Category: Culture

A group of eight or ten of us

by Debbie Sklar / Times of San Diego / August 19, 2026

If you walked along Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach nearly a century ago, grocery shopping meant choosing among several neighborhood markets.

One of them had a name that was hard to forget.

A photograph from the San Diego History Center shows the Piggly Wiggly Market at 5004 Newport Ave. [A liquor store sits at that corner now.] The storefront carries the name in large letters across the facade, while a sign below identifies it as a meat market. Produce fills the windows, and a Newport Avenue street sign stands near the curb.

The address is confirmed in San Diego’s historical records.

The 1941 San Diego city directory lists Piggly Wiggly of San Diego Inc. with a branch at 5004 Newport Ave. A 1941 advertisement also lists the Ocean Beach store, along with Piggly Wiggly locations in National City, La Jolla, Chula Vista, La Mesa, Coronado, Mission Beach and Escondido. The advertisement described the company as “100% owned and operated by San Diegans.”

A new way to shop
The Piggly Wiggly name was already associated with a major change in the way Americans bought groceries.

By Angelo Haynes

Activists from across San Diego and Riverside counties appeared this week at the county administrative building for a hearing on the Golden Pacific Power Link Project, a new proposed power line that would cross through San Diego County Districts 2 & 5. The project is planned to be a 500-kilovolt electric transmission line that would necessitate a new substation named “North of SONGS” (San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station)  to be built bordering Camp Pendleton in Orange county.

The proposed power lines would be suspended on towers that would be 200 feet tall, or 20 stories, starting with an existing substation near the southern border, south of the 8 in Imperial Valley. The total length of the line would span between 135-145 miles long and would cross through many sensitive habitats and established communities in north and east counties.

SDG&E states that the line is needed to strengthen the regional power network and maintain power effectiveness in compliance with future policy goals of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the Calif Independent System Operator (CAISO). The CAISO is an independent transmission planning authority that manages the flow of electricity across 80% of California’s grid in addition to a part of Nevada’s grid.

By Joni Halpern

When I was a kid
Know what I did?
I stole things.
Things like penny candy, cookies
cake and ice cream.

My mom would get angry.
My dad would yell and scream.
But I would get hungry.
So when I was a kid,
know what I did?
I stole things.

—Olen Purnell, 1976

When I was a kid, there were no food stamps.  My dad was a working man, a carpenter  who worked six days a week, but still could not buy enough food for his children.

Oh, he tried.  He shopped sales, bought off-brands, made deals with the local grocer to buy the rough outer lettuce leaves that were trimmed before the tender heads were set out for customers.  He bought moldy cheese removed days earlier from the dairy display.  He measured our milk by the mouthful so it would last longer, until by the third week of the month, it was sour.  We still drank it.  He scoured the rural areas outside our town to pick up lugs of damaged fruit and vegetables that couldn’t be sold at market.  Meat was scarce.

By Robert Welsh

Here is a quote from the City’s Clairemont Community Plan, dated 1989: “In summary, Clairemont Mesa is an urbanized community and for the most part is built out.” It must be said, that Clairemont has not gotten less “built out” in the 37 years since then.

Recently I was in a discussion about excessive apartment building development in Clairemont Mesa, noting 8 locations where significant developments had been completed, were under construction or were planned. I decided to visit each location in person, to get a first-hand view, and these are my observations.

I was both surprised and shocked with what I found.

I was surprised to find that 2 of the notorious cul-de-sac ADU builds (12 units @ Shoshoni, and 17 units @ Almayo) did not look as awful from the front as they did while under construction. You might easily drive by them without noticing the depth of their development, from front-to-back. Of course, you wouldn’t be driving past them because they are both in cul-de-sacs, and the parking problems are obvious and extreme. There simply is no parking for these locations.

I was shocked to see how many smaller (4-8 unit) ADUs existed or were under construction around Clairemont ! Unless you drive around and look, you will not fathom the incredible amount of construction that has been or is being undertaken.

My focus here will be on the large builds.

By Angelo Haynes

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors convened a meeting at the County Administration Center to discuss ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) use of county property and facilities for firearms training. A period of public comment was held on Agenda discussion item #24, which drew 57 public comments with 38
being in person. Many giving public comment in attendance represented groups from all over Riverside and San Diego counties, in some cases, working in coalition.

