Category: Economy

By Madison Beveridge / Point Loma – OB Monthly SDU-T / January 11, 2026

Funding for a new Ocean Beach Pier, bike path lighting, trash cans and ongoing park and pedestrian issues are among the list of things the Ocean Beach Planning Board would like to see in the city of San Diego’s budget for next fiscal year.

The volunteer advisory group even included San Diego County in the 2026-27 wish list it created during its meeting Jan. 6, calling for funding for what it considers necessities and vital areas of interest in Ocean Beach.

The San Diego City Council intends to vote on the new budget in June. The fiscal year begins July 1.

Much of the Planning Board’s budget request is the same as in previous years, including items such as park maintenance, public space enforcement and pedestrian safety.

Multiple board members voiced concerns about dogs being off leash and who should be enforcing rules against it.

The Committee to Consider Dumping OB’s Historic District Should Use Current Housing Data Before Making Decision

By South OB Girl

Dear Land Use and Housing Committee Members:

San Diego’s Historic Preservation and Progress Package A will be brought before you by city staff on Wednesday, January 14 for your consideration. However, this package involves controversial proposals regarding preserving the city’s historic housing ideals and districts, yet current housing data is not available. Decisions about San Diego housing should be delayed until the housing data for 2025 has been prepared and analyzed in the forthcoming 2026 Annual Report on Homes.

A report issued once a year based on data from a full year prior does not seem sufficient for assessing the current housing crisis nor sufficient information for
government officials to make decisions about housing moving forward into this year.

This annual reporting seems particularly insufficient given the escalation of public concern and opposition in the past year regarding ADUs, high density projects, plans for resiliency, evacuation route safety, Complete Communities Housing, and Preservation and Progress Package A, among other issues. Given this escalation of public concern in recent years and some of the concern expressed in this letter, now would also be a good time to consider how San Diego’s housing data and building permit data is tracked, managed, and evaluated.

By Rob Campbell / Op-Ed SD Union-Tribune / Jan. 9, 2026

“Bonus programs delivering needed local housing,” the Dec. 28 commentary by Colin Parent, presents bonus density programs as a success story but ignores the most critical issue in San Diego’s housing crisis. Who is bearing the burden of these bonus “solutions”? [Parent is head of pro-developers group, Circulate SD.]

While the author characterized San Diego’s bonus housing density programs as an elegant workaround to “political gridlock,” they have created a system that strategically targets low-resource, infrastructure-deficient, historically marginalized neighborhoods while leaving the city’s Whitest, wealthiest, highest-opportunity areas functionally untouched.

Ignoring this reality turns the argument into a one-sided celebration of YIMBY (yes in my backyard) production numbers, which are detached from actual equity outcomes the city is legally and morally obligated to comply with.

A claim that the bonus density programs “apply everywhere” is misleading at best. In practice, these programs overwhelmingly land in communities of color in neighborhoods like Valencia Park, Lincoln Park, Chollas View, City Heights, Logan Heights, etc. These are the very same areas that have higher asthma, cancer, and cardiovascular disease burdens; worse mobility with old, non-ADA compliant pathways (sidewalks); fewer jobs; and long-standing histories of redlining, freeway construction and environmental racism.

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members informed about important Council and Planning Commission hearings. City Hall reopens this week after a 3-week legislative recess for the holidays.

First, a word about Balboa Park parking fees and non-agenda public comment:

The outrageous new fees to park in Balboa Park are on the City Council’s political front burner right now. But they aren’t on any of the Council’s agendas this week – which means the public can raise that issue during the non-agenda public comment at every Council meeting.

Council President Joe La Cava, who strongly supported the new fees, needs to hear a loud message from a lot of constituents: City Hall must live within its means. Stop spending money irresponsibly and then demanding that taxpayers cover your losses. La Cava won’t like having his meetings slowed down by non-agenda comments on Park fees. But he can’t interfere with our right to make those comments.

Monday, January 12: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda link here.

Items include: Public Utilities FY 2027-2031 Five-Year Financial Outlook

Why it matters: Last year, the Council fought over a proposal to increase water rates by 63% through 2029 and wastewater rates by 31% in the same period. The final 5-4 vote approved less draconian hikes of 14.7% and 14.5%. A year later, public furor over bait-and-switch trash fees and erratic Balboa Park parking fees will make utility rate hikes even more contentious.

Nearly 600 Events Planned as of Friday Evening

By April Rubin / Axios / January 9, 2026

ICE Out For Good” vigils and protest events were quickly planned nationwide for Jan. 10 and 11 in response to a fatal shooting by immigration officers in Minneapolis, organizers told Axios on Friday.

Why it matters: The killing and a subsequent Border Patrol shooting in Portland have sparked outrage and anger at the Trump administration, which has defended its agents.

Driving the news: There have been at least seven officer-involved shootings since President Trump ramped up Homeland Security operations in early 2025.

On Wednesday, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis as she drove past immigration agents. The Trump administration claimed the shooting was an act of self-defense as Good drove away, but Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has rejected that claim.

On Thursday, two people were shot by Border Patrol agents in Portland during what officials said was “a targeted vehicle stop.” Both were hospitalized.

State of play: Protests, vigils and other “ICE Out For Good” events are being held by groups including Indivisible, 50501, the Disappeared in America Campaign, Voto Latino and the American Civil Liberties Union. The mobilization is meant to humanize ICE victims and demand accountability.

Well-known community activist and now newspaper publisher, Shane Harris, has raised the issue of paid parking at Balboa Park to a new level with his introduction of a city ordinance to repeal the largely unpopular new policy which just went into effect formerly Monday, January 5.

