SeaWorld and San Diego Environmental Groups Settle Lawsuit Over Fireworks Pollution in Mission Bay
Coastkeeper and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation (CERF) have reached an agreement with SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc. resolving a Clean Water Act lawsuit filed in March 2025 over the theme park’s fireworks-related pollution in Mission Bay. The agreement closes more than a year of litigation stemming from SeaWorld’s repeated failures to comply with its Clean Water Act Fireworks Permit. Coastkeeper and CERF filed suit after years of documented noncompliance, including “shocking amounts” of chemical-laden debris — plastic, foil, sharp wiring, and toxic metal residues — recovered from Fiesta Island and the Mission Bay seabed.
The resolution follows a major development: the California Coastal Commission recently approved SeaWorld’s proposal to conduct up to 110 drone light shows in the coming year, with shows expected to begin on May 22, 2026 for Memorial Day weekend. Coastkeeper and CERF strongly support Seaworld’s decision to seek the approval for drone shows from the Coastal Commission, noting that the filing of their Clean Water Act citizen suit was instrumental in persuading SeaWorld to transition to this new, more environmentally friendly technology. San Diego Coastkeeper
Residents, Businesses and Workers Not Happy With New Parking Meters on Adams Ave.
Residents and workers in San Diego’s Kensington neighborhood are voicing frustration as parking meters along Adams Avenue officially went live last week. The paid parking program is part of the city’s effort to raise revenue while addressing San Diego’s $118 million budget deficit. City leaders say the money collected through parking meters stays within the communities where it is generated and helps fund infrastructure improvements.
The meters and enforcement signs are already in place along Adams Avenue. “Just the finances, the inconvenience, you name it all,” said Peggy Stone, who works in Kensington. Stone said the added cost will hurt people already struggling financially. “It’s just a terrible hassle for everyone and expensive. People are already hurting financially, really hurting financially, and they do not need the extra expense,” Stone said.
Residents also worry the meters could discourage people from visiting the neighborhood. “I think it’s creating another round of discouragement within the community,” said Kensington resident Michael Penny, thinking ahead of the struggle his friends and family will face when they visit him. … Kensington Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera also voiced support for the program. I’m “proud to support this effort because making San Diego work for San Diegans means putting public dollars toward the needs people feel every day,” Elo-Rivera said. Still, some residents believe the city should look elsewhere for additional revenue.
“I could appreciate the want to nickel and dime the community in regards to trying to find gaps where they might be, but in all reality, I think that they need to be looking elsewhere,” Penny said. “There are plenty of wealthy people in the city that they could probably tap, rather than what are increasingly the working poor,” Stone said. 7San Diego, May 17, 2026
Point in Time Homeless Count ‘Not Accurate Reflection of Reality’
The unsheltered population is down in San Diego — but coastal areas are seeing an uptick in people seeking services. But that drop noted in San Diego’s annual Point-in-Time count isn’t necessarily reflected in the day-to-day reality of shelters and services, said Caryn Blanton, executive director of Shoreline Community Services, which operates The Compass Station, an unsheltered drop-in resource center at 1004 Chalcedony Street in Pacific Beach.
In the central beach areas of La Jolla and Pacific and Mission beaches, she said that the situation actually seems to be getting worse. “At the end of 2022, half a year after starting in June, we had a total of 3,372 guest visits,” she said. “Last year in 2025, that number was 13,430. That’s just in three years. And those are people actually looking for help.” The Point-in-Time Count is conducted annually by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness at more than 50 sites throughout San Diego County.
This year’s count found that while the number of people sleeping on the streets, in shelters and cars found homelessness stayed almost level in 2026 — with the total only falling by 1% after a 7% drop in 2025 — unsheltered homelessness has dropped, with a 12% increase in people finding shelter in the city’s central areas, where there has been a 7% drop in people living unsheltered. But despite two consecutive years of the PIT count reporting reductions in unsheltered people living on the street, Pacific Beach’s Compass Center continues to see increasing demand for its services. “Just to bring it close to our community, in that same month, January 2026, we had 1,253 guest visits at The Compass Station — an increase of 205 people from January 2025,” Blanton said. Times of San Diego, May 18, 2026
City Of San Diego Hit With $16.45 Million Jury Verdict Over Parking Citation Penalties
A San Diego jury has reportedly awarded more than $16.45 million against the City of San Diego in a class action lawsuit accusing the city of improperly assessing and collecting parking citation late fees and penalties without legally sufficient notice to motorists, delivering yet another major financial blow to a city government already facing mounting criticism over its budget priorities, enforcement practices, and expanding reliance on revenue extraction from residents.
