Category: Election

Once again, we return to Letters to the Editor for the truth — and it’s so much more fun to see letters written by people  you know. So, here’s a couple from today’s Union-Tribune, one from Rag writer Kate Callen and another from Ralph Teyssier, a commenter on the Rag.

Re “Campillo’s reforms a smart response to Gloria’s trash fee machinations” (Nov. 30):

Thank you for pointing out that San Diego has one elected official with a functioning moral compass. Yes, Raul Campillo is pushing the reform rock up the hill — for now. But widespread disgust with the mayor’s mendacity and the connivance of eight City Council members is changing the political landscape. We see this in the overflow crowds at council meetings and the scores of angry letters you print.

by Ernie McCray

Oh, as I looked back at pictures
of the “No Kings” protesters
in San Diego
I so wished that I could take to the streets
as I’ve done so many times before
over my lifetime
but standing and walking
for a longtime
would not treat me very kind.
But it’s plain to see
that this kind of massive togetherness
is the key
to our surviving the mess
we find ourselves in,|
chaos brought to us
by a madman
whose goal in life
is to do us in

Zohran Mamdani’s plan for free buses is not a pipe dream. Montgomery County, Maryland, made its buses free this year.

By Alexis Goldstein / Truthout / December 1, 2025

During the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated economic downturn, many people couldn’t pay their transportation costs, and often didn’t. In New York City in 2021, some 21 percent of bus riders did not pay the fare, a figure that grew to 48 percent in 2024. Some local governments, including New York City, responded with reduced or free fare programs.

From 2023 to 2024, New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) ran a zero-fare bus pilot that served around 43,000 riders. The pilot, championed by then-assembly member Zohran Mamdani, offered free trips on one bus in each borough.

To expand this small pilot to universal zero-fare buses throughout New York City is a tall task, with a total 2024 bus ridership of 409 million and 6,300 buses. As mayor-elect Mamdani and his administration look to grow zero-fare buses in New York, they have a stellar example just a few hours south of New York, in Maryland.

The largest free bus program in Maryland by ridership is in Montgomery County, a suburb north of Washington, D.C.

OB Rag Staff Report

In an August 8 Rag Post, “2026 District 2 Council Race: Will Voters Get Fooled Again?”, we promised to “scrutinize the candidates in the … primary: who they are, what they’ve done, what they say, and most importantly, where their money comes from.”

The primary is six months away in June, and candidates have filed early campaign financial reports. A review of the city’s Campaign Disclosure Reports (Series 400) shows a real difference in the sources of support for three candidates who filed disclosures: Josh Coyne, Mandy Havlik, and Nicole Crosby.

Three other candidates in the race – Mike Rickey, Nicole Quillin, and Daniel Smiechowski – do not have reports on the website, which is common for candidates who don’t reach the reporting threshold.

Josh Coyne

Coyne is in first place in District 2 fundraising totals with $69,148. He has made a $30,000 loan to his campaign. According to the Voters’ Voice Initiatives, his contributions from outside District 2 amount to $57,000, or more than 80 percent of his take.

Many of Coyne’s contributors are corporate leaders and lobbyists, some of whom have close ties to Mayor Todd Gloria. They include:

Strategy hinges on California’s density bonus law, which empowers builders to secure waivers to avoid development requirements

By Jennifer Van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / November 28, 2025 

A recent court order directing the reinstatement of the 30-foot height limit in San Diego’s Midway District would seem to stop short a development team’s plan to remake the city’s sports arena site with thousands of apartments and a replacement venue in buildings that tower over the restriction.

But the ruling’s net effect on the megaproject may only amount to a short-term, bureaucratic delay. That’s because the Midway Rising team believes it has something more powerful on its side: California’s density bonus law.

“Midway Rising is moving forward as planned under state density bonus law that encourages affordable housing development,” said Jeff Meyer, a spokesperson for the development team. “We have full confidence in this transformative redevelopment and look forward to working with our local and state partners to bring the vision put forward in the Midway Community Plan to life.”

