Category: Civil Rights

Strategy hinges on California’s density bonus law, which empowers builders to secure waivers to avoid development requirements

By Jennifer Van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / November 28, 2025 

A recent court order directing the reinstatement of the 30-foot height limit in San Diego’s Midway District would seem to stop short a development team’s plan to remake the city’s sports arena site with thousands of apartments and a replacement venue in buildings that tower over the restriction.

But the ruling’s net effect on the megaproject may only amount to a short-term, bureaucratic delay. That’s because the Midway Rising team believes it has something more powerful on its side: California’s density bonus law.

“Midway Rising is moving forward as planned under state density bonus law that encourages affordable housing development,” said Jeff Meyer, a spokesperson for the development team. “We have full confidence in this transformative redevelopment and look forward to working with our local and state partners to bring the vision put forward in the Midway Community Plan to life.”

The team expects the project will be considered by the City Council in early 2026, he said.

The posture of strength suggests that the city and the development team, tied together by an exclusive negotiation agreement, have not labored in vain.

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / November 22-24, 2025

An aggressive plan to add nearly 20,000 potential new homes to Clairemont over the next 30 years got a key green light Friday when the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee unanimously approved it.

The new growth blueprint for Clairemont — the oldest and largest of San Diego’s suburban neighborhoods — also includes a new fire station, new parks and a possible new trolley station at Jutland Drive and Morena Boulevard.

The blueprint, which could boost the neighborhood’s population from the current 80,000 to about 119,000, also shrinks vehicle lanes on Morena Boulevard and Genesee Avenue to make way for bicycle-only and bus-only lanes.

There are also some ambitious goals like aerial tramways over Interstate 5 to connect Clairemont to coastal areas, and a missing link hiking trail that would connect Marian Bear Park and Tecolote Park.

And the neighborhood’s 30-foot building height limit would be wiped out in many areas to allow high-rise and mid-rise buildings that would range in height from 40 feet to 65 feet.

Campillo Is Lone Vote Against Approval

By Maura Fox / San Diego Union-Tribune / November 24, 2025

A development blueprint that plans for tripling the population of the College Area over the next 30 years is one step closer to being adopted, after a San Diego City Council committee voted to approve the update.

The community plan, which hasn’t seen an update since 1989, will guide land use and development for the neighborhood for the next two to three decades. It will now head to the full City Council for review.

It projects ambitious population growth in the College Area and expects more opportunities for cycling and public transit, green spaces along busy streets and a campus town center near San Diego State University.

“I’m excited to see how, outside this plan update, we can work to make those recommendations a reality for the community,” Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, whose District 9 includes the area, said at Friday’s meeting of the Land Use and Housing Committee.

The plan update passed 3-1, with Councilmember Raul Campillo, who represents nearby District 7, voting no.

From Fox5 San Diego / November 25, 2025

A class action lawsuit filed on Tuesday alleges Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of violating due process by targeting people after court proceedings in San Diego County.

Represented by the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA’s School of Law and the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL), three detained immigrants filed the lawsuit.

“Entrapping and imprisoning people who are complying with their immigration requirements isn’t just cowardly, it’s unconstitutional,” CHRCL Legal Director Bardis Vakili said via a press release. “Due process requires that, before taking away our freedom, the government must prove at a hearing that detention is justified.”

Throughout the summer, ICE targeted people leaving court hearings at 880 Front Street, according to the lawsuit.

San Diego City Council Committees Disrespect the Public

By Paul Krueger

Twice in one week, City Council Committees demonstrated blatant disregard for public interest and input on important issues.

At the November 19 Council Rules Committee meeting, Kent Lee was absent, and Vivian Moreno and Sean Elo-Rivera abruptly walked out — with no explanation — before the meeting ended.

Their absence deprived the Committee of a quorum, ending discussion and a committee decision on a proposed ballot measure calling for free Sunday parking in Balboa Park.

That proposal by Shane Harris was endorsed by several members of the public, who testified in person and by phone.

The Committee’s failure to finish its work could jeopardize Harris’ proposal, because there is a strict timeline for the council to review citizen-proposed ballot measures, and the Rules Committee isn’t scheduled to meet again until January.

By Donna Frye

On November 13, I sent an email to the city requesting information about how high the buildings could be in Clairemont if the Community Plan Update is approved, taking into account the State Density Bonus Law and Senate Bill 79 (SB79).

On November 21, the OB Rag published this as part of my ongoing requests to the city for some answers.

This is Part 2 which is my progress to date. In case you’re wondering why this even matters, it’s because we have the right to know what’s going on in our communities. And even though my question is about a specific community, the height limits and many other development issues, are not unique to Clairemont.

On November 21, I received the following email response to my question from the city:

“Under SB79, development would be allowed at 65 feet in height if within 1/4 mile of a trolley stop, and up to 55 feet in height if within 1/2 mile of a trolley stop, which is generally consistent with the 65-foot height limits in the overlay zone. Regarding other development incentive programs, both at the state and local level, projects that include affordable housing may also be eligible to receive development incentives and waivers that could allow a project to further exceed these height limits.”

