Author: Staff

Monday & Tuesday: Last Chance to Speak Out Against Mission Bay Bathroom Closures

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the general public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Tuesday, July 13: City Council, 10:00 a.m.

Agenda:

Item 52: Sixth Amendment to Increase Expenditure Authority for the Procurement Contract Between the City of San Diego and Rehrig Pacific Company for Waste Carts, Recycling Cars, Cart Parts, Bins and Related Products

Why it matters: This consent item reveals that the City’s haphazard effort to close its budget gap by charging for trash collection has so far cost a whopping $106,526,000. That expenditure is roughly *200* times the $546,000 the city will save by closing 13 (nearly half) of the 28 bathrooms at Mission Bay.

Speaking of which…

Last Chance to Speak Out Against “Petty Assault” of Mission Bay Bathroom Closures

There has been two suspicious deaths in the general Point Loma area in the last five days.They appear totally unrelated.

In the first death, 62-year-old San Diego resident Darrell Cogdill suffered a gunshot wound and was found in a median along Nimitz Boulevard very early Thursday morning, July 2nd. He passed at the hospital.

And late Sunday night, July 5, a man was found dead in a parked car in the Midway District. He is still unidentified.

In the shooting, Cogdill was found laying unresponsive in a Nimitz Boulevard median north of Famosa Boulevard in the 4400 block of Nimitz. Police and medics responded to a call around 1:50 a.m. after someone reported seeing him. San Diego Fire-Rescue medics performed life-saving measures at the scene before transporting Cogdill to a hospital, where he died.

By Paul Krueger

I can remember when Sean Elo-Rivera, my city council representative, didn’t turn his back on me when I greeted him, when he didn’t talk over me and joke with his colleagues while I testified at council meetings, and when he didn’t leave the council chambers during my public comments.

Shortly after taking office in 2021, Elo-Rivera met with a group of Talmadge/ Kensington residents concerned about the emergence of multi-story apartment buildings in residential areas (branded as “Bonus ADUs”).

To his credit, Elo-Rivera was honest and unapologetic about his intentions. He told us he had no interest in helping us secure even modest reforms to the controversial ADU program. He saw no reason to include minimal requirements for landscaping, off-street parking, setbacks from adjoining homes, and basic design standards.

He did pledge to help make sure the developers complied with building codes and other requirements. But, as we warned him, they didn’t — and he did nothing to stop them.

In the five years since that initial meeting, Elo-Rivera has abandoned any pretense of representation for constituents who disagree with his views, criticize his policy choices, or complain about his behavior.

He’s made it clear that those of us who, in his words, “live north of El Cajon Boulevard” do not deserve his respect or even the basic constituent services of his non-partisan council office.

Elo-Rivera shows a special disdain for those of us who are — in his words — old, white, and “implicitly racist” homeowners. (No matter that Elo-Rivera himself now owns property north of his chosen El Cajon Boulevard battleline.)

Rag judges have – finally – determined a winner of the July 4th 250th anniversary Rag writing contest.

It is William Dorsett of San Diego. The Rag will be sending William a check for $100.

There were 7 entries  in the contest and we published them all anonymously. Dorsett wrote number 7, entitled, “What the 250th Anniversary Means Today… Living Under Trump: ‘I love America But It Can Do Better — the Torch Has Been Passed to Us.'”  Dorsett wrote his winning essay on the morning of July 4th.

Here is his essay:

Today marks the 250th anniversary of American Independence Day. It feels very different from the celebrations I remember growing up.

When I was a child, July 4th was a spectacle. My family gathered every year. My grandfather fired up the grill while my grandmother made potato salad and all the fixings. After lunch there was homemade ice cream or fresh peach cobbler. But the real excitement came after dark. Growing up in Texas, fireworks were everywhere, and lighting them was what I lived for each summer.

As we grow older, however, our understanding of history changes. I learned that the celebration of American independence has never meant the same thing to everyone. For many Native Americans, it marked the beginning of the destruction of their way of life. For African Americans, freedom would not come for another 89 years, followed by generations of unequal treatment. Women would wait nearly a century and a half before gaining the right to vote.

By Rag Staff

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the general public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Please note: New rules on public participation go into effect at this meeting. The Coalition is planning an initiative to help community leaders navigate the changes. For now, remember that non-agenda public comments have a 2-minute limit, but all other public comments have a 1-minute limit.

Monday, July 6: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item 201: Appeal of the Environmental Determination for Coast Walk Project No. PRJ-1074172, Lots @ & 17

Why it matters: Building a two-story 5,478-square-foot house on the iconic Coast Walk ocean bluff will carve out yet another piece of the La Jolla coastline for the exclusive use of the privileged. Is there no end to predatory oceanfront development?

Item 400: Ordinance Adopting Updated SDPS Military Equipment Use Procedure and Renewing Approval for Use, Funding, and Acquisition of Military Equipment

Why it matters: The ICE killings of two citizens in Minneapolis taught us the hazards of militarized law enforcement in urban areas.

It is indeed the last four days of the OB Rag writing contest. Given that we’re nearing the 250th anniversary of American independence, the topic is: “What the 250th anniversary means today … living under Trump.”

