Category: San Diego

Coalition Bulletin: This Week at City Hall

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members informed about important Council and Planning Commission Hearings. Agendas may change before the meetings. For an updated list, visit the OB Rag on Monday.

Monday, December 8: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda Link:

Items include:

— Selection of a 2026-2027 Council President
— California Coastal Commission Modifications to Transit Priority Area Parking Reform and Housing Action Package 2.0
— “40th & C Project”: This will consolidate and subdivide sixteen existing lots into ten new lots and the construction of eleven new single-dwelling unit homes with eighteen new Accessory Dwelling Unit homes.

Trump Supporters Will Soon Control Most TV News Stations in San Diego

By JW August

San Diego County’s voter makeup has gone from red to blue over the decades, and there’s no better example in recent years than the evolving Democratic majority on the San Diego City Council and county Board of Supervisors.

While the region has slowly shifted Democratic, the broadcast industry in San Diego has been moving in a different direction — conservative. President Trump supporters will soon control most television news stations in the region.

Now, a bid for one of the remaining stations not under control by conservative ownership is being pursued. It is KGTV, aka 10News, the ABC affiliate in San Diego.  The pursuer is Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose executive chairman David Smith is a longtime supporter of Trump and the Republican Party. Sinclair’s target is 10News owner E.W. Scripps Company.

Full disclosure, I worked at 10News for 33 years, so I do have some familiarity with the news broadcast industry. Before 10News I worked as a freelancer in the early 1980s . My turf included both City Hall and county government.  It was a time when the city’s power structure, along with the City Council and Board of Supervisors were mostly white and male.  There were some important exceptions, which was sign of what was to come.

By San Diego Monitor News / December 5, 2025

San Diego officials are tightening the city’s belt once again, confronting a financial hole that continues to widen despite a wave of new fees and rate increases approved earlier this year. Mayor Todd Gloria has instructed every department to clamp down on spending immediately, warning that the coming budget cycle will demand even tougher decisions.

City leaders have been reviewing virtually every line of spending, from overtime to contracts that provide everything from homeless services to rented construction equipment. The mayor’s financial team issued the directive after discovering that equipment rentals alone cost the city more than six million dollars last year — often without full council review. Now, department managers must justify each contract and revisit their cost projections ahead of next year’s budget process.

Even with new revenue from trash pickup fees, parking charges in Balboa Park, and other rate adjustments, the city still faces a projected deficit nearing ninety million dollars for the fiscal year that starts next July. That number could swell past one hundred million if the city loses expected one-time homelessness funding or must expand staffing to meet operational needs. Roughly half of the gap represents long-term, structural problems that will require permanent fixes.

by Michael Casey / Associated Press – Fox5 San Diego / Dec 2, 2025 /

The Justice Department on Tuesday, Dec. 2, sued six more states in its ongoing campaign to obtain detailed voter data and other election information.

The department announced it was suing Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington over their “failure” to produce statewide voter registration lists. It has portrayed the litigation as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, but Democratic officials have raised concerns over how the data will be used and whether the department will follow privacy laws in protecting it.

Tuesday’s actions bring to at least 14 the number of states the Justice Department has sued in its quest for the voter information [including California].

“Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the department’s Civil Rights Division. “States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results.”

The department has requested the voter data from at least 26 states, according to an Associated Press tally. It’s prompted concerns among some election officials because states have the constitutional authority to run elections and federal law protects the sharing of individual data with the government.

By OB Staff 

David Garrick, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s City Hall Reporter, will give a Saturday, December 13 presentation on “This Just In: Covering the City Hall Beat.”

The forum, part of a series organized by the San Diego Community Coalition, will take place from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. at the Logan Heights Library, 567 S. 28 Street. Following Garrick’s brief remarks, the floor will open for questions from the audience.

Garrick has had a front row seat in San Diego politics for more than a decade. When he started covering City Hall in 2014, Kevin Faulconer was the new Mayor, Todd Gloria was City Council President, and Sempra Energy occupied the tower at 101 Ash Street.

San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer held a community meeting in Encinitas Thursday, Dec. 4, to urge the public to take a stand against the Trump administration’s plans to expand Califonia’s offshore drilling. She was joined by Solana Beach Mayor Lesa Heebner. The meeting had been organized by the environmental groups California Coastal Protection Network, Oceana, Surfrider Foundation and Wildcoast.

The Thursday gathering followed the Nov. 20 announcement by the Trump administration that it will reopen ocean waters off the Pacific Coast to oil drilling leases, generating rapid opposition from California officials and environmentalists.

Lawson-Remer said she and others are united in defending the San Diego region, and told President Donald Trump and oil executives to “go pound sand.”

“We are not going to go backwards,” no matter how much Trump calls clean energy “a con job,” Lawson-Remer said during the meeting.

Once again, we return to Letters to the Editor for the truth — and it’s so much more fun to see letters written by people  you know. So, here’s a couple from today’s Union-Tribune, one from Rag writer Kate Callen and another from Ralph Teyssier, a commenter on the Rag.

