Category: Election

By Paul Krueger

California has robust protections for citizen participation in the government process, with laws that require open meetings and encourage full public participation at the local level.

But City Council President Joe LaCava violated the spirit — if not the letter — of those protections today (Monday, Nov. 17) when he made it extremely — and unnecessarily difficult for San Diegans to keep informed about important actions related to a controversial building height limit in the Midway/Pacific Highway area.

The City Council met today in Closed Session to discuss — and probably vote on — Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferbert’s effort to overturn the recent appellate court ruling that reinstates the 30-foot height limit throughout the 1,300-acre Midway/ Pacific Highway district.

That unanimous appellate court ruling requires the city to perform a more comprehensive environmental study of the negative impacts of high-density, high-rise development in the Midway/Pac Hwy area. Armed with this additional information, voters would — for the third time — decide the size and shape of future development in that neighborhood.

By PBS / Nov. 13, 2025

The Justice Department on Thursday sued to block new congressional district boundaries approved by California voters last week, joining a court battle that could help determine which party wins control of the U.S. House in 2026.

The complaint filed in California federal court targets the new congressional map pushed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to a similar Republican-led effort in Texas backed by President Donald Trump. It sets the stage for a high-stakes legal and political fight between the Republican administration and the Democratic governor, who’s seen as a likely 2028 presidential contender.

“California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an emailed statement. “Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand.”

California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50, a constitutional amendment changing the congressional boundaries to give Democrats a shot at winning five seats now held by Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.

By Paul Krueger / SDU-T Commentary / November 14, 2025 

An informed public is the basis of good government. But when elected officials deliberately erect barriers to civic engagement, democracy gives way to autocracy.

That is exactly what’s happening in San Diego on the critically important issue of the 30-foot height limit in the Midway/Pacific Highway district.

Last month’s unanimous state appellate court ruling requires the city to complete a comprehensive environmental study of the negative impacts of high-rise, high-density development throughout the 1,300-acre district. The court made it clear that voters were not fully informed when they narrowly approved a ballot measure that waived the 30-foot height limit.

Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferbert quickly denounced the ruling. They want to ask the state Supreme Court to override the appellate decision. But any such attempt must be approved by a council majority.

Normally, those decisions are in “closed session” meetings where the council can discuss the status of lawsuits without publicly disclosing information that could benefit opposing parties and potentially harm taxpayers.

Normally, I respect those protections. But our elected officials must never use the closed session process to inhibit the public’s ability to fully participate in an important policy issue.

By Ezra Klein / New York Times / Nov. 10, 2025

Back in September, when I was reporting an article on whether Democrats should shut down the government, I kept hearing the same warning from veterans of past shutdown fights: The president controls the bully pulpit. He controls, to some degree, which parts of the government stay open and which parts close. It is very, very hard for the opposition party to win a shutdown.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that Democrats were winning this one. Polls showed that most voters blamed Republicans, not Democrats, for the current shutdown — perhaps because President Trump was bulldozing the East Wing of the White House rather than negotiating to reopen the government. Trump’s approval rating has been falling — in CNN’s tracking poll, it dipped into the 30s for the first time since he took office again. And last week, Democrats wrecked Republicans in the elections and Trump blamed his party’s losses in part on the shutdown. Democrats were riding higher than they have been in months.

Then, over the weekend, a group of Senate Democrats broke ranks and negotiated a deal to end the shutdown in return for — if we’re being honest — very little.

The San Diego City Council will go into closed session next Monday, November 17 to discuss a possible appeal of the recent court ruling on the Midway District height limit.

In a memo from the office of council president Joe LeCava, dated Nov. 10, it announced that council would have a closed session on that date — a conference with legal counsel regarding current litigation, and the first case on the list is Save Our Access v. City of San Diego. The agenda item was described this way:

This item involves litigation related to Measure C, a November 2022 ballot measure to exclude the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan Area from the Costal [sic] Zone’s 30-foot height limit. Save Our Access seeks to invalidate Measure C due to an alleged failure to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The City Attorney’s Office will update the Mayor and City Council on the status of litigation and seek direction.

The 30-foot height limit is one of San Diego’s most successful examples of community-driven planning

By Mandy Havlik

San Diegans know that our city’s coastline isn’t just a postcard view, it’s our identity, our economy, and our shared responsibility to future generations. The recent Court of Appeal ruling striking down the City’s attempt to bypass the voter-approved 30-foot coastal height limit wasn’t a setback, it was a reaffirmation that the people’s voice and environmental law still matter in San Diego.

When voters passed the Proposition D height limit in 1972, they weren’t trapped in the past, they were protecting the coastline from the same forces of overdevelopment that have erased the character of so many other coastal cities. They knew that the ocean belongs to everyone, not just to developers or investors who see dollar signs instead of waves and wetlands.

