Category: Environment

The View From Canada by Former OBcean

By Marc Snelling

OB has always been ice-free.  Closest I’ve seen it come was a dip into the high 30’s during the El Nino winter of 1997-98.  Or people driving back from Cuyamaca with snow they deliberately put on their hood.  An endless source of laughs for any Northern transplant to OB that has spent winters constantly clearing snow off their car.

Canadians do love ice, in their drinks, under their skates. But ice in some places raises their anxiety levels like on highways… and in airports.  Driving the highway in freezing rain is a white-knuckle experience. Statistically you know only a small percentage of people will end up in the ditch, but you sure don’t want the consequences that come with being part of that small percentage.

The same psychology is at work on Canadians as ICE is deployed to American airports. Everyone knows the statistical chances of being detained are minimal. Still those Canadians who are part of that percentage being detained are highly visible. Just like you slow your roll on the highway when you see a car in the ditch, Canadians have been given yet more reasons to slow down and question if they want to travel through American airports.

Voice of San Diego Staff / March 26, 2026

State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson has introduced a bill that would exempt the Midway Rising project from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.

We had reported that San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and his team were considering seeking legislation like this to ensure the project could survive legal challenges even after courts threw out two voter-approved ballot measures to raise the height limit in the Midway area. Developers were confident they could rely on the state’s density bonus housing laws to ensure they could build higher than the 30-foot building height limit on the coast.

Now legislation is moving forward to pre-empt any legal challenges.

The bill: It’s SB-958. You can read it here. It would have the Legislature declare the many attributes of the project — the thousands of new homes, including many restricted for people with low incomes, new parks, new arena and other improvements.

Editordude: Here’s UT reporter David Garrick’s view of the lawsuit filed by SOHO against the City of San Diego usurping local historical preservation rules.

By David Garrick / San Diego U-T / March 25, 2026

San Diego’s leading historic preservation group — Save Our Heritage Organisation — took legal action this week in an effort to block the city from softening its historic preservation rules.

SOHO filed an 11-page writ of mandamus demanding the city conduct a comprehensive environmental impact report before changing city historic preservation rules.

The action applies to a package of preservation changes the City Council approved Feb. 24 that includes allowing the council to overrule the city’s Historical Resources Board when the board designates a property historic.

San Diego County’s Department of Environmental Health and Quality today, Wednesday, March 25th, announced the closure of the San Diego River where it meets Dog Beach in Ocean Beach after a large volume of sewage was released.

According to the DEHQ, 18,000 gallons of sewage was discharged, with an estimated 9,000 gallons reaching the San Diego River near the intersection of Friars Road and Sea World Drive.

Beachgoers were advised that the ocean water contains sewage and may cause illness. The water contact closure will remain in place until sampling and field observations confirm these areas are safe for water contact, according to a county statement.

By Kate Callen

The people of San Diego are the real stakeholders of Balboa Park, and they are ready to take back their “crown jewel” from a city government that has neglected and exploited it.

A grassroots drive to create a public-private Park conservancy will launch Saturday, March 28, at a San Diego Community Coalition town hall at 9:30 a.m. at the Mission Valley Library, 2123 Fenton Parkway. The forum is co-hosted by Neighbors for a Better San Diego.

Compiled by Lisa Mortensen

by Frank Sabatini Jr./ Uptown News / March 22, 2026

The brouhaha over paid parking in and around Balboa Park became exceptionally clear to me after making two visits by car to our gorgeous public land in recent weeks.

My first visit under the new revenue- generating program was on a balmy weekday in February. It was 50 days after the initiative was implemented in early January — the plan was championed by Mayor Todd Gloria and approved by the San Diego City Council — seemingly enough time for city officials to acquaint us with a cohesive payment system.

I was there to briefly meet a friend at the Timken Museum of Art. I drove into the park at its northwestern section off of Sixth Avenue. That put me onto tree-lined Balboa Drive before hanging left to cross the Laurel Street Bridge. It’s the route I always take to my favorite parking lot located behind the Organ Pavilion, which sits in proximity to the park’s cultural heart, the El Prado.

The sight of pay stations and heavy signage pertaining to the new reality of paid parking was saddening. The materials are aesthetically cold and gawky against the park’s backdrop of lush foliage and historical architecture. It’s as through somebody walked into a large, airy room with good feng shui and cluttered it.

Bigger disappointments followed.

by Thomas Murphy / Beach & Bay Press / March 23, 2026

A 75-year-old waterfront restaurant in Mission Bay could be forced out by the city of San Diego’s redevelopment plan, putting Joe Busalacchi’s family business and one of the bay’s oldest tenants at risk.

Sportsmen’s Seafood was the first lease signed in Mission Bay, operating even before the area’s first bridges were built.

Busalacchi has run the restaurant for 36 years, continuing a three-generation family business after his father passed away.

“The city is supposed to serve and protect the citizens of San Diego. They want to kick out all of these people who have to pay rent and pay for their children,” said Busalacchi. “How is that serving and protecting? They ain’t serving me, any of my employees, or anyone on the docks.”

by Brooke Binkowski and Tessa Balc / Times of San Diego / March 22, 2026

A group of surfers held a paddle out Sunday morning, March 22,— an action typically reserved for mourning the death of a beloved community member — to protest the Trump administration’s weaponization of immigration agencies.

Dozens of surfers gathered at La Jolla Shores on Sunday for the event, “Let’s Get Salty – Time to Melt the ICE,” which was organized by a collective called San Diego Salty, with the stated goal of bringing awareness to arrests, deportations, forced disappearances, and deaths at the hands of Immigration Customs and Enforcement and other border agencies.

“This is about showing up together, sparking conversation, and building clear bridges to action – while reminding one another that we are not alone and that solidarity is stronger when we move as ONE,” their Instagram page said.

This Is a Challenge to City’s Passage of “Package A”

Today, March 24, Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) will file a lawsuit against the City of San Diego which challenges the City’s approval of profound changes to its historic preservation program without the required environmental review by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This is about “Package A” which many OBceans are now familiar with.

SOHO’s suit in San Diego Superior Court “seeks an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process to address adverse environmental impacts to historic resources posed by the City’s proposed Preservation and Progress project,” as SOHO stated in an announcement today.

Here’s the balance of SOHO’s announcement:

The City approved “Package A” of the project without analyzing the potential environmental impacts of weakening protections for historic resources across San Diego by modifications to the Municipal Code and General Plan.

by Scott Lewis and Will Huntsberry / Voice of San Diego / March 21, 2026

D2 Race Is On

What do you get when a French mime, an MBA student, a merchant marine and a former mayor walk into a community center in Clairemont?

That would be a League of Women Voters candidate forum, of course.

Seven people are running for the District 2 council seat, which includes Ocean Beach, Point Loma, Mission Beach and Clairemont.

Any District 2 voters looking for San Diego’s version of Zohran Mamdani didn’t find him at the forum, which happened earlier this month. The debate was dominated by reaction to new fees, homebuilding and what the candidates viewed as poor management by current city leaders.

Allow me to break out some lanes for you that appeared evident at the forum.

By Csaba “Abby” Petre

This past Thursday, March 19th, a unique spring celebration happened under the brilliant flower-covered arbors of a very special house. Kicking off in the late afternoon sun around 4:30, the OB Historical Society’s bi-annual fundraiser took place at the beloved Wisteria Cottage on Niagara Avenue, drawing a joyous and elegantly dressed crowd of long-time locals, new neighbors, and friends of OB alike.

The Wisteria Cottage has a long history in the community; built in 1907, it is one of the oldest homes in OB. Its namesake vine was planted by John Clarke in 1915. Ned and Shirley Titlow remodeled the cottage extensively, built the patio, and constructed the arbor that supports the vine, provides extensive shade, and adds a beautiful touch of color to this part of OB. The Titlows also began the tradition of opening the house for the OBHS fundraiser in the early 2000s.