Month: April 2025

By Clifford Weiler

The City of San Diego will be sending letters this week about the trash fee. Silence will become costly.

The city is mailing homeowners a document deceptively titled “NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING.” However, the notice is much more than about a public hearing. Obscured in the document is notice of homeowners’ right to stop a charge, with that charge possibly being added to their property tax bills, as well as the need to actually file a timely protest, and that failure to file will count as a “yes, you can increase my property tax bill.”

Unless a majority of those receiving that mailing send in a protest form, silence literally becomes costly garbage, long term.  And if approved, homeowners cannot opt out by using a cheaper private contractor instead of the city.

Corey Bruins, the former president of the Ocean Beach Town Council, currently faces 9 felonies.

These include one count of fraudulent appropriation by agent, with an aggravated white collar crime enhancement, one count of grand theft, six counts of use personal identifying information of another, and one count of money laundering also with an aggravated white collar crime enhancement.

Bruins was arraigned on March 28 and pleaded not guilty. He was ordered by the court to stay away from Shelly Parks, Jenny Brengelman, and Stephanie Kane — either current or former members of the OBTC (now OB Community Foundation).  A readiness hearing is set for May 7 at 8:15 a.m. in Department 1102 in downtown San Diego. Because he’s charged with felonies, there is a preliminary hearing currently set for May 21 at 8:30 a.m., assigned out of Department 102 downtown.

The investigating agency is the San Diego Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit. His retained defense attorney is Earll Pott.

As OBceans may recall, Bruins was forced to resign from the OBTC in disgrace in January 2024, which threw the Town Council into months of turmoil and crisis, so much so that the organization had to change its name.

Without listing each felony count in detail, here’s several examples verbatim:

By Kate Callen

The San Diego Planning Commission won’t formally consider proposed Bonus ADU “reforms” until they meet May 1. But board members have been served notice that they should prepare for a showdown.

Neighbors for a Better San Diego (NFABSD) warned commissioners April 17 that if the City tampers with the Land Use Development Code (LDC) Update process, public backlash could be severe.

NFABSD’s Geoff Hueter and Danna Givot each spoke for three minutes during non-agenda public comment. The facts they presented were troubling.

It appears Mayor Todd Gloria has devised several ploys to shield his treasured Bonus ADU program from an overdue reckoning. Three takeaways:

Downtown San Diego once again witnessed thousands of protestors on Saturday, April 19, demonstrating against Trump and for defending constitutional protections and due process rights.

This time around, it was called “Not On Our Watch” and organized by a citizen-led group known as 50501 San Diego, the the local branch of a nationwide movement that intends to lead 50 protests in 50 states.

The gathering fell on April 19, a date organizers explained marks a symbolic connection to the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord—the spark that ignited the American Revolutionary War in 1775.

Here is an update on the 4.591 Pescadero project that involves a potential of 12 ADUs.

First, see the rendering of the project (above).

Second, here is the 5 page letter from the attorney hired to fight the project to Elyse Lowe, Director of the Development Services Department.

Exactly one year ago, the Rag ran a story about a 3-story multi-unit building being planned for 8 ADUs at 4591 Pescadero Avenue in Point Loma.

We reported then that applicant Chandra Slaven wanted to build a 3,836 square-feet three-story detached multifamily building consisting of (8) accessory dwelling units, comprising:

• (3) accessory dwelling units on the first floor,
• (3) accessory dwelling units on the second floor, and
• (2) accessory dwelling units on the third floor,
• at a site with an existing single dwelling unit.

The future of the old house at 310 San Fernando in the Point Loma neighborhood of La Playa is on the chopping block. The San Diego Historical Resources Board meets on Thursday, April 24 to decide its future.

Should it be saved … or demolished to make way for at least 3 new homes?

According to local residents who want to save it, a recent historical survey by a consultant has submitted to the City that it’s the second oldest house in the La Playa community, and the oldest example of the Prairie style of architecture. La Playa is the oldest community in Point Loma, and Point Loma is one of the oldest communities in San Diego.

Peninsula News / April 18, 2025

Storybook is the only way to describe Bluebird Play.  Which isn’t surprising since the educational background of one of its co-owners, Amanda Klein, along with her husband Dan, is in children’s theater.

The relatively new indoor play space and bookstore at 4993 Niagara Ave. above OB Noodle House Bar 1502, has been stretching imaginations in Ocean Beach since January. The new play space is something right out of Alice in Wonderland. In fact, one of the whimsical play structures in Bluebird is actually drawn from the famed children’s book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (1865), one of the most popular works of English language fiction.

Klein’s college undergrad degree was in directing, and she spent eight years in the Los Angeles area teaching elementary school theater as well as in Boston, where she went to grad school. Described on the company’s website, bluebirdplay.com, as “Inspired by literature and designed to stir the imagination, the new hybrid business is exactly that: A dream come true for owners and patrons alike.”

Waterfront Park to Gaslamp District March for Constitutional Rights

San Diego invites community members to join a peaceful demonstration advocating for constitutional protections and due process rights on Saturday, April 19th, 2025.

Event Details: Assembly & Program: 10:00 AM at Waterfront Park (1600 Pacific Hwy, San Diego, CA 92101) -Featured speakers addressing constitutional concerns -Open mic for community voices -Live music performances

March: Beginning at 12:00 PM, proceeding from Waterfront Park to the Gaslamp District

Post-March Activities: Flyering and canvassing throughout the Gaslamp District to raise public awareness

by Ernie McCray

The other day,
I kicked back in the sun,
in the spacious backyard
of my son’s new home,
celebrating
my little grandson Jackson’s
first year around the sun,
with family and friends,
and some of my other grandchildren,
mellow music playing in the background,
margaritas and juices available
for everyone,

By Adam Serwer / The Atlantic- RSN / April 16, 2025

Trump’s administration is only pretending to comply with the Supreme Court on the matter of a Maryland man it deported erroneously.

Between the path of outright defiance of the Supreme Court and following its order to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador’s infamous Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), the Trump administration has chosen a third way: pretending it is complying while refusing to do so.

During an on-camera Oval Office meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whom the Trump administration has paid to imprison immigrants deported from the United States it claims without evidence are gang members, President Donald Trump deferred to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said the decision was Bukele’s.

“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Bondi told reporters. “That’s not up to us. If they want to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.” Bukele, for his part, called Abrego Garcia a “terrorist,” saying to a reporter who asked if he would return him, “I hope you’re not suggesting that I smuggle a terrorist into the United States.” He added, “The question is preposterous.”

The bad faith of this exchange is obvious. Bukele has the power to free Abrego Garcia and send him back to the U.S. on an American plane without “smuggling” anyone or anything. But neither side wants that outcome, and so they are both pretending that it’s the other’s responsibility. It’s a game both sides are in on.