Category: History

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the general public informed about important Council and Planning Commission hearings and other city public meetings.

Wednesday, March 11: Audit Committee, 9:00 a.m.

Agenda:

Item 2: 2026 High Risk Re-Review: Performance Audit of The Fire-Rescue Department’s Emergency Medical Response Process

Why it matters: The auditor’s report flagged several problems, chiefly “slow turnout times across all stations … crews do not leave the station to respond to an incident for about 4 minutes and 20 seconds after a medical call is received, on average.” Auditors recommend that the department “track all phases of the emergency dispatch process and evaluate and standardize dispatch times to achieve accountability.”

Wednesday, March 11: Public Safety Committee, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda: 

Item 5: Electronic Bicycle Safety Regulations Pursuant to AB 2234

Why it matters: In response to an increase in head trauma and orthopedic injuries related to e-bike use, “many involving children and teenagers,” this ordinance would seek to prevent accidents by “establishing a minimum operating age for younger riders, reinforcing helmet requirements, and clarifying passenger limitations.”

From OBCF

Submit your Candidate Statement Today! Voting begins on Thursday, April 9th.

Dear OB Community,

The Ocean Beach Community Foundation is opening nominations for our 2026 Board of Directors election. We have 5+ open seats, and we want to fill them with people who genuinely love this town and want to help keep it running.

Here’s what that actually means:

When the OB Town Council dissolved, OBCF stepped up to carry on its traditions — including events that have been part of this community for over 40 years. The Holiday Parade, the Pancake Breakfast, the Restaurant Walk, the Food & Toy Drive, the Santa Experience at Veteran’s Plaza, the Holiday Auction — these don’t happen without a small group of volunteers who show up and do the work. That’s us. And we need more of us.

By Michael Stepner and Mary Lydon / Op-Ed San Diego U-T / February 27, 2026 

Every city has its own DNA. San Diego’s foundational DNA includes the establishment in the early 1920s of what is now Naval Base San Diego and Marine Corps Recruiting Depot. Additional foundational DNA includes the founding of the University of California San Diego, with roots back to 1912, and 1,400 acres that was set aside for a public park in 1868.

Now, San Diego has the largest military concentration in the world, UC San Diego is one of the top public universities in the country, and Balboa Park is our region’s center for art and culture. Over the years, the foundational DNA has spawned a thriving high-tech and biotech business sector, an integrated binational economic and cultural dynamic with Tijuana, and a top-ranking tourism sector. These are not small-minded accomplishments.

In a recent San Diego Union-Tribune Econometer article, 12 economists and executives were asked: “Do San Diego County planners have too much of a ‘small town’ mindset?” While the question targeted the planners in the county as a culprit, that is not the case. Plans and visions for our cities are a product of the community — from the community planning groups and politicians to the business and university leaders. As several members of the Econometer panel noted, the professional planners create plans to carry out the visions of the community.

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 Roberto Camacho / Times of San Diego • Palabra / March 1, 2026

In a typically cool spring morning in San Diego, muralist Daniel Angeles took a phone call that chilled his soul: His first piece of public art in the city’s Latino-centric Barrio Logan, a large mural called “Birth of the Hummingbird,” was being erased. He clicked on a live video and was horrified that his masterwork was being painted over — the vibrant colors of his mural gradually covered by mundane, muddy browns.

Angeles called the property’s owner, who, years before, had allowed him to paint the building’s street-facing wall and fence. Angeles thought of invoking the California Art Preservation Act and the federal Visual Artist Rights Act of 1990, written to help artists preserve public works. Damaging or modifying works without an artist’s consent can be unlawful. Property owners are supposed to send notice three months before demolition or repainting, giving artists time to remove, document or relocate their murals.

“I was shocked. I couldn’t do anything since I was at a music performance for my oldest daughter,” Angeles said. “She was performing when this youngster FaceTimed me as he was running toward the wall to show me a couple of guys were going over the art with rollers and dark paint. I couldn’t believe that it was going away.”

Angeles, who paints under the name Dentlok, is a celebrated muralist, tattoo artist and long-time resident of the neighborhood. He said he received no warning before his prized mural was erased.

By Alana Coons / SOHO March-April 2026

At the City of San Diego Historical Resources Board meeting on February 26, 2026, the Newman Building project in North Park was on the consent agenda. In thanking the applicant, board member Rammy Cortez repeated a familiar refrain—that historic resources require applicants to “jump through hoops,” and that preservation reform in Package B of the preservation and progress Initiative would streamline projects like this one.

However, as this case demonstrates, the record does not support that narrative.

