OB Rag

By Robert Campbell

On August 28, 2026, the San Diego Housing Commission held a special meeting, a quick under-the-radar addition. In this meeting the Commission unanimously passed massive, 100% deed-restricted affordable housing projects, two of which are in the city’s Chollas View and Encanto neighborhood area. A 244-unit prefabricated development at 4970 Market Street and a 64-unit project at 6601 Imperial Avenue on the corner of Woodman.

Rather than marking a triumph for housing equity, the hearing revealed a profound institutional disdain for vulnerable communities, exposing how municipal leaders and outside developers continue to weaponize low-income housing policy to entrench structural segregation.

In urban planning and fair housing, the single greatest factor in breaking generational cycles of poverty is opportunity area placement. Ensuring that subsidized housing is built in high resource neighborhoods with access to high performing schools, low environmental toxicity, high paying job centers, and robust community infrastructure.

Yet, throughout the entire August 28 Housing Commission discussion, opportunity area and resource metrics were given no discussion.

The conversation was restricted to narrow technical checkboxes, does the project have solar integration (no, but “solar ready”), cost-per-unit metrics ($442k for the prefab per unit on Market, $848k per unit for the traditional build on Imperial), transit access (.5 and 1.2 miles for Imperial to the Trolley), and drastically reduced parking minimums (such as providing a meager 15 parking spots for 64 units on Imperial of which 17 units are 3 bedroom). There was no discussion whatsoever regarding physical unit sizes, the prefab on Market appears to have units little bigger than parking stalls, ignoring whether these spaces are functionally adequate for families

By Staff

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

Monday, September 21: The City Council is in legislative recess in observance of Indian Elders Day.

Tuesday, September 22: City Council, 10:00 a.m./2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Closed Session: Conference with Negotiator Regarding Price and Payment Terms for Leases with Midway Rising

Why it matters: From an OB Rag post: “City Hall wants to fast-track this project, but the public must still be heard. Tuesday’s closed session agenda notes that ‘public testimony will be taken during the 10:00 a.m. Council meeting.’” Severe impacts and risks make Midway Rising a potential 101 Ash St. Background:

By JW August
 
If you check your email, you don’t have to be told election time is upon us. Please look at the email I received from the AFL-CIO (at end of article).  I can guess where they are coming from politically (Democratic) but what interests me is the service performed for me.  It quickly confirmed my registration details.  It is a more sophisticated “get out the vote” campaign.  Try it yourself.  But of course, the unions will have my voting and contact information.

I sent two widely respected academics the email and asked them if this AFL-CIO message demonstrates a new strategy for getting information on voters.  Both said the same thing, Carl Luna, the Director of the Institute for Civil Civic Engagement, also a professor at the University of San Diego and Thad Kousser, Co-Director for the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections and a professor of political science at UC San Diego.

Challenger Martha Abraham in Attendance; Henry Foster a No-Show

By Angelo Haynes

On September 20, community members gathered at a forum to hold a discussion about community development in San Diego City council district 4. It was hosted by the Christian Fellowship Congregational Church UCC (United Church of Christ) in collaboration with the Racial Justice Coalition of San Diego, and held at the historic church location on Kelton Road just off the 94 east in the Emerald Hills neighborhood of southeast San Diego. Clovis Honore and Darwin Fishman of the Racial Justice Coalition facilitated the meeting and the ensuing group discussion.

The forum’s overall objective appeared to focus on bringing together current councilman Henry Foster III and challenger Martha Abraham to discuss their goals for District 4 and the controversial footnote 7, an illegal zoning ordinance change made under the tenure of then councilwoman Monica Montgomery-Steppe.

Many in the Southeastern San Diego community have decried the footnote after its widespread discovery, lamenting the implications of high-density housing and its impact on the Emerald hills community. Chief concerns appear to be potential impacts to fire evacuation safety of the area as increases in traffic on 60th Street, a two-lane road connecting to Federal Blvd, may be easily congested during an emergency. Not to mention, the daily traffic load increase from commuters making their way to the 94 freeway each day.

by Christine Smith / Times of San Diego / Sept. 20, 2026

Midway Rising goes before the city’s Land Use and Housing Committee in October and the City Council later this fall. It’s billed as a major affordable housing win for San Diego with 4,254 homes, including 2,000 deed-restricted ones for households at or below 80% of area median income.

But the developer’s pledge to build those affordable units is not enough. The city must require an enforceable contract that guarantees the affordable units are built within a specified timeframe, to ensure the project complies with state housing incentives.

As presented to the Planning Commission in September 2025, the proposed agreement includes a waiver letting the developer delay the affordable units, if subsidy funding cannot be secured. Without a firm deadline and meaningful consequences, nothing ensures the affordable units will be built. Because the project relies on California’s Surplus Land Act and Density Bonus Law, the city must hold the developer — not San Diego taxpayers — responsible for constructing them.

