KPBS SERIES TELLS STORY OF SAN DIEGO NEIGHBORHOODS

The camera moved along the streets of North Park, which a comedian once said looked like “Dayton, Ohio, with palm trees.” Then, rapidly, it cut away to Normal Heights, where a fire destroyed 64 homes in the summer of 1985.

University Heights, the next stop, seemed tranquil in contrast. Controversy there centers on a vacant pit, which used to be a trolley barn. The neighbors banded together to make it a park. Somehow, the neighbors won.

City Heights was a sea of sunny Oriental faces, smiling in restaurants, telling stories and laughing, trying “to get a handle” on a strange new land--San Diego.

These were the opening images of “Neighborhoods: The Last Frontier,” a KPBS-TV (Channel 15) special that debuted a month ago and resumes with part two Sunday night.

This time, beaches are the battleground. The camera has moved to Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach and Mission Beach, finding as much difference among these as it did similarity in the so-called “mid-city.”

“Mission Beach is very small, very dense, very diversified,” said Matthew Eisen, producer of the hourlong show, scheduled for six monthly episodes. “Ocean Beach is a much smaller community--Mayberry on the beach, one guy called it. It has its own business community and labors under a stereotype--the feeling that it’s a throwback to the 1960s. It’s true in some respects--it isn’t an unfair stereotype--it’s simply too much of one. It has a lot of seniors, a lot of activists, a lot of families.

“Pacific Beach is much more upscale, incorporating elements of La Jolla as well as Clairemont. East of Mission Boulevard, it has a huge number of single-family homes. Each of the beach communities imposes very much its own character and style.”

Character and style were apparently special motives in considering such a series. Gloria Penner, director of program production at KPBS, said “The Last Frontier” grew out of discussions at an annual retreat. A shared feeling among the staff was that local commercial stations pose a need for “alternative” programming. They don’t do enough on senior citizens or local neighborhoods, so shouldn’t KPBS fill in the gaps?

“That’s really our job,” Penner said, “to come up with things local commercial stations aren’t doing. This week, for instance, we’ll show a bit of the essence of each beach community (in Eisen’s taped introduction), then follow with a town-hall discussion.

“We hope to show the kinds of activity going on in each area--in terms of citizen input, citizen determination, similarities, dissimilarities. . . . Most of all, we want to show that individuals can make a difference. People can do more than just sit back and say, ‘Let the politicians take care of it.’ ”

The virtue of the live portion in the first episode was getting to hear community leaders (including City Councilwoman Gloria McColl) hash over a litany of problems in an uncensored session. But it might have seemed slow, even plodding, to a casual viewer just tuning in. Several in the crowd noted more than once, almost as a chant, “We’ve got to work together!” Those on hand seemed to regard the forum as nothing less than inspirational--and well worth repeating.

Gary Weber, 43, is a resident of Normal Heights and a planning consultant who wrote the mid-city community plan for the City of San Diego. Weber sits on the panel that advises KPBS on “The Last Frontier,” and he participated in its first town-hall discussion.

“Absolutely fantastic idea” was his assessment of the series, with one note of caution.

“The town hall thing can get out of hand--it can get boring,” he said. “Considering that it can be a disaster, I thought it went well. I’ve suggested a taped town hall, with an edited presentation. But the station wants spontaneity, and I guess that’s a good idea. That does bring out real emotion.”

Real emotion was the format’s plus. In a city some have cited for being a magnet of high mobility, those in the crowd spoke of San Diego neighborhoods as though they had known them their entire lives and cared about them with the same affection they regard their families.

One man complained of Interstate 15 threatening to cut a swath through his neighborhood. A woman said she felt that developers, bent on building high-density apartments and condos, had forgotten people with large families--if, that is, they even cared. Another man said newcomers to City Heights often felt neglected, as though the city cared less about their neighborhood than it did about those in affluent areas.

Penner moderated the discussion, trying as much as possible to short-circuit rambling monologues.

One woman confessed to liking mid-city for its likeness to “back East,” her home as a girl. She had just moved here and resented the notion that newcomers don’t care.

One man said, “Developers just have to learn how to work with neighborhoods, or . . . it’s all over for developers!”

He drew thunderous applause.

Such sessions--and such feelings--are necessary, Penner said, “because the world has become so scattered. It’s really good to have that nugget--a neighborhood--which is where you live and love.

“You belong to it. It’s yours. You have a stake in its present and future.”