The team expects the project will be considered by the City Council in early 2026, he said.

The posture of strength suggests that the city and the development team, tied together by an exclusive negotiation agreement, have not labored in vain.

From Fox5 San Diego / November 25, 2025

A class action lawsuit filed on Tuesday alleges Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of violating due process by targeting people after court proceedings in San Diego County.

Represented by the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA’s School of Law and the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL), three detained immigrants filed the lawsuit.

“Entrapping and imprisoning people who are complying with their immigration requirements isn’t just cowardly, it’s unconstitutional,” CHRCL Legal Director Bardis Vakili said via a press release. “Due process requires that, before taking away our freedom, the government must prove at a hearing that detention is justified.”

Throughout the summer, ICE targeted people leaving court hearings at 880 Front Street, according to the lawsuit.

By Paul Krueger

Before City Councilmembers adjourned to Closed Session on November 17 to discuss and vote on the controversial 30-foot height limit in the Midway/Pacific Highway area, I asked them to disclose after that meeting why they voted as they did.

I told our representatives they owed the public an on-the-record explanation on this very important land use and housing density issue.

I didn’t ask — or expect them — to reveal any “privileged” information discussed in Closed Session, including legal strategies, the odds of winning or losing an appeal to the State Supreme Court, or the possible cost of that litigation.

But I told councilmembers that their constituents deserve to know if they agree with Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferber’s harsh criticism of the recent appellate court decision that reinstated the 30-foot height limit. And if so, did they support the Mayor and City Attorney’s strategy of asking the State Supreme Court to reverse the appeals court and allow high-rise construction without a more thorough review of the negative environmental impact of that density?

Owner’s Son Leaving for Navy boot camp next month

by Tony Shin / KUSI / Nov 20, 2025 

The owner of a popular Mexican restaurant in Mission Beach is being held by federal immigration authorities and faces possible deportation, prompting family members and loyal customers to call for his release.

Victor Rodriguez Sr., 54, owner of La Playa Taco Shop, is currently detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, according to his family. He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside his National City home on Halloween morning.

Family members said Rodriguez is in the country without legal status but has spent decades attempting to obtain lawful residency or citizenship through legal channels.

“He helped me a lot. It’s too difficult now because I have to do things I’m not used to,” said his wife, Gabriela Rodriguez, who continues to run the restaurant in his absence.

Rodriguez and his wife have owned La Playa Taco Shop for nearly 30 years. Their son, Victor Rodriguez Jr., said his father was taken into custody after several vehicles surrounded him.

Trump called for the Democratic lawmakers to be “arrested and placed on trial” in social media posts because of their video message.

President Donald Trump on Thursday, Nov. 20, accused six Democratic-lawmakers of “seditious behavior,” calling for them to “be arrested and put on trial” for behavior that, he said, could be “punishable by death.”

All because of a video they made earlier in the week and distributed widely telling military and intelligence officers to “refuse illegal orders.” Which is the law.

The lawmakers, all of whom are veterans or had worked in the CIA did not urge any illegal actions. They include Democratic Senators Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona, and House of Representatives members  Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Jason Crow of Colorado.

In response to their video, Trump responded on social network:

“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET,” the president wrote in one Truth Social post Thursday morning, linking to an article about the video from the Washington Examiner.

“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” Trump wrote in another post.

In a third, he wrote: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

By Frank Gormlie

It so happens that despite everything else, San Diego’s coastal 30-foot height limit has been thrust back into the the public’s consciousness and into the minds of Mayor Gloria and the nine city councilmembers who all sit in City Hall.

