Category: Economy

By CBS News – Sacramento /  October 22, 2025 

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that he will be deploying state National Guard members as well as California Volunteers to help staff food banks amid the ongoing government shutdown.

Newsom said the action mirrors a step he took early in the COVID-19 pandemic when he also dispatched California National Guard members, again to support food banks.

The governor stated that the Guard troops won’t be acting as law enforcement during the deployment.

“I’m expediting state funds for food banks and directing the California National Guard and California Volunteers to help distribute this food to families,” Newsom stated.

Newsom has been warning that the continued government shutdown could disrupt the CalFresh program, known federally as SNAP, which provides food benefits to around 5.5 million California residents. Food banks across the state have said they are bracing for the potential increase in need.

The governor called out President Trump in his Wednesday announcement of the deployment.

By Paul Krueger

The San Diego City Council’s Rules Committee voted Wednesday, Oct. 22, to advance discussions on a proposed ballot measure that would impose a new tax on short-term vacation rentals (STR) and unoccupied second homes.

The committee voted 3–1 to continue studying the proposal — which would charge STR owners $5,000 per bedroom annually — and to consider placing it before voters on the June or November 2026 ballot.

Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who introduced the measure, won support from Council President Joe LaCava and Councilmember Kent Lee. Councilmember Raul Campillo cast the sole vote against advancing the proposal, arguing that it would hurt local property owners and the city’s tourism economy. Councilmember Vivian Moreno was absent.

Elo-Rivera said the tax would help make housing more affordable, protect renters from displacement, and preserve neighborhood character.

“This is not about punishment — it’s about priorities,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of San Diegans will not pay this tax. If you live in your home, rent out rooms, or have a long-term tenant, you won’t be affected.”

He told vacation rental owners that they were “being used as pawns in a game played by Airbnb,” arguing that corporate interests were profiting at the expense of local housing availability.

Under the proposal, whole-home vacation rentals and unoccupied second homes would be subject to the tax. Elo-Rivera estimated that more than 10,000 properties, mostly in beach communities and downtown, could be affected.

By Blake Nelson / The San Diego Union-Tribune / October 21, 2025 

Hundreds of affordable housing units opened this month throughout the city of San Diego, a crucial addition in a region where the number of people losing a place to stay continues to outpace how many homeless residents are able to leave the streets.

The 560 apartments are spread across multiple buildings in downtown San Diego, the Clairemont Mesa neighborhood and the Midway District. Some are set aside for homeless people, veterans or young adults.

“When we support affordable housing in our communities, we are creating a safe and stable living environment for all residents,” Kimberly Giardina, a leader at the county’s Health and Human Services Agency, said in a statement.

Midway District

Pacific Village in the Midway District is for veterans, young adults and those who’ve experienced homelessness. The building is a converted hotel and holds 62 studio apartments. Fifteen are for homeless veterans.

Multiple levels of government similarly chipped in to support the renovations, and millions of dollars from the county will cover behavioral health services, which can treat both mental illnesses and substance use disorders.

[Editordude: this new Pacific Village used to be the Ramada Inn, pictured above. See more on Pacific Village here.]

By Scott Lewis / Voice of San Diego / Oct. 20, 2025

Wednesday [morning, today, Oct. 22], the Rules Committee for the San Diego City Council will consider Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s push for a tax on empty second homes and vacation rentals. He and his supporters have polled the issue and asked whether voters supported an up-to $5,000 per bedroom annual tax on vacation rentals.

The business community and AirBnB seem to see it as an existential threat.

First, the argument for: As announced at Politifest, Elo-Rivera wants the city to start seeing tourism differently: not as a precious industry that needs to be coddled and nurtured but instead like oil in Norway: An incredibly valuable resource that the city should extract more social benefits from.

“The city needs resources to provide residents the things they want and need,” he said. “That conversation should begin with those with most means who do not live here.”

By Kat Schuster / Patch San Diego / Tue, Oct 21, 2025 

Californians who rely on food assistance are being urged to prepare for possible delays, as the ongoing federal shutdown could halt benefits starting Nov. 1 if it isn’t resolved by Thursday, Oct 23.

On Monday, the California Department of Social Services directed counties statewide to brace for disruptions, noting that benefits — which are fully federally funded — cannot be distributed until the shutdown ends. CalFresh, the state’s food benefits program, currently serves about 5.5 million residents.

Some state-funded food assistance programs could also be affected, the agency said.

By Kate Callen

The Golden Hill community scored an astonishing win Friday, October 17, in its battle against an eight-story apartment project when a Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order to halt further development on the site.

The decision is believed to be the first successful legal salvo against Mayor Todd Gloria’s Complete Communities densification program. It was the second victory on the same day for land use attorney Everett Delano, whose client Save Our Access won a state appeals decision Friday that reinstates the 30-foot-height limit in the Midway district.

