Our supposedly sleepy little town of La Mesa has become quite the center of politics and change in California. So many of the stories in our town aren't discussed in the media, so we thought we'd start talking about them. Each episode, Manny Gomez and a local guest will dig into the hot topics of here on the edge of East County.
City Council candidates guaranteed to win! (but we still have questions)
There are two city council seats open in the upcoming election in La Mesa. And only two people are in the running for those seats. So they are both guaranteed to become city council members. Still, we’d like to know what they have in mind for our city. Today, we're interviewing both of these city council candidates: Amanda-Dawn Natalia and Moana Alo.
Contact Info:
www.vote-amanda-dawn.now
amanda-dawn@vote-amanda-down.now
moana4citycouncil.com
mo@moana4citycouncil.com
12 Sept 2026
La Mesa-Spring Valley: Meet Rebecca Tweedle, Jennifer Littig and Brianna Coston
We interview three candidates who are running together for seats on the La Mesa-Spring Valley School Board: Rebecca Tweedle, Jennifer Littig and Brianna Coston. Depending on where you live in La Mesa, you might be able to vote for one of them. So what’s their vision for our students? Let’s find out.
Links:
https://rebeccatweedle.com/
https://jenniferlittig.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jenlittig/
https://www.facebook.com/jenlittig/
https://www.briannacoston.com/
https://www.instagram.com/brie_cheezie/
28 Aug 2026
GUHSD cut librarians to pay for video games - meet the candidates
The elected board of the Grossmont Union High School District cut all nine librarians from their budget and let class sizes increase to 38 students. They also spent over a million dollars on video games and gave themselves a 373% raise. Today, we're interviewing the three candidates who have joined together to flip the school board. Now, we can't vote for any of them here in La Mesa - our area isn't up for election until 2028. But what happens in this election will directly affect La Mesa students, teachers, school staff and taxpayers. So we're excited to sit down and talk with Jeneé Littrell, Steve Mull and Pete Mergens.
20 Feb 2026
ICE in East County
What is ICE doing in our region? What can we do to speak out? For answers, we turn to a longtime community activist here in La Mesa, Mejgan Afshan of Borderlands for Equity.
Here are links to some of the organizations mentioned:
borderlandsequity.org (borderlandsequity.org)
instagram.com/borderlandsequity (instagram.com/borderlandsequity)
unipopular.org (https://www.unipopular.org/)
uniondelbarrio.org (uniondelbarrio.org)
instagram.com/uniondelbarrio (instagram.com/uniondelbarrio)
instagram.com/sdbikebrigrade (instagram.com/sdbikebrigrade)
28 Jun 2025
Grossmont Union - More shocking every week
Teacher librarian Stephanie Macceca discusses the Grossmont Union High School Board's decision to eliminate positions and the community's subsequent recall efforts, revealing shocking information about the board members in this interview.
2 Apr 2025
The Hot Mic
If you have a child in the Grossmont Union High School District or just like staying in the know, you are probably aware of the recent uproar over cuts made by the school board. Parents and students alike showed up in full force to the March 11th board meeting to voice their concerns and plead with the board to reconsider their decision. In spite of this public outcry, the board appears to be hell bent on proceeding with the proposed budget cuts. Today we are very excited to continue our discussion of the GUHSD board's decision with local journalist Jakob McWhinney, the Voice of San Diego's education reporter.
8 Mar 2025
GUHSD - What you can do
Every librarian will be fired next year in the Grossmont Union High School District, along with 40 other teachers. Over 600 concerned students, parents, faculty members, and citizens showed up to the school board meeting to oppose these cuts - the auditorium at El Cajon Valley High School was full to capacity and people were filling the overflow room and standing outside as well. But still, without explanation from a single school board member speaking in support of these cuts - and a budget surplus of $46 million, roughly 4 times the amount required by the state - the board voted to approve the firings, with only 1 member, Chris Fite, voting in opposition to these cuts.
So what exactly are our kids going to lose as a result of these job cuts? And what can you do about it by showing up to the next meeting on March 11?
To answer these questions, we're talking with a teacher librarian from the school district who is also the vice president of the Grossmont Education Association: Stephanie Macceca from Valhalla High School.
The next meeting you can attend is on Tuesday (March 11) at 4:30pm at Grossmont High School. For more details, visit bit.ly/save-guhsd-librarians
27 Feb 2025
Firing the Librarians?
The Grossmont Union High School District is voting to make serious cuts to the budget - including cutting all nine teacher librarians in the district. We talk to Jay Steiger to find out what's going on.
There are two meetings you can attend on this issue - one tonight (February 27) at 4:30pm and the other on March 11. For more details, visit bit.ly/save-guhsd-librarians
28 Sept 2024
Genevieve Suzuki
As you may have heard, we have an election coming up. Last episode, we interviewed City Council candidate Lauren Cazares. And now, we’re joined by another candidate for City Council, Genevieve Suzuki.
