Category: Ocean Beach

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.

by Sharisse Cohee / Fox5 SanDiego / Nov 18-19, 2025 

A woman in Point Loma pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, Nov. 13, admitting she embezzled more than $8.5 million from her employer and spent a portion of the stolen funds on luxuries and high-end fashion.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Ping “Jenny” Gao, 55, embezzled the funds from her employer by draining four bank accounts belonging to his U.S. companies.

In her plea agreement, Goa admitted to funneling company funds into fraudulent accounts she created. She reportedly used the stolen funds on lavish shopping sprees at high-end fashion retailers and also purchased a $160,000 Porsche and a $2.9 million home overlooking San Diego Bay.

When the employer discovered the stolen funds, he attempted to sue Gao in San Diego Superior Court, during which she falsely claimed that the person suing her was an imposter and that the real owner of the company in China authorized her actions.

By Ralph Teyssier, S.E.

I wanted to respond to Geoff Page’s November 19 Rag article about bringing the city’s neglect of our Ocean Beach Fishing Pier to the forefront.

What should concern all of us is that this iconic public treasure — our beloved OB Pier — has effectively become a forgotten park resource under the Todd Gloria administration. What began as a promising effort in May 2021, when Mayor Gloria, less than six months into his first term, expressed strong enthusiasm for jump-starting a new pier, has now seemingly stalled.

For context, it’s important to remember that the initial momentum, via community urging, arrived when Mayor Todd Gloria, with help from Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, secured an $8.4 million state grant to begin design work. Details of that effort can be found on the city’s OB Pier Renewal Project page, including the recently posted Task Force White Paper:

This document — made public only after multiple requests — makes it clear that real progress is slipping away. The contrast between the 1½-year construction timeline in the September 2024 White Paper and the protracted 3½-year timeline currently shown on the city’s website speaks volumes about the administration’s waning interest. And just as the project loses momentum, the pier itself is literally disappearing, piece by piece. I doubt this level of prolonged neglect of a historically recognized coastal icon sits well with the California Coastal Commission.

Geoff’s reporting makes the demolition-by-neglect painfully obvious: copper and iron piping stolen, gates breached, lighting stripped, and the structure left unsecured and unlit

By Csaba Petre

Last week, I embarked on a journey here in Ocean Beach; an expedition of discovery to a place many have been before, and might not imagine life without: the humble coffee shop. Specifically, all the coffee shops in OB.

While a good number of us drink coffee daily, few of us do so at a different establishment every morning. A bit over a week ago, I took it upon myself to do just that: to visit a different local coffee shop each day, until I have visited all of them (17 total). At the end of my travels (in the upcoming part two), in addition to general impressions of each place, I will compile a more structured comparison. I will rank the top three shops in each of the categories:

• tastiest cappuccino;
• biggest kick (strongest);
• best social/hangout spot;
• best place to work; and
• most unique vibe.

I’ll also comment on each place’s specialty, non-coffee offerings and anything unique about them.

Why cappuccino? This is partially a personal bias, but as a “standard” espresso drink, every shop can make one, giving me a baseline for a point of comparison. I believe I am qualified for this weighty task as a daily coffee drinker of twenty+ years; I have often asked why we don’t have a word like “hungry”, but to refer specifically to how one feels before the first coffee of the day.

With that established, I bid a two-week farewell to my trusty Breville, and embarked. See you on the other side, friend.

In this part one, one week in, I have visited eight shops so far. Most were around the more Southern and Eastern sides of OB.

By David Hutchinson

When was the last time you visited the OB Farmers Market? For me, it had been a while.

Over the five years I’ve lived here, I’ve treated the market as a low-priority option for Wednesday night hangouts — something I only visit when a friend comes to visit. We amble along at the pace of our conversation, breathing in the aromas of grilled chicken and gyros as they mix with the oceany evening air, glancing at signs without taking much in. We’re there to catch up, so the market usually fades into a pleasant, indistinct background.

