OB Rag

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.

Join the OB Historical Society on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 7:00 PM, as they presents Kathy Blavatt, who shows us that the Peninsula is truly a “Garden of Eden” with its perfect climate and wide variety of plant life that springs from the local soil.

Mankind has nurtured this landscape and lived on it for centuries, from Indigenous peoples to today’s population.

By Tammy Murga / kpbs / Oct. 2, 2026

A bright yellow circle slowly formed in the water at Glorietta Bay Park in Coronado on Thursday afternoon.

They were surfers, clean water advocates and community members on surfboards, paddleboards and kayaks. Except they weren’t wearing wetsuits. They donned hazmat suits.

“The hazmat suit is a visual cue that we’re in a crisis,” said Corey Cleary-Stoner, one of the community members. “The most essential natural resource is under attack, and it’s under attack by us.”

He was referring to what’s been happening for years on the other side of the San Diego Bay, about eight miles south of the park: beaches closed for swimming because of sewage contamination that makes its way from Tijuana.

The pollution has forced lifeguards to adapt by limiting their time in the water and using mobile showers attached to their vehicles; children in local summer camps are bussed to beaches outside of their communities, and residents have become sick from exposure to the sewage contamination.

By Angelo Haynes

A 2-alarm 3-acre vegetation fire began around 4pm yesterday, Sunday, Oct. 4, along a small drainage adjacent to the west bound trolley tracks near the corner of Merlin and Imperial Ave in the Encanto neighborhood.

Approximately 30-35 fire personnel were responding to the fire, with 10-15 fire vehicles including fire engines and battalion trucks on scene. Fire Stations observed were local Fire Station Lincoln Park 12 and Fire engines from Barona. Traffic was blocked near the post office and St. Stephen’s Church.

MTS security and SDPD were on hand and securing the boundaries of firefighting operations while staff from MTS Rail and SDG&E were observed doing maintenance checks of adjacent rail line infrastructure in what appeared to be powerhouse near the tracks. MTS Rail stated the overhead trolley lines were live at the time of the fire.

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 La Prensa News Desk / Sept. 21, 2026

A new poll of likely voters in coastal San Diego finds strong opposition to a proposed City sales tax increase, homelessness ranking as the top concern, and Mayor Todd Gloria receiving a lower favorability rating than President Donald Trump.

The poll conducted over the past two weeks shows 64% of respondents oppose a November election ballot measure to raise the City’s sales tax, with only 25% supporting the measure. A similar one-cent sales tax increase, Measure E, failed in November 2024 by only 3,506 votes.

Respondents cited homelessness as their top concern, followed by housing affordability, and the City’s fiscal issues.

When asked whether they believe the City is headed in the right or wrong direction, only 19% said it was headed in the right direction, while 64% said it was headed in the wrong direction.

The poll respondents also expressed negative views of both Mayor Gloria and President Trump.

By JW August / Special to the OB Rag

There are clear differences between the candidates and they were on display at a debate at the Point Loma Library last night, October 1.  Nicole Crosby is the Democratic Party’s choice and is supported by local organized labor groups  Richard Bailey says he is now an independent after years representing Republican interests.  He is supported by the Lincoln Club, conservative, pro-business PAC (Political Action Committee) which says they are independent of the Republican Party but have supported party candidates as a matter of course.

They were given two minutes for an opening statement.  Those are provided here, in part, from both candidates.

Nicole Crosby:

“when I launched my campaign for San Diego, it is because we’re dealing with crumbling infrastructure. Our politicians are pushing forth half-baked solutions to complicated problems, and I’m raising my daughter in this community, and we want it to be better for her, her friends, and all of our family”

Richard Bailey:

“I previously served as the 53rd mayor of Coronado, and as the mayor of Coronado, we focused on getting the basics of local government right. We focused on public safety, infrastructure, reasonable housing policies, and accomplishing those objectives in a financially responsible manner, and I think the track record speaks for itself.members, and that’s not what we’ve been seeing.”

There was a photo accompanying today’s San Diego U-T report on last night’s District 2 candidate forum at the Point Loma Library. But the photo is very suspicious. It’s very unflattering of Nicole Crosby — it shows her with her face all scrunched up, furrowed brow as she jabs her finger while being very emphatic while Richard Bailey sits there cool as a cucumber (which he is not, by the way).

The photo is a reflection of the old sexist attitudes about women —

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.

By LK Bruce

“Where your hands go, where the light falls, where the shadows make a pattern,
they will lead you. If it comes from the heart it is part of the universe’s song of jubilation.”
James Hubbell

The legacy of celebrated San Diego artist James Hubbell was very much alive at last weekend’s Harvest Moon Fundraiser, where family, friends, artists and admirers gathered at his extraordinary Ilan-Lael compound in Julian to celebrate a life devoted to art, nature, beauty and the power of human connection.

For nearly seven decades, Hubbell created works that transformed public spaces, private homes and gardens throughout San Diego and far beyond. Although he died in 2024 at age 92, the creative spirit he nurtured continues to flourish at Ilan-Lael, carried forward by his family, protégés, fellow artists and the many people inspired by his work.

A remarkable architect, watercolorist, pen-and-ink artist, designer, sculptor and poet, Hubbell was a humble giant who created beauty and serenity through masterworks around the world. In addition to being a gifted artist and craftsman, James Hubbell was a passionate naturalist, devoted friend and inspiring teacher. He mentored countless individuals, using art as a way to communicate compassion and kindness.

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.”