The 30-foot height limit is one of San Diego’s most successful examples of community-driven planning. It preserves our coastal beauty, sustains property values, protects public access to beaches, and prevents the shadowing of our natural open spaces. That’s not arbitrary geography, that’s thoughtful stewardship.

by Will Huntsberry / Voice of San Diego / November 5, 2025 

Midway Rising is an ambitious plan to build 4,254 new apartments, 14 acres of public space and a new Sports Arena on 49 acres of city-owned land in the center of the Midway District. That won’t entirely transform the whole area overnight, or maybe ever, but it is currently the city’s only hope for bringing housing and vitality to one of San Diego’s most soul-crushing neighborhoods.

Recently, an appeals court seemed to deal a death blow to the project when it overturned a decision by city voters to remove Midway’s height limit of 30 feet. But surprisingly, the developers behind Midway Rising say that isn’t the case at all. They say state law provides all the legal ground they need to go forth with the massive multi-billion-dollar project.

Now that Midway’s 30-foot height limit is back on the table, Midway Rising promises to be – both literally and in principle – the largest test of the state’s density bonus laws in all of California.

“This recent court ruling does not affect mixed-use housing development projects, such as Midway Rising, which proceed under state density bonus law,” wrote Jeff Meyer, a spokesperson for the Midway Rising team. “State law controls local height restrictions, and applies to all aspects of Midway Rising, including the new arena.”

By Bruce Wolpe / The AlterNet -The Conversation / November 05, 2025 

One year and a day after Donald Trump won a second term as president – and on the 35th day of the US government shutdown, which has tied a record for the longest in history – the Democrats swept to victory in key races across the county.

Democratic candidates won the governorships in the states of Virginia and New Jersey, while Zohran Mamdani became New York City’s next mayor.

The Democrats may have just become the winners of the fight to reopen the government, too.

Trump’s ratings dropping sharply
Sixteen years ago, then-President Barack Obama was staggered by Republicans winning the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey in the 2009 elections.

The message was indelible: voters wanted to put a check on Obama and his wide-ranging agenda, from health care to global warming. Many Americans wanted him to cool his jets, including on what would become his signature achievement, Obamacare.

The following year, in the 2010 midterm elections, the Democrats lost more than 60 seats and their majority in the House. For the next six years, Republicans had a veto over whatever bills Obama wanted Congress to enact.

With Democrats now winning the governorships in those two states, Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have just been sent the same message: you need to be checked, too.

By Paul Krueger

On Sunday, November 2, I asked Rag readers to join me at City Hall the next day in asking the City Council why an item about a reckless legal appeal had been abruptly pulled from that day’s closed-session agenda.

It was a fair and legitimate question. But I wasn’t allowed to even ask it.

Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferbert are determined to fight a ruling by California’s 4th District Court of Appeal against the voter-approved 30-foot height limit west of Interstate 5. The judges unanimously decided that the city failed to produce an adequate environmental study of the negative impacts of high-density, high-rise development throughout the Midway District.

An item was put on Monday’s agenda to discuss Gloria and Ferbert’s determination to mount a truculent appeal to the State Supreme Court. A day later, the item was removed.

By Kate Callen

When I entered the 2024 primary for the San Diego City Council District 3 seat, I knew I had very little chance of winning. I knew the race would be financially costly and physically grueling. I dreaded the long slog of speaking at forums and knocking on doors.

But I felt compelled to do it. I was furious that D3 constituents were disrespected by their representatives. I had tried everything else: protesting, speaking out at public meetings, organizing grassroots activist groups. Running for office was the only course of action left.

I’ve read a lot about Theodore Roosevelt – his life story has the sweep of an epic novel – and his best-known quote pushed me to set aside my qualms and make the decision to run:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena … who spends himself in a worthy cause … who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

Richard Bailey appears ready to enter the arena. If you keep up with local politics, you are hearing a lot about him.

by Dave Schwab / Peninsula Beacon / Oct. 29, 2025, 2:09 p.m.

The Peninsula Beacon did a “shout out” soliciting local opinion via email and social media on whether the recent appellate court ruling upholding the 30-foot Midway height limit was the right call.

Most of the residents who responded favor the limit, but a few do not mind the possibility of taller developments in the sports arena area.

Here’s some of their responses:

“[The city] put it (Measure C) on the ballot looking to sneak this project through, saying, ‘You’re going to get a new sports arena,’” said Save Our Access spokesperson John McNab. “But what they didn’t tell you is that they wanted to put 150,000 to 200,000 people in this area. They think developer first – and public last.”

Three members of the Peninsula Community Planning Group – Eric Law, Mandy Havlik, and Andrew Hollingworth – speaking for themselves, concurred with McNab.