Author: Kate Callen

By Kate Callen / August 22, 2025

What is up with Joe La Cava?

The District 1 Councilmember was the skunk at the picnic when he cast the only “No” vote July 29 on a motion to delay classifying part of Mission Bay Park as “surplus land” available for development.

Being the lone holdout was awkward enough. But La Cava, unanimously elected Council President last December, wasn’t just out of sync with his colleagues. He was personally out of sorts, clearly irked with constituents who keep testing his patience.

La Cava opened the Council meeting under a cloud. As President, he was responsible for placing the Mission Bay item on the Consent Agenda. If an anonymous OB Rag tipster hadn’t spotted it and contacted Frank Gormlie, Mission Bay Parkland would have been rubber-stamped as “surplus land” by the Council with no public review or discussion.

When the resulting Rag story by Geoff Page caught the attention of former Councilmember Donna Frye, she mobilized San Diegans as only Donna can. Eight Councilmembers took notice. In varying degrees, they wanted to slow down deliberations and give the public more time to weigh in.

But La Cava was in no mood to wait, and he was openly dismissive of the need for debate: “You either love this or you hate this. There is no middle ground, no refinement that can come out of more public discussion. I am very concerned about us not pursuing new revenue to finance the Mission Bay Park.”

Let’s take a closer look at that.

By Kate Callen 

In 2018, the last election year when San Diego City Council District 2 had an open seat, the winner, Jen Campbell, was best known for being David Axelrod’s cousin. Before her first term was up, Campbell faced a recall effort, and she was replaced as Council President amid charges her staff illegally influenced the redistricting process.

In 2022, Campbell ran for re-election as a tarnished incumbent. Then a funny thing happened. A dark money group linked to Mayor Todd Gloria blanketed District 2 with hit pieces smearing Lori Saldana, Campbell’s formidable Democratic challenger. Saldana finished third behind obscure Republican Linda Lukacs, and Campbell kept her seat.

The 2026 open seat election will be consequential for a district hard hit by City Hall’s subservience to developers. From a 10-unit complex on a small Clairemont cul-de-sac to a 56-unit mid-rise at a major Point Loma intersection, giant housing projects are hammering D2 neighborhoods.

By Kate Callen / August 1, 2025

A year ago, after hearing countless stories about monstrous accessory dwelling units (ADUs), OB Rag staff wanted to find out how bad things were. So we launched a “Worst ADU in San Diego” contest on August 9. And we sat back and waited for entries.

By the August 23 contest deadline, the Rag received over 50 submissions from 20 communities across the city. Our panel of five judges drove around town looking at one eyesore after another. It was depressing work.

The three top prizewinners were announced September 12: Gold at 4578 Jicarillo Avenue in Bay Ho, Silver at 4974 54th Street in College, and Bronze at 5732-36 Dorothy Drive, also in College.

The combined awfulness of the projects prompted us to add 12 “Dishonorable Mentions.”

The 15 contest “winners” fell into two categories of greed. In the first, predatory developers crammed multiple units onto a single lot for maximum profit. In the second, selfish property owners built gigantic structures onto small lots for maximum living space.

The second category included the Bronze recipient. The judges commented, “This demonstrates how a single ADU can have an overwhelming neighborhood impact. Our first thought was: Could this be any uglier? Our second thought was: Is this an architectural middle finger to the surrounding neighborhood?”

By Kate Callen / July 28, 2025

This Thursday, July 31, YIMBY Democrats of San Diego are holding a “Summer Soiree” fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. at the Town and Country Resort. YIMBY politicians like Congressman Scott Peters and Assemblymember Chris Ward will be there, along with developers, lobbyists, law firms, and … representatives of Airbnb.

The event flyer gives a big shout-out to the vacation rental conglomerate: “We would like to extend a special thank you to Airbnb, our presenting sponsor this year.”

Come again? Why would a local group dedicated to boosting the housing supply embrace a global conglomerate that shrinks that supply by converting residential units into vacation units?

Airbnb may rightly believe that more housing production will deliver more opportunities for future vacation rentals. And YIMBYs are understandably happy to take the corporate money.

