Category: Economy

By Neighbors for a Better California Board

Sacramento, CA – Senate Bill 79, a contentious piece of legislation aimed at increasing housing density near transit stops across California, has ignited fierce debate among lawmakers, local governments, and community advocates. While the bill seeks to address the state’s housing crisis by mandating up-zoning within a quarter to half-mile of transit hubs, critics argue it undermines local governance, threatens affordable housing, and risks displacing vulnerable communities.

Introduced to boost housing supply near transit corridors, SB 79 categorizes areas into tiers, allowing building heights of 45 to 75 feet, and a 20-foot bonus when immediately adjacent to a transit stop. Moreover, additional density bonuses already in state law can be stacked and allow the developer to double these heights and density. Neighbors For A Better California (NFABC) analysis of the bill’s amendments reveal significant concerns about its clarity, affordability mandates, and impact on lower-income neighborhoods.

One major criticism is the bill’s vague language regarding bus routes, which critics describe as “convoluted” and prone to loopholes. This lack of precision could allow developers to exploit ambiguities, undermining the bill’s intent.

By Paul Krueger

Standing in the shadow of the vacant 101 Ash St. building, attorney Michael Aguirre on Monday, August 18, denounced the San Diego City Council and Mayor Todd Gloria for their “mismanagement” of city finances and their “illegal” effort to backfill the city’s budget deficit by inflating the new fee for trash pick up at single-family homes and small apartment and condo complexes.

Pointing to the vacant Ash Street building, which cost taxpayers more than $150 million to purchase and maintain, Aguirre said “that’s where the money is going, to fill that hole for places like Ash Street” and other city property debacles.

Aguirre and his law partner, Maria Severson, represent a cross section of homeowners challenging the new $46 monthly trash fee.

The lawyers argue that the city cannot legally charge more than the actual cost of service, which they claim the city has inflated to erase its budget deficit and cover the costs of mismanagement, including the pension fund deficit and the lack of storm drain maintenance that led to last year‘s devastating  winter floods.

By Francine Maxwell

San Diego’s push to add density through ADU incentives has landed hardest in Encanto — and the consequences are becoming concrete. A private developer-driven proposal to place 24 ADUs on the basketball court site in front of the Boys & Girls Club on Imperial Avenue (branded online as “Lisbon Vista Village”) is the latest example. That proposal arrives in a neighborhood already reporting serious infrastructure and parking stress, and without a public plan to add basic retail like a grocery store to serve new residents.

Facts on the table:

• Multiple news reports and community meetings show that Encanto has become a focal point for large bonus-ADU projects — scores of units proposed on a small number of parcels across the neighborhood.
• The City has been actively reconsidering the ADU Bonus Program and “Footnote 7” (the code provision that changed lot-size rules for southeastern neighborhoods), with council action and planning reports in 2025.
• Local residents have raised consistent concerns about traffic, parking capacity, stormwater/ infrastructure impacts, and loss of open recreational space — including the potential loss of the basketball court used by youth at the Boys & Girls Club.

By Patty Ducey-Brooks / Presidio Sentinel /  July 9, 2025 

In US History, tenement housing referred to multi-family dwellings, often poorly constructed and overcrowded, that housed working-class families, particularly immigrants, in late 19th and early 20th century urban areas. These buildings were characterized by cramped living conditions, inadequate ventilation, and contributing to urban poverty.

Though the “affordable housing” structures that are being built today in San Diego may have a larger footprint, they do not provide adequate outdoor recreation facilities, parking and the infrastructure to make them desirable or beneficial to families and children. They are also not affordable, renting at $2,878 (including utilities) for a one-bedroom unit.

We have recently learned that there is a trio operating in San Diego who are driven to build big and tight and have taken advantage of the elderly who are one of their primary targets for home sales.

By Cesar F Hernandez / Op-Ed – San Diego Union-Tribune / August 14, 2025 

When my family was separated by U.S immigration policy in the late 1990s, we were overtaken by unimaginable grief and unrelenting pain. This experience grounds me as the organizing director at the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, working alongside others to build collective strength in the face of injustice. Lately, this pain has surged back, rekindled by the Trump administration’s cruel attacks on immigrant communities.

Politicians are pushing to end birthright citizenship and gut asylum protections. Due process, the cornerstone of justice, is cast aside. ICE storms workplaces and homes. It arrests parents outside courthouses, hospitals, even schools. Then there’s “Alligator Alcatraz,” an ICE detention center built in the Florida Everglades to dehumanize. Even the name carries the weight of lurking danger, a constant reminder that immigrants are being hunted.

I saw the reality of these vicious, inhumane policies and practices play out as I watched an interview of two Oceanside teenagers. At 6 a.m. on June 18, masked, heavily armed ICE agents shattered their windows, threw flashbangs into their home and pushed their way inside. The U.S.-born siblings were handcuffed. Both parents were arrested.

The trauma on the siblings’ faces was unmistakable. The 14-year-old daughter’s tears could have been mine. I felt her pain. It’s a pain that steals your voice and breaks your body.

Developer-commissioned economic impact report highlights possible ripple effect of constructing a new arena and 4,250 apartments on San Diego’s sports arena site in the Midway District. City Expects to Pocket Only 1 Million + in Profit Annually

By Jennifer Van Grove / The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 13, 2025 

The Midway Rising project anticipated to replace San Diego’s sports arena site could uplift the region’s local economy with a yearly boost equivalent to that of Comic-Con, according to a newly released economic impact report.

