Category: Election

Community Planning Group Elections This Week

San Diego’s Community Planning Groups (CPGs) hold annual elections every March.

Here are dates, times, and locations for in-person voting at some of this week’s elections. Be sure to bring your driver’s license or another form of ID showing your home address.

Monday, March 9

Southeastern San Diego will hold its election starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Mountain View Community Center, 641 South Boundary Street

Tuesday, March 10

Eastern Area will hold its election starting at 6:00 p.m. at Teen Challenge, 5450 Lea St.

University will hold its election from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at 9880 Campus Point Drive on the third-floor patio of Alexandria’s GradLabs building.

Kensington-Talmadge is offering four in-person voting opportunities before its meeting on Monday, March 16:

Only one in four Americans approves of ?U.S. strikes on Iran that have plunged the Middle East into chaos, while about half — including one in four Republicans — believe President Donald Trump is too willing to use military force, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, which were conducted alongside Israeli attacks on Iran, while 43% disapproved and 29% were not sure. About nine in 10 respondents said they had heard at least a little about the strikes, which began early on Saturday with a ?surprise attack that killed Iran’s leader.

The poll, which closed on Sunday, showed that 56% of Americans think Trump, who has also ordered strikes in Venezuela, Syria and Nigeria in recent months, is too willing to use military force to advance U.S. interests. ?The vast majority of Democrats – 87% – held this view, as did 23% of Republicans and 60% of people who don’t identify with either political party.

The poll was conducted amid ongoing attacks on Iran by the U.S. and Israel, and closed before the U.S. military announced the first American casualties in the operation.

By Tanja Kropf / Clairemont Explore / March 4, 2026

Questions about trust in City Hall, including whether residents believe their leaders are listening, dominated a March 2 Linda Vista town hall with San Diego City Council Member Raul Campillo, who represents District 7.

Campillo recently held a series of town halls in his district, in the neighborhoods of Linda Vista, Serra Mesa, Navajo, and Tierrasanta.

From the failed one-cent sales tax measure to trash fees, parking fees, bonus ADUs, fire safety laws, and e-bikes, the evening revealed a consistent theme. Residents are skeptical of San Diego’s government, a concern Campillo says he doesn’t take lightly.

Hot Button Items That Lead San Diegans to Distrust City Hall

Voters Rejected Sales Tax Increase

Campillo began the evening by reflecting on the failed one-cent sales tax ballot measure, which he had supported.

“As many of you know, in 2024, I was pushing hard for the one-cent sales tax on the ballot,” started Campillo. That measure failed.

“What that told me was San Diego voters are not ready to trust the city with more money, and so we need to listen accordingly,” he said. Campillo said that view was not widely shared by his fellow council members or by Mayor Todd Gloria.

The first District 2 candidate forum organized by the League of Women Voters San Diego is tonight, Thursday, March 5  –    5:30-7:30 PM  at the Cathy Hopper Clairemont Friendship Center, located at  4425 Bannock Ave, San Diego 92117   This Forum is also hosted by the Clairemont Town Council.

Seven candidates have confirmed their attendance, and several more may come.

Planning Group Elections This Week in San Diego

San Diego’s Community Planning Groups (CPGs) hold annual elections every March. Here are dates, times, and locations for in-person voting at some of this week’s elections. Be sure to bring your driver’s license or another form of ID showing your home address.

Tuesday, March 3

Normal Heights will accept ballots from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Normal Heights Community Center at 4649 Hawley Boulevard.

https://normalheightscpg.org/notice-of-election/

Ocean Beach requires voters to download and print a registration form and ballot (available on website below). In-person voting takes place between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue.

By Kate Callen

Are you happy with the way San Diego is governed? Do you think our elected officials listen attentively to you and care about your neighborhood?

If your answer is “F*** No!,” you should participate in a 60-year-old system of local democracy where your vote has real impact: Cast your ballots in next month’s Community Planning Group (CPG) elections.

Every March, San Diego’s 41 active CPGs hold elections for open board seats. Unlike elections at higher levels of government, these don’t involve negative campaigning and Big Money mailers. Candidates present their backgrounds and positions, and almost all ballots are cast in person.