The short-term rental behemoth has been courting density advocates since at least January 2024, when it launched the Airbnb Housing Council. Like its new YIMBY allies, Airbnb expressed concern about the shortage of affordable housing.

By Kate Callen / July 22, 2025

An extraordinary case of seller’s remorse surfaced last weekend when French Gourmet owner Michel Malecot posted an anguished statement about a boycott of his Pacific Beach businesses.

Malecot did not seem sorry that he sold his property to Los Angeles developer Kalonymous for $6.5 million. He claims he was taken by surprise when the buyer announced plans to build a 23-story tower on the site. But he offered no apology to the Pacific Beach community for the blight the project could cause.

The restaurateur expressed one regret. Loyal customers who are furious about the sale no longer walk through the doors of his French Gourmet Restaurant and his Froggy’s Bar next door. That is costing him a ton of money.

In a July 19 social media post, “A Letter from Michel to our French Gourmet Community,” Malecot said he had planned to close the restaurant early this year, but “due to the love for my profession and responsibility to my longtime faithful employees, I chose to keep the French Gourmet open for another year.”

It never occurred to him that his devoted French Gourmet Community wouldn’t be on board with that.

By Kate Callen / July 14, 2025

Tomorrow — July 15 — should have been the day the San Diego City Council ended four years of predatory development by enacting reforms of the destructive Bonus ADU program.

But the vote, rescheduled from July 1 by Council President Joe La Cava, did not appear on tomorrow’s meeting agenda when it was posted last Wednesday. Then the item was added to the agenda on Thursday. Then it was removed on Friday.

La Cava had said he postponed the July 1 vote at the last minute because Councilmember Jen Campbell was absent. But Campbell has been attending meetings remotely while wearing a neck brace.

Perhaps he will explain the new last-minute postponement when the Council meets. Perhaps his explanation will be plausible. Agenda items are moved all the time for all sorts of reasons.

But the Council President is facing a public that has run out of patience and faith. There have been too many bad deals, too many botched estimates, too many bait-and-switches.

The stakes in the battle for Bonus ADU reform are still high. Right now, across the city, people living near modest homes listed for sale have to wonder: Will that property turn into a multi-story apartment building?

By Kate Callen / July 10, 2025

You would think that before the City of San Diego endorsed a contentious state housing measure like Senate Bill 79, which aims to turbocharge urban density, the Mayor and the City Council would deliberate the issue in full public view.

You would be wrong.

Assemblymember Chris Ward’s July 2 announcement that the City of San Diego `has formally endorsed SB 79 caught San Diegans by surprise. The Mayor never announced any endorsement, and the City Council never discussed the bill or sought public input. What happened?

The mystery was solved by the release of a baffling two-page letter sent on June 3 to State Senator Scott Weiner, author of SB79. The letter was signed by Sacramento lobbyist Moira Topp of Topp Strategies. The first page is on official City of San Diego letterhead. The second page is on Topp Strategies corporate letterhead. [See letter below.]

Topp begins the letter by stating, “On behalf of my client, the City of San Diego, I am writing in support of your measure, SB 79.” She ends with, “The City of San Diego applauds Senator Wiener’s leadership in advancing this forward-thinking legislation and urges the Legislature to support SB 79. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.”

Well, we at the Rag have several questions.

By Kate Callen

More than 100 Golden Hill residents filled all but four seats at a surreal June 30 Zoom briefing about an eight-story complex that will tower over surrounding homes.

The four empty chairs were placed at the front of the room behind a table bearing four name cards: Todd Gloria, Stephen Whitburn, Chris Ward, and Toni Atkins.

No one expected the four YIMBY Democrats to attend. But the event’s organizers, Preserve Greater Golden Hill, wanted to send a message: These elected officials sold out our community to serve the interests of the building industry.

The Golden Hill meeting was the second time Chicago-based developer CEDARst presented plans for its 180-unit project at 2935 A Street. The firm’s principals showed up in person for the first meeting on May 20. It didn’t go well. A broken wi-fi connection disrupted their slideshow, and an angry crowd shouted down their remarks.

