Category: San Diego

By Scott Lewis / Voice of San Diego / October 17, 2026

Friday, October 16 a committee of the San Diego City Council advanced the project that Midway Rising leaders have been working on for five years.

It was a moment that had been building for years. Union members who have advocated for it every step of the way cheered loudly in the City Council Chambers. But the Midway Rising hurried out and issued a simple written statement attributed to Brad Termini, from Zephyr Partners.

“We’re honored to receive a unanimous 4-0 vote in support of Midway Rising from the City’s Land Use and Housing Committee and look forward to presenting this transformational project to the full City Council in the weeks ahead,” Termini wrote.

They may be “honored” but, by several accounts, they were not pleased at all.

The committee advanced their deal with one significant amendment: It would require the Midway Rising team to ensure the affordable housing units built at the site are “net-new” – a reference to what we wrote about Friday. We revealed that city staff had preferred the deal prohibit the property from becoming a so-called “receiver site” for the affordable housing other developers in San Diego were going to have to deliver anyway.

Join the Club’s October 25 Meeting at Point Loma Assembly Hall: City Council Candidate Nicole Crosby will be our featured speaker

Sign in and socializing starts at 3:30, meeting begins at 4 PM. And be sure to mail or drop off your ballot and VOTE no later than Tuesday Nov. 3!

The San Diego Neighborhood Project: Mapping San Diego

Make your voice heard San Diego!

A SDSU Professor is interested in knowing what San Diego residents think about their neighborhoods in a special online project.

All you have to do is fill out an online survey that will take no longer than 10-15 minutes in telling about your neighborhood and connection with local news and information.

By Michael Angelo

‘No Kings’ in Clairemont/Kearny Mesa/Linda Vista

On Saturday, more than 2,500 ‘No Kings: Vote Early’ events took place all over the United States, mobilizing voters to cast their ballots early for the upcoming midterm elections. On that day, San Diego saw 24 locally organized  ‘No Kings’ events encouraging voters in the county to do the same.

As a Rag writer, I attended two of these events and spoke with event organizers and participants about the importance of early voting and what motivated them to get involved. We’ve already given you a sample of these events, but here’s a closer look at what ‘No Kings: Vote Early’ looked like in Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, and Linda Vista:

The ‘No Kings: Vote Early Climate Canvassing in Clairemont’ Event

Organized by the grassroots climate change advocacy and climate justice nonprofit San Diego 350, the ‘No Kings Climate Canvassing in Clairemont’ event was held at the North Clairemont Park at 4421 Bannock Ave. The event began at nine in the morning with a group of about 10 people ranging from high school students to more senior residents. San Diego 350 staff kicked the event off with an explanation of how the morning would unfold. In groups of 2 or more, volunteers would be assigned turf in the neighborhoods adjacent to the park to go door-to-door, asking people to “Vote Early. Vote Secure.”

Volunteers were given leaflets to distribute, reading “The time is NOW to stand up for Democracy! Overcome Trump’s threats to corrupt the election and tamper with the US Post Office. Cast a secure vote by voting early using a ballot drop box or going in-person”. Also on the leaflets were important dates to remember, including the November 3rd voting deadline, along with more information about San Diego 350.

By Andrew Childers / Democracy Docket / October 19, 2026

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking a federal court to immediately prevent California from counting the ballots of 20,000 people the Trump administration has accused of being noncitizens who illegally registered to vote.

The request for a temporary restraining order is the latest escalation between California and the Trump administration over the midterms. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) over the weekend accused President Donald Trump of attempting to rig the election.

“California not just refused to act; it made clear that it is committed to treating ballots from those likely noncitizens equal to ballots from American citizens, prompting this suit and motion that seeks commonplace election relief when ballots are called into question,” DOJ said in its filing in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The standoff began last week when the DOJ sent California a thumb drive with a hand-scrawled password on a sticky note that it claimed contained the names of 20,000 suspected noncitizens registered to vote in the state. The Justice Department gave California only 48 hours to validate those names and demanded that California not count the ballots of anyone on the list. State officials declined, calling the request “outrageous.”

By: Dani Miskell / 10News / Oct. 15, 2026

U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff visited Point Loma High School on Thursday, October 15, to discuss how immigration enforcement has impacted San Diego schools.

The visit marked the first time in 13 years that a U.S. senator visited a school in the San Diego Unified School District, according to the district. Former Sen. Barbara Boxer last visited a district school when she stopped at an elementary school in Barrio Logan.

About 100 juniors and seniors had the opportunity to meet with Schiff and ask questions, including about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations near schools.

Although no incidents of parents being detained near Point Loma High School have been reported, similar concerns have surfaced elsewhere in the district.

By Rag Staff

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

Monday, October 19: City Council, Closed Session, 10:00 a.m.

Agenda:

Item CS-6: January 22, 2024 Flooding Litigation

Why it matters: Two years later, as 57 civil cases against the city move slowly forward, and Southeastern San Diego victims are still struggling to rebuild, we have to ask: Is City Hall better prepared for flood control when the new massive El Nino arrives?

