Category: Culture

From Voice of San Diego / May 27, 2026

When Mayor Todd Gloria first proposed eliminating grants that support arts institutions and community programming in the city’s budget, many of us in the arts community were deeply concerned. The proposed $11.8 million reduction to arts funding—an 86.6% cut—would have a significant impact on organizations and programs that serve hundreds of thousands of San Diegans each year.

Arts and culture contribute so much to the economic vitality and civic life of our region, but these proposed cuts threaten the ability of arts organizations to continue to play that role into the future.

When the mayor later released his revised budget in May, however, no funding was restored for arts and culture. Indeed, as funds were found for other areas of the budget, the arts were left behind. For many in the sector this was profoundly discouraging and intensified fears about the future stability of arts programming. It raises significant concerns about the city’s priorities and our collective future.

City arts and culture funding does not bankroll lavish galas or extravagant productions. It supports community theater in neighborhoods that otherwise have little access to the arts. I

By Ed Harris

My experience as a former District Two Council Member and Lifeguard taught me that most of our elected officials do not represent the communities. They spend their careers pleasing special interest to ensure they get donations for their next office. When deciding who to vote for please follow the money. The other candidates in this race are already indebted to special interests. They are getting ads paid for by committees and parties who spin the truth. When you are flooded with campaign mailers take a look at the bottom to see who funded it. Then you will know who will own that candidate. Mandy is the real deal. She’s not bought and paid for by special interests.

She hasn’t sold out our neighborhoods, our coastline, or our community values for political favors or insider backing. She’s independent, she’s authentic, and she’s exactly the kind of leader we need at City Hall right now.

We do not need another rubber stamp politician.

By Jacob Mitchell

I am a fourth generation San Diegan and the son of an Olympian. My life has been defined by the idea that if you play by the rules and put in the work, you deserve a fair shot at the podium, but if you look at San Diego today, you’ll see a city where the playing field is tilted.

We are currently governed by a system that treats residents as a revenue source and institutional developers as the only viable solution to our problems. I am not a politician, as a chemist and an MBA candidate, I don’t believe in vague talking points; I believe in data, systems, and accountability. It’s time we stopped managing San Diego through headlines and started managing it for long term results.

Housing: Bridging the Generational Divide

The most pressing issue facing our beach communities is the housing crisis. State policy mandates a certain number of new homes San Diego needs to build in 9 year cycles. Currently, the City’s response to the mandate is to drop development fees for corporate entities and hand out subsidies for hyper-dense projects that lack community oversight.

I hear two very different, yet equally valid, fears in our district.

Voice of San Diego / May 27, 2026

Tonight, Wednesday the 27th, the San Diego City Council will hold a public hearing on this year’s proposed budget, which seeks to close a $118 million deficit. Tonight’s public hearing will be held in Council Chambers starting at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting is the latest deliberation following Mayor Todd Gloria’s May revision. He restored some library and recreation center hours after Councilmembers pushed back, saying those cuts pose a threat to public safety.

But there are still some tense conversations ahead.

WE WANT MAXIMUM PARTICIPATION
Join San Diego ART Matters, Arts+Culture: San Diego, and regional arts and culture leaders for a public press conference calling attention to the proposed elimination of City funding for arts and culture grants in the FY27 budget.

News Item: In 2025, the San Diego City Council passed a final budget that reduced the San Diego Humane Society’s (SDHS) annual animal services contract by $1 million. While the city initially proposed a more devastating 20% ($3.5 million) cut, the compromise forces the organization to evaluate fee increases and operational adjustments while facing critical shelter capacity issues.

By Debbie L. Sklar

Public discussion has included questions about the San Diego Humane Society, including shelter capacity, animal control responsibilities, and executive compensation. San Diego Humane Society President and CEO Dr. Gary Weitzman is compensated at more than $500,000 annually, according to publicly available IRS Form 990 filings. Records published through ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer list total compensation of approximately $509,396 in the most recent reporting period, including salary and other reportable compensation. The filing also lists approximately $72.8 million in annual revenue and more than $100 million in net assets.

Weitzman has served as president and CEO of the San Diego Humane Society since 2010.

by Ernie McCray

Attending a
Community College league of California
Trustees Conference
with Maria, my querida,
a trustee,
I happened upon
a session that very much interested me,
one regarding
protecting campuses
from ICE
who a while back
became a concern
to Santa Barbara Community College
when agents, nevertheless,
although they didn’t harass or arrest
any students,

UPDATE: Police identified the suspect, 29-year-old Charles Fluker, as the victim’s brother.Just around midnight Monday, May 25, an unidentified man was stabbed in the parking lot near the Barons Market off West Pt Loma, following an altercation with another man.