Technical difficulties on June 30 were far worse. But the CEDARst team were in offsite locations at a safe distance. “They hid behind a Zoom platform that they controlled, and they selectively heard questions from the audience,” said Susan Bugbee, a long-time member of the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee.

By Kate Callen / June 27, 2025

In 2022, when San Diego Councilmembers Joe La Cava and Sean Elo-Rivera pushed for Measure B to levy trash fees on single-family homes, they sought to assure the public that all would be well.

They said the new fees would be an affordable $23 to $29 a month. They said this wasn’t a scheme to raise money for a cash-strapped city because the real aims were “responsible governance, local innovation, and world-class service.” They promised that the public would be fully engaged in every step of the process.

That was all false. Fees will be nearly twice the estimates, and they will get higher. The public was shut out of the process – and no, ushering people into conference rooms to look at table-top exhibits of tiny trash bins doesn’t count as “community engagement.”

And when they voted in the fees June 9 at a meeting packed with angry constituents, weary councilmembers finally spoke the truth: They felt they had to do this because they were desperate for money.

By Kate Callen / June 23, 2025

If you are furious because City Hall intends to get out of the fiscal mess it created by charging you unlawful trash fees, Mike Aguirre wants your help.

Aguirre is the lead attorney on a lawsuit seeking to block the trash fees on state constitutional grounds. He and co-counsel Maria Severson outlined the key legal issues to a packed forum on June 21 at the Mission Hills Library.

The 70 people who attended expected to be asked for donations. But Aguirre and Severson weren’t there for money. They wanted volunteers.

“To the extent you want to help us,” Aguirre said, “I want to use the Public Records Act to dig into the public records that are available to build a mountain of evidence to present to the judge. … We can’t take [the city] at their word. We need to find out all the particulars.”

By Kate Callen / June 16, 2025

Good afternoon.

As you know, community leaders in every district are fighting the City’s efforts to cram more housing into our neighborhoods – housing that is excessive in scale and expensive in price.

We’ve gotten to know one another at meetings like this, and we’ve talked about joining forces. Massive public outrage over monstrous Bonus ADUs has finally united us as
members of the new San Diego Community Coalition.

It is sad but true that local politicians only seem to care about three groups: the Chamber of Commerce, the building industry, and certain labor unions.

Going forward, the Community Coalition will expect your equal time and attention. This citywide alliance is three months old. It includes 26 communities, and it is growing.
Neighbors for a Better San Diego helped launch us. Save Our Heritage Organization has joined us.

Our geographic reach extends from Encanto in the south to University City in the north, from El Cerrito in the east to Ocean Beach in the west.

By Kate Callen / June 13, 2025

This week’s San Diego City Council 6-3 vote approving trash fees capped another hours-long session before another furious overflow crowd. It’s no wonder the Councilmembers seemed exhausted. They are caught between their irate constituents and an autocratic mayor who scorns their constituents.

The six “Yes” voters looked like patients in a dentist’s waiting room. They have no viable solution to the budget crisis and no prospects for future elected office. They must serve out the rest of their Council terms in a kind of political purgatory.

Here are random observations of a weary Council that must now prepare for another contentious hearing when they consider Bonus ADU reform on Monday, June 16:

Going Through The Motions: The trash fees were rammed through for one reason only: The City is so financially destitute that it will dig money out of any crevice. No Council member could make that case with real enthusiasm. So they put in a token effort. Stephen Whitburn thanked some people and quickly voted “Yes.” Vivian Moreno had nothing to say. Even Henry Foster III, who ultimately voted “No,” seemed disoriented.

Elo-Rivera Fulminates:  One of the “Yes” voters brought firepower, but not about the city’s plight. Instead, Sean Elo-Rivera unleashed a diatribe about the presence of the National Guard in Los Angeles. When an audience member yelled, “That’s not city business,” Elo-Rivera pitched a fit: “I don’t care if you don’t like what I have to say, put your thumbs down, shake your heads, do what you like.” Such a class act.