Author: Source

By Csaba Petre

With summer officially over, OB is beginning preparations for its busy holiday season. First up is Oktoberfest.

First put on by Hoy Hoy Boys in Ocean Beach in 2002, Oktoberfest is returning for the 23rd year this Friday to Sunday.

Friday, October 10th

Headlining bands on Friday, October 10th on the main stage all hail from San Diego and include :

• Electric Waste Band, a Grateful Dead cover band known for playing at Winston’s every Monday, starting off the music at 4:20 PM, followed by
• Paging the 90s,
• Band of Gringos (a power trio originating in OB), and
• Spacehall Sound Machine.

CBS8

SAN DIEGO — As staffing issues continue to hit several major airports across the United States, the San Diego International Airport is advising travelers to arrive early to catch their flights.

While San Diego International Airport has not yet reported any immediate issues, in a post on Instagram, airport officials said travelers should arrive two hours early for domestic flights and three hours early for international flights as a precautionary measure.

The warning comes as a federal government shutdown enters its seventh day on Tuesday, impacting air traffic controllers and other federal employees.

On Monday night, the Hollywood Burbank Airport operated without air traffic controllers for several hours, creating a number of flight delays for travelers. The airport had no air traffic controllers in its tower from 4:15 p.m. until 10 p.m.

By Danna Givot

The City is planning to increase the College Area’s zoning to allow 34,150 (2050) versus 8200 housing units on the ground in 2024 – a 316% increase. That’s crazy when SANDAG estimates the entire city of San Diego will increase housing by 107,778 units between 2023 and 2050.

Why should the College Area be upzoned to provide almost one quarter of the City’s new housing between now and 2050? It shouldn’t!

In 2020, the College Area housed only 1.8% of the City’s people and accounted for less than 1% of San Diego’s acreage, so why would it be upzoned to accommodate 24% of the new housing in San Diego. It makes no sense.

Let’s look at what other recent community plan updates have upzoned their community planning areas for and compare them to what is being asked of the College Area.

Mira Mesa, University, Hillcrest/Uptown and Clairemont have three or more times the existing housing and their community plans are only increasing their housing density by 98% on average, while the College Area is being hammered with a 316% increase. What could justify this?

By Kathryn Fletcher / SOHO Newsletter / September-October 2025

SOHO Editor’s note: This article includes excerpts from the book Warner Springs Ranch and Its Environs by Joseph J. Hill, and from the Temecula Valley Historical Society Newsletter, Vol. 11, Issue 6, June 2011.

As long ago as 1869, Judge Benjamin Hayes wrote that no ranch in Southern California was better watered than the Valle de San José, also known as Warner’s Ranch. Well before that, early Spanish and American travelers wrote in their diaries of the rich verdure of this huge bowl in a semi-arid plain. By its very topography the region was destined to become a reservoir of water to irrigate thousands of acres lying between it and the Pacific.

In 1911, William G. Henshaw purchased the Warner Ranch land grant from the heirs of former Governor John Downey. Henshaw and his partner Col. Ed Fletcher set plans in motion to construct a dam at the headwaters of the San Luis Rey River.

By Sydney Brammer / LomaBeat  / Sep 12, 2025
 
Following the tragic accident of Point Loma Nazarene University student, Dakota Briley, an auction with over 300 items, including hotel stays to surfboards signed by professional surfers, went through Monday, Sept. 15, to raise money for his rehabilitation funds.

Nearly three months ago, Briley was hit by an 18-year-old driver while on the side of the road in Haleiwa, HI. Crushed between two cars, Briley’s spine, skull and lower body were critically injured.

After spending 58 days in the Queens Medical Center in downtown Honolulu, mostly in a coma, Briley was transferred to Craig Hospital in Colorado, where they believe his rehabilitation needs will be better met, said Erin Lau, his sister.

Since the accident, Briley has awakened from his coma, undergone 11 surgeries, can hold conversations,

By Arturo Castañares / La Prensa San Diego / October 3, 2025

A local drywall installation company that systematically underpaid its workers on two local affordable housing projects has agreed to settle a civil lawsuit filed by the US Department of Labor by paying $790,000 in back wages and fines.

