Category: San Diego

By Kelly Hessedal / CBS8 / January 12, 2026

Mayors from across San Diego County demanded Monday that San Diego city leaders repeal newly implemented parking fees at Balboa Park, citing fairness concerns, economic impact and a significant public backlash against the charges.

The coalition of mayors stand in support of activist Shane Harris’ proposal he drafted for the council calling for the parking fees to be repealed. Harris also said an online petition has gathered more than 1500 signatures.

The effort includes mayors from Coronado, Escondido, San Marcos, El Cajon and Chula Vista. It also includes council members from Del Mar and La Mesa. A news conference was held outside the Air and Space Museum Monday morning.

“Paying for parking to stay out and active is unacceptable,” said San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones.

SD Community Coalition Bulletin:

City Council To Hold Special Meeting Just Before Mayor’s State-Of-City Speech

In an interesting development, the San Diego City Council has posted notice that it will hold a special meeting about the Mayor’s 2026 “State of the City” address on Thursday, January 15, at 1:00 p.m. in the Council Committee Room. The Mayor’s address is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Thursday in the Council Chambers.

This link contains instructions for submitting a written comment before the meeting. The Council will begin the meeting by taking public comment in person and virtually.

This is a developing story, so please circle back for updates later this morning.

By Jeanette Quezada and Shelby Bremer / 7SanDiego / January 11-12, 2026 

Video of San Diego police officers hitting a man as they arrested him in Southcrest over the weekend has led to an investigation.

The incident happened at 38th Street and National Avenue on Saturday night. Police and witnesses say a man blocked his ex’s car in with his own, and she called 911.

[Go to original for video.]

Aurora Morales, who lives across the street, said that she was inside her home when she heard what sounded like an argument between a man and a woman. When she looked out the window, she saw what appeared to be a man trying to hit the woman’s car window.

“It seemed like he wanted her to get out of the car,” Morales said.

She said she then heard the man telling the woman he was going to pull something out of the car. That’s when Morales saw the man grab what appeared to be an iron tool to break the window.

Witnesses say there were more than a dozen squad cars but just a few moments captured on video have now prompted an investigation.

There are concerns tonight from some people about the way San Diego police officers handled an arrest last night in Southcrest. Video shared on social media is prompting questions about whether the officers involved used “excessive force.” We do want to warn you, some may find the video graphic. NBC 7’s, Jeanette Quezada, talked with witnesses today about what happened.

Please join Ocean Beach Historical Society, for A View From My Trike, Thursday evening, January 15, 2026 at 7:00 pm, at Water’s Edge Community, 1894 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.

OBHS Board Member and talented writer Mercy Baron presents an engaging selection of her stories from the San Diego Reader.

This fun and lively presentation will kick off Ocean Beach Historical Society’s 32nd season of free monthly programs.

By David Helvarg /  Op-Ed LA Times / Jan. 8, 2026

Recently, while sailing with friends on San Francisco Bay, I enjoyed the sight of harbor porpoises, cormorants, pelicans, seals and sea lions — and then the spouting plume and glistening back of a gray whale that gave me pause. Too many have been seen inside the bay recently.

California’s gray whales have been considered an environmental success story since the passage of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act and 1986’s global ban on commercial whaling. They’re also a major tourist attraction during their annual 12,000-mile round-trip migration between the Arctic and their breeding lagoons in Baja California. In late winter and early spring — when they head back north and are closest to the shoreline, with the moms protecting the calves — they can be viewed not only from whale-watching boats but also from promontories along the California coast including Point Loma in San Diego, Point Lobos in Monterey and Bodega Head and Shelter Cove in Northern California.

In 1972, there were some 10,000 gray whales in the population on the eastern side of the Pacific. Generations of whaling all but eliminated the western population — leaving only about 150 alive today off of East Asia and Russia. Over the four decades following passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the eastern whale numbers grew steadily to 27,000 by 2016, a hopeful story of protection leading to restoration. Then, unexpectedly over the last nine years, the eastern gray whale population has crashed, plummeting by more than half to 12,950, according to a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the lowest numbers since the 1970s.

Today’s changing ocean and Arctic ice conditions linked to fossil-fuel-fired climate change are putting this species again at risk of extinction.

By Gustavo Solis / KPBS / Jan. 12, 2026

Local privacy advocates are raising concerns about an obscure database managed by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) that might be allowing President Donald Trump’s deportation forces to circumvent state and local immigrant sanctuary laws.

For an annual fee of roughly $200,000 SANDAG grants immigration enforcement agencies, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP), access to the database, which is known as ARJIS.

The database contains information from every law enforcement agency in San Diego County — which includes traffic citations, arrest records, field interviews, a local jail census and some driver license records.

Local police agencies have shared data with their federal counterparts through ARJIS for decades. But now, the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics are raising new questions about what exactly is being shared with the federal government.

“It is not always great to share data because sometimes you don’t know what the motivations of those people might be,” said Seth Hall, a privacy advocate with the TRUST SD Coalition.