Police Officers arrived to find a guy with stab wounds. He was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest for treatment but died after arrival, police said.

The person suspected in the stabbing left the scene in a vehicle. Hours later, around 4:45 a.m., police arrested the suspect at a home in Linda Vista.

Today, Monday, May 25th, — Memorial Day –, the San Diego Veterans For Peace set up its “Hometown Arlington West Memorial” on the front lawn of the USS Midway Museum, 910 N. Harbor Drive, near the corner of Broadway, in downtown San Diego.

Chapter veterans from all military services will be honoring our 288 fallen brothers and sisters from Southern California who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with special memorial markers. The public is asked to stop by, read their names, honor the ultimate sacrifice made by these local fallen men and women, and to reflect on the overall costs of these two wars and wars going on now in Iran, Ukraine and elsewhere. Fom 7 AM to 4 PM.

By Will Baker

Portuguese flags rippled in the wind this May as one of San Diego’s tightest-knit communities continued a long-standing annual tradition with the 116th Point Loma Portuguese Festa do Espírito Santo.

Centered around the U.P.S.E.S Portuguese Hall, the Festa opened Friday, May 22nd with a flag-raising ceremony and continued throughout the weekend. Those three days saw hundreds of community members come together to celebrate their heritage, creating a unique cultural space in the heart of Point Loma. Traditional food, folk dancing, and beautiful regalia all contributed to the rich atmosphere of this year’s Festa, the latest iteration of the oldest ethnic European religious celebration in San Diego.

Saturday night was marked by a procession from the chapel (or capela) adjacent to the Portuguese Hall to the nearby St. Agnes Catholic Church. Resplendent in their dresses and suits, the young people of this year’s Festa court followed the Festa 2025 Queen as she carried the crown up the Avenida de Portugal to St. Agnes, where they attended a recitation of the Holy Rosary before returning to the Portuguese Hall, where a nighttime bazaar was in full swing under a large canopy housing hundreds of guests. The bazaar, open both Friday and Saturday night as well as the majority of Sunday, featured traditional Portuguese food such as malassadas and linguiça alongside a fantastic dance performance by the Grupo Folclorico Mar Bravo Casa dos Acores de Himar.

By Lynne Miller

Ocean Beach Historical Society on May 21 hosted a celebration for Larry Zeiger’s 50-year anniversary of Musical Theater at Point Loma High School. “Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance” became a rite of passage for seniors.  Larry Zieger, often known as ‘Zeiger’, sometimes known as ‘Larmo’, moved to California and got his Masters in Film at San Diego State University.  He applied to the PhD program at USC, but luckily for us, the L.A. smog and the policies at USC changed Mr. Zeiger’s plans.

He decided to listen to the voices of professors and film experts who encouraged him to become a teacher. He stepped into the role of teacher at a time when Required Courses like English could be created, pitched and approved.  Larry offered credited English courses at PLHS  that taught film.  Students watched films, read screenplays and books about film production, wrote their own play, sometimes wrote songs, made the sets, learned to sing and dance and act, and then they rehearsed and rehearsed. Their marketing resulted in sell-out crowds and eventually to nationwide acclaim.

Zeiger’s presentation last week included a slide show that included each graduating class, from the first performance without a stage or auditorium to his 2007 swan song in a beautiful theater now labeled The Larry Zeiger Performing Arts Center.

SeaWorld and San Diego Environmental Groups Settle Lawsuit Over Fireworks Pollution in Mission Bay

Coastkeeper and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation (CERF) have reached an agreement with SeaWorld Parks

Residents, Businesses and Workers Not Happy With New Parking Meters on Adams Ave.

Residents and workers in San Diego’s Kensington neighborhood are voicing frustration as parking meters along Adams Avenue officially went live last week

Point in Time Homeless Count ‘Not Accurate Reflection of Reality’

The unsheltered population is down in San Diego — but coastal areas are seeing an uptick in people seeking services. But that drop noted in San Diego’s annual Point-in-Time count isn’t necessarily reflected in the day-to-day reality of shelters and services

City Of San Diego Hit With $16.45 Million Jury Verdict Over Parking Citation Penalties

A San Diego jury has reportedly awarded more than $16.45 million against the City of San Diego in a class action lawsuit accusing the city of improperly assessing and collecting parking

 The Navajo Community Planning Group has reinstated the Mission Gorge Rock Quarry to Assist Neighborhood in Flying Debris

San Diego artist reaches $450K settlement over bubble show citation

What began as a dispute over bubbles in a city park ended three years later with a nearly half-million dollar settlement in favor of a San Diego-based artist.