Send 500 to about 1,000 word entries to us at our email: obragblog@gmail.com  (The best way is to simply paste the essay into the text of an email and send it to us.) All entries will be judged by a panel of citizen journalists and professional writers. The deadline is 9 p.m. Saturday, July 4th. (Maybe you weren’t inspired until the actual day was upon you — .)

OB Rag Staff Report

Jack McGrory has seen a lot happen in San Diego over the past 50 years, and he knows a lot about how the city has evolved. In his 24 years at City Hall, where he rose from a trainee in 1973 to City Manager between 1991 and 1997, McGrory had a singular role in helping shape our city government.

At a June 20 dialogue hosted by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego, McGrory answered questions about City Hall’s perilous state with astonishing candor.

In this Part I of a report on the forum [link], McGrory discussed how a lack of professionalism at City Hall has led to financial instability and public distrust.

Today, in Part II, he describes how concentrating political power in the executive branch has tipped the city into chaos.

On “strong mayor” government: When we went to district elections in 1988, the downtown business interests got pissed off. They thought: The neighborhoods will control the City Council, so how will we protect our interests? The next move was to go to a strong mayor, which happened in 2004. In a strong mayor government, you lose a professional corps of administrators who know how to do trash, water, and sewage. They know how to deliver services. It’s like running a business. Now look. I’ve had three goddamn trash cans in six months.

In the public sector, some employees are in a civil service classification that gives them protection, and some are “unclassified” – they are not protected, and they operate at a higher level. When I was city manager, I had about 25 unclassified employees. That number today is 432.

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the general public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Monday, June 29: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item S400: Proposed FY 2027 Recreation Center Fund Budgets, Opportunity Fund Budget, and 2025 Come Play Outside

Why it matters: Funding for city Rec Centers and the proportions of available funding that go to “low resource” neighborhoods continue to be an issue of concern.

Item S401: Information Guide on Group Participation Updates and Council Determination of Community Engagement Efforts

Why it matters: Community Planning Groups have seen their input on density and development issues greatly reduced under the Faulconer and Gloria regimes. The Community Planners Committee is demanding a “Seat at the Table” on important land use decisions. Background:

OB Rag Staff Report

Jack McGrory has seen a lot happen in San Diego over the past 50 years, and he knows a lot about how the city has evolved. In his 24 years at City Hall, where he rose from a trainee in 1973 to City Manager between 1991 and 1997, McGrory had a singular role in helping shape our city government.

At a June 20 dialogue hosted by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego, McGrory answered questions about City Hall’s perilous state with astonishing candor.

In this Part I of a report on the forum, McGrory discusses how a lack of professionalism at City Hall has led to financial instability and public distrust.

On city government “best practices”:

We always measured ourselves against other large cities. All the city managers would meet every six months, and we’d exchange ideas about best practices. San Diego went to automated trash pickup because I saw Phoenix doing it, and they showed me their numbers. Before we had automated pickup, we had two or three people on every truck handling 11 tons of trash a day. The costs of back injuries and workers’ comp were insane.

At another one of these conferences, someone described a new technology for fixing potholes that used trucks with computers and hot tar dispensers. The truck would drive over the pothole, and the computer would drop the hot tar and tamp it down. I bought eight pothole trucks, and we were fixing potholes in 24 hours.

Then one day, I saw a city employee fixing a pothole by shoveling in hot tar. I asked, “Where are the pothole trucks?” He said, “One of the drivers got carpal tunnel syndrome, so the union lobbied the Council, and they got rid of the trucks.”

By Jillian Butler

Citing environmental preservation, public safety, and concerns about commercialization, the City of San Diego has increased legislation and enforcement against pop-up events at Sunset Cliffs. However, some businesses are using loopholes to continue their operations in the letter, rather than the spirit of the law.

Once a sacred Kumeyaay site, Sunset Cliffs Natural Park is an area of immense beauty. The quintessential section of the San Diego coastline brings in over 1.7 million pedestrians, surfers, birdwatchers, tidepoolers, site seers, and artists per year.

In our current digital era, many people prioritize the social media share-ability of an experience as much as the experience itself. Businesses have taken note of this trend and picked up on Sunset Cliffs as the perfect place to fill a gap in the market. Using this stretch of coast between Ocean Beach and Point Loma, entrepreneurially minded individuals have capitalized off of Instagram-worthy picnics, yoga classes, concerts, and raves.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many restaurants, nightlife venues, and fitness classes closed down. Many organizations adapted by moving gatherings outdoors. This is when the rise of pop-ups began. However, decades long codes and licensure requirements regarding gatherings were not applied to these new businesses.

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the San Diego public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Monday, June 22: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item 200: Public Power Feasibility Study, Phase II Report

Item 201: SDG&E Franchise Independent Audit Report and Compliance Review

Why they matter: These items will shed light on two options: a new municipal energy utility (MEU) vs. the existing SDG&E utility. The Phase II report found that “financial projections support the feasibility of establishing an MEU.” The review found that SDG&E complies with its franchise agreement but adds “compliance alone does not fully resolve broader concerns regarding affordability, rate impacts, and alignment with the City’s policy objectives.”

Tuesday, June 23: City Council, 10:00 a.m.

Agenda: 

Item S501: Municipal Code Amendment Relating to Electric Bicycle Safety