The Committee to Consider Dumping OB’s Historic District Should Use Current Housing Data Before Making Decision

By South OB Girl

Dear Land Use and Housing Committee Members:

San Diego’s Historic Preservation and Progress Package A will be brought before you by city staff on Wednesday, January 14 for your consideration. However, this package involves controversial proposals regarding preserving the city’s historic housing ideals and districts, yet current housing data is not available. Decisions about San Diego housing should be delayed until the housing data for 2025 has been prepared and analyzed in the forthcoming 2026 Annual Report on Homes.

A report issued once a year based on data from a full year prior does not seem sufficient for assessing the current housing crisis nor sufficient information for
government officials to make decisions about housing moving forward into this year.

This annual reporting seems particularly insufficient given the escalation of public concern and opposition in the past year regarding ADUs, high density projects, plans for resiliency, evacuation route safety, Complete Communities Housing, and Preservation and Progress Package A, among other issues. Given this escalation of public concern in recent years and some of the concern expressed in this letter, now would also be a good time to consider how San Diego’s housing data and building permit data is tracked, managed, and evaluated.

By Rob Campbell / Op-Ed SD Union-Tribune / Jan. 9, 2026

“Bonus programs delivering needed local housing,” the Dec. 28 commentary by Colin Parent, presents bonus density programs as a success story but ignores the most critical issue in San Diego’s housing crisis. Who is bearing the burden of these bonus “solutions”? [Parent is head of pro-developers group, Circulate SD.]

While the author characterized San Diego’s bonus housing density programs as an elegant workaround to “political gridlock,” they have created a system that strategically targets low-resource, infrastructure-deficient, historically marginalized neighborhoods while leaving the city’s Whitest, wealthiest, highest-opportunity areas functionally untouched.

Ignoring this reality turns the argument into a one-sided celebration of YIMBY (yes in my backyard) production numbers, which are detached from actual equity outcomes the city is legally and morally obligated to comply with.

A claim that the bonus density programs “apply everywhere” is misleading at best. In practice, these programs overwhelmingly land in communities of color in neighborhoods like Valencia Park, Lincoln Park, Chollas View, City Heights, Logan Heights, etc. These are the very same areas that have higher asthma, cancer, and cardiovascular disease burdens; worse mobility with old, non-ADA compliant pathways (sidewalks); fewer jobs; and long-standing histories of redlining, freeway construction and environmental racism.

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / Jan. 9-11, 2026

Races for two open San Diego City Council seats each feature several strong candidates with no clear frontrunner, but the possible entry into the District 2 race of former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey could shake things up.

With fundraising in high gear and key endorsements expected in coming weeks, the races appear to still be wide open in District 8 in the South Bay and in District 2, which stretches from Clairemont to Point Loma.

Two other races on the June 2 primary ballot feature incumbents who are expected to comfortably win re-election: Kent Lee in central inland District 6 and Henry Foster in southeastern District 4.

Leading candidates in the District 2 race are Deputy City Attorney Nicole Crosby, former City Hall staffer Josh Coyne and Point Loma neighborhood leader Mandy Havlik.

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members informed about important Council and Planning Commission hearings. City Hall reopens this week after a 3-week legislative recess for the holidays.

First, a word about Balboa Park parking fees and non-agenda public comment:

The outrageous new fees to park in Balboa Park are on the City Council’s political front burner right now. But they aren’t on any of the Council’s agendas this week – which means the public can raise that issue during the non-agenda public comment at every Council meeting.

Council President Joe La Cava, who strongly supported the new fees, needs to hear a loud message from a lot of constituents: City Hall must live within its means. Stop spending money irresponsibly and then demanding that taxpayers cover your losses. La Cava won’t like having his meetings slowed down by non-agenda comments on Park fees. But he can’t interfere with our right to make those comments.

Monday, January 12: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda link here.

Items include: Public Utilities FY 2027-2031 Five-Year Financial Outlook

Why it matters: Last year, the Council fought over a proposal to increase water rates by 63% through 2029 and wastewater rates by 31% in the same period. The final 5-4 vote approved less draconian hikes of 14.7% and 14.5%. A year later, public furor over bait-and-switch trash fees and erratic Balboa Park parking fees will make utility rate hikes even more contentious.

By Donna Frye

On Tuesday, January 13, the city council will vote for a second time on the College Area Community Plan Update (Item 64) and the Clairemont Community Plan Update (Item 65) and associated rezoning actions for both. They items are on the consent agenda so unless a city councilmember asks for them to be pulled for discussion, there won’t be any further council discussion on either item because they are “considered to be routine and the environmental documents have been considered.”

The public, however, may provide comment on any item on the agenda, including the consent agenda.

Link to agenda 

The council previously heard both plan updates on December 16, 2025 and a council majority approved them despite community concerns about the environmental impacts from the increased density and intensity. Councilmember Campillo voted against approving the College Area Community Plan Update in support of the community concerns and Council President LaCava voted against the Clairemont Community Plan Update because he believed it was a missed opportunity to provide even more density.

The College Area Community Planning Board even proposed their own plan called the “7 Visions Plan” but that was never considered as part of any meaningful environmental analysis.