Category: San Diego

By Michael Hernandez

Though San Diego’s Clairemont neighborhood has been around for over 76 years now, the story of Clairemont’s development goes back even further to the late 1940s, when local developers Carlos Tavares and Lou Burgener bought 1,000 acres of land formerly used for cattle grazing.

Located on a wind-swept mesa overlooking Mission Bay, Tavares, an engineer, and Burgener, a kingpin among builders, transformed the land into one of the country’s largest post-war housing tracts, originally dubbed “The Village Within A City”. According to a pamphlet by the San Diego non-profit “Save Our Heritage Organisation” Tavares’ wife, Claire, made a suggestion that the new development’s layout should match the terrain with winding roads and cul-de-sacs for the children to play in. The development was named “Clairemont” in her honor.

Since its development, Clairemont has grown to encompass over six thousand acres of land and is home to more than 81,000 residents, becoming so large that it can be subdivided into five distinct neighborhoods: North Clairemont, Bay Ho, Clairemont Mesa West, Clairemont Mesa East, and Bay Park. Here’s an overview on what each of these five Clairemont neighborhoods have to offer.

Disclaimer: While the distinction of the five neighborhoods are outlined in the Clairemont Community Plan, passed by the San Diego City Council in December of 2025, the neighborhood boundaries are not officially defined, but illustrated based on multiple factors including historical documents, property deeds, and resident’s perceptions.

North Clairemont

The North Clairemont neighborhood is located in the upper region of Clairemont, closer to University City, and is bordered by the San Clemente Canyon and both California State Route 52 and Interstate 805.

Senate Bill 958 Would Exempt Increased Building Height from CEQA Study of Redevelopment of Sports Arena Area

by Nicole Abrams / Times of San Diego / July 22, 2026

On July 16, members of the Peninsula Community Planning Board formally opposed a bill, which, if passed, would remove the 30-foot height limit in the Midway District and clear the way for a massive redevelopment of the Sports Arena.

The planning group’s opposition to Senate Bill 958 is spelled out in a letter to the state assembly.

If passed, the proposed legislation would prohibit increased building height from being considered a significant impact on the environment under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

San Diego State Senator Akilah Weber Pierson introduced the bill in February after a successful legal challenge from residents over Midway Rising’s plans to bring over 4,000 housing units and a new sports arena to the Midway District.

“SB 958 is an important step toward addressing California’s ongoing housing crisis and ensuring communities across the state have the tools to create the housing Californians need,” Weber Pierson said in a statement to Times of San Diego.

Eric Law, the chairman of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, said he and other members support the redevelopment of the Sports Arena but not by dismantling the current height restrictions.

“Effectively, it makes possible the Miami Beach-ification of the entirety of the California coast,” Law said of the bill. “There’s no reason to have skyscrapers at the beach.”

By Lauren Fimbres Wood  / Scripps Institute of Oceanography / July 9, 2026

Following a four-year study, scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography released a new report to determine if an early warning system could potentially detect a landslide before it happens. The “California Coastal Landslide Early Warning Research” report found that a network of in-ground sensors can provide a reliable warning of impending, dangerous landslides with hours to days notice, but that more work is needed to formalize the findings into an actionable warning system.

Roughly 70% of the California coast is made up of eroding coastal cliffs. These cliffs are home to important infrastructure like highways, railways, coastal access points, energy facilities, and structures, and can be deadly to beachgoers when a cliff collapse occurs.

In August 2019, at Grandview Beach in Encinitas, Calif., three women were killed following a 30-foot by 25-foot section of a cliff collapsing onto the beach. Other fatal events have occurred throughout the state in Big Sur, Santa Barbara, Point Reyes and San Francisco. The tragedy in Encinitas inspired California Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, whose district includes San Diego’s coastal North County, to introduce a bill, AB 66, and secure funding through the State budget, to enhance coastal monitoring to better understand the timing of bluff failures and help inform recommendations towards the development of a potential early landslide warning system.

Meeting Organized by Several Local Planning Groups

A number of local community planning groups have organized what they’re calling a “Town Hall” to discuss and debate several key development projects facing this area of San Diego: The Peninsula Community Planning Board, the Uptown Community Planning Group, Old Town Community Planning group and Protect Pt Loma Community Association are co-sponsoring this event. (Interesting that the OB Planning Board is not included.) The issues:

• NAVWAR redevelopment project
• Midway Rising for the sports arena area
• Senate Bill 958 aiming to pave the way for Midway Rising

It’s all happening:

Tuesday, July 28th, 2026
6pm – 7:30pm
Pt Loma Library
3701 Voltaire Street
San Diego, CA 92107

Organizers say they will have a brief presentation on the background and serious consequences if the Midway Rising and NAVWAR projects are approved.  Then they will open up the forum to public comment and discussion.  This meeting will be recorded, and they say they will send this to each of the Assembly members who sit on the Appropriations Committee the first week of August.

