for it's safe, walkable downtown, easy freeway access, and rural field. You Kipa's rural charm is important to her. She wants to limit higher density housing, fully funding public safety, and making sure our mobile home parts have stable rents and safe conditions. - Let's make U-Kipa an even better place to call home. - Knowledge, experience. - Maintaining U-Kipa's rural charm. - Like Gigi Hannah, vote Gigi Hannah for U-Kipa City Council District 3 by November 5th. Paid for by Gigi Hannah for U-Kipa City Council. - Once in a while, every so often, an educator comes to our school systems with passion and vision. That's Nicholas Dibbs. - I am Nicholas Dibbs, teacher running for school board here in Garden Grove Unified Trust Area 1. In the district cut 10 intermediate school wood shop classes and four auto shop classes. We need these classes back so students can have a better future. This is Nicholas Dibbs Opus. - Where many schools eliminate their wood shops, a project that they could really dig into. - No matter where you live across this country. - It feels like thrilling to see something that I've done being so important. - It feels nice because I know that a lot of people don't really think that kids can really do stuff like this. They don't think that we can actually do big things. - Some leaders recognize that, others don't. But on November 5th, you can by voting for Nicholas Dibbs. - Please support this effort so we can have quality vocational education. - And that's amazing. - Go to nickdibbs.org, then I see K-D-I-D-S.org. Thank you. I need to wait for my dinner school board 2024. - We've got to hire a new marshal, Derek Marshall. Your ballots are in the mail. Mail them in today. Now there's something to vote for because there's a new marshal in town. Vote Derek Marshall for 23rd Congress. - You all know we need to change Congress. The current Congress has nothing but fight with each other. They've forgotten why we sent them there to work. Let's marshal and fix our problems at the border. - A comprehensive plan, not political rhetoric and infighting. - Yes, there's a new marshal in town. - The rent is too darn high. Let's marshal and affordable housing and real affordable universal healthcare. Better union jobs. - The current Congress member put his party first and not people, but there's a new marshal in town. - Our incumbent party politician voted no on the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill. He voted no to $3 billion in new funds for our district and no to 35,000 new jobs right here at home. He said, we need a secure border, but now he's rolled it back to play politics. We need to marshal real solutions. - Vote for Derek Marshall because we've got to hire a new marshal, Derek Marshall. You can go to darikmartialca.com, paid for but Derek Marshall for comments. - My name is Derek Marshall and I approve this message. (upbeat music) - This your favorite show? Download the podcast at kcaaradio.com. (record scratching) - K-C-A-A. (upbeat music) - K-C-A-A now presents Crossroads, a program in the public interest bringing you the issues you need to hear about here in our community. Now here's your host, Mark Westwood. - Good afternoon to you, the two o'clock version of Community Crossroads. I'm Mark Westwood, your host. We're on 10.50 AM, 106.5 FM. The stations that leave no listener behind welcome this afternoon. And folks, if you're living in San Bernardino County or nearby Riverside County, you're probably all over Southern California. Right about now, yesterday mine did. You'll go up to your mailbox and there's your ballot. The 2024 presidential election has begun officially. You've got your ballots to the mail. Make sure you don't throw them away 'cause sometimes they look like junk mail and you don't want to do that, right? 'Cause they're not junk for sure. It's really important that you vote. It really is important that you vote this time around. The election is November 5th. You gotta vote by that time. So say you haven't registered to vote yet. Not too late, won't be too late 'cause California is a registered to vote vote state. But prepare yourself, make sure you check out too. Find out if you changed or moved addresses. If you haven't gotten your ballot, you can go to iwillvote.com. It's very simple, just the way it sounds. iwillvote.com. And you can click your state, California, and then you can find out your voter registration status, that your ballot is either on its way, it's arrived, all that kind of stuff. And you will be able to vote right away, send it in via mail 'cause it's an all mail voting thing here in California. Once you send your ballot in, you will be able to start tracking it. They'll give you a way to track your ballot and you can look it up on your phone or they'll email you and say your ballot has been taken from the mailbox you or Dropbox you put it in. And then it's on its way, then it's arrived, then it's been sorted, then it's been counted, and they'll even tell you where your ballot is being stored after it's counted. And of course, those results won't be announced until after eight o'clock on November 5th. Eight o'clock on November 5th, but you wanna get in there and wanna vote. If you need to register to vote, you can also go to the DMV, that's very easy to do it, or you can, if you don't wanna go to the DMV, and I know I don't wanna go to the DMV, you can register online, it's very simple. SOS, like Save Our Souls, but in this case it's Secretary of State, SOS.ca, which is California.gov, which is government, forward slash, and it starts with a little left-hand side at the bottom, it goes up to the top, like an arrow pointing out. And forward slash elections, very simple. It'll tell you how to register to vote right there. You'll choose a link and register to vote and on the spot. Very simple, once again, SOS.ca.gov/elections, very simple, very, very simple. Or in San Bernardino, SBROV.gov, SBROV.gov, we'll get you there, and you can find out all about the elections, about the candidates. You should have already gotten an election pamphlet in the mail, this is the voter guide, and very, very soon, if you haven't already gotten, you'll get a voter pamphlet, which will have candidate statements and whatnot in it as well. That's for San Bernardino County. Each county is a little different, LA County's different, Orange County's a little different. And so, you know, just keep up on it. Keep on top of it. We have 26 days until the election. Folks, 26 days until you stop getting emails for campaign donations, or 26 days before you stop getting phone calls or stuff in the mail and all that. It's almost over. This has been the longest election ever, 'cause it started very, very, very early this year, started to clear back, and I think May, which is longer than most elections. Most elections start around Labor Day, but not Donald Trump. He insisted on starting it. 90 election rallies. Over 90 election rallies cost us almost a billion dollars here in the United States to do those rallies. Just a little sideline. We gotta have some election reform. Elections not so long. Spending is held to a minimum. All those kinds of things, that's my general view. But, you know, as well, we're trying here on this radio program to interview candidates to let you get familiar with candidates from all over Southern California. And today we have a candidate, Nicholas Dibbs, who's from Orange County. I believe Garden Grove is in Orange County. Isn't that right, Nicholas? - Yes, sir. - Okay, and we're gonna bring Nicholas Dibbs on the screen here in just a second here as we interview him, and that's coming. There we go. Nicholas, and also, next to him is his campaign strategist, extraordinary chief, blah, blah, blah, shit, everything. Rodney Allen Rippey. Rodney Allen Rippey might recognize that voice from back in the '70s with the Jack of the Box commercials. We all have to, I bet you get introduced that way all the time, don't you Rodney? - Hey, it's all good, it's good to be here on KCAA. - It's good to have you both here on KCA. And you might have heard the commercial, you know, sometimes there's a educated with passion. Sometimes there's an educator that really cares about the kids. It's not just a stepping stone to another big, like state assembly job or anything like that. Nicholas Dibbs really cares. He's got some really key issues he's focusing in on, and he's running for Garden Grove area, trustee area one, right? - Yes, sir. - Did I get that title right? - Yes, Garden Grove Unified School District. Mark, I wanna thank you for allowing me to be on your program, and I wanna say to your listeners and viewers that this race, even though it's only in part of Garden Grove Unified, it's critical for the entire state and nation that we set an example for a number of reasons to bring up much needed positive change, including bringing back our skilled trade classes that the district cut. - Yeah, and that's really, really important because I know when I was in school, I enjoyed taking woodshop. And they had electronics, they had woodshop, they had auto shop, and there are friends of mine that the only reason they came to school and did the other stuff was because they could work with their hands, they enjoyed being in a shop, they enjoyed being in that atmosphere, and don't you agree, not every child, not every student, not every kid wants to graduate from high school and go to Yale or Harvard or some big Ivy League University, some people like to be artists and create musicians and create and create with their hands, don't you agree? - Yes, and it was in June of 2016 that we lost all 10 intermediate schools, lost their woodshop and metal shop classes over a period of time with the last two being cut in June of 2016, the seventh and eighth grade. And it broke my heart in that of other people and many parents and students have been missing out on these skilled trade classes at intermediate and high school level, and it's a shame. And so I've been on this quest for over eight years. I encourage your visitors to go to my website to learn more nickdibs.org. And even if you don't live here in Garden Grove to please support this effort, you can of course make a campaign contribution, you can volunteer, only thing you can't do if you don't live down here is vote for me, but maybe you know somebody who does, and there's a map on my website nickdibs.org, a map people can click it. And if they know somebody in that map, please ask them to vote for me. This is a very important race because we have the status quo versus positive change. I'm the positive change man. Been doing this over eight years. This is my third time running. And the school board has refused to bring these classes back to grade seven through 12, making it for all the, at all the schools. And I must say that they are announced just before the election, which I think is unethical and inappropriate. On September 25th they announced that they're finally gonna bring back the trade classes to one high school out of the seven, but it won't start until August of 2025. And I think that's very unethical that school district staff time, administrator staff time and resources were used to bring this thing as a surprise at the end to benefit the incumbent because she has done very little to do the least publicly to bring these classes back. And I've been to many, many school board meetings and she's silent and she was on the school board when the last two skilled trade wood shop classes were cut at the seventh and eighth grade level and she didn't stop it. She had been on there about a year and a half. So I'm running as the positive change candidate to bring these classes back. And I've spoken at a number of board meetings. In fact, you can bring up a video. If you want of one I spoke at over two years ago, two and a half years ago telling them to do this. - And this is the first video? - Yes, sir. - Okay, well we'll bring that up right now. And while we're doing that, I'll just give it a little intro. A lot of people are excited about you running. And one of the things I kind of equate this with is a movie called Mr. Holland's Opus. It was about a music teacher bringing music back to the classrooms. And now here is Mr. Nicholas Dibbs and bringing vocational classes back to the classrooms. And here's what the parents have to say. - Hey Amazon Prime members. Why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands. Like our new brand Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. - What's the easiest choice you can make? Window instead of middle seat? Picking a vendor who sends a great gift basket. Outsourcing business tasks you hate. What about selling with Shopify? Whether you're selling a little or a lot. Shopify helps you do your thing. However you cha-ching. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage to the first real life store stage. All the way to the did we just hit a million order stage? Shopify is there to help you grow. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits. Shopify helps you sell wherever and whatever you're selling. Shopify's got you covered. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/try. Go to Shopify.com/try now to grow your business. No matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com/try. - Well, this is something I said at the school board. - Oh, the president of the Hardin and the members of the school board, Dr. Moffee, citizens of Arden Grove, students and teachers, staff and administrators, my name is Edward. - And then while you're bringing it up, let me just answer the downbell. - You're bringing out shop classes. - Races are varying, so. - Okay, we're talking right now though. - So you're happening in that area. And so I start a little petition which says help bring back auto wood and other shop classes eliminated by GGUSD from our public schools. If you agree, shop classes should be brought back as soon as possible by GGUSD. Please add your name to this community effort. Thank you. - So I had the good pleasure of meeting Jeff here and along with 400 or more other people. And I can just share with you that the community, you're out of the school board. - Well, this was at a school board. - The community wants the shop in April of 2020. I had already been there. - And they want it back as soon as possible. - Six years and five years. - And we cut the last two workshops on the spring of 2016 and our folks in our board. - Yeah, no. - And it was an intermediate. - Collected. - Okay, I don't know if you can hear this about, 'cause you're talking about the community at school. The wood shop class, the wood shop room is still there and it's empty. So let's open up that wood shop. So start bringing these wood shops back to the seventh and eighth grade and the metal shop classes. And in the CTD guide, it says CTD STEAM Lab. Now I'm a science teacher. So I'm in favor of STEAM and STEM, but that's not a substitute for shop classes. So you cut shop, wood shop teachers and you turn them into art teachers in some cases. And this isn't right. So we have a shortage in this country and in Orange County and in the community of skilled workers. Talk to any carpenter, plumber, electrician, anybody that owns a contracting business and they're gonna tell you the same thing. We have a shortage of workers of skilled workers. And students who aren't inclined to graduate or go to, necessarily go to college if they wanna go to college fine. But getting that springboard in the seventh and eighth grade and then in high school is important then to trigger them and to get them into the apprentice programs which are paid and into living wage jobs which helps our whole society have people who are gainfully employed making good money. So we have a shortage and a need. We need these shop classes back as soon as possible. I'd like to have you put it on the agenda for the next meeting to explore this, have some study sessions if necessary. We need these shop classes back and I'll be sharing with you the list of the 400, some four and 50 names or whatever. But this is really, really important. So I've been speaking out about this for over six years. Not very little is then done. And Dr. Martha, you went to Bath and kept in an auto shop teacher that was gonna quit because-- - And that is very eloquently said, Mr. Dibs. And you made some great points there. First of all, the building trades are short workers and they need skilled workers or workers that come to them that have a little bit of a clue on how to make a cut with a saw, maybe hammer, drill with a drill, all those things. - Yeah, and I've been doing this over eight years and at that point I had about over 400 signatures on a petition from the community and we've increased that by another 400 or more. And yet I couldn't get them to do anything for virtually eight years and then all of a sudden they pull a rabbit out of a hat. Oh, here's our trade classes coming back next year. Well, what happened to all the generations of students who've been missing out and they're only bringing it back to one high school and not to the seventh and eighth grade? So the work is cut out. I need to really get on this school board in order to help bring positive change and I wanna encourage your listeners to please support this effort and this campaign and to donate if at all possible at nickdibs.org, even if it's a small amount, every little bit helps. - nickdibs.org, just the way it's spelled. N-I-C-K, dibs, D-I-B-S.com? - Yes, sir. - Okay, nickdibs.com. And what you're doing is not just running for office but you're pushing for a nationwide effort to bring these classes back 'cause they've been taken out of a lot of schools and some schools are slowly putting them back and like you said, this was kind of a underhanded thing. They're putting one class back in, one high school and announcing like it's a big deal when really they need to be doing a much bigger effort and to do a good rollout of this. - Well, and Mark, that won't even start till August of 2025 yet they chose to announce it just a few days before ballots went out on October 7th. They announced it on September 25th. So this is unethical in my view and other people's view, very unethical and unfair to give the incumbent the veneer look that she's doing something when she has done virtually nothing in this area for the last eight years. - She's really kind of giving everybody the silent treatment. She doesn't talk very much, is that what I'm hearing? - Not on the trades, not on the trades. Like I said, I've been to over 130 school board meetings in eight years and I've never once heard-- - That's somebody who cares. - Somebody going to 130 school board meetings in eight years. That's probably more than some of the incumbents have done. - Well, it's just there's a number of problems and challenges in the district. And let me just divert just a little bit and just say that we have a problem with cyber bullying, too much screen time, students on their phones when they should be learning. And I brought up an initiative to the school board over a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago, saying let's ban the cell phones under AB 272. Well, the governor just recently signed a bill mandating that this be done in 2026, but I was ahead of the curve and brought this up. We have a problem with the increased violence on school campuses and student safety is being compromised because of the social media and students spending too much screen time on their phones and getting indoctrinated with bad information and so on. But then when they're there, they're learning in the classroom, they're on their phones, many of them. So I've asked the district to ban them and they refuse to ban them district wide, instead kicking the can down to each principal to decide. And if you're a principal, do you want to go up against parents and students and say you can't have your phone on during class time? So that's one issue and I have a website. It's you have a slide on that dibsdigitalwellness.org and that's a non-profit effort I do. And it's unrelated to it, it's not part of the campaign, but it's something that our digital safety, the district. - Let's say that website again, 'cause sometimes we go over too fast. Dibs, dibsdigitalwellness.org, dig. Dibsdigitalwellness.org. - Yeah, and there's a slide I think you might have that you can flip up if you want. - Yeah, we couldn't get that slide, that the format wouldn't work, but we apologize for that. The last minute we do think sometimes that doesn't happen. But, you know, I gotta say, this is an important issue too, because it's not good physiologically either. You know, they're finding more studies where, you know, the light from the cell phones, especially if they're viewed in the dark and stuff like that, actually affects the eyes. - Yes, it's the blue light, the blue light. Now, behind me is a sign that says, "Help bring positive change." And below that is the dibsdigitalwellness website with a QR code, but anyway, the dibsdigitalwellness.org and it's bringing more awareness because we had a fifth grader commit suicide because she was being, and this was back in October of 2019, attending Hazard Elementary School in Santa Ana, which is part of Garden Grove Unified in that location. And she committed suicide in her or her student friends at the school said she was being bullied on Instagram and that that had a role in why she had done this. And so I've been on this quest to also, in addition to bringing back our skilled trade shop classes to grade seven through 12, but also to reduce the screen time because the Surgeon General's reports and other advisories and other things, US Senate reports and now the information coming out from Facebook whistleblowers and so on, that the blue light's unhealthful, that Facebook and meta knew that this was going on and they put profit ahead of the student opening. - I've read a little bit about this. There's a particular presidential candidate they're talking about, he's always batting away flies. And that's maybe because that person or other people are spending too much time looking at that blue light or looking at the screens. And what it does is it kind of has like a little sunburn to your eyes and your retinas and it makes the vessels in your eyes. - Hey Amazon Prime members, why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand Amazon Saver, 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. What's the easiest choice you can make? Window instead of middle seat? Picking a vendor who sends a great gift basket, outsourcing business tasks you hate. What about selling with Shopify? Whether you're selling a little or a lot, Shopify helps you do your thing. However you touching, Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage to the first real life store stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million order stage? Shopify is there to help you grow. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell, wherever and whatever you're selling. Shopify's got you covered. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/try. Go to Shopify.com/try now to grow your business. No matter what stage you're in, Shopify.com/try. Weaker. After that happens, they have to recover. It makes them a little weaker. And sometimes they start to break and break off and it becomes what they call a floaty in your eye. In your eye, it looks like there's a fly buzzing around, but it's not. - The blue light is high frequency light and it does affect the brain of children. - And that too. - But the sad part is the district, this school district is not doing enough. And that's, so the district has multiple problems and issues. Ethics is one of them. Fairness in ethics and also not doing enough to provide awareness regarding the harmful effects of too much screen time and blue light and the abuses and the bullying that's going on because the children are not built to handle social media. - Nan, would you like to also add that year after year that you've run, there have been incidences where people have actually started to slander you and say things and I want you to-- - And we can get to that after the commercial break, just a minute, I have to interrupt because you know, this is radio and we have to do spots as well. So we are gonna do that in just a second, but before we do that, ladies and gentlemen, we've been speaking with Nicholas Dibbs, who's a candidate for Garden Grove School Board, Trustee, Area One in Garden Grove. And your website is once again, sir. - On Nick, N-I-C-K, Dibbs, D-I-B-S, dot org. - And I have to get more quality vocational education. - And he has the Dibbs on quality vocational education. Right here on KCAA, 10.50 AM, 106.5 FM, the stations that leave no list are behind, we'll be back with more Nick and Rodney Allen-Rippy right after this. (upbeat music) - NBC News on KCAA Loma Linda, sponsored by Teamsters Local 1932, protecting the future of working families, Teamsters 1932 dot org. (buzzing) - Once in a while, every so often, an educator comes to our school systems with passion and vision. That's Nicholas Dibbs. - I am Nicholas Dibbs, teacher running for school board here in Garden Grove Unified Trustee Area One and the district cut 10 intermediate school wood shop classes and four auto shop classes. We need these classes back so students can have a better future. - This is Nicholas Dibbs, Opus. - For many schools, eliminate their wood shops, a project that they could really dig into. - No matter where you live across this country. - It feels like thrilling to see something that I've done being so important. - It feels nice because I know that a lot of people don't really think that kids can really do stuff like this. They don't think that we can actually do big things. - Some leaders recognize that, others don't. But on November 5th, you can by voting for Nicholas Dibbs. - Please support this effort so we can have quality vocational education. - And that's amazing. - Go to nickdibbs.org, n-i-c-k-d-i-b-s.org. Thank you. - Paid for by Dibbs, her school board, 2024. - I'm Gigi Hannah, and I'm excited to be running for District 3 U-Kipa City Council. As the former elections official and city clerk, Gigi is the best qualified candidate with 30 years experience in municipal government, public policy, and team building. - We can work together for a brighter future. - She'll bring a strong, logical, expert voice to the table for the people. - I wanna hear what you have to say as well. - Gigi wants you Kipa to be U-Kipa, not Baker's Field or Fresno. Gigi loves U-Kipa for its safe, walkable downtown, easy, freeway access, and rural field. - U-Kipa's rural charm is important to her. She wants to limit higher density housing, fully funding public safety, and making sure our mobile home parts have stable rents and safe conditions. - Let's make U-Kipa an even better place to call home. - Knowledge, experience. - Maintaining U-Kipa's rural charm. - Like Gigi Hannah, vote Gigi Hannah for U-Kipa City Council, District 3, by November 5th. Paid for by Gigi Hannah for U-Kipa City Council. Vote No on Measure S, just 1%. One is the loneliest number that you'll ever see. It's a 1% pay cut to everyone. They say it's not much, pure deception, and they will always be back for more. Tell them that making big threats to the paychecks of public safety employees, firefighters, closing a firehouse, firing law enforcement, closing a senior center, and the kids pool is unacceptable when you spend money like it's water. A nearby city raised their sales tax to 8.75%, and the result is over 100,000 square feet of empty retail space. What is a 1% sales increase of nothing? Nothing. Measure S is a terrible solution. A $7.3 million budget deficit, and the city manager got a $106,000 pay increase. Rewards for poor results. Tell them to do better and take less. Vote No on Measure S, just like you voted. No on Measure E years back. Same bad deal. Protect our city and protect our local businesses. Vote No on Measure S, paid for by donations of local residents to the urban ingenuity pack. K-C-A-A, Loma Linda. (upbeat music) - K-C-A-A, 10.50 AM, what a 6.5 FM. Mark Westwood back with Community Crossroads, and we're privileged and honored to have Rodney Allen Ripley along with his candidate from the Garden Grove School District area one, Mr. Nicholas Dibbs, helping to bring back positive change, protect children, and all kinds of initiatives and things that we want to talk about some more. And welcome back, Mr. Dibbs. - Well, thank you, thank you, Mark. Appreciate it. I want to also-- - You are Garden Grove's Mr. Holland, by the way, from Mr. Holland's Opus. But okay, go