This issue of training of ICE and CBP officers at county facilities was brought about by a recommendation from County Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer (District 3) and Pro-Tem
Paloma Aguirre (District 1). This was in response to the growing number of violent encounters in communities being targeted by ICE and CBP raids. The discussion was for whether or not the county should continue allowing ICE and CPB use of our facilities for training.

Groups represented in the meetings proceedings included: Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), San Diego Legal Aid Society, San Diego Immigrants Rights Consortium (SDIRC), Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) and CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations). Many of the comments were in support of the Aguirre’s and Lawson-Remer’s proposal.

Bailey says the city should ‘return to 2015 staffing levels’ by cutting 1,054 employees and the services they provide.

By Michael Zucchet Voice of San Diego

City Council candidate Richard Bailey continues to promise budget fantasyland to San Diegans.  He says the answer to San Diego’s persistent budget shortfalls includes no new fees, no increased taxes, and no service cuts whatsoever – in fact he claims that somehow service levels will magically improve – if we simply “return to 2015 staffing levels” in the city of San Diego.

Bailey moved to San Diego last year, changed his political party affiliation this February, and within days announced that he was running for City Council.  Since then, and again last week in an interview with NBC’s “Politically Speaking,” he has repeatedly claimed that if we just “return to 2015 staffing levels,” the city’s general fund budget will swing from what he says is a $100 million annual deficit to more than a $300 million surplus with “no need to cut any services.”

By Darryl

She is alone. Her family now restricted. Her visitors, of days long since gone, no longer come for her, but for others.

Vacant of purpose, she is seen as a relic, an eyesore harboring forgotten memories, a throwback to an era long since gone. For her five decades of contributions to her community and those that love her, segregation, isolation, and deterioration are now all that is requited. But despite her diminished and ignored stature, she stands tall every day, gazing longingly at her birthplace with its residents and guests bustling about, as she recalls early memories from happier times.

Shortly after her arrival, and amongst much fanfare, she was fully embraced by her new hometown. As the center of much attention, she hosted guests continuously, day and night, with little respite.

She quickly achieved an iconic state of being and cemented her place amongst the prominent and sight worthy features of the greater community. People knew her well, and frequently referenced her with landmark prestige.

Editordude: Thanks to reporter Dave Schwab and the Times of San Diego, we have an update on what’s happening with the OB Pier replacement project. It’s been nearly a decade since the Rag broke the story that the pier had reached the end of its service life. (They call it the OB Pier “Renewal Project”, but that sounds like the current pier will simply be “renewed.” Not so, as the current pier needs to be “replaced.”)

By Dave Schwab / Times of San Diego / August 18, 2026

Given the city’s existing budget crunch, residents and business owners have been asking if the Ocean Beach Pier Renewal project has been put on the back burner until the next city administration takes office in 2028 or the budget rights itself.

The city says no.

“The Ocean Beach Pier Renewal project is still in the permitting and environmental review phase,” said senior city spokesman Tyler Becker. “Given the scale of the project, a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report is required under the California Environmental Quality Act, which can typically take anywhere from two to five years, depending upon the findings and potential impacts.”

Planning for a new replacement pier has been ongoing for about 3 ½ years starting in early 2023, when the city began formal public workshops and concept development. However, initial structural studies pointing to the end of the pier’s service life began eight years ago in 2018, when consultants determined continually repairing it would cost more in the long run than replacing it.

From ACLU

The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties (ACLU-SDIC) has launched a petition calling on the San Diego City Council and Mayor Todd Gloria to “Get the Flock Out” and cancel all of San Diego’s Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) contracts, including those with Flock Safety, the company that owns and operates the city’s ALPR system.

The City of San Diego is currently using taxpayer funds for the San Diego Police Department’s ALPR system, an invasive, around-the-clock mass surveillance technology that collects a massive trove of location and identifying data captured from vehicle and personal information that reveals intimate details of a person’s life. This information demonstrates travel patterns of individuals as they go to work, drop their children off at school, or attend a house of worship, doctor’s office or protest.

Good news! After just one week of fundraising, the Rag has exceeded our goal by $3,000! Our goal was $3,500 but we’ve now reached over $6,600 in donations from readers, friends and supporters.

This means the Rag can continue the quality and quantity of our writings and reports. We can keep our lights on. This is crucial because the country is about to enter one of the most turbulent periods in modern history. Donald Trump is gearing up to unleash a multi-level attack on our November elections — and this is no time for the Rag to go silent.