Category: Culture

By Kate Callen and Paul Krueger / OpEd San Diego Union-Tribune / March 15, 2026

In 1926, the city of San Diego embraced a farsighted plan by landscape architect John Nolen to preserve Balboa Park as what he called “one of the most strikingly beautiful parks in the world.”

Exactly 100 years later, the mayor and six City Council Members looked at Balboa Park and saw a source of ready cash to help fill a budget deficit.

The decision to monetize San Diego’s “crown jewel” by charging visitors to park there was arguably the City’s biggest political blunder in recent history. The mayor and the council didn’t anticipate how fiercely San Diegans would fight to protect their jewel.

That miscalculation could secure Balboa Park’s future if it galvanizes citizens to demand a new public-private governance structure. And a commissioned 2020 report that was never publicly circulated offers encouragement for doing just that.

The dire effects of paid parking – fewer visitors, declining revenues, staff layoffs – have worsened a problem with deep roots.

For decades, City Hall has put the Park on a starvation diet. San Diegans kept hearing about master plan updates that would make the Park more vibrant. But then we kept seeing the Park decline as those plans were relegated to file cabinets. The result has been filthy restrooms, rundown buildings, and wilting greenery.

This Week at City Hall

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

Wednesday, March 18: Rules Committee, 9:00 a.m.

Agenda:

Item 2: Amendments to the Rules of Council Governing Public Comment During Council Meetings

Why it matters: This is intended to comply with Senate Bill 707 to modernize the Brown Act in an age of growing telecom sophistication. To include equal time for in-person and virtual speakers, the proposal includes:

• A notice will indicate whether public comment will be allotted 1 minute of 2 minutes per speaker
• Organized presentations will be taken before individual comment and must be 15 minutes or less, Presenters must give 24-hour notice to the City Clerk. Electronic presentation materials must be provided 2 hours in advance.
• Finally, “proposed amendments will provide for recording closed sessions [to] eliminate the requirement of costly transcriptions.” Audiotapes are less accessible than written transcripts, which can be searchable and excerpted. This keeps the public at a greater remove from Council deliberations.

Item 3: Review of Ballot Measure Proposals for the November 2026 Election

Why it matters: A measure proposed by Councilmember Raul Campillo would establish free parking at beaches and bays in the City of San Diego. The measure states, “Ensuring equitable public access to these coastal resources remains an important component of the City’s commitment to maintaining a high quality of life for San Diegans.”

Wednesday, March 18:  Community and Neighborhood Community Services Committee, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item 4: Resolution in Support of AB 2525 Surplus Lands, Mission Bay

Why it matters: The City Charter prohibits housing development in Mission Bay Park. But the State Surplus Land Act requires the city to prioritize affordable housing in Mission Bay Park to lease certain park properties for a period that exceeds 15 years. To ensure that housing is not allowed, Assemblymember Chris Ward has introduced this legislation to exempt Mission Bay Park from the Surplus Land Act.

Here’s the Long List of Groups That Opposed Package A

By South OB Girl

This was truly a remarkable accomplishment for so many people to come together in our efforts to defeat “Package A” of the so-called Preservation Reforms. The warped San Diego political scene pulled the decision making in favor of Package A, despite dozens of inconsistencies in the handling of the policy (no Package B for certain, then a Package B under way), legal violations specified by multiple organizations, and constituent opposition.

As a comment in The OB Rag recently suggested, are some of our City Council members paid a salary beyond their capabilities?  Are City Council representatives exercising the same precision, thoroughness, moral excellence, and skills of logic and deduction when analyzing and evaluating policies and municipal code that judges exercise when presiding over their court rooms?

Additionally, perhaps some of our City Council representatives are pulled in too many directions.  City Council members have an extensive gamut of responsibilities — from fiscal decisions pertaining to every aspect of the city to policy decisions pertaining to every aspect of the city.  It is clear that some facts and details are getting lost along the way with such extensive agendas for City Council week after week.

Ocean Beach to Host 14th Annual “Skate for the Kids” Fundraiser this Sunday

On Sunday, March 15, 2026, the Ocean Beach community will roll into Robb Field Skate Park for the 14th Annual Skate for the Kids. This high-energy afternoon of skateboarding, community spirit, and local food serves as a major fundraiser for Ocean Beach Elementary, with 100% of proceeds directly benefiting the school’s PTA
programs and student resources.

By Judi Curry

First of all, I want to thank the Readers of the OB Rag for your calls and visits re: the health problem I had one year ago today.  I woke up one morning blind in one eye. The doctor said that the vision might come back so not to cover it, but it has been a year now and there is only a peripheral vision, and not all the time. But don’t feel sorry for me – comparing it to the alternative, I am still able to see my 20+ grandkids, and although no longer drive and depend on others, am aware of what is going on in the world – and District 2!  I find that although I seldom go to the meetings I used to go to, I frequently have meetings at my home where many topics are discussed.