21 Sept 2024
Lauren Cazares
This election, there are two open seats on La Mesa City Council. And in a break from what was becoming a tradition in La Mesa, we only have two Democrats running for those two seats. Today, we bring you one of those Democratic candidates, Lauren Cazares.
laurencazares.com
13 Mar 2024
The Zoom Ban
Were you hoping to make your comment at the next city council meeting by Zoom? Well friend, that’s not an option. To learn more about this, we’re joined by 30-year La Mesa resident Wendy Mihalic. She’s a volunteer with San Diego 350, which works to prevent the worst effects of climate change. She’s worked on La Mesa’s climate action plan in 2018. She’s also an advocate of switching from gas to electric. She lives in a fully electric home and is a member of the San Diego Building Electrification Coalition, which promotes electrification of buildings. And because of all that, she’s a frequent commenter at our city council meetings, often remotely.
Here are some links Wendy recommended:
California Common Cause Study
https://www.commoncause.org/california/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2024/01/CA-Remote-Accessv2.pdf
Anti-Defamation League Toolkit
https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/2023-08/ADL-COE-City-Council-Recommendations.pdf
23 Dec 2023
A Program Called HOME
From repurposing an old motel to shipping people off to Campo, we've heard a lot of ideas for addressing homelessness in La Mesa. In this episode, we'll talk to the coordinator of the East County Homeless Task Force, Bonnie Baranoff. She'll share her thoughts on the HOME program here in La Mesa and how you can get involved in the effort to address homelessness in our town.
Here are some links you may be inclined to visit after listening:
East County Homeless Task Force - https://www.facebook.com/ECHTF/ (https://www.facebook.com/ECHTF/)
Point in Time Count: https://www.rtfhsd.org/about-coc/weallcount-pitc/ (https://www.rtfhsd.org/about-coc/weallcount-pitc/)
Op Ed: My family was homeless for two-and-a-half years. - https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2023-12-13/opinion-family-homeless-san-diego-kids-affordable-housing-crisis (https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2023-12-13/opinion-family-homeless-san-diego-kids-affordable-housing-crisis)
6 Dec 2023
Big, Bright Billboards
La Mesa, we have an opportunity to make some big money for our city. We can fund police, fire and arts programs. And all we have to do is replace some billboards with a different kind of billboard. Is it worth it? To find out, we'll talk with Gerda Holmstrom and Janet Castaños.
Here's a link to the "Compendium of a Decade’s Worth of Research Studies on Distraction from Digital Billboards (https://www.scenic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Billboard-Safety-Study-Compendium-10-16-2020.pdf)" by Jerry Wachtel from the Veridian Group.
And here's link to the No Digital Billboards in La Mesa petition (https://www.change.org/p/no-digital-billboards-in-la-mesa).
28 Sept 2023
LGBTQIA + GUHSD
On September 12, two school boards were filled to the brim with attendees. Nearly every one of the scores of public comments at both the Grossmont Union High School board and La Mesa-Spring Valley board meetings focused on one issue: policies toward the LGBTQIA+ community. This episode, we talk to teacher and longtime school advocate, Jay Steiger, about the mental health care controversy at Grossmont.
23 Aug 2023
The Enersmart Guys
Batteries are back on the menu. The first episode of Table Talk focused on the large batteries that are going to be installed on El Paso Street. Those batteries brought a lot of rather interesting concerns to a city council meeting in February. But the project is still going forward. We to talk to two of the people who’s responsible for installing those batteries in our neighborhood, James Beach, managing partner of Enersmart and Skyler Tennis, Vice President of Operations.
31 Jul 2023
Meet Monica
Our County Board of Supervisors District is holding a special election right now (the deadline is August 15). Manny talked with the candidate endorsed by the San Diego County Democratic Party, Monica Montgomery Steppe. If you've ever wanted to hear from Monica in more than just soundbites, this is your chance.
22 Jul 2023
On Guns and Safes
On July 11, La Mesa City Council vote in favor of a draft ordinance requiring people in our city to keep their guns locked up. Does that mean that when you hear an intruder entering your home, you’ll have to ask them to pause while you try to remember the combination for your safe?
To answer our questions about this new law, we’re going straight to the source: City Councilmember Jack Shu
1 Jun 2023
Flags!
We had quite the night in La Mesa last week. City Councilmember Laura Lothian attempted to put an end to city hall flying the Pride flag during Pride month. So how did THAT work out for her? Joining us to find out is the man who donated the first Pride flag to fly over La Mesa City Hall, Dave Myers.
9 May 2023
Battery Bash
Giant batteries are coming to La Mesa. Their impending arrival has led to talk of chemtrails, flouridated water and viruses not being real. There have also been some less conspiratorial concerns. Are they safe? Are they noisy? What's the point of these batteries anyway?
Let's dive in and see if we can track down some answers.
Reach and audience
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 24 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
25
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
60
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