Most people who spend some time in San Diego understand that it’s a coastal desert city. “Desert” being the main word here. Because of this understanding, many adjust their behavior into conserving a desert’s most priceless commodity: water.

People take out their green grass and plant cacti and succulents; they don’t wash their car as much; they use less water in their normal day-to-day living and chores. And up to now, those residents who use less water were rewarded by a city of San Diego water rate system in which customers who use less water paid a lower rate, and those who use more water paid more.

Now, all of that is going to change.

A recent court ruling against the city of San Diego and its tiered pricing system has prompted a proposed rate change that would eliminate the city’s tiered pricing system.

Which means, if enacted, San Diego residents who use less water could see their monthly water bills increase next year and those who don’t use less water will actually see a decrease in their monthly bills. If approved, all customers would pay the same rate, regardless of how much water they use.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Where would the incentive to save water go?

And critics of the proposed changes malign the idea as just one more cost being heaped on the average consumer.  One Kensington homeowner, Cynthia Hillman was quoted by local TV station 7SanDiego as saying the potential increase comes at a difficult time for many families.

“For somebody who’s having to pay higher gas prices, higher grocery prices, this is just one more thing that makes life very uncomfortable,” she said. She also expressed concern about who would bear the added cost. “You’re asking the little guy to pay more,” she said.

Kensington resident Connie Kirk also was quoted: “That doesn’t sound very fair because if they’re using more that means they’ve got more property, which probably means they’ve got more income period.”

Rag readers have also expressed outrage.

The proposed changes stem from a legal decision in a case against the city of San Diego that requires the city to move away from a rate structure that incentivizes lower water usage.

Public Has Until August 24 to Give Feedback to Port

By City News Service / 7SanDiego / July 10-13, 2026

The comment period for a proposed redevelopment of East Harbor Island for a Topgolf and Waterfront Park Project is open, Port of San Diego officials announced Friday.

The port published a Draft Environmental Impact Report for the project, with the public comment period open through Aug. 24.

The project, if approved, would entail a 10.1-acre public waterfront park with a promenade, plaza areas, playgrounds, restrooms and public art. It also includes a 16.5-acre section designated as an entertainment district, with 9.8 of those acres set aside for the popular arcade/ driving range company Topgolf. The remainder is slated as “eatertainment” concepts, to be determined by a competitive public solicitation process.

Additionally, the proposal calls for realignment of Liberator Way with new public parking, sidewalks, planting buffers and reconfiguration of adjacent intersections.

Eighteen US service members have died so far in Trump’s war with Iran and 420 have been wounded. These mounting casualties come with escalating attacks and strikes by both sides. Iran declares it is fighting a “full-scale war.” And Trump threatens to intensify bombings for every American killed. Bridges and ports are struck. The price of oil shot up as did gasoline of course, and stocks fell. (Closing on 300 points Monday.)

The big question as the conflict looks to inflame the whole Middle East region is whether negotiations between the two sides are continuing or not, and if not, is there a chance they can continue?

The US has just bombed Iran for the 9th day / night in a row in a dramatic shift in the four and half month old war after weeks of a so-called cease fire under the Memorandum of Understanding. Iran has retaliated — not in striking U.S. targets but in going after countries that host US military personnel and facilities, like Jordan and Bahrain and other Gulf allies for the U.S. Some sources report that diplomats said talks to de-escalate were continuing.

The Guardian reports:

Iranian media reported strikes around Tabriz, believed to hold underground missile bases, as well as Bushehr, home to the country’s only operational civilian nuclear power plant. The US military said it had struck “military command centers, air defence and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks”.

By JW August / Special to OB Rag

San Diegan Shirley Weber, California’s Secretary of State, has received a warning from the U.S.Department of Justice, advising her that she or “any election officer” in California faces serious criminal charges for “knowingly retaining non-citizens on the Statewide Voter Registration List.”

The letter, sent July 7, was signed by Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights  Division. At one time, she was one of the most influential  Republican women in California politics, and her stature has grown even more since following President Trump to Washington, where she is now a powerful voice in the party. Under her direction, the division, which 69 years ago was created to protect voting rights and to fight inequality, has changed course.

Before joining the administration, Dhillon was in private practice, and the firm she founded filed lawsuits in support of many of Trump’s goals.  This included a case in San Diego, where a Trump anti-vax supporter’s protests were gaining momentum.

Fast forward to the current Trump admiration and her role is again in support of conservative causes. In a recent Los Angeles Times article, a dozen former attorneys in the division said “the division has taken on a far more partisan approach.”

In the same story, Dhillon defended her work, stating that “the division’s actions aren’t political.”  She added her work isn’t combative; instead, “it’s transparent.”

Dhillon believes there is clear potential for non-citizens to vote in California elections. The letter to Weber comes amid increasing pressure by the Trump administration to discredit the nation’s voting systems, which the President says are inherently flawed.

By Sam Halpern, M.D.

I have spent my working life in medicine as a clinician and a medical scientist.  I have watched with awe as basic and applied medical science placed new and effective tools in the hands of physicians to diagnose and treat diseases that were once a death sentence.

