Month: December 2021

A voter-approved ballot measure lifting the 30-foot building height limit in the Midway District was improperly placed on the November 2020 ballot and cannot be implemented, San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal said in her final ruling last week.

Bacal said the city of San Diego should not have asked voters to remove the 30-foot coastal height limit in the Midway area on the 2020 ballot finalizing a tentative ruling that throws a major city redevelopment effort into limbo.

The vote on Measure E lifted the height limit in the entire Midway area,

By Eric DuVall / Point Loma – OB Monthly / Dec. 13, 2021

What do you know about the OB tree? It always leans to the left … right? Well, that would depend on your vantage point. Or what side of the (chain link) fence you’re on.

But all that aside, the Ocean Beach community Christmas tree is greeting its 41st consecutive season this year, and its preposterous, zany and improbable history is certainly something to celebrate.

By Colleen O’Connor

If you are reading this column, you will “bigly” appreciate the best Christmas gift ever. A book.

Not just any book, but one that draws you into the joys of the season, the thrill of holding a new pages containing amazing mysteries and adventures inside; and the ability to share it so it lives on, past anyone’s lifespan.

In short, a treasure. A genuine heirloom. And a timely antidote for any complaints.

The Gifts of Reading is an engrossing collection of short essays by some of the world’s finest and most celebrated writers. Their international prizes won are too long to list here.

Originally posted Dec. 14, 2021
There are 5 remaining redevelopment teams bidding to take on San Diego’s 48 acres of city-owned land around the sports arena in Midway District. Proposals from the Panacea Group and Cotterkey Investments were deemed not responsive and have been eliminated.

The developer groups are going for a longterm ground lease for the city’s real estate holdings at 3500, 3250, 3220 and 3240 Sports Arena Blvd. These include San Diego’s sports arena — the long-time home of the San Diego Gulls. Bidders are supposed to be submitting site redevelopment plans with a new or improved sports arena, and withat least 25 percent of proposed housing units for lower-income families.

by Ernie McCray

Oh, the weather.
Winds and snows
and tornadoes
wreaking unspeakable harm,
while, at the same time,
we pray for the rains to fall
to protect us from
firestorms
that transform
our woodlands
into acres of
charred terrain,
its flames
leaving towns
as darkened
burnt-out memories.

By Mat Wahlstrom

Tomorrow marks the 55th anniversary of one of the most important grand jury reports in California history, of which you may have never heard.

“Zoning Study Report & Recommendations“ was the result of an investigation into pay-for-play allegations against a developer and the Los Angeles city council and planning department to obtain favorable upzoning, or increasing density incompatible with existing purposes, despite concerns by every other agency as to the adverse affects.

You probably won’t be shocked to hear it was initiated by a complaint from citizens concerned about parks or that the rezoning at issue would have allowed construction of a sports arena in protected open space.

But you may be surprised to learn that it resulted in criminal prosecutions for bribery and conspiracy, significant reforms of the zoning approval process, and the preservation of that open space to this day.

Just about everyday it seems, there’s a letter to the editor in the San Diego U-T complaining about vendors taking over the Boardwalk at Belmont or swamping walk-ways in Balboa Park. In Ocean Beach, merchants and residents have long been complaining about vendors taking over the Vets’ Plaza and the grassy area at the end of Newport Avenue.

And merchants critical of vendors were hopeful that a mid-December hearing on a new vendor ordinance was about to be held. But, then, the city councilperson shepherding the proposed ordinance, Jen Campbell, lost her seat as Council president, and the new council president, Sean Elo-Rivera, shelved the hearing set for this week and sent it back to committee.

Is a 5-unit bed & breakfast coming to the 4700 block of Voltaire Street?

That’s what the applicant hopes. A Coastal Development permit has been applied for by Stephanie Ibarra to build a 2-story, 5-unit bed and breakfast at 4744 Voltaire. The property is right across the street from the former People’s cafe. She filed the application on November 19 and the community was notified just recently.

First, the permit requests the “demolition of an existing 6,430 S.F. 2-story Single Dwelling/Storefront/Garage structure” –

Old Town has “returned” to District 2. It’s part of the latest redistricting map changes the volunteer commission has made of late. And the decision to keep all of Clairemont in D2 and say ‘bye-bye’ to Pacific Beach helps Jen Campbell keep her seat in her upcoming re-election campaign.

The adjustment to take Old Town from District 3 and place it with Ocean Beach, the Midway, Mission Beach, Clairemont, and the Peninsula was all ostensibly about finding balance — balance in population.

District 2 lost population in the map redrawings and the 1,200 residents of Old Town will boost its people number. Old Town used to be in District 2 until the 2011 redistricting changes and boundaries redrawn.

Some believe District 2 has been “radically redrawn”

SANDAG Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata admits the agency “screwed up” its plan to create 70 miles of bicycle lanes and bikeways throughout San Diego County.

Since 2013, when the plan was adopted by the San Diego Association of Governments — eight years ago, it has completed 14 miles of bikeways and spent $186.5 million. SANDAG is planning to finish 11 more miles by spring of 2022 and to begin on another 18 miles by the end of 2022.

The original plan was to build 77 miles of streets and pathways by 2023 for $200 million. Now, the cost has risen to $446 million, even after SANDAG dropped 7 miles from the project. Officials say that rising construction costs have contributed to problems.

A man was stabbed in the 5000 block of Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach early Thursday morning, December 9.

Fortunately, he sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital.

The unidentified victim was talking to a couple around 1:30 am near the intersection of Newport and Bacon Street when the assailant “ran up to the victim swinging his arms,” according to San Diego Police.

From the Appeal

Right-wingers and ultranationalists convened in San Diego and Pacific Beach days after the Washington insurrection, but the police crackdown that day fell on counterprotesters.

At least five people involved in the Capitol rally on Jan. 6 attended a violent pro-Trump “Patriot March” in San Diego just three days after the democracy-shaking event. But police declared an unlawful assembly that only applied to anti-fascist counterprotesters.