Ask a few questions, though, and the scene snaps into focus. When I stopped by last Wednesday night to poke around for the Rag, I found a hub for entrepreneurs, spiritualists, and community organizers, each pursuing their own highly specific dream.

At the vendor’s corner at Cable and Newport, Carlos De Nicolas presides over a kaleidoscopic array of 3D-printed robots, dinosaurs, and dragons. He started making the toys as a hobby, taking requests from his son, but when he lost his job last February, De Nicolas saw a business opportunity. Today, he sells at four markets a week, recharging his supply with a fleet of ten printers that run around the clock.

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.

On Tuesday this week, the Rag reported on yet another pedestrian death in the Midway District.

An unidentified male pedestrian was killed late Friday night, Nov. 14, when he ran across a street in the Midway District and was struck by a SUV. …The man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Yes, the unfortunate pedestrian had run across the street against his light just before he was struck. He dearly paid for his mistake.

When we reported on the story, I cynically added:

So many pedestrians have been injured or killed in the Midway District over the last few years, there ought to be a chapter in the Book of Dead just on the Midway.

After publishing this, I got to thinking, that ‘yes, it does seem like there’s been a rash of pedestrian deaths and injuries from cars in the Midway of late.’ So I set out to investigate and rifled through OB Rag files and postings. The tragic following is what I found:

By Savannah Smith / The Point – LomaBeat / Nov 17, 2025

Point Loma Nazarene University’s Surf Team anticipates a strong season after taking first place in their opener at Black’s Beach last month.

The annual season opener, hosted by the University of California, San Diego’s Surf Team, took place from Oct. 25-26 and marked an exciting start to the year for the team. They competed against 31 collegiate teams and scored a total of 211 points, 63 points higher than any other team.

Sydney Ott, a third-year marketing major and returning team member, said it felt great to start the season with a win, especially after the team’s ninth national championship title win in June.

“Everyone was surfing super well, so it was awesome seeing us win as a team,” Ott said.

Leading up to the opener, the team held group practices at Mission Beach to prepare and get into the competition mindset.

“For me personally, I made sure to surf consistently leading up to the event and made sure that I had my board dialed in,” Ott said.

This preparation proved to be valuable once the contest began, as competitors were met with difficult conditions throughout the weekend.

Hundreds of Feet of Copper Wire Are Missing, for Example

By Geoff Page

The OB Pier is being surreptitiously cannibalized. The city knows about it. The city is unconcerned. The utter stupidity of city hall continues to amaze.

Recently, long time OB resident, Charles Landon, noticed something odd about the pier and investigated. He took some pictures that showed piping along the north side of the pier was missing. Two different diameter pipes that run along the outside of the north rail were cut and much of the large pipe was missing.

Landon took the pictures that appear in this story.

The smaller diameter pipe had carried electrical cables that ran out to the restaurant and powered the lights on the pier. The cables ran from the roof of the small building under the pier. The cables were cut at the roof and also at a small junction box under the pier, above the boardwalk.

Since the pier is closed and since the city decided to no longer light the pier at night, it might be logical for the city to cut the power source. It did not seem logical, however, that the city would remove all of the old copper wire.

During the city council hearing Tuesday afternoon, November 18, a discussion was held about charging residents and non-residents for parking at San Diego beaches and at Mission Bay Park. Former city council member Donna Frye observed the hearing and participated by phone. She filed this exclusive report for the Rag this morning, the 19th.

Non-Resident Paid Parking at Our Beaches and Mission Bay Park Does Not Move Forward as a Revenue Option- For Now

By Donna Frye

On November 18, the city council did not include the proposal for non-residents to pay a fee to park at our beaches and Mission Bay Park as a revenue option. Therefore, it was not part of the council resolution being sent to the mayor’s office for consideration in preparing the FY 2027 budget.

Oddly, there was almost no discussion at the council meeting about the paid parking proposal or the decision by the mayor to enact a revenue audit moratorium on the Mission Bay Park leases for nine months.

Councilmember Campillo was the only one who spoke at any length about the paid parking and made it very clear that he would not support charging residents or non-residents to park at Mission Bay Park or our beaches.

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.