ahead. - My campaign is being is endorsed and supported by California School Employees Association, Chapter 120, Local Chapter 121, which represents over 3,000 school district employees, classified employees. - That's a big deal. That's a big deal. - The janitors, congratulations. - You know, the worker, the secretaries, who do the day in and day work. - The real people who help teach the district the way. - And then also by King Shocks here in Garden Grove, they make shocks for shock absorbers for off-road vehicles, and Orange County Block Company, which makes cinder blocks, and Mayor of Stanton, David Shauber. He's supporting me as well as other people, other elected officials and community members. But the point is this, this down ballot candidacy is very important, not just in Garden Grove, but throughout the state and the country. So we can show an example of bringing our trades back, and that other districts can-- - Philip, your entire ballot. It's maybe two or three pages, but just fill out your entire ballot. And when you get that-- - So I again ask your listeners who may not be in Garden Grove to please support this effort to donate if at all possible. And if they wanna volunteer, go to nickdibs.org. I wanna say something about my good friend here, to my right, Rodney Allen Rippy, who participated as a dignitary in the Strawberry Festival here in Garden Grove, had the good pleasure meeting him back then in May. And a wonderful man who's dedicated, he's dedicated his life also, to bringing the skilled trades back. And Rodney, if you wanna say anything about that? - I'm just happy to see, I've met so many adults and people, and so many parents, think about it. Remember when you were in school, and you had woodshop and electrical, and automotive and homework, and sewing classes, well, they've been taking these things away. - Taking the joy out of life of the school. - And so many young people, so many of these young people don't have the skill set that the earlier generation have. And this is an opportunity, and when I met Nick and Nick says, "He's about the vocational trades." I said, "Nick, I believe in what you're doing." And I'm thankful, I took woodshop, and got involved with automotive, and now it's all about the technical side. And I really believe that, of course, we need STEAM, science, technology, engineering, the arts and math, but we also can have a hybrid, including definitely having the vocational and skill trades that Nick is all about. - And I have to ask you a question. Can you hear me? Yeah, I have a question. Maybe you can answer this. Why are they taking these classes out of school? Is it just a funding and a financial thing? Do you think it's something like maybe more deciduous? - I, it's a misguided approach. I will tell you that I worked in the district over 16 and a half years, and the last two wood shops were closed in June of '16, but before that happened, a couple of months, before it happened, one of the woodshop teachers there told me that they're cutting it up, and that the art teacher is retiring at Alameda's Intermediate School in the district, and they're gonna make him the art teacher. So instead of hiring another art teacher, they forced the closure of the woodshop and move him over and force him to become a woodshop, excuse me, force him to become the, they force the woodshop teacher to become an art teacher. Now this is misguided. The excuse, one of the excuses was, well, we wanna, you know, insurance or whatever, but the students need to learn safety. They need to learn safety at the seventh grade, eighth grade level, and in high school. And, you know, learning how to use a saw, just a hand saw and a hammer and nails and stuff, and wearing goggles, that's basic safety stuff. And he told me they really didn't have any problems, and that he and the principal wanted it to stay open. They begged the administrators not to cut it, and they're gonna cut it anyway. Then I contacted, before they shut it the last two down, I contacted the incumbent and the school board members and asked them not to cut it, and they did. So this is, it's misguided approach. And now, they finally, at the 11th hour, just before the election, recognized the importance of trade classes, and just now, just before the election, are gonna say that they're bringing back a class to one high, the class is to one high school. - Well, there's a lot of, in August. - There's a lot of people that are excited about bringing this back, too. And a lot of parents, I believe, and you have some testimonies from some parents that, you know, support us. - Yeah, we have some testimonies. In fact, Rodney was the one who recorded that on October the 8th. So if you can run the one, please, from October the 8th. - Okay, we'll run that YouTube video from October the 8th, it's on YouTube, too, by the way, you can find it. But our guys, this is queening up right now. - Yeah, and if they go to my website, nikdibs.org, and then they click the YouTube link, it'll go to the YouTube channel page. - Okay, are we ready? - Hey Amazon Prime members. Why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus, save 10% on Amazon brands. Like our new brand, Amazon Saver, 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. - At Independent Financial, we know you work hard for your business. That's why we work hard for you. Our local bankers are ready to jump in and support your next vision or venture. And we have the resources to make it happen. Ready to get down to business? Let's talk. Learn more at ifinancial.com. Independent Financial, banking for business, banking for life. Member FDIC. - Oh, all right. There's a slide says, do you want our schools to have trade shops? Help bring about positive change. And this is when they were out today. I was on October 8th. They spoke to a few garden grove residents in area one. And just simply asked, do you think it's a good idea to bring back the skilled trades to garden grove? - Everyone's good. - My name is Richard. I respect this for the schools of garden grove 'cause I learned metal, wood shop, and an electrical from them. - I worked for the Navy since 1984. And I had a really great trade there. And that they've taken those things away from the kids in the schools now. So they have no learning experiences that they truly need. And this teacher, Nicholas Dibbs, wants to put these things back in the schools. And that is a blessing to all of the kids. To have a skill that they've taken from the schools over the years. - What's up, everybody? - Hey, please vote for teacher Nicholas Dibbs, be able to bring back the wood shops and hopefully add to that maybe some electrical classes, some auto class, vote for this guy. You'll make it happen. - Now, did you take metal shop or any automotive or anything? - Absolutely. It was all we knew, you know? It was just kind of like you get a foundation for how to work with your hands, which is such a beautiful thing to do and be able to get a career later in life. - Now, tell me honestly, think about young people to this day. Do they have the skill set of your generation? - Absolutely not. It's a shame, but not. But I don't think that's impossible. I think it's because our school system has, I think in them trying to protect us from, you know, perhaps getting a little cut or anything that they're failing, they're doing us more harm than good. - Okay, we are waiting patiently to get the wood shop and the metal shop back to our schools, especially down there in Garden Grove. - All right, and what did you take classes like that? - Yeah, I took classes back in the days. I did wood shop. I could run any machine in wood shops that they taught me. And I also did the engine shop back in the day. And still needed to bring them all back and hide all these cell phones from these kids and give them something to look forward to in the future. - There you go. And we appreciate that in a boat for niggas. - It's in there. - Well, there you go. - And like Nick Dibbs for better schools and communities, Garden Grove School Board, area one, we're talking with Nick Dibbs. NickDibbs.org and Nick, we are back now talking to you live. So that's a good thing. And those are great videos, testimonials of parents, of people in the community that say, we need the skilled trades. We need to be able to teach some people and kids how to do this for the betterment of our society. - Well, Mark, this is just an example of hundreds of testimonies that people that I've met in the last eight years, many of them have been video recorded at when they sign the petition, they were telling their stories and we recorded them. Not all the videos are up yet, but we're working on it. And there'll be more videos added to the YouTube channel associated with niggibbs.org. But many, many, many people saying how important that these classes in intermediate and junior high and high school help them to get into a good paying career and influence the rest of their life. - Yeah, absolutely. - And I'm saddened that for the last 15 or more years, students have been missing out and that's a shame. And so I'm asking people to please support this effort so I can get on that school board and help bring much needed positive change. - Do they still have magnet schools? Do you know? - In some form, well, different districts do. This district, the high schools are pretty much comprehensive. They don't have them. At this time they don't. - Yeah, they should. - And I brought that up too as well. Why don't we have a magnet school board? - Okay, so we'll work. - The trades are for science and other things. - Well, you know, we're finding that when kids can focus in on something they like, along with their academic studies and research, that they are more than likely, most of the time, 100% of the time almost, they complete their education, they go on for more of their training, they're fuller lives, they're less likely to get into trouble, crime and all that kind of stuff. - Well, a very important point is that many of these people have said if it wasn't for the trade classes they would have dropped out of high school. I've met many, many people that have said that. - Absolutely. - So this is a common sense and this campaign is-- - It really is a no brainer. It really is a no brainer. You know, let's think about this. I mean, it's Republicans, independents and Democrats all agree to bring these back, but yet I couldn't get at least three board members to finally wake up until just before this election and then they're only partially waking up. - Well, that's why we need that positive change. We need to elect you, right? That's right, we need to elect you. It's such a positive thing, effect it has on the community. I watched this video, I believe it was, not about your school district in Garden Grove, but maybe Fullerton, is this the video we have today? - Well, we showed it last time. I'm not sure we have it up on this line. - Okay, but you do have another video about positive change. - Well, there is the video from last time if you want to show it again, and that's the eighth graders building a tiny-- - I don't know if we have access to that. - At Nicholas, no relation, at Nicholas Middle School in Fullerton and the comment that I made to the school board, the last school year from September '90, September '20. - We'll do that video at the end of the show, Rodney, if you can send it to us again. - We gave it to a homeless family. So this was featured on all kinds of news media reports. And the question I have for our district is, why aren't we doing this? Well, we're not doing it because they cut the last two which shops in June is 16, against the wishes of the principal and against the wishes of the parents and the students. And so this is a no-brainer, and to now claim that they're doing it at the 11th hour at only one school and it's not gonna start till next school year, is too little, too late, and is pulling a rabbit out of a hat and almost in the sense of putting lipstick on a pig, oh, here it is. - What you have to say to them is, you gotta do better than this, you know? - Yes. - It's to be positive, but you gotta do better than this. And that's absolutely what you need to do. We have another video clip that you sent us today, and I wanna make sure that we get to this before the end of the show, and we only have another 15 minutes or so. So I think it, now would be a good time for you to introduce that video. Hey Amazon Prime members, why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand Amazon Saver, 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. (upbeat music) We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So, whether you're gearing up for a new project, or looking to add some tried and true work wear to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. Their work wear isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code WorkWear20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. - Okay, this is Jeff. I believe his name is Jeff. And he, I met him at the Garden of Main Street car show and he signed the petition to bring our trade classes back. And the petition was addressed to the school board asking, you know, do you want the public schools to bring the trade class? So, he signed it and then I said, well, why don't you come to a school board meeting? So, why don't we go ahead and roll that and see what he has to say. - And this is Nick Dibbs running for a Garden Grove school district area one. And this is why Nicholas Dibbs has fought for so many years to bring back the vocational and skill trade lab classes to area one. It's a real suggestion. - And he's just an example of one of hundreds of people that give these kind of stories. But, you know, not everyone has the time to go to a school board meeting. - Well, students get their hands on vocational training at the elementary high school level and they won't go on and they go on to be a success in life. Let's roll that. (audience applauding) - Hi, how you all doing today? So, what I'd like to address, well, first I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I graduated from Bolson Grande High School in 1985. Halfway through my junior year, I had no longer any academic classes because I had got all my requirements out early. All my classes from then on with the exception of my civics class, my