Serving OB, the Peninsula and San Diego Beaches
The City’s Municipal Primary Election will be held on June 2, 2026. The top two vote-getters in the Primary will advance to the General Municipal Election, which will be held on November 3, 2026. The following candidates are qualified to appear on the ballot in the order below as selected by random draw:
“My Brother Had a Name: Ryan Richard Taylor”by Rachael Taylor / Voice of San Diego / March 17, 2026
When people hear that my younger brother died while experiencing homelessness, I can tell they want the story to stop there.
They want something tidy, contained and easier to process.
But my brother was not just another tragic ending on the street to be squeezed inside a statistic.
My brother had a name: Ryan Richard Taylor.
Last year, Voice of San Diego featured him in a story about people who received tickets over and over again because they were homeless. Authorities claimed their crackdown was reducing street homelessness. But Ryan continued to stay in Ocean Beach, where he felt most comfortable and at home, even after five arrests and nine citations for offenses related to homelessness.
He died in Ocean Beach on December 6, 2025.
by Dave Schwab / Times of San Diego / March 17, 2026
For those wondering what’s happening with the affordable housing project proposed in Famosa Canyon, the project is still a go.
It’s just taking a little while.
“Bridge Housing Corp.’s proposed development of affordable housing at the property at the corner of Famosa and Nimitz boulevards is still in the pre-development phase,” said Scott Marshall, vice president of communications and government relations for the San Diego Housing Commission.
Bridge Housing plans to conduct community outreach, submit plans to the city for consideration, apply for necessary financing, and request and obtain building permits before construction can begin.
Construction could start late in 2027, said Marshall. “However, many factors related to these pending items could affect the timeline,” he added.
From Point Loma–OB Monthly / March 15, 2026
Ten Questions is a series in the Point Loma-OB Monthly that shines a spotlight on notable locals. This month’s featured personality is Glenn “Croc” Millar, president of Point Loma Summer Concerts, which recently received the Community Champion Award from the Point Loma Association.
Millar also is president and chief executive of Call Glenn Again Handyman and Home Services in Point Loma.
Q. What attracted you to the Point Loma-Ocean Beach area as a place to live and/or work?
A. My then-girlfriend, now-fiancée, Alexandra Watkins, and I came down here for a romantic trip in November 2017. We both love San Diego (she grew up here), so we decided to look at some houses just for grins. On the 10th house we walked into, Alexandra looked around and said “We’re buying this house.”
There is a 12-unit ADU project in Roseville on Canon Street that nearly slipped our collective mind. But our friends at Peninsula News are now reminding us – with the following “tour.”
Conflicting claims are flying around Point Loma these days regarding the property at 1004 Rosecrans — where a proposed four-story, 56-unit mixed-use project right next to the elementary school was on deck to be constructed. But community opposition quickly developed led by a grassroots group called Protect Point Loma — and it was recently announced that the owner / developer wanted to sell the site instead.
That was good news.
People in PL began celebrating – and started trying to find a developer and local investors who would create a more neighborhood-friendly project.
Eric Law, chair of both the Peninsula Community Planning Board and Protect PL, told Times of San Diego that the sale of the property / project to local investors would benefit everybody — seller, buyer and the community as a whole.
Law said Protect Point Loma is working with Peninsula developers of one sort or another with the idea of producing a different type of development that would be better for the community. He said real estate comparables, or “comps,” in the area are substantially lower than what the developer wants for 1004 Rosecrans.
Join them as the Ocean Beach Historical Society celebrates Daylight Saving Time at the Wisteria Patio Cottage, under the century-old Wisteria vines, on Thursday, March 19, 2026, 4:30 – 7:00 PM at 4761 Niagara Ave., in O.B.
By Donna Frye
On Wednesday, March 18, there was a discussion at the San Diego City Council Rules Committee to consider a ballot measure proposed by Councilmember Raul Campillo to maintain free parking at beaches and bays in the City of San Diego.
According to the staff report:
“The proposed ballot measure would add a new section to the San Diego Municipal Code establishing that parking in City-owned beach and bay parking lots shall remain free of charge. The measure would not apply to existing parking meters or other paid parking programs elsewhere in the City. Codifying this policy in the Municipal Code would help preserve access to beaches and bays for residents and visitors while maintaining the City’s longstanding practice of providing free parking in these coastal lots.”
By Geoff Page
The farther away a person is from the effort that created the wealth that person is responsible for, the less effort a person will expend in using it wisely. The curse of public works.
In a November 19, 2025 article, The Rag reported that people were stealing copper wire off the OB Pier amounting to several thousand dollars in recycle value. The city was notified but did not seem to care at all. It was only due to my persistence that the city finally filed a police report about the theft. The report just illustrated how little attention the city paid to information about the theft.
The police report, dated 12-8-25, stated “petty theft” with a market value of $500. It was filed a month after I notified the city of the apparent theft of wire and piping on the pier rail.
A thousand feet of copper wire was clearly worth much more than $500. But, as is now known, the cabling was the least of the theft. The thievery could be valued as high as $250,000.
More Construction, Less to Advise on, More Difficult to Be Heardby Drew Sitton / Times of San Diego / March 16, 2026
It’s a time of shifting sands for the 42 community planning groups that are the official voice of San Diego neighborhoods when it comes to land-use decisions. This is in part due to reforms passed in 2022, but also because of dramatic changes to local and statewide housing rules and regulations.
The city’s Complete Communities program and state Senate Bill 79, passed last year, have similarly aimed to turn “discretionary projects” — those that require community review or approval from elected officials — into “ministerial projects.” The latter means that once a city staffer determines a project meets basic development rules, it’s greenlit.
Reforms recap
That leaves community groups – and the City Council too, as one planning group observer noted – with less authority, even as the City Hall changes to CPGs have proven successful at increasing participation.
“The changes have allowed for people who may not have been able to attend in person before to now be able to attend virtual meetings when a planning group provides that option,” city spokesperson Peter Kelly said in a statement.
The reforms followed a 2019 city attorney analysis that concluded the city network of advisory boards was inconsistent with the city charter.
NBC7 / March 16, 2026
A woman who wounded two men by stabbing them behind an Ocean Beach restaurant was sentenced Monday to four years in state prison.
Jana Halaska, 30, pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a deadly weapon for the April 13, 2025, stabbings, which occurred around 1 a.m. behind Hodad’s on Newport Avenue.
The two victims, both of whom suffered punctured lungs in the attack, were strangers to Halaska. Halaska initially faced an attempted murder charge in the case.
Prosecution sentencing papers state that just before the stabbings, one of the victims got into a physical altercation with a different woman, which culminated in that victim kicking the woman.
The victim then walked away, but witnesses heard Halaska say, “That’s not how you treat a lady,” prosecutors allege.
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