Just this October, California’s 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the City of San Diego violated California’s Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, when it put Measure C — the initiative that aimed to eliminate the height limit in the Midway District — before voters on the 2022 ballot because the city did not sufficiently study the environmental impacts of taller buildings. The three-judge panel decision ruled in favor of plaintiff Save Our Access, and directed the trial court to issue a writ of mandate to invalidate the ordinance and restore the 30-foot height limit in the Midway District.

While some environmental activists were popping champagne bottles in celebration of the ruling, local developers, city council members and Mayor Gloria were wringing their hands because they immediately knew this court decision could have devastating implications for the massive redevelopment project called Midway Rising and its plans for 86-foot tall buildings in the Midway District. Ultimately, these folks did more than wring their hands — they made plans.

One month after the city lost this court appeal case, City Council members voted 6 to 2 in closed session to authorize a petition for review of the case to the Supreme Court of California. (Councilmembers Vivian Moreno and Raul Campillo were the ‘no’ votes, while Henry Foster was absent.) These city leaders want the state’s highest court to keep intact the ballot measure — which passed by only 51% — and allow the Midway Rising project to continue its redevelopment of the 1,324-acre Midway District.

It’s in this context then, that we must revisit the origins of the 30 foot height limit — and the 50 plus year fight to preserve it.

Afterall, the 30-foot height limit has been blamed for everything from the housing crisis to the lack of affordability at the coast, to the homeless situation. A lot of myths surround the measure and law, and some treat it as just a passing fancy of the seventies or as just another political initiative to be tossed aside by the changing winds.

They ignore — out of ignorance — that it was a citizen-driven measure and scores of volunteers — repeat, volunteers — gathered signatures for months and months, and in the end, collected 36,000 to place it on the 1972 ballot as Measure D. And it then passed overwhelmingly and decisively with 64% of the vote — it was a landslide. Nearly two-thirds of city voters voted “yes”. And it wasn’t just the coastal communities that voted for it – it was across the board – many neighborhoods went for it with the attitude, ‘they’re our beaches, too’. Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach voted for it by 80%.

The winning vote was immediately contested by the building industry.

By John Ziebarth / Op-Ed SD Union-Tribune / November 18, 2025 

The progress of Midway Rising, the massive Sports Arena redevelopment project with a potential price tag of $3.9 billion, has been a history of bait-and-switch tactics.

[Please go to original here for any and all links.]

On July 15, 2022, the San Diego City Council cleared the way for Proposition C to allow voters to remove the 30-foot height limit in the Midway/Pacific Highway Community Plan. Members approved the Supplemental Environmental Impact Report analyzing the effects of a 65-foot-high development. A judge had required the additional analysis to address deficiencies in the original environmental documents. At the hearing, a council member stated that the 65-foot height limit in the zoning code/community plan would be the cap if Proposition C passed.

Two months later, on Sept. 13, at Mayor Todd Gloria’s behest, the council selected Midway Rising with a proposed 86-foot height limit (not 65 feet) for the mixed-use portion of the Sports Arena project. Prior to the Proposition C vote, Midway Rising was asked at the Point Loma Association if it would go above 86 feet if offered several million dollars for an ocean-view unit on the 20th floor. A representative responded that its proposal was for 86 feet in height.

By Mandy Havlik

Electric bicycles are transforming transportation but without clear rules and a strong safety framework, they are also making our streets more dangerous, especially for children. It’s common to see young riders without helmets, e-bikes speeding down sidewalks, and parents startled by close calls at intersections, school zones, and neighborhood walkways. The increasing frequency of these incidents is not just alarming, it is unacceptable.

Other cities in our region have taken decisive action. Poway, Chula Vista, Encinitas and Santee have all adopted e-bike regulations that establish clearer guidelines and elevate safety expectations. These cities recognize what San Diego has not yet acted upon; that e-bikes operated by untrained or underage riders pose real risks. As the largest city in the region, San Diego should not be trailing behind its neighbors in safeguarding its residents. It is time for our city to adopt the commonsense approaches outlined in California State Assembly Bill 2234 and implement them locally.