Category: Civil Rights

By Staff

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the San Diego public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Monday, October 5: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item S400: 11370 Paymogo Court, Appeal of the Environmental Determination

Why it matters: As the project map shows, construction of a 2,653-square-foot three-level single family home would carve into a heavily wooded area, wiping out trees and wildlife habitat. It’s hard to see how such environmental destruction is justified.

Democrat With Local Roots Outshines Triple-Time Trump Voter and Carpetbagger Richard Bailey

Candidate Nicole Crosby has won the OB Rag’s endorsement for the general election to be held in 30 days. Coming to this stance, I looked at Nicole’s campaign website, my experiences over the last year with Richard Bailey, reviewed candidate debate reports from the U-T, Times of San Diego and our own Rag account.

Bailey has been campaigning for over a year and has polished off a number of campaign phrases — he’s into policies not politics, and the city doesn’t have a money problem, it has a spending problem. Yet, of course, he’s into politics.

Although not perfect, Crosby has a more compassionate heart than Bailey does when you compare their positions on San Diego’s homelessness, rent-control, city staffing,Trump’s immigration policies and the constitutional rights of all citizens in the area.

Of note are Crosby’s local roots — they particularly stand out in heavy contrast to the current District 2 officeholder, Jen Campell. Crosby and her family have lived in Clairemont for many years; she was the president of the PTA for her daughter’s school and was the chair of the Clairemont Town Council. This is also a huge contrast between her and the other candidate, Richard Bailey. Bailey — the former part-time mayor of the tiny community of Coronado – just recently moved to Point Loma so he would be eligible to run. That type of movement is often called “carpetbagging.”

Merriam-Webster defines carpet-bagging as “an outsider moving into a new area to exploit a situation or seek personal, financial, or political gain without having local connections.”  A similar definition states it’s a politician who runs for office in a region where they do not live or have no prior ties, just because they think it will be easier to win. This is what Bailey has done.

Yet, setting that aside, on the issue of homelessness, Crosby believes the city is spending too much on enforcing the so-called “camping ban” and sees that as a serious waste of money and the use of police officers, that it costs more than providing housing. Bailey wants to cut city funds for homeless programs.

Crosby believes in rent control for senior citizens as a way to cut into future homeless seniors; Bailey takes a typical Republican view and doesn’t believe in rent-control at all.

By Laura Henson / Times of San Diego / Sept. 28, 2026

As California cities embrace increasingly aggressive upzoning, one consequence of these policies receives remarkably little attention: What happens psychologically to people when the future of their own neighborhood becomes permanently uncertain?

That question is particularly relevant as San Diego considers the First Draft Mid-City Communities Plan, which would guide land use and development in Mid-City for the next 30 years.

In San Diego, the argument for allowing substantially more housing in established single-family neighborhoods often comes with a reassurance: Don’t worry. Just because every property can be redeveloped doesn’t mean every property will be redeveloped.

But think about what residents are actually being asked to accept.

Your neighbor’s house may remain a house for another 30 years. Or it may be sold next year and replaced with a large apartment building. The house behind you may remain unchanged — or redevelopment may suddenly take away your privacy, sunlight, parking trees and the physical environment you believed you were buying into.

You don’t know.

And that is precisely the problem.

Advocacy Group Alleges License Plate Readers Are Invasion of Privacy

A new lawsuit has been filed by a local civil rights advocacy group to end the San Diego Police Department’s use of automated license plate readers as an invasion of privacy. The group, Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, is represented by the region’s ACLU and their suit was filed Tuesday, Sept. 30, in San Diego Superior Court.

Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, which advocates for refugees and displaced people, also wants the city to stop using public money on a program it says violates constitutional rights. They allege that the cameras and the database they create amount to an invasion of privacy rights under the state constitution.

The California Constitution “provides strong and affirmative privacy protections,” said Frederick Carroll, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties, at a press conference Wednesday at a news conference in downtown San Diego.

Carroll added:

“If privacy as guaranteed in the California Constitution is to mean anything at all, it means that Californians should not be subject to mass surveillance, mass data accumulation of their travels, a mosaic compilation of their everyday activities.”

