Category: Economy

The City of San Diego has just released a Notice of Future Decision regarding an application for a Process 2 Coastal Development Permit for a 3-story, 10-unit project for 4862 and 4864 Santa Monica Ave. in Ocean Beach. The Notice was dated January 22, 2026.

It’s an application to:

• to demolish an existing two-story, 2,934 square-foot duplex consisting of two residential units at the rear the property, and
• construct a three-story, 6,545 square-foot multifamily building consisting of ten (10) units.

Billionaire Geoff Palmer Sued the City for Having to Include Some Affordable Housing Units While His Company Builds 1,000s of Units in San Diego.

By Dorian Hargrove / CBS8 / January 22, 2026

A Los Angeles landlord who owns more than 15,000 units in Southern California and is set to build more than 2,500 apartments in San Diego has lost his lawsuit seeking to get out of including affordable housing units in his projects.

According to court documents obtained by CBS 8, on Jan. 16, a federal judge dismissed billionaire Geoff Palmer’s lawsuit, which claimed the city’s inclusionary affordable housing rules were unconstitutional and akin to the government seizing private property.

Currently, Palmer’s company, G.H. Palmer, is finishing a 1,642-apartment project on Convoy Street in Kearny Mesa and is waiting to build nearly 1,000 additional units at a separate project in Grantville.

In Dec. 2022, before construction began on the Kearny Mesa project, Palmer’s company requested that the city exempt the project from the City’s Inclusionary Affordable Housing Requirement. The program required Palmer to set aside 10% of the units, or 164 in the case of the Kearny Mesa development, or to pay “in lieu of fees” for opting out.

The city denied Palmer’s request.

In Sept. 2023, Palmer sued the city, alleging the law was unconstitutional and violated private property safeguards.

by Michael Zucchet / Voice of San Diego / January 21, 2026

In his Jan. 13 op-ed published in Voice of San Diego, former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey argues that increased spending and poor management are the real culprits of the city of San Diego’s budget woes.

But in many of the issue areas that Bailey cites (personnel and pension costs, lack of public safety spending and trash collection fees) San Diego is in line with or even outperforming other cities – including the city of Coronado under Bailey’s leadership as councilmember and mayor for 12 years:

• According to the Census Bureau, the city of San Diego’s population steadily grew more than 7 percent between 2010 and 2024 to 1,404,000. During the same period, the population of Coronado decreased 5 percent to 18,000. Despite this decline in residents, Coronado’s general fund personnel budget rose 89 percent from FY 2014 (Mr. Bailey’s first full fiscal year in office) to FY 2026.  During the same period – with a rising population – San Diego’s general fund personnel expenditures rose 76 percent. Coronado has one city employee for every 70 residents; San Diego has one employee for every 107 residents.

By Kate Callen

Balboa Park’s institutional stewards joined forces to denounce Mayor Todd Gloria’s paid parking fees in a January 21 press conference that delivered ominous news about the fees’ early impacts.

The 19 park leaders were brought together by the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership to announce a new website, that will serve as a portal for pressuring the City Council to shelve the fees.

The leaders stopped short of demanding a total repeal. They chose a milder stance: “to express our serious concerns and go on record requesting the reconsideration of the vote supporting paid parking.”

But they did (finally) challenge Gloria’s hype that the new fees will go straight into overdue park maintenance. And they would not rule out the idea of a public-private partnership, modeled after the New York City Central Park Conservancy, that would wrest management of the park away from City Hall.

“I think our community should and can have that larger discussion,” said Peter Comiskey, the partnership’s Executive Director.

Early data on attendance and revenue have borne out dire predictions that paid parking will drive away the visitors who keep the park solvent.

By Ron Donoho / San Diego Sun / January 16, 2026

Was San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria hoping to turn the page on public outrage over new parking fees by ignoring the topic during his 2026 State of the City address?

If so, the tactic backfired.

Those fees – in place at Balboa Park and also covering 17 blocks in downtown San Diego – are what many people still wanted to talk about after the mayor’s glaring omission in his annual speech. It was delivered on January 15, and the setting for the second year in a row was the 250-seat City Council Chambers at City Hall.

TV newscasts, online reports and other headlines focused on parking fees. Leaving the topic out of his address didn’t tamp down the ire. It stoked flames of discontent.

After the city faced more than a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar deficit in its last annual budget, one of the hot button fixes by the mayor was implementation of new charges on people who drive cars.

Rookie move by a veteran politician.

OB Rag Staff Report

When the Rag began our 2026 San Diego City Council election coverage, we promised to “scrutinize the candidates in the June primary: who they are, what they’ve done, what they say, and most importantly, where their money comes from.”

Our first post reviewed Campaign Disclosure Reports (Series 400) for three District 2 candidates and listed their top contributors. This post focuses on three candidates in the District 8 primary.

By Kate Callen

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s 2026 “State of the City” address began hitting turbulence on January 14, the day before he delivered it.

