OB and PL residents at OB Planning Board meeting, May 7, 2024. Photo by Colleen O’Connor.
By Colleen O’Connor
Last night’s overflow crowd of concerned OB and Point Loma residents at the monthly meeting of the OB Planning Board demonstrates once again, the deafness of the Mayor, most of the Council and a slew of bureaucrats.
It was yet another serious event to stop the overdevelopment, the neighborhood destruction, the arrogance of Mayor Gloria and those claiming to support a daft slogan,“Complete Communities,” but leads quickly to the “loss of neighborhood character” and then to their demise.
See for yourself. Mega high-rises, squeezed “granny flats” in alleys and backyards, six-pack condos that are unique only in their sameness, and a near total loss of what was once the definition of a neighborhood. Neighbors. Long-term residents. Not turnstile renters and AirBnbs.
Add residential zoning laws overridden with the Mayor’s “Executive Orders.” Talk about “autocratic.”
The state rams SB10 density through and SB 9–all in the name of “housing.” Read: developers’ money to candidates and easy, fast track permits, with little or no attention to the crowded residents and small business owners trying to stop the runaway trainwreck.
The crowds that showed up to oppose the mega changes in North Park, in OB, in Point Loma, in Mission Hills, only to cringe at evermore, “look alike ghettos,” are real.
These residents are losing their heritage, their neighborhoods, and any sense of civility and fairness from the Democrats Council and Mayor.
The Mayor and Council are defiant. Faster permitting. More executive overrides. No architectural restrictions and near non-existent parking. Lots more campaign contributions from developers.
What happened to the City Architect and residential zoning?
As one long-term OB resident sorrowfully remarked, “Being a Democrat is so hard these days.”
So swift are these happenings that state courts are now overriding them (SB 9) and demands of a Grand Jury investigation into Planning Board decisions are in the offing.
It cannot come soon enough. The real “neighborhoods” are under siege. Not the “Complete Communities” overwhelming them.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
“As one long-term OB resident sorrowfully remarked, “Being a Democrat is so hard these days.”
These supply side policies directly benefit large capital interests. It’s straight Reagan-style economics with huge right wing and developer backing that has swallowed up California Dems with money, money, money. There’s no alternative now for true left wing policy.
This IS left wing policy..CALIFORNIA is left wing policy.. are you in denial like the rest of the herd?
Supply side trickle down economics with profits count to private companies is left wing? Splain.
Going
It most definitely is not.
For a good example, go to CirculateSD’s donor page and look at their two highest tiers of corporate sponsorships. This stuff is about money, money, money and Dems are being bought and sold to support classic supply-side economics.
Not many true left-wing representatives left in this housing discussion.
Gotta recognize that there are 2 wings to the Dems: the corporate wing and the grassroots wing. We’re still in the grassroots wing.
With the crowd and enthusiasm fighting back in OB, things might change! Just keep fighting the greed.
To paraphrase the Grateful Dead, Won one round, but the prize wasn’t anything, a stab in the back and more of the same. Expect the City to grant approval of the project, despite the Planning Board’s nearly unanimous vote of denial. The next step will involve legal action to stop the project, which requires money, so let’s see if the community is ready and willing to step up and fund the fight.
Excellent point, mi amigo. What is it, a $1000 for an appeal?