OB Rag

Lawsuit Seeks Release of Details on City of San Diego Housing Initiative

By Paul Krueger

A lawsuit filed by advocates for sensible planning seeks the immediate release of important information about Mayor Todd Gloria’s “Neighborhood Homes for All of Us” initiative.

For more than a year, El Cerrito resident Danna Givot has asked the City Planning Department to disclose membership information about the initiative’s “Technical Working Group.”

Input from that “Working Group” will have a significant impact on proposed changes to zoning, density, and design prototypes that would be imposed on San Diego’s neighborhoods under the mayor’s controversial land-use program.

The City repeatedly ignored Givot’s informal requests for that public information, and has now failed to comply with her formal requests for disclosure under the California Public Records Act.

Budget Crisis Could Force End to One-Third of Bus Routes and Less Frequent Trolleys

David Garrick at the U-T reported on a scary scenario for San Diego’s mass transit system. Garrick stated “a looming budget crisis” could “eliminate one-third of bus routes,” — and “reduce service on another one-third” and force “San Diego trolley’s four lines [to run] less frequently.”

This is certainly a doomsday outlook as Metropolitan Transit System officials attempt to deal with “annual budget deficits of $100 million to $150 million” but not until fiscal year 2030.

It’s all a “rough draft”, Garrick says. But it could “wipe out 33 of the 95 MTS bus routes….” That’s a lot of bus routes. Garrick must get his info from MTS and he reports the wipe out could include “the end of service to SeaWorld, Cabrillo National Monument, Tierrasanta and parts of Mission Hills.”

There would be notable service reductions for another 29 routes. Like, “Sunday service could be eliminated on a route or the frequency of service could be reduced from once every half an hour to once every hour.”

All four trolley lines – blue, green, orange and copper – would also see reductions in service frequency, MTS officials said. Trains now typically run every 15 minutes on most routes.

By Noah Robertson,Tara Copp, Warren P. Strobel, and Alex Horton / Washington Post / Sept. 18, 2026

More American service members have died in the Middle East during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly, according to six U.S. officials familiar with the Defense Department’s internal casualty accounting data.

Five of the officials said there have been at least 22 military fatalities — four more than what appears in the Pentagon’s public database, known as the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS.

A sixth official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the figures, said 23 service members have died since Feb. 28, when the Trump administration, in concert with Israel, initiated the Iran war. Not all of the undisclosed deaths are directly tied to the conflict but have involved U.S. personnel who were in the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities, this person said.

Additionally, the official said, three U.S. contractors who were based in the region have died since combat operations began.

Ariana Baio and Maanvi Singh / The Guardian US / Sept. 21, 2026

The major US television news outlets agreed to suspend their video coverage of Donald Trump after the administration banned journalists from several outlets from entering the White House grounds.

The collective decision came after the barred outlets – CNN, MS Now and Politico – sued the administration on Monday, saying the president’s actions were a violation of their first amendment rights.

The ban was an extraordinary escalation of Trump’s battle against news outlets. After a coalition of networks including ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC – which along with CNN form a press “pool” that share the responsibilities of capturing and distributing footage of the president carried by news outlets worldwide – announced they would cease coverage in solidarity with the barred outlets, the White House promoted its own feed online, branding it “Trump TV”. The channel purported to show “top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration all in one place”.

It is extremely rare for a president to travel or make public appearances without the accompaniment of a representative from the White House television pool. Network cameras have provided coverage of the president since 1950.

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,

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:

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.

by Ernie McCray

Visited the place of my birth a little while ago.
Tucson.
Needed the trip so desperately
during bluesy soul-sapping times like these
as that desert town,
over the years
when life was somewhat getting me down,
has always eased my mind
gifting me with a kind of assurance
that nothing has really budged,
that everything’s going to be okay,
making me feel that way
going back to my childhood days

SOHO Newsletter / Sept-Oct. 2026

San Diego’s historic Wonder Bread Building at 171 14th Street in downtown is to be transformed by a winning new recipe into a 4,000-capacity music venue expected to open in 2028. Live Nation Entertainment’s project will adaptively reuse the 1924 red-brick landmark, bringing new life and revenue to one of the area’s distinctive industrial buildings.

In 2016, SOHO named the Wonder Bread Building to our Most Endangered List, when plans for a new stadium threatened its future. At the time, SOHO warned against both demolition and “facadectomy,” which would preserve only a thin historic exterior while sacrificing the historic building itself. Nearly a decade later, the building’s survival makes possible an exciting, forward-thinking adaptive reuse project.

SOHO Executive Director Bruce Coons, who met with the project team, welcomed their approach to the landmark, which was designed by San Diego master architect Eugene Hoffman. Coons routinely works with developers, owners, architects, and designers who bring projects to SOHO, helping them work through any issues, explore solutions, and identify the highest preservation practices and standards.

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 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.