His long-time ally Voice of San Diego (VOSD) shocked the city that morning with a takedown of the mayor’s leadership. Will Huntsberry’s “Disappointment Follows Gloria Into Sixth Year” described an executive in free fall with few achievements and fewer friends.

Later that day, word filtered out that the City Council would hold a special meeting at 1:00 p.m., two hours before Gloria’s speech, to allow public comment on a talk that hadn’t yet been given.

The hastily arranged meeting was sparsely attended. Most speakers railed against Immigration and Customs Enforcement abuses, entirely off topic, but Council President Joe La Cava allowed it.

The few speakers who stayed on topic echoed themes in the VOSD article: The mayor has lost the people’s trust. He has squandered money on expensive hires. He prefers cutting ribbons to carrying out tough decisions.

When Gloria stepped to the podium, he was under intense pressure to give a pivotal speech. Would he squarely face the challenges that plague his city? Or would he spin his record, carp about obstacles, and weave a rosy picture of the future?

Editordude: The following is a ground-breaking sweeping review and analysis of Todd Gloria’s tenure as mayor by one of his long-time allies and supporters, the Voice of San Diego. It really is a remarkable piece by Will Huntsberry — and it touches on just about every scandal and misstep by Gloria — so it’s clearly welcomed by those longtime critics of Gloria — like the Rag.

What it doesn’t do, however, is delve into the corruption angle of Gloria’s administration, such as awarding the contract for the redevelopment of the Midway Sports Arena area — a huge, gigantic project — to his top campaign contributor, the manager of Midway Rising. Nor does it examine how a Gloria-backed PAC exercised voter suppression efforts against a fellow Democrat running for City Council. It’s a rather long piece, so sit back and relax — no, no, sit back and get pissed off. 

by Will Huntsberry / Voice of San Diego / January 14, 2026

In early 2020, the future was bright for Todd Gloria. Gloria hadn’t been elected yet, but his campaign was cooking and it seemed he held all the cards to become San Diego’s next mayor.

He convened a kitchen cabinet — an unofficial group of advisers — at a political consultant’s office downtown. Gloria sat at the head of the table and the group had heady discussions about his future.

At the time, he was San Diego’s shining son. Affable, polished and able to work a room like few other politicians. Child of a gardener and a hotel maid. First-generation college graduate. And soon he would be the first openly queer, non-White person elected mayor. Gloria had an amazing story to tell – and the assembled team was there to decide how to tell it.

By Dani Miskell / 10News / Jan 13, 2026

Museums in Balboa Park report a drop in attendance following the rollout of new paid-parking regulations.

The San Diego Natural History Museum, which hosted the first Free Tuesday of January, coinciding with the parking system launch, has seen significant decreases in visitor numbers during what is traditionally one of the park’s most popular programs.

“We’re concerned because we’ve seen a drop off in numbers. We’re down by about 25%,” said Judy Gradwohl, President and CEO of the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Free Tuesdays have been a longstanding tradition at Balboa Park, with museums taking turns offering free admission to visitors. However, the new paid-parking requirement appears to be deterring attendance, despite free museum access.

“We’ve only been in the first week of the parking regulations, but we’re getting a lot of negative feedback from members, from visitors, people in the community, anywhere I go, that’s all anybody wants to talk about,” Gradwohl said.

By Kelly Hessedal / CBS8 / January 12, 2026

Mayors from across San Diego County demanded Monday that San Diego city leaders repeal newly implemented parking fees at Balboa Park, citing fairness concerns, economic impact and a significant public backlash against the charges.

The coalition of mayors stand in support of activist Shane Harris’ proposal he drafted for the council calling for the parking fees to be repealed. Harris also said an online petition has gathered more than 1500 signatures.

The effort includes mayors from Coronado, Escondido, San Marcos, El Cajon and Chula Vista. It also includes council members from Del Mar and La Mesa. A news conference was held outside the Air and Space Museum Monday morning.

“Paying for parking to stay out and active is unacceptable,” said San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones.

By Csaba Petre

Following up on a thorough coffee tour of OB last year, I’m back to give a rundown and review of some local markets. I’ve chosen local stores (not huge chains, and not liquor-only stores) which can realistically qualify for at least a quick, missing-item type grocery trip. A couple of liquor-and-deli places have been added, if they met this criteria. Please feel free to add your favorite small store in the comments if I missed one you like.

Sunset Mini Mart

4799 Voltaire St, San Diego, CA 92107

Sunset Mini Mart is a convenience store and liquor store on the corner of Voltaire Street and Sunset Cliffs Blvd. They carry a wide assortment of snacks, as well as non-alcoholic drinks and sodas. As far as groceries they stock some basics: canned goods, cereals, coffee, and cleaning supplies. The store is clean and conveniently accessible for North OB.

Best for: snacks and drinks; a quick canned/boxed meal; liquor and beer