Month: December 2024

By Jennifer van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / December 17 – 18, 2024

San Diego could potentially deny the 239-foot-tall, mixed-use tower proposed for 970 Turquoise St. in Pacific Beach that has not only outraged community members but catalyzed elected leaders to seek reforms to state housing laws.

Last week, the city of San Diego received a technical assistance letter from California’s Department of Housing and Community Development, or HCD, that gives the municipality a little wiggle room during the staff-level approval process.

The letter, which makes the case for either approval or denial, states that the city can reject the height-limit-busting project on very specific grounds related to the application of State Density Bonus Law.

“The (State Density Bonus Law) permits the city to approve the requested incentive and associated waiver or to deny the requested incentive and associated waiver by making a written finding, based on substantial evidence, that the incentive does not result in identifiable and actual cost reductions to provide for affordable housing,” Shannan West, HCD’s housing accountability unit chief, wrote in the letter.

In other words, the city must be able to prove that some or all of the developer’s requested bonuses, waivers and incentives — collectively allowing the Turquoise tower to stretch well beyond the neighborhood’s 30-foot height limit — are not necessary to create the project’s 10 affordable housing units.

By Salvador Hernandez / Los Angeles Times / Dec. 18, 2024

A new immigration policy adopted by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors was supposed to stop jails from working with federal immigration officials, a move that would potentially hinder President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations.

But the county is now locked in a standoff in what could be a preview of local immigration politics after Trump retakes office in January.

San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez said her office won’t comply with the county’s policy and would continue to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials when some people not authorized to be in the country are released from county jails.

“The Sheriff, as an independently elected official, sets the policy for the Sheriff’s Office,” the office said in a statement hours after the board approved the policy. “The Sheriff has the sole and exclusive authority to operate county jails.”

Opponents of Building in Famosa Canyon Once Characterized as ‘Racist’ NIMBYs

By Frank Gormlie

Is the battle over Famosa Canyon over?

The City of San Diego, the City Council and the Housing Authority believe so. The Housing Authority on Tuesday, December 17, approved the sale of Famosa Canyon to Bridge Housing Corporation, to build more than 70 affordable housing units. The vote was 9 to 0.

This clears the way for three affordable housing buildings, each three stories high.

Yet, this lot on the corner of Nimitz and Famosa boulevards has been at the center of controversy for years. Some saw it as a tug of war between the need to preserve open space and the need for affordable housing.

Local residents and neighbors have been fighting the sale of the land to … anyone … for many years. The lot is considered a community treasure and local kids use it as a bike track, crafted by neighbors for many a moon. People have circulated petitions, set up an opposition website, contacted their local councilperson, gone to the local planning board meetings — all seemingly in vain. At one meeting, Housing Commission members called opponents of any project there “racist” NIMBYs.

Head Commissioner Kelly Moden Reluctant to Meet With Neighbors of her 91-Unit Project

By Kate Callen

If you’ve ever wondered whether powerful developers like Kelly Moden have functioning moral compasses, Roy Machado can fill you in.

Moden is Chair of the San Diego Planning Commission, appointed to the panel by Todd Gloria in 2022. She also is President and CEO of cREate Development, one of two finalists for the lucrative city contract to redevelop the 101 Ash Street complex.

Given her prominence, you might think Moden would demonstrate a commitment to public interest and a willingness to engage with communities where she builds.

Not so, say Machado and other neighbors of The Minn, Moden’s colossal project at 1905 Broadway, in Golden Hill.

The 8-story monolith would be a blight in any part of Golden Hill, an older neighborhood of mainly modest homes and quiet streets.

On Tuesday, December 17, the San Diego Housing Authority approved the sale of Famosa Canyon, a vacant lot in Point Loma, to build more than 70 affordable housing units.

The housing authority voted 9-0 to approve the sale of this land to Bridge Housing Corporation, clearing the way for three affordable housing buildings, each three stories high. The 9 members of the City Council sit as the Housing Authority — which governs the San Diego Housing Commission.

