Category: Environment

By Michael Angelo Hernandez

What the Flock is Going On?

Mass-surveillance tech company Flock Safety made the news again here in San Diego recently.  This time, due to an appearance before the San Diego City Council from the infamous villain of the widely popular Star Wars franchise, the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Or at least someone dressed like him, to mockingly defend the city’s use of Flock surveillance cameras.

It was during a Public Safety and Liveable Neighborhoods committee meeting on Wednesday Aug. 19, that “Vader” took the podium and proclaimed “The emperor is a fan of flock”. In his comments throughout the meeting, the Vader impersonator called for a stronger police force in San Diego and the continued use of Flock Surveillance technology “so that we can follow and surveil the rebel scum as they move from playground to playground, from playground to pool, from pool to gymnasium, because we all know that the Flock Cameras are not only following the license plate readers, they are following children, they are following children in parks, and gymnasiums, and we need this, I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend.”

By Marc Snelling / Special to the OB Rag

California’s winery casualties continue to mount as the Trump Trade War escalates.  The near blockade of the Strait of Your Booze has resulted in layoffs and closures amongst California wineries, Kentucky distilleries, and other industries with Canadian export markets. The senseless damage to cross-border businesses grows along with White House rhetoric.  The trade war against Canada started with a MAGA regime lie about fentanyl streaming across the Northern border, is now a year and half old.

This week the Canadian negotiating team walked away from US talks in what media are calling an escalation to an all-out trade war.  Canadian’s views remain largely unchanged by recent events.  Any so-called “negotiations” with the White House have long been seen as extortion through sovereignty threats.  Canadians questioned not only if a deal was possible, but if a deal with the current White House would be the worth the paper it was written on.  After all the deal on paper now is not being followed and it has the current president’s sharpie on it.

The end result of US bluster and tariffs is a sharp drop in Canadian trust of US government. A drop so steep that for the first time ever, Pew Research Center polling shows the average Canadian now views China (44%) as a more reliable trading partner than the USA (33%).  The result is hard to fathom considering the centuries-long US-Canada alliance and that views of China were near historic lows during the COVID pandemic.

City News Service – CBS8 / August 26, 2026

The San Diego City Council’s Rules Committee unanimously approved an ordinance Wednesday, Aug. 26, that would maintain free parking at local beaches and Mission Bay “in perpetuity.”
The ordinance must go before the full council before it becomes law.

Committee members Council President Joe LaCava and Councilman Raul Campillo authored the ordinance, while the full committee restricted it to city residents only and removed a 10-year sunset clause.

“Councilmember Campillo’s initial proposal aligned with my held belief that beaches and Mission Bay should be accessible and free to San Diegans,” LaCava said. “By repositioning this from a ballot measure to an ordinance, I saw the opportunity to save taxpayers nearly $1 million through council action and not a public vote. Advancing this proposal ensures that these prized public parking spaces will be available at no cost to San Diegans.”

San Diego does not charge for city-owned beach and bay parking lots. Wednesday’s proposal is intended to ensure that they remain free of charge for San Diego residents.

By Roma Chang / Hoodline / August 21, 2026

A nearly 100-year-old Spanish Colonial Revival home on Kingsley Street in Loma Portal has officially been designated a historic property, a status that also opens the door for its owners to seek a significant property tax break. The San Diego Historical Resources Board voted unanimously, 7-0, to approve the designation on its consent agenda during its May 28 meeting, with the motion made by Boardmember Farley and seconded by Boardmember Woods.

The home at 3111 Kingsley St., known historically as the Union Trust Company of San Diego Spec House #3, was built in 1927 by the Pioneer Construction Company, though its architect remains unknown, according to city planning records. As reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, the property is currently owned by Eric and Katie Singh, and the historical nomination followed research submitted by Ginger Weatherford. City records show the home falls within Council District 2 and the Peninsula Community Planning Area.

Resident Kenny Key Is Well-Known Activist

By Katie Hyson / KPBS / August 21, 2026

An Emerald Hills resident is suing the city of San Diego over a housing development coming to his neighborhood. It’s the latest challenge to the development in a years-long debate.

Residents have been asking for a park on the hilltop for decades. Their appeal to stop the new development was rejected by the city council last month.

Kenny Key, who lives next to the lot, is challenging that rejection in a new lawsuit.

“It’s just a proud Black neighborhood that I grew up in,” he said. “I feel an obligation to stand for my community.”

He’s a retired heavy equipment operator for the Department of Public Works, he said. He was trained by CalTrans and worked on a striping crew. In other words, he knows roads.

