Category: San Diego

OB Rag Staff Report

Jack McGrory has seen a lot happen in San Diego over the past 50 years, and he knows a lot about how the city has evolved. In his 24 years at City Hall, where he rose from a trainee in 1973 to City Manager between 1991 and 1997, McGrory had a singular role in helping shape our city government.

At a June 20 dialogue hosted by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego, McGrory answered questions about City Hall’s perilous state with astonishing candor.

In this Part I of a report on the forum, McGrory discusses how a lack of professionalism at City Hall has led to financial instability and public distrust.

On city government “best practices”:

We always measured ourselves against other large cities. All the city managers would meet every six months, and we’d exchange ideas about best practices. San Diego went to automated trash pickup because I saw Phoenix doing it, and they showed me their numbers. Before we had automated pickup, we had two or three people on every truck handling 11 tons of trash a day. The costs of back injuries and workers’ comp were insane.

At another one of these conferences, someone described a new technology for fixing potholes that used trucks with computers and hot tar dispensers. The truck would drive over the pothole, and the computer would drop the hot tar and tamp it down. I bought eight pothole trucks, and we were fixing potholes in 24 hours.

Then one day, I saw a city employee fixing a pothole by shoveling in hot tar. I asked, “Where are the pothole trucks?” He said, “One of the drivers got carpal tunnel syndrome, so the union lobbied the Council, and they got rid of the trucks.”

by Dorian Hargrove / Times of San Diego / June 25, 2026

The public fight over yoga in San Diego city parks and at popular beaches is far from entering the final stretch.

As the city and yoga teacher Steve Hubbard, known by his moniker NamaSteve, and teacher Amy Baack, are embroiled in two public court battles over whether free yoga classes should be considered a First Amendment right, Yoga instructor Hubbard has thrown yet another proverbial punch.

Meanwhile, the city of San Diego is digging in its heels on the previously filed federal and state lawsuits and attempting to subpoena the financial information of the yoga practitioners who donated to Hubbard and fellow yoga instructors, in hopes of proving that the students were paying a fee for the yoga classes.

On June 22, Hubbard filed a third lawsuit against the city of San Diego over the three citations issued by San Diego Park rangers to Hubbard in 2025, in the weeks following a federal court order that stated the city’s interpretation was unconstitutional.

A mounting wave of pushback against ed tech has sprung up recently including from some Ocean Beach parents. San Diego Unified’s board just took steps to rein it in.

by Jakob McWhinney / Voice of San Diego / June 24, 2026

San Diego Unified’s board on Tuesday, June 23 unanimously passed a resolution that places new limits on screens in classrooms and how students will be able to use district-issued laptops. It also lays the groundwork to restrict the use of AI-enabled software that hasn’t been specifically approved by the district.

By the start of the school year, students will no longer be able to access video-streaming or gaming platforms on district-issued laptops. The resolution also sets a timetable for other changes, like more comprehensive regulations on screen-usage based on grade level. Officials will create a committee to usher in the changes.

But not everyone’s stoked. Los Angeles Unified recently passed restrictions that went even further. Some of the activists who pushed for local restrictions are disappointed San Diego Unified’s action didn’t do more to limit screens.

The new restrictions are the local front of swelling, nationwide pushback against the ubiquity of educational technology in schools.

Editordude: The Rag has been highlighting this fight to save land for a park in Emerald Hills for over a year and half now. Here is some commentary from local resident and occasional Rag writer, Rob Campbell:

The City is attempting to limit public comment by instituting new rules starting July 1st. The public meeting is July 7th. The City is pulling out every measure they can to stop resident voices. They are calling the new program “Enhanced Community Engagement at City Hall” and have thrown up significant barriers to pool voices together during public comment. See you all on July 7th at 2pm, when the City of San Diego makes history – one way or another.

Here’s the latest on the battle:

By Katie Hyson / KPBS /  June 24, 2026

Two radio towers mark a high point in Emerald Hills. For now, the 31-acre property is quiet, green and mostly empty. An upcoming appeal hearing could decide how that changes. It offers a rare 360-degree view from Mexico to La Jolla.

From his backyard, Kenny Key uses a rope and makeshift boards to scale a steep incline and take in the view. Every morning, he can look to the east and watch the sun rise over San Miguel Mountain. He tracks its wide arc through the sky to set between the Coronado Bridge and Point Loma Lighthouses, and sees the moon rise in its stead. He can see every plane that flies over the city and every ship that docks in its harbor.

“We see the beauty of San Diego every day,” he said. “And so we love our community.”

Key’s mother bought their home in the early ‘70s, around the time redlining had recently ended. The hilltop property had been a country club and golf course. “Blacks weren’t allowed to play up here. Blacks weren’t allowed to build up here. So when we came up here … it was like, ‘Upgrade!’” he said.

From First Amendment Coalition

We’re writing to sound alarms about California Assembly Bill 1821, which would have disastrous effects on transparency, accountability, and our democracy. Well, it’s crunchtime.

The bill, which was amended at the proverbial 11th hour in a transformation that a local watchdog group called “a virtual horror show of governmental non-transparency,” is set for a crucial committee hearing June 30. We need your help to stop it.