Monday, October 19: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item S400: Confirming Appointment of Bethany Bezak to Position of City Manager (Chief Operating Officer)

Volunteers and residents gathered at 24 locations across San Diego County and Temecula on Saturday for “No Kings: Vote Early” events focused on encouraging early voting ahead of the November election. Rather than a single large rally, the day featured locally organized events shaped by the communities hosting them. Across the county, the mood was festive and welcoming with costumed attendees, drum lines, live music and passersby in cars honking in support.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SATURDAY

• Rep. Sara Jacobs visited events in La Mesa and Julian, speaking with attendees and encouraging early voting.
• Balboa Park’s “Drag Out the Vote” featured stilt walkers, drag performances, inflatable costumes, music and a “Power” wall created by attendees with their “I Voted” stickers.
• University City and Ramona included mock-voting booths for children, giving younger participants a chance to learn about voting.
• Several events built in a walk to a library or community ballot drop box, including Fallbrook, Julian, La Mesa, Mira Mesa, University City, La Jolla and Alpine.
• Scripps Ranch and Alpine held their first organized No Kings events.

By Michael Hernandez

It was a night like any other for Ocean Beach resident Scott Martinez, who says he was playing Scrabble in the garage of his next-door neighbor in the 4600 block of Del Mar Avenue when another neighbor popped in with news that left their jaws on the floor. A single-family home in the neighborhood was put up for sale, with a proposal for the construction of a 12-unit ADU “farm” in the backyard. Almost immediately, neighbors began to organize, and Scott found himself swept up in the fight to stop the project in its tracks.

The property at the center of this issue is 4637 Del Mar Avenue. Neighbors say the house used to belong to an elderly woman who lived there for decades. After her death, her children sold the house, and up until recently, it was listed as a short-term rental. However, neighbors allege the property may not have had the proper notices required by the City of San Diego for Airbnbs and other short-term rentals.

Melissa Scherer, another neighborhood resident who has lived on the block for about four years now, is deeply involved in the fight against the potential ADU farm. She recounts how early one Sunday morning in September, a maintenance crew arrived and began to do some work on the lawn and the house. By that afternoon, the crew was installing the frame for a real estate sign.

By Lori Saldaña

On October 13 the San Diego city council voted to approve the Seaworld master plan and expansion update on Mission Bay, across the river from the Sports Arena/ Midway region. This includes plans for a hotel and below-grade parking

To the Park’s credit, they did an excellent Sea Level Rise (SLR) assessment and vulnerability analysis- but it’s already nearly 7 years old.

Also- the park is counting on the city to maintain adequate access roads as sea level rises around Mission Bay:

“Based on the information above, a SLR of 3.3 feet has been identified as the threshold for exposure in Planning Area 2 (Guest Parking). In order to maintain uninterrupted access to SeaWorld facilities, adaptation measures outside of the leasehold would be required. As impacts to public infrastructure (i.e., roads) are anticipated, it is likely that before SLR has reached 3.3 feet, adaptation measures that look to address inundation of the public roads will have already been implemented by the City.” [emphasis added] From here

The Council approved this plan – and if they had read this SLR analysis, they did so with the understanding the city will be taking “adaptation measures” to maintain “uninterrupted access to SeaWorld facilities.”

Does the city have an adaptation plan and money for maintaining these access roads? SeaWorld Drive is already showing signs of SLR stress. It’s in very rough shape. Groundwater pressure is already creating problems in this area. It has lifted up the road and stressed the asphalt and road bed on Sea World Dr.

Here’s a series of articles highlighting recent developments over the last few weeks in San Diego development.

 Another Lawsuit Emerges to Challenge Controversial Development at Emerald Hills – It Alleges Racial Discrimination

By Katie Hyson / KPBS / September 30, 2026

Another lawsuit is challenging the controversial development coming to Emerald Hills — 123 homes on a hilltop that neighbors have long hoped would be a park.

Andrea Hetheru was the community planning group chair in 2024. She didn’t understand how the development was allowed. The area wasn’t zoned for that density. It sent her down a long, complicated rabbit hole. “Did I think it was going to take two and a half years of my life? Hundreds of hours? You know, not going to sleep – for how many days have I not had any sleep at all over Footnote 7 and particularly this issue? Heck no,” she said.

The city council voted to add Footnote 7 to city code in 2019. It allowed for much denser development only in the mostly Black, Latino and low-income neighborhoods in southeastern San Diego.

Brandon Hernández / San Diego Beer News / October 11, 2026

Each fall, national trade organization, the Brewers Association, puts on the country’s largest beer fest in its home base of Denver, Colorado. Dubbed the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), the multi-day event has been taking place since 1982, and while it has seen great growth over much of the past four decades, there has been a drop in attendance in recent years. Because of that, this year the event was reduced from three days to two and moved from its longtime host venue, the Colorado Convention Center, to an outdoor venue in Denver’s Ruby Hill neighborhood called Levitt Pavilion. That’s a lot of changes for such a longstanding, tradition-driven event, but one aspect of GABF that hasn’t changed is its professional brewing competition component.

Medals garnered at GABF remain the most coveted awards for American brewers. Whether members of expansive production teams at macro-sized beer companies or armies-of-one brewing nano-sized batches at small neighborhood breweries, anyone can find themself taking the (nationally televised) stage to accept a gold, silver or bronze acknowledgment of their exceptional craftsmanship. It’s a key reason so many industry professionals not only flock to Denver to staff the event and attend the awards ceremony, but also show up many days in advance to assist in the extensive judging process. GABF is a big deal, and even though it has an international sister competition called the World Beer Cup (AKA: “The Olympic of Beers”), for U.S. brewers, no brand of bragging rights eclipses those earned in Denver.

The 2026 edition of GABF included 7,267 entries (including ciders) in 100-plus style categories from 1,300 U.S. breweries and cideries. Those entries were judged by 225 certified judges and experienced veterans from the brewing industry (including professionals from San Diego County beer companies). This year, there were six style categories which garnered 150 entries or more.