Category: San Diego

By Angelo Haynes

On Sunday January 4th, protestors and organizers gathered at the Otay Mesa detention facility to protest the alleged crowded and unhygienic conditions of immigrant detainees currently held there. The protest was organized by local activists Blue Wong and Mariel of SD Bike Brigade in tandem with a coalition of other groups and individual activists from across San Diego County.

The protest is characterized as a “standing” protest and has been conducted once a week every Sunday, since last summer in June of 2025 and is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.

Protestors occupied the space for two hours, positioning themselves on a compacted dirt walkway on the edge of the facility with megaphones, loudspeakers, kites, flags and signage. They then began a campaign of yelling over the fence in an attempt to communicate through the walls of the detention center with the detainees being held there and glean important information that could be used to support them.

by Lu Rehling

Confusion was the order of the day in Balboa Park on January 5th , and no wonder, with info about the city’s new parking policy and rates missing and mixed throughout the Central Mesa and beyond.

As Visitor Center reps reported that they were fielding questions and complaints all day, one major block to even figuring out the new parking regime was signage. Some are just not there.

For example, there is none to identify which parking lots cost what under the tiered parking system. So, consider your options:

To find out what parking costs at any given lot, you can check at the payment kiosk for that lot. Could be $16 dollars a day or $10, and maybe with partial day parking available at a lower cost, or maybe not. If you pull in, go up to the kiosk, tap it; then, if you don’t like what you see, you can always turn around and exit that lot to try another, hoping to get luckier.

Next, if that doesn’t work out, you can enjoy driving back to the closer lot that you’d checked out in the first place. But wait, wait!–the first rate that you see on the kiosk screen actually may not be the correct one for you, IF you’re a city resident AND already have registered for discounted parking (which, by the way, cannot be done on the spot and costs $5 up front online, with a two-day wait to confirm). In that case, presumably, your registered resident rate won’t come up until after you enter your license plate number.

Hundreds of people were forced to flee a homeless shelter near downtown San Diego as floodwaters rushed through the front door just recently, leaving many with few belongings.

Officials evacuated Alpha Project’s Bridge Shelter, a massive gray tent near 16th Street and Newton Avenue on the edge of Barrio Logan, early New Year’s Day. About 325 men and women are now sleeping in the Municipal Gym in Balboa Park.

More than 2 inches of rain fell on San Diego County on New Year’s, breaking local records and causing multiple water rescues. The shelter was one of the first casualties.

Now Alpha Project is calling on San Diegans to donate items — and they’re asking people to deliver them to the Recital Hall in Balboa Park.

By Andrew Keatts / Times of San Diego / Jan. 2, 2026

San Diego’s housing shortage routinely ranks among residents’ top concerns, and disputes over specific projects routinely rank among the region’s biggest policy fights.

Here are six housing projects that could deliver a significant impact this year, either because the project’s are so big on their own or because of the precedent they could set.

Golden Hill’s test of “Complete Communities”
“The Lawson,” an eight-story, 186 unit development, shook neighborhood groups in Golden Hill into organized opposition in 2025.

Those groups won a rare and seemingly major victory in October, when their lawsuit over the project convinced Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil to issue a restraining order halting construction.

The judge last month declined to extend the work order, after he determined the group does not have “a probability of prevailing” at trial.

Still, the outcome of that trial will determine more than whether one Golden Hill project goes forward.

By Brian White / CBS8 / Jan. 2, 2026

Parking frustration is boiling over in Bankers Hill, where several newly installed parking meters along Sixth Avenue have been vandalized just weeks after enforcement began.

CBS 8 found several meters near Balboa Park appear to have been deliberately damaged, some clogged with what looks like spray foam or contractor-grade glue, and one spray-painted green, obscuring the screen and payment slots.

San Diego Police tell CBS 8 that 12 pay parking stations were vandalized over the course of a month. According to San Diego Police Officer Anthony Carrasco, one was covered in a “biological material, believed to be fecal matter.” He said officers investigating took a DNA swab of what was smeared on the screen.

People who live nearby say they’re not surprised.

“I’m really not surprised,” said Joshua Jones, who lives along Sixth Avenue.

Giovanna Allain echoed that reaction, saying, “I’m not surprised, we’re just kind of rebelling against it.”

The Ocean Beach Planning Board holds its first 2026 meeting Tuesday night, January 6. Here is the official agenda:

By Angelo Haynes

At 3pm Saturday, January 3rd, several hundred San Diegans representing a diverse coalition of local San Diego activist groups gathered in front of the San Diego County Administration Building to protest the recent US military intervention in Venezuela. Groups ranging from feminist activist groups such as Code Pink, to Veteran organizations such as Veterans for Peace came together on short notice to speak and contribute to the march.