Re “Campillo’s reforms a smart response to Gloria’s trash fee machinations” (Nov. 30):

Thank you for pointing out that San Diego has one elected official with a functioning moral compass. Yes, Raul Campillo is pushing the reform rock up the hill — for now. But widespread disgust with the mayor’s mendacity and the connivance of eight City Council members is changing the political landscape. We see this in the overflow crowds at council meetings and the scores of angry letters you print.

by Michael J. Stepner and Mary Lydon / Times of San Diego / Dec. 4, 2025

City of San Diego officials implemented a complicated fee structure for parking in Balboa Park, set to begin Jan. 5, without fully vetting its unintended consequences.

The City Council approved the proposal despite the concerns and testimony of park users, park institutions and park organizations big and small. Together, they expressed an emerging general consensus: It is not right to use San Diego’s Crown Jewel to fill a tiny piece of the city’s budget gap.

This rushed decision risks what the World Cities Culture Forum called “the heart of thriving cities” — culture.

“It is a crucial part of a city’s fabric, a golden thread that runs through all aspects of urban policy,” the UK-based nonprofit wrote.

Culture is an expression of community, shared values and creativity. Balboa Park is San Diego’s soul.

The paid parking implementation did not take into consideration any understanding of what Balboa Park is, or what the park provides to a rich tapestry of our citizenry.

There’s been a spike in detentions of Afghans living in San Diego recently and it’s being condemned by the local chapter of America’s largest Muslim civil rights group, CAIR, which stands for Council on American-Islamic Relations.

In a statement issued Dec. 3, the Executive Director, Tazheen Nizam of San Diego’s CAIR said:

“This past week, our office has seen a spike in calls from Afghan community members suddenly facing new threats to their status and safety. This morning, I accompanied an Afghan evacuee to what ICE claimed was a routine check-in in San Jose; despite full cooperation, he was detained immediately. We’re hearing the same fear from long-time green card holders, already-vetted refugees, and families who have waited years to reunite with loved ones now trapped in limbo.

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / December 3, 2025 

Ridership on local buses and trolleys is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic much faster than the national average, but San Diego transit officials say that progress is jeopardized by a looming financial crisis.

Annual ridership on Metropolitan Transportation System buses and trolleys rose more than 7% to 81.2 million during the fiscal year that ended in June — only 4.2 million lower than the pre-pandemic ridership of 85.4 million.

MTS’s ridership recovery of 95% is the second highest for large transit systems in the nation and is well above the national average of 85%, according to surveys by the American Public Transportation Association.

Buses and trolleys have also begun to attract more riders who have cars and aren’t transit-dependent. Trips by such people, which MTS calls leisure rides, jumped by 44% in fiscal 2025 compared to fiscal 2024.

MTS officials attribute the improving ridership numbers to new services — including an express bus connecting downtown and the U.S.-Mexico border — and to more frequent trolley service and enhanced security at stations and on trains.

From the City of San Diego website:

December Nights is back for 2025!
Join us on December 5 and 6 for the City of San Diego’s largest free holiday festival in beautiful Balboa Park. The family friendly event brings San Diegans together to enjoy the lights, the sounds, the attractions and of course, the amazing food.

For Entertainment, go here.

Museums and Organizations

Balboa Art Conservation Center:
Come celebrate the season by making stamp art with Balboa Art Conservation Center! Using cochineal dye, guests of all ages will be able to combine science and art to make prints inspired by the History Center’s Poinsettia Tree. Located in the San Diego History Center: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m

Comic Con Museum:
Guests can participate in a FREE activity called “Paint and Take”. Each guest (ages 5+) can choose a small miniature figure to paint and take home. Activity takes about 30 minutes per guest once seated. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. Supplies limited. Retail shops are open. Museum exhibits closed. Friday: 3pm-8pm & Saturday: 2pm-7pm

Fleet Science Center:
Join us for December Nights, San Diego’s largest holiday festival in beautiful Balboa Park on December 5 & 6, 2025! This free, family-friendly event brings San Diegans together to enjoy all of the lights, sounds, attractions, and amazing food that Balboa Park has to offer. At the Fleet, guests can experience over 100+ interactive exhibits and discover the power of science free of cost from 3 p.m.- 9p.m.

Japanese Friendship Garden and Museum
The Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum will be opening the upper garden for free from 3:00PM-8:00PM on December 5th and December 6th. *Paid admission 10:00am-2:00pm; View the garden’s decorations, participate in fun crafts for the family, and enjoy festive drinks in the beer garden!

by Ernie McCray

Oh, as I looked back at pictures
of the “No Kings” protesters
in San Diego
I so wished that I could take to the streets
as I’ve done so many times before
over my lifetime
but standing and walking
for a longtime
would not treat me very kind.
But it’s plain to see
that this kind of massive togetherness
is the key
to our surviving the mess
we find ourselves in,|
chaos brought to us
by a madman
whose goal in life
is to do us in