Wednesday, the team behind the project released the analysis, which was prepared by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation and paid for by the developer.

In total, the project is expected to produce $178 million in new spending across the county each year once it is completed, according to the report. A large chunk of the new spending is projected to come from visitors traveling from out of town to frequent an all-new arena that is anticipated to host 143 events and 1.1 million people each year.

At the same time, the city of San Diego is expected to directly pocket only a marginal sum —  $1.1 million — in profit to the general fund from property and sales taxes after subtracting estimated costs associated with servicing the project’s thousands of new residents.

By Jeff McDonald / SD Union-Tribune / August 13, 2025

— A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 10 on a request from a group of San Diego homeowners for an injunction that would postpone the city’s implementation of the monthly trash fee for single-family homes.

Judge James A. Mangione approved the schedule Tuesday at a hearing held over from last week, when the plaintiffs initially asked for an expedited September trial. Instead, both parties agreed that the plaintiffs would pursue an injunction.

“We have worked out an arrangement with your honor’s permission,” said attorney Michael Aguirre, who co-represents the plaintiffs. “We came to a mutual agreement that we would file a week from this Friday for a preliminary injunction.”

The city argued last week that it could not properly prepare for a trial starting as soon as next month.

OB Planning Board approves list of recommended local improvement projects but report indicates San Diego may need to give back millions in fees unspent for such projects

By Steven Mihailovich / Point Loma – OB Monthly SDU-T / August 12, 2025

A July county grand jury report saying the city of San Diego should refund $179 million in fees to developers cast a shadow over the Ocean Beach Planning Board’s list of recommended capital improvement projects it approved at its meeting last week.

[For those interested here’s where you can find the report: https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/grandjury/reports/2024-2025.html It’s titled Never Been Challenged: City of San Diego Development Impact Fee Program Redux (Pub. 5/30/2025) ]

The $179 million represents the total amount of development impact fees that have not been spent within the legally mandated five-year time limit from when they were collected. DIFs are assessed on new developments to pay for projects to help mitigate their impact on infrastructure and public services.

Planning Board Chairwoman Andrea Schlageter estimated that $20 million of the funds in question were derived from developments in Ocean Beach.

By Steven Greenhut / Op-Ed San Diego U-T / August 10, 2025 

I grew up in the 1970s in and around one of the “safest” big cities in the United States, Philadelphia. That might be news to you given the City of Brotherly Love—now a relatively placid place—was known during that era for its gang-related murders and social dysfunction. It was news to residents, too, given that the streets felt so menacing. But why argue with statistics?

A year after law-and-order populist Mayor Frank Rizzo won his election to clean up Philly, he bragged about the drop in crime. But as news reports made clear at the time, the administration likely gamed the statistics by reclassifying serious crimes as simple assault. “The chances of being victimized on the street are much greater now than ever before,” a top criminologist told The New York Times in 1973.

I thought of that experience in the light of Donald Trump—and not just because his divisive style mirrors Rizzo. Last week, Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s a statistical job, which oversees the compilation of economic data about jobs, labor costs and productivity. The BLS reports to the labor secretary, but operates independently.

By Steve Price / CBS8 / August 11, 2025

The Garfield Shopping Center, located on the Northeast corner of Balboa and Clairemont Drive and a fixture in Clairemont for decades, may soon face closure to make way for a large housing development, leaving longtime businesses and loyal customers in limbo.

Sew Hut, a beloved store that has served the community for 45 years, is among the businesses potentially affected by the rumored changes.

“Devastated. I’ve been coming here for 30-something years, and I’m a newbie,” said customer Christie McGuire, reflecting the sentiment of many patrons.

The plans, which have been circulating on social media platforms like Nextdoor, suggest the entire shopping center could be demolished to make room for approximately 600 apartment units. This has sparked a heated debate among local residents.

By Eric Law

I have written the following document that consolidates citable quotes countering the YIMBY discussion points with sourced reference material. I’ve assembled them into themes that can be used to emphasize specific points. (I have most of the reference materials soft copy as well.)

While most YIMBY shills can’t be persuaded to read and would likely melt down when confronted with a 50-page academic economic treatise, there is a slice of influential people who might be persuaded to consider a different policy track when confronted with actual data and analysis.

I hope that includes our legislators/ city council members. I continue to add to this information repository as I read and analyze more information.

By Jeff McDonald / SD Union-Tribune / August 8, 2025

A Superior Court judge on Thursday, August 7, ordered attorneys for San Diego homeowners challenging the city’s recently imposed trash pickup fee to meet and confer with lawyers defending the city before he considers whether to expedite a trial.

Judge James A. Mangione issued the order after a 30-minute hearing at which the plaintiffs asked for their trial to begin in September, before the upcoming tax rolls are finalized. The parties will meet to discuss their differences and potential remedies over the next several days and present their positions to the judge at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

The plaintiffs argue that the trash fee adopted by the City Council in June violates the state constitution by exceeding the city’s costs of trash pickup and say officials plan to divert some of the new revenue to pay for other projects. They sued in May, weeks before the council voted 7-2 to impose the trash fee. Now they want a trial before the 2025-26 property tax rolls are finalized with the county treasurer-tax collector.

“The indirect evidence supports the reasonable inference that the city is doing this to plug financial holes,” said Michael Aguirre, the former elected San Diego city attorney who represents the 15 homeowner plaintiffs.