The ruling by Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil also undermined a key component of Complete Communities: “transit-oriented development” near bus stops, some of which don’t exist and might never exist.

Preserve Greater Golden Hill went to court to stop CEDARst from speed-building “The Lawson,” a 186-unit complex at 2935-2961 A Street that would be the largest high-rise building directly under the final approach into San Diego Airport.

“We knew we had a strong case,” said Richard Santini, President of Preserve Golden Hill. “This decision makes it clear that Complete Communities isn’t about affordable housing. This building is more of a luxury tower.”

4:56 pm Latest march numbers – from No Kings 2.0
4:33 pm PDT Aerial footage from NBC7

4:07 pm Photos from downtown San Diego keep rolling in. Here’s a batch by Rag writer David Hutchinson.

By Ron Donoho / San Diego Sun / October 6, 2025

With increased fees for parking meters and car-related violations making headlines this year, it would seem fair and prudent (if not legally mandated) for elected officials to follow the same laws as their constituents.

On a regular basis, however, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s official vehicle is parked near City Hall on Third Avenue near C Street in seeming violation of three parking laws.

The San Diego Sun photographed the mayor’s black Chevrolet SUV (with exempt license plate) parked in a red zone, too close to an intersection (per the city’s “daylighting” law) and partially blocking a driveway for the San Diego Civic Center Stage Door.

Speaking anonymously, a city employee with specific knowledge of the situation said, “The mayor parks there all day, every day. He’s the mayor. When are people going to realize poor people get ticketed and the rich people can do anything?”

Publicly detested parking meter fees, parking violation fines and many city services were increased this year as Mayor Gloria’s administration attempted to balance a city budget burdened with a quarter-billion-dollar deficit.

The daylighting law went into effect January 1, 2025, and the city began enforcing it on March 1. The law mandates that cars not be parked within 20 feet of a sidewalk

By Kate Callen

When the house next door went up for sale, the Hedgecocks were close to realizing their dream of buying a neighborhood home for their daughter and her family.

Instead, they will soon be living next to a nightmare.

The property at 1441 Woodrow Avenue in Jamacha is now slated for a 12-unit Bonus ADU building with only one on-site parking space on a street where curbs already fill up. The closest transit stop, the Massachusetts Avenue Station, is a half-mile walk that includes crossing busy Lemon Grove Avenue.

So far, this is like scores of other Bonus ADU neighborhood encroachments: A speculator parachutes into a quiet residential street, outbids individuals looking to purchase a family home, and crams in a gigantic complex that will reap huge profits.

But the 1441 Woodrow project involves a mystery: How and when did Godavari LLC swoop in to grab the probate property from another buyer with more modest building plans? And why can’t that buyer talk about the transaction?

Holly Hedgecock, who has lived next door for 28 years, recalled how her elderly neighbor let the property languish.

In the midst of a 5-day strike against Kaiser Permanente that began Tuesday, Oct. 14, by thousands of nurses, pharmacists and other frontline staff who are demanding safe staffing, fair pay, and improved benefits, pharmacy workers just overwhelmingly voted to authorize their union to enact an Unfair Labor Practice strike.

Currently there’s an estimated 2,000 Kaiser workers on strike in San Diego County, part of a larger, 31,000-member walkout across California, Hawaii and Oregon. And the strike is scheduled to run through Sunday during which the unions and Kaiser are holding ongoing negotiations. UFCW members have joined them in solidarity on the picket lines.

But now the pharmacy workers are threatening to strike as well. Kaiser pharmacy members’ contracts expire on November 1, 2025, and while this vote does not mean a strike is immediately underway, it allows their union, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), to call a strike if deemed necessary by the bargaining committee. A ten-day notice must be provided before any strike begins.

Meanwhile, the thousands of health care workers on strike are represented by the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals who walked off the job Tuesday morning at Kaiser Permanente facilities across San Diego County. Union leaders said the strike isn’t just about pay or staffing, but also about better retirement security and benefits. They said Kaiser’s perks do not fully make up for years of stagnant wages.

By Lu Rehling

Really, can it get worse? Yep! Check your mailbox for your county property tax bill and get ready for more bad city trash fee news, even beyond the bait & switch that got us being billed for trash pickup in the first place.

Here’s that news: Even if you requested the lowest-price trash bin combo by the city’s deadline last month, you’re still going to have to pay more for the highest-price “level of service” for a full year. After that, not to worry, you’ll get a credit back for the over-payment. (Unless the city has its fingers crossed behind its back again, that is.) Just don’t expect interest. The city is grabbing your money now and promising to give some back later, after it’s had its way with it.

Of course, maybe you already know all about this charge that surprised me, because you thoroughly read (and managed to understand!) all of the legalese buried in a mailer that you got months ago–

From Neighbors for a Better San Diego