The Trump administration’s recent military intervention is an escalation from the recent aggressive naval attacks in the region, resulting in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores.

Organizers began planning the march Friday night after news broke of US forces beginning their bombing operation of the capital city of Caracas. Planning and mobilization efforts were then accelerated when it was discovered that president Maduro was kidnapped to be brought onto American soil to be prosecuted on narco-terrorism charges.

In a statement shortly after the US bombings, Maduro’s government accused Washington of an “extremely serious military aggression”.

“Venezuela rejects, repudiates, and denounces before the international community the extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and people,” the Venezuelan government said.

Here’s a look at how other countries are also reacting to the US attack and “capture” of Maduro.

Colombia
“Alerting the whole world that they have attacked Venezuela,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote in a series of statements posted on the social media platform X.

“The Republic of Colombia reiterates its conviction that peace, respect for international law, and the protection of life and human dignity must prevail over any form of armed confrontation,” Petro said.

In a separate post, he said Colombia “rejects the aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America”.

Petro later announced the deployment of military forces to the Venezuelan border.

Mexico
In a statement on X, President Claudia Sheinbaum said “Mexico condemns the military intervention in Venezuela.”

She also included in her post an article in the UN Charter which states: “The Members of the Organization, in their international relations, shall refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”

By Kate Callen

Just before midnight on December 31, my sister, Brae, and I were toasting the new year with champagne when the house was filled with a flash of blinding white light followed by a window-rattling boom. A minute later, it happened again.

My North Park street has been plagued by fireworks on July Fourth and New Year’s Eve for as long as I’ve lived here. But these weren’t sparklers or ground spinners. These were commercial-grade fireworks that should never be set off in residential neighborhoods.

What the hell is going on? Why does a handful of morons (an estimated 99 percent of whom carry the Y chromosome) need to set off explosives to celebrate holidays? And why do the rest of us tolerate lawless behavior that terrifies small children, scares pets into hiding or running away from home, triggers military veterans with PTSD, and poses a public safety risk?

It’s not hard to find the perpetrators. While I searched for my cats, Brae marched down the street to the place where the sound came from. She confronted three men standing on the sidewalk (we’re from Philadelphia, it’s what we do), and they denied any involvement.

Then the snarky one started arguing. Hey, what’s the harm? People just want to have a little fun. And it’s only one night a year.

Every Saturday at 10:30 am. San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings January 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st.

Every Saturday 10 am – 12 pm Peace Vigil for Palestine:

The San Diego River Park Foundation has volunteer opportunities in Ocean Beach

Every Sunday 1:30  pm – 4 pm Otay Mesa Vigil Otay Mesa Detention Center

January 1st Thursday – January 4th Sunday 10 am – 6 pm San Diego Auto Show

January 3rd Saturday 5 pm doors open “From Ground Zero” film screening fundraiser for a family in Gaza.

January 5th Monday  12 pm – 1 pm Interfaith Vigil For Earth Justice Event by Interfaith Coalition for Earth Justice

By Alex Cheney / CBS8 / December 30, 2025

San Diego’s music scene is grieving the loss of Tim Lowman, who died in a fatal motorcycle crash early Sunday morning near Balboa Park. The versatile musician, known for his performances as both a band member and one-man-band showman, was struck by an SUV on Pershing Drive at approximately 1:40 a.m.

According to the San Diego Police Department, a Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Lowman was hit by an SUV, whose driver remained at the scene. Police say the SUV driver is not suspected of DUI, and Lowman’s impairment is considered unknown.

Lowman was a member of the band Blackout Party and performed as a one-man band called Low Volts, where he played all the instruments himself. Timothy Joseph, a producer and co-host of the Loudspeaker Show on radio station 91X and a close friend of Lowman’s, recalls the musician’s distinctive performance style and the impression he made.

By Paul Krueger / Special to the OB Rag 

The California Supreme Court on Tuesday, December 30, placed another hurdle in the City of San Diego’s effort to allow high-rise development throughout the Midway/ Pacific Highway area.

The state’s highest court affirmed a lower court ruling that the city must fully analyze the negative environmental impacts of high-density, multi-story projects and give voters that information before they agree to override the existing 30-foot height limit in the Midway/ PacHwy district.

Voters twice — but narrowly — approved the height limit waiver. But state courts said the environmental impact studies failed to study possible negative and unavoidable impacts of high-rise development on traffic, noise, pollution, and other issues.

The most recent ruling against the city was a strongly worded and unanimous October 17 decision by the state Appellate Court.