Category: Civil Rights

By Danna Givot / Op-Ed SD Union-Tribune / November 12, 2025 

Three years ago, Mayor Todd Gloria unveiled his “Build Better San Diego” initiative, with an ambitious goal of eliminating inequities between our city’s wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods. Build Better San Diego intended to replace crumbling infrastructure and improve public services in our older and long-neglected communities south of Interstate 8.

But our mayor’s pledge now rings hollow. In fact, recent and upcoming community plan updates will only reinforce the cruel reality of “two San Diegos,” not the “one city” he promised. If the mayor and his planning department get their way, our lowest-resourced, infrastructure-deficient neighborhoods will be burdened by extraordinary levels of up-zoning and density, with no funding for desperately needed parks, libraries, and fire and police stations.

The most shocking example of “one city, two realities” is the proposed College Area Community Plan Update

By Ezra Klein / New York Times / Nov. 10, 2025

Back in September, when I was reporting an article on whether Democrats should shut down the government, I kept hearing the same warning from veterans of past shutdown fights: The president controls the bully pulpit. He controls, to some degree, which parts of the government stay open and which parts close. It is very, very hard for the opposition party to win a shutdown.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that Democrats were winning this one. Polls showed that most voters blamed Republicans, not Democrats, for the current shutdown — perhaps because President Trump was bulldozing the East Wing of the White House rather than negotiating to reopen the government. Trump’s approval rating has been falling — in CNN’s tracking poll, it dipped into the 30s for the first time since he took office again. And last week, Democrats wrecked Republicans in the elections and Trump blamed his party’s losses in part on the shutdown. Democrats were riding higher than they have been in months.

Then, over the weekend, a group of Senate Democrats broke ranks and negotiated a deal to end the shutdown in return for — if we’re being honest — very little.

City Still Pushing for Answers While NFABC Closely Monitors Situation

From Neighbors for a Better California Board

The proposed 23-story Turquoise Tower project in Pacific Beach remains under review as the city continues to press the developer for additional documentation. On September 24, the City Planning Department issued its second round of questions to the developer.

A project of this size and complexity typically goes through at least six full cycles of questions and responses between the city and the developer before any approvals are considered, so Turquoise Tower is still in the very early stages of review and remains far from final approval.

These cycle reports are one of the tools the city uses to clarify issues directly with the developer. They focus on technical and code-related questions about the project’s design and incentives and do not yet include reviews of public safety, traffic, or other community impacts.

The San Diego City Council will go into closed session next Monday, November 17 to discuss a possible appeal of the recent court ruling on the Midway District height limit.

In a memo from the office of council president Joe LeCava, dated Nov. 10, it announced that council would have a closed session on that date — a conference with legal counsel regarding current litigation, and the first case on the list is Save Our Access v. City of San Diego. The agenda item was described this way:

This item involves litigation related to Measure C, a November 2022 ballot measure to exclude the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan Area from the Costal [sic] Zone’s 30-foot height limit. Save Our Access seeks to invalidate Measure C due to an alleged failure to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The City Attorney’s Office will update the Mayor and City Council on the status of litigation and seek direction.

The following is a published Letter to the Editor at the San Diego U-T by College area resident Danna Givot, printed in the U-T on November 8.

Community Planning Groups are official, elected bodies representing their planning areas.

When they speak to the Planning Commission, Land Use & Housing Committee or City Council regarding Community Plan Updates, they deserve time to present their community’s position on the plan.

These official representatives should not have to struggle to get the public to attend to cede time to them—usually 60 seconds apiece — for the privilege of presenting the official CPG position on their Plan Update— the job they were elected to do. This is wrong.

By Kate Callen

San Diego Planning Commission Vice Chair Matthew Boomhower has a visceral dislike for people who don’t share his zeal for densification. At every meeting, whenever public speakers push back on development overreach, he looks like a powder keg. He glares and fumes. He rails against what he calls “the anti-housing crowd.”

But Boomhower has never resorted to threatening a speaker with retaliation – until last Thursday, November 6.

The agenda item was the City’s “Preservation and Progress” program, which would empower developers by weakening standards for protecting historic structures.

Bruce Coons of Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) warned that the measure could create new legal hurdles to projects because “anybody could appeal an historic designation.”

“Take the real-life example of 101 Ash Street,” said Coons. “If anybody had an ax to grind with the new proposal, they could appeal the designation, which would set the project back at least six months.”

101 Ash was an appropriate example to cite. It was also a shrewd choice. Its development team is headed by Boomhower’s colleague, Planning Commission Chair Kelly Moden.

Was Coons speculating that the Chair’s own project could be jeopardized by the new historical designation process? Yes. Was he threatening to block the development? No. In fact, SOHO supports Moden’s project.

By Csaba Petre

Living in a coastal community such as Ocean Beach raises questions about environmental conservation, sustainable use of resources, and equity of coastal access in San Diego. Given the scope of these issues, one may question the efficacy of individual contributions toward the conservation of threatened habitats and other environmental endeavors. These questions have been sharpened in the present Trumpian era of pro-industry sentiment wrapped in climate change denialism at the national level.

