Category: Economy

By Michael Smolens / San Diego Union-Tribune / June 27, 2025

Earlier this month, San Diego Catholic Bishop-Designate Michael Pham and Auxiliary Bishops Ramón Bejarano and Felipe Pulido reflected on the past and accurately predicted the future.

“. . . it has been experienced that the presence of faith leaders makes a difference in how the migrants are treated,” they wrote in a June 11 letter to fellow priests, deacons and parish leaders.

A little more than a week later, Pham led a delegation of faith leaders to accompany immigrants attending court hearings at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in downtown San Diego.

The proceedings and scene in and around the courthouse on June 20 were calm compared with chaos and controversy in San Diego and elsewhere at other times when agents snatched immigrants on the way to and from appointed court hearings.

Too bad that sense of dignity, humility and, frankly, adult behavior brought by Pham and his colleagues couldn’t be cast upon other aspects of the immigration enforcement crisis, created by recent militaristic raids and aggressive government response to protests that sometimes have devolved into violence.

“ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT” WILL HURT US ALL, Parts 2 – 4

By Joni Halpern

PART 2: WHOM SHOULD WE GO AFTER?

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) derives the biggest budget cuts from two massive public health programs — Medicaid and Medicare. It also makes changes that will reduce enrollment in health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Today, more than seven million seniors and 10 million people with disabilities rely on Medicaid. Data show that about 15 million more older adults and people with disabilities and chronic conditions are insured through Medicaid though they do not qualify for it based on age or disability. Almost 70 million people are enrolled in Medicare.3 Almost eight million people will lose Medicaid eligibility because of OBBBA’s changes to the program, 3.1 million will lose other health coverage from OBBBA’s changes affecting ACA Marketplaces, almost one million more will lose coverage from OBBBA’s incorporation of Trump’s proposed ACA rule, and about 4.2 million additional people will lose coverage due to OBBBA’s expiration of ACA premium tax credits.4

Three Big Targets For OBBBA Strategists

Medicaid is a jointly funded state and federal program that helps cover healthcare costs for people with limited income who meet other eligibility requirements. (Medi-Cal is California’s version of Medicaid.). Medicaid is the largest public health insurance program for low-income Americans and the primary payer for long-term services and supports. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that OBBBA will cut federal Medicaid spending by almost $800 billion over 10 years and Medicaid enrollment by 10.3 million.

By Joni Halpern

First of 4 Parts 

PART 1: IF PIGS COULD FLY

The sales pitch for H.R. 1, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and now under consideration by
the Senate, promises, among other things, that health care will be strengthened across the nation if the bill becomes law. That would be true, if pigs could fly.

What is true is that all of us will feel OBBBA’s pain, either directly or indirectly.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-4 th Dist., Louisiana) want to pass the bill and have it on President Trump’s desk by July 4, 2025. Even if OBBBA does not pass by then, the reconciliation process will end Sept. 30. That’s why it is important for Americans to understand what will happen to our health care under the bill.

OBBBA is expected to kill health insurance coverage for 16 million low-income people, including older adults, caregivers, people with disabilities, children and lawfully present immigrants and families. Of those 16 million, over 90% are U.S. citizens and lawfully present immigrants. 1

OBBBA accomplishes this massive reduction in various ways, but some of the biggest cuts come from restricting Medicare eligibility, rescinding premium assistance
under the Affordable Care Act, and rolling back provisions that make Medicare affordable to low-income enrollees. It makes many other changes designed to reduce
access to these programs, but OBBBA eats away at so many aspects of health care coverage that it is impossible to explain them all in this article.

By Madeline Nguyen / Times of San Diego / June 23, 2025

San Diego City councilmembers slammed Mayor Todd Gloria Monday afternoon for improperly spending millions in city dollars, even as he vetoed funding for homeless services and other aid organizations to tighten the city’s budget.

Councilmembers Kent Lee, Sean Elo-Rivera, Henry Foster III and Joe LaCava unloaded on Gloria for cutting funding to key community services and urged the council to overturn all of his vetoes during that afternoon’s vote.

It’s the latest development in the city council and the mayor’s tug of war over San Diego’s budget for the upcoming year as the city works to solve a $258 million deficit.

“(Gloria) labeled community investment, like cultural events and nonprofit support as a ‘discretionary slush fund‘ for the council,” Councilmember Foster said. “The council has not paid for employees that were not identified in the budget.”

“That has been the practice of this administration, the practice of this mayor and it’s time for that to end.”

By David Garrick / SD Union-Tribune / June 23, 2025

Cash-strapped San Diego’s aggressive search for more revenue includes a new plan to generate $3 million a year by allowing controversial digital billboards for the first time.

In addition to generating revenue, the plan would allow the replacement of dozens of static, old-fashioned billboards with a much smaller number of digital billboards in more strategic locations, city officials say.

Critics say digital billboards — which have been rejected by La Mesa and several North County cities in recent years — could make parts of San Diego look like an amusement park or a miniature Times Square.

Digital billboards, which are typically two-sided, feature bright electronic images that change as often as every four seconds as they cycle through various ads or public service messages.

Members of the public — who helped defeat similar proposals in other cities by packing public hearings and leading petition drives — will get a chance to weigh in, because city regulations now prohibit digital billboards.

But city officials are proposing to have the necessary rule changes approved in a way that has been criticized for reducing public scrutiny.

by Levi Sumagaysay and Lauren Hepler / Cal-Matters / June 19, 2025

Brandon Mejia usually spends his weekends conducting a symphony of vendors serving pupusas, huaraches and an array of tacos at his two weekly 909Tacolandia pop-up events.

