Month: April 2026

Here’s how major California cities are trying to deal with or get around Senate Bill 79 — one of the most undemocratic housing mandates to ever come out of Sacramento.

Senate Bill 79 (SB79) goes into effect this year on July 1. When it passed — there were lots of machinations and maneuverings among state legislators to get it over the top in terms of votes — it made it legal for developers to build mid-rises — some as tall as nine stories — in major metropolitan neighborhoods near trains, subways and dedicated bus stops.

Yet some think that the final version “offered local governments plenty of wiggle room over the where, when and how of the new law,” wrote Cal-Matters reporter, Ben Christopher in his piece (reposted by Times of San Diego). Christopher wrote: “With the summer deadline rapidly approaching, cities across the state are starting to wiggle.”

Like a statewide game of Choose Your Own Adventure, local elected officials for the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles to San Diego are exploring ways to either lean into the spirit of the law, come up with their own plan tailored to the city’s whims and needs, or slow the local roll out for as long as possible while considering their options. Those that do nothing will be forced to accept the transit-oriented rezoning prescribed by state legislators.

We sifted through the piece and here offer a focus on the major cities, as per Christopher.

It’s time to brag about the Rag.

On March 6th we published JW August’s post “Trump’s Plan to Reduce Federal Workforce Includes Culling Out ‘Disloyal’ Veterans“. It was bombshell reporting … but never really found much traction from the mainstream media — until just last week.

Here is most of August’s post:

The Trump administration has rolled out a plan to begin further cuts in the federal workforce, a move that some sources say has a hidden agenda  — to remove employees who are seen as not loyal to the president.  We are told by a long time source that U.S.Veterans who voted Democratic or Independent will be on an administrative hit list as the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) just released “reductions in force ” (RIF) is rolled out.

Editordude: Rag writer Paul Krueger had a Letter to the Editor published in Sunday’s U-T, April 18. He was responding to the article, “Layoffs, deep cuts proposed to close $146M gap” from April 15.

By Paul Krueger

After ignoring criticism for years, Mayor Gloria has finally acknowledged the overwhelming lack of public support for bike lanes.

His decision to eliminate his bike lane team is a welcome reversal of a policy that deprived neighborhoods of much-needed parking and hurt struggling small businesses.

By Kate Callen

When I moved to San Diego to live with my new husband, Neal Matthews, he drove me around town to show me many places he loved and a few he loathed.

In the first category, we visited The Black, where we bought a water pipe. “Ocean Beach,” he said, “is the real San Diego.”

The second category took us to another coastal stop: Coronado Shores, a cluster of ten 15-story towers that would be a strong contender for “most monstrous development on the Western Seaboard.”

Neal was a San Diego Reader reporter who had covered the saga of the Shores construction in the 1970s. “These eyesores,” he said, “are partly why California established a Coastal Commission.”

Thanks to the Commission, developers can no longer turn San Diego into Miami Beach by erecting massive towers that block off the ocean. But there are smaller ways that arrogance can commandeer public spaces for private benefit.

I saw an example on April 16, when I drove to Coronado to walk on the beach. I regularly park in a public access lot that Coronado Shores was required by law to provide. It fills up on weekends, but spaces are available on weekdays.

Today, Monday, marks marijuana culture’s high holiday, 4/20, when cannabis fans gather in clouds of smoke at music festivals, celebrate with all-you-can-deals on chicken wings and other munchies, and take advantage of pot-shop discounts in legal weed states.

This year’s edition provides an occasion for activists to reflect on how far their movement has come, with recreational pot now allowed in 21 states and the nation’s capital, as well as a national political climate that hasn’t moved as quickly on legalization as many expected.

Here’s a look at the holiday’s history.

Why 4/20
The origins of the date, and the term “420” generally, were long murky. Some claimed it referred to a police code for marijuana possession or that it arose from Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35,” with its refrain of “Everybody must get stoned” — 420 being the product of 12 times 35.

But a consensus has emerged that it started with a group of bell-bottomed buddies from San Rafael High School in California, who called themselves “the Waldos.” A friend’s brother was afraid of getting busted for a patch of cannabis he was growing in the woods at Point Reyes, so he drew a map and gave the teens permission to harvest the crop, the story goes.

During fall 1971, at 4:20 p.m., just after classes and football practice, the group would meet up at the school’s statue of chemist Louis Pasteur, smoke a joint and head out to search for the weed patch. They never did find it, but their private lexicon — “420 Louie” and later just “420? — would take on a life of its own.

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the San Diego public in general informed about important Council and Planning Commission hearings and other city public meetings.

Monday, April 20: City Council, 10:00 a.m.

Closed Session Agenda:

Item CS-3: Class action case alleges the City violated Proposition 218 by charging tiered water rates to single family residential water customers and seeks refunds. City Attorney’s Office will update Mayor and City Council on status and seek direction.