If passed, the bill would fundamentally alter the California Public Records Act, a vital sunshine law that ensures the people’s business be done in public view, making state and local governments less transparent and less responsive to the people they serve. Specifically, it would:

• Allow government agencies to charge hefty fees for public records
• Give local governments the authority to deem requests “not properly requested” and therefore invalid
• Allow local governments even more time to delay their responses
• Empower government agencies to sue members of the public if they feel a request was made with “malicious intent,” which seems left to the interpretation of whoever is holding the public records someone is asking to see

This is an edited version of Voice of San Diego’s “Reining in E-Bikes”

The San Diego City Council passed new e-bike regulations on Tuesday. It joins Chula Vista, Coronado and Carlsbad, which have also passed regulations.

The new law will ban children younger than 12 from riding Class 1 and 2 e-bikes. (Class 1 and 2 bikes can not go faster than 20 miles per hour. Class 3 bikes are already limited in California to people 16 and older.) Children who break the law will be subject to fines.

A study at one trauma center in San Diego found that e-bike accidents involving children increased by more than 300 percent between 2019 and 2023, according to a report by city staff.

By Stephen Hobbs / Sacramento Bee /  June 17, 2026

A California initiative that will place limits on environmental reviews of water, housing and road projects has enough signatures to appear on the November ballot, setting up a contest that has sweeping implications for the state’s future.

The California Chamber of Commerce, a business trade group behind the measure, argues the state’s system of approving certain developments is too slow, too muddied up by regulation and too expensive and that the initiative is the fix needed.

“Essential projects like clean water, clean energy, hospitals, affordable housing, roads, wildfire prevention, schools, public safety, and other infrastructure improvements are being delayed or blocked by unnecessary red tape, bureaucratic delays, and excessive lawsuits,” the initiative says.

The Secretary of State’s Office made the determination Tuesday.

The measure, called the “Building an Affordable California Act,” would create new rules for how agencies can handle those “essential projects,” including setting time limits for how long reviews can take and members of the public can comment on them.

By Sonia Fernandez / The Current – UC Santa Barbara / June 22, 2026

A study conducted by UC Santa Barbara researchers and collaborators has found that California has lost more than half of its coastal dune systems. The researchers’ assessment — the first of its kind for the California coast — estimates that 60% of dune systems that existed from 1850 have been lost, due to a combination of urban development, land-use changes and erosion.

“There are major implications of this loss for the California coast, including reduced habitats for plants, insects and other invertebrates, birds and small mammals,” said the paper’s lead author, postdoctoral researcher and physical geographer Tim Baxter. “Importantly, we also lose coastal protections against storms and sea level rise.”

This assessment, one of the largest and most detailed inventories of coastal sand dunes ever produced, is published in the journal Earth’s Future.

Feds Proposal to allow Cyanide poison bombs, hound hunting and trapping impacts San Diego’s public lands

By Renée Owens / EastCountyMagazine / June 19, 2026

San Diego County residents should be aware that a little-known federal proposal is sneaking under the radar, one that will have serious local and national consequences. Why is it such a secret? It could be because the new rule’s creators want it to be adopted quickly before the majority of Americans understand what a harmful precedent it sets.

On May 27 the Trump administration announced a proposed rule to massively increase hunting and fishing throughout over 2.5 million acres of public wild lands, 95 percent of the entire National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). It expands not only refuge access but also targets species lists, seasons, bag limits, and allowed methods for hunting and fishing, and promotes a discretionary approach that is based not on science but on appeasement of a few powerful lobbies. To add to the chaos is a clause in the fine print that removes bans on lead ammunition and fishing tackle — protections fought for by scientists for decades – and reopens doors nationwide for hound hunting, traps, bait, and poisons, despite mounting bans on their use due to unambiguous evidence of their cruelty. This on the heels of deep cuts in USFWS staff and funding.

From San Diego Energy Justice Alliance

With City studies concluding a not-for-profit utility would save San Diegans billions, a coalition of groups is calling on the City Council to begin organizing a public utility.
The most recent city-funded study will be presented to the council this Monday afternoon, June 22, during a meeting set to begin at 2 p.m. in council chambers.

Using the most conservative assumptions, the city’s consultants concluded in the study that not-for-profit public power would save utility customers $500 each year.
Under more realistic assumptions, projections, total savings for customers are projected to reach tens of billions of dollars in coming decades. An earlier city funded study also found a not-for-profit public utility would lower electric bills for customers.

“We have the studies and know the facts,” said Dorrie Bruggemann, a board member of Public Power San Diego, which is among the groups in the newly formed San Diego Energy Justice Coalition.

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

Monday, June 22: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item 200: Public Power Feasibility Study, Phase II Report

Item 201: SDG&E Franchise Independent Audit Report and Compliance Review

Why they matter: These items will shed light on two options: a new municipal energy utility (MEU) vs. the existing SDG&E utility. The Phase II report found that “financial projections support the feasibility of establishing an MEU.” The review found that SDG&E complies with its franchise agreement but adds “compliance alone does not fully resolve broader concerns regarding affordability, rate impacts, and alignment with the City’s policy objectives.”

Tuesday, June 23: City Council, 10:00 a.m.

Agenda: 

Item S501: Municipal Code Amendment Relating to Electric Bicycle Safety