Half food festival, half swap meet, the events draw 100-plus vendors a week in Pomona and San Bernardino. They offer a way to “legalize” street food — vendors get a reliable location, cities collect taxes and enforce health codes — while patrons enjoy delicacies from all over Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Spanglish music plays, people dance and kids flock to facepainting and pony rides.

But in the past week, that’s all come to a screeching halt. As the Trump administration ramps up immigration raids in California, some restaurants, worried about their workers or finding that customers are staying home more, are closing temporarily. Many street vendors are going into hiding, and some food festivals and farmers markets have been canceled.

Mejia called off all Tacolandia events last week. His mind raced about whether agents would come for his vendors as videos surfaced on social media of taqueros, farm workers and fruit vendors vanishing in immigration raids around LA and neighboring Ventura County.

By David Garrick / SD Union-Tribune / June 18, 2025

San Diego’s most turbulent budget season in at least a decade took another turn Tuesday when Mayor Todd Gloria vetoed some last-minute cuts and expenditures the City Council added to the budget a week ago.

Employing a controversial and rarely used tool known as a line-item veto, Gloria rejected millions in council cuts — including $1.4 million in middle-management layoffs — and canceled nearly $5 million in new council spending.

The nine-member council now has until June 26 to accept or possibly override Gloria’s package of vetoes, with an override requiring a supermajority of six council members

By Kate Callen / June 16, 2025

Good afternoon.

As you know, community leaders in every district are fighting the City’s efforts to cram more housing into our neighborhoods – housing that is excessive in scale and expensive in price.

We’ve gotten to know one another at meetings like this, and we’ve talked about joining forces. Massive public outrage over monstrous Bonus ADUs has finally united us as
members of the new San Diego Community Coalition.

It is sad but true that local politicians only seem to care about three groups: the Chamber of Commerce, the building industry, and certain labor unions.

Going forward, the Community Coalition will expect your equal time and attention. This citywide alliance is three months old. It includes 26 communities, and it is growing.
Neighbors for a Better San Diego helped launch us. Save Our Heritage Organization has joined us.

Our geographic reach extends from Encanto in the south to University City in the north, from El Cerrito in the east to Ocean Beach in the west.

By Kate Callen / June 13, 2025

This week’s San Diego City Council 6-3 vote approving trash fees capped another hours-long session before another furious overflow crowd. It’s no wonder the Councilmembers seemed exhausted. They are caught between their irate constituents and an autocratic mayor who scorns their constituents.

The six “Yes” voters looked like patients in a dentist’s waiting room. They have no viable solution to the budget crisis and no prospects for future elected office. They must serve out the rest of their Council terms in a kind of political purgatory.

Here are random observations of a weary Council that must now prepare for another contentious hearing when they consider Bonus ADU reform on Monday, June 16:

Going Through The Motions: The trash fees were rammed through for one reason only: The City is so financially destitute that it will dig money out of any crevice. No Council member could make that case with real enthusiasm. So they put in a token effort. Stephen Whitburn thanked some people and quickly voted “Yes.” Vivian Moreno had nothing to say. Even Henry Foster III, who ultimately voted “No,” seemed disoriented.

Elo-Rivera Fulminates:  One of the “Yes” voters brought firepower, but not about the city’s plight. Instead, Sean Elo-Rivera unleashed a diatribe about the presence of the National Guard in Los Angeles. When an audience member yelled, “That’s not city business,” Elo-Rivera pitched a fit: “I don’t care if you don’t like what I have to say, put your thumbs down, shake your heads, do what you like.” Such a class act.

By Maura Fox / San Diego Union-Tribune / June 13, 2025 

San Diego’s beach fire rings will remain intact for now, thanks to newly-approved county grant funding.

The fire rings were on the chopping block in Mayor Todd Gloria’s budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year — a move met with outcry from residents, elected officials and the California Coastal Commission, which said last week that the removal of the fire rings would limit public access to San Diego’s coast.

But on Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to accept county grant funding for the fire rings for the next fiscal year. The funding is part of a $2.15 billion general fund budget that the council approved this week that reverses many of the mayor’s proposed cutbacks.

County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer offered the grant funding as a way to keep the fire rings operational.

By Francine Maxwell / June 11, 2025

Let’s stop pretending. San Diego’s City Council does not care about homeowners. If they did, they wouldn’t be nickel-and-diming property owners to death while hiding behind empty “equity” speeches.

We have the highest SDG&E rates in the county. Water rates are climbing. A stormwater fee is looming. And now they’re slapping a trash fee directly onto your property tax bill, buried like fine print — a lazy, cowardly move designed to avoid public accountability.

While working families struggle to keep their homes, the Council just passed yet another tenant ordinance, making it even harder for homeowners to manage their own properties. They’ve created a hostile, predatory environment for anyone trying to build generational wealth or own a home in this city.

The 1.7-acre landmark overlooking the San Diego Bay was built for fast-food mogul Robert O. Petersen

Introduction by Geoff Page

There is a very unique home in upper Point Loma that was designed for the founder of Jack in the Box, Robert O. Peterson, by architect Russell Forester. During some research on Peterson, a story popped up about that home in Mansion Global, a digital site for all things mansions. The home is on the market valued at $16.9 million.

For those not necessarily familiar with Peterson, his other claim to fame was his fourth marriage to Maureen O’Connor, who went on to become the first female mayor of San Diego from 1985 to 1992. Peterson was 61 years old, O’Connor was 26 when they married.

It was a bit ironic when Peterson’s partner, Richard Silberman, was almost married to a woman mayor, the political rival of O’Connor, Susan Golding. He was married to Golding, but, Golding dumped him right before the mayoral election when Silberman went from being an asset to being a huge liability. The money-laundering conviction was the problem.