senior year, were all shop classes. Now, without those shop classes, I would have dropped out of high school. I had other options. But I didn't have the tools at home. Now, what I do for a living now, I have, actually I'm partners in three different business. One, I went out right and two, I'm in partnerships with. One of those is called Aneca Investments. And what I do there is I remodel homes, I do custom cabinetry, I do custom kitchens, bathrooms, that kind of thing. Most of those skills I learned from Vern Nelson, who was my high school shop teacher, my workshop teacher. I also recently, October of this year, my partner Kenny and I, we had a car in the West Coast custom show. We were a feature builder. We were featured along with the Munster coach. And we, which Patrick, who was Eddie Munster in the TV show, was involved in the build. We built this car from the ground up by hand. Kenny and I both, now Kenny did go to school in this district, but Kenny and I both learned our automotive skills in high school. And like I said, we were a feature builder, without the shop classes, without the tools they had without the teachers they had, we would have never been able to pursue this. So, you know, everything that I built from the time I went to high school was centered around the things I learned in those shop classes. And for them to not be around, I think it's an extreme disservice to the children in the community. I had no interest. Now, I have options if I wanted them, but I had no interest in pursuing an academic future, my interest and my passions all had to do with, you know, the mechanical things. You know, and there's artistry in that too. I built custom furniture and, you know, my cars that I build, they're all, they're works of art. But those things have made me a very good living over the years. And I, who knows where I'd be without it. So, I really think you should consider bringing back these kinds of curriculars. I was talking to Nick, and I went to Rancho Alameda, Alameda, Inc., before I was in junior high. I started at Hare, I had a wood shop there, and they closed it, and then I went to Rancho. When I was in Rancho, one of the things I did were other people were out getting into trouble. I was making night blocks in the wood shop, and I was taking them to the swamp, and eating something in my weekends. But I wouldn't have been able to do that on my home. (beeping) Thanks, Michael. (beeping) And I think that's the end of the video. Like Nick Dibbs, for better schools and communities, Garden Grove School Board, Area 1. That was a testimonial from someone with a success story. Somebody who came away much better prepared for life, who was successful through life, and could give a testimonial about why it's so valuable to have wood shops and, you know, electrical and auto shops and school the vocations. And Nicholas Dibbs is with us in the studio, as we conclude the last 10 minutes. Welcome back, Nick. Are you there? Yes, sir. There we go, there we go, yeah. And he's an example of many, many people, women and men who I met, you know, over the, you know, a thousand people or more that came to the car show and signed, talked to me in about 800 or so signed to petition. And I only had this petition going because I was getting resistance for years and years from the school board members, and not wanting to bring it back. Now, they say, oh, well, we were working on it just before the pandemic, and then we're bringing it back now. Well, yeah, you didn't bring it up in any public meetings, and I was there, so they're back pedaling. And I just want to add one more thing, Mark, and that is a couple of things. That is listeners, if they missed the first program, maybe you can give them the date we had the podcast. October 6th, yeah. Yeah, October 6th, and I brought up the fact that that meeting that they used some zealous administrators used as alleged in a first amendment complaint that I eventually filed, that they used the school district staff time resources, the school phone system to disparage and defame me on October the 18th, 2016, just as people were getting their balance in the mail. So they played an October trick on me back on October 18th, 2016, and I wasn't doing anything wrong, and I wasn't breaking any laws, and they just used that system to discredit me and defame me, and then that led to more criticism against me or what it called a smear campaign on Facebook. And so the voters need to be aware whether they live here in Garden Grove or somewhere else, that the social media is being used to spew out propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, trying to discredit candidates. And don't be swayed, don't be deceived by social media. This is gonna happen to me again, that happened in 2020 when I ran in October, and it's probably gonna happen this month, that people are gonna come out and smear me. And I say, listen, don't be deceived. Contact me, my phone number is on my website. It's publicly available 714, 715, 7600, if anybody has a question, they can call me. They can go to my website and get into the nitty gritty of all the things I've been doing for the last in my professional career, and I have a track record of community service, having received a Cal State Long Beach from among a student body of over 40,000 students. They picked only one student that year when I graduated to get the President's Associates Community Service Award for Outstanding Community Service Leadership. And I earned that as a senior, and then I went on to do other wonderful things. And so, I asked voters not to be deceived, whether they're here in Garden Grove or elsewhere, by social media, contact the candidates, if you have a question, contact me, support this campaign, 'cause I'm the underdog, and I can't do it by myself. I'm not a rich guy, and I'm going up against a cabal of apparent status quo administrators and community people, there's some people in the community who just want to have their favorite cronyism that's going on, and that needs to go away. And I'm not part of the click, and that's why they're opposing me for, they've opposed me the last two times, and they're opposing me again. But the people need to vote for common sense leadership, fairness, integrity, and ethics. And we have a problem with ethics in this school board, and in this district of unethical and unfair actions. And so, there's a lot I'm battling, and I need your help. That is the viewers, the listeners, to please donate something at nikdibs.org, and I appreciate your listening, and that is something I'm forgetting, and I think, oh, we can't have robots going under sinks and fixing plumbing. We have to have skilled trades, and our skilled trade workers, and there's a shortage of them, for every seven plumbers that retire, only one comes in, and across the trades in general, for every two tradespeople that retire, only one comes in. So, this is in demand. The schools are behind the times, and we need to have common sense leadership, and that's why I'm running. I'm running because of market we want, and the listeners, if we want a better future for our country, for our communities and our nation, we need to have better schools. That's why I'm not running for some other office. I'm running for school board, because if we want to make positive change, it needs to be in the schools, 'cause that's gonna affect the future well-being of our communities and our nation. - Absolutely. - You know, you speak very eloquently about this. This is Nicholas Nibs, who's running for Garden Grove School District, Unified School District Trustee Board Area One. That's a mouthful to say it, but you know what? It's important that you vote for the down ballot. It's a vote for people like this, that aren't the status quo, like you said, that are people that are willing to bring about change and help bring about positive change. And you know, I can't stress this more that we get good people in our classrooms, that we get good vocations in our classrooms, and you know, it is so, so very, very important. And your website, again, is Mr. Nicholas? - Yeah, Nick, N-I-C-K-Dibs, D-I-B-S, dot org, and it's important. This race is very important for the whole state and the nation, because if this district, what was done to me in 2016 of using the taxpayer-funded phone system, staff time, and equipment of the school district to influence the 2016 election, if that isn't stopped, then if we can't have fair elections for school board, how can we have a fair election for anything? And I need to get on this board to make positive change and stop this kind of favoritism and cronyism that's going on where, you know, like I said, they just rolled out this thing out of a hat on September 25th, just before people get in their balance. But there's a litany of problems, and they need to be fixed. And I need help from people, even if you don't live here in Garden Grove, people can go and donate at nickdibs.org. - Like you said, this is a nationwide effort. This has not just happened here. It's happened a lot here, but in Garden Grove, it's happened everywhere. And this is an effort nationwide because, like you said, there are young people growing up that do not have the skill sets that their elder predecessors did. They're gonna have to rely if they need to fix a car to pay the highest dollar price for something. - My question mark is, why do they ignore me for eight years? Why do they ignore me? Why do they not, that's at least eight to 10 years or more? Because they cut these classes way before 2016, and then we were just down to two at the intermediate level in June of '16. - Guess what, what you're doing is working. That's why it's not being ignored now. They hear the sounds of the horses and the hooves coming, and they're running, and that's a good thing. That's effective, congratulations. You constantly getting up there and advocating for this is working, you running for offices, scaring them. It is working, congratulations. You should be proud of yourself. You should be proud of your effort. - It takes a toll, and I can't do it by myself, so I need support. - That's right, that's right. - I need people, even if you don't live around here, please donate something. But the point is, I'm proactive, and they're reactive. I'm for positive change, they're for status quo. I'm for ethics and fairness. They have been based on the evidence and what they've been doing. It's been unfair and unethical in many regards. I'm endorsed by the California School Employees Association representing over 3,000 classified workers in this district who have been, many of whom have been treated unfairly, and they recognize that, and that's one reason I think I got their endorsement. So this is an important race for the entire nation and our state, to set an example of improving and having schools that will do what's best for the students, not what's best, why do they cut these classes? They'll come up with some excuse, but it's not valid. I have the passion, I have the drive, and I'm not doing this. I'm not a politician. I'm gonna tell people right out, the difference between a politician and a statesperson. So a statesman or a stateswoman says to the people what they need to hear. A politician says what the people wanna hear. I'm not telling the people what they wanna hear. I'm telling them what they need to hear. We need these classes back and we need them back now. And so I need to get elected to this school board. - Well, we've been speaking. We've been speaking with Nicholas Dibbs, along with his friend Rodney Allen. Rippey, they're helping to bring positive change to the Garden Grove School District, and to Norwalk at the San Bernardino and to Riverside, and all the school districts across the nation, with the water, all boats rise. And so we can all support him. Even if you don't have a kid in the Garden Grove School District, if you understand this, you know what? This is the start of the change. This is ground zero in Garden Grove, this change. Go to nickdibbs.com. - No dot org. - Dot org, dot org, excuse me, I was gonna get that wrong. nickdibbs.org and donate. Five, $10, I know you've been asking a lot for this. This is important. This is for our kids. This is for our vocations. This is for the skill trades. This is for a better world. And we are so fortunate to have people like Nicholas Dibbs and Rodney Allen, Rippey, down in Garden Grove. For the Garden Grove School District running and trying to make positive change. We thank you for being here today, sir. - Well, thank you, Mark, very much. Thank you to your listeners and viewers. And thank you to everyone who's trying to help bring positive change across this country. - It is indeed our honor. Thank you. And this has been Community Crossroads. I'm Mark Westwood on KC8, 1050 AM, 106.5 FM, NBC Radio. The stations that leave, no listener behind. The election is November 5th. The ballots are in your mailbox. Take 'em, fill 'em, mail 'em, send 'em back. November 5th, 26 days. We'll be back next hour. Right here on KC8, 1050 AM. (upbeat music) - Thank you for listening to Crossroads. This program has been designed to present you with the issues that face our area. Your host has been Mark Westwood. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - NBC News on KCAA Loma Luda. Sponsored by Teamsters Local 1932. Protecting the future of working families. Teamsters1932.org. (upbeat music) - Here's the latest local news from NBC KCAA Radio. 