The lot on the corner of Nimitz and Famosa boulevards  has been at the center of a tug of war between the need to preserve open space and the need for affordable housing.

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Commission on Police Practices Completes Audit on How SDPD Handled Complaints

By JW August

An audit of how the San Diego Police Department handles complaints was just completed on behalf of the Commission on Police Practices. It began as an inquiry by the Commission of previous SDPD cases that had passed the one-year statute of limitations for disciplining an officer.

Nevertheless the newly created commission felt they didn’t want the to let go of SDPD’s internal investigations without any review by CPP.  “What might be learned” was the motivation for hiring an independent auditor-Attorney Jerry Threet -to review “multiple areas of concerns and (make) suggestions for improvement” and what resulted is a report titled ‘Independent Civilian Audit of San Diego Police Department Complaint Investigations for the Commission on Police Practices 2020-2023’.

The 25 member Commission’s creation has been a long slog for activists and citizens seeking more comprehensive oversight of the police department. A prior effort at civilian oversight was considered a failure and San Diego voters approved a more vigorous model to investigate police conduct, independent of the SDPD and the Office of the Mayor.

This review of 153 cases, resulting from 651 allegations of misconduct against SDPD officers, is a baseline for data and insight into the department’s internal handling of citizen complaints.

By Ernie McCray

Excuse my French,
as they say,
but it just seems as though
everything today
is ass-backwards.
In so many ways.
And that puts us in a bind,
considering that we’ve got a man
who, in a very short time,
will be taking us through whatever
is going to go down
down the line,

By Ben Mondy / Surfer / December 16, 2024

In the 11th Century, King Canute united the kingdoms of England, Denmark and Norway into what was known as the North Sea Empire. It was an incredible feat. Especially, as he was known as Cnut at the time.

However, he is remembered for setting his throne by the shore and commanding the incoming tide to halt. As the two-footers washed around his shins, he declared to his courtiers: “Let all the world know that the power of kings is empty and worthless … heaven, earth and sea obey eternal laws.”

Old Cnut has been forever linked with the futility of trying to stop the tides using his supernatural powers, even if he was trying to teach his fawning courtiers the opposite. Roughly 1,000 years later, his lesson could be applied to the continued building of seawalls to combat erosion.

“Seawalls damage virtually every beach they are built on. If they are built on eroding beaches – and they are rarely built anywhere else – they eventually destroy the beach.” That was Cornelia Dean, the Science Editor of the New York Times, in her book “Against the Tide, The Battle of America’s Beaches.” And that was in 1999.

From San Diego’s fishing history from Kumeyaay and Portuguese tuna fishermen, to today’s multicultural palette

by MacKenzie Elmer / Voice of San Diego / December 16, 2024

Behold! The San Diego Seafood Then & Now cookbook, which offers recipes and stories from our region’s deep connection to fishing. It’s based on interviews with the fishermen of Dockside Market, local historians and the keepers of cultural wisdom from San Diego’s indigenous communities who were forcibly removed from their coastline.

A local chef and historian dreamed up the idea during the pandemic and, years later, turned it into hard copy with support from California Sea Grant, a government-funded research and public education effort dedicated to supporting coastal and marine environments.

The book walks the reader through San Diego’s fishing history from the indigenous tribes of the Kumeyaay and the Portuguese tuna fishermen, to the multicultural palette San Diego offers today.

There’s an illuminating recent article by Jake Kincaid at inewsource about Awaken Church in San Diego and how it celebrated Trump’s election all the while enjoying its non-tax status. The church and its 7 local churches push the idea that “God” has called upon Christians to take America back and reshape it into its view of Biblical principles.

Here are some excerpts:

The day the 2024 election was called for Donald Trump, there was a palpable atmosphere of celebration at Awaken Church’s Kearny Mesa campus. Pastors at Awaken had been telling their congregations to pray — and vote — for Trump. From the pulpit, congregants were encouraged to exchange high fives and say, “we won.” They had just shared an unfounded claim that election monitors in Pennsylvania had narrowly stopped what one speaker called a “wicked scheme” to steal the election with truckloads of fake ballots.