Category: Economy

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Shelter Island looks like a quiet stretch of marinas, sailboats, and waterfront hotels today, but its history is anything but ordinary. What appeared to be a natural peninsula was actually a shifting sandbar in San Diego Bay, gradually transformed over decades of harbor dredging, engineering projects,s and the city’s expanding maritime economy.

Even its name tells only part of the story.

1. It Isn’t Really an Island

Despite the name, Shelter Island has never been a true island. It began as a low sandbar near Point Loma that was visible mainly at low tide.

Beginning in the 1930s, harbor improvement projects deposited dredged material onto the shoal, gradually creating the landform visitors see today. Over time, what had once been open water became one of San Diego’s most recognizable waterfront destinations.

By Rag Staff

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the general public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Please note: New rules on public participation go into effect at this meeting. The Coalition is planning an initiative to help community leaders navigate the changes. For now, remember that non-agenda public comments have a 2-minute limit, but all other public comments have a 1-minute limit.

Monday, July 6: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item 201: Appeal of the Environmental Determination for Coast Walk Project No. PRJ-1074172, Lots @ & 17

Why it matters: Building a two-story 5,478-square-foot house on the iconic Coast Walk ocean bluff will carve out yet another piece of the La Jolla coastline for the exclusive use of the privileged. Is there no end to predatory oceanfront development?

Item 400: Ordinance Adopting Updated SDPS Military Equipment Use Procedure and Renewing Approval for Use, Funding, and Acquisition of Military Equipment

Why it matters: The ICE killings of two citizens in Minneapolis taught us the hazards of militarized law enforcement in urban areas.

Dear Friends:

We hope your summer is off to a good start. Here is a news round-up about the Coalition’s recent activities and future priorities:

This Week at City Hall: We appreciate the feedback on our weekly bulletin that highlights significant Council agenda items. Thanks to your involvement, City officials are feeling pressure to serve constituents and not just special interests. Let’s keep that up by speaking out at Council meetings – in-person, virtually, and in writing – to remind them that they work for us.

Jack McGrory Coalition Forum: If you missed it, check out Jack McGrory’s no-holds-barred analysis of City Hall in the OB Rag (Part I and Part II). The willingness of some civic leaders to deliver straight talk at our town hall events is encouraging. Our speakers’ series resumes in the fall.

What Was It, What Is It, and What Will It Be?

By Coastal Caretakers

Today, we will start with what it IS, complicated as it is, beginning with a cement block building, a new owner, and a new future, defined by the City of San Diego in the words of Accela, the city’s new permitting system and the reminder of an old joke ending in, “are you going to believe your lying eyes, or what I tell you?”

The previous owner, Sunset Cliffs Creative House, LLC morphed a $2.2 million investment into a $2.8 million sale to Yoffee, LLC, which has a San Diego mailing address on Casitas St, a San Diego property owned by Yoth, LLC, and a business named Daylight Coffee, LLC, — all Wyoming LLCs. This is a situation that gets us very close to where we are today.

Yoffee LLC is the owner of the property, and the address of Yoth LLC owns the mailing address for Yoffee, LLC, a business to be occupied, according to its application in 2025 for a liquor license for Daylight Coffee, LLC, also at the Yoth, LLC-owned address.

And now we enter the twilight zone of Accela, a new world in Mission Valley without paper but with three windows to pay fees. Any member of the public can right now get an Accela account, log in, and type in (with some difficulty) “1404 Sunset Cliffs Blvd” as the address.  You will see what it says.  (And if you are wondering, you can see the same thing using the Rite-Aid address.)  The paper world has been forgotten, but the original plans are still there.

By Paul Krueger

I used to zone out when politicians debated the strengths and weaknesses of policy proposals, especially when I covered government meetings for NBC 7. Revisions, compromises, and continuances left me frustrated. I’d think, “Come on, just agree, vote, and move on.”

But my six years as a community advocate have given me a new appreciation for the value of policy debates and public disagreement among our elected officials.