Escondido-based Innovative Wall Systems, Inc., doing business as Alta Drywall, was sued in San Diego federal court for underpaying 580 employees who worked more than 40 hours a week, including weekends, without receiving the required overtime rate or minimum wage as mandated by federal law.

The Department of Labor and Alta Drywall entered into a Consent Judgment and Order on September 12, 2025, over 580 employees who were not paid overtime on two affordable housing projects; the 200-unit Columba project in Chula Vista’s Millenia development, and the 309-unit Mt. Etna St. complex in San Diego.

SD Union-Tribune Editorial Board / October 5, 2025

The City Council’s decision this week to put off a vote on a 62% water rate hike and a 31% sewer rate hike to be phased in over the next four years was welcomed by the many San Diegans who live paycheck to paycheck.

But there’s bad news ahead for anyone counting on genuine relief from Mayor Todd Gloria and council members. In coming weeks, final approval still looks inevitable for the massive rate increases beginning in January. The case that rates have to go up to sustaincurrent levels of service hasn’t been challenged, and there is no appetite for budget cuts elsewhere to cover the bills.

And nothing in the council’s recent history suggests that most members’ message-we-care rhetoric at Tuesday’s meeting is meaningful. These same politicians depicted their crusade against digital-only grocery store coupons as a bold defense of elderly constituents — even as they forced constituents of all ages to pay sharply increased trash fees — and approved first-ever parking fees at Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo — and imposed punitive “dynamic” parking rates that will hammer families visiting downtown.

Jamacha Neighborhood Council Flags Application Discrepancies in Controversial Jamacha Bonus ADU Project and urges the owner, Godavari LLC, and the City of San Diego to immediately halt the 1441 Woodrow Ave project.

This is on October 7, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. at 1441 Woodrow Ave, San Diego, CA, 92114.

The Jamacha Neighborhood Council (JNC), representing residents of the Jamacha community, is calling on the City of San Diego to halt the proposed six two-story, 12-unit Bonus ADU project at 1441 Woodrow Ave and to revise city policy to exclude communities of concern in RS 1-7 single-family zones from the Bonus ADU program.

By Dani Miskell / 10News KGTV / Oct. 2, 2025

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Harmony Grove Village South development on Wednesday, October 1.

Harmony Grove Village South will build 453 homes and businesses in unincorporated San Diego near Escondido, despite fierce opposition from residents who say the project puts lives at risk during wildfires.

The development will be built on open land off Country Club Drive, but longtime residents argue the new homes could block their only evacuation route during a fire emergency.

At Wednesday’s Board of Supervisors land use meeting, Supervisor Jim Desmond pressed Rancho Santa Fe Fire Chief Dave McQuead on fire evacuation safety concerns.

Memorial Installed Along OB Bike Path

By Perla Shaheen / 10News / October 2, 2025

A new memorial near Robb Field in Ocean Beach honors Steve Krueger, the 61-year-old UPS driver who was killed when a plane crashed into his delivery truck in Santee in 2021.

“It’s very moving for my family. We’re really excited about this,” Jeffrey Krueger said about the memorial for his brother.

The memorial, installed on Wednesday, features two benches and a plaque just blocks away from where Steve used to live in Ocean Beach.

“He’d be pretty emotional about it, he’d be moved, obviously very grateful,” Jeffrey Krueger said.

Steve Krueger died in 2021 while delivering mail for UPS on the same route he had worked for decades when a plane crashed into his truck and two homes in Santee.

Couple Hundred Local Residents and Supporters at Town-hall Meeting at Pt Loma Assembly

By Jillian Butler
A proposed 56-unit apartment complex at 1004 Rosecrans has sparked fierce opposition from Point Loma residents, who say the project violates zoning rules, threatens public health, and endangers the neighborhood’s historic character.With residents of other San Diego neighborhoods faced by the same issue, and former Coronado Mayor turned policy advocate Richard Bailey given a platform, this meeting of a couple hundred folks at the Point Loma Assembly on Tuesday, September 30 served as a rallying cry to fight for the interests of the citizenry and against the push of shadowy developers and their political backers.

Protect Point Loma is a grassroots 501c4 organization which aims to protect the often overlooked interests of Peninsula residents and preserve the rich history and heritage of the Point Loma area. Their mission is “making certain that our community projects are built with responsible guidelines and community input.”