Month: July 2026

What Was It, What Is It, and What Will It Be?

By Coastal Caretakers

Today, we will start with what it IS, complicated as it is, beginning with a cement block building, a new owner, and a new future, defined by the City of San Diego in the words of Accela, the city’s new permitting system and the reminder of an old joke ending in, “are you going to believe your lying eyes, or what I tell you?”

The previous owner, Sunset Cliffs Creative House, LLC morphed a $2.2 million investment into a $2.8 million sale to Yoffee, LLC, which has a San Diego mailing address on Casitas St, a San Diego property owned by Yoth, LLC, and a business named Daylight Coffee, LLC, — all Wyoming LLCs. This is a situation that gets us very close to where we are today.

Yoffee LLC is the owner of the property, and the address of Yoth LLC owns the mailing address for Yoffee, LLC, a business to be occupied, according to its application in 2025 for a liquor license for Daylight Coffee, LLC, also at the Yoth, LLC-owned address.

And now we enter the twilight zone of Accela, a new world in Mission Valley without paper but with three windows to pay fees. Any member of the public can right now get an Accela account, log in, and type in (with some difficulty) “1404 Sunset Cliffs Blvd” as the address.  You will see what it says.  (And if you are wondering, you can see the same thing using the Rite-Aid address.)  The paper world has been forgotten, but the original plans are still there.

By Paul Krueger

I used to zone out when politicians debated the strengths and weaknesses of policy proposals, especially when I covered government meetings for NBC 7. Revisions, compromises, and continuances left me frustrated. I’d think, “Come on, just agree, vote, and move on.”

But my six years as a community advocate have given me a new appreciation for the value of policy debates and public disagreement among our elected officials.

I’ve seen how a philosophical split on the County Board of Supervisors — with three liberal Democrats and two conservative Republicans — gives us a better understanding of policy issues and exposes the possible pitfalls of proposed legislation.

Pointed but civil disagreements between the Supervisors have revealed important details — pro and con — about proposed reforms to the county charter and the use of reserve funds to expand programs and hire more employees.

That’s why I grimaced when Mayor Todd Gloria described the city of San Diego’s recent budget negotiations as “more collegial” than last year’s. “I don’t think anyone at the outset of this process would have envisioned a unanimous adoption of the budget and no line-item vetoes,” Gloria told the U-T’s David Garrick.

That “Kumbaya” moment is good example of what’s wrong at City Hall. This go-along-get-along attitude enables our elected officials to avoid scrutiny for their votes. And it deprives residents of the information they need to assess their representatives’ performance.