I’ve seen how a philosophical split on the County Board of Supervisors — with three liberal Democrats and two conservative Republicans — gives us a better understanding of policy issues and exposes the possible pitfalls of proposed legislation.

Pointed but civil disagreements between the Supervisors have revealed important details — pro and con — about proposed reforms to the county charter and the use of reserve funds to expand programs and hire more employees.

That’s why I grimaced when Mayor Todd Gloria described the city of San Diego’s recent budget negotiations as “more collegial” than last year’s. “I don’t think anyone at the outset of this process would have envisioned a unanimous adoption of the budget and no line-item vetoes,” Gloria told the U-T’s David Garrick.

That “Kumbaya” moment is good example of what’s wrong at City Hall. This go-along-get-along attitude enables our elected officials to avoid scrutiny for their votes. And it deprives residents of the information they need to assess their representatives’ performance.

From Neighbors for a Better California

The latest public records released this past week confirm that Project Vela remains under active City review. No final decision has been made on the project’s requested height, scale, incentives, or waivers.

Before the City can make those determinations, the developer must still resolve key technical issues identified during the review process, including floor area calculations, fire protection, stormwater management, and the legal basis for the project’s requested waivers.

Rather than becoming clearer as the review has progressed, the records show that important questions remain unresolved across multiple technical areas.

NFABC has submitted an additional Public Records Act request for missing documents referenced in the file. Our volunteer team brings experience in law, city planning, community planning, public communications, and state housing legislation. This expertise allows us to analyze complex records, ask informed questions, and help hold the City’s review process accountable so Project Vela is not approved for more height, density, or scale than California law and the San Diego Municipal Code allow.

What the Latest Records Show

Fire Safety Review Continues

The City’s Fire Suppression reviewer stated that, after multiple rounds of review, proper and complete responses had still not been provided for the issues identified. The reviewer noted that little progress had been made and advised the design team to resolve the outstanding issues before additional reviews continued.

Ocean Beach’s Earliest Shoreline Resident

By Debbie L. Sklar

Just south of today’s permanently closed Ocean Beach Pier, where the cliffs drop sharply into sand and surf, a small shack once clung to the edge of the coastline. In the late 1800s, this stretch of San Diego shoreline looked nothing like the developed beach community it would later become. It was open coast— windswept, loosely governed, and still taking shape.

Ocean Beach history is full of figures who appear in fragments rather than full biographies: a photograph, a passing reference in an archive, or a story repeated just often enough to survive. One of the earliest documented residents tied to this shoreline was Captain Abraham Thomas.

Thomas is associated with a small shack near what is now the Ocean Beach Pier during the late 19th century, when the area was still largely undeveloped and defined more by sand paths than formal streets or infrastructure.

A caption on an early photographic negative identifies a nearby structure as the “Old Cliff House, Ocean Beach,” noting it burned in 1895 — an early reminder of how temporary many of these coastal buildings were.

According to San Diego coastal planning records and historic context documentation, Thomas’s shack sat at the base of the cliffs and functioned as both a residence and an informal stop for early travelers moving along the shoreline.

OB Rag Staff Report

Jack McGrory has seen a lot happen in San Diego over the past 50 years, and he knows a lot about how the city has evolved. In his 24 years at City Hall, where he rose from a trainee in 1973 to City Manager between 1991 and 1997, McGrory had a singular role in helping shape our city government.

At a June 20 dialogue hosted by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego, McGrory answered questions about City Hall’s perilous state with astonishing candor.

In this Part I of a report on the forum [link], McGrory discussed how a lack of professionalism at City Hall has led to financial instability and public distrust.

Today, in Part II, he describes how concentrating political power in the executive branch has tipped the city into chaos.

On “strong mayor” government: When we went to district elections in 1988, the downtown business interests got pissed off. They thought: The neighborhoods will control the City Council, so how will we protect our interests? The next move was to go to a strong mayor, which happened in 2004. In a strong mayor government, you lose a professional corps of administrators who know how to do trash, water, and sewage. They know how to deliver services. It’s like running a business. Now look. I’ve had three goddamn trash cans in six months.