It’s a miracle San Diego still has CPGs. The all-volunteer advisory boards, established in 1976 to give citizens a voice in urban planning, came under attack in 2018 for being anti-progress, anti-inclusivity, undemocratic, unscrupulous, and just too darn old.

by Lynne Miller 

Don’t be disheartened.  We are on the path that will win, it will just take awhile, and a commitment from all of you.

The last lines of Starry Starry Nights go like this:

“They would not listen, they’re not listening still
Perhaps they never will”.

My friends inside and outside of Coastal CareTakers sent letters to the city council and submitted comments for the Feb. 24th meeting. Then they showed up, and filled the chambers, and they had a lot to say. And what they said was brilliant! Everyone did their homework, and when each person took the mic and spoke for Ocean Beach and all of San Diego, they were spot on!

The only problem — the Council had decided how they would vote before the meeting. If they had entered the chambers with an open mind, and “really listened” they would have voted to put Package A where it belongs, at the end of the crumbling OB Pier where real sharks could shred it and put it to rest!!!

The Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB) will be holding elections in March 2026 to fill seven (7) seats. Five (5) seats have 5 year terms and two (2) seats have a 1 year term and will go to the 7 candidates with the most votes in rank order.

Requirements for those interested in becoming a Board Member:

• Candidates must be 18 years of age.
• Candidates must reside, own property, or operate a business within the PCPB boundaries (boundaries map provided at www.pcpb.net).
• Candidates must attend a PCPB meeting or the candidates’ forum scheduled for March 12th.

The election will be held on Thursday, March 19, 2026 from 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm, at the Point Loma / Hervey Branch Library located at 3701 Voltaire Street, San Diego, CA 92107.

By Erwin Chemerinsky / Los Angeles Times Op-Ed / Feb. 20, 2026

The Supreme Court’s decision invalidating President Trump’s tariffs sends a clear and crucial message: The justices will not be a simple rubber stamp approving presidential actions. In the first year of Trump’s new term, 24 challenges to presidential actions came to the court, almost all on its emergency docket. In 22, the justices ruled in favor of the president. But Friday’s 6-3 decision striking down his tariffs is a huge victory for separation of powers and the rule of law.

The importance of tariffs to Trump, and their consequences for the world, cannot be overstated. The president said that their invalidation “would be a total disaster for the country” and “would literally destroy the United States of America.” In its petition to the Supreme Court, Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer said “the tariffs are promoting peace and unprecedented economic prosperity” and “pulling America back from the precipice of disaster, restoring respect and standing in the world.”

Trump has treated tariffs as something he can impose or rescind at will. But not anymore.

A brand new candidate has just emerged for the already crowded District 2 City Council race and it’s Sandra Kay.

Kay has picked up where candidate Richard Bailey has been with his mantra of “policies not politics” and perhaps has even bested him with her “Not Not Political” campaign launch. It also appears she is striving for the Ocean Beach vote.

The following is from her campaign launch website:

This time, OB leads! It’s Wednesday in Ocean Beach. Time to awaken the civic power of our creative community. Join your neighbors and local creatives for a night of music, performances, and real conversation that brings people together instead of pulling us apart. .

Richard Bailey, one of the newest candidates to have thrown their hat into the ring for the District 2 City Council race, has now changed his party affiliation from Republican to No Party Preference.

Bailey has asked for a retraction from the Rag, but there is nothing to retract.

By Anonymous OBcean

Dear representatives of Councilmember Campbell and Mayor Gloria,

I am writing to express my outrage after receiving a citation under San Diego’s “daylighting” parking enforcement near an unmarked crosswalk.

This law, as currently enforced, functions as a trap. There are no signs, no painted curbs, and no visible warnings to alert drivers that parking is prohibited. Residents and visitors are expected to somehow know they must remain 20 feet from an invisible, unmarked crosswalk. That is not reasonable governance — it is punitive and predatory.

Public safety should never be implemented through gotcha enforcement.