Also, Harris has launched a county-wide petition to repeal paid parking in Balboa Park — with this effort having gained the support of 10 county mayors, his campaign claims.

In doing so, Harris has entered the squabble between city council members and Mayor Gloria over the apparent disastrous roll-out of the paid parking program (outlined by Rag writer Lou Rehling and by U-T reporter David Garrick).

by Tessa Balc / Times of San Diego / Jan. 8, 2026

It’s been more than two years since the Ocean Beach Pier permanently closed for safety and structural concerns in late 2023. The city is planning for a replacement, but still has no clear idea of how it’ll pay for it.

Ocean Beach residents aren’t just concerned that constructing a new pier will face continued delays with no solution in sight. They’re also getting increasingly anxious with the state of the still-standing pier — especially considering plans for the replacement include elements of the current structure.

Ralph Teyssier, the son of the OB Pier’s original engineer and a member of the former Ocean Beach Pier Task Force, said the pier is being “pillaged.”

He cites historic elements of the pier, such as the original bronze plaque, which was stolen, and the bars of the original gate that were cut through, possibly by those who vandalized the former Walking on Water Cafe.

These pieces of the pier won’t be viable for incorporation into the future design even though they’ve been built into the plans to help maintain the pier’s historic character, Teyssier said.

By Paul Krueger

If our elected officials were as creative with cutting expenses as they’ve been picking our pockets, we’d have a balanced budget with little, if any, need for additional revenue.

But our Mayor and City Council won’t make the fiscally responsible decision to cut the city’s workforce — especially its bloated middle-management ranks — through buy-outs, early retirements, furloughs, and lay-offs.

What we get instead is an endless array of new fees and taxes, which place the biggest burden on those least able to absorb these costs.

Doubling parking meter fees, expanding the hours, days, and locations where those fees are imposed, charging for parking in and around Balboa Park, and issuing thousands of $100-plus “daylighting” citations for motorists who unknowingly park within 20 feet of an intersection are just the start.

Every day brings a new and very unwelcome scheme that lightens our pocketbook.

Editordude:  Sue Taylor is a retired City of San Diego employee who worked at the City for 41 years. She recently wrote a commentary in response to an article at Voice of San Diego entitled, “Mayor Todd Gloria set out to fix the city’s deficit this year. He didn’t.” She originally sent it the Voice last week and had followed up several times but never got a response from Voice managing editor Scott Lewis. Taylor then sent it to the Rag — and here it is:

By Sue Taylor

The city’s significant budget deficit has been a serious problem for well over a year, and it’s largely of Mayor Todd Gloria’s own making.

But the mayor found it politically expedient to ignore the budget gap when he ran for re-election in November 2024. Only after securing another term did he begin framing this as a fiscal emergency.

Yes, voters did reject the proposed sales tax increase. But in the months leading up to the election, the mayor’s deputy chief operating officers focused on how to spend the roughly $400 million they assumed voters would approve, rather than preparing for the very real possibility that it would not pass. That was a choice, and in hindsight, a very bad one.

The fact that voters rejected the tax spoke volumes about their distrust of city hall, even if many were reluctant to cast their vote for the political novice who challenged the mayor’s successful campaign for a second term.

by Lu Rehling

Confusion was the order of the day in Balboa Park on January 5th , and no wonder, with info about the city’s new parking policy and rates missing and mixed throughout the Central Mesa and beyond.

As Visitor Center reps reported that they were fielding questions and complaints all day, one major block to even figuring out the new parking regime was signage. Some are just not there.

For example, there is none to identify which parking lots cost what under the tiered parking system. So, consider your options:

To find out what parking costs at any given lot, you can check at the payment kiosk for that lot. Could be $16 dollars a day or $10, and maybe with partial day parking available at a lower cost, or maybe not. If you pull in, go up to the kiosk, tap it; then, if you don’t like what you see, you can always turn around and exit that lot to try another, hoping to get luckier.

Next, if that doesn’t work out, you can enjoy driving back to the closer lot that you’d checked out in the first place. But wait, wait!–the first rate that you see on the kiosk screen actually may not be the correct one for you, IF you’re a city resident AND already have registered for discounted parking (which, by the way, cannot be done on the spot and costs $5 up front online, with a two-day wait to confirm). In that case, presumably, your registered resident rate won’t come up until after you enter your license plate number.

By Donna Frye

As we head into the new year, it’s time once again to let the city council know that we oppose paid parking at our beaches and Mission Bay Park for residents and non-residents alike.

Last year, four councilmembers (LaCava, Foster, Moreno and Elo-Rivera) included paid beach and bay parking in their budget priority memos as a potential revenue source.

Fortunately, on November 18, 2025 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.

However, as part of the annual budget cycle, the city council is required to update their budget priority memos and provide them to the Independent Budget Analyst (IBA) by January 9.

We need to make sure that the next round of budget priority memos do not include proposals for paid parking at our beaches and Mission Bay Park.

There are many reasons why paid parking at our beaches and Mission Bay Park is a bad idea.

By Paul Krueger / Special to the OB Rag 

The California Supreme Court on Tuesday, December 30, placed another hurdle in the City of San Diego’s effort to allow high-rise development throughout the Midway/ Pacific Highway area.

The state’s highest court affirmed a lower court ruling that the city must fully analyze the negative environmental impacts of high-density, multi-story projects and give voters that information before they agree to override the existing 30-foot height limit in the Midway/ PacHwy district.

Voters twice — but narrowly — approved the height limit waiver. But state courts said the environmental impact studies failed to study possible negative and unavoidable impacts of high-rise development on traffic, noise, pollution, and other issues.

The most recent ruling against the city was a strongly worded and unanimous October 17 decision by the state Appellate Court.