OB Rag

Join them as the Ocean Beach Historical Society celebrates Daylight Saving Time at the Wisteria Patio Cottage, under the century-old Wisteria vines, on Thursday, March 19, 2026, 4:30 – 7:00 PM at 4761 Niagara Ave., in O.B.

By Donna Frye

On Wednesday, March 18, there was a discussion at the San Diego City Council Rules Committee to consider a ballot measure proposed by Councilmember Raul Campillo to maintain free parking at beaches and bays in the City of San Diego.

According to the staff report:

“The proposed ballot measure would add a new section to the San Diego Municipal Code establishing that parking in City-owned beach and bay parking lots shall remain free of charge. The measure would not apply to existing parking meters or other paid parking programs elsewhere in the City. Codifying this policy in the Municipal Code would help preserve access to beaches and bays for residents and visitors while maintaining the City’s longstanding practice of providing free parking in these coastal lots.”

No Kings protests are being organized for Saturday, March 28. Over 3,000 events are being planned across the country — 19 just here in San Diego County (so far). From Otay Mesa, downtown San Diego to Borrego Springs and Oceanside — thousands of County and city residents will be mobilizing.

Figure out the nearest one to you and RSVP to one of them here.  See official statement from NO KINGS below.

Also sign up to volunteer to be a Rag photographer and reporter for the day. Send name and contact info to Editordude, obragblog@gmail.com

Here’s the lists of No King protests in the city and county — they are all on Sat., March 28th but some have different times):

No Kings Day in City of San Diego

San Diego’s Community Planning Groups (CPGs) hold annual elections every March. Here are dates, times, and locations for in-person voting at some of this week’s elections. Be sure to bring your driver’s license or another form of ID showing your home address.

Tuesday, March 17

Greater Golden Hill will accept ballots in advance of its regular monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Conference Room in front of the Golden Hill Gym, 2600 Golf Course Drive.

From Point Loma–OB Monthly / March 15, 2026

Ten Questions is a series in the Point Loma-OB Monthly that shines a spotlight on notable locals. This month’s featured personality is Glenn “Croc” Millar, president of Point Loma Summer Concerts, which recently received the Community Champion Award from the Point Loma Association.

Millar also is president and chief executive of Call Glenn Again Handyman and Home Services in Point Loma.

Q. What attracted you to the Point Loma-Ocean Beach area as a place to live and/or work?

A. My then-girlfriend, now-fiancée, Alexandra Watkins, and I came down here for a romantic trip in November 2017. We both love San Diego (she grew up here), so we decided to look at some houses just for grins. On the 10th house we walked into, Alexandra looked around and said “We’re buying this house.”

There is a 12-unit ADU project in Roseville on Canon Street that nearly slipped our collective mind. But our friends at Peninsula News are now reminding us – with the following “tour.”

By Dave Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / March 19, 2026

San Diego voters could consider ballot measures in November that aim to boost the City Council’s budget power, make campaign money more transparent, revamp hotel tax rules and ban paid parking at bays and beaches.

The City Council’s Rules Committee endorsed Wednesday moving all four of those measures one step closer to the November ballot and having the city attorney’s office craft formal ballot language.

Support was unanimous for three of those measures, but the Rules Committee vote was only 3-2 in favor of the measure to ban paid parking at beaches and bays.

And council President Joe LaCava said his “yes” vote was largely just to allow more research on the concept, including whether the state’s Coastal Commission would let the city exempt residents from parking fees.

Conflicting claims are flying around Point Loma these days regarding the property at 1004 Rosecrans — where a proposed four-story, 56-unit mixed-use project right next to the elementary school was on deck to be constructed. But community opposition quickly developed led by a grassroots group called Protect Point Loma — and it was recently announced that the owner / developer wanted to sell the site instead.

That was good news.

People in PL began celebrating – and started trying to find a developer and local investors who would create a more neighborhood-friendly project.