Ongoing:
Every Saturday at 10:30 am. San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings.  October 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st. Keep up to date on climate issues and Climate Action events. To register email Jon Findley at jon@climatemobsd.org.  More info: https://www.facebook.com/SDClimateMobilization/

Every Saturday 10 am – 12 pm Peace Vigil for Palestine: Advocate for Peace and Justice in Gaza and Everywhere Join CODEPINK SD, San Diego Veterans for Peace, and Palestine Pals every Saturday at 10:00 am at Ocean Beach Gateway Plaza, on the corner of Sunset Cliffs Blvd. and W. Point Loma Blvd.  Wear pink and bring a peace-related poster if you have one!  More info: https://www.codepink.org/sdvigil and https://www.instagram.com/codepinksd/

For updates on Friendship Park, a place where families and friends unite, transcending borders. Let’s make Friendship Park a park, not a prison, and stop the construction of 30-foot walls through the park. More info:  https://www.facebook.com/FofPark

For Border Angels monthly caravans of Love and Water Drops and other events:  https://www.facebook.com/BorderAngels

San Diego FixIt Clinics Event by San Diego Fixit Clinic Bring your broken, non-functioning things:

Turquoise Tower Update: Peters, CalCities & Community Outreach

From Neighbors for a Better California / September 30, 2026

Community Update Meeting: We will not meet on the first Tuesday in October or November. We expect to reconvene in mid-November, when we hope to have more information to share. We’ll send the new meeting date and details as soon as they are confirmed. Thank you for staying engaged.

Scott Peters on Turquoise Tower: From Pacific Beach to YIMBY Democrats

At the August 26 Pacific Beach Town Hall hosted by the Pacific Beach Town Council and Pacific Beach Planning Group, Congressman Scott Peters made clear that he supports building more housing, but does not believe Turquoise Tower, or Project Vela, represents the kind of housing policy San Diego should be pursuing.

Peters said San Diego has to do two things at once: build enough housing for workers, students, families and people experiencing homelessness, while making sure new development is “a credit to our neighborhood, not a detriment.” On Turquoise Tower, he was unequivocal: “This project doesn’t meet our standards.” He criticized the project’s use of visitor accommodations alongside housing incentives and called the proposal “a charade.”

By Paul Krueger

I take serious issue with the Union-Tribune’s latest story on Midway Rising, (see image above) and the paper’s  failure to include a response from any of the numerous, very credible opponents of two new “special interest” state laws that allow the city and Midway Rising’s developers to ignore established environmental review.

It’s also beyond my comprehension that the UT’s reporting lacks any response from the equally well-informed critics of the Midway Rising project, as currently proposed.

Sen. Weber-Pierson’s introduction of her special interest legislation (Senate Bills 344 and 958) was immediately met with a well-documented backlash from San Diegans who objected to what they saw as a blatant attempt to thwart legitimate legal challenges to Midway’s Rising negative and irreversible environmental impacts.

Both of the reporters who wrote this story cover housing issues as part of their important and influential work at the Union-Tribune. I must assume they’ve followed the very public debate about the merits and drawbacks of special state legislation that allows developers of a specific project to skirt established environmental reviews.

In San Diego, the sources for an informed, intelligent, and credible criticism of SB 344 and 958 are obvious, starting with attorney Everett DeLano, who successfully challenged the city’s failure to complete an adequate environmental impact study

David Garrick wrote a great summary of who’s supporting the different candidates in San Diego’s city council races on Sept. 26. Here, I’ve tried to summarize his findings in a more brief format (with the assumption that readers generally know who the candidates are — which means I don’t need to explain them).

Garrick’s accounting is based on contributions to candidates reflected in new campaign finance disclosures filed this week. “The new disclosures cover not just fundraising and spending by independent committees but also individual contributions directly to candidates’ campaigns.”

First, to remind readers of the rules. When supporters contribute directly to candidates instead of to political action committees, they can’t contribute more than the city’s $800 maximum. Independent expenditure committees — which must raise and spend money independently from the candidate they support — also make it possible for corporations, labor unions and merchant groups to participate at all. City campaign rules bar those types of organizations from contributing directly to candidates, but they can contribute to committees that either support or oppose individual candidates.