Clear answers are hard to formulate alone; it takes a community to tackle pressing environmental concerns. Recently, Coastal Roots Farm in Encinitas facilitated this global yet local conversation, featuring two environmental documentaries as part of their Farm Film and Music Series: Faka’apa’apa & Out of Mined, as well as an informative panel discussion. The event took place on a recent, chilly late October night on the farm’s property. It had the feel of a summer family movie night in the park, but with a message of pressing urgency.

The panel was made up of: Mayela Manasjan (moderator), executive director of the Association of Women in Water, Energy & Environment; Dr. Greg Rouse – Marine Biologist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography; Coach Jackson – Founder and executive director of Coastal Defenders; and Amber Sparks – Marine Biologist and Co-founder of the Blue Latitudes Foundation.

San Diego Planning Commission Nov. 6th Meeting: Progress and Preservation Package A

By South OB Girl

San Diegans from throughout San Diego gathered in the meeting room for the Thursday November 6th meeting of the San Diego Planning Commission. The meeting began at 9 am and after approximately 2 and half hours of staff report, public comments and questions and deliberation by the Commissioners, the Planning Commission voted unanimously in support of Progress and Preservation Package A.

As the opposition to Package A gathered outside the meeting room afterwards, Rag editor Frank Gormlie tried to boost morale when he said, “Two more rounds to go!”  This was just the first round.  San Diegans had seven days including Saturday and Sunday to prepare for public comment at this meeting amending existing municipal code.

Attention shifted to the City Planning Department.  The City Planning Department stated that it concluded its public hearings on the annual report on homes with an “informational presentation” to the City Council this past Tuesday 11/4.  The City Planning Department then gave a presentation about Package A which would be voted on by the Commission.  The goals of Preservation and Progress Package A are:

Those in support of Package A gave public comment first.  Speaking time was reduced from 3 minutes to 1 minute by the Chair so all parties were adjusting the ceding of minutes. This included a speaker from the Historical Resources Board, Rami Cortez, who gave a report about what had occurred at the recent meeting that focused on this Package A.  Her comments indicated that to some degree the board ran out of time to address everything at their recent meeting.  She stated that they were indecisive in October.

By Grace Chaves / The Point – PLNU /  Nov 5, 2025

In an email to Point Loma Nazarene University’s student body from President Kerry Fulcher, it was announced that the Associated Student Body (ASB) rejected a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) student club at PLNU. According to the email, a motion to establish the club was brought to a vote within the ASB Board of Directors, but it failed to pass.

Fulcher said that the primary reason for its rejection was ASB’s concern regarding TPUSA’s “Professor Watchlist,” a list sourced by news stories that detail instances of “radical behavior” among college professors, as described by ProfessorWatchlist.org.

By Shelby Huffaker, MPH / San Diego Americans for Safe Access / November 2025

California Assembly Bills

AB-8 Industrial hemp.

Expands the definition of cannabis to include all products containing natural and synthetic cannabinoids (excluding CBD isolate and FDA-approved cannabinoid products), subjecting such products to the same regulatory requirements as cannabis (including — but not limited to — laboratory testing, taxes, track-and-trace requirements, etc.). Inhalable hemp products, including hemp pre-rolls and hemp flower intended for consumption, are prohibited. While cannabis retailers are permitted to sell manufactured cannabinoid products that meet state requirements, tobacco/cigarette retailers are prohibited from selling any form of cannabis or cannabinoid product, except for CBD isolate.

By SOHO / November-December 2025 Newsletter

The City of San Diego claims that changes to the Historical Resources Board (HRB) are needed because it “struggles to fill vacancies” on this all-volunteer body. But what the city doesn’t say is that the shortage is entirely of its own making.

Over the years, city officials have quietly rewritten and manipulated the rules governing the HRB—rules that do not seem to apply to other city boards or commissions. Each change has chipped away at the board’s expertise and authority, leaving it less effective as the guardian of San Diego’s historic resources and more susceptible and malleable to development interest.

One of the most damaging policies prohibits local historic preservation architects and landscape architects from serving on the HRB as they might one day have a project come before the board. For every other city board, a simple recusal from discussion or voting is sufficient to manage potential conflicts of interest. But not for the HRB. Here, some of the most qualified professionals are simply barred from service altogether. And yet, they do have other architects serving.

By Bruce Wolpe / The AlterNet -The Conversation / November 05, 2025 

One year and a day after Donald Trump won a second term as president – and on the 35th day of the US government shutdown, which has tied a record for the longest in history – the Democrats swept to victory in key races across the county.

Democratic candidates won the governorships in the states of Virginia and New Jersey, while Zohran Mamdani became New York City’s next mayor.

The Democrats may have just become the winners of the fight to reopen the government, too.

Trump’s ratings dropping sharply
Sixteen years ago, then-President Barack Obama was staggered by Republicans winning the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey in the 2009 elections.

The message was indelible: voters wanted to put a check on Obama and his wide-ranging agenda, from health care to global warming. Many Americans wanted him to cool his jets, including on what would become his signature achievement, Obamacare.

The following year, in the 2010 midterm elections, the Democrats lost more than 60 seats and their majority in the House. For the next six years, Republicans had a veto over whatever bills Obama wanted Congress to enact.

With Democrats now winning the governorships in those two states, Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have just been sent the same message: you need to be checked, too.