1050 AM and 106.5 FM. I'm Denise Magana. Ernie Michael Miranda, a 46-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of murder. Two days after 43-year-old James Bailey was gunned down outside of Walmart. The Hemit Police Department said, "It is unknown whether the men knew each other or the circumstances of the attack." Albertsons and bonds are being called out for false advertising and unfair supermarket competition. Prosecutors in Riverside, Los Angeles, San Diego, and four other counties allege unlawfully charging customers higher prices than their advertised price. In a stipulated judgment, the grocers will pay $3.2 million in civil penalties and nearly 750,000 in costs and restitution to cover the investigation and support future enforcement of consumer protection laws. A crackdown on unlicensed contractors is underway in Menifee. A dozen individuals were served with notices to appear in criminal court. The others are being investigated by the district attorney's consumer fraud unit. Suspects were asked to submit bids for various construction projects, ranging up to $31,000 for alleged home landscaping, painting, and masonry projects. All bids exceeded the legal limit of $500 for unlicensed work. Weatherwise, here's a look at Tocal and Lin Empire, mostly sunny with highs through Friday in the mid-90s. Sunrays lows in the mid-60s, mountains, sunny days, and clear nights, resort level highs from 72 to the mid-90s, deserts, sunny and quite warm through Thursday, highs in the low 90s to 108 beaches, late night, early morning, low clouds, otherwise mostly sunny, highs in the mid-70s, surf one to four feet, water 59 to 68. And that's the latest from the KCAA NBC radio newsroom. - Hey Amazon Prime members, why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand Amazon Saver, 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. - We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So whether you're gearing up for a new project or looking to add some tried and true workware to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. Their workware isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code Workware20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. (upbeat music) - K, C, A, A, A. - One of the best ways to build a healthier local economy is by shopping locally. Teamster Advantage is a shop local program started by Teamster Local 1932 that is brought together hundreds of locally owned businesses to provide discounts for residents who make shopping locally their priority. Everything from restaurants like Corkies to fun times at SB Raceway and much, much more. If you're not currently a Teamster and you want access to these local business discounts, contact Jennifer at 909-889-8377 Extension 224. Give her a call. That number again is 909-889-8377 Extension 224. - Once in a while, every so often, an educator comes to our school systems with passion and vision. That's Nicholas Dibbs. - I am Nicholas Dibbs, teacher running for school board here in Garden Grove Unified Trust Area One in the district cut 10 intermediate school wood shop classes and four auto shop classes. We need these classes back so students can have a better future. - This is Nicholas Dibbs, Opus. - For many schools, eliminate their wood shops, a project that they could really dig into. - No matter where you live across this country, it feels like thrilling to see something that I've done being so important. - It feels nice because I know that a lot of people don't really think that kids can really do stuff like this. They don't think that we can actually do big things. - Some leaders recognize that, others don't. But on November 5th, you can, by voting for Nicholas Dibbs. - Please support this effort so we can have quality vocational education. And that's amazing. - Go to nickdibbs.org, n-i-c-k-d-i-d-s.org. Thank you. - Paid for by Dibbs, her school board, 2024. (bright music) (bright music) - This important time sensitive message is brought to you by this station's generous sponsor, George Litchfield Associates, who has important Medicare information for all current and future Medicare recipients about some big changes happening, Medicare clarified. Medicare is a nonprofit consumer service organization. - It's more important than ever to review your Medicare plan for 2025 from October 15th through December 7th. To find out if you're in the right plan for you, people are calling 951-769-0005 951-769-0005. A popular and local Medicare plan is improving. Others are raising co-pays and adding deductibles. Biggest changes in the Medicare drug program in 15 years. We thank George Litchfield and Litchfield Insurance for their generous support of this radio station. - Vote no on Measure S, just 1%. One is the loneliest number that you'll ever see. It's a 1% pay cut to everyone. They say it's not much. It's a pure deception and they will always be back for more. Tell them that making big threats to the paychecks of public safety employees, firefighters, closing a firehouse, firing law enforcement, closing a senior center and the kid's pool is unacceptable when you spend money like it's water. A nearby city raised their sales tax to 8.75% and the result is over 100,000 square feet of empty retail space. What is a 1% sales increase of nothing? Nothing. Measure S is a terrible solution. A $7.3 million budget deficit and the city manager got a $106,000 pay increase. Rewards for poor results. Tell them to do better and take less. Vote no on Measure S just like you voted. No on Measure E years back. Same bad deal. Protect our city and protect our local businesses. Vote no on Measure S, paid for by donations of local residents to the urban ingenuity pack. - We've got to hire a new Marshall, Derek Marshall. Your ballots are in the mail. Mail them in today. Now there's something to vote for because there's a new Marshall in town. Vote Derek Marshall for 23rd Congress. - You all know we need to change Congress. The current Congress has nothing but fight with each other. They've forgotten why we sent them there to work. Let's Marshall and fix our problems at the border. A comprehensive plan, not political rhetoric and infighting. - Yes, there's a new Marshall in town. - The rent is too darn high. Let's Marshall in affordable housing and real affordable universal healthcare. Better union jobs. - The current Congress member put his party first and not people, but there's a new Marshall in town. - Our incumbent party politician voted no on the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill. He voted no to $3 billion in new funds for our district and no to 35,000 new jobs right here at home. He said we need a secure border, but now he's rolled it back to play politics. We need to Marshall real solutions. Vote for Derek Marshall because we've got to hire a new Marshall, Derek Marshall. You can go to Derek Marshall CA.com, paid for a Derek Marshall for Congress. - My name is Derek Marshall and I approve this message. (upbeat music) - Real like Don Williamson is your county assessor. Some people run for office to serve themselves first. Others like Don Williamson run for office to serve you. He has a history of service as a former Marine and tax saver. When you're the assessor, you need real experience and knowledge to be effective. As a former three-term San Bernardino County assessor, Don has a wealth of information for the people. Now he's back running again because he wants to help people first, including seniors, veterans, mobile homeowners and small business owners. Don's the only real experienced educated and certified tax professional from San Bernardino County who's actually done the job. He's a public servant. Don Williamson will cut your high taxes again and go to votedonwilliamson.com. That's votedonwilliamson.com. - I'm Don Williamson, certified. I want to help you save money by approve this message. - Paid for by the committee to re-elect Don Williamson 2024. (upbeat music) - Mr. Favorite Show, download the podcast at kcaaradio.com. K-C-A-A. (upbeat music) - K-C-A-A now presents Crossroads, a program in the public interest bringing you the issues you need to hear about here in our community. Now here's your host, Mark Westwood. - And good afternoon to you as we come into the second hour of our community Crossroads show. We're having longer shows because of course, we're getting ready for the election. In your mailbox, as ladies and gentlemen yesterday, you probably got your ballots. If you didn't get 'em yesterday, look today and make sure you fish 'em out of all the junk mail, if there's junk mail in your mailboxes, it's not junk mail. It's really important you fill these out. There's lots of money being spent, there's lots of tough issues. Not just at the top of the ballot, which is getting all the glory and the glamour, which we all know that's Kamala Harris versus Donald Trump. Not that, but all the way down the ballot to the referendums, to the measures, to the propositions. You need to vote. It's very, very important. A lot of people have fought, and a lot of people died on the battlefields. My father fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He has a purple heart, or he had a purple heart, rest his soul. And I gotta tell you, a lot of people gave their all. For us to be able to simply now fill this out and mail it. It's an all mail ballot. It's very, very easy. You fill in the bubbles. It's not that many choices. The ballot is these big pages, they're only about three pages long. And if you wanna find out, I'll give you my phone number. If you wanna talk about it in person, it's 909-810-6102. 909-810-6102, because it's important. There are so many issues, so many things in the community we need to address, so much of a big dichotomy between one side or the other. And maybe we need to meet in the middle, and that's where we should be, and that's where America has always been. So if you, I haven't registered to vote, it's very simple. Iwillvote.com is very simple. Iwillvote.com go there, and you can click on our state, California. You will bring it up, and you'll get down to business, and you'll be able to register to vote. You can go to the DMV if you really want pain. Go to the DMV. And I think that's hell on earth myself. And you can register there. You can register at your post office. Oftentimes schools will take registrations. You can register all the way up until the time it is to vote. Now, you know, we're coming down to like the last, I think it's 15 days before the election. After that, all ballots are provisional. And I'm going to ask somebody I have on the line, a good friend about that. She was an election official in the city of San Bernardino. She is the city, the former city clerk of the city of San Bernardino, and now she's running for District 3 Ucaypa Council. And welcome, Gigi. - Hey, Amazon Prime members. Why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So whether you're gearing up for a new project, or looking to add some tried and true workware to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. Their workware isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code Workware20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. - Hey, thank you Mark. - Thank you. - How are ya? - Pretty good. I don't know exactly the time it is before you have to devote provisionally, but I think it's 15 days before the election. If you don't register to vote by that time, is that true? I'm not sure. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I believe so, but you know what? I've been out of the city court game for a few years, so things might've changed, but that was the case. - You don't wanna do it now anyway. We have 26 days to the election, 26 days to the election. So let me give you a proper introduction. Gigi Hannah, who is a resident of Eucaypa and lives near me. And I'm a resident of Eucaypa for 23 years. And Gigi Ashley works across from our radio stations at Habitat Humanity, where she is a contract director of Habitat Humanity. She was the former, I believe, two term, correct me if I'm wrong, two term clerks. She was elected to the city of San Bernardino with great numbers, great election. She's done a lot in the city of San Bernardino to improve it as far as how they handled their records, information, transparency, data that they collected. She did an excellent job there. She is very, very knowledgeable. And now she is running for district three in Eucaypa. I think it's Gigi Hannah for Eucaypa three. - Oh, Gigi for Eucaypa three.com. - Gigi for Eucaypa three.com. That's her website. I think you've seen some of her signs up around town if you haven't, go look for them, they're there. How's it going, Gigi? - Well, it's been great. You know, it's been really fun talking to people and getting to know people and talking about the issues. I think that there's probably some misconceptions about how I stand on issues because I haven't been around forever to Eucaypa. And so it's been really fun meeting people and talking to them. You know, I love a good battle and the issues in Eucaypa are just so fascinating to me. You know, I moved back after I retired from San Bernardino, I moved to South Dakota and I moved back a couple of years ago 'cause I just couldn't take the winters and habitat needed me. But Eucaypa is just wonderful. And I see, you know, all these things that make, you know, that define quality of life are right there in Eucaypa and yet they're facing some of the problems that I saw in San Bernardino. And you know, it concerns me. I mean, when I took office the first time in 2012, it was about three months later that the city declared a fiscal emergency in about another three months and they became bankrupt. And so pretty much most of my tenure was leading a department. We went from 17 FTEs down to three and a budget cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts. And, you know, we managed the department, we digitized 100 years of records, we and had on time delivery of public records request better than both my predecessor and my successor. And so I know that there are things that we can do in Eucaypa facing this deficit within City Hall as well as, you know, outside of City Hall to sort of nip this in the bud. You know, it does not have to get out of hand the deficit. So I decided I was interested in, I was just following the news and I was interested and I thought, you know what, with my experience, you know, I have a lot of experience in reading policy and in helping write policy and helping negotiate. And so I thought, you know, maybe I can bring some of my talent to Eucaypa. If one, I'm here, I'm gonna be, I'm buying a house here. I was ordered by the family in South Dakota to make sure there was a place for them to winter. So, you know, so I am looking and the thing is that Eucaypa is nothing like the areas around it and the way it feels. And so that's what makes it special and that's why I'm there. That's why a lot of people are there. - Yeah, and without getting the weeds on this, so the problems you're talking about is, you know, like everything, revenues come, they go. They, they wane, right now the revenues are a little down and been down since the pandemic. 