Category: Ocean Beach

Editordude: House Representative Scott Peters has come out in opposition to the infamous PB “Turquoise Tower”. In a public letter addressed to Mayor Todd Gloria, dated July 21, he urges the city to deny the application of Project Vela, and states, “It should not be built at the outrageous height currently proposed.” Here is the entire letter:

July 21, 2026

Dear Mayor Gloria

I urge the city of San Diego to finally deny the current application for Project Vela, commonly known as the Turquoise Tower, in Pacific Beach. It should not be built at the outrageous height currently proposed.

In my conversations with constituents over the past several months I have been struck by the unity and anger over this proposal. The thought of a 23-story tower in this location, I imagine, was likely what set off the same furor that drove the adoption of the 30-foot height limit more than 50 years ago.

At the  height of the “Town Hall” meeting Tuesday night, July 28, at the Point Loma Library, there was standing-room only. I had counted at least 80 people earlier. It had been called by three local planning groups (Peninsula, Uptown and Old Town) and a Point Loma group to air the community’s grievances against the Midway Rising redevelopment project of the sports arena area, NAVWAR — the Navy’s redevelopment of sections of Old Town, and Senate Bill 958, that if enacted, would pour grease on the skids for Midway Rising’s plans.

Eric Law — chair of the Peninsula Community Planning Board — opened the gathering. He later set the tone when he told the crowd, and the two TV stations present:

“Everyone that has anything to do with housing or businesses here on the peninsula wants to see Midway redeveloped. They just dispute that you need to build it over 30 feet.”

Other presenters included Scott Case and Patty Ducey-Brooks of the Uptown Planners Community Planning Group, Ralph Teyssier, a community activist and engineer, and Eric Law. Other locals sat at the front table ready to answer questions, including Christine Smith of Neighbors for a Better San Diego, and Don Severns, formerly a veteran Peninsula planner.

Case spoke on SB 958 and CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. In brief, CEQA, passed in 1976, requires public agencies to evaluate and mitigate the environmental impacts of proposed projects across the state. It has played a crucial role over the decades in protecting California’s environment, including air, water quality, wildlife habitats, historic sites and public health. Basically, it ensures projects consider environmental consequences before being approved, and requires public review and oversight. Unfortunately, many exemptions have been created and now CEQA resembles swiss cheese.

SB 958 seeks to remove elements of CEQA, Case said. It will set a precedent for limitations to be created to CEQA. It applies to other projects across the state.

by Dorian Hargrove / Times of San Diego / July 27, 2026

The owner and developer of a massive proposed ADU project in Pacific Beach, known as Chalcifica, has released new plans for the two parcels, plans the developer hopes residents will embrace.

The new proposal comes as Chlacifica’s owner — Infill Innovation, formerly SDRE — is stuck in a legal battle with a resident group over the company’s old plans to build a 136-unit ADU project on two parcels located at Pacifica Drive and Chalcedony Street in PB.

“Our goal is to move forward with a project that adds much-needed attainable housing units in Pacific Beach while addressing concerns so everyone can benefit,” Infill Innovation CEO Brian Doyle told Times of San Diego.

Doyle shared the latest renderings of the proposed multi-ADU project.

The new proposal reconfigures the site, moving the buildings and parking away from what may be culturally sensitive lands and redesigning the large block-like apartment-style buildings into six buildings with 125 total units.

According to Lori Weisberg at the San Diego U-T, OB’s Breakfast Republic on Newport Avenue is set to close August 9th.

It and along with the company’s North Park and Encinitas locations will all serve their last meals that day.

Even if you will miss these popular eateries, don’t shed a tear for the San Diego hospitality company that founded Breakfast Republic more than a decade ago. Even though three older locations aren’t doing well, the company plans on opening a dozen new restaurants in Texas over the next five years.

The Ocean Beach venue is just not performing as well as the eight other Southern California locations that are. Weisberg:

The Ocean beach restaurant, at 5,000 square feet, is far larger than the locations [founder Johan Engman] is now opening, and it’s also on the second floor, which isn’t as convenient for customers.

Business declined at the North Park restaurant partly due to “the removal of 175 street parking spaces to make way for bike lanes several years ago.”

San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo says he has found a pot of money the city can use to re-open more than a dozen Mission Bay restrooms closed in early July as part of budget cutting. He wants the city to use “the $1.8 million in budgeted election costs that were freed up last month when a possible November ballot measure got postponed,” as the U-T reported yesterday.

The freed-up money became available last month when the council’s Rules Committee delayed indefinitely — but at least until 2028 — a ballot measure proposed by Councilmember Kent Lee to shrink the mayor’s power, reports the U-T.

By closing 13 of the 28 restrooms that serve tourists and locals alike at Mission Bay Park, the city is saving a whopping $546,000 in maintenance and cleaning costs.