The verdict, announced Saturday by attorneys Deborah Dixon of The Dixon Firm and Charlotte Barone of The Barone Firm, stems from litigation alleging the city failed to provide notice required under California law before imposing escalating parking penalties and delinquency fees on drivers. The firms described the outcome as a “historic verdict against the City of San Diego” involving the city “improperly assessing and collecting excessive parking ticket fines, fees, and penalties without providing notice required by law.”
The underlying lawsuit, Hasia-Welch v. City of San Diego, centered on allegations that San Diego’s delinquent parking violation notices failed to comply with provisions of California Vehicle Code governing the notification process before late penalties can legally attach. Court-approved class notices previously distributed in the litigation stated that class members may have paid unlawful penalties after receiving allegedly deficient delinquency notices from the city. SanDiegoVille May 18, 2026
The Navajo Community Planning Group has reinstated the Mission Gorge Rock Quarry to Assist Neighborhood in Flying Debris
Committee to serve for another year at the group’s monthly meeting on May 14. The committee will assist Navajo Planners on land-use matters related to the 94-year-old rock quarry, located on Mission Gorge Road just south of Mission Trails Regional Park. As part of its mission, the committee will review, evaluate, document and report information and actions related to the quarry. During the planning group’s monthly meeting, board members selected the committee members who will sit on the committee. They hope to add one community member who lives near the quarry to the subcommittee before meeting in June.
“The impact from the blasts is getting a lot stronger,” community member Bee Riley said during the May 14 planning group meeting. “The last several blasts have registered on the Richter Scale.” Nestled on Mission Gorge Road, the quarry sits adjacent to numerous communities, including San Carlos, Del Cerro, Allied Gardens and Grantville, all located to the quarry’s south and Tierrasanta to its north. For more than a decade, community members from all neighborhoods have reported flying rocks and debris. On one occasion in 2014, a Tierrasanta resident reported having a rock fly into their Tierrasanta home. Mission Times Courier May 20, 2026
San Diego artist reaches $450K settlement over bubble show citation
What began as a dispute over bubbles in a city park ended three years later with a nearly half-million dollar settlement in favor of a San Diego-based artist. The artist William Dorsett, who said the city of San Diego violated his First Amendment right to free speech for citing him with a disorderly conduct violation, will no longer take the lawsuit to trial. U.S. District Judge Barry Moskowitz, a Bill Clinton appointee, granted a joint motion to dismiss Dorsett’s case against the city on Friday.
Dorsett, a multidisciplinary artist who creates art in different locations throughout San Diego, settled with the city for $450,000. … On July 25, 2023, Dorsett defended another public artist in Balboa Park who was being cited by park rangers for a bubble show. Dorsett encouraged the man as he was cited by the rangers for a public health violation, he says in his complaint. Dorsett said the city has maintained a practice of targeting buskers and public artists like himself to get them off the street.
“Don’t let them intimidate you,” Dorsett said to the artist during the incident, which was captured on video. “They’re being bullies.” At the time, buskers and artists were being targeted with citations by city officials at places like Balboa Park and didn’t know what to do, Dorsett said. “I went to perform and be an observer and every single day I was there I was getting video footage of how they were treating people, and they didn’t like me being there,” he said. “I was just trying to defend buskers who don’t know their rights.”
Dorsett was then cited by park rangers himself for disorderly conduct based on Section 56.27, which he described as an outdated city code. “In this case, they were using a 130-year-old law to chill free speech,” he said. Dorsett was convicted of disorderly conduct and ordered to pay a fine. However, his conviction was reversed in the California Courts of Appeal in May of 2024. Dorsett filed a lawsuit in federal court in 2024, claiming the city violated his First and 14th Amendment rights. Courthouse News Service, May 23, 2026