By Paul Krueger

Before City Councilmembers adjourned to Closed Session on November 17 to discuss and vote on the controversial 30-foot height limit in the Midway/Pacific Highway area, I asked them to disclose after that meeting why they voted as they did.

I told our representatives they owed the public an on-the-record explanation on this very important land use and housing density issue.

I didn’t ask — or expect them — to reveal any “privileged” information discussed in Closed Session, including legal strategies, the odds of winning or losing an appeal to the State Supreme Court, or the possible cost of that litigation.

But I told councilmembers that their constituents deserve to know if they agree with Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferber’s harsh criticism of the recent appellate court decision that reinstated the 30-foot height limit. And if so, did they support the Mayor and City Attorney’s strategy of asking the State Supreme Court to reverse the appeals court and allow high-rise construction without a more thorough review of the negative environmental impact of that density?

By Rob Nikolewski / San Diego Union-Tribune / November 20, 2025

The pathway for robotaxis in San Diego may have hit a pothole.

[Please see original for all the great links.]

Just weeks after officials at the autonomous vehicle company Waymo announced early steps to bring its ride-hailing services to San Diego in 2026, the Taxi Advisory Committee at the Metropolitan Transit System came out in opposition to driverless vehicles.

“My chief concern is what this means for people who are keeping a roof over their head and feeding their families by being drivers,” said San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who is also chair of the Taxi Advisory Committee.

Owner’s Son Leaving for Navy boot camp next month

by Tony Shin / KUSI / Nov 20, 2025 

The owner of a popular Mexican restaurant in Mission Beach is being held by federal immigration authorities and faces possible deportation, prompting family members and loyal customers to call for his release.

Victor Rodriguez Sr., 54, owner of La Playa Taco Shop, is currently detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, according to his family. He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside his National City home on Halloween morning.

Family members said Rodriguez is in the country without legal status but has spent decades attempting to obtain lawful residency or citizenship through legal channels.

“He helped me a lot. It’s too difficult now because I have to do things I’m not used to,” said his wife, Gabriela Rodriguez, who continues to run the restaurant in his absence.

Rodriguez and his wife have owned La Playa Taco Shop for nearly 30 years. Their son, Victor Rodriguez Jr., said his father was taken into custody after several vehicles surrounded him.

By Kate Callen

Southeastern San Diego has never had the resources of wealthier communities with robust business districts, sturdy infrastructure, parks, and open green space.

But it does have an extraordinary natural asset: a 31-acre hilltop plateau with a stunning panoramic 360-view of the San Diego-Tijuana coastal landscape.

A city with visionary leaders would seize this opportunity to create an iconic landmark, like the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles, that draws visitors from far and wide. The attraction would transform the Emerald Hills-Encanto community. New businesses would spring up. A new civic pride would take root.

But that’s not what San Diego is doing. In its zeal to turbo-charge housing everywhere and anywhere, America’s Finest City intends to let a Texas-based developer build private homes on the hilltop site.

On November 20, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to support a development of 130 houses constructed by D.R Horton, the country’s largest home builder. The private enclave will resemble a fortress, disconnected from the surrounding community. It will have amenities like “pocket parks” that benefit the homeowners but not the general public.

Trump called for the Democratic lawmakers to be “arrested and placed on trial” in social media posts because of their video message.

President Donald Trump on Thursday, Nov. 20, accused six Democratic-lawmakers of “seditious behavior,” calling for them to “be arrested and put on trial” for behavior that, he said, could be “punishable by death.”

All because of a video they made earlier in the week and distributed widely telling military and intelligence officers to “refuse illegal orders.” Which is the law.

The lawmakers, all of whom are veterans or had worked in the CIA did not urge any illegal actions. They include Democratic Senators Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona, and House of Representatives members  Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Jason Crow of Colorado.

In response to their video, Trump responded on social network:

“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET,” the president wrote in one Truth Social post Thursday morning, linking to an article about the video from the Washington Examiner.

“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” Trump wrote in another post.

In a third, he wrote: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

Millions of American Drivers Are Monitored Nationwide in a Secretive Program to Identify and Detain Suspicious People

By Associated Press – Times of San Diego / November 20, 2025

The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious, The Associated Press has found.

The predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement.

Suddenly, drivers find themselves pulled over — often for reasons cited such as speeding, failure to signal, the wrong window tint or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling that the roads they drove put them on law enforcement’s radar.

Once limited to policing the nation’s boundaries, the Border Patrol has built a surveillance system stretching into the country’s interior that can monitor ordinary Americans’ daily actions and connections for anomalies instead of simply targeting wanted suspects. Started about a decade ago to fight illegal border-related activities and the trafficking of both drugs and people, it has expanded over the past five years.