About 4-5 months ago I had the opportunity to “meet” Richard Bailey through a “Next Door” post originally written by my handyman Glenn Millar.  We had a conversation, of sorts going, and I even told Mr. Bailey that I hoped that Glenn would run for the mayor’s job because I thought he was the best candidate for the position! Mr. Bailey told me agreed – that Glenn should run. I liked him already!

However, as time passed, and we are coming closer to the race, I decided to take a closer look at Mr. Bailey as a candidate (because I had already done extensive investigation into some of the candidates and had decided to vote for Mandy Havlik) and wanted to give him a chance.  And let me tell you why I was doing so much investigative work: I probably have voted a minimum of 70 times in governmental elections. (Yes, I am OLD!

The Surplus Land Act needs exemption for leased land

Editordude: the following was a Letter to the Editor in today’s SD Union-Tribune in response to a Feb. 28 UT article entitled, ““Bill aims to stop Mission Bay Park housing” .

By Sue Taylor

This article describes a proposed solution to a broader problem in how the Surplus Land Act is applied to leased public land. The Mission Bay exemption is a start but doesn’t go far enough.

Changes made to the Surplus Land Act in 2020 expanded it to include leased public property, allowing land to be treated as “surplus” simply because a lease is expiring. Before 2020, the city routinely leased public land for approved uses that provided amenities while generating revenue for city services.

Measure Would Be on November 2026 Ballot

By Donna Frye

It seems that every 10 years or so, the city comes up with a proposal to charge people to park at the beaches and Mission Bay Park as a potential revenue source. Thankfully, once the public gets involved, the elected officials usually back off this very bad idea.

Most recently, on November 10, 2025, The San Diego Union-Tribune’s David Garrick reported that four members of the city council were proposing entry fees for Mission Bay Park and paid parking at the beaches.

The public rallied against charging anyone to enter/park at Mission Bay Park or our beaches and on November 18, the paid parking proposal was not included as part of the council resolution being sent to the mayor’s office for consideration in preparing the FY 2027 budget.

At that time, the only councilmember who spoke at any length about the issue was Campillo and he made it clear he would not support charging residents or non-residents to park at Mission Bay Park or our beaches.

By Tyler Faurot / Point Loma – OB Monthly SDU-T / March 11, 2026

Dozens of road segments on the Point Loma Peninsula have been identified in a city of San Diego analysis as candidates for speed limit reductions. And as city leaders review the study, some members of community planning boards in Point Loma and Ocean Beach are bemoaning what they see as an ineffectual approach for their neighborhoods, despite welcoming the idea of lower speeds.

California Assembly Bill 43, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021, allows municipalities to reduce speed limits, provided the reductions are justified by an extensive analysis. The city of San Diego compiled a 135-page speed management plan that was published in February and presented to the City Council’s Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

All four members of the committee voted Feb. 19 to recommend that the full council approve city staff’s proposals for new speed limits on the streets specified in the plan.

By Steve Rodriguez

List of operational code names reads
like a best hits collection. Just Cause
and Desert Storm titles evoking
nostalgic memories of victory.

Not so much Iraqi Freedom, begun
with WMD promises and statues
toppled. Surging to a crescendo,
then lingering like a bad relationship.

The San Diego Veterans For Peace, Hugh Thompson Memorial Chapter #91, is very pleased to announce that a billboard reminding Active Duty Troops that they have a duty to disobey illegal orders, has been installed on the NE side of Harbor Drive going north, between 32nd and 28th Streets in San Diego.  This billboard is part of a national program by Veterans For Peace, with many similar billboards now being posted across the United States.

The San Diego billboard will be up for one month ending in early April.

Please see the VFP website: https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/service-member-support

Background

Veterans For Peace has launched a campaign to remind our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters and grandchildren, who have joined the military, that they have the right and the responsibility to refuse illegal orders, and that we will support them when they do.

Ocean Beach Surf & Skate Shop and Ocean Beach Elementary PTA are teaming to hold the 14th annual Skate for the Kids fundraiser on March 15 at Robb Field Skate Park.

All proceeds from the event will go to the school’s PTA to fund programs, materials and campus improvements at the campus on Santa Monica Avenue.

The fundraising event at 2525 Bacon St., held from noon to 3 p.m., is a fun way to bring the community together, foster a love of skating and encourage healthy habits while providing much-needed support to a neighborhood school.

The Black — OB”s legendary headshop — is back.

Apparently, the shop’s longtime owner, Kurt Dornbusch, has partnered with a group of unidentified new owners, who wish to keep the place going. Just weeks ago, Dornbusch announced he was retiring after 57 years and was closing the store. Yet, things changed.

As SanDiegoVille reported:

Both Dornbusch and the incoming ownership group have confirmed that new buyers have secured the naming rights to The Black and are currently finalizing a lease agreement to continue operating the store at its longtime home on Newport Avenue.