OB Rag

By Donna Frye

The Community Coalition Bulletin for this week included helpful and important information about the February 18, Rules Committee meeting regarding the public’s right to know and some important state Brown Act amendments.

Items 2 and 3

As discussed in the Bulletin, Items 2 and 3 are being proposed by Councilmember Campillo. The changes are a result of the fees San Diego residents were led to believe they would be paying when they voted to support a trash tax. As everyone knows, voters were told in the ballot materials that the fees would be much lower than the amount approved by council. It’s why Campillo voted against the increased fees.

His proposal includes an option for the council to require that ballot measures have a cost-of-service study done before, not after, voters cast their ballot to avoid another trash fee debacle. “It would only apply to ballot proposals put forward by Councilmembers, the Mayor, mayoral departments, independent department directors, or a public agency” but “would not apply to proposals submitted by members of the public.”

by Dave Schwab  / Times of San Diego / Feb. 17, 2026

Near Valentine’s Day 1964, a young, recently married couple, Johnny and Joyce Swindle, were killed by a lone sniper as they stood behind the Ocean Bean seawall watching the sunset.

This random double murder was never solved.

Nor were the homicides of four more young couples killed at isolated California locations near water, at dusk, and with the same .22-caliber bullets.

Those killings were attributed to the infamous Zodiac Killer, who taunted police, was never apprehended, and who went silent six years later. Some criminologists became convinced that the Ocean Beach Valentine’s Day murders were an early trial experiment of this serial killer.

31,000 Kaiser nurses and other professionals vow to strike until fair contract agreement is reached.

By City News Service / NBC7  / February 16, 2026

Kaiser Permanente nurses and health care workers in the San Diego area will remain on picket lines Monday as their open-ended strike alleging unfair labor practices amid prolonged contract talks enters it’s fourth week.

The roughly 31,000 members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals vowed to stay on strike until a fair contract agreement is reached. UNAC/UHCP members include registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives, physician assistants, rehab therapists, speech language pathologists, dietitians and other specialty health care professionals.

Picketing resumes at 9 a.m. Monday at San Diego Medical Center, 9455 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.

By many indications, it appears that California will be one of the targets of the next “ICE surge.” Even though there won’t be any surge during this current government shutdown, ICE still is currently expanding its physical presence across the country. Its parent, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is carrying out a hush-hush campaign to open up 250 facilities and offices in nearly every state, and the Golden State — long a demises for Trump — is at the top of the list.

Check out the following coming down in California:

• Irvine: New offices at 2020 Main Street, located directly adjacent to a childcare agency.
• Los Angeles: General expansion of existing federal office spaces.
• Sacramento: Security upgrades and expansion at the John E. Moss building, which houses a DOJ immigration court.
• San Diego: Growth at the Edward J. Schwartz Courthouse and federal building.
• Santa Ana: Expansion at the Santa Ana federal building, situated blocks from a church and a major high school football stadium.
• Van Nuys (Los Angeles): Expansion at the James C. Corman federal building.

This secret federal government campaign to purchase warehouses for the massive expansion of ICE is now known due to documents posted online late last week by  Republican New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte. Also, a federal official said that California — and New York are among the “next” for a surge similar to the campaign in Minneapolis. These plans include embedding hundreds of new ICE offices in Sacramento, Irvine, Santa Ana and Van Nuys, according to an explosive report by WIRED magazine.

by Debbie L. Sklar / Times of San Diego /  Feb. 13, 2026

For centuries, the waters off Point Loma have been both a gateway and a hazard. Guarding the entrance to San Diego Bay, the peninsula’s rocky shoreline, strong currents, and frequent fog made it one of Southern California’s most treacherous stretches of coast. Long before visitors hiked the bluffs, ships ran aground, illicit cargo moved ashore, and maritime stories took root — shaping local lore that still echoes today.

Navigation into the bay was especially tricky in the 19th century. Fog often concealed the narrow channel, and early nautical charts were incomplete. The Old Point Loma Lighthouse, first lit in 1855, was intended to guide ships safely to harbor. Instead, its high perch often placed the light above the fog, making it invisible to sailors below. Mariners complained, and shipping records indicate that vessels continued to run aground. In 1891, the lighthouse was abandoned and replaced by a new light positioned closer to the water.

Shipwrecks along the Point Loma coast were not uncommon. Many vessels were damaged rather than destroyed, but contemporary newspaper accounts describe ships stranded on shoals, cargo lost overboard, and crews rescued under dangerous conditions. These incidents reinforced the area’s reputation as a hazardous passage — a reputation that lingered even as navigation tools and harbor improvements advanced.

The current rain and wind storm badgering San Diego has brought snow to the local mountains,  particularly Mt. Laguna. Here is a photo from the webcam at Mt. Laguna Lodge taken Monday, Feb. 16, at approx. 10:25 p.m.

By: Marie Coronel / 10News / Feb 16, 2026

A growing trend in San Diego is helping address the housing shortage as companies convert vacant hotels into apartment complexes, offering residents new housing options at competitive rental rates.

Ambient Communities has been working for years to transform the former Consulate Hotel, which was built in the 1970s and sat vacant for years, into the Celeste Point Loma Apartments. The project will offer 127 units in an area that has seen limited new housing development.

Robert Honer, a principal for Ambient Communities, said the conversion provides an alternative housing option for young professionals and students in a desirable neighborhood.

“If you’re going to graduate school, if you get your first job this is a community that people like to live in. For me the only way we could afford it was we put a bunch of kids in a single family home and did it that way. So this is an alternative to that,” Honer said.

From Peninsula News

Please join the Ocean Beach Historical Society on Thursday, February 19, 2026, 7pm, at Water’s Edge Community, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. Local author Jill Hall discusses her recent novel “On a Sundown Sea”

Ping ‘Jenny’ Gao took money from three firms; ‘went on a spending spree’ and bought $2.9 million home in Point Loma and new Porsche

City News Service — SDU-T / February 13-14, 2026

A San Diego woman who pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $8.5 million from her employer and laundering the money was sentenced Friday to five years and three months in prison.

Ping “Jenny” Gao took money from three aviation investment firms and then “went on a spending spree” that included buying a $2.9 million home in Point Loma and a $160,000 Porsche, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

She was later sued by her employer in San Diego Superior Court upon discovery of the theft and prosecutors say her defense case included repeated acts of perjury, in which she claimed the actual owner of the companies was an imposter.