By Lynne Miller
PREFACE: In 2023/24 a small article was posted in the OB Rag by the editordude, Frank. It alerted my neighbors that 4705 Pt.Loma Ave was moving forward with building plans. Without the OB RAG, the city would have built the project, unchallenged. The City was using the ministerial law embedded in Complete Communities, that does NOT require public notification.
Thanks to the Rag and its years of sleuthing, neighbors found out, fought the project and won. The only way to beat the City corruption which smells like the wetlands in Imperial Beach, is to unite, and take action. Since 2023 many organizations have started individual battles against the unhinged power of the City and State. In order to defeat the billionaire driven machine of builders and government collusion we must unite!
The title of this article is not intended to be just cute, it is based on a scientific reality about the Midway land.
Saturday, I attended a meeting held by SDUC (San Diego United Communities. Their website is sandiegounitiedcommunities.com.
This is one of several groups who are fighting for the Finest City. It is worth the fight, and it will take you, your friends, and their friends to unite in the common and urgent cause, Save San Diego.
The panel that assembled to educate and activate our communities was impressive. The leader of the workshop, Margaret Virrisimo, is one of the founders of SDUC. Its mission is “to come together to discuss San Diego policies.” It has a strong sense that only when communities unite can their collective voices be heard and can their actions demand change. I encourage every reader to get involved in their community group fighting city hall. Then the combined movement will force our voices to be heard IF we join together, spread the word, and take action.
Lori Saldaña, the former California State Assembly member who served from 2004 to 2010 (representing District 76) spoke at the meeting and explained why Midway Rising Project is literally sinking. It sits at or below water level, and will, like the Conventions Center require pumping to avoid flooding. The cost per year for the pumping the Conventional Center is $1.2 million. This process of Continuous Dewatering to avoid flooding requires sump pumps run 24/7 in order for incoming ground water to return to the bay. The land area of Midway Rising is more than double the area of the Convention Center.
Because the Midway Rising project sits on extremely shallow ground water, and because the sea level rise will push the water table closer to the surface, Midway will be sinking unless it has a 24/7 sump pump as the Convention Center. This kind of poor planning explains the financial and environmental problems the city creates. Lori mentioned a book titled California Against the Sea which explains the importance of good environmental planning.
Each speaker today deserves a personal mention because they presented complicated issues and made them understandable. The content and delivery of each speech was designed to educate and inspire action. Each speaker met their mark.
One of my favorites is Kenny Key, is a military veteran, and advocate associated with grassroots groups including Neighbors for Encanto. Kenny, your powerful speaking is an art form that deserves a special medal of honor. Kenny speaks frequently at local events, educating and inspiring people. He has filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego involving an Encanto project city hall approved, and he is not alone in that action! It is voices like his that fuel the movement to take back our city.
Mark Powell, who is running for District 6 Council seat, had a list of solutions. He suggests 0-based budgeting which means the city cannot plan a project UNTIL it is funded and there is actual money in the budget. (That should kill the completion of Complete Communities.) He also mentions reduction of middle management and consolidating departments (to avoid digging up the same section of street 3 times for 3 different reasons).
Read on for specific details you may need as you join the battle against the City and Billionaire Builders.
Victoria La Brusa, chair of CPG – Committee of Planning Groups – talked about the planning groups across the city that have been neutered. Their voices are the voices of the people, and their power, through a series of reforms, has been dismantled. She and CPC are working to reinsert their voice into the decisions at City Hall.
Laurie Fischer, an architect and builder, discussed the environmental disasters connected to the large apartment-style buildings, and the safety issues that the city and builders ignore. Did you know that a single family home uses 200 trees in the framing of the home? Did you know that the large buildings being approved use 10,000 trees for their support? That wood will eventually get old and rot and be fodder for disastrous fires built on land and in areas where there is no infrastructure to accommodate disasters or evacuation?
(I missed some names, sorry.) Team Turquoise from Pacific Beach spoke and pointed out ‘who’ is at top of the Tower. Would you believe that the Turquoise Tower has 22 LLCs connected to ownership? Carmel Partners seems to be the tip of the top LLC, and has ownership of many projects in San Diego. Fighting a hidden enemy is tricky, is that called Guerilla Warfare?
Finally, speakers seem to agree that we all work to defeat the new state Bill SB 958. WHY? It will remove Environmental Regulations (CEQA) and is designed to allow high rises. If it passes, and knowing our state choices, it will, areas like Midway Sinking will climb UP as well as spread out. San Diego, including coastal San Diego, will look like downtown Waikiki and Miami. Slam Dunk, the Finest City is gone, replaced not affordable housing but by expensive high rise structures that block the sun and fun that was San Diego.
If the reader is unfamiliar with the Ocean Beach Freeway, check it out now before the massive building at Midway Rising; 8 East is a bottleneck for miles beginning around 1:30. Please imagine all the tall buildings in Miami that block views of the ocean evacuating in a fire disaster, or tsunami (Midway Rising is in the tsunami zone). They call OB and PL a Peninsula for a reason, it is. Does anyone reading this think the City of San Diego or the State of California will plan an effective infrastructure for any future disaster? (If you say yes, I have this charming plot of land in the swamps of Florida priced to sell.)
Take Action Now. Remember what Dr Seuss said in Horton Hears a Who, “ Their voices were heard! They had made themselves clear! They’ve proved they are persons!
Let’s REALLY “Get it Done, San Diego!
As previous OB-rag reports have mentioned, the midway area is a pile of river and SD bay sediment wherein the San Diego River ran to and fro wildly until a dike was built. Until foundations are excavated, the City and the builders involved will never actually know what the construction costs will actually be. As the river’s former COURSES, now camouflaged by stuff, will consist of various kinds of soil and rocks of all sizes. All the City and those builders see in “vacant land”, not the three-dimensional contents of its true volume.
I attended the Sports Arena Propaganda event. Thanks Eric Law, Susan Gates, & Lori Saldaña, and many others, for speaking. Environmental issues, traffic issues, and the impact of NAVWAR development have been so understated it makes the phrase ‘Gloria has failed’ look like a 200 page thesis. Senator Weber Pierson didn’t impress and has not done enough due diligence. And if I’m recalling the slideshow presentation correctly, traffic concerns were downgraded to ‘Insignificant’.