2018, it was an all-time high. City was living pretty good. We saw some additions of some great things, some landscaping, you know, medians up and down the boulevard with trees made the city look really pretty. Traffic go-rounds or merry-go-rounds or whatever you wanna call them or add it. That was through money from the state too, by the way. And then, you know, the Performing Arts Center, the UKIPA Performing Arts Center, is just a nice facility. We see a tremendous improvement in downtown. Happened from councils for the last 20 years or so. And times were good. And then all of a sudden, it's time for UKIPA to tighten its belt. And here we find out that Phil White, the Finance Director of the City of UKIPA projects, a $7.3 billion budget deficit. And they've said things like this. And I'll say it, this is not Jesus saying that. This is the current city council saying that, that they need to cut five sheriffs positions if this measure isn't passed. Or that they need to close down a fire department or possibly close down the community, the shear community, senior community center. Making cuts like that's hard 'cause those are all direct benefits to the city of UKIPA. Now, they had a measure like this before, folks, just for background. They're called, I believe measure E, measure E. And it went down, only got about 30% of the vote. Pretty badly. And now we have measure S. And they're fighting hard. There's a lot of money going into it. We see measure S signs everywhere. Of course, the firefighters, the police are getting behind this because well, their jobs are on the line. They've got jobs on the line. And their unions are kicking in on that. And I don't know whether measure S is a good solution or not. And without getting the weeds in that, I personally don't think it will pass because you have to get 50% of the voters who voted plus one. And that's a pretty tough task for anybody to get that, let alone a tax raise. And so if it doesn't pass, Gigi, do you have any innovative solutions or ideas that come to mind or what we can do? Or how are we gonna deal with this? You're gonna be voting on the city council. Hey Amazon Prime members, why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So whether you're gearing up for a new project or looking to add some tried and true work wear to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. The work wear isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code WorkWear20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. - I know and I think a big part of that is collaboration on the council in finding solutions because we're all going to be under fire because there will be decisions that are very unpopular. I think, and you and I have talked about this, I do think that there's some cutting within city hall administration costs that can be brought down. My background is government relations and public affairs and many times over the last 30 years, I have had to cut my budgets when the public agency I work for or the nonprofit I work for, or even a private company I work for had to tighten their belts the first thing that goes is your PR. And it doesn't mean you lose all communications but you pull things back and government relations can be, it's great if you have a lobbyist but you also have, say, city managers that can do that kind of work and often do. So I think you have to be creative. I do think, I know it's highly unpopular and perhaps if I had been here before it was built, I'd feel the same way. I think the WIPAC will be a source of revenue. I think it's an incredible asset. - It's an incredible facility and asset. - Right, it's incredible asset. They just need to have to figure out how to monetize it better. I don't know if city employees are the best way to figure that out. I don't know. There's been a suggestion of privatizing it. - I'm sorry. - There's been a suggestion to lease it or sell it. - And I don't know if that's the way we wanna go. I mean, the city loses a great resource for its own. You know, I went to a community meeting in June at the WIPAC and I've been to other things. So I don't know if they wanna necessarily but it certainly is gonna be an option that the future council will have. - And hey, performing arts, you can get grants. You can get grants. - It's an obvious solution, right? - Oh, absolutely. - But you can get grants? And yeah, go ahead. - So I think, you know, maybe that. I do think that some cuts in City Hall, I really don't wanna see cuts to the senior center, the community center because of how much it gives back to the community, how much they need people in the community. Yeah, and I go to the senior center every Tuesday for rotary and, you know, I look at the programs they're doing and I mean, that's important to a very important segment. I'm not just of you, Kaiba but specifically District 3. And yeah, I don't wanna see that. And I don't wanna see a cut in public safety. So yeah, it's gonna be difficult. And the thing I bring, what is the fact that I have seen a lot of these kind of discussions, both in open session, been part of them with budget cuts that, you know, meeting with finance directors and trying to figure out how to continue provide services within my own department. Under the guys, you know, people say, why can't government be run by, you know, like a private business? Well, there's laws for that. You know, there's reasons it can't be and it has to do with, you know, fairness and access for everybody. And so you have to, you take that approach to your budget and say, okay, you know, what can we cut, knowing that we need to provide care. Well, I'm gonna say something unpersonal. I'm gonna say something unpopular without involving you too much in it. But, you know, Kipa, and I asked this, I had Joe Prudetto, the public information officer, the promotions guy for the city of Kipa with a $1.1 million budget on. And he's running now for Palm Desert City Council, by the way. So he's, you know, really kind of promoting that way right now. I don't know how he's doing both. And then, you know, earning that $1.1, he's not making $1.1 million, but his budget is that. He's making, he's one of about 43 employees as Phil Wright says, there's about 150 employees. There's 43 employees. If you look at Transparent in California.com, they're making well over $100,000. And the average median salary in you Kipa is $54,000 and $8, and the median salary, and the average salary is about $38,000. We have 2,200 people living at the poverty level, and we have about 600 homeless in you Kipa. Homeless, and so it's hard to get people to get behind a 1% tax increase when they're having struggles themselves, and then there's so much gravy at City Hall. And so, you know, one of the areas that's gonna be tough, Gigi, is you're gonna have to, as a City Council member, look at where you're gonna cut the budget. I kind of call City Hall Noah's Ark, 'cause it has two of everything lately, and so maybe they need to cut down on that stuff. So, you know, we don't need two of this and two of that, and, you know, the idea was, oh, we're gonna bring in another, you know, public information officer, and have the old public information to do another duty and make another job for them, and then, you know, we're gonna pay them the same amount of money. And so, that doesn't work. That is a recipe. I mean, if you could write down, add two cups of sugar. - Well, if you have the money, two cups of flour. - Two cups of flour. - Two cups of flour. - Yeah. - But, yeah, no, the City, and one of the things I've been doing is, in my time, Hey, Amazon Prime members. Why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus, save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand, Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, a Plenty, and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. (bell dings) We wear our work. Day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So, whether you're gearing up for a new project, or looking to add some tried and true work wear to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. Their work wear isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code WorkWear20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. - City Clerk is, I've met a lot of finance directors throughout the state. And for some reason, finance directors and city clerks ended to have our conventions and conferences together. And so I've actually been asking them, with the eye toward turning this around, what would they suggest? And so I hope to have some ideas, 'cause I don't know, I'm not a finance person. But I am a eternal optimist, and I believe that we can turn this around, but it is gonna take some, it is gonna take belt tightening and discipline, you know, fiscal discipline. And it's also gonna take some acceptance from the residents that they may not see as much as what they saw before. They may be happy with that, you know? But things will change. You know, things, you know, you might not get as many services or they might, you know, you might, things, the process might be, you know, to deal with staffing changes. But yeah, I mean, when you are in times that you can't afford a bigger staff, you probably are gonna be looking at, ending programs to get rid of, you know, but to let go of staff. And the thing is because, you know, they're coming up with a, on contract renegotiations. And I think a good way to start with that is a salary survey, to see what like jobs are making in like size cities. You know, there's no place like to type up, but there are cities that are similarly sized, and I think it'd give you a far better idea of what employees should be making, and how many employees you should maybe have to deliver services. - I have a budget at my house. I know a lot of households have a lot of budgets at their house. Everybody has to live within their budget. And sometimes that means like I just repaired my car instead of buying that new Ford Bronco I wanted to buy, you know, because I realized that car payments would be too high. And so I really, really, you know, think, and we encourage them. We're gonna talk about your race after the break here, and how people can donate and support you, and your quest for UKIPA City Council. We're gonna take a break here in just a second. Gigi, we've been talking with Gigi Hannah, who's a Council candidate, District 3 in UKIPA. And Gigi, tell us your website again one time before we go to break. - It's Gigi, the numeral four UKIPA, it's a numeral three.com. Gigi four, UKIPA three.com. - Gigi four, UKIPA three.com, very easy. You can also probably Google it by now. It probably pops right up. Beautiful website. She's got some really great signs out there. She's running a really tough, fought campaign out there in UKIPA. She's got a couple of opponents, but we're gonna talk about the campaign and your vision and what you'd like to see happen in UKIPA right after this. I'm Mark Westwood on Community Crossroads on KCAA 1050 AM, 106.5 FM, I got so many frequencies. And the stations will leave you no listener behind. I'll be right back. (upbeat music) - This is KCAA. - Calling all business owners, this is your moment. Join us for the 14th Annual Connecting Faith in Business Summit happening on October 17th at the beautiful Double Tree Hotel in Ontario, California. Registration opens at 9 a.m. And the conference kicks off at 10 a.m. sharp. This isn't just another business event. It's a gathering of minds and hearts where faith and entrepreneurship comes together. Bakers, SBA representatives and marketing experts will be there to equip you with powerful tools to grow your business. Plus, we'll take a special moment to pray for your business because we know that true success is built on faith. Don't miss out. Go to AMPAC.com today to register or call at 909-915-1706. Step into your purpose and unlock the resources you need for your business to thrive. We'll see you there at the 16th Annual Connecting Faith in Business Summit where your faith and future connect. - I'm Gigi Hannah and I'm excited to be running for District 3 Ucipa City Council. - As a former elections official and city clerk, Gigi is the best qualified candidate with 30 years experience in municipal government, public policy, and team building. - We can work together for a brighter future. - She'll bring a strong logical expert voice to the table for the people. - I wanna hear what you have to say as well. - Gigi wants Ucipa to be Ucipa, not Bakers Field or Fresno. Gigi loves Ucipa for it's safe, walkable downtown, easy freeway access and rural field. Ucipa's rural charm is important to her. She wants to limit higher density housing, fully funding public safety and making sure our mobile home parts have stable rents and safe conditions. - Let's make Ucipa an even better place to call home. - Knowledge, experience. - Maintaining Ucipa's rural charm. - Like Gigi Hannah, vote Gigi Hannah for Ucipa City Council District 3 by November 5th made for by Gigi Hannah for Ucipa City Council. - Once in a while, every so often an educator comes to our school systems with passion and vision. That's Nicholas Dibbs. - I am Nicholas Dibbs, teacher running for school board here in Garden Grove Unified Trust to Area 1 and the district cut 10 intermediate school wood shop classes and four auto shop classes. We need these classes back so students can have a better future. - This is Nicholas Dibbs, Opus. - Where many schools eliminate their wood shops, a project that they could really dig into. - No matter where you live across this country. - It feels like thrilling to see something that I've done being so important. - It feels nice because I know that a lot of people don't really think that kids can really do stuff like this. They don't think that we can actually do big things. - Some leaders recognize that, others don't. But on November 5th, you can by voting for Nicholas Dibbs. - Please support this effort so we can have quality vocational education. - And that's amazing. - Go to nickdibbs.org, nichdibbs.org. Thank you. - Paid for by Dibbs for school board 2024. (upbeat music) - This is K-C-A-A. - K-C-A-A, 10-50 AM, 106.5 FM. Oh, I was almost messing up the frequency earlier. I gotta explain that, folks. And I did a little bit of history here for ya. Back in the day when we were putting on the FM, we actually had 106.3, the logos