In the public sector, some employees are in a civil service classification that gives them protection, and some are “unclassified” – they are not protected, and they operate at a higher level. When I was city manager, I had about 25 unclassified employees. That number today is 432.

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the general public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Monday, June 29: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item S400: Proposed FY 2027 Recreation Center Fund Budgets, Opportunity Fund Budget, and 2025 Come Play Outside

Why it matters: Funding for city Rec Centers and the proportions of available funding that go to “low resource” neighborhoods continue to be an issue of concern.

Item S401: Information Guide on Group Participation Updates and Council Determination of Community Engagement Efforts

Why it matters: Community Planning Groups have seen their input on density and development issues greatly reduced under the Faulconer and Gloria regimes. The Community Planners Committee is demanding a “Seat at the Table” on important land use decisions. Background:

Editordude: For decades, OBceans and Point Lomans drove past Perry’s Cafe as it stood at the very visible intersection of I-5 and I-8. That ended two years ago. The fabled eatery closed and was demolished. In its stead, something slowly rose up encased in scaffolding and mystery. Here, Rag writer Michael Hernandez breaks it all down.

By Michael Angelo Hernandez

The Latest on Perry’s Multifamily Apartments, Formerly Known as Perry’s Cafe

Nearly two years ago, in August of 2024, Old Town’s beloved, family-owned diner, Perry’s Cafe at 4620 Pacific Highway, served its last meal and closed its doors for the final time.

The iconic restaurant was founded in 1985 by Greek immigrants Constantine (a.k.a “Costas”) and Margaret Georgakopolous. Named after the couple’s daughter, Perry Eulmi, Perry’s cafe went on to serve millions, becoming a cherished destination for both tourists and locals alike in search of their classic American diner experience, famously massive portions, and nostalgic atmosphere.

For nearly four decades, the restaurant stood as a local community staple, weathering multiple mishaps over the years including a number of cars flying off the Interstate-5 and landing right onto their parking lot, a 2009 fire which closed them down for four months and cost them an estimated $300,000 dollars in damages, and even the lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 1992 when the original owners, the Georgakopolous, opted to retire, the reins of the business were handed down to their daughter who ran the restaurant along with her son until 2024 when she too decided to retire. August 15 was the date announced for the diner’s last ever day of service, however, Perry’s Cafe ended up closing more than a week earlier on the fifth, reportedly due to staff burnout following the huge crowds drawn by the announcement of the closure.

OB Rag Staff Report

Jack McGrory has seen a lot happen in San Diego over the past 50 years, and he knows a lot about how the city has evolved. In his 24 years at City Hall, where he rose from a trainee in 1973 to City Manager between 1991 and 1997, McGrory had a singular role in helping shape our city government.

At a June 20 dialogue hosted by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego, McGrory answered questions about City Hall’s perilous state with astonishing candor.

In this Part I of a report on the forum, McGrory discusses how a lack of professionalism at City Hall has led to financial instability and public distrust.

On city government “best practices”:

We always measured ourselves against other large cities. All the city managers would meet every six months, and we’d exchange ideas about best practices. San Diego went to automated trash pickup because I saw Phoenix doing it, and they showed me their numbers. Before we had automated pickup, we had two or three people on every truck handling 11 tons of trash a day. The costs of back injuries and workers’ comp were insane.

At another one of these conferences, someone described a new technology for fixing potholes that used trucks with computers and hot tar dispensers. The truck would drive over the pothole, and the computer would drop the hot tar and tamp it down. I bought eight pothole trucks, and we were fixing potholes in 24 hours.

Then one day, I saw a city employee fixing a pothole by shoveling in hot tar. I asked, “Where are the pothole trucks?” He said, “One of the drivers got carpal tunnel syndrome, so the union lobbied the Council, and they got rid of the trucks.”