Month: September 2025

By Kate Callen 

Ever see a German shepherd frightened by a barking terrier?

That was the vibe when the organizers of a convention of accessory dwelling unit (ADU) developers were thrown into a panic by a small band of civil protesters.

A September 17 demonstration against predatory ADU builders was organized by Pamela Begeal of Adubonus.org. Her tracking of industry activities found that an
events company called Informa Connect was hosting an ADU builders meeting that day at the San Diego Marriott Marquis.

Begeal identified two speakers on the agenda who have ravaged countless local neighborhoods: Christian Spicer of SDRE Homebuilders and Daniel Shkolnik of
Atlas West Group. And she saw an opportunity to send them a public message.

Some 20 community activists answered her invitation to gather on Harbor Drive outside the hotel. Upon arrival, they encountered a security force of men in dark
suits wearing sunglasses and carrying walkie-talkies.

Demonstrators who strayed from the sidewalk onto a stretch of lawn were told to move. Two people who walked into the hotel lobby were stopped, asked to show
picture IDs, and body screened by electronic wands for weapons.

But the real farce took place inside the convention area when Lisa Becerra and Kim Beck, who had paid $1,599 each to attend the event, were denied admission.

by Cody Dulaney and Charis Johnston / inewsource / September 18, 2025

A single-family homeowner in Pacific Beach recently transformed their garage into a one-bedroom beach house. Four blocks down the road, another property owner built a new unit on top of their garage, complete with a rooftop deck and private hot tub.

Both new homes, known officially as accessory dwelling units, are glowing with five-star praise from out-of-town guests for cleanliness, quiet neighborhood charm and responsive hosts. On the other hand, neighbors tell a different story — one of frequent summertime parties with beer pong, loud music, screaming and shouting late into the wee hours of the morning. In June, San Diego police had to break up what sounded like a rooftop bachelorette party after midnight, city records show.

“Please do something!!!” one neighbor wrote in a string of code enforcement complaints tied to both short-term vacation rentals.

San Diego officials have for years grappled with two competing realities: A worsening housing and affordability crisis coupled with the business interests of property owners in a world-class destination city. The battle over short-term rentals continues even after the city finally decided to regulate the industry with a tiered licensing system two years ago — a decade after short-term platforms like Airbnb exploded in communities across the country.

By Csaba Petre

On the morning of Tuesday, June 24, the fog was thick over the jetty and dog beach as I made my way down to the meeting point: the triangular grassy lawn between the Ocean Villa Inn and the bike path next to the river. 30-odd people were already lining up in a rough circle around the pop-up tent. The crowd was delightfully diverse, with a few older, retired couples, as well as pairs and groups of younger, college-aged friends.

This loose society of volunteers gathers here at the river mouth once a month on Tuesday mornings to help restore the San Diego River Estuary, a delicate coastal ecosystem. Specifically, the aims include protecting native and endangered plant- and wildlife and preserving and improving water quality. The event is organized by the San Diego River Park Foundation, whose ambitious goal is to restore a green belt along all 52 miles of the San Diego River.

Our animated young host handed out gloves to those who didn’t have any, and organized us into groups of volunteers: one group to perform invasive plant removal among the dunes, and the other group to build wooden fencing along the paths to protect the native vegetation.

by Ernie McCray

Today there’s a move,
spearheaded
by a dictator-like-president,
to hide truths
in our schools,
an idea beyond ridiculous
since truths
are basic
to learning,
something made clear to me
when I began teaching sixth grade
in the 60’s,
at a school
where many of the students
lived in naval housing,
their dads off fighting in Vietnam,
leaving them to wonder what was really going on,

by Mike McCarthy / Times of San Diego / Sept. 17, 2025

Point Loma High celebrated its centennial with a gala on Sept. 13, marking a major milestone for the school’s long and decorated history. More than a thousand alumni and guests gathered at the Port Pavilion on the Broadway Pier for the festive event.

Several older alumni were given special recognition, including Eileen Finley McCarthy, who was presented as the school’s oldest living alumna. She will turn 104 on Oct. 25.

McCarthy was born in 1921 and raised in Point Loma. Her parents and older brother immigrated from Canada and settled in Ocean Beach in 1918. McCarthy’s early life was dedicated to dance and the performing arts. Attending public school was usually not an option at that time. The opportunity to be at Point Loma High “for two wonderful years (1935-37), was one of the best times of my life,” she said.

As a young girl and then a teenager, McCarthy was well-known in San Diego as an actress on the radio.  During the Depression, this type of work was well-received and well-paid. The money was used to pay for her expenses as a ballerina, her first and real love. McCarthy was also the principal dancer for the San Diego Starlight Ballet.