and everything else. And sometimes the engineering doesn't turn out right. And the signal wasn't very good for us. So we moved up one to 106.5. Every once in a while, my little brain trap starts saying the wrong frequency and then I get confused and like, which one is it? I guess that's coming with age or whatever. But we are 106.5 NBC Radio in 10-50 AM. And we're on community crossroads with my good friend Gigi Hannah, who's running, I am proud to say, for District 3 Ucaypa City Council. I think she'll make an excellent City Council woman. We don't always agree on everything. I gotta tell you that. So we're kind of awaiting that. But you know what? That's a good thing, you know? And that's the way you have to work. Sometimes you agree with people. Sometimes you don't agree with people. You find your commonalities and your mature people and you work towards the good and towards the positive. And that's what I think Gigi can do. Right, Gigi? - Hey Amazon Prime members. Why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, A Plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So whether you're gearing up for a new project or looking to add some tried and true work wear to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. The work wear isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code workwear20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. - Absolutely, absolutely. And you know, go ahead. - Gigi is the director for San Bernardino area habitat for humanity. She is the former city clerk twice elected in the city of San Bernardino, served eight years there. Did well, it's very successful. And she retired a little, you know, she's kind of getting brought back out of retirement because she lives in Yucaipo. She loves Yucaipo and she has a vision for Yucaipo. So before we do this, for our listeners, her website is... - Gigi4Yucaipo3.com. - Gigi4Yucaipo3.com. You can go there and find out the nitty gritty. You can see what she looks like in the whole mine yard. You can also make a donation, I believe, through that website. If I'm not mistaken, is that true? - Yes. - Oh, okay. - Yes, you can. You're highly encouraged too. - Yeah, because you need the money. (laughs) This stuff is expensive and like a political consultant say, don't spend your own money on this. And you know, you get the support from the community and you're running a pretty good campaign. But this half hour, I wanna know your vision. When you look across Yucaipo Boulevard, you know, when you look up at Chapman Heights, when you cross Oakland or California Street or Bryant or Third Street or any of these great streets and you see the Oaks here in Yucaipo, or even Oakland, which is part of Yucaipo, what's your vision, what's the city you wanna see? Do you wanna see Pomona or do you wanna see Solvang? - Well, I wanna see Yucaipo. - Yeah, that was the answer, but yeah. And so what I like the world nature of Yucaipo, I recognize that, you know, even it has changed over the hundreds of years and it's gonna change that is the nature of things. And also there's the housing requirements from the state and people like me who were retiring and looking for a piece of heaven in Southern California and, you know, they moved to Yucaipo. So I'd like to hang on to that as much as we can while some of those outsource forces are required. - I mean, some people moved to New York and Los Angeles and they liked that big urban, tight, you know, population, the dense population, then a lot of people over the years have moved to Yucaipo for its rural atmosphere. I fell in love when I moved in 2003 to Yucaipo and, you know, I wasn't thinking about moving to Yucaipo, just a quick history. I had sold my house in San Bernardino. I had been a 33-year resident of Yucaipo. I mean, San Bernardino. And I was looking around, maybe Redland, San Bernardino, Highland. I really hadn't even thought about Yucaipo. And my house sold really quickly and I had a fast-forward escrow and I had to be out in 15 days 'cause the people needed the house. And so I had to get out and out out. So I needed to find a place. I didn't want to run an apartment. And so my realtor said, why don't you buy a mobile home? You can buy it quick and then sell it and move into another house. And that, you know, it didn't work. And I tell you why 'cause I love the mobile home living and I love my mobile home and I fixed it up real nice and I want to stay there now. I want to stay in Yucaipo. And then I love the rural atmosphere of Yucaipo and the fact that I can drive out into like country-like area that a lot of lots are a quarter acre or more. And, you know, I don't want to see high-density warehouses and things like that. What's your issue? - Well, I think you address your higher-density housing down close to the freeway with mixed-use development. Some retail, light industrial, maybe office. But you keep that stuff down close to the freeway. It's better suited, it's better suited for working families to get to work. I know it takes me. I live up towards the top of Yucaipo Boulevard. It takes me quite a bit sometimes to get to that freeway. And I'm not usually in a hurry, but I could see where that would be a benefit to working families. So I'd like to see that. I don't-- - Cities have to grow. - They have to grow and you have to-- - But it grows smart. - To pay me for the public safety that we want and the other amenities. And so, but I don't think we need to do it with warehouses. And, you know, and I-- - Say that you don't need to do it with warehouses. That's what you said. - No, I do not. I do not. I think that they're alternatives and they-- - We don't need to be the industrial port. - Right, and the people that I have, would like to see warehouses there, have asked me, they say, okay, you know, what's the alternative? And I said, well, I'm not that person. You know, I'm not a planner, but I am the person that brings people together to have some ideas, you know? And-- - And with the 10 Freeway already has tons of trucks. The 10 Freeway already has tons of trucks, you know. - Right, I think we can do better. And I love the ruralness on the north part. I do like the wine idea. I don't necessarily think that the wineries ought to be up there. I think they need to be in-- - Hey Amazon Prime members. Why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus, save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So, whether you're gearing up for a new project or looking to add some tried and true workware to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. Their workware isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code Workware20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. - In uptown, maybe park and ride to keep people safe and circulating around the city. I'd like to see, actually this was kind of, we were talking about the WIPAC. And I would like to see that being used, the outdoor part of that, because there's so many tourists that come to you type on the weekends and during special events around the WIPAC, a kind of an interpretive board about you type of history and explaining the history. And while you're there, you might be able to pick up a trolley or something to go to the wineries. And so you keep the traffic out of the neighborhoods, out of the downtown. So that's, you know, I think we can have some growth. You can still embrace-- - What they call-- - What they call smart growth, right? - Smart growth. You know, and smart growth is such a trigger, you know, 'cause it has some meaning. I prefer thoughtful and the reason I say thoughtful is I really do believe that it can't be top down. It really needs to be collaborative. You need to take the community's wants and needs into consideration. - What do you mean listen? - Exactly. - You know what-- - Well, what a concept. - And that was actually what spurred me, you and I have talked about this, what spurred me to run was when I started hearing that, you know, and I read the grand jury report that the community was not involved in Ucaypa and that just outraged me. I mean, my career before I was in public agencies is I was a reporter and covering city and county governments and then I worked for a public agency, government relations and PR, that was Metropolitan Water District and then I go into university. Every aspect of my career has been about public's access to information and their government. And so when I, here I am in this, in this, my new hometown, again, you know, I argue about, this is not my hometown, this is my new town and I'm happy with my home there. - But you live there, that's your home? - Yes, I do live there and I love that I live there. So, but you know, I'm settling in, I'm following the news and I was just outraged because I don't care how you fall down on an issue. I don't care what side. If I am on the council, it is my job. It is what people elected me to do was to listen to your concerns and you take those in and you make decisions and those decisions aren't always going to be necessarily popular. It's certainly probably unpopular with half the people that talk to you, you know, but you have to be willing to listen and if you already go into a situation with those blinders, I think you-- - Or get hostile, yeah. - Hey, you get hostile, either side, you know, and that just concerns me because it really impedes win-win. - You know, I've listened to people and when I started listening to them, I said I'm going to disagree with them. I'm not going to like what they say. I kind of predict what they're going to say and by the time I'm done listening, I went, well, you know what, that's not bad. That makes sense. I think that's a good idea. So, that's why listening is so important, you know. I have two ears in one mouth, talk half the time and listen twice as much. That's what my mom used to say. So, I went to radio. (laughing) But don't you agree with me? Don't you agree with me on that? I'm glad that you're taking a stance. You are on warehouses. That's a good thing and that you'd like to see the Yucaipo rural atmosphere and so you're not really for really high density housing, right? - Not up in that area. You know, if we have to have high density housing, we put it down by the flow should of the freeway where there's already higher density housing. You know, maybe not high. I don't like high density housing. I think it's-- - So, would you be in favor of advising the general plan? Put me on the spot here. - Oh, man. Yeah, you know, I'm not gonna-- - In favor of less density housing is what I'm saying. - Oh. But you have to meet the state requirement. - Right. - So, I do think that if you can-- - You can do both. Look at the general plan and maybe rearrange. But you do have to address that. So, there is gonna be some higher density housing and my point is, you put away from the areas that are already, or that remain on-- - Well, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail and you can't have that housing offered in certain areas of the city, which are not rural, which the people pay a lot of money to go live in those rural areas. And maybe the roads aren't accessible very well. Maybe it's not safe either. And, you know, but of course, I don't own the land up there. So, I'm sure that the landowners of the warehouses or the people up in the wineries that, you know, have high mortgages and stuff, they wanna sell off and subdivide. - And I struggle with that, because I do believe, you know, in personal property rights. And so, what I-- So, it's not at the expense, but not at the expense of everyone. - Right. And so, I think that we can come up with a better plan where they make their profit, and, you know, it is not as onerous of a impact. - You know, I think-- - I don't know. - I think the city of Kuiper, and correct me if I'm wrong, I think we have about 57,000 people. I think that's where we've had-- - Somewhere, 55, 57, something like that. Hebs and Wayne's just like the budgets, just like the revenues, just like the expenses. And so, you know, we have to update and, you know, keep a current general plan, and that's why we have a finance director to keep their eye on what the city's doing and how they're spending and all that kind of stuff. And so, you know, here we are, with the $7.3 billion, not million, excuse me, $7.3 million budget deficit, which is still a lot of money. And, you know, we have to make these choices, but we can be innovative, we can be creative, and still offer good services. 