Eric Law, chair of both the Peninsula Community Planning Board and Protect PL, told Times of San Diego that the sale of the property / project to local investors would benefit everybody — seller, buyer and the community as a whole.

Law said Protect Point Loma is working with Peninsula developers of one sort or another with the idea of producing a different type of development that would be better for the community. He said real estate comparables, or “comps,” in the area are substantially lower than what the developer wants for 1004 Rosecrans.

On Thursday morning, March 19, 2026 the City of San Diego Planning Commission is holding a workshop on the Mid-City Communities Plan Update (MCCPU), which includes the four communities of Normal Heights, Kensington-Talmadge, Eastern Area, and City Heights.

The agenda can be found at: https://www.sandiego.gov/planning-commission/documents/agenda.

The address is 7650 Mission Valley Road, San Diego, CA 92108.

David Moty (Chair, Kensington-Talmadge Planning Group) wrote an article about the MCCPU that includes background and recommendations about the plan update,

By David Moty from Neighbors for a Better San Diego

I’ve never seen this before: A community plan update that wipes out most of a community’s single-family zoning. That’s what’s happening to Normal Heights, Kensington, and Talmadge under the City of San Diego’s undemocratic Mid-City Communities Plan Update.

And if this plan is adopted, state law makes these changes permanent. Even a future City Council couldn’t undo it.

Even if you do not live in Mid-City, please continue reading to understand how the City is bypassing the democratic process to implement the Mayor’s upzoning plans for San Diego. Your community may be next.

The City is close to developing an official draft plan, and everything indicates that they intend to upzone nearly all of Normal Heights and Kensington-Talmadge for multi-family housing, [ to see graphs and maps go here }as shown on the following Concept Plan #2:

The near-total upzoning of single-family neighborhoods in this concept would be in addition to the 8-story buildings recently allowed on Adams Avenue, and potential 18-story buildings on El Cajon Boulevard.

By J.W. August / KPBS /  March 3, 2026

For decades, Mike’s Market at the corner of 37th Street and Ocean View Boulevard, had been an open wound for the residents of the Mountain View neighborhood in Southeast San Diego.

It was well-known as a front for drug dealing and other illegal acts. But then in 2022, coming out of the pandemic, the crime and violence exploded.

The crime surge included murders, attempted murders, assaults, sales of firearms, robberies and narcotics sales, according San Diego Police Department records. The SDPD fielded thousands of calls from the immediate area around Mike’s Market in the two years prior to an investigation being launched.

The market had been under the control of the 59 Brim street gang for decades, multiple law enforcement sources and community members told KPBS. The gang was an off-shoot of the infamous Bloods.

The gang’s increasing violence was a deadly serious threat to the community and led to a significant change in how local law enforcement confronted the ongoing problem, according to documents in the case filed by San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan’s office.

By Tanja Kropf / ExploreClairemont / Jan. 14, 2026

You’ve likely driven down Kearny Villa Road, Linda Vista Road, and Convoy Street dozens (or even hundreds) of times without giving much thought to their history. Your first thoughts of Kearny Mesa probably flit to the Convoy District and its reputation as an Asian food hub, flanked by industrial warehouses and office complexes emblematic of the area.

But the land now occupied by frontage roads, brown, boxy office buildings, and award-winning ramen restaurants used to be something much different.

Dry, dusty land covered in leathery chaparral stretched for miles. The area was called the Linda Vista mesa. It was early 1917, and the United States was on the precipice of war. By April, the nation had entered World War I, ready to battle Germany, and needed a training site.

San Diego’s civic boosters lobbied hard in pitching the Linda Vista mesa area. The San Diego Union wrote, “No city can better serve the nation than ours, where every day is a training day.”

The Army agreed. In May, war inspectors surveyed the mesa and found it ideal: flat, open, close to rail and port, with plenty of room to drill soldiers. Plus, San Diego Consolidated Gas and Electric promised to provide electricity. Its proximity to the Santa Fe Depot