By Gillian Mohney / SFGate / Sep 15, 2025 

Officials at UC Berkeley have sent over a hundred names of students and staff to federal officials, who are looking into allegations of antisemitism as part of an ongoing federal investigation.

The names of 160 students, faculty and staff were sent to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights after the office demanded documents related to complaints of antisemitism and discrimination at the university.

[See below for “Backlash”]

“The UC systemwide Office of the General Counsel (OGC), in compliance with its legal obligations to cooperate with the agency, directed UC Berkeley to provide those documents to the federal agency,” Janet Gilmore, the senior director of strategic communications at UC Berkeley, said in an emailed statement. “Numerous documents were provided over recent months to OCR, including the names of individuals in those reports.”

Gilmore added that the individuals were notified last week if they were named in the documents sent to the federal investigators.

It is very true: top officials in the Trump administration — including Vice-President Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, White House senior advisor Steven Miller — and Trump himself — are using the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk a week ago as America’s version of the Reichstag fire that broke out in Berlin, Germany in 1933.

What’s this? you may ask. What was the Reichstag fire?

Turning immediately to Wikipedia, we find the following:

The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. …The Nazis attributed the fire to a group of Communist agitators, used it as a pretext to claim that Communists were plotting against the German government, and induced President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties and pursue a “ruthless confrontation” with the Communists.This made the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany. …

After the Fire Decree was issued, the police – now controlled by Hitler’s Nazi Party – made mass arrests of communists, including all of the communist Reichstag delegates. This severely crippled communist participation in the 5 March elections. After the 5 March elections, the absence of the communists allowed the Nazi Party to expand their plurality in the Reichstag, greatly assisting the Nazi seizure of total power. Wikipedia

by Giovanni Moujaes / inewsource / September 7, 2025

If you’re a North Park resident, there’s a good chance you or someone you know has received a daylighting ticket this year.

The city of San Diego wrote more than 8,000 of them in the first half of 2025, the vast majority issued in neighborhoods where parking is in short supply, according to an inewsource analysis.

Enforcement officers began ticketing drivers across the city this year for parking next to a curb within 20 feet of any crosswalk — marked or not.

Officials first issued warnings before enforcing a $77.50 fine. A month later, the citation rose to $117 — an increase that came as San Diego sought additional revenue to cover its quarter billion-dollar budget deficit.

Daylighting, explained: The state Legislature passed AB-413 with the goal of reducing traffic accidents. The practice, known as daylighting, is meant to increase visibility for drivers to see around the corners at intersections. Forty-three states already have a similar law.

13 nonprofits control access to public sports land—without competition or review. It’s time for a more open and equitable approach.

by Stefan Boyland /  Voice of San Diego / September 10, 2025

As San Diego reflects on its past and imagines its future, there’s one small but powerful lever that could reshape how our parks serve the public: reforming the city’s outdated system of “special-use permits.”

Special-use permits are long-term agreements the city grants to select nonprofits, giving them exclusive control over public sports facilities for years at a time. Unlike day-use permits that anyone can request for a single event, these permits function more like private leases — the operator manages the site, collects revenue and sets the rules. But unlike leases, they’re rent-free and involve no public application or competition.

With demand for recreational space growing, the city has a responsibility to modernize how it manages long-term access. Right now, the system leaves huge potential untapped.

Today, just 13 sports organizations hold these permits: 12 are tennis clubs and one is a youth baseball league. All receive rent-free control of public land for years at a time, with no public application, virtually no performance review and no opportunity for others to compete.

By Dave Schwab / Times of San Diego / Sept. 16, 2025

You can have your wish – a magically cleaned car – granted at the revitalized Genie Car Wash in Point Loma. Customers may not recognize the new and improved automatic car wash at 3949 W. Point Loma Boulevard, which recently reopened after extensive remodeling.

“This [car wash] was the first one [my family] bought, and they just expanded little by little. This was the last one to convert to this [high-tech] style,” said Genie Car Wash vice president Zaid “Z” Daymia, whose family has 40 years of experience in the industry.

“My dad and his partners bought [Genie] in 1983, and the car wash has been here since the 1960s,” he said.

What changed about his family’s operation of the car wash? “Attention to detail, focus on customer service,” said Daymia, pointing out that Genie has been closed for almost a year, since last October, to accommodate all the upgrades for its customers. “Now, we’re open and we’re happy,” he said. Discussing changes in Genie’s business model, Daymia noted: “Before, what we used to offer was a full-service wash where we would dry and clean it and do everything for you.”