'Cause people are paying their taxes, I think they want something for return. You know, they don't want it to senior citizens on the streets, you know, heaven forbid, you know, they get into trouble with those senior citizens if they're on the streets. (laughing) We want our kids to be able to swim in the swimming pool and maybe even have a nicer pool. So, you know, that's why being dedicated, you will pay attention to line item details. And I think that's what's good thing about that too. I've talked with you. You look right at those budgets and stuff like that and you're like, eh, you know. - Yeah, and I'm not scared of talking to people that I don't know or that I have disagreed with to see, you know, where they are coming and maybe if we can find common ground. I think that's the most professional and effective way to come to agreement. You can't just refuse to talk to, you know, one person or one group. We're not going to, I said this the other night at the candidate forum that, you know-- - That's a talk about difficult things. - I'm not gonna save you, Kipa. No one person is, and honestly, no one group is going to save you, Kipa. It is everybody digging in to help and understand them that it's a community and it's community problems that will be solved by community. - So we have an election coming up November 5th and I will tell you that the budget isn't the only thing that ebbs and wanes and it's been ebbing a lot is the voting. And since 2016 down, it's gone down and down and down where, you know, we used to have, you know, 45,000 people voting, believe it or not in you, Kipa. Now it's down considerably, I think 17 or 20,000 in the last election, I'd have to, you can't quote me 'cause I have a lot of figures from a lot of counties and a lot of cities in my head. But yeah, the day down crease in voting and voter participation has been going down substantially each election. And we've got to figure out how to inspire people to vote again. - Well, I think that that grand jury report is a big giant, points of big giant finger at people's distrust in their government. I really affects their participation and I did a bunch of study in grad school on specifically that government transparency and people's trust and their participation in it. And so that is from the local to the federal level, I think people's trust in their government will, and building that trust and part of building it is listening to the constituents and trying to find common ground, but at the local, federal, whatever level. - Access is important part too. - Access is huge and the more people feel like they're being heard and they're being, that they're really truly a part of the process, the more they'll be willing to be part of that process. And hope, for me, the way I've tried to do that with people is to provide public access to their documents. We digitized over 100 years in San Bernardino. We made campaign finance stuff online through NetFile, which they didn't have. And I know that you type a house now so that you could search campaign contributions both to the candidate, who was making them, how much, what race, it just was far more transparent and so I think all these little baby steps that you can do to increase trust will also bring up the voting. - I called because I had a question the other day at a city hall, called three times, every time I got a voicemail message and I haven't gotten through to have my question answered yet. And I'm Martin Westwood from NBC Radio, from KQLH, from PCI, and you know, I'm not an adversary, I'm pretty well known and respected, but they haven't got back to me. My question is this. I had a question about BERTEC and how it came to be that they raise their rates substantially and that's going to affect mobile home orders. Now, there are how many parks in you, Kippa? - Hey Amazon Prime members, why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop Prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands, like our new brand Amazon Saver, 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop Prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. - We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So whether you're gearing up for a new project or looking to add some tried and true workware to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. Their workware isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code Workware20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. - 41. - 41, exactly right on. - 41. And I have a print out of everybody that lives in a park in New Kipe. And it's a substantial amount of people that are gonna be affected by this. Now, but what they left out of- - That's not just them. - Yeah, but that's the fee that's going on there. They're getting the fee on their statement for their rent, for their self. So that's what I'm talking about. That particular one. And it's gonna affect us substantially. It's gonna be a big raise. Like $22, I think it is. And you know, for- - Monthly? - Monthly, yeah. - That's annually. I think it's annually, isn't it? - Well, that's my question. You know, I have questions. I don't know. And you know, that's my access. And how do I trust government when I don't know the answers to something? And when I call the person, I have their personal cell phone number and they don't answer back. - Yeah. - The guy- - Actually, they're in a backup report on the agenda where they brought in the BERTEC thing. They talk about what the average price would be. And I think the $22 you're talking about is a percentage. But yeah, you know, that's difficult. - I hear stuff out in the wind. I hear it from people here and there. And I'm gonna, what? How did that happen? 'Cause I can't go to every hearing and every commission meeting and every UK. I'm not that person that's gonna go to every single UK for City Council meeting and talk on a microphone. I just don't think that's- - We don't talk on the microphone. - Go on the website. I said, you don't have to talk at the microphone. Go on their website. They have done a lot to update that website. And you know, they spent good money on it. It's probably some of the reason that, you know, we're looking at the need for cuts, but you know, so utilize it. It's been spent. It's out there. And, but I get your point. I mean, and that is difficult. - I hate chat GBT. But okay, go ahead. (laughing) - Most are older people. - Most are older people. - Yeah. - But you know what? I have to say, and I want to give a shout out. I used the app, because I needed something grated on the alley near my house was just so rutted. I was botting out my car. And so I put in the request of the UKIPA app and it was done within two days. So, you know, I'm sorry it's not been a successful for you, but anyway, so back to the vertex thing. You know how that was raised? And that bothers me too, because I think it was kind of a backdoor tax rate. And if they call it a, you know, this franchise fee, but it wasn't a way to raise, to raise funds, completely illegal. And I saw this as City Clerk. You know, the state requires that you send out notices, property 218 notices to people with the rate increases. And, you know, people get them. They don't necessarily pay attention. And what it says is, you know, you have this amount of time to respond, you know. - Sometimes it's over-communicated. We'll get a book, a booklet. You know, a 25-page booklet about various different things, and that's stuck in the middle of it. And it's stuck in with our mobile home rent invoices. And it's like, oh God, put that down. I'll read that later. It's in 10-point font in newsprint, maybe 9-point font. And so you don't read it. Or maybe you weren't notified at all. Or maybe they left it up to the mobile home park owners to notify you. And the way they notified you was just to put it on a line item on your invoice. And here you go. Here's the extra money. And, you know, we pay for ambulance fees. We pay for a lot of that stuff. By the way, there is a mobile home, a Ucypo Mobile Home Residence Association meeting, this Saturday at the Ucypo Women's Club. It's a pretty important meeting from what I understand. I'm gonna just do a little plug here real quick, Gigi. They're talking about disbanding. They're talking about disbanding, or maybe even merging with a corporation that's not even like their like corporation. I can go into that a lot. I do have a microphone every day I can talk to, but I don't get an answer back. You know, they don't call in and say, "Hey, Mark, you know, this is what this is." And, you know, that's kind of wrong. 'Cause if it's me doing that, I can understand why other people aren't getting that answer either. And it's frustrating. So access is one of the big things that I hope you'll focus on. And not just chat to me, yeah. So we have about three, four minutes left, believe it or not, in this hour. And, you know, we've been talking with Gigi Hannah, who's a candidate for District Three, Ucypa City Council, former city clerk, current director of Habitat for Humanity. You kind of brushed it over your education and training. Talk about that a little bit. - I'm sorry, you said I brushed over it? - Brusseled over a little bit. - You just kind of set it real fast. - Oh, well, yeah, so I started off my career as a reporter and I was a journalism and poly-sci major and worked throughout the state. And I can't happen to end up in San Bernardino after Norton closed, covering the effects of Norton closing on the community. And I was here, moved on to other newspapers up in Fresno down in San Diego, and then went to work for, excuse me, writing policy papers for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, you know, the 800-pound gorilla that imports water from the Northern California and the Colorado River. And so-- - So you got some water experience, that's good? - I do, and you know, one of the things about that is they were in the midst of negotiations on the Colorado River and how to portion up that water among the seven basin states that were growing based on an old allotment. And so I've seen knockdown drag out, you know, negotiations with some really high-level people been in the room and seeing how people collaborate to find solutions, and they did it. And so anyway, that was when I was at Metropolitan, but I decided I was too far away from home and took a job at Cal State at the Water Resources Institute. Again, talking water policy, and there, I was fortunate enough to be the communications director for Governor Schwarzenegger's statewide alluvial fan task force. And we looked at development, sustainable development on alluvial fans, which is basically Yubkai Pah, you know, alluvial fan at the base of mountains. And it looked at fire and flood and recreational needs and development needs and ag needs. And so a lot of the issues that are up for consideration in Yubkai Pah are things that I've already thought about and talked about and know some experts and at least have a basis of knowledge, even if I don't necessarily have some preconceived notions, because I think when you do that, you limit yourself. And then, you know, I saw that the city clerk was retiring and I was concerned about who I'd heard was gonna be running, that it might be a political issue for them. And for me, I'm about public access to public documents. I actually knew what a city clerk did because I'd been a reporter and used to get lots of documents from the clerk. And so I ran and was just blessed enough to win and I loved that job. I loved being able to help the public. And here you are, and here I am. And Gigi, I'm gonna interrupt you just for a minute. I'm gonna give you about 30 seconds to gather your thoughts here. And then I'm gonna have you do the last pitch here on the program today to talk directly to the voters. And while you're gathering those thoughts together, I'm gonna tell our voters, Iwillvote.com. November 5th is the election. We have 26 days now until the election. It's not all about Kamala and Donald. It's about city council races. It's about school board races. It's about propositions. It's about measures. There's a lot of things to pay attention to, to research, Google it, look and listen and vote because if you don't participate, then you don't have any right to complain. I'm Mark Westwood with KCA and Community Crossroads. And now Gigi Hannah, as I've said, this is your last minute to take a minute or so, talk directly to the voters and tell them why and how and why they should vote for Gigi Hannah. Go. I have 30 years of experience in exactly the issues that you Kipa is facing. I'm not here to save you Kipa. Not any of us can do that. I'm here because I am living the best life in a town I love doing what my faith calls me to do. What I can, wherever I am, for as long as I can. And I humbly ask district three voters, put your trust in me, know that I will listen to your concerns and do the best to advocate for you at City Hall. Thank you very much. Thank you for PIPA3.com. - Here you guys, just gonna ask you to say that. Gigi for you Kipa3.com, it's been a privilege and honor to have a great candidate like Gigi. Best of luck in the upcoming election. We thank you for coming on at the last minute. We were gonna have Donald Williamson. Something happened, I don't know. Donald Williamson, vote Donald Williamson.com. Vote Donald Williamson.com, I'll give him that. We, at the last minute here, I think we got about another one minute. We got another two minutes. Gigi, I've got to make an announcement. And we haven't said this a lot on the air, but sometimes change happens. Sometimes good change happens. And we've had a client on the air for, oh, going on a year or two now named, called Teamsters 1932. There are sponsors of our news shows. They now have a two hour show. And they've been a very good influence around here. And we have decided to lease some space for them. And our studios, Lock, Stock and Barrel, are associate radio stations. KCAA, 1050 AM, 106.5 FM. We're moving ladies and gentlemen, we're backing up the U-Haul, and we're moving back to San Bernardino. Oh, good sound effect, that's good. And we will be on the air without very much a skip of anything. My intention is not to have more than about 30 seconds, 'cause that's the last time when I moved San Bernardino, two Redlands. So when we moved back from Redlands to San Bernardino, again, less than 30 seconds this time of dead air. As we move, you'll have to listen to us on Sunday morning at 3 a.m. in the morning. But we are moving. Ladies and gentlemen, KCAA will be in a new location at 433 North Sierra Way. In the old Teamsters building, that's right next to where there was a former Arrowhead Credit Union building, which is now the Teamsters offices. We're gonna be in a building, along with a medical clinic, on one side of it and on the other side, we've got about 3,300 square feet of space. It's gonna be nice digs. They've really been working hard. They're anxious for us to come. We're excited to be collaborating with them. And it's what good things can happen in the community. Gigi, like I said, and you said, when you collaborate. So we will be moving about the middle of this month, which is right around the corner. KCAA, 10.50 a.m., one to 6.5 a.m. The election is November 5th. Vote, I'm Mark Westwood. Thank you for listening to Community Crossroads. Have a good day. (upbeat music) Thank you for listening to Crossroads. This program has been designed to present you with the issues that face our area. Your host has been Mark Westwood. (upbeat music) NBC News on KCAA Loma Linda sponsored by Teamsters Local 1932. Protecting the future of working families Teamsters1932.org. (buzzing) - Hey Amazon Prime members. Why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands. Like our new brand Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. - We wear our work day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So whether you're gearing up for a new project or looking to add some tried and true workware to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. The workware isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code Workware20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century.