Category: Economy

Editordude: Here’s a rather bland report from KPBS — full of bias — about how the city of San Diego wants the public’s input on the establishment’s new blueprint for the Mid-City communities plans updates. The draft calls for 30,000 more homes and 89,000 more residents over 30 years (see CBS8 report at end). There’s no mention of how activists from these Mid-City neighborhoods have resisted and opposed these updates over the last couple of years, or how the Planning Commission rode roughshod over their attempts to get the city planners to listen to their deep seated concerns. 

City News Service – KPBS / August 11, 2026

San Diegans are being asked to provide input on an update to the Mid-City Communities Plan draft released Monday, which would create capacity for an additional 30,000 homes over the next 30 years.

The update — the first of its scale for the area in 25 years — took two years to shape, featuring engagement with more than 3,000 city residents participating in more than 100 events and resulting in more than 9,300 comments.

Mid-City includes the neighborhoods of City Heights, Eastern Area, Kensington-Talmadge and Normal Heights.

“Suspicious Origin Theory” Discounted

By Debbie L. Sklar /  Special for the OB Rag

At about 10 a.m. on April 20, 1872, smoke began rising over Old Town San Diego.

Within hours, flames had swept through the heart of the community, destroying some of its most important buildings, including the old courthouse, the Franklin House, the Colorado House and other structures around the plaza.

The destruction was devastating.

But the fire also marked an important turning point in San Diego history.

Major Destruction

The blaze did not single-handedly move San Diego from Old Town to the waterfront. That transition was already underway. But the destruction of much of Old Town’s commercial center came at a crucial moment, helping cement the shift toward the growing community that became today’s downtown San Diego.

The fire began in the former courthouse building on San Diego Avenue near the plaza. Built in 1847 with the help of members of the Mormon Battalion, the small brick structure had served many purposes over the years, including as a courthouse, meeting place, church, school and polling place.

Two things happened on last Thursday, August 6th, that affect you and your utility bill.

First, Sempra — the company that owns SDG&E — released its earnings report for the second quarter of 2026, from April thru June, and revealed it made nearly $800 million, a significant increase from the $460 million it earned during the same period last year. The earnings are Sempra’s consolidated profit across California, Texas and infrastructure businesses. SDG&) is a regulated subsidiary and owned utility of Sempra.  SDG&E provides energy for 3.7 million people across San Diego and Southern Orange County.

While Sempra stock holders are reaping it in, San Diego utility customers are having a difficult time paying  their bills. A March 2026 report from the Public Advocates Office at the California Public Utilities Commission found that nearly one in five San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) customers is behind on their bills. The average past due balance for these customers is around $500, reports CBS8.

The OB Rag holds one fundraiser every year and it’s that time again. It’s the second week of August and here we go!!

Please help us reach our goal of $3,500 over the next two weeks. We do have bills — just our annual server bill alone is $900, plus hopefully you’ve noticed, but we have added new writers. And miracle upon miracle, we do pay them a small amount, usually $50 an article, plus we have subscription bills and utilities to pay. It costs us more than $3,500 to run the Rag for a year, but that’s what we’re asking.

Over these last three years, the Rag has become the online platform for whole groups of dissatisfied residents besides Ocean Beach and Point Loma – fellow citizens who are upset with the leadership of the city, the mayor’s Bonus ADU program, the so-called Complete Communities plan  – not to mention the Midway Rising and NAVWAR massive redevelopment projects.

Residents across the city are having trouble gaining traction about their travails from the mainstream or other online media and press. So, increasingly, they look to the Rag for support.

As the Rag is a platform of and for citizen journalists, we are often there for them.

So, help us keep it going.

How to Support Us

Send us a one-time donation via our PayPal button on the homepage; or

Become a regular monthly contributor; via PayPal on the homepage; or

Send us a check made out to “OB Rag” to:

OB Rag
PO Box 7012
Ocean Beach, CA 92167

Here are more reasons to contribute to the OB Rag:

By Kate Callen

State Senator Akilah Weber Pierson’s August 9 “Community Conversation” about the Midway Rising `project was the first time in the Pechanga Arena’s 60-year history that it staged a Kabuki theater performance.

The first-term senator has become a pro-density rising star by authoring Senate Bill 958 to circumvent a state Supreme Court ruling that Midway Rising must adhere to a legal 30-foot height limit.

News that Weber Pierson was holding a public forum took the public by surprise. Was she genuinely interested in an honest discussion about overcrowding, traffic congestion, air pollution, loss of naturally occurring affordable housing, and flood risks from a rising water table?

Uh, no. Weber Pierson was interested in acting as if she cared about the opinions of community leaders who have those concerns. Maybe she thought that few people would turn out on a scorching Sunday morning. Maybe she hoped those who oppose her bill would be converted by the presentations of Midway Rising’s leadership team.

The resulting “community conversation” was a tightly orchestrated show with long stretches of developer hype, short bursts of community emotion, and quite a few surreal touches.

Weber Pierson began her opening remarks by saying, “I do want to mention that I did invite the mayor, but he was unable to attend.” Well, of course not. There was no ribbon to cut.

When boos erupted at the mention of Todd Gloria, Weber Pierson bristled. “I have been very accommodating so far,” she warned her guests. “This is going to be a productive conversation. We will not permit any further conduct that disrupts the peace. And if we don’t get that, then you will have to be removed.”

Her ominous tone explained why security men were circling the audience of fewer than 200 people.

Two recent reports out on San Diego’s bicycle network find troubling problems with the hundreds of miles of bike lanes, from difficult and dangerous corridors, gaps in the infrastructure and insufficient bike routes for school kids.