District 2

In the District 2 battle between Democrat Nicole Crosby and Republican-turned-independent Richard Bailey

• Crosby leads in independent committee money $203,000 to Bailey’s $165,000 since July 1. During the primary, committees supporting Bailey drew by far the most cash.
• Bailey raised by far the most money of any candidate in the city during the period — $51,000.

The Alternative: Bring Housing and Business Back to El Cajon Boulevard.

By Laura L. Henson

San Diego is once again considering dramatic increases in residential density throughout Mid-City as the primary focus of the Mid-City Communities Plan Update. Before assuming that greater zoning capacity automatically produces better neighborhoods, we should examine our own history.

Because San Diego has tried this before, with decidedly mixed results.

In 1965, the City adopted the Mid-City Development Plan during an era of increasing multifamily development. Over the following decades, portions of Mid-City originally developed with modest single-family homes changed parcel by parcel to make room for apartments and condominiums.

The transformation did not occur in isolation.

Freeway construction divided neighborhoods, while Mission Valley and Fashion Valley emerged as regional shopping destinations.

‘I Should Know — I’ve Been Trying to Find Out for Over a Year’

Originally published in the San Diego Union-Tribune on June 26, 2026

By Danna Givot

If San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and the City Council care — or even just wonder — why they’ve lost the public’s trust, they need look no further than their so-called “Technical Working Group” for Neighborhood Homes for All of Us.

What is the Technical Working Group? A secret group of “experts” hand-picked to develop site plans and four building designs (with up to 10 units each) for “single-family” zoned lots in San Diego’s neighborhoods.

[Please go to the original for any links here.]

Three years ago, the planning commissioners rejected San Diego’s Senate Bill 10 (SB 10) proposal, which would have allowed single-family homes to be replaced by 10-unit apartment buildings. To their credit, the commissioners recommended that community stakeholders have seats at the working group table when crafting the next iteration of infill housing in our single-family neighborhoods. I asked the Planning Department to give Neighbors For A Better San Diego a seat at that table but received no response. This was after two members of the Technical Working Group told me they were in the group, although the city’s deputy planning director told me days later that it had “not been formed.”

By JW August / Times of San Diego / Sept.18, 2026

Attorneys are racing against the clock to speed the processing of certain green card applications, months after President Donald Trump’s shutdown of a long-running visa program.

The Diversity Visa (DV) program, also known as the Green Card Lottery, was halted in December when federal officials ordered a comprehensive “hold and review” of the program’s screening and vetting procedures.

The processing of lottery applicants reopened this week following an intense legal fight – one that is set to extend to San Diego. Doubts remain, however, as to whether there’s enough time – or willingness from the government – to handle thousands of remaining applications before Sept. 30.

Because of federal law, State Department embassies have to stop processing this year’s applicants by the end of September, the conclusion of the federal fiscal year.  Many cases are on hold because of slower processing times and the ordered shutdown of the DV program.

The program makes immigrant visas available to natives of countries with low immigration rates.

By Paul Krueger

The Voice of San Diego recently shared its paywall-protected wisdom that District 4 challenger Martha Abraham “…seems to have built something of a coalition between conservatives, anti-development folks and southeastern San Diego residents that believe the area has never gotten its fair and equitable share of resources.”

I vehemently disagree with VOSD’s assertion that any of Abraham’s credible supporters (myself and all my colleagues included) are “anti-development,” and shared my reasoning in an email to Voice editor Scott Lewis and assistant editor Will Huntsberry.

Will’s response, which I’ll share at the end of this column, was disappointing in its brevity and reasoning. But, hey, it’s totally his (and Lewis’s) prerogative to reject audience input and double-down on their chosen narrative. In fact, these civil editorial disagreements are what we should most cherish and defend in a (still hopefully) free and open society that respects the First Amendment (despite — and perhaps because of — Donald Trump’s latest attacks on the media).

Here’s the portion of my email that responded to VOSD’s comment about “anti-development folks” and their support for Abraham:

“Calling any of Abraham’s supporters ‘anti-development’ is intellectually lazy and just plain wrong. In my six years of studying and speaking out on this issue as an activist freed from my obligations as a neutral journalist and observer, I have not encountered even one credible activist who can accurately be described as ‘anti-development’.