When Newman Building developer Nate Cadieux responded during this public meeting, he made something very clear: The historic review process was not the problem. In Cadieux’s words, the historic component to obtain a building permit was “streamlined, not scary, not complicated.” He described working with the HRB Design Assistance Subcommittee as collaborative and constructive. He credited Heritage Architecture, and preservation advocates, noting Bruce Coons of SOHO, for providing helpful, clear guidance.

From UC San Diego Today Now / March 5, 2026

The growth form of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) is composed of shoots known as stipes instead of branches. From one parent holding fast to the hard bottom might come as many as 150 stipes.

Typically the tips of the biggest kelp bob at the ocean surface and calm the waters, appearing as patches of gold visible from land — a sign of the good health of the ecosystem that it anchors.

But the kelp as San Diego knows it is in trouble.

In January, a team led by UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography released an unmatched history of kelp forests off La Jolla and Point Loma. Together spanning nearly 19 square kilometers (7.3 square miles), they are the largest on the United States West Coast. Amassed over more than 40 years, their story reveals a progression of steady decline that transcends typical cycles of crash and recovery.

Now, say the researchers, competing organisms usually cast in shadow by the kelp are emerging as winners. The giant kelp are losing, but so might be myriad other organisms – fishes and humans included – as another natural order is disrupted by climate change and other new circumstances.

The downsides range from a decrease in the catch available to recreational fishers in San Diego to the loss of the nurseries that sea stars and open ocean fishes use to protect their larvae. Even the beach wrack – the large piles of decaying kelp that wash up after storms – is diminishing. Though the absence of the pungent kelp will be a relief to some beachgoers, those piles attract the kelp flies that are an important source of food for seabirds.

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.

From SOHO / March-April 2026 Newsletter

San Diego’s historic districts and individually designated resources are not abstract planning concepts. They are neighborhoods, cultural landscapes, and places that tell the story of our region and its people. Once protections are weakened or removed, the impacts are often permanent. That is why careful environmental review and adherence to adopted community plans are essential.

On February 24, 2026, the San Diego City Council voted to approve the so-called “Preservation and Progress Package A,” following extensive public testimony in opposition, and repeated warnings regarding the measure’s violations of law. Environmental review and preservation safeguards exist to prevent irreversible harm to historic neighborhoods. The Council chose to ignore those safeguards.

Many San Diegans left City Hall that day disheartened, not because preservation lost a political fight, but because the Council chose to advance destructive changes to our historic preservation ordinance without the environmental review and public accountability the law requires.

Citywide opposition was overwhelming. Since the City released the Preservation and Progress initiative, over 600 written comments were submitted, with roughly 12 to 1 opposed. Twenty-eight community planning groups voted no, along with 12 city wide historic organizations. The City’s own Historical Resources Board rejected it twice, in two separate votes. Preservation organizations representing thousands of residents across San Diego urged caution, transparency, and lawful process.

Yet Package A passed. Council President Joe LaCava acknowledged the breadth of public concern and voted against the measure. The remaining members present, who numbered only 5, as a third of the council was missing in action, voted in favor.

Historic District at Risk, Seawall Debate, and a Call for a “Seat at the Table”

By Jillian Butler

March 3rd, 2026–The Ocean Beach Planning Board met Tuesday night, March 3, at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center on Santa Monica Avenue. Only seven residents attended in person, with a handful more joining via Zoom — a modest turnout for discussions that could significantly impact OB’s historic character and coastline.

Notably absent were representatives from City Council District 2, State Senator Akila Weber, Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, and County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer. In a meeting centered on preservation, development, and public safety, their absence did not go unnoticed.

Mayor’s Rep Catches Flak Over “Package A” Passage

Randy Reyes, representing Mayor Todd Gloria’s office, informed the board that City Council had passed Preservation Package A. The new policy could affect OB’s  Emerging Cottage Historic District — potentially making it harder for the district to qualify for historic protection.

By Alex Cheney / CBS8 / February 27, 2026

A Navy investigation has determined that human error caused an E/A-18G Growler military jet to crash into San Diego Bay during a training exercise on Feb. 12, 2025, according to information the Navy shared with reporters today. The two crew members safely ejected from the aircraft and sustained only minor injuries.

The investigation revealed that unfamiliar software triggered warnings during aerial refueling, complicating the crew’s approach to Naval Air Station North Island. Pilots contended with a wet runway and a tailwind while attempting to land, employing an aero brake in an effort to slow the aircraft. However, investigators determined the measures proved insufficient.

Gregory Feith, a former senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said naval air traffic control should have directed the pilots to use a different runway. “In aviation we try to never land with a tailwind,” said Gregory Feith.

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.