Campillo says the closures are creating a public health hazard because park visitors have begun relieving themselves in grassy areas and other locations. In a July 15th memo to the mayor, Campillo wrote,

“Redirecting those funds would address an immediate community need and help restore a basic public service that is essential to the safe and enjoyable use of Mission Bay Park. Our constituents have asked for it.”

Yet Mayor Gloria rejects Campillo’s proposal. He claimed he shares the councilmember’s concerns, but says it would be financially risky to reopen the restrooms using the newly available money.

The Port of San Diego has officially named a beach at Spanish Landing “Kumeyaay Beach,” acknowledging and responding to years of efforts by local Kumeyaay tribespeople to do such.

At a July 14th meeting of San Diego Port’s Board of Commissioners, the beach’s renaming was approved.

Before the vote on the renaming, Jessie Pinto, an elder of the Kumeyaay Nation, spoke:

“The name, ‘Kumeyaay Beach,’ is more than a sign. This is an opportunity to acknowledge the first people of the land, to tell a more complete story of San Diego. The visitors who see this may ask, ‘Who are the Kumeyaays?’ The simple question opens the door to education, understanding and respect.”

Members of the Kumeyaay Nation have long advocated for giving this beach a name, due to its cultural significance.

by Debbie L. Sklar / Times of San Diego / July 22, 2026

Before there was Del Mar, there was another racetrack.

There’s no sign of it today, but Pacific Beach once had a racetrack — and for a brief period in the 1880s, it became one of the region’s most notable gathering places.

Today, Pacific Beach is known for its boardwalk, beach traffic, and nightlife. In the late 19th century, however, it was part of a developing coastal landscape shaped by real estate speculation, rail expansion, and ambitious efforts to create destination communities.

One of the most ambitious of those early projects was the Pacific Beach Driving Park, also known as the American Driving Park, a horse racing facility established during San Diego’s 1880s land boom.

The track was developed in 1887 after the Southern California Breeders’ Association acquired property for a formal racing venue. Located on what was then undeveloped land near Pacific Beach, the site included a racetrack, stables, and a grandstand designed to support organized races and public events while also helping promote surrounding land sales.

On Sunday July 26, the OB Task Force on Homelessness announced the results of a survey their volunteers performed of folks suffering from homelessness earlier that day. And they counted 65 souls.

They reported:

Observational Survey update:
– new high of 65 souls counted on just 15 blocks of downtown OB on a Sunday morning as tourists and families start going to church and breakfast.

By Geoff Page

This is a Public Service Announcement – for anyone hiking in the Sunset Cliffs Park south of Ladera Street.

After 40 plus years of discounting stories of rattlesnakes in the park, I was completely shocked to find one in the middle of a well-traveled path on Friday, July 24th. There was no doubt what it was.

The photo above shows what it looked like when I turned a corner and saw what appeared to be a stick. This picture is not the actual snake. Had I been a member of the younger generation that reaches for their cell phone cameras immediately, I could have had a picture.

Editordude: Nadia Lathan at Voice of San Diego just published a great read on the latest on Midway Rising and Senate Bill 958 — although she doesn’t mention NAVWAR — and it’s worth your time to catch up on this complex set of issues that will, if enacted, drastically affect all residents and visitors to the Peninsula. She hits most of the key issues, although not everyone, but does wet our appetites. So, try to get to it over the weekend. Here it is:

Voice of San Diego dated July 24, 2026.

San Diego officials are moving full-steam ahead to get one of their chief policy priorities to the finish line before the legislative session wraps up next month.

Senate Bill 958 would make it easier to build a 165-foot-tall sports arena in the Midway District neighborhood by giving broad exemptions to building height restrictions in the California Environmental Quality Act, the state’s preeminent environmental law.

It allows the lawsuit-ridden Midway Rising project, which includes housing and the arena, to skirt the neighborhood’s 30-foot height limit for buildings near the coast.

Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, a Democrat who represents Midway District, is authoring the bill.

Business and housing groups lobbying for the bill expect smooth sailing from here: It cleared a June hearing in the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources with unanimous support. That came after the bill was changed from its initial, more ambitious version introduced in February, when city officials sought to exempt all parts of the project from CEQA.

YIMBY Democrats of San Diego helped craft the legislation with the mayor’s office, which has been doing whatever it can to get the 16,000-seat arena off the ground amid yearslong local opposition.

By Dan Plante / Yahoo KUSI / Wed, July 22, 2026

San Diego Bay was once considered among the most polluted waterways in America. That was then; this is now.

According to environmental watchdog San Diego Coastkeeper, the Big Bay is bouncing back in a big way.

“We did water quality testing for an entire year at different locations around San Diego Bay. We were all a little surprised at how clean it is. I would actually go swimming here. San Diego Bay is cleaner than Mission Bay right now,” said Phillip Musegaas of San Diego Coastkeeper.

 It’s taken decades to reach this point. At one point in history, the bay was an open dumping ground for industrial waste.

Since then, tons of toxic sludge and solid waste have been dredged from the floor of the bay.