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.”

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”

OB Rag Staff

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

Wednesday, February 18: Rules Committee, 9:00 a.m.

Agenda:

Item 2: Amendments to Council Policy 000-21 related to the submission of ballot proposals by the Mayor, the Council, City Hall departments and public agencies.

Why it matters: This proposal by Councilmember Raul Campillo would place new requirements on City-initiated ballot measures

By Nico Calavita / Op-Ed SD Union-Tribune / February 17, 2026 

When I was a professor at SDSU in the Graduate Program in City Planning, I taught my students that one of the most important goals for planners is to ensure that growth is accompanied by public facilities and infrastructure; otherwise, a city’s quality of life will suffer.

The recently approved College Area Community Plan, when measured against such a principle, fails in catastrophic ways. It significantly increases residential densities in an area with practically no public facilities and without adequate financing mechanisms for future infrastructure. The only, single-minded goal appears to be to increase residential building capacity; lack of infrastructure be damned.

This approach is a reversal of a long tradition of planning in San Diego based on accommodating growth where public facilities were available or would become available as growth occurred; with a notable, tragic omission. Let me explain.

What would Irving Gill Say to City Hall Today?

By Alana Coons and James B. Guthrie, AIA

In the early years of the 20th century, San Diego was young and full of hope. In 1893, among the dust and ambition, walked Irving J. Gill, an architect by profession but a visionary to his core. He said: San Diego “has an opportunity unparalleled in the history of the world, for it is the newest white page turned for registration.”

As a master architect, he recognized what was special about San Diego and designed buildings that responded to those special characteristics. In the process he constructed a unique “sense of place” for his clients and, through his designs’ beauty and durability, for us and those that will follow.

San Diego has long respected Gill’s contribution to our community, not as relics of past times, but as an ongoing legacy and a part of who we still are.

By Geoff Hueter

The City of San Diego is changing Council Rules to comply with a new state law that requires “equal treatment” for in-person public comment and residents who attend meetings virtually and phone in their comments.

Among the options beings considered by our city is the elimination of group presentations and time ceding. This change would limit citizens to a one to three minute comment, depending on the number of people who wish to speak on an issue.

The loss of group presentations and time ceding would severely limit the ability of Neighbors For A Better San Diego and other organizations to present a comprehensive, factual analysis of new regulations being considered by the City Council.

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.