One report from San Diego State University — the “State of the Ride”– published in May, ” identifies corridors for improvement and highlights how biking could feel safer for more communities, as UT writer Maura Fox reported August 5. She wrote that “San Diego’s expansive bicycle network remains difficult and sometimes dangerous for cyclists to navigate and contains key gaps that prevent continuous riding.”

The report was done in conjunction with the group BikeSD, whose executive director quipped:

“It’s not the question of, how many miles did we build? It’s more like, can an average child or a 70-year-old woman actually ride there?”

The report highlighted these issues, looking at what it says is the nearly 700 miles of bike facilities :

• Only about 75% of the 2013 bike master plan’s goal for bike infrastructure has been implemented;
• The most common type of facility — which accounts for nearly 60% of the mileage — are class II bike lanes, which are designated specifically for cyclists.
• bike infrastructure is not distributed evenly across the city.

Council Candidate Went Down to Defeat Because He Was Out-of-Touch With District 2 Voters Despite Spending $80 Per Vote

By Paul Krueger / Special to OB Rag

Josh Coyne and his supporters raised more than $450,000 in his run for the San Diego District 2 City Council seat.

That money was not well spent.

Coyne finished a very distant third in the June primary, with just 5,622 votes. First place finisher Richard Bailey got 14,800 votes; Nicole Crosby was second with 14,325.

Bailey is a Republican-turned-Independent who raised and spent less than Coyne. He was also the target of $148,000 in negative ads sponsored by labor unions. But the former Coronado mayor still beat Coyne by more than 9,000 votes.

Democrat Crosby’s cost-per-vote total was even more impressive. She and her supporters raised $153,000 — one-third of Coyne’s war chest — but she beat him by almost 9,000 votes.

The starkest comparison is Coyne versus fourth-place finisher Mandy Havik, who raised just $45,000, or one-tenth of the money raised and spent on Coyne’s behalf.

Havlik is a long-time Democrat stalwart and beach-area activist who campaigned on limiting ADU and highrise development and empowering neighborhood planning groups. She captured 4,750 votes, at about $10 per vote, compared to Coyne’s $80 per vote.

By Cathy Bussewitz / Associated Press PBS News / July 31, 2026

American oil and gas giants raked in massive spring profits while fighting between Iran and the U.S. impeded petroleum shipments and consumers around the world paid more for fuel and confronted shortages.

The conflict, now in its sixth month, halted most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that previously served as a delivery route for a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas. With global supplies constrained, prices for Brent crude, the international standard, soared from about $70 to above $100 a barrel for much of March, April and May, and at one point reached $126.

The money that oil companies accrued between the beginning of April and the end of June could receive extra scrutiny this year. Gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices climbed sharply during that period, increasing costs for drivers and airline passengers. Supplies ran low in some countries, leading to sporadic fuel rationing in Australia and government office closures in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Exxon Mobil on Friday reported that its second quarter profits doubled to $14.53 billion, boosted by record diesel production. The oil giant, based in Spring, Texas, brought in $116.02 billion in revenue, up 42%.

Chevron, based in Houston, nearly quadrupled its profits to $12.07 billion and revenue jumped 56% to $70.06 billion.

Six of Europe’s largest oil companies posted combined first-quarter profits of $22 billion, more than 40% higher than last year.

By Jillian Butler

Residents of Mariner’s Cove Apartments in eastern Ocean Beach say years of deferred maintenance have left some affordable housing units with mold, deteriorating cabinetry, broken stairways and other unresolved problems, raising concerns about whether tenants in subsidized units are receiving the same level of maintenance as market-rate residents.

As the cost of living soars, many people turn to government programs in order to find a place to live. Being the ninth most expensive city in America, San Diego is no exception to this. In fact, there are approximately 80,300 people in San Diego County living in government subsidized housing. However, some landlords give preferential treatment to those not in subsidized housing, creating two separate classes of people.

Several sources have reached out to the OB Rag, citing negligence towards those in rent controlled units at the Mariner’s Cove Apartment complex. Issues range from mold to the landlord illegally painting over fire lanes.

Mariner’s Cove is a two story apartment complex with 500 units. Of those 500 units, 300 are considered “affordable”, with 100 being low income. Many such residents are elderly, have disabilities, or both.

One resident I spoke with recounts:

“For years, I have expressed serious concerns regarding the lack of ventilation and potential mold in my unit, as well as the deteriorating plywood and peeling veneer in my kitchen. These issues pose legitimate safety and health risks rather than cosmetic concerns. Although management acknowledges the poor bathroom ventilation and has previously patched a water-damaged wall, they have refused to test for mold. Furthermore, the deteriorating wood in my kitchen cabinets sheds debris onto my dishes every time the drawers are opened.

By Paul Krueger

July has slipped away, and with it, the best chance we had to force City Hall to reopen the 13 Mission Bay restrooms closed in pursuit of  so-called “fiscal responsibility.”

We now have little more than a month until the traditional end of summer to find a solution to this civic embarrassment. And I’m not optimistic.

The city council is on vacation until mid-August, so we can’t organize a protest outside city hall and try to shame council members during non-agenda public comment for their lack of unified response to this actual threat to public health.

Mayor Todd Gloria is only seen in public at pre-scripted ceremonies where he cuts ribbons and fills potholes. So there’s no opportunity to confront him about his false narrative that City Hall can’t spare the $550,000 needed to reopen the restroom doors.

And the council member who should be speaking loudest about the need to protect public health has been regrettably – though predictably — silent on the issue.

Jen Campbell, whose District 2 includes Mission Bay, is a family physician. She knows public health is at risk when people can’t find a restroom.