The progress we have made in medical research has only been possible because the American people supported a commitment to long-term funding and scrupulous attention to awarding funds to research judged by the scientific community to be the most promising and well-conceived among competitive proposals.  Who a scientist voted for in an election, or whose political priorities they supported, never entered into the question of whether a grant proposal merited funding.

But on July 13, 2026, I was stunned to see a headline in the Los Angeles Times: “WARNING AGAINST POLITICS IN RESEARCH FUNDING,” by Corinne Purtill.

The article states that a new rule, proposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, has the potential to overhaul the way federal grants are awarded and overseen. One scientific society has said that it would “all but end the use of scientific merit in the selection of grants and programs across the government.”

The new rule will give political appointees control over federal grants for scientific research, education and infrastructure and specifies that government funds can be spent only on projects “aligned with administration policies and priorities.” That shocked me! I had never heard of this proposal, and it has been around since May!

David Garrick at the San Diego U-T wrote an analysis of the current City Council races on July 12th, and here is a summary of some of his findings.

First, they “attracted an unprecedented amount of cash this year from groups funded by labor unions, business interests and statewide organizations,” and he found “the results were decidedly mixed.”

For example, in the District 2 race, “A committee supporting Josh Coyne … spent $300,000, but Coyne didn’t come close to making the November runoff.” In contrast, “Richard Bailey finished first in District 2 thanks partly to more than $200,000 in committee support.”

Yet, candidate Rafael Perez in the District 8 race finished last despite $150,000 in committee support. One of the candidates who made the primary run-off was Gerardo Ramirez “after benefiting from more than $200,000 in committee support….”

Overall, the monies spent on these races “are dramatically higher than typical San Diego council race contributions from independent committees, which allow supporters to exceed the $800 maximum an individual can contribute directly to a campaign,” reports Garrick.

By Dorian Hargrove and Andrew Keatts / Times of San Diego / July 16, 2026

A 40-yard green dumpster sits in front of 1461 Hilger in Encanto. Trash and debris tower over the railing. Less than 40 feet below sits a dilapidated wooden shed, or, as neighbors describe it, the makeshift garage where stolen cars are stored and disassembled throughout the night. The two-story house on the other side of the dumpster is littered with appliances and trash.

At least, that was the scene at the home until Wednesday morning, when the property owner, San Diego police and code enforcement officers executed a massive clean-up on the property two days after Times of San Diego asked for comment on the derelict property. Squatters had been living there and engaging in lawless behavior for nearly 8 months, neighbors say.

The home, and a neighboring property that was also occupied by squatters, are owned by a company formed by Christian Spicer, whose companies have been at the forefront of capitalizing on the city of San Diego’s accessory dwelling unit regulations, which are among the most permissive in all of California.

His companies have specialized in converting single-family properties into large apartment complexes, capitalizing on the city’s ADU rules. That includes the Chalcifica project in Pacific Beach, which would have turned two parcels into 136 units.

In an investor brochure for SDRE, Spicer’s company, before he rebranded it to Infill Innovation, the ADU developer promoted his plans to convert 53 single-family homes spread throughout San Diego into 1,178 total units.

The total cost to acquire the 53 properties, according to the brochure, was just under $62.8 million. If all of his projects were built according to plan, Spicer predicted revenue from adding the 1,100-plus ADUs would be more than $538.8 million, a 750 percent increase.

But Spicer’s plan hit snags. Residents in Encanto, Pacific Beach, and the College Area pushed back, delaying the projects from starting, and in some cases, such as the Chalcifica project in Pacific Beach, the projects wound up in court, where a judge temporarily halted the project from moving forward until a trial is held.

By Debbie Sklar / Beach & Bay Press / July 15, 2026

In 1941, Pacific Beach still looked like a place waiting for its future.

A photograph from that year — photographer unknown — captures a trailer camp set within the coastal landscape at a time when the neighborhood still held more open ground than development. It preserves a moment when San Diego’s shoreline suburbs were still evolving, long before postwar growth reshaped them into the communities known today.

By then, Pacific Beach had already been established, but it remained lightly developed. The coastal strip between La Jolla and Mission Beach had not yet filled in, and much of what is now dense residential and commercial space remained open or only lightly used.

The photograph captures that in-between stage. The trailer camp appears temporary by design — simple structures placed within a coastal landscape that had not yet taken its modern form. It sits in a version of Pacific Beach that feels familiar in geography but very different in scale and pace.

Trailer living during this period reflected a broader trend during that time across Southern California. Mobility, affordability, and seasonal work all helped shape small, temporary communities like this one. In coastal areas, trailer camps often appeared on open lots or undeveloped stretches near the ocean, where land had not yet been fully subdivided.

What makes the image stand out is not just what it shows, but what it doesn’t. There are no crowded streets, no busy commercial corridors, and no dense residential blocks pressing toward the shoreline. Instead, there is space — open land still waiting to be built.

That would change quickly after World War II.