Battle for the Paddle
Friday, September 25: 6:00 – 10:00pm

FREE for Spectators
-Great food and drinks
-Exciting competition
-OB-style community fun!

32 Player Bracket, Co-Ed Competition.
Stay tuned for more details and player sign-up info.

OB Rag Staff Report

The controversial Midway Rising project will move one step closer to being a done deal on Tuesday, September 22, when the City Council receives a closed session briefing “regarding the price and payment terms for potential long-term ground leases.”

As the Union-Tribune reported August 20, “Although not formally docketed, the proposed real estate deal between the city and the development team is expected to be taken up by San Diego’s Land Use & Housing Committee on Oct. 8, Councilmember Kent Lee, who chairs the committee, told the [newspaper].”

City Hall wants to fast-track the project, but the public must still be heard. Tuesday’s closed session agenda notes that “public testimony … will be taken during the 10:00 a.m. Council meeting.”

For San Diegans who fear that the Midway project will result in overcrowding, traffic congestion, air pollution, loss of naturally occurring affordable housing, and flood risks from a rising water table,

Debbie L Sklar / Times of San Diego  / Sept. 18, 2026

A motorist traveling through San Diego in the 1930s didn’t need a large hotel to spend the night. Small tourist courts offered a room, a parking space, and a convenient stop along the road.

The tourist court emerged as automobile travel became more common. By the 1930s, Americans increasingly needed lodging that accommodated both themselves and their cars, and San Diego’s major automobile routes became natural locations for this new kind of business.

The city of San Diego identifies the tourist court — also called an auto camp or auto court — as the predecessor of the modern motel. Early courts generally consisted of small, one-story buildings with a limited number of rooms and nearby parking, or individual cabins arranged around a central parking area.

One example was the El Portal Motel and Apartments at 5252 El Cajon Boulevard, along Business Route U.S. 80. A vintage postcard advertised the property as “Doorway to Western Hospitality” and described it as a 54-unit motel and apartment complex with kitchens, a heated pool, and other amenities.

By Michael J. Stepner & Mary Lydon / San Diego Daily Transcript / Sept. 17, 2026

Residents in San Diego County overwhelmingly feel a deep sense of ownership for their beloved Balboa Park, but there is not an entity with comprehensive resources and authority to run it. The result is a dysfunctional dynamic that has been brewing for decades. Without a plan for sustainability, Balboa Park is doomed to a slow, steady decline.

Earlier this month a city of San Diego planning team presented its strategy for updating the Balboa Park Masterplan to the City of San Diego Balboa Park Committee. This is an official advisory committee for the mayor and city council on policy issues relating to the acquisition, development, maintenance and operation of Balboa Park.

Mayor Todd Gloria called for the plan to be updated three years ago but there was no money in the budget for it. Now, thanks to grants from the State of California, SANDAG and the Prebys Foundation, the planning process is moving forward.

Since the plan’s original adoption in 1989, it has had four amendments. Longtime park leaders and planners Howard Blackson and Vicki Estrada recommend amending and updating the existing Master and Precise Plans into one unified Master and Implementation Plan for the entire park to save time and money.

A 23-year-old man died at the hospital after his motorcycle crashed into an SUV in the Sunset Cliffs area of Point Loma Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 16.

Shortly after noon, the unidentified young man was riding a 2003 Harley motorcycle northbound on 1000 Catalina Blvd. toward the intersection with Varona Street, San Diego police said.

However, at the same time, a 58-year-old man driving a 2016 Jeep Patriot drove into his path as he headed east on Varona Street toward Catalina Boulevard.

This apparent fatal error caused the motorcyclist to slam into the SUV. It was the motorcycle rider’s right of way, and the SUV was attempting to cross Catalina Boulevard.

From SOHO

EACH YEAR, SAVE OUR HERITAGE ORGANISATION honors the people, organizations, public agencies, and homeowners whose vision and dedication ensure that San Diego County’s historic places continue to enrich our communities. The People In Preservation Awards celebrate those whose work reminds us that while preservation is about protecting our historic places and buildings it is also about stewarding the places that tell our collective story.

The 2026 People In Preservation Award recipients exemplify preservation in its fullest sense. This year’s honorees include individuals whose decades of leadership have shaped the preservation movement, homeowners who embraced the responsibility of caring for significant historic residences, skilled professionals who restored architectural landmarks with outstanding craftsmanship, and public agencies that invested in the long-term future of some of San Diego’s most treasured civic buildings.

OB Historical Society Presents

Did you know that Shelter Island, which we are all familiar with, started out as a sandbar and a shifting shoal that was considered to be a navigational hazard? The Island was nearly dredged out of existence before it was ever connected to Point Loma