Why it matters: “Recent court rulings on tiered water rates are creating confusion and uncertainty at water agencies across California, including in San Diego, where one ruling will mean rate hikes for most single-family homes.” [Union-Tribune, March 13]

Item CS-4: The Council will meet with its negotiator on price and payment terms for potential long-term ground leases with Midway Rising, LLC, to redevelop the City-owned real property.

Why it matters: The state Court of Appeal ruled that the city failed to perform an adequate environmental review of the Midway-Pacific Highway area around the proposed project. The Supreme Court agreed and declined to hear the city’s appeal. So why is the city moving ahead to negotiate price and payment terms for the project without analyzing the environmental impacts and the scope of the court’s ruling?

From Adams Ave Association

On April 25, 2026, Adams Avenue will host the free musical walkabout, Adams Avenue Unplugged. This event features 90 live musical performances at 26 locations hosted by restaurants, bars and coffee houses lining a two-mile stretch of Adams Avenue.

by Ernie McCray

I, along with a room
of other people,
just spent
“An Afternoon with Josefina Lopez”
who just happens to be
an award-winning
highly acclaimed Chicana
playwright and screenwriter
who gave to the world,
early in her career,
the play, “Real Women Have Curves,”
which later
became adapted into a film
and then
a Broadway musical,

by Debbie L. Sklar / Times of San Diego / April 8, 2026

At the foot of Mt. Woodson in Ramona stands a remarkable stone-and-adobe residence that locals affectionately call the Ramona Castle. Despite the nickname, there were no princesses or royalty here. The home was conceived and built as the private vision of Irene Amy Strong, a San Diego dress designer and entrepreneur who wanted a residence that combined craftsmanship, artistry, and harmony with nature.

A Home Born of Craft and Personal Vision
In 1909, Strong, a successful designer catering to San Diego’s social elite and known for sourcing fabrics from Europe, acquired the Woodson Ranch property. She commissioned architects Emmor Brooke Weaver and John Terrell Vawter to design a home reflecting the American Craftsman Movement, which emphasized handcrafted detail, natural materials, and integration with the environment.

Construction began around 1916 and concluded in 1921 at a reported cost of $50,000 — a significant investment for the era. The resulting structure spanned roughly 12,000 square feet, with 27 rooms over multiple levels. Thick stone walls, flagstone floors, and a great room with a 16-foot ceiling highlighted the home’s grandeur. Materials were sourced largely from the property itself, including eucalyptus, oak, and redwood, complemented by rock, adobe, brick, plaster, concrete, and stucco.

Forecasters are sounding the alarm that the return of El Niño this year could be one of the worst in California’s history if it develops as many meteorologists have recently predicted — and the phenomenon already appears to be in motion.

This week, a cluster of tropical cyclones were recorded on both sides of the equator in the western Pacific Ocean, generating a westerly wind burst that is pushing warm water eastward, and accelerating “real potential for the strongest El Niño event in 140 years,” Paul Roundy, an atmospheric scientist at the University at Albany told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The rare cluster of tropical cyclones, which are fueling the westerly wind burst, points to signs El Niño could be emerging and may set records. The strong westerly wind bursts have been documented in the Pacific Ocean all year, pushing unusually warm water, following the end to the La Niña pattern.

Roundy estimated the setup could cause El Niño to arrive quickly, within one to two months. Last month, one of the leading weather forecast models calculated a 62 percent chance that a strong El Niño could develop in the summer.

Over the past two decades, the name El Niño has become synonymous with extreme weather. El Niño occurs when there is a change in the Pacific Ocean’s typical pattern of water movement, temperatures and air flow, which happens about every two to seven years. The southern jet stream strengthens, especially in the eastern Pacific Ocean, bringing more moisture into the southwest and storm activity in the southern part of the country.

Pazzo’s Italian
2163 Abbott St. in Ocean Beach (92107)
619.230.5303
https://pazzos.net (sadly there’s no content here)

by LK Bruce

Just when you thought you knew a place. Your neighborhood. After all these years. Then a Rag reporter says why not review Pazzo’s and you go, “huh?” having never heard of it. Well this is word that needs to get out.

Abbott Street in OB is the second location for Pazzo’s, the first being in Scripps Ranch. The original, Pazzo’s Pizza was founded way back in ’93 by four guys of Italian descent – southern Italian to be exact – using recipes from Grandma Antonia. Everything is made fresh daily, including breads, dough and sauces.

The OB shop opened in 2024 and is located on the corner of Abbott and Muir in northern OB where Sugarlab Bakery & Desserts, Surfrider Pizza and Wild Things Pizza all used to be. The owners made good use of the corner locale to foster people-watching through large rolling garage-door style windows. A few tables dot the center of the space, better for those not into dining on stools.

The menu consists of “Sicilian, Italian, and California Nouveau-style” food says the owner and though the OB menu is not on their website, we’ve got you covered with a pic. First we tried the pizza because if that’s what you’re primarily known for, it better be good. It is.