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Pacific Beach looked very different in the summer of 1893.

The seaside community was still developing, with a hotel, a large dance pavilion and a railroad that brought visitors from San Diego to the beach. For San Diegans looking for a summer escape, Pacific Beach offered music, surf bathing, picnics and dancing.

On August 26 — exactly 133 years ago — it offered something else: an all-day outing organized by the Elks that drew about 600 people.

San Diego Lodge No. 168 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks had been established just three years earlier, in 1890. By 1893, the lodge was meeting at the B.P.O.E. Hall in the Fisher Opera House.

A possible burglary suspect was shot to death by police after an hours-long SWAT standoff in Point Loma Tuesday night, August 25th. The unidentified male was shot after he emerged from the home with a gun in the 2700 block of Nipoma Street. No one else was injured.

Police responded around 4:40 pm for a welfare check at the house but the call was later upgraded to a report of a residential burglary in progress. Police contacted the homeowner when they arrived and were told that firearms were inside the residence and that no one had permission to be inside.

By Lu Rehling

What does the “Community” in “Community Planning Group” (CPG) mean when corporate interests govern? And why is the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group (“the Group”) so invested in the current plan for Midway Rising, despite urgent environmental and infrastructure concerns that have been raised by the CPGs that are the Group’s geographical neighbors?

The answer is that while those other CPGs, like most in our city, have primarily residents on their boards, the Group’s board members are almost entirely owners and representatives of businesses and business-use properties. And the Group operates in ways that suggest it intends to keep things that way, at least well past the time for major Midway Rising decisions.

In fact, right now the Group is gearing up to fill the 5 vacant seats on its 15-member board with mostly reps of business and non-resident property owners, even though there already are more of those kinds of members and way fewer of residents than its city-approved operating procedures require. (In fact, there’s only one single resident board member now!)

How can the Midway District planning group get away with that? By loving a loophole: the Group’s city-approved operating procedures allow it to fill, by appointment, resident board seats for the completion of full 3-year terms with other types of members. Conveniently, the Group reports having only one potential resident candidate on deck for its consideration, along with multiple non-residents.

And since the Group has committed to filling its empty member seats quickly, it’s reasonable to guess that the non-resident majority on the board will look favorably upon their own kind and appoint accordingly.

Notably, those same operating procedures also require that the Midway planners first make “diligent efforts” to recruit resident members, but that ain’t been happening.

San Diego City Council unanimously repealed Measure C, but state affordable housing law could still allow the 48-acre Midway Rising project to bypass coastal height limits.

By Allison Ash / 7SanDiego / August 24, 2026 

The San Diego City Council unanimously voted to repeal Measure C, eliminating the voter-approved law that allowed the massive Midway Rising project to circumvent the city’s 30-foot coastal height limit.

The repeal adds another wrinkle for Midway Rising, a proposed 48-acre redevelopment of the Sports Arena area that would include a new 16,000-seat venue, restaurants, shopping and more than 4,000 homes. Nearly half of the homes would be designated for low-income residents.

Measure C was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2022, allowing developers to move forward without being bound by the coastal height limit. Courts have since ruled that the measure may violate California’s environmental impact rules.

City Council President Joe La Cava said the council had an obligation to remove the Measure C language from the city’s municipal code.

by Ernie McCray

I sat the other night
squirming in my seat
as a woman,
Tina Cordova,
a co-founder and executive director
of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium,
spoke about our country’s neglect
in respect
to protecting
people who suffered the effects
of the “Trinity Nuclear Test”
in New Mexico,
how since that day
in July, 1945,

by Dorian Hargrove / Times of San Diego / Aug. 18, 2026

Two California housing advocacy groups are suing the city of San Diego, alleging city planners illegally excluded properties from a state program meant to spur development near transit stations.

In a legal filing obtained by Times of San Diego, Californians for Homeownership and the California Housing Defense Fund say San Diego ran afoul of the state housing law by requiring that projects are connected to bus or rail stations by dedicated sidewalks to qualify.

Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October 2025, Senate Bill 79 allows developers to build more housing than allowed by local zoning restrictions for projects that are near major transit stops.

In May, city officials adopted an ordinance that interpreted the state law to exclude any property within a mile from a transit stop that does not include a sidewalk connecting the project and the station.

Matt Gelfand, counsel for Californians for Homeownership, said that was a misinterpretation. The law calls